After being snowed in with the kids for 5 days, I am ready to be back at the gym.  I NEVER THOUGHT I WOULD SAY THAT.  Honestly, I’m ready to be anywhere that adults hang out.  I might attack one of them.  We’ll see. 

I joined the YMCA about a year ago when some friends of mine started raving about their wonderful yoga class.  I went one time and was instantly hooked on yoga.  I could lie on the floor, wiggle around a bit and be sore the next day like I’d actually accomplished something.  How fabulous!  Previously, I had all of the typical excuses for not joining the gym:

1. I hate exercise.
2. I can’t afford it.
3. I hate exercise.
4. It would be a waste of money.
5. I hate exercise.

For the first few months, I participated in the yoga class and ran long boring laps about the gym track.  I can’t run on treadmills because I feel like I run and run and run and never get anywhere.  However, oddly enough running around in a full circle over and over and over doesn’t really bother me.  After a while, my knees began to ache and the doctor told me that I needed to lay off running or I would wind up having surgery before I turned thirty.  Single mom’s have no time for knee surgery.  I felt so defeated!  Against every instinct within me, I had kept up with this horrible daunting routine for the sake of my body and it was my body that revolted and halted my progress.

And then I considered swimming.

I swam competitively in my younger days but hadn’t been in a pool, without the company of a Corona, in well over ten years.  However, the pool looked cool and inviting and the regular swimmers seemed to have no struggle at all.  Surely this would be like water yoga!  Why had I wasted so much time on the boring running track??  I went to the store and purchased the following items (and I suggest you do the same if you want to take up swimming):

• Competitive swimsuit.  A lap pool is no place for a bikini – not that I own one anyway.
• A decent pair of goggles.  I personally like Nike swim gear.
• A swim cap to harness any flowing locks that will try and choke you death when you breathe. 
• A pair of flip flops because athlete’s foot is from the fiery pits of hell.

My first day of swimming, I looked like a pro – right up until the moment I actually got in the water.  One lap in I realized, “This is NOT yoga.  This is freakin’ hard.” After two laps, I seriously contemplated just letting myself drown in the deep end, so the lifeguard would have to tote my butt out of the water and back to dry land where it belonged.  Because I am not a quitter (quite stubbornly so), I swam two more laps.  The next day I did two more.  And the day after that I was up to ten.  Somewhere along the way I fell in love with the water all over again and four days a week you will find me in the pool.

The swimming adventure has taught me one thing: that fitness doesn’t have to be miserable.  You simply have to find something that you can fall in love with.  You can’t expect the love to be immediate, but once you start seeing results, the effort is worth it.

Need more motivation?  Google Dara Torres.  She’s a FIVE-time Olympian at age 41 and broke a World Record just three weeks after giving birth in 2006.  She’s my hero.

Wanna try swimming but aren’t really sure where to start?  Here’s a great video: