Fitness February

Our body is made to move. A muscle is like a car. If you want it to run well, you have to warm it up. Respect your body. It's the only one you get. Health is wealth.

My ears were deaf to these kinds of reminders in the past. I never understood why people exercise. I thought they were just trying to be cool. I was this number one lampa in class. I dreaded going to P.E. classes. I cursed any physical activity except for a little jogging, skipping and some long walking. :) I looooove long walks but I think leisurely walks don't count as an exercise, do they?

Every year, it is always in my new year's resolutions list to find a physical activity that I enjoy and you know what happens to these resolutions, they tend to be forgotten after a month. Or is it just me? This year, however, I vowed to be more serious about this goal of being fit because I would be stepping into a new decade and it's now, not later, that I had to start taking care of my body and also because I learned to love it. Yes, I also wished I was taller, that my legs were longer, my hips wider, and my waist smaller. As I grow older, I learn to appreciate what I have, accept those which cannot be changed and improve on those which can still be. 

It is a struggle, y'know. People sometimes laugh. They laugh about a thin petite lady running around and sweating it out. They say I don't have to do it anymore. But oh well, people. They always have something to say whatever you do. So I just tell myself, "Remember how good you will feel when you are done." At the end of the day, I know I have done something which makes my muscles smile. My muscles get sore but I know they are smiling. Oh, that happy kind of pain. I will be 30 in a few days but I have never felt stronger.

I look for exercise routines in the internet. I try anything that I enjoy and stick to something that I love. I look and feel awkward at every new exercise I try but I know I will get better in time. I am grateful for certain things that I do not have to do alone.

It is such a blessing to be sharing the same fitness goals with friends. Well actually, we have different goals. Some need to lose and others just wanna tone but we have this same desire to get movin and do our bodies good. We started as three or four, just jogging. Now the whole gang is enjoying other forms of exercise. Badminton. Zumba. We sometimes do dumbbells and abs roller. We run around the campus, sometimes at the sports complex. We even climbed the highest peak in Gensan, the Sanchez Peak. Exercise has never been this fun.

Now when I see someone, fat or thin or just right, joining Zumba in the mall, wearing the best looking running shoes but doesn't even know how to run, toe-touching but could not even reach her knee, my silent salute. I feel you. It is never easy starting something you are never used to, much more committing to it, but it is also never too late. Keep it up, you. We can do this!!! And oh, find a workout buddy. It really helps. You never know when you'll need a little push.