Two is Always Better Than One

I said I couldn't swim for years; I knew how I just didn't want to; now I am because I can, I want to and it feels great.  The secret is my swimming buddy and I believe an exercise buddy is the secret to getting started and sticking with exercise.

Back when the kids were really little, I had a friend who loved to do competitive 5k runs.  I'd say yes because I hadn't tried before and it was a legit reason to get out of the house with a girlfriend.  I can't say I loved these runs (I may not have been very prepared at the time) but the mom time was great.  Then, there was the era of having to run at 6 am before kids got up and before the husband left for work; this would never have worked without the motivation of knowing that someone else had gotten up and was waiting outside expecting you to show; rain or shine.   No one loves getting up early when everyone else is sleeping; but you can start to love the time to yourself, you can appreciate doing something positive for yourself and what woman doesn't enjoy talking, bitching, laughing with a girlfriend in the privacy of darkness; plus it's way cheaper than therapy ...

I don't need a buddy to run with anymore because I love it; but I still have buddies that schedule runs at different places or times than I would normally do and I always say yes because you never know what the new experience could bring.  My workout buddies have encouraged me to try lots of new forms of exercise lately that I would have thought I couldn't do yet I'm finding myself loving; Tracy Anderson like workouts; yoga (feels great); swimming (signed up for Triatholon in April).  I am really looking forward to getting back to some Boot Camps with Amy Banfer and crew this spring and the USTA tennis season starts this week.  Mixing it up is making exercise much more interesting and hopefully I won't over use any particular muscle group which could derail me from being active for the long haul.

So....this is it; tomorrow is a new day and you're going to start to exercise.  Find something you like and do it!  If you can't find someone to do it with then just tell someone what you are going to do.  It's amazing how when you really want to do something but there's a little inkling of doubt in your head whether you really are; if I say it outloud it is more likely to happen and you've made yourself accountable to someone else who just may ask you how it went and you want to have a good story for them of your success not some lame excuse.