Fitness For the Fun of It

Beginning to see a pattern here? Paul can’t wait to break a sweat with his next renovation project, climb on the jungle gym, or give an after-dinner piggyback at the request of his three-year-old, And as Joan says of her time running around like a teenager in her duties as a volunteer coach, “It’s the most rewarding part of my day.”

Which says it in a nutshell. Some people participate in a sport; others discover a hobby. Whatever it is, it should be something that satisfies you and that you actually look forward to doing. Fitness after 5 o’clock, in short, should be for the fun of it.
But nothing that comes even close to inducing a sweat could fill that bill, you say?

l challenge you to test that claim. Below are some ideas for leisure»time activities that are fully capable of providing substantial fitness and fat burning benefits, yet would be very difficult, indeed, to classify as one:

If you have children, involve them. Take them for nature walks, or even just walks to the nearest ice cream store if you live in the city (and don’t worry, you’ll have earned yours). Or do sporting activities with them — play ball, Frisbee, tennis, badminton, even horseshoes or croquet. You’ll at least be doing more than watching Wheel of Fortune, and you’ll also be getting your children into the healthful pattern of being active — very important for influencing their exercise behavior as adults, studies show.

If you own a home, improve it. And don’t worry if you know as much about dovetail joints as Joan.

Hoodwink a friend who does know, and work along as a helper. Or hire a professional if no such friend exists, and work along on weekends until you know enough to go it alone. (That’s the way Paul got started. He took his vacation one summer to work alongside the carpenter building his deck and learned enough to remodel his family room. Not only did he lose five pounds during those two deck-building weeks, but he also saved himself about $40O!)

If you’re a competitive type, compete. Sports can be especially suitable for those of us who inherently seem to get ourselves too busy, because they can help channel the aggression that makes us overbook ourselves in the first place. Besides, activities such as tennis, softball, racquetball, and squash can be great exercise as well as fun.

Why come home and crunch more numbers when you can crunch the likes of a tennis ball instead? Research confirms that we aggressive types do best when we let our aggressions out, so we’d be foolish not to do so in ways capable of bettering our health along the way.

If you like animals, show it. Amazing but true: Studies show that pets can help us live longer; they are sources of comfort more important than we realize. So what better way to grab a few extra years than by taking Fido for more of those walks he craves? Or even Morris?

Undertake the care and riding of something as large as a horse, and you could really have some exercise on your hands. As the American Council on Exercise poster that pictures a dog states, “Think of him as an exercise machine with hair.”

If you like vegetables, grow them. How many avid gardeners do you know looking plumper than their tomatoes? Not many, and the reasons are simple: Vegetables are virtually fat»free, and gardening can make for some awesome exercise. The digging builds cardiovascular endurance as well as muscular strength, and the weeding and picking are great stretching movements. Start delivering all those extra tomatoes to neighbors by foot, and you’ll really have a victorious garden on your hands.

If you like dancing, just do it. Dance instruction has come a long way since Arthur Murray taught the tango.

There’s now improvisational jazz dance to be learned, disco, ethnic, and of course square dancing and ballet, in addition to the ballroom types that Arthur stepped so well. So if you like to move to rhythms — which a lot of us do, as demonstrated by all the Walkmans we wear — dance is the best way to do it. It also can be a real sweetheart of a calorie-burner, as the physiques of the great dancers attest.