Tag Archives: Solitary Fitness

July 19, 2022 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: An Outdoor Adventures Reading List


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

A sun-dappled Ontario forest filled with healthy green trees and bushes. Spending time in nature is one of my non-bookish hobbies. My idea of a good time is taking a walk in the woods, by the beach, or in some other natural setting where I can let the sounds of birds tweeting and leaves rustling wash over me.

This is how serene and beautiful our forests are during the summer. (Yes, I took this photo). We have been seeing more ticks, including some that carry Lyme disease, in Ontario, so I always stick to the trails when I walk through our forests and check for ticks afterwards.

Taking a few precautions like this one is well worth the time I get to spend out in nature. There is nothing like noticing a rabbit, squirrel, or some other small creature hiding beneath a nearby bush and realizing it’s waiting to see how you behave before it decides when to run away.

I like to pretend like I haven’t seen them and keep walking on by. Sometimes they decide to stay hidden , while in other cases they suddenly scamper away in a flurry of motion.

The books on today’s list are a nice mixture of practical medical advice for outdoor adventures and ones that explore the many advantages of getting some exercise outdoors while the weather is warm and nice. I have read all of them and would recommend all of them. (Well, I actually read a similar first aid book that I couldn’t find online anymore. But close enough).

CPR, AED & First Aid Provider Handbook by Karl Disque Book cover. Image on cover shows close-up photos of people proving chest compressions during first aid.

CPR, AED & First Aid Provider Handbook by Karl Disque

 

ild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed Book cover. Image on cover shows a used hiking shoe.

1. Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed

 

 

Oh, the Places You'll Go! by Dr. Seuss book cover. Image on cover shows a drawing of a Dr. Seuss character standing on a rainbow top.

Oh, the Places You’ll Go! by Dr. Seuss

 

The Hidden Life of Trees: what they feel, how they communicate : discoveries from a secret world by Peter Wohlleben Book cover. Image on cover shows a drawing of one large and two smaller trees whose roots are intertwined underground.

The Hidden Life of Trees: what they feel, how they communicate : discoveries from a secret world by Peter Wohlleben

 

Grandma Gatewood's Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail by Ben Montgomery Book cover. Image on cover shows a photo of Grandma Gatewood hiking as she carries her jacket.

Grandma Gatewood’s Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail by Ben Montgomery

 

Medicine Walk by Richard Wagamese Book cover. Image on cover shows a photo of a path through a pine forest. No one is on the path.

Medicine Walk by Richard Wagamese

 

The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead by Max Brooks book cover. Image on cover shows a drawing of a gun and a sword crossing each other.

The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead by Max Brooks

Yes, that final title does talk about zombies, but the advice in it is wholly practical and can be used for all sorts of survival situations. I’ve even found it useful for more ordinary troubles like dealing with days when I’m feeling out of sorts and need to comfort myself.

I hope this list has encouraged you to spend time outdoors this summer if you can and if you’re interested. It’s a wonderful way to spend the summer in my opinion.

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December 14, 2020 · 1:00 am

Why You Should Commit to Your New Year’s Fitness Resolution Today

top view of person holding a red and white striped umbrella and walking on a thick layer of snow. Only their footprints and shadow are visible, not the person themselves.I find it interesting how we are all encouraged to over-indulge during multiple holidays from October to December only to be bombarded with weight loss and fitness ads come January 1.

To me, it makes so much more sense to continue on with the same healthy habits I follow the other nine months of the year and to build new ones than to throw everything out of the window between Canadian Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve.

I still have treats, and there are days when all of my exercise comes in the form of long – or even not so long – walks. With that being said, I do my best to stick to my regular habits as much as possible no matter what the date on the calendar says and to start my New Year’s Resolution a few weeks ahead of time for the following reasons.

Building Habits Takes Time

scrabble bricks that spell out the word "resolutions." Any lifestyle change takes time not only to turn into a habit but to preserve as a normal part of one’s routines.

Starting (or continuing) now will give you a head start on everyone making similar resolutions in a few weeks.

