Just because I am a doctor, and encourage patients every day to exercise, doesn’t mean that I don’t have my own issues with getting sufficient exercise. Long hours, tiring days, family obligations, illness: they are all stumbling blocks, no matter what your occupation.
I have been recording my exercise weekly, mostly to keep myself accountable for reaching my goal (sometimes this works, sometimes I miss). If anyone reads this, I hope they will take this as encouragement to keep going, acknowledgement that it isn’t always easy.
As a reminder, my goal is to make sure that I get my 150 minutes a week of moderate exercise (or 75 minutes of high intensity exercise, which probably won’t happen).
I have been trying to incorporate strength training, with many set backs. At the start of 2020, I plan to start working (again) with a trainer, which has so far been the best way for me to do the work. My ultimate goal is to spend 60 minutes a week on this, though starting at 30 minutes a week is perfectly fine.
Last week was something of a disaster, as we had guests and had little time to work out. This week saw some improvement from the start.
- Saturday: I felt galvanized by writing up last week’s summary. Despite having lots of left over work to manage, I went out for a walk in the afternoon. 41 minutes walking.
- Sunday: I attended my first yoga class since being cleared to return. This was basically an 80 to 90 minute class (I will count 80, since I was slow and stiff). I had thought to go for a walk later in the day, but my muscles were already sore. I decided it was OK to stay home and rest.
- Monday: Training session. I think it was only 28 minutes, but I’m not complaining as I was sore from yesterday. I walked home, slowly and stiffly, for another 30 minutes.
- Tuesday: No exercise.
- Wednesday: This is usually a good day for a walk, but that didn’t work out. No exercise today.
- Thursday: A frustrating day at work, no exercise.
- Friday: Some of my walking between meetings registered with the Fitbit, for a total of 6 minutes.
Total: 77 minutes walking, 80 minutes yoga, 28 minutes strength training at the gym. Verdict: I think this is a win, as I certainly got 150 minutes of exercise. I’m deciding on whether counting the yoga time as general exercise and strength training is fair, or double dipping.