The Hippy-Hippy Shake

Exercising has obvious benefits.  They are spouted on the evening news, in every magazine we read and are basically shoved down our throats at every turn.  On the flip-side, aren't there some drawbacks too?  Maybe not drawbacks per-se, but unpleasant side effects maybe.

I am a 32 year old relatively healthy woman.  Why then do my hips hurt so much lately?  The pain is in the joint itself, not the surrounding muscles.  Therefore today, I walk like I am an 82 year old.  (No offense Grandma)  I'm not sure exactly what I did last night that aggravated that joint.  I have been hitting the cardio hard lately, but I didn't do anything different other than that.  For the pain factor in particular, I try to stick to the elliptical trainer.  The motion of the elliptical is supposed to be more gentle on joints, and my shins and lungs hurt noticeably more when I am on the treadmill.  Yet I hobble.  A pretty picture for sure.  And one of the big questions in my mind is WHY my HIPS??

Undoubtedly, running is a terrific form of cardio and I would love to have a runners body.  But this ol' girl ain't running unless something big and scary is chasing her.  Again.  Or her girlfriends somehow magically talk her into it.  Again.  (See a pattern here?)  Truly, I do not see the attraction other than it is a do-anywhere form of exercise.  Now, I should mention that I do run the Dirty Girl Mud Run once a year.  That's more for the fun of slogging through the mud though.  I mean, how often do you get to body surf though mud puddles and no one thinks you have lost your marbles?  Running is great.  Except for people like me who seem to do more harm than good to themselves.  I have asthma and that limits me substantially.  I can work my fool ass off on an elliptical and not go into an asthma attack.  Jogging around the block?  I sound like someone should call the EMT's and hook me up to some oxygen.

Truthfully, a few times a week, I have trouble getting out of bed and reaching my feet to put socks on.  It's not the muscle soreness or lack of sleep that gets me.  It's my joints and my back.  Truly, I feel my 30's is too early to feel rickety and creaky.  Don't you??  Exercise should make me feel good and limber and younger and give me more energy, right?  So why is it I shuffle into work and groan when I have to sit down OR stand up?  I'm not going to have to start liberally slathering on Bengay and popping Osteo-Bi-Flex before my 33rd birthday, am I?  Nothing screams sexy like getting your man to massage you, but instead of those flavored body oils you used to use... you wink and slip him the bottle of Bengay.  Yowsa, that's hot.  I know, I'm cringing at the thought of it too.