I don’t know about all of you, but I find it easier to stick to small changes in my daily habits if I begin them a few weeks before everyone starts talking about what they want to change about themselves or their lives in the new year.

Fitness isn’t a competition, but there’s something motivating about starting early to me. I like the feeling of already settling into the rhythm of a new habit before it becomes a common topic of conversation in my social circles. It’s not about winning. It’s about having the self-discipline to think about these things in advance and seeing what I can accomplish early on.

Many Different Types of Exercise to Try

black and white photo of woman dancingWill you be dancing? Lifting weights? Walking in a winter wonderland? Riding a stationary bike? Jogging? Playing sports? Something else?

What equipment will you need to purchase or borrow, if any?

What special workout clothing will you need to purchase or borrow, if any?

Which part of your home, yard, or neighbourhood will you be exercising in? If it’s property you own, does anything need to be spruced up or organized beforehand?

I prefer to keep things as simple as possible, especially when I’m trying something new out and have no idea if I’ll stick with that form of exercise in the longterm.

Whether you have a long list of things to accomplish before your first workout or you’re like me and prefer to wing it, these are considerations to start thinking about now.

It’s Great Stress Relief

woman sitting in lotus pose on a yoga mat at home

The holiday season can be a stressful time of year for many of us no matter what we’re celebrating.

One of the things I enjoy the most about sticking to a workout plan as much as possible and trying new forms of exercise when I can is the sense of relief I feel from these activities.

Working out is a chance to turn my brain off and live in the moment. Nothing else matter except that next dance move, yoga pose, kilometre walked, or set completed.

My goal is to get at least thirty minutes of exercise a day, but sometimes I extend a session or go out for another walk simply for the chance to focus on the way my body feels in those moments.

It’s often exhilarating.

If you make fitness-based New Year’s Resolutions, what goals will you be setting for this winter?

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February 3, 2020 · 1:00 am

3 Reasons Why You Should Try Mall Walking

Person wearing brown boots and blue denim. The're standing on snow and their boots are caked in snow. Mall walking is a form of exercise involving people walking briskly through the long corridors of shopping malls before the stores open for the day when there are very few other folks about.

This is the time of year when I begin to yearn for spring. It’s one thing to experience snowstorms in November and December when the memory of summer is still fresh in everyone’s minds.

Winter weather somehow feels even colder and snowier when it’s been happening for a couple of months already and can be expected to keep popping up for at least two more of them.

Luckily, Toronto has plenty of malls to walk around in while the temperatures plunge and snow falls outside. There is definitely something to be said for taking advantage of all of that dry, temperature-controlled space until April arrives.

If you haven’t tried mall walking yet this winter, here are three reasons why it might be a good idea to give it a shot.

It’s Scaleable

Child running up a flight of stepsWalking can be made as easy or as difficult as it needs to be to meet your current fitness goals.

It can be a short, gentle stroll through the mall for someone who is brand new to exercise or just coming back to it after an accident or illness.

A long, brisk power walk might be a good choice for someone who has been exercising for a while and wants to increase their endurance.

I’ve even seen people run up multiple flights of stairs while on walks in order to give their muscles and cardiovascular systems a bigger challenge. Note: I don’t recommend this one on busy days at the mall or other public places!

It’s as Sociable or Solitary as You Prefer

Two people walking indoors. There is a large wall filled with glass windows behind them. I’m the sort of person who loves walking with a partner or group of people. There’s something about walking and talking that makes both of those things much more appealing to me than they’d be on their own.

The nice thing about walking at a mall is that either of these options is perfectly safe and acceptable.

There are certain places like parks that I don’t feel safe visiting early in the morning and late at night when few other folks are around because I am a short, petite woman. This is even more true during the winter when the sun rises late and sets early.

Malls always have security guards patrolling them, and no matter how early I might show up in the morning I’ve always seen other mall walkers there as well.

I really like being able to get a walk in at the mall by myself or with someone else without needing to think about safety factors like these.

