Reflections on Exercise

Salute To The Sun

Since Agility is a S P O R T, we are supposed to be athletes, right?  Swift of foot. Fleet of stature.  HA!  I wake up in the morning stiff and tired, and my arms are often numb.  The balls of my feet hurt and my back aches.  My neck is stiff.  It takes me awhile and 2 Aleves to get moving.  And this morning I have a hangover. This will no longer do if I'm planning to compete for another 20 years, although a lot of the handlers out there look as out of shape as I do.  What's with that?

In the 80's, working full time, I used to do fast-paced aerobics 3 mornings a week before work, to an early morning TV show called The 20 Minute Workout with Bess Motta.  In the 90's, (after I moved to OHH), I did a much easier but very effective 15 minute workout video called ABS OF STEEL, with Tamilee Web.  It was a great workout, not too strenuous.  I need to try and find those tapes.
 

When I studied macrobiotics in Boston the summer of '86, I learned the Salute To The Sun and did that every morning in the back yard, on a bamboo mat I kept rolled up beside the door.  Yes, I used to do that, and it's a nice workout.  Stretches everything. I even wrote an article on it for Iris Online Magazine in 2004, with this little animation.  Click on the link to read the article and print out a nice little diagram you can use to do the sequence.  I better do that myself, tape it to the wall again, and start a-stretchin'. 

Shortly after retiring, early 2000's, I used to walk on my treadmill for a whole hour 5 days a week as I watched reruns of Dallas and Dynasty (taking breaks during the commercials). Why did I ever quit these routines?  I can't remember.

I notice so many Agility competitors wearing knee or ankle braces. I have not encountered anyone teaching handlers to warm up before a practice session or a run.  We "warm up" our dogs before they run, but I think that is just to get them reved up and focused on the handler, familiar with the flooring surface, etc.  We don't warm ourselves up.  We probably should, even though it's only a 1 minute run.

NOTE TO MYSELF:  If I ever teach an agility class, I will ask my students to rotate their ankles and do a few stretches before they take off running with their dogs.  I must start doing this now myself.

Ureka! John just came home and found all my workout tapes and set up a video player in the den.  The Abs Of Steel tape is messed up, so I went online and bought the DVD version of that whole series for $20. 

I'm watching a tape I made of Bess Motta's aerobic TV show as I type, and it is way, way too fast-paced for me now.   But I used to do this all the time, and it is still fun to watch!  Jeeeez, I am so out of shape.   I went online and looked her up, and found out The 20 Minute Workout was the first aerobic workout ever televised, back in the '80's and only for 2 seasons. I also found out you can't buy them on video or DVD anywhere, so I'm glad I have my tape and it's still good.  I found a Youtube video of her 5 minute cool-down sequence, though, which alone would wear me out now, at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAJlL9qRdtE

Also found a Youtube video of a short sequence of her fast paced workout, at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-2M60-A8qY&feature=related

Oh lord, how will I ever get myself in shape?  30 minutes a day, eh?  Baby steps.  Chug.  Chug.  Watching videos is what one does when one is hung over.  The next day, one should DO THE EXERCISES.