Exercise Lovers Keep Pace by Finding Joy, Not Work, in Working Out
Those “bring-a-friend, enroll now” advertisements for health clubs can make fitness look appealing and easy--too easy, as Jane B. Duff of North Hollywood knows all too well.
“Over the course of three years, I’ve spent $500 on gym memberships,” said Duff, whose job as president of a Los Angeles public relations agency keeps her on a fast-paced schedule. “But I’ve gone only about five times. And that gets really expensive. As a friend pointed out recently, I’m paying about $100 a visit.”
At 43, Duff is a self-described fitness dropout who says she finds exercise too boring to make it a priority in her schedule. So, she’s made a deal with herself: no more gym memberships, no matter how sweet the sweating looks in the advertisement.
Instead, she jokes, she has poured her energy into learning wardrobe tricks to cover any figure faults that may develop: “I’m second only to the Army in camouflage techniques.” Her new philosophy is: “You go jog. I’ll continue to think about it.”
50% Dropout Rate
She is not alone. Forty-three percent of adult Americans don’t exercise regularly--defined as three times a weekly or more--according to a 1984-85 Gallup Poll of 3,036 people. And once a person does begin to exercise, the odds of sweating it out aren’t good. During the initial six months of an exercise program, the dropout rate is 50%, fitness experts say.
Yet some people--including many who live or work in the Valley--manage to defy the odds and stay for years on the straight, narrow and sweaty path to fitness.
Weeknights at 6, the aerobics area of Nautilus Plus Aerobics Fitness Center, a 24-hour gym on Ventura Boulevard in Studio City, overflows with bodies clad in fashionable leotards, tights, leg warmers and Reeboks. Stretch a limb an inch too far during the warm-up exercises and a collision is probable.
The after-five crowds are a prime excuse many give for passing up such programs. But Nay K. Dorsey, a 27-year-old actor, has found the perfect solution: nocturnal exercise that takes advantage of the gym’s round-the-clock schedule. On a recent Sunday at 1 a.m., he and 17-year-old Sheila Landry, another member, had the place to themselves.
Space Helps
While Dorsey worked out in the aerobics area, Landry prepared to ride a stationary bicycle. Both agreed that the wide open spaces motivated them to remain faithful to their fitness programs.
“Come here at 7 p.m.,” Landry said, “and you have to stand in line for the Nautilus machines and the bikes. But not now.”
At 4:30 one recent afternoon, 63-year-old John Cleary of Panorama City leaned against a weathered picnic table at North Hollywood Park. He stretched first one leg, then the other, oblivious to the motorists speeding along Magnolia Boulevard as he prepared for his daily run, one of 365 he will embark on this year.
Cleary, an insurance broker, runs 50 or 60 miles a week. He is often accompanied by Charles LaMarr, 59, of North Hollywood and Dave Stromberg, 44, of Valencia, who both work as engineers at Lockheed California Co. in Burbank.
‘Exercise Sickies’
All three plan to participate Sunday in the first City of Los Angeles Marathon. Asked how they managed to fit exercise into their schedules, the men chuckled and chorused: “We’re exercise sickies.”
“Running clears my mind,” LaMarr said, becoming serious, “and gets me away from job pressures.”
Every weekday, Debra Minahen, 30, leaves her job as associate computing engineer at Rocketdyne Division of Rockwell International and drives four miles to the company’s employee recreation center in Canoga Park to participate in aerobics classes.
On Saturday, she drives from her home in Simi Valley to the recreation center for another aerobics class. It is a routine she has followed without fail for three years.
“Before I began exercising,” Minahen said, “I was sick all the time with colds and other minor illnesses. Now I never get a cold. Exercising keeps my weight down, and I feel I have a lot more endurance. And, last but not least, it’s fun.”
No Days Off
Roberta Weintraub maintains a hectic schedule, dividing her time between her duties as a member of the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education and her television show, “School Beat.” But she says she is never too busy to exercise.
She rises at 4 a.m. each day, reads the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times and begins exercising at 6 a.m. She allows herself no excuses and no days off.
“I walk for five miles and then work out in my home gym for 15 minutes to a half-hour,” she said. “On Saturday, a trainer comes for a 1 1/2-hour workout. On Sunday, I walk in the park for five miles.”
As she walks, Weintraub, 51, wears a 10-pound weight belt and carries five-pound hand weights.