It’s Warm, Dry, and Indoors

People walking around in a brightly lit mallTaking an outdoor walk on a warm, spring day in Ontario is a pleasant experience.

In February? Not so much. Our winters can be beautiful, but they’re also generally wet, icy, and freezing cold for months on end.

While I definitely prefer walking outdoors, it is nice to have a place to go during the winter where you can unzip your coat and walk around without slipping on any ice or snow.

Malls have plenty of flat, even surfaces to walk on. The ones I visit are kept very clean and dry, especially if you visit early in the day before the biggest crowds show up.

There are times during winter and early spring when I impatiently wait for the weather to warm up again. I doubt I’ll ever look forward to this part of the year, but I do appreciate having such nice places to move around in while the weather outdoors is cold, icy, snowy, muddy, rainy, and sometimes all of those things at once in a single day!

If you live near a mall, how often do you go there to exercise?

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October 11, 2018 · 1:00 am

Why I Prefer to Exercise Alone

As I’ve mentioned here in the past, I didn’t learn to enjoy exercise until adulthood in large part because of my negative experiences in physical education classes.

To summarize that post for anyone who hasn’t read it yet, my gym teachers never explained why exercise was an important part of living a healthy lifestyle. It was something we were compelled to do without being told why it was important.

They also put such a heavy emphasis on competition and team sports that I didn’t realize there were many other options for those of us who have no interest in winning or playing on a team. While I understand that my school districts weren’t wealthy ones and couldn’t afford specialized equipment, in the post I linked to above I did come up with quite a few alternative forms of exercise that they could have incorporated into gym classes without breaking the bank.

It was only when I discovered all of the solitary, non-competitive ways to get a workout in that I began to look forward to this part of my regular routine. Not everyone has these same needs, but I’m happier exercising alone for the following reasons:

1. Peace and Quiet 

Some people are energized by loud music or the cacaphony of sounds that occur when a large group of people are all using the same facilities.

I am not one of them. While I do spend time in loud, crowded places, they are never the first place to come to mind when I’m deciding where I’d like to go. To me, this would be like going to your dentist’s office just to hang out and listen to the distant hum of the dentist drilling someone’s tooth to fix a cavity.

If that’s something you find amusing, fantastic. I can think of a very long list of places I’d rather be instead, though, and none of them involve drills or ear-splitting gym tunes.

2. No Scheduling Conflicts

Many of the people I know do not greet mornings with joy. While I’m leaping out of bed and feeling my highest energy levels of the day, they’re drinking coffee and barely keeping their eyes open.

If we were to attempt to synchronize our schedules, it would be tricky to balance their sleepy reactions to the morning with how I tend to behave in the evenings. There have also been times when my workouts lasted for shorter or longer periods of time than I thought they would based on how I was feeling that day.

Exercising by myself simply makes more sense until or unless I meet another unapologetic morning person who takes the same approach to fitness that I do.

3. Personalized Fitness Goals

As I mentioned above, competition does nothing to encourage me to exercise. In fact, it discourages me from pushing myself harder due to how much I dislike the winner vs. loser approach to getting fit.

What does work for me is to set personalized fitness goals that I can easily measure and track. This could be a short-term goal like increasing my step count or a long-term goal like reducing my body fat percentages. I like the process of keeping track of numbers like these and seeing how they change over time. If a friend wanted to see my statistics for some reason, I wouldn’t have a problem sharing them.

It’s the competition I’m really trying to avoid, and keeping my goals personalized is an excellent way for me to do just that.

4. Shorter, More Efficient Workouts

Occasionally, I have exercised with other people. It’s been my experience that a lot of folks enjoy talking throughout their workouts.

I enjoy conversations in just about any other setting, but I really don’t like pausing a workout in order to chat. If I’m lifting weights or walking briskly, I want to focus on how I’m moving my body instead of what so-and-so said last week.

Socializing is important, but I’ve found that I get much better results when I completely separate that from staying fit.

Do you prefer to exercise alone or with a group of people?

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