Exercise Could Be Twice As Good for Writers by Astrid Paramita
I’m not a fitness trainer or someone who has a medical degree. I’m just someone who spent most of her working life sitting in front of a computer. I’m also not very good in sports. Actually my sports ability is probably almost equal to an idiot. My sports grade is at best in the top five... from the bottom.
Then why do I keep exercising? Apart from the usual health benefits, exercise clears my head, and helps me learn a thing or two about persistence. For me, to be a successful writer is to master the persistence game; it’s about how long I could stand training to be a better writer. Even on the days when I felt there’s no point in continuing.
It took me a while to enjoy doing sports. I used to only do it because it was in the school curriculum or I wanted to lose weight. I still tried to do something at least once a week, but I didn’t really do it for maintaining a healthy routine. Not good. I realized that as I get older, my body didn’t recover as fast as it used to anymore. Stiff neck and stiff back don’t heal well with just a good night sleep. Even worse, I felt crankier and my mood kept crawling down. I told myself I must do something.
I started out with an exercise gaming program on my PlayStation 2 and a DVD Pilates routine at home. It works. My back is better, my flexibility increased, and I felt healthier.
The next big step for me was when I started running. As I said before, I’m not very good at this. I could only run slowly, just slightly faster than speed walking. But I was inspired by Haruki Murakami’s book “What I Talked About When I Talked About Running” and I was determined to try. He said in his book that he wasn’t a good runner at first (although I doubt he’s worse than me) but then he was able to run marathons.
So I run, and even though I couldn’t run a marathon (yet!), I could try to relate running with writing. How I always get excited when I start but then slowly afterwards I felt tired and sort of regret doing it. How I could push myself in spite of the pain and manage to finish what I set out to do. How I feel elated at the end of it because I have done something I’m proud of, even when it’s not a great work. It isn’t always easy, but the road to anywhere good never is.
For now, as I struggled through finishing my manuscript, it helped to have exercise as a more visible milestone. It helped to feel the better changes in my body. It helped to know I could run a 5K. I’m thankful for my health and persistence. It also can’t hurt to look good in summer dresses, can it?
Some starting tips:
- Try to fit exercise into your weekly routine. Start small, start big, start on your own, start with your friend, but just start! Do whatever activity you like. I personally find Pilates very good for my back and posture, while running is good for improving my mood.
- Listen to your own body. When it’s tired, rest. When the mind is blocked, do something physical like walking around or some house cleaning.
- Good food for the body (and the brain!). I do the 80/20 rule. As long as 80% of my food is healthy, 20% of it could be slightly sinful. I still need my cafe latte and cake from time to time!
- Make your work space as ergonomically comfortable as possible. Sometimes my exercise regime was just for undoing the damage I’ve done to my body by not sitting properly, etc. So the better your working position is, the less you’d have to deal with it.
