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Staying with Exercise

During my post-workout stretches behind Acker Gym last week, a female student paused to ask, "Why do you run?" Fair question. I responded, "This is my daily mini-vacation. It brings me outdoors to take in the day's weather and the beauty of this incredible place. It offers diversion from concerns of the day. I love the joy and exhilaration of movement, of my body in motion."

"I have such trouble staying with it for more than a few weeks," she said. I suggested she find whatever type of exercise works for her, make a four-month commitment, do it nearly every day no matter what, and the chances are high that she will continue, having reached a level of fitness by then that will make exercise an attraction, rather than an aversion.

My mind then drifted through some of the other reasons I run. My daily run is my personal stability zone, an anchor in my life, no matter what the pressures may be, whether or not I am traveling, whether it is a weekend or a workday, whether life seems stable or tumultuous, whatever my mood. This is my daily time for contemplation, planning, problem solving, and creativity.

The other fifteen waking hours are often spent carrying out ideas that have percolated during my runs. Some days this is my opportunity for solitude, as when I ran from campus to the Sacramento River and back last week. Other days it is a time for friendship and sharing.

There are periods like training for a half-marathon, when running presents a challenge to reach peak performance. Through my mid-forties, this meant how fast I could go. Now it means how much I can avoid slowing down over the years. Still, I love setting a performance goal. I focus patiently over weeks and months as I move through progressive steps of building speed and endurance, alternating one high-intensity day with one or two days of easier recovery runs.

Through my daily run, I release tensions of the day, both physically and emotionally. Running, especially focused training, has helped build a sense of inner control and mastery, qualities that I believe, over the years, have flowed outward into other parts of my professional and personal life in a kind of ripple effect.

Running increases energy the rest of the day. Research evidence suggests that fit people experience a more moderate physiological stress response during periods of intense pressure, as well as quicker recovery. As a member of a family-of-origin in which both parents and all six siblings were or are overweight, my lifetime of running has made weight control easy.

Finally, I run with confidence that doing so helps reduce chances of cardiovascular disease (my father and two of my three older brothers have suffered from heart disease, stroke, or both, as well as adult-onset diabetes). While I can't know for sure I won't meet the same fate, I know running and other types of regular exercise help prevent disease, deterioration, and premature decline.

Running, mixed with a bit of biking and lifting, happens to be my way. Yours may be walking, doing aerobics, swimming, whatever. Any form of consistent aerobic exercise will yield most of these same positive mental and physical benefits. If exercising does not come easily to you, here are several tips for getting started and sticking with it, whatever type you choose:

• Find the type of exercise you like.
• Make a four-month commitment.
• Build workouts into your weekly schedule.
• Use moderation, gradualism, and patience.
• Exercise with a friend or group.
• If helpful, set goals.
• Introduce variety.
• Do it even when you don't feel like it.
• If you miss a session or two, don't quit altogether.
• Be aware of negative self-talk (excuses) about exercise. Change it.
• Start.

Best wishes. Whether or not you live longer, you will live better.

-- Walt Schafer

Walt Schafer is the author of Stress Management for Wellness, ed.4, and the interm dean for the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences.