Wake up and live Fit

When you exercise, says a noted fitness expert, you win through joyful discipline the prize that is your self. Here is his simple but dynamic formula

I launched my own rejuvenation regime at age 45 when, even with a successful medical practice, I began to feel I was not living a life in full working order. Falling asleep in front of the television, or drinking too much on weekends, I was haunted by the feeling that the years were slipping by and I had nothing to show for it. As a physician I knew I was a victim of one of our affluent civilization's most prevalent "diseases": exercise deficient.But what could I do about it? I was born clumsy, an absolute klutz at anything requiring coordination. And besides, there was my crowded work schedule.

Then one night I remembered something Arnold Bennett had written. "We never shall have any more time," he said. "We have, and we havealways had, all the time there is." Right then I decided to pull the emergency cord and get off that debilitating train I was on.

The next morning I began what became an important element in my fitness program—eating a nutritious breakfast. The first meal of the day is vital to the 24-hour ebb and flow of bodily energy. When I started putting away a healthful, balanced meal in the morning I didn't feel like eating again at noon. Since my energy peaked then, it made sense to substitute another activity. So at lunchtime I pulled on a pair of jogging shoes and hit the road.

Almost from the beginning new and wonderful things happened. First, my fears about clumsiness were resolved—jogging is easy. My body was perfectly capable of making all the necessary movements. Next, I discovered that I was turning my myriad daily stresses to practical use. They motivated my half-hour of jogging, and they were dispelled when rubber met concrete. Gradually my weight dropped from 160 pounds to the 136 I had weighed In college.

And I found something even better: my day's run was becoming a kind of retreat. My body was on automatic pilot, requiring no guidance, no commands; my mind was free to wander, and on some days it became a cascade of thoughts. The sights and sounds, the touches and tastes, the pains and pleasures of my entire life became available to me— it was like reading a journal I had never kept. As I ran myself into health, I was also running myself into my best ideas. If one word expresses the feeling, that word is "ecstasy," which in the original Greek means "standing outside oneself."

I stayed with jogging because it was what I could do, what I liked to do. Eventually I worked out a program for anyone—male or female, of any age—who is interested in getting fit: half an hour of steady effort four times a week at a comfortable "thinking" pace. I found no need to count miles or laps around a track, or set other quotas — just this half-hour of regular exercise was enough to enter into a new life-style characterized by energy and movement, and to produce predictable and impressive physiological changes.

One of the most noticeable was in the quality of sleep. It is well known that the exercising body sleeps better, but what I have come to treasure even more is getting to sleep. Next to running, it is my best time for thinking. I cannot wait to stretch out my limbs, put my body to rest and enjoy the workings of my mind. The time before sleep should be lived, as every moment should, to the fullest.

Many benefits of running seem to fall between the physiological and the psychological. The runner realizes that the current approach to stopping smoking and drinking, for example, is backward. The exercising body doesn't want to smoke, and drinks moderately. The exercising body usually maintains its correct weight. The exercising body can reduce a diabetic tendency, and tends to lower blood pressure. A study of some 17,000 male Harvard University graduates found that expending 2000 or more calories a week in vigorous exercise such as jogging, swimming, biking or rowing is associated with a declining rate of coronary heart disease and a lower incidence of hypertension.

Yet the primary effect of exercise is on fitness, not disease; and fitness won't improve a diseased heart. (After my friend Jim Fixx, the running writer, dropped dead while jogging in 1984, it was found that he had a personal and family history of heart disease. His father had it, and his own autopsy revealed severe coronary problems.) No, fitness has more to do with the quality of life than with the quantity; it makes life more enjoyable.

What is fitness? Fitness is, simply, the ability to do work. It is movement ant energy, not only muscular but also cognitive. I could quote doctors who have found that fitness does lower life-threatening risk factors, or psychologists who argue that it reduces hostility, tension, anxiety. The truth is it does all these wonderful things, but it does more. U.S. psychologist Abraham Maslow once wrote that people who are "self-actualizers" listen to their bodies and discover their own biological nature and needs. If you can do this, then you can bring your body up to where you begin practicing the true art of life, using the full 24 hours in your day.

One question I'm frequently asked is, "What's an old geek like you doing running marathons?" Well, that was another personal decision. I started going from half hour runs to hour runs because I found I could run longer and keep my thinking going. With this increased endurance I decided to be come an athlete. An athlete pushes his or her physical capabilities to the limit, getting the most out of his or her genetic endowment. This has its own hard-earned payoffs. At the end of a race I no longer look; I see. I do not touch; I feel. I do not taste; I savor. The sunlight has become precious, the breeze a delight. I know the meaning of a handshake, the treasure in a smile. Being alive has become a spiritual and mystical experience. Fitness helps you look for the life you should lead. Being an athlete means you have found it.

As for the "old geek" business, I just don't believe it. I live in a New Jersey town that faces the ocean. We are an older community, a town of senior citizens, ant when I go out on my balcony in the morning I see walkers, runners and cyclists. Our boardwalk is alive with people keeping their bodies and minds in motion. We seniors have learned to dispense with trivia and hold on to what is important.

What we're doing, each of us, young and old, is creating a self. Is there anything new in that? No. As far back as the fifth century B.C., Plato contended that the mind and the body should be trained together.

Fitness is a playful, joyous experience, ant joy is what we all want So find something that will be as much of a joy to you as running is to me, something you'll love to do Pick your event according to your personality. Are you best at strength or endurance? Are you an, off-in-the-woods type who would enjoy cycling and ski touring? Arc you gregarious, a candidate for a karate or an aerobic-dancing class If you find exercise boring, look to r a friendly training companion.

Fitness can be the basis from which you learn the art of living, of bringing your body and mind and spirit into concert. Then, to paraphrase Marcus Aurelius, you can rise in the morning and do the work of a human being. You'll be rid of the nagging fear that you are doing less than your best.

Finally, we're talking about creativity. English sculptor Henry Moore said the sculpture is within the stone. When you exercise, you start to discover the individual within yourself. You go through the concentration, patience and joyful discipline of becoming that individual. The struggle is for the prize that is yourself.