Enjoyable Exercise
May 16th, 2013. Filed under: Reruns.
First posted July 4, 2008
I’ve really been having a major problem getting motivated to exercise regularly. It’s the getting started that seems to be the problem for me. Once I get going a few times it starts being more of a fun thing rather than work. We have a nice little gym down at the clubhouse. We have a nice pool down at the clubhouse. This is becoming reminiscent of a song about down on the boardwalk. Well, I haven’t been able to motivate myself into going down on the boardwalk or down to the clubhouse to exercise. But I was down at the clubhouse today. No, not to exercise. I was down there to party. And during the party is when I remembered just how much fun exercising can be if you hit on the right kind.
I love to dance. I’ve spent a large part of my life dancing. My dancing has spanned decades and styles. It began with ballet, tap and acrobatic dance, proceeded to jitterbug, swing, the twist, mashed potatoes, the jerk, waltz, ballroom, then on to disco, reggae and socca. I’ve danced my way from childhood through my adult years. I’ve danced my way from small town mid-America to the Florida sun coast; from the northeast and up the Saint Lawrence seaway to Montreal; from Bermuda to the Bahamas; from Mexico to Helsinki; across the Atlantic and all around the Caribbean. Did I tell you that I love to dance?
I learned to dance disco and reggae style in Cozumel, Mexico at Neptuno’s. Ship crewmen danced at Neptuno’s until a fire put the club out of commission. Then we found this little local disco called Scaramouche which turned into our hangout. While Neptuno was busy rebuilding, Scaramouch was busy expanding to accommodate all of us. Eventually they started opening up earlier than regular time for us and stayed open until we were too tired to dance anymore or had to hurry back to the ship before shore leave expired. Since that was an overnight port for us, we danced anywhere from seven to ten hours. Did I tell you that I love to dance?
I got hooked on reggae when I first started working on ships in 1985. I was able to find reggae anyplace I went. All over my area of Florida, Vegas, a Yellowman concert in Charleston, an Eek a Mouse concert in Boston, a Third World concert in Norfolk, a reggae place in Helsinki. I couldn’t get over how many Jamaicans moved from the warm Caribbean to Finland. Did I tell you I love to dance?
How ironic. Consumer Man doesn’t love to dance. We’ve danced only one time in the fifteen years we’ve known each other. That one time wasn’t one night out dancing. That was exactly one dance. I wonder if he even knows that I love to dance.
It took a party today to remind me and to have my light bulb moment. I don’t have to go anywhere to exercise and I’m not stuck with calisthenics, Denise Austin, Hanoi Jane or Richard Simmons as my exercise partner. All I need is music and me. I have plenty of both. I have hundreds of cassettes and CD’s. I need to audition all of these and downsize a bit. I might as well get started now. I’m going to have fun and the exercise will just be a nice benefit. I did learn one thing today. Birks are great for walking, but not so good for dancing. I had to kick off those babies and get barefoot so I could get into the moves. I may not be crazy about exercise, but did I tell you that I love to dance?