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Can't find time to exercise? Try this on your way to work
by Stephen Milton
Like many of you, I hold down a full time job, have a bunch
of kids at home, and life is very, very busy.
Looking for something else?
Before my kids
arrived, I had always managed to fit in some exercise,
usually by jogging. I was a fair weather jogger, which meant
that I gave it up in the winters, but I always managed to
come back to it eventually.
Then my first child was born and everything changed. Given a
choice between going for a jog in the morning and getting
some more sleep, sleep always won. Even as my son started
sleeping through the night, there seemed to be no time left
for anything. Getting him to day care, relieving my
exhausted wife, trying to get to work on time – I was stuck.
Jogging disappeared.
But exercise didn't. I realized that I would probably never
have another opening in my schedule for exercise now that
children were on the scene, but I knew exercise would make a
huge difference to my ability to cope with kids, family and
work. Not to mention the very real possibility that my
waistline was going to keep growing unless I did something
fast. So, I took a hard look at my schedule and found just
one opening for exercise: my travel time to work.
I live in a big city, and it takes about twenty minutes to
get to work by public transit. This had always been sacred
time for reading before, but I realized that this was the
only time in my schedule when I could exercise. I had to get
to work somehow – why not get my exercise by travelling to
work? So, I took up biking.
The Objections
I know what you're thinking – " I can't arrive at work all
sweaty!" Well, actually you can. Just bring an extra pair of
clothes to work, and slip into the bathroom when you arrive
and get changed. Few of us sweat so much that we'll soak a
second set of clothes.
Second objection: "I'll stink all day!" Not true. Most
people who sweat a lot don't stink, so a change of clothes
will fix the problem right away. For those of you who save
your odor for a small amount of sweat, the answer is simple.
Wipe down the stinky bits (you know where they are), and get
to work. You won't stink all day. However, you will get a
lot more done since your body will be very happy with you.
Next objection: It's dangerous. That depends on where you
are and what route you take. In my city, there is a bike
lane by the lake that removes the risks of cars altogether.
However, for some of my jobs, I need to take the streets,
and then it's just a question of being wary and well marked.
Cars need to be able to see you well at all times. I find
that thanks to parked cars, there is a de facto bike lane
most of the time anyway. Moving cars can't get too close to
the parked cars, and that leaves enough room for bikes to
get through easily. Keep your eyes open for opening doors,
of course, but that's not hard. You'll be amazed at how
alert you become, making the transit enjoyable rather than a
slog.
The advantages:
This is a great way to get in shape. Two bike rides of
twenty minutes or more each day is equal to all that
stationary biking people pay big bucks for at the club. And
they rarely go five days a week. Biking is free and great
for you. All sorts of aches and pains you thought were a
normal part of aging will slowly disappear as your body gets
in shape again.
This sort of exercise has benefits all day, and into the
night, too. Take note men: studies have shown that men who
work out for nine months will enjoy better sex lives,
greater desire and more frequent erections. Exercise fights
back the `bad' cholesterol that causes arteries to narrow.
Your sex life depends on excellent unrestricted blood flow
to one area of your body. Get the hint?
A great way to lose weight. You can easily burn 400
calories a day riding your bike. Just make sure that you
don't reward yourself with cookies and Cokes – they're so
packed with sugar that they can easily wipe out the
benefits. Switch over to diet drinks and you'll start to see
real changes in your waistline and heart rate very soon.
Give it a couple months to see benefits.
A great stress buster. We think of stress as being all
in our heads, but the truth is that it registers all over
our bodies. In my case, stress used to cause my back to get
all crimped up, as though the tendons were being pulled too
tight. Biking got rid of that entirely. Stress-inducing
events cause our bodies to release chemicals everywhere.
Exercise puts those `fight or flight' chemicals to good use
– basically, by fleeing on your bike, they melt away.
Your mind also gets something else to think about. Biking
takes more attention than sitting on a bus or being stuck in
a traffic jam, so your mind is distracted from the cares of
the workday. By the time you get home, you still remember
everything that happened at work, but it doesn't feel as
stressful. Biking is much easier than firing your boss.
A great way to be in the moment. This doesn't rank high
in our culture's priorities, but once you start getting it,
it will seem like the best part of biking. When you're on
your bike, you can't do anything else. You can't read, take
a cell phone call, play with a blackberry etc… You're just
biking, an activity that requires your mind and body
together, being observant and in synch. You can feel the
world on your skin - you'll actually feel what the weather
was like each day, rather that watching it through a series
of windows. There are a lot of Zen-like opportunities on a
bike that are very hard to get in any other standard form of
transit.
Last objection: what about bad weather? I found that in the
beginning I only rode when the weather was nice, and as a
result, I didn't ride very much (you can tell I don't live
in California!). I eventually realized that if I let the
weather call the shots, I wasn't going to be biking much. So
I decided to ride in all weather, provided it was safe. So,
I ride through rain, dressed in all rubber pants and coats
so I don't get wet (very cheap to buy). I won't ride if
there's fresh snow or ice on the roads. If the roads are
clear, I will ride until it reaches a few degrees below
freezing. Winter rides are among the most beautiful due to
the light and the crisp fresh air. If you dress in lots of
layers, the cold simply isn't a problem. But this kind of
riding takes some time to get prepared for, so don't worry
if you just start out riding in the summer.
Once your body gets used to it, you'll find it easy to ride
longer and further. You'll be hooked and happy like me and
thousands of others. Biking is cheap, environmentally
friendly and an extremely healthy way of getting to work. I
hope you give it a try. And it's never too late to start. I
started at 35.
Stephen Milton is the co-editor of The Turning Magazine, a free online magazine for skeptical, thinking Christians.
To reach Stephen, send emails to
theturning@theturning.org
