2010 RIP, Long Live 2011
Another year has bitten the dust. Though I will miss certain moments of 2010, I’m just glad to still be here for the start of 2011.
I say that because I haven’t kept 99.9 per cent of last year’s health-minded resolutions.
Yes, I did join a gym. To be honest, I wanted get rid of the overgrown love handles. The ink on the gym pass has long since dried, but the love handles have only gotten more difficult for my love to wrap her hands around. I’m guess I’m one of those well-intentioned, flash-in-the-pan exercisers.
You know the ones I mean. For a while at least, we show up and push ourselves to the limit. We come in every two days without fail until we don’t come for a couple or a few weeks. Then we show up again full of energy (probably from all the good food we’ve been eating) and ready to get ‘er done once again.
Hopes are high and discipline is as strong as good Japanese steel. You are unswerving in your desire to do it right this time… and the next time… and then the next time.
To be fair to myself, not all of the stoppages were due to a lack of commitment. The sight of myself lurching around the apartment in my white long johns with a back brace while calling myself that new superhero, Bad Back Man, often brings a smile to my wife’s face.
It has taught me that I should not become too gung ho on the weights right away. I now use the stair master machine with the cross-country ski poles. It is a low-impact machine for weighty wusses such as myself.
Originally, I started out on the treadmill doing five kilometres but that dropped to 20 minutes max after a while. Turns out I have still have problems with my knee. I do use a knee brace when I exercise and that helps.
Getting a little older, and not having taken care of my body as much as I should have over the years, is now catching up to me. And I know I have to do something about it.
I do have my inspirations. One of them is Grand Chief Matthew Coon Come. We had a lengthy discussion once about exercising. Turns out he does a lot of biking. This great for your heart and body. So I use the stationary bike too. I love the fact you can adjust the amount of pain, er, tension to what you can handle.
I’m also still smoking – for the moment – but have plans just like any nicotine addict to stop. Both Amy and I will be tag-teaming on this one. We plan to taper off in February and be smoke free by March. Can we beat the insidious addiction that has had us under its spell for so long? We’ll just have to wait and see. I plan to give it my best shot.
So, in a nutshell, my two resolutions are to become a regular at the gym (I renewed my membership), lose weight and become less susceptible to diabetes and heart attacks and to quit smoking cigarettes.
In whatever you plan to do to make your life a little better this year I wish you the best of luck.