Day 14: Exercise?

DH came into the kitchen after taking a work call and recapped his conversation with a coworker about exercise.  I know he is bemoaning the fact that he can’t play his weekly team sports, but I couldn’t help but suggest he go walking.

Not that walking is a good replacement for skating with a puck skirting between your stick and someone’s legs.  But at least it’s something.

Later this afternoon I found myself in an awkward position.  I dug a Zumba exercise kit out of the back of the basement closet, dusted it off, and brought it upstairs.  DH had retreated to the basement to distract himself with a video game.  Munchkin was hidden in his room playing an online game with a friend. This left me with the upstairs TV and living room in which to workout.

First I made sure the basement door, and my son’s bedroom door were shut.  I slid the disc into our old PS3; we don’t have a DVD player anymore, and pushed the coffee table out of the way.  Soon Latin music filled the room and I rushed to close the blinds in an effort to prevent my neighbors from seeing my furtive exercise.

Now it’s been YEARS since I attempted such a feat as a Zumba class. Considering the BIG bday is in May, insert funny picture here, I tried my best to keep up with the slender instructors who looked like they could be back-up dancers for J Lo.  And I waited for DH to come upstairs to complain about the noise as my feet slammed the hardwood floors and my hips tried to sway to the beat.  And arms?  I was supposed to add arms?  Ugh!

Twice I stopped the video to find out how much more of this torture I was in for.  I swore that the Optimum box lied about the time.  The damned PS3 wouldn’t reveal any time secrets either.  So I kept trying to focus on the instructor’s feet, and waaaay too happy voice, to keep moving in ways this almost BIG birthday body has not moved in a long time. It’s true when people tell you that you will feel old(er) once you make your way past 45.

Suddenly a promotion for purchasing Zumba gear scrolled across the bottom.  The video was over.  “Where’s my cool down?” I yelled at the screen.

But I did it! 45 minutes of trying to work out while looking furtively over my shoulder to make sure neither DH nor Munchkin were watching.  God, I miss the gym!

This is what exercise might be like during the Covid 19 pandemic.

I think I will try to get up early so I can use the basement for the next workout DVD.

Truthfully, I am grateful I can work out at all.

I am sure that many of you stuck in home are living in smaller spaces, or spaces where you can’t make much noise.  But since I am still settling into our new reality, I thought I’d adopt one healthy habit: exercise.

Namaste