Busting the Comfort Zone (Fitness)

Sports/fitness/exercise and I don't always see eye to eye.

I'm uncoordinated, have slow reflexes and don't enjoy sport.

My 8 yo laughs at me for being unable to swim, cycle and run.

My hubby has been nagging me for years to exercise more, but it's one of those things: if I don't enjoy it, I don't bother.

I did the gym/aerobics thing when I lived in SG.

Last year, I managed several months of Body Balance classes at Fenix Fitness and stopped going before my membership expired.

I just didn't have enough of a reason to keep turning up.

Especially when the weather got cold.

This year, I tried something different. Incidental exercise is the key. I have to be doing something else that's enjoyable, with fitness as a bonus.

So I signed up with Back2Basics Studio at Tarneit CC for their dance class for seniors. (Seniors means 18+ - I think).

Just coz I've always wanted to learn how to dance.

When I rocked up to my first class, I and two other ladies - and the instructor - were the only adults.

The rest were teenagers who had been with the class for at least a year and knew what 'corner work' meant.

It's been a month now and I have to confess that though I am tempted to skip lessons on Sat morning, by 12.30 when the class is over, I am usually feeling extra alive and proud of myself for having made it. I haven't decided how far to take this (year-end concert??), but there is no question it's been the right decision so far.

Today, I did another new/old thing: I went back to the pool.

It's been 6 years since I've put on bathers and I have to confess, I've been hiding behind my children.

I take them to Paul Sadler's...the Werribee outdoor pool...and cheer them on as they get to the next level and the next.

But I never bothered to do anything about my own lack of technique and stamina.

A month ago, I bought myself this gorgeously modest Tornado swimsuit online. I thought I would have to return it when I took it out of its ziplock bag: it was so narrow it looked one-dimensional.

This morning, I squeezed into it and took myself to the Leisure Centre. I checked out the lanes, talked to the lifeguard, read and re-read the instructions on how to hire a locker...all the time rehearsing in my mind the order of things to do...before finally heading to the changing room for my life-defining moment.

I know, so drama right. But that's how it felt walking out into public view in my bathers. Kids do it all the time and no one gives a second glance. But I feel as if I (and my psoriasis-stricken legs and arms) are on display.

Just like when I was a self-esteem-deprived teen.

The good news is: I overcame my inner critic sufficiently to get into the pool and do my laps.

I still fear the deep end (1.6m+ is my definition of DEEP).

But I know my daughter will be very proud of me when I tell her at pick-up time that Mum finally went swimming today. :-)