This is a new blog dedicated
to a fitness and well being project over the next few years. Let me start by
telling you how my ideas started and how I ended up with London to Rio.
I loved watching the Olympics this year, it
was inspiring. Our country does seem to respond well when it comes down to the
important stuff. On home ground with a home crowd our Team GB did an amazing
job which made the whole country feel proud.
There was something that started me thinking
while watching all those fit bodies and the dedication and focus that they had
in order to train to be the best. I realised that I have never been really fit.
Yes, i have been fitter than I am now,
but never really fit.
Now don't assume for one moment that I have ideas
above my station and intend to enter for the Olympics in Rio or anything. Never
fear. I have only just started taking
responsibility for my own body. I am ashamed to say that I am not in an ideal
starting place for fitness. I am 47, I am overweight, I have Lupus,
fibromyalgia and Antiphospholipid Syndrome. This is not the best place to
begin, I do realise that. But what could I do? How fit could I
get? I just started wondering where I
would be in four years time in terms of health and fitness. I thought back over
all the Olympics I remember and realised that four years passes in a blink of
an eye and that if I did not take this opportunity to get a grip by the time
the next Olympics come around in 2016 I would be over 50, overweight, with blah
de blah syndromes.
I talk to people every day with problems and
it constantly brings home the basics to me - without health, we have nothing.
Once we pass 40 we are finding that bits are starting to drop off gradually.
Our bodies which we have (possibly - not all of us I agree) abused and
disregarded and assumed it would just do its job, is no longer bouncing back
with such efficiency. We are starting to make regular trips to the doctor for
something or other.
We are not feeling our best
and yet we continue to lead our lives in the same way and do very little about
taking responsibility for the food we put into our bodies and the amount of
activity we do. We go from our computers to our cars to the television and we assume
that our bodies are doing OK until we find another bit has fallen off. I am of
course stating the worst case scenario. I know we all make an effort sometimes
and go for the odd walk or join a gym for a while, or try and go to a zumba
class, or swimming. But can we stick to anything properly? It seems to be a
common theme among human kind that we find it very difficult to actually keep
going at anything so that we reach a certain level of fitness.
I would like to make changes to myself and I
will keep a journal of how I progress. In the meantime, although I obviously
don't have the energy to drag anyone else along I would like to inspire and
encourage. The first group meeting will be on the 14th September 2012 and I
have decided to hold a meeting every other month. This is not to chivvy others
along and compare notes and see how others are doing. It is purely with the aim
of helping people keep focus by marking time and introducing new and different
activities that may encourage people to get a more active lifestyle. It is not
for me to treat it like a patronising club where we are all asked individually
how much we have done and if not why not. That is not what this is about. This
is to encourage, inspire, support, and examine in ourselves how we can take
more responsibility for our own health. I am organising group walks, wild
swimming, cycling. It is fine if I end up doing it on my own, I don't mind! But
I am giving people the opportunity to explore if they want to, in the company
of other like-minded folk. This blog therefore will record my personal efforts
as well as recording how the group progresses and what happens with other
people within the group.
I may explore different
aspects of my illnesses, I'll try not to be a bore about these! I have become
convinced that the greatest weapon against all of them is exercise.
