Convalesco

The last few days, I start making exercise on a regular basis. I go to basketball games with my friends and when basketball is not possible, I run across a small hill that is situated almost 3 km from home. There’s a small church there and you can see the entire north part of the city. I like very much doing exercises like push ups, abdominal exercising and various others cardio exercises enjoying the view from the small hill.

The vision is not spectacular, I’ve seen better, but it’s enough to give you the tranquility to free your mind and think about yourself and your issues¹. The bad thing about this specific hill is that you can see too many garbage down the hill. I’d like it much better if it would be clean. But Greece is not Swiss and it will never be, so you can’t expect people to respect a hill. It’s a matter of culture more than anything else after all.

This neighbourhood is as vivid as it can be. You can see children and old people, mostly, walking around all the time, so you’re not actually alone in the fields or anything like it. I like running, with a slow but steady pace. I need to lose some pounds so it’s the best choice for me I guess.

I’d always like adrenaline sports like snowboard, basketball, mountain bikes, jet skiing, track racing, etc. Running though, with some nice R & B music to give me rhythm, makes me relax and feel good. I must regulate my alimentary habits also. It’s not hard to do if you are alone, but these days, almost once every two days we meet with friends and we always east something at night before going to bed. I’ve seen too many people making exercise at least 30 minutes per day for a year or so and still being really fat. They had an excellent physical condition, ready for skiing or biking, but their image was not “optimal”. That’s because the didn’t follow any exact diet. Nutrition quality and bad habits are of importance here!

Running on the this neighbourhood although is relaxing and enjoyable has it’s drawbacks also. It’s not a rare thing to encounter a car or a bike that passes by and pollute the atmosphere. For someone who is walking there, especially with a slow pace, it’s not much of an issue. For me though it’s really unpleasant, because all that smoke goes directly into my chest. I hate the smell of it, not to mention that I have every now and then small asthma attacks when I get tired. I need to get a medicine to breath normally when this happens, so for me clean air is really important. This is the only reason for which I’m considering switching place of exercise.

Running these last days in this open environment, despite all the issues that may rise, it’s by far better than the gym. It’s the direct contact with nature that has no artificial substitute. You relax and enjoy the ride and the view that’s maybe the best part of it all…

1. Everybody has more or less serious issues requiring an answer [↩]

In today’s society, where an individual is expected to produce and achieve a large number of things, time optimisation is crucial. The last one and a half month, I’m trying to get fit and lose pounds in order to start the Snowboarding season with no hassles. I’m at least 5 kilos above my optimal weight and this could cause me serious problems when snowboard falling.

Snowboard apart, it is a matter of self respect and esteem, taking care of your body.

However, every day, something happens and I have to postpone the gym. This schedule wont get me anywhere near where I want to be. Hence I need to fined the strength and say no to friends and parents when I have to and press myself to go the gym even when I’m feeling tired.

I had my first Tennis lesson the other day. It was quite interesting. I think I’m quite good at hitting the ball forth-hand but back-hand is not difficult either. I guess, it’s totally different when you try to hit the ball on the move. Especially the back-hand is a move I must get used to it. We didn’t practise enough to the service yet. It seems to be the toughest move.

I like Tennis very much, the problem is that in our first lessons, the lessons are technical. It’s natural I guess, how can you catch the ball on the fly when you can’t catch it steady? So, the practise comes to an end and I’m feeling not tired, at all.

I need something that will make me sweat! This wont happen in the gym either though. I go to the gym only because I have to, I dislike it as a default exercise. I think I will rejoin the doJo. I like Tae Kwon Do, although our sensei, likes to do much more physical exercise in practise, I like it. The practise length is about two hours. The first forty minutes are all exercises and running along with the last twenty, for relaxing the muscles.

Now, related to snowboarding, Tae Kwon Do is a very good exercise because it tries to make your body flexible. Flexibility is crucial to avoid injuries in snowboard. You don’t have a clue about what position will you have to take, the next time you fall.

The problem actually is that once, I was falling all day long on the track going slowly. Now, I go much faster, I try to master ground tricks on the run, I do some low jumps. I rarely fall and I’m able to do every track I’ve seen, but when I fall, it hurts! Last year I had a very bad crash. The stance didn’t help much and after riding the most tedious track on Falakro mountain, I just stood up on the snowboard at full speed, straining my knees, which is a silly mistake for an average snowboarder. The crash that I had when the nose of the board stuck at full speed and my forehead hit the ground, was memorable! A few people stopped and asked me if I remembered the day, the place. I felt dizzy and stopped snowboarding. It was the first time I stopped because of a crash. I searched for the doctor and he said that I might have lost the entire season with a second crash like that, so it was better to get some rest and a nice cup of tea.

So, in order to get fit once again, I need some serious exercise. In order to do some serious exercise, which means Tae Kwon Do, three times per week, I need a strict schedule. In order to make that strict schedule actually useful I need to optimise my time at work and home. I have a two or three hobbies, 1 language to learn and a very much time-spending job to do. I’m still struggling to find the proper way to put these things together without issues. But fitness is of great importance for my temper, my appearance and my endurance at work. I notice that I get tired very easily lately. It’s not the sleep, I sleep very much compared to last year, when I was serving the army. It’s a matter of physical exercise converging to zero.