Imagine me, actually exercising
John Olson is a participant in IUB HPER's Adult Fitness Program.
Hi everyone. This is my first attempt at a blog. I didn't even know what a blog was until somebody told me. I am supposed to tell you about my experiences with fitness, which shouldn't be hard to do.
I am a wildlife biologist. As such, I was constantly outdoors in the woods doing research and management on deer. Then the central office decided that I was too old and brittle to wrestle with deer any more so they offered me a job in the central office. While I have to admit minor injuries did take a lot longer to heal than I remember, I felt fine. I settled down into the central office job in fine fashion. I found the office work (riding a desk) was, if nothing else, "broadening." The workday was not too long but the commute of 1.5 hours each way was a killer. Since my job was mostly sedentary, in spite of being a "gopher," my weight ballooned (an apt phrase) to 286 lbs (I'm 5'7" and 62 years old) and my blood pressure was up to 160/110. My only exercise was taking my diuretic and, sometimes literally, running to the bathroom. I had an opportunity to take a field supervisor job in Bloomington and jumped on it.
Working in Bloomington gave me the opportunity to make use of the IU facilities such as HPER. There was a great program that I had wanted to join called the Adult Fitness Program. I decided to give it a try. They ran me through all the hoops, Electrocardiograms, skin fold measurements, weight measurements, body fat measurements (they have fancier names for a lot of these things), lung capacity, and a stress test (doctor and all). I even had a consultation with a nutritionist to help me with my eating habits. Note that I didn't say dieting. Once I had taken all of these measurements (etc.), I was ready for my goal setting and my personally designed exercise program including weight training and cardiovascular exercise. Imagine a fat old man actually exercising.