Weightlifting is also part of her routine. She can bench press her own weight--145 pounds.
“I honestly believe there are a lot of reasons to exercise, and the least important is looking good,” she said.
‘Mental Well-Being’
“It’s extremely important to exercise to keep up your mental well-being. I’ve been through some tough things in my life, and exercise has made a lot of difference--not all the difference, but a lot.”
Exercise aficionados may follow different fitness regimens but they share a characteristic: They all consider exercise not a chore but a joy. They have incorporated exercise into their life styles and consider it as vital to survival as eating or sleeping. “It’s just become a habit,” actor Dorsey said.
“I’m addicted to running,” LaMarr admitted, “and I feel badly if I don’t. Inside, it makes you feel like a better person.”
“I’m very suspicious of those who don’t exercise,” Weintraub said. “They’re ruining their lives.”
Many faithful exercisers can pinpoint a specific motivation that started them down the fitness path. For Cleary it was sibling rivalry. “I have a brother two years younger who took up running,” he said. “I decided I wanted to keep up with him.”
Blood Pressure
For Alex Klein, 45, a project manager at Rocketdyne, the motivation came from his physician, who suggested regular exercise three years ago as a way to lower his patient’s high blood pressure. Within 10 months, Klein no longer needed anti-hypertensive medication.
“I also found exercise effective as a weight-control aid and a tension reliever,” he said recently, as he waited for his aerobic dance class to begin.
Morrie Goldin, a 70-year-old North Hollywood resident, began exercising at a gym eight years ago at the urging of his physician son, who was worried that his father would grow physically inactive after retirement. In the beginning, Goldin and his son exercised together.
“Now, my son goes to a gym once a month, and I go every day,” Goldin said with a grin, obviously delighted with his self-discipline.
Appearance Factor
Motivation to stay fit can also originate internally, experts say. “Pride in one’s appearance can be an important motivating factor,” said Dr. Shirley Bekey, an Encino psychotherapist in her 50s who exercises regularly. “So can simply wanting to look good in the nude.”
Overcoming physical inertia is easier, said Bekey and others, if would-be exercisers focus not just on the physical effort required to maintain fitness, but also on the psychological benefits of activity.
“There’s an aesthetic component of exercise--that is, simply the joy of being in motion--that I don’t hear anyone talk about,” Bekey said.
“Exercise also brings a sense of physical power, a sense of wholeness,” she continued. “And there’s a sensual, almost sexual aspect of exercise. In a way, exercise is like making love to our muscles.”
Motivation Techniques
Despite motivation and the best of intentions, however, even exercise aficionados get discouraged occasionally and are tempted to slough off. But, unlike exercise dropouts, the “fitness freaks” have developed proven techniques to keep themselves moving.
Just thinking about the consequences of inertia are enough to keep some people exercising.
“I tell myself I’ll put on weight if I don’t exercise,” Bekey said. “And I remind myself that my energy level drops when I don’t exercise.”
“When I don’t want to exercise,” said George Pappas, 54, of Canoga Park, a project engineer at Rocketdyne, “I think of the times I’m sick and how quickly I recover. I recover from colds much more quickly than when I didn’t exercise.”
“Sometimes, I’d rather do other things than exercise,” acknowledged 74-year-old Nathan Tufts of Burbank, a retired advertising executive who underwent open-heart surgery last year and now exercises six days a week.
Doctor’s Words
“Sometimes, I’d just rather have a good gin rummy game or practice my putting.” So, when the temptation to be sedentary rears up, Tufts concentrates on his doctors’ words: “They tell me exercise won’t necessarily prolong my life, but it will improve the quality of my life.”
For others, the urge to compete--if only with themselves--motivates them to keep exercising.
“You can never be satisfied with yourself,” said Dorsey, “because once you’re satisfied, you’ll stop working out.”
“Life has to be competitive,” said Carlo Spiga, 24, a Burbank free-lance production assistant for commercials and a former UCLA water polo player. “It’s always me against the clock, or me against the weight.”
“Gadgets or gimmicks can help you stick with exercise,” said Bob Limone, 26, clinical coordinator of fitness at St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank and an aerobic dance instructor.
For beginners especially, he finds that gadgets such as a special wristwatch for timing speed or a portable heart monitor can mean the difference between sweating it out or giving up.