Your ‘Wagon’ is Right Where You Parked It

Good morning, and happy Friday! I hope your day is starting off just right.

When I saw my surgeon a couple of weeks ago, he told me I can start exercising again. By that, I think he meant something other than lifting food to my mouth. I’ve always done pretty well with that. He told me to ease back into it, which is no problem at all. I’ve learned over the years that exercise isn’t something you just jump right into. Unless you like pain.

I went a couple of times, and already my lower back is making me pay for it. I didn’t do anything intense, but apparently what I did do was a little too much. You see, extra weight and back problems never play nicely together. You have to lose the weight to make your back feel better, but exercise kills your back. It’s the proverbial Catch-22.

So, I’ve resigned myself to the fact that, at least initially, I have to do exercises where my back is fully supported. And I’m pretty sure my recliner isn’t part of the solution. That means I have to find a way to sit comfortably while I make myself sweat. Maybe a chaise lounge chair on a sunny beach? It could work!

As luck would have it, they just built a brand-new YMCA a half-mile from home, so I went in the other night for a tour. It’s pretty impressive. Two gymnasiums, two pools (one for warm-water therapy), an overhead walking track, and a huge workout room with every type of exercise apparatus known to man. Some of them are even motorized. Now, that’s my kind of exercise!

But what struck me the most was how many people were there. The place was packed. There wasn’t a treadmill to be found, and I know those basketball teams had a lot more than five players on the court. My tour guide told me it’s like that in the early evening. She also said it’s a new facility, so everyone wants to be there. For now.

Finally, I asked her if she thinks a lot of that is what we call the “resolution crowd.” You know, people who make a New Year’s resolution to lose weight, and then hit the gym every day through January and the first week or two of February. After that, you never see most of them again. Kinda like the crowd in church on Easter Sunday. She replied, “Oh, yeah!”

Granted, nobody wants to go to the gym when it’s so packed you can’t move. But, on the other hand, I’d really like to think the majority of those people will stick with it. I used to go into the gym the first week of January, see all the new faces, and say a prayer that they’d keep coming. Maybe all that praying is why they stopped. Guess I should have kept it to myself.

And the important thing is, they made the effort. I have to believe people who start working toward a goal and fall off the wagon are at least able to remember why they started it in the first place, then dust themselves off and climb back on. I say that because I’m one of them. I’m great at starting projects. It’s just the follow-through that gives me trouble.

Still, with very few exceptions, we can always start again. We can get back to the gym or get back to that healthy diet. We can finish painting the basement or clean out the garage. We can write that book, build that business, or climb that mountain. Whatever it was we started and stopped (or never quite started in the first place), we can go back and finish it.

As long as we’re breathing, we’re never completely out of the game. Granted, there are things I can’t do at this age and physical condition that I wish I could do. But I can improve my physical condition to make some of them a little more possible. I may never run a marathon, but maybe someday I can walk one. Sometimes we have to tweak our goals, but we should never just let them die.

Exercise is like a lot of other things in life. When you haven’t been doing it for a long time, you need to ease back into it and find your sweet spot. Too much too fast can cause some serious problems. And, like exercise, you can ease your way back into anything else you’ve started and let slide. The goal is still there, and the path to success hasn’t really changed. You just need to get back on track.

You never truly fail until you stop trying. And, as I’ve always said, better late than never. If there’s something you want, no matter how many times you’ve tried before, keep on trying. You’ll get there.

That’s all for now. Have an awesome day!

© 2019 Dave Glardon – All rights reserved