Move It Or Lose It

Yesterday was the first time in 3 months that the weather was good enough for me to take my bike out for a ride, here in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Temp was in the 50s and the wind had died down. (That's an event in itself.)

I live on a small hill in the middle of a bowl - so in order to get out of this bowl I have to climb another small hill, and then in order to get back to my house, I have to go up that hill.

Basically, a lot of hills. But hills with slight grades, nothing onerous.

So I was a bit surprised to find that by the time I returned to the hill to get to my house, I huffed and puffed on the way up, and really felt it in my legs.

After 3 months of being indoors and taking no exercise but a daily run up and down my staircase (repeated 5 times) I had certainly lost some fitness. So if the weather gets bad again...I'll be doing the staircase run 10 times instead of just 5.

But that's the thing. If you spend two weeks exercising, you'll start to be fit. If you take off a week, you'll lose some of that fitness. How much you lose depends on how fit you were to begin with. And of course your body helps too. If you are not overweight, just lost a little tone, it is easy to get back in shape. If you've not only not exercised but also gained weight, then you have to work a little harder.

Don't be afraid of hills, by the way, if you're a biker or even a walker. There is no quicker way to get in shape than to attaack that hill. Or get in shape gradually.

Basically, all you do is choose a hill, preferably a steep one but any one will do. Then ride your bike all the way up it as fast as you can. When you get where you absolutely can't pedal anymore, return to the bottom of the hill, rest for about 5 minutes, then try it again. You probably won't be able to get up as far as you had the first time. No problem. Return to the bottom and rest. Then try it one more time.

And that's your workout. Wait a day, to give your legs time to recover, and then go to the hill and repeat. After a month, I guarantee you'll be soaring to the top of that hill as if it wasn't there.