A precious perk of my career is the friends I make along the way. So many of my best friends have crossed my path through fitness and especially through the IT FIGURES tv show and HIGH ADVENTURE trips in the Canadian Rockies. One of my beloved girlfriends is a German gal who was living near Washington DC when she first came to Lake Louise for High Adventure years ago. She is exquisitely bright and wickedly funny.
Ever since I met Frau P (wearing red in the Winter High Adventure photo above), she has been fighting cancer. She has now moved back to her homeland where her medical needs can be met. In good times and bad, she continues to live fully and sparkle. I think she probably has every video I’ve made and awhile back, she sent me this list of thoughts she uses to keep her exercise on track. I asked if I could share them with you and she generously gave her permission.
So, all that is written below is from the delightful mind of Frau P. I hope that her words will motivate you to enjoy life fully, enjoying all the talents, skills and opportunities with which you've been blessed.
Happy New Year,
Charlene
FROM FRAU P...
Life Lessons I've Learned From CAP's Fitness Tapes:
1. Make every workout your own. Push your envelope, but know your limits.
2. Exercise doesn't have to be perfect. It just needs to be done regularly and consistently to have some effect.
3. Something easy is almost always followed by something hard. (I think of life as the ultimate interval training.)
4. Exercise not only adds years to your life, but adds life to your years. Fitness skills translate into better living.
5. Someone in her late fifties can easily whip someone in her late forties any day.
6. Your body really will adapt to what you ask it to do after it stops swearing at you for days.
7. Failing is winning! (This applies to muscle training and not to high finance, marriage, or poor business judgment!)
8. Breathe deep!
9. Get up and go to class! In other words, walk through stuff on your off days, and rest when you need to.
10. No matter how tough it gets, smile, because the stretch segment is coming, baby!
"Get up and go to class" is what I tell myself every day, particularly post-transplant, when I've been struggling with fatigue. I'm doing much better now than I was early this fall, but there are days when I'd rather stay in bed than get up, pop in a DVD or video, and work out. On days when I was really wiped out, I would at least attempt the first 10 minutes of some of your easier videos. I found that if I could get through the warm-up, I was fine, and I could do the rest of the tape. If I had to minimize some of the movements, I did so. Afterwards, I always felt so much better. Now, if I truly could not get through the warm-up, I knew that my body really did require rest.
