Sustainable Exercise

Exercising has to be sustainable. Let me explain.

I walk for 30 minutes every day and I do some stretching exercises that also help with balance. I am always thinking that I need to "up my game" or increase my workout. So, recently while I was walking, I was thinking that I would include a 5 minute jog into the middle of my walk. Maybe I would do this at the half way point and then conclude the last 10 minutes with just walking to cool down.

But here's where that went wrong. I have to insert a little back story at this point. Two years ago, I tripped over a forklift at work and broke two bones in my right ankle, cracked some cartilage and tore some ligaments. Yeah, I messed it up pretty bad. I was pretty much housebound for 4 months. Then came the physical therapy, etc. Okay, finally about a year later, I was pretty much healed.

Or so I thought. The doctor said that arthritis had already set into that joint. So there is some soreness from time to time. But it is mostly healed, so I can live a normal life for the most part. It's just that my ankle is sore sometimes when I overdo it. Like for example, when I jog. At first, I thought it might be good for it to strengthen it, but no, that was wrong.

So, here I was trying to incorporate this little 5 minute job into my 30 minute walk, when It was getting sore sometimes. So what happens? I started avoiding my walk altogether because I wanted to avoid that soreness. I'm too proud to admit that it was a mistake to add the 5  minute jog. Then, it hit me. The 5 minute jog was simply for me, not sustainable. 

If anyone has read my little e-book that is available on Amazon, Sustainable Eating, they know that this is a big thing with me. Healthy eating HAS to be sustainable. And now I am realizing that healthy exercising HAS to be sustainable too. The 5 minute jog was causing pain and so I started dreading my 30 minute walk altogether. How foolish! 

At the end, I went back to my 30 minute pain-free walk. It's sustainable. It's easy to do. It's pain-free. The 5 minute jog was not. The moral to the story is this: If you want to incorporate lasting healthy life choices, they HAVE to be sustainable!

Here is the link to my book Sustainable Eating...