Fandom as a Fitness Motivator
The shows for several of my fandoms always inspire me to go out and do RL physical activities. Watching Jim running through the jungle in The Sentinel never fails to make me want to go running, Jim's arm muscles remind me to lift weights, Pros makes me want to charge around and snarl "Hah!" like Doyle does swinging that piece of pipe or whatever in the credits, and I nearly signed up for archery lessons after watching Legolas in LOTR.
I really admire the way JD can vault onto his horse in Mag 7. I can't do that, for no good reason other than that I've never bothered to practice. I decided yesterday to start learning.
I stood one of my horses in a low spot to give me a few inches advantage over our usual relative sizes (my horses are a little bigger than any of the Mag 7 horses, and I'm shorter than JD, but that just adds to the fun). Then it took a while to communicate that I wanted him to stay right there while I repeatedly ran up and hurled myself at his side.
I was just trying to do the "hang over back and then swing leg over" method to start with, before progressing to "pivot on elbow and swing up in one motion", which is what JD does.
The first five or ten tries only resulted in general hilarity and a thoroughly squashed left breast from colliding with his withers (the bony part at the base of the neck), but eventually I got on! And then got on again! And then decided to stop before I was so sore I couldn’t work today or tomorrow!
The pivot on elbow method seems a million miles away at the moment, but so did running 10k when I started jogging.
My property settlement was yesterday and it was such a warm night that I decided to go over there and sleep under the stars on the hill (another Mag 7-related thing to do!). It was so perfect that I was struck by a sense of fear that I’d never thought to do it before. What else would I love to do that’s never occurred to me? I know where I’ll be spending a lot of nights next summer.
I really admire the way JD can vault onto his horse in Mag 7. I can't do that, for no good reason other than that I've never bothered to practice. I decided yesterday to start learning.
I stood one of my horses in a low spot to give me a few inches advantage over our usual relative sizes (my horses are a little bigger than any of the Mag 7 horses, and I'm shorter than JD, but that just adds to the fun). Then it took a while to communicate that I wanted him to stay right there while I repeatedly ran up and hurled myself at his side.
I was just trying to do the "hang over back and then swing leg over" method to start with, before progressing to "pivot on elbow and swing up in one motion", which is what JD does.
The first five or ten tries only resulted in general hilarity and a thoroughly squashed left breast from colliding with his withers (the bony part at the base of the neck), but eventually I got on! And then got on again! And then decided to stop before I was so sore I couldn’t work today or tomorrow!
The pivot on elbow method seems a million miles away at the moment, but so did running 10k when I started jogging.
My property settlement was yesterday and it was such a warm night that I decided to go over there and sleep under the stars on the hill (another Mag 7-related thing to do!). It was so perfect that I was struck by a sense of fear that I’d never thought to do it before. What else would I love to do that’s never occurred to me? I know where I’ll be spending a lot of nights next summer.