In Which I Finally Jump on the Fitness DVDs Bandwagon

Despite what you may initially think, this really isn't a commercial for fitness dvds, I swear. It's a story. Kind of.

Although I appreciate working out, it still feels like working out. I have never been one of those women who really looked forward to an hour of alone time where I'd strap on the tennies and crank up the iPod and hit the jogging trail or the gym.

It might have helped to have had a regular "exercise buddy," although I doubt it, because time I spend with my friends is usually time where we catch up on one another's lives, and seriously, who still has the breath to chat in between wind sprints or while you're muttering curses at the freakin' elliptical machine? (Oh how it steals my soul ...)

And it's not as though I'm not athletic or a hater of physical activity. On the contrary, I do enjoy playing sports and dancing -- I played soccer for years, even competitively and then for my high school, and I've taken tap classes for a few years. But I just need a reason to move around that much, that's all.

Anyway, for the last several months my desire to/commitment to/time for exercise had fluctuated somewhere between zero and zero.

Until recently, one day, I had a revelation. That being that 1.) Some women are immune to cellulite, but I am not one of them, and 2.) There exist magical exercise routines that accelerate heartbeats, work an impressive number of muscles, burn big globs of calories AND last only 10 minutes. Only 10 minutes! Sign me up!

So it turns out that these days, because life is so fast-paced and people seem to find it increasingly difficult to make time for physical activity, experts have found ways to exercise smarter instead of harder. And studies are showing that even fitness routines that are only 10 minutes long -- if planned appropriately and done frequently and consistently -- can be just as effective, if not more effective, than hour-long routines that involve fewer movements, work fewer muscles, don't burn nearly as many calories or build as much lean muscle.

But where are these magical routines?!

Well, Amazon.com, of course.

And that is how it happened. That is how I, Sway Sovay, finally jumped on the bandwagon of fitness dvds. Because it's honestly the only thing that has lasted longer than a week since I stopped taking dance classes once a week.

It was so easy to make excuses before ...
I don't want to pay for a gym membership.
My gym clothes are in the laundry.
I don't want to work out alone.
I'm too tired.
I don't have enough time.
It's too hot/cold/rainy outside.

But now all those excuses are invalid. I don't have to pay to go to the gym, because now I can work out in my living room, in 20 minutes, in whatever crappy clothes I can find. And I don't need a friend to work out with me, because frankly, my living room is only big enough for one person to move around that much anyway, and also, the woman on the dvd talks enough as it is. And the "I'm too tired" excuse will hopefully never leave my lips, because it will mean that I am too dang lazy to pop in a dvd and press the Play button.

This is also how that other thing happened, that being how I became so stiff and sore that I now walk around like an automaton most days at work.