Physical Fit Failure!

Deena Dooley

After convincing myself that I will "get back into the swing of things one of these days," I met a behavior challenge project as any ICU RN would. I became compassionate about my cause. The challenge came by the way of a Kaplan University MSN professor. It was simple! I had to complete a three-week behavioral change engagement to prove my athletic abilities. Of course, within an MSN program, a seven-page paper was produced spotlighting an ego-bruised physically fit failure. Yikes!

Armed with the knowledge that a physically fit lifestyle yields high health rewards, I set forth on modifying my sedentary lifestyle. My goal was to increase my aerobic exercise via a treadmill to forty-minutes, three times per week for three weeks. The 2008 American physical activity guidelines recommend two hours and thirty minutes a week of moderately intensive activity or seventy-five minutes a week of vigorous aerobic activity with muscle strengthening twice a week. No problem! Or so, I thought.

I was lucky to fit in twenty-minutes once a week. One limitation I was unprepared for was my lack of current physical fitness. I began my forty-minute treadmill workout and just about flew off the conveyor belt. As a result, I lowered my starting threshold to twenty minutes, three times per week, equaling one hour weekly.

Baseline assessment is key to anything. I should have better assessed my health to include functional health patterns, physical fitness, nutrition, life stress, spiritual health, social support systems, health beliefs and lifestyle (Parsons, Pender & Murdaugh, 2011). I only assessed five out of the eight recommended. This set me up for disappointment, depression and failure.

Time was my biggest challenge. I simply could not fit in any more time in to my assiduous life. I was working, cooking, cleaning, mothering and schooling every day. Some days I would rise at four in the morning completing my day at eight o'clock in the evening. My sixteen-hour days did not end there. I had educational activities to complete with the kids or on my own. I would fall in exhaustion as the hour struck nine, ten, or sometimes, eleven o'clock at night. So, I began to reassess where my time was impacted the most: commutes to work, household chores and child-rearing requirements.

My work-around included finding other "aerobic" activities. I found that many things qualified as aerobic, which I was already doing within my busy lifestyle. Usually every other Friday I treat the kids to an indoor bounce house experience. I promised myself to participate in all activities my children engaged in for one hour. Which I did! I even was a little out of breath! Boy was I sore the next day too. When our family went to the pool, I swam laps. My children now want to be "swimmers like mommy." My children raced me on their bikes, trikes. I lost, but it was fun. Cleaning the bathroom or vacuuming the hall burns more calories than using Wii Fit! I already do that for an hour or more! No need to buy a Wii. Other moderate to vigorous exercises include washing the car, playing with children, having a party, and working outside.

Work is not void of exercise either! I began muscle strengthening with gluteus exercises. I chose to stand at my workstation on wheels (WOW), rather than opting to sit (some employers demand standing while using a WOW/COW). I would take the stairs. I became a great stair climber! I would run them on occasion or skip a stair during my climb. Some nurse at-work exercises could be, glute squeezes, leg lifts, squats, desk push-ups, and water bottle weights. I can now tell my employer that the water I am drinking at the nurse's station is now apart of a work out program ... well, maybe not.

Although I failed my initial goals of a Masters in nursing lifestyle change challenge by attempting to apply traditional exercise activities into a 5-year highly evolved and ever-changing lifestyle; I learned that changed lifestyles need a third-dimensional viewpoint. As nurses, we are masters at thinking or finding alternatives. I found that by thinking outside the box I could incorporate my daily activities to meet everyday life goals.

Tailored interventions increase (my) participation. This message can be reverberated. Empower anyone starting an exercise regimen or a lifestyle change after years of putting priorities elsewhere. It can be done. We all (nurses or clients) can achieve physical fitness one glute squeeze or water bottle arm curl at a time.

Deena Dooley, BSN

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Physical Fit Failure!

About Deena Dooley

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