Time for Exercise

[Guest guest]

Wow! I'm really proud of all you people who are making the time to

train around your jobs, kids, family obligations. No one

understands this better than I do, having been a " been there, done

that. " I know how difficult it is and believe me, you are to be

commended. As several people stated, you can take better care of

your family if you take care of yourself first. The healthier and

more energy you have, the more enjoyable life is and the more you

can devote to your loved ones.

That said, what about exercising with these kids when possible? I

now live on The Broadwalk in Venice, CA. This is a very

population-dense neighborhood of locals who like living near the

beach. I realize not all areas have a bike and walking path like

the one that runs from Marina del Rey to the southern end of Malibu,

but So Cal is not the only place with good public facilities. Jim

and I, now living the life of leisure, do not set an alarm clock

(oh, happy day!). We usually wake up when the sun hits us in the

face. Our bedroom looks out over The Broadwalk and every morning

from about 6:30 to 8:30 you see people exercising before work. Many

of them are pushing infants and toddlers in special carts or pulling

them along on bicycles. And these kids are just loving it. Of

course, there is also the token dog. On the weekends, I also notice

many families all out rollerblading or biking. This time of year,

most are not tourists.

As kids get older, why not introduce them to the gym? In looking

back on my bad experiences with girls phys ed in school, most of it

stemmed from " team " sports. If you weren't a good athlete you were

sort of shunned. This is not good for teens who are already

self-conscious (over nothing really, but self-conscious

nevertheless). One thing about weight training or even cardio

classes is that you only compete with yourself. Sure you are going

to observe people in the gym with better physiques, but they all

started at the beginning at some point in time. Although you don't

see kids like this at Gold's, I did see them at Family Health in

Santa . I used to try to encourage them as best I could to

keep at it. Even younger kids can be started on supervised weight

training. This is probably a better time since many want to do

everything Mommy or Daddy does anyway, and they are still limber and

can be taught proper form.

But again, all you folks who are so dedicated, Bravo!

Rosemary