Thursday, July 23, 2009

The miracle of swimming!


I didn't join a gym (health club or whatever you want to call it) for anything other than hoping to lose a few pounds. Yes, there was that day when I got dressed, looked in the mirror and asked that age old question (to myself), does this make me look fat? Well, immediately I realized that it didn't make me look fat, it merely didn't cover where I am fat well enough.

That was probably 2 years ago. I have quite a lot of exercise equipment here at the house and thought I would quickly work it off. The problem with exercising at home is that there is always something to distract you and keep you from actually doing it. So I ended up doing it for a few minutes, maybe once a week or not at all.

So last Monday, we joined a very nice - I would even say swanky - health club. This health club is right at the base of the mountains, with a beautiful view and a huge outdoor pool. As hot as it has been we were immediately attracted to the outdoor pool. So for the past 3 days I have been swimming. Well, swimming is really an overstatement. I have been paddling around for about an hour a day. Just from 3 days of that (though actually two because I noticed it yesterday) something miraculous happened. No, I didn't lose the extra 10 - 20 lbs. What happened is that the constant pain in my neck, that I have had since a car accident several years ago, has totally disappeared. The pain in my back, that I have had for even more years, has decreased by at least 70%.

Seriously, I have been taking 2 -3 Advil tablets at least 3 times a day for years. The past two days I have taken 1 dose and that was when it was pouring rain and really super humid -- which totally freaks out my back. I can even turn my neck without it sounding like I just poured milk on a bowl of Rice Crispies! Truly, I am amazed!

OK, now if I can just lose a bit of weight I will be even happier. However, even if I don't lose a pound I will be there, paddling around. Exercise really does do a body good!

2 comments:

Regan Lee said...

I love to swim, or even if you're just paddling around, it helps. Water aerobics is fun too. I'm glad the water has helped you Lesley; good news.

Laziness is something I battle all the time; there's a great pool -- a sort of New Age healing kind of place, they have yoga classes and things -- but I have to drive too far to get there. And when I say "too far" I mean, it's like ten minutes away, lol. You've inspired me to think about it, lol.
Your view sounds beautiful too; there looking at the mountains...

LesleyinNM said...

I would suggest being picky about where you choose to go. Years ago, I belonged to another club and I never really liked it. I still went there for about a year, but I never wanted to go. The people at this club are mostly families and kind of new agey type people very friendly and nice. The ones at my old club were very sporty people (not all of them, but a lot), body builders and soccer players and such. I am sure they were nice people, but they were more interested in working out than saying hi or being friendly. They were just very serious about it and I felt out of place there.