New Yorker cartoon improv exercise

We’ve gotten a little lazy of late, since we dislike going to the gym (yellow walls with black floors under florescent lights) and we spend so many long hours at our desks. We could get stymied by our slide into laziness by comparing ourselves to all those buff self-disciplined people that faithfully climb onto the treadmill at the crack of dawn. Instead, we took a cue from this New Yorker cartoon, and decided to improvise a workout for ourselves at home, to just START with something simple, and work up: a bit every day. We figure doing something is better than doing nothing. And who says we have to work out a gym: the right way is what’s right for us.

A trainer we know has been showing us exercises we can do at home, with no special equipment, using chairs, walls, floor, steps. (We’re planning to write a post about it, once we know more.) We’re amazed at what we can do at home IF we just get off our butts and start.

Which we did, today…doing a few reps of light weights, some squats and some wall push-ups, after we’ve warmed up with skipping-rope-without-a-rope. We’re going to try to build working out INTO our workday, as a break from blogging, to get our energy going, maybe 15  minutes at a time, whatever we can do in our own way, little by little…like walking fast instead of taking a cab (instant treadmill), and walking up stairs instead of taking the elevator to our apartment (instant Stairmaster). No special outfits necessary…(we work-out bare-footed at home).

We’ve recently gotten into some aerobic dance videos we found on YouTube, and have come to love the sweet, unbelievably upbeat Paul Eugene of Dance Dance Fitness:

He’s got a Gospel aerobics routine and one you can do in a chair. We find dancing is a great, amazingly uplifting way to get going. We watch Eugene for the moves and then put on our own music…Here’s the great James Brown singing Get Up Offa That Thing*. (Check out the astonishing video we posted recently of HIS dance moves.)

*from James Brown: 20 All Time Greatest Hits

Related post: roy arden’s blog: james brown’s dance lessons and homemade ferris wheels…

the fun theory of doing things that are good-for-us

treadmill desk p.s.: intelligent treadmill redesign

a (mind) game for cultivating resourcefulness

If you’ve found illumination, joy, or inspiration in this post, please consider supporting Improvised Life. It only takes a minute to make a secure donation that helps pay our many costs. A little goes a long way towards helping Improvised Life continue to live ad-free in the world.

Support Improvised Life ♥

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *