Sunday, November 22, 2009

Defining "Fit"

I can't tell you how many times I'm complimented on my level of fitness. I'm constantly hearing things like. "Wow, you're in such great shape", and these compliments come from people, male and female, many times much younger than me, and people that have never had any "real" weight to lose. In fact, this past Halloween season two of my young (20-23 year old) Swing Class students told me they thought I should be Wonder Woman for the Holiday! Goodness, how lucky am I?

So what defines "fit"? What are you "fit" for?

Well, I die in Spin class. And I don't have a natural talent for any kind lifting that requires "pressing" or using whole body tension for strength, And...I can not run a mile....one mile, without gassing out! So what the hell am I fit for?

I am fit to swing, snatch, squat, andf push press kettlebells.....non stop, for-ever........cool! Because of this base fitness level I've created training kettlebells, I've set myself up to try and succeed, to some level, at many other exercises that require some sort of, any sort of, level of fitness.....I have that.

What kind of athlete are you? I talk to many people about programing kettlebell workouts and I often ask this question.....who are you? Are you a "runner", are you a "lifter", are you a "triathlete", are you a "yogini"? Who, or what sport do you indentify with? And what do you need to be fit for?

I love Bikram's yoga, but I'm not a "Bikram's Yoga Champion", nor do I want to be one....it's just not at the top of my priority list. I may become a Bikram's Yoga Instuctor, but not a "Champion"....right now, LOL!

I love Spinning, and Cycling, but I'm not a "Cyclist". It's too dangerous on the streets where I live, I'm not going to invest the money for a state of the art bicycle, and all the (really cool) gear associated with being a "cyclist"......and I'd have to give up alot of other things to take this "sport" on. I'll settle for the imaginary road inside the Club, LOL!

My energy level is huge. I have a huge work capacity to do all kinds of things from moving furniture, grocery shopping everyday, cooking all of my own meals, everyday (and cleaning up!), attending and participating, to the fullest, all kinds of exercise classes, daily, teaching exercise classes (kettlebells, of course) not to mention......I'm 46 years old.....I'm not young as I used to be, lol!

So what am I "fit" for? Life. My good life.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I can't run a mile either. In fact, I despise running. But give me a kettlebell and I can swing away.

I'm fit for yoga too, but have never tried Bikram. The intensely heated room makes me a little apprehensive.

Tracy Reifkind said...

saremca,

When I weighed 250+lbs, I would've been happy to be fit enough to get myself up from the ground, at that time I still had some youth on my side.

People forget as we get older, we get weaker, and being fit for life becomes more important than ever.