Family Fitness: Slow and Steady

Little did we know at this time last year that D would be going through two back surgeries in one year. I don’t think any of us really understood how much this would impact our lives. Yes, we knew there would be changes, but the extent of the changes weren’t really grasp until we were actually in the trenches going through the process.

Now that we are finally through the worst of it (in theory), the rebuilding is beginning. D’s surgeon said that coming back from back surgery once is tough and twice is even harder for a “normal” person. Since D is a Marine and has certain physical standards and tests to pass, the road to recovery is even more difficult. Having been away from pretty much all exercise for so long means that he’s starting back at square one. He has to retrain his muscles and build up strength and stamina before he can even attempt to truly get back into peek physical shape.

The unexpected side effect of D being down for so long? Munchkin and I also found ourselves out of shape as we relied on our family outings and activities to really keep us in shape. Yes, would could still do physical activities, but the reality is that we were use to doing things with Daddy. He was also our motivator to keep moving. When he went down, much of our family fitness went down with him. It’s the sad, but true reality. Oh, I exercised here and there, but I was not staying in shape like I was previously because I had lost my motivation.

So, here we all are – as a family – starting to get back in shape. We really are starting at the very basics as that is what Daddy needs right now. It frustrates him to no end when he sees how far he’s slipped out of shape. He knows that he has a huge uphill battle to get back to being Marine fit. To make it more fun and encouraging for all, we’re taking that journey with him. No, Munchkin and I won’t be Marine fit, but we want to be ready to tackle whatever fun family outings come our way.

Our journey began with walking – lots of walking. Active new pups tend to make this part of fitness a little bit easier as they need to be walked, so you can’t really back out of it. Most evenings, we take family walks. The pups get walked every evening, but not everyone makes it each evening. Very rarely do I not take the walk – the exception was the few days that I was fighting with the flu. As Wyatt (our youngest pup) gets older and builds his endurance, our walks are getting a bit longer each evening. Eventually, D hopes to be able to go running with Wiley (our one-year-old pup). For now, we walk.

The newest edition to our exercise routine is Your Shape Fitness Evolution on the XBox. I had previously been using Your Shape on the Wii, but we decided to try out the XBox version. Wow! Your Shape Fitness Evolution is really nice. I love, love, love not having any controllers to deal with while exercising. It’s so much nicer. We all have our fitness profiles and routines set up, and we encourage each other as we exercise. On the off days, we play some sports on the XBox. We quickly learned that you cannot stand too close to Daddy while playing tennis because he’s a little crazy. lol! Because we do have quite a few exercise/sports games on the Wii, I’m sure those will also get incorporated back into our routine as well.

We still walk around with aching muscles after especially difficult sessions, but we’re finding that getting back in shape as a family is a lot of fun. Our journey will be a long one, but we will slowly and steadily reach our goals one by one.