Run One, Walk Two—A Success Story
BY: MEGAN BERTAGNOLLI
I’ve never been inclined to do cardio. Or at least that’s what I thought.
A few years ago, one of my friends decided to join a gym. Like most gyms, hers encouraged her to bring a friend to sign up. I wanted and needed change. I knew that my lifestyle was unhealthy: I was a heavy smoker, drank pots of coffee and ate too many meals at the diner next to my workplace. Tired of being tired and overweight, I signed up after a short tour of the facility. Because the gym was located a paltry four blocks from work, I could work out in the morning, before my shift started at noon. No excuses. I worked diligently with a trainer, who helped me clean up my diet and put me on an excellent workout regimen full of the strength-building exercises he used for bodybuilding. I lost 30 pounds in eight months and found that I had a waist. I no longer walked stooped. Most important, I felt good. Confident. Proud.
But I wasn’t doing much cardio. I would do my five-minute warm-up on some machine like I was serving time. Or I would push myself hard on the elliptical trainer. It felt like the easiest machine, and I thought that if I did an hour-long session once or twice a week, then I could have the rest of the week off. My trainer knew what I was doing, despite my best efforts, and told me that cardio was the missing component I needed.