I am a fitness buff and have been influenced by my parents to be healthy and strong as far back as I can remember.
Going to grade school and high school, I was required to participate in physical education and learn basic nutritional requirements. Running, swimming, roving around in Florida's palmetto scrubs and thick pines, or walking a couple of miles to visit a friend or to do manual labor, I grew up fit and strong. Part of my chores was to keep the wood box full for the kitchen's wood stove, and I was proud of my axe-wielding prowess.
In my teens, I learned about lifting weights, the high bar, swinging bar, and the parallel bars while at the Florida School for Boys in Marianna Florida. It was extremely important to be strong and fit among the institutional population.
Later in the military, it was also important to be strong and fit. Going thru Army basic training gave me a stitch in the side until it cleared up - after that, I could keep up without breaking much of a sweat. I deliberately lagged back - institutional background kicking in - and let others have the attention. Later on at regular duty stations, military life was very much like a job. And once a routine starts kicking in, so does complacency; it's so easy to be lulled into inertia, into following orders loyally with no hesitancy or questions asked. It's all too easy to find reasons and excuses to not exercise one's mind or body.
Please visit my military bio at http://www.174ahc.org/bio-15.htm
Later yet in the Alabama Department of Corrections, it was again important to be strong and fit when interacting with the inmate population face-to-face. Later on tho, after several promotions and working in an office environment, I gradually drifted away from being toned and fit.
As my career in prison systems research progressed, I 'rewarded' myself by smoking too many cigarettes, too many fine cigars, or puffing on a good bowl of special Turkish blend/Kentucky burley; sipping good dark or white whiskey with a beer or wine, letting that cholesterol laden sirloin settle in my stomach. Over the years I slowly became sedentary and drifted from being fit and strong into being border-edge flabbiness.
I admit that there were too many years of self-abuse, debauchery, and partying; all in fun and enjoyment of life and/or as a system of rewarding myself for doing good. Today, as a more mature adult, I'm learning that self-abuse isn’t healthy and is undesirable.
Nowadays, for the past ten years I exercise at home and/or at the gym 3x week for an hour of aerobic machines and about an hour of weight training. Sometimes I get a little lazy, and then other times I stay very productive. I breathe so much better after a workout, and feel well toned and fantastically great, very much alive for the following 24-36 hours. ;) Then I want to repeat and get my next fitness fix.
I also strive to eat nutritionally as healthy as I am able. I feel so much better when I do. And yes, I could improve... ;) lol
I have been, and am still fortunate to have a good group of people help me maintain my fitness and health, and overall attitude. To honor some of these therapists, I photographed them over time and made an Alexander City Total Fitness album at http://www.flickr.com/photos/chazzman34/
