The "Perfect" Exercise Program

I was asked this week to describe the "perfect" exercise program.  Not one to shy away from the tough questions, I have to admit that one may be impossible to answer.  But it did make me think. 

I had somebody else come by and talk to me about walking, claiming that walking was the "perfect" exercise.  I don't know about that.  Walking is good but it might not always be enough.

I know without a doubt that the perfect exercise program is different for everybody.   I also know that everybody should do something.  There just isn't much excuse not to. 

The view from my "desk" (which is really just a countertop that separates the rehab clinic at Cherokee from the fitness center at Cherokee) is this:  to the left is the cardio area with treadmills, elliptical machines, and stationary bikes with the obligatory bank of television sets.  Straight ahead are benches and rowing machines.  To the right is the turf where we take athletes to work on skills in preparation for return to their sport and where most of the CrossFit classes are held. 

Just beyond that is the sprint track, where we work on running form and agility drills.  Turn to the right and you see a bunch of machines of different flavors, the squat racks, and lots of dumbbells and free weights.  Literally inches away are two of those benches made for doing sit-ups and "good mornings."

So obviously, I've got a lot of tools at my disposal in the pursuit of fitness.  But there is more...so much more around here.

Behind Cherokee is the Maryville Little League Park, which makes for a nice area to walk.  On the other side of Field #4 are 124 brutal stairs that lead up to Blount Memorial Hospital.  Those are a favorite of those that favor that kind of pain.

We're not even that far from the Greenway Trail that goes from Pearson Springs to Alcoa's Springbrook Park with side trails into several communities along the way.  With the latest addition across the new Alcoa pedestrian bridge into Culton Creek area, the total mileage is 21 miles.

We may have more fitness centers per capita than any place in America and although I have a bit of a vested interest in a couple of them, I do hope they are all full of people pursuing good health. 

About a third of our county actually lies within the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, with trails galore.  Literally our back door.

A short drive gets you to Tellico Lake.   Have you ever been on the trails that border the lake with several entry points, most of them off of East Coast Tellico Parkway?  Blount County should have annexed Greenback and everything between here and Tellico Lake and if we had done so, over half of our county's border would be a lake.   Even without that annexation, a full quarter of our northern border is Fort Loudoun Lake. 

A canoe trip out of Ish Creek last week reminded me of what a great resource that lake can be.  I've yet to paddleboard on it but I can see that in my future.  Then there's Little River, which opens up a whole new world of possibilities.

And don't get me started (you don't have to) on what incredible roads we have around here for bicycles.

There are just too many options not to do something.  Walk, hike, bike, swim, lift weights, play tennis, run, row, paddle, climb those 124 stairs...whatever. 

And at the end of all this I've decided simply that the "perfect"  exercise program is the one you will do.