Exercise - It's what you do!

You might say I'm a planner. I first began lap swimming, back when I was a freshman in college. I had been in pretty good shape from playing soccer in high school, but I was no longer running every day and could detect that I was already in poorer shape than just a year earlier. Furthermore, I had seen middle-aged people who were out of shape, trying to get in shape, and doing a horrible job at it, because they had just let it go too long. Was I already on that slippery slope? Being a cocky young kid, I decided I knew the way. I decided I would start exercising now (at 18) and thus never have to "catch-up" when I was older. To do this, I decided I would swim laps - I've always loved the water and had been a life guard for the past two summers. It would at least get me "buff" for the chair (disclaimer note - I've never achieved "buff"). After some serious muscle aches every time I went swimming, I realized that when I took time off (a few days or more) and then resumed, I had to start all over again. It was then that I decided I would try to go every chance I got - six or seven times a week. That turned out to be the best decision - after my wife and kids - I ever made. I found that by thinking of exercise not as a choice, but what I do, I could get there. When I made excuses, or found reasons to not go, that is when I would slip. Having the daily routine got me there. Today, I actually get what I call "body sad" when I don't get in my 2,200. My advice, don't make exercise an option, make it a lifestyle, make it what you do. You eat, sleep, work, use the privy, and you exercise - not in that order.