I always attributed my excellent attendance record while teaching to the fact that I exercised regularly. Now, I am on a mission to try to get my Twitter friends to get moving.  Then, I would like to turnkey that idea to have them get their children and students to eat better and exercise.

My turning point in terms of exercise occurred while hiking with the Boy Scouts at the Philmont Scout Ranch in Cimarron, New Mexico. We carried everything we needed on our backs and camped out in fields.  Earning the hiking merit badge was a big thing for me.  In college I enjoyed middle distance running and even squeezed in a couple of marathons when it was not popular to be running in the streets in the 1960’s.  When I starting teaching I got together with the gym teacher & school patrolman (NYC Police Dept) and we successfully coached our school to beat over 125 schools for the city track championship.  I helped my new school the next year do the same.  Then I had the privilege of running our school district’s track program which was extremely successful.

I will never forget the first track practice.  The students who came out challenged me to a race. There was no way I could beat them in sprinting so I told them we would warm up first.  After running for a mile and hearing them all huffing and puffing I then sprinted and none of them could beat me.  Trickery worked but I did gain their respect.  We taught them that through hard work they could achieve.  I enjoyed seeing that carry over to their school work as well.

When I was involved in my school’s health careers program I made it a point to teach them good nutrition, exercise and the importance of sufficient sleep.  One young man at the end of the school year came up to me and thanked me for changing his life.  He had been severely overweight and was constantly teased about it.  He took my advice, ate more nutritiously and exercised and now felt really good about himself.  The students who saw me eating salad for lunch used to laugh at my dining choice.  I was trying to model good eating for them.

Needless to say when a group on my PLN on Twitter started the Twitter Exercise Motivation Team #temt I immediately jumped on that bandwagon.  Yes, even I need encouragement to continue exercising.  It does not matter what form of exercise but it is important to do something.  Yard or housework, yoga, dancing, spinning, running, walking, swimming, and jogging are just some of the things you can do.

If you have trouble exercising by yourself make it a family fun activity or find a workout buddy.  Please lead by example and have your family and students follow your exercise example.