Get up, get down: Godly exercise

Ladies, are you wishing your husbands would get a little more active? Does their only exercise come in the form of pushing remote control buttons and perhaps opening a can of something to drink? Are you noticing a little extra weight around the corners?

A bit more than a year ago, I was exercising about five days a week. I was playing football (soccer for you Americans!) two days a week, racquetball another two days and on my off days running a couple miles to stay in shape and lifting weights in-between. My wife will tell you I was fit and trim. And she liked it. She liked it a lot. (That’s one reason we have so many children! God, however, is still the main reason.)
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A knee injury curtailed that routine, and I’ll be honest, it’s been tough getting started again. A new home where I’m still unsure how to find my way around, different work hours and much hotter weather make any long exercise routine practically impossible, and after being out of the loop for so long, it’s tough to feel motivated.
But that’s no excuse. God created us in His likeness (read Genesis 1:26-27), and I’ve got a hard time believing that God is a lazy, out-of-shape slouch. It’s my responsibility to stay fit. God expects it, and I’ve got a wife and children who want me around as long as God will allow.
So if this sounds like your husband, and you also want him around as long as possible, then it’s time you encourage him to get up and get down, to burn a few calories and find the road to healthier living.
And I’ve got some Biblical inspiration and a way to get started that won’t take much more than about 10 minutes a day.
It may not be the most quoted book in the Bible but in Solomon’s Song of Songs we’re given the true physical measure of a man as described by his bride. She says:
“His hands are rods of gold
Set with beryl;
His abdomen is carved ivory
Inlaid with sapphires.
His legs are pillars of alabaster
Set on pedestals of pure gold;
His appearance is like Lebanon
Choice as the cedars.” (Sg. 5:14-15)
In short, he’s strong, muscular and well-toned. She also pontificates on his abilities:
“Listen! My beloved!
Behold, he is coming,
Climbing on the mountains,
Leaping on the hills!
My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. (Sg. 2:8-9a)
It’s true, age weighs us all done and my knees pop in the morning as well as my back, but there’s no reason I can’t try to have an abdomen like ivory! At 43, I may never again leap like a young stag, but hey, I could be an old stag and I bet they leap just fine!
So here’s how I’m getting back in shape.
Last month, I started with an exercise routine to strengthen my core. We’re talking muscles that are super important to things as simple as standing straight and tall. While there’s a lot out there, I used a 30-day plank challenge that I found at MyFitnessPal blog. The nice thing was that I was able to click on the poster so that it was a stand-alone PDF and save it to my iPad’s home screen (so it looks like an app) so that with one-click I could pull it up.
I’ve since finished the 30-day plank challenge, and while it may not sound impressive, I met my goals, starting with an initial plank challenge of one minute and ending the challenge by holding a plank for three minutes.
Now, I’ve begun a high-intensity workout that only takes seven minutes to complete. The idea is to do one set of 12 exercises for 30 second intervals, but during that 30 seconds to complete as many repetitions as possible. For me, this has been a great way to get my heart rate up but without overdoing it because the timeframe is so short. I found mine through a New York Times blog, and the newspaper has made it easy to download the exercise routine as an app to lead you through the exercises.
There’s an advanced option that includes some light weights along with a different set of exercises, but it also only takes seven minutes. According to the blog, these seven-minute routines can be an equivalent of a good run and weightlifting, which is great because I don’t have that time or stamina right no.
Sure, I’d like to get back to running, and that’s one of my goals, because in the end, I really, really, really want to get back on that football (soccer) field. Nothing brings me exercise joy like running after a ball and trying to put it in the back of the net. I know they say the English invented football, but I’m sure God had something to do with it.
If any of this sounds doable to you, then please share it with your husbands. Encourage them to take a few minutes each day and exercise. Yes, it’s terrible those first few times but after a bit, it actually starts to feel good. And all of you reap the benefits. Now, do I have to say it? If your husband needs to see a doctor first because of age, health issues, whatever, then do it. I’m not a doctor, don’t even play one on TV.
But I’ll leave you with this last verse from Song of Songs, one that should make you ponder.
“What kind of beloved is your beloved,
O most beautiful among women?
What kind of beloved is your beloved,
That thus you adjure us?” (Sg. 5:9)
Well?