Everything Counts
During the time I worked at the University of Minnesota, our
research lab was relocated to a new facility. While the building
was beautiful, brand new, and state of the art, it was even
farther away than before from the commuter lots where I routinely
parked. Since there was virtually no hope of my landing a contract
parking spot, there were days where I couldn't help but verbalize
my frustration with this 8-10 block daily annoyance. I seemed
to constantly be arriving in lab with a nice "glow" indicative
of the speedy hike that I'd just taken in an attempt to arrive
on time.
When I was pregnant with our second child, this hike became
even more of a nuisance, and when other pedestrians began
to find me useful as a windbreak, I decided to try to take
the shuttle bus more frequently. Although nice in theory,
this was also usually a less than ideal standing-room-only
situation. I frequently found myself wondering whether I would
topple over in my awkward state at every stoplight, or if
my active child would begin booting some poor student squeezed
into the space in front of me.
Once Owen was born and I returned to work, I still wished
for some more convenient parking options, but I also was longing
for more time for exercise. I was pretty convinced that my
stomach muscles had left on an extended vacation, and I had
hopes of encouraging at least some of them to return. At some
point, rather than be continuously frustrated with the inability
to find much "traditional" exercise time, I decided that I
could boost my morale by beginning to count less conventional
activities as exercise.
The first task was to accept my walk to and from the car
as a gift. If I did nothing else all day, I could scurry back
and forth to the car, and this could even be modified by parking
in the furthest corner of the lot�okay, so I never really
did that. The point was that the hike was good for me. It
was even better if we happened to have an 8 a.m. meeting-more
pressure to be on time, and this often required a "speed"
workout. I began to give myself bonus points for little extras,
sometimes tiny extras. Rather than take the elevator, I tried
to make a habit of hiking up the stairs (only a few flights).
I'd get to work and think, "Alright! I'm doing great!" If
I had to hoist heavy rotors in and out of a centrifuge during
the day, this was even better. For the super-deluxe workout,
I would recommend the Margaret trait of carrying as many bags
and peripherals as possible to and from the car. I was notorious
for carrying a duffel bag of very important papers back and
forth most of the time, always with the sincere intent that
I would read all of this material after the boys were in bed.
Yeah, right. Nonetheless, it adds a certain strength element
to the hike that can be coupled with the speed workout previously
mentioned.
Of course, this line of thinking can only lead to the fact
that my list of "things that count" as exercise has become
pretty extensive. Maybe it helps me to laugh at myself every
so often when I face the reality of life with responsibilities
to people other than myself. There are just days when despite
my best intentions, that planned run or bike or hike never
materializes because of the other things that had to take
a higher spot on the priority list. So, while it's always
great if one can just work harder to be more efficient with
time, to get up earlier, or to stay up later, we are not superhuman
all of the time. In order to deal with my own mortal qualities,
I have had to lower some of my expectations, and also have
allowed myself the privilege of a pat on the back for all
sorts of newly defined exercises.
The two young children in my family, not surprisingly, contribute
substantially to various forms of parental exercise. For example,
carrying a car seat with 9-month old infant can be a great
workout for your arms. All sorts of upper body workouts can
be devised by carrying children for varying lengths of time,
at different ages (the older the child, the more points you
get), and in different positions. Carrying a little one while
pushing a shopping cart (because they refuse to sit down or
have fallen asleep) is a particularly good exercise as it
involves different muscle in both arms. Just be sure to switch
arms in order to get an equivalent workout on both sides.
If you experience a melt-down, or serious tantrum, you are
especially privileged. Your fast-twitch muscles will definitely
be called upon as you attempt to prevent harm from coming
to your squawking toddler or any innocent passersby. If one
of your offspring gets "fizzy" feet from sitting on them and
causing loss of blood circulation, encourage him to hop up
and down in order to stimulate increased blood flow, and by
all means join in this unexpected chance at exercise!
At home, avoiding the inevitable toy land mines is another
bonus for working on dexterity. Several quick passes through
our family room on any given day provide a wonderful obstacle
course of toy trains and dinosaurs that would only be improved
upon if I could somehow set the room on an incline for a hill
workout. Any kind of housework can be counted for big points.
Vacuuming, in particular, offers a great opportunity for aerobic
activity, especially if any stairs are involved. If you are
so fortunate as to be doing any remodeling, I can personally
recommend ripping up carpet and pulling down old wallpaper
as excellent forms of upper body workouts. If you can, try
to find wallpaper that is several layers thick and requires
serious scrubbing-this is wonderful for your triceps! Outdoor
jobs are easy points to acquire as well, since jobs like raking
and mowing are an inevitable task of many homeowners. If you
have to bag your leaves of grass clippings, haul them to a
compost site yourself, but leave the bags out at least for
one good rain so that they are good and heavy when you finally
haul them away.
Okay, so most of you are still saying, "Yes, but that doesn't
sound nearly as nice as a good hike or a pleasant jog." You're
right, but the point is that we lead complicated lives and
I for one have a bad habit of feeling as though I'm not doing
enough most of the time, of wishing I had more time to dedicate
to all of the things near and dear to my heart. It helps to
lighten up, to try to give yourself as much credit as you
can for even the little things. I'll still hope for the time
management skills to fit in a good workout on most days, but
when I can't, I'll try not to beat myself up because of it.
I'll find something else that I can count for that day, and
hope for a more conventional workout the next day.
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Margaret is married to Bruce Adelsman, and they have two young boys
who hopefully will be future cross-country skiers. She skied competitively
at Bemidji High School and Bemidji State University during the 1980's,
and then in some citizen races in the early 1990's while in graduate
school. She hopes to share new commentaries on a periodic basis
related to various aspects of life as a cross-country skier.