I've been trying to get more exercise into my daily and weekly routine.
When I was in my 30s, I was doing tae kwon do between four and six times a week. When I started, I had just turned 30 and I weighed about 180 lbs. I needed to find a way to get some exercise, so I tried martial arts. I earned by first degree black belt 3 years later and my second degree black belt 4 years after that. In order to do that, I took class four, five, six times a week, as well as teaching once or twice a week. I was get a LOT of exercise. I didn't get thin, but I did get in shape.
Being in shape was required. To test for my second degree black belt, I had to pass the physical fitness test devised by the head instructor at my school. Danny was a sixth degree black belt and had been athletic all his life. His idea of being in shape was to be seriously in shape. Our physical fitness test was truly a test - an endurance test as well as a physical test of our martial arts skills. We had to do a certain number of reps for each of 10 exercises, each for 30 seconds. For example, step-ups on a bench. 30 seconds doesn't sound like a long time, but on that 10th exercise, 30 seconds was forever. Then, we had to do a second round of those 10 exercises, again for 30 seconds each, and do at least as many reps the second time through as we had the first time through. THEN, we had to do a 2-minute round with the heavy bag, just hands; then 2 minutes just feet; then 2 minutes hands and feet. AFTER THAT, we had to spar each of the adult black belts in the room, including the instructors, both point and continuous (in my case, 6 students and 3 instructors). The whole test took 90 minutes. By the end of it, I had a black eye (I was dropping my right hand apparently), and I was as exhausted as I had ever been in my life. But I had proved that I was in shape. And ready to test for my second degree.
After I got my second degree, I decided to stop doing tae kwon do. I didn't want to get my third degree, and the instructors ran out of things to do with me since I wasn't really trying to progress. I taught some of the other adults trying to get their second degrees more than I really worked out. Which was okay, but not really what I was there for. So in the end, I stopped.
I had been going to the gym during the time between my first and second degrees - I knew that test was coming! - and so I started going to the gym more frequently instead of going to tae kwon do. Four or five times a week, an hour at a time. It did a pretty good job of keeping me in shape.
But when I was getting my MBA, I wasn't able to spend as much time at the gym. I still got to the gym three times a week, but it wasn't quite enough. After I graduated, I got a job that required long hours. Or irregular hours. And so I got stuck at three workouts a week. Depending on the week, sometimes it's only two. And really I'd like to get a fourth time in. I really, really want to get back to the kind of shape I was in right before my second degree test. When I did that physical fitness test.
But I'm 46, not 30. And even if I do get to the gym or go for a run, four times a week is getting pretty hard on my body. Or maybe it's just that I'm not consistent about it anymore. Tonight, I tried to go for a run after work. By the time I got home and fed the animals, it was about 7:00. And I just couldn't get the juices flowing. All I felt was pain. My knees hurt. My right Achilles tendon was aching. Then a tendon on the front of my left shin started to pull. So I ended up not running. I just didn't feel like I should push it with those aches and pains. I was afraid that this older body just couldn't do it.
I have started doing yoga one day a week, and I do like it. But I worry that doing low-impact workouts three times a week just won't feel like as much exercise as the high-impact workouts I'm used to. I want to be able to keep up with the high-impact workouts. But I think the reality is the reality. I am older. And maybe I'll just have to resign myself to being older.
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