Balancing Fitness and Fiction
by Angela Ruth Strong
I’m an author and an aerobics instructor. Two completely different worlds. One requires you to keep your butt in chair, the other requires you to move your butt. I’m still learning to balance the two, and I’d like to offer some New Year’s encouragement for you to do the same.
First of all, what works for one person might not work for another. When getting my personal training certification, the trainer asked if there were any aerobics instructors in the room. Lucky me, I was the only one to raise a hand. He gave me his full attention. “What’s the best kind of aerobic exercise?” I’d heard arguments for almost every exercise imaginable, so I had no idea what to say. I took a wild guess, “Whatever you enjoy the most?” I got it right.
That means the trick is to find an exercise that works for you. I know Robin Lee Hatcher likes to use her Wii Fit every morning. Peter Leavell jokes (I assume) about dancing the hula during breaks in his writing while Gina Conroy is very serious about her ballroom dancing. And then there’s my critique partner Christina Berry who makes time to run even if it means answering my phone calls while jogging down her driveway.
Second, you have to find the motivation. We all know that being fit is considered as a factor in success. Everyone from Dave Ramsey to Chip MacGregor recommends regular exercise. We also know that with the demands of work and parenting and church activities (not to mention writing) it can be hard to carve out the extra time. So what will it take to get you off your butt?
I’ve found that there are four different motivators: stability, enjoyment, status, and control.
If you are one who values stability, you will be motivated by routine and will appreciate the regular activity of taking the dog for a walk. If you value enjoyment, you will need to be part of a team or find an activity that is fun like laser tag with your kids. If you work out for status, then go ahead and tape that photo of the supermodel to your fridge and buy yourself some new workout clothes. And if you’re all about control, then sign up for a 10K and work towards achieving a goal.
Third, don’t see your workout as time taken away from your current manuscript. Once I facebooked, “Write or run, write or run?” and got the response, “Write while you run.” Why not?
You can find inspiration when people watching on the greenbelt. You could rock climb as research for a scene. Maybe consider it endurance training for that Snoopy dance you’re going to want to do after you sign your next contract. Or simply use the time to clear your head and reenergize.
As writers, our job is to make sure the main character grows, and we can become better at doing that by learning how to grow ourselves. New Year’s resolution or not, make time in 2013 to move your butt!
How do you balance fitness and writing and what do you do to keep fit?
