Exercise

[ralphmelton]

In late April, I instituted a new rule for myself: no WoW until I'd gotten 20 minutes of some sort of exercise each day.

Since then, I have gotten some exercise every day for over six weeks. I think I can call this a habit now. Given my historical lack of enthusiasm for exercise and difficulty with keeping resolutions, I regard this as nigh-miraculous. Go me!

Sometimes I work on our Gazelle exerciser for the duration of a half-hour TV episode (without commercials, because I'm watching on DVD); more often, I get my twenty minutes walking. (Light exercise was fairly explicitly part of my contract with myself; I didn't feel I had the oomph for heavy exercise every day, but I'd have much more luck sticking to a routine that involved 'every day' than one that was three times a week.)

There have certainly been a few cases where I skirted the edges of my rule, but I've kept it up pretty faithfully. I once gave myself credit for the twenty minutes after discovering that I'd walked only fifteen minutes each way to a restaurant for lunch, and once gave credit for a fifteen-minute walk uphill followed by ten minutes each way from my car to the store in a parking lot.

I was worried about how this habit would hold up for our road trip. I knew that I could stick to the original rule by not playing WoW on days when I got no exercise--but I've felt a certain pride in the "exercise every day" pattern, and I'd feel sad if that daily winning streak got broken.

On Monday, I took a walk late while Lori was packing; on Tuesday, we went for a walk in the park. So I've maintained my winning streak with exercise, even though I haven't been playing Warcraft.

Comments

[mrpeck.livejournal.com]

Go Ralph!

[drakemonger.livejournal.com]

Woohoo!

[dr4b]

Heh, that reminds me of a few summers ago where I was like "I will increase my miles walked by one mile per week until I find a job. Then in interviews when they ask me why I want to work there, I can tell them it's because otherwise I will have to walk 30 miles that week!"

However, you know, when you relate exercise directly to playing WoW, it gives a whole new meaning to the word "treadmill".

[magentamom.livejournal.com]

That's fantastic. I keep saying I'm going to start exercising again and fail. Thanks for some inspiration. It can be done!

[cellio]

Cool! Vacations can be disruptive for things like that, so glad you're managing to keep it up.

[jeliza]

Excellent!

[ntmbrian.livejournal.com]

Well done, Sir, well done! Your resolve is commendable.

I take it that WoW has replaced INWO as your diversion of choice? Please forgive me if I'm rather out of date on this, since it has been, what, six years since we spoke last?

-Brian (formerly of the Indy MIBs)

[ralphmelton.livejournal.com]

I quit playing INWO around 2000 or 2001. Moved over to RPGs for a bit--ran a four-year D&D campaign from 2001-2005. Now playing WoW to excess.

[laurabee.livejournal.com]

When I was trying to convince myself to exercise, I found that not requiring cardio-vascular exercise helped. That is, I didn't have to walk a half hour if I lifted weights for half an hour. Sometimes that made all the difference in the world; I didn't want to move, but I could push heavy things, no problem.

Best of luck with the exercise! :)