Rina Hagstrom
Group Fitness Department Head/Instructor
Life Time Fitness White Bear Lake & Coon Rapids, MN
651-292-2364 / 763-767-9000
Every January we have new people in our classes and every year I tell my story to at least 1 person about how I finally made exercise “stick”. You have to really want it or believe that it should be part of your life as is brushing your teeth or drinking water.
Exercise is not optional. It isn’t a sport you can play or not play, like softball or volleyball. If you were someone who chose theatre over sports, you are still someone who needs exercise. Brushing your teeth is an option, but most people do it because they realize how important it is to have teeth and really do want to have them look nice. Brushing your teeth is definitely easier to do than exercise that is for sure. Drinking water for some is a chore. But you have to drink water to live a healthy life.
This way of thinking is logical and we can all agree that we should exercise and that we will live longer if we do. But it is making it “stick” that it the challenge. It is a mindset that we need to exercise, not just that we should. It has been said, that if you exercise for 1 year consistently, it will be a part of your life forever. What is consistently? A minimum of 2x per week.
I have fairly good genetics. No one is really overweight in my family. But we have a family history of high blood pressure and heart disease. My paternal grandfather died at the age of 42 and I grew up listening to my Dad say, “you need to exercise!”
My dear friend Hali, finally made me go with her to an exercise class years ago.
We started with Aerobics 1. I was sucking air so bad and thought who does this stuff and then comes back again? But because of Hali I did continue to go and we eventually even had the guts to go to Aerobics 2.
So on to Aerobics 2 we went. We were not the newbies anymore and we loved the classes!
Hali was doing weight watchers at the same time so she was dropping weight faster than I was. She eventually ended up losing 50lbs and I lost 15lbs. I never felt so good or looked that good. We were hooked.
Every Sunday night I would sit down and make my exercise schedule for the week. If I didn’t, I found that I wouldn’t get workouts in.
That was 21 years ago. I have never missed a week of exercise since, unless I was pregnant (just towards the end) just given birth, or on vacation.
Once I got my metabolism going and started to lose weight, it motivated me to eat better. Hali taught me what she learned on weight watchers and it became more of a game for me and not something that I dreaded.
I am now 48 years old and my kids are basically grown. Being at a gym is my full – time job and I still teach Group Fitness classes. I love my job and I love that I get paid to do this! I am so blessed!
If you are reading this and you are someone that has had that gnawing feeling that you need to do better for yourself and make exercise a regular part of your life, I hope you can find some inspiration from my story. All the best to you.
Rina
Leave a Reply