First Person
The New Man in My Life
Dear Kay,
His name is Vince.
He lives somewhere out west, I think, though I don’t know exactly where. It’s an Internet thing we have together, so we keep it on a need-to-know basis.
Mostly, he lives inside my phone, where he inhabits an exercise app. I let him out once a day for 23 minutes.
I met Vince one morning recently when an email landed in my spam folder with a subject line saying, “You can do anything for 30 seconds,” and I actually disagreed with this, thinking about all the things I can’t and won’t do for even ten seconds.
But then I realized he was talking about exercise and thought: you know, he might be on to something.
There I was, flat on my back, in bed, trying to decide whether to get up or go back to sleep. My average step count these days can hit the high threes—hundreds, not thousands!—and I’m old enough to know that this is not good.
So I got Vince’s app, which I’m not going to name because it doesn’t matter, and I started doing a 10% version of whatever Vince told me to do.
Vince is a total liar. After about ninety seconds of exercises, he says things like “Wooooo! I am SWEATIN’!” I, on the other hand, am not only sweatin’ but counting the seconds until the one-minute rest. I am nailing the one-minute rests—not bragging if it’s true!
So. I guess I’m telling you this because I’m owning my effort here. If I write about it to you, maybe it will help me stick with Vince. I kind of hate Vince, but I also love him. It’s complicated.
For everybody who’s reading this, and wondering whether to get out of bed or go back to sleep, I get it. It’s the daily question these days. But if you have a moment when some overwrought exercise app email finds you, or a song by KC and the Sunshine Band pops up, or a puffy cloud drifts by and you want to follow it down the street? It feels incredibly good to move around.
Meanwhile . . .
The Inclinations wrap is a new design by Andrea Mowry, so I jumped on it, using the bundle of Spincycle Dream State yarn that we’ve got in the Shop.
It’s a six-color project, where you alternate colors every two rows for a stripey sort of effect.
I love the six colors of Dream State in this bundle. (We have a few left in the Shop, if you’re looking for Tuesday fun.)
I started with Rusted Rainbow and Nostalgia. Loving this spongey, smooshy fisherman’s rib. Wish you could stretch it out and see how squooshy it is.
The pattern looks like brioche on one side and a dotted texture on the other. So good.
Awaiting their moment in my Bento Bag: Salty Dog and Shades of Earth.
Right now: Melancholia and Deep Bump. Sort of like me and my exercise regime . . .
Two steps forward, one step back, three steps forward! Gotta keep moving! Vince is dogging me.
Love,
Ann
You are an inspiration Anne! And also hilarious. I need to find my own Vince.
Gorgeous shawl. Can I ask for the full name of Vince? I’m interested in exercising. Thanks
I bet it’s vshred, Vince Sant is the trainer and yes, he does make you sweat… and possibly occasionally swear but the programs are great just google vshred if you want to search for it
I’m watching your Mowry binge and feel it coming. Having started one of her projects 2 years ago and set it down as bewildering, you’ve provided the solution! Start and don’t stop until my Andrea queue is spent. As to Vince….
Really fun projects! Shift cowl, Nightshift shawl, Inclinations Shawl, and next up? Inclinations Cowl in Dyed in the Wool. Can’t stop won’t stop! ; )
I started the Nightshift Shawl and didn’t like the drape. After two feet, I frogged it and put it in time out for the summer. I’ll go back to it next year with larger needles.
What a GORGEOUS shawl. People might try to steal it from you. I think my type of brain might be happier with the fisherman’s rib rhythm than the brioche rhythm. Will have to investigate…Does your Vince include weight-lifting and other muscle-training movements? Very important. We lose muscle mass as we age. Muscle also uses up more calories to maintain just by sitting there, while fatty tissue probably does not. And someone once observed that weight trainers seemed happier than cardio people while doing their working outs. Although, of course, there are lots of people who truly love to run. And I can’t leave out walking. Either with a friend in person or on the phone while you walk. I believe both these workouts are easier on the joints than most cardio. But that shawl…don’t leave it anywhere near me. Chloe
For me, Vince is making me use my own weight as my weights, so yeah . . . for me my weight training is also my cardio! And I agree totally about the great thing about walking. It’s gotten me through covid for sure, with Hubby and also on my own.
Don’t overdo anything! I learned the hard way.
Thank you for the reminder! As my friend Ann Stern puts it, “Start slow and taper.” !!!
I have found my own “new man” by the name of Vytas on an app and on YouTube. I never thought I would enjoy yoga, but the “Simpler Flow” yoga routine that he designed for his parents is just my speed. It really helps my back pain too!
Keep up with the exercise and keep moving! Love the shawl!
My “Vince” is called Deron.
I’m looking at that inclinations shawl and boy is it pretty. I love watching colors interact like that. I have yarn coming for two Field Guide #21 projects and I’m anxious to see how the yarns I’ve chosen play together.
Congrats on making the choice to stick with Vince. I’ve been an on again off again exerciser but about 6 months ago I added twice a week 30 minute weight training to my twice a week Pilates reformer lessons and I’m getting much stronger. I work with a trainer for both for several reasons, but the most important is that I don’t hurt myself. Having set appointments also means I show up.
Oh, I hope you have fun with your Field Guide No. 21 projects. I knitted one of them myself (jumped the gun) and can’t wait to do another one. Also: I love the reformer, maybe I’ll get back to it now that Vince is such a nag.
Well, to be honest, I tried knitting while on the exercycle. I like being productive! Alas, my hands got sweaty and the yarn tended to stick and it wrecked my tension and wrecked my fun.
Haaa! We’ve all tried that one, for sure!
Ok, Ann, we need to know who Vince is. PLEASE!
Yes! We need to know this!
Vince is part of a program I’m not really loving, honestly–lots of ads for supplements and protein powder! He has a 90 day series that I’m doing, in the wildly optimistic hope that I can stick with this. There are tons of YouTube videos for HIIT, which is what all this exercise is–high intensity interval training, which really does suit me because none of it lasts very long!
Because if Covid and my daughter needing me I stopped my pilates classes in December. Miss it so much. I feel like a whale.
I have recently found the “Pilates version” oh her dear Vince. 🙂 have you seen The Balanced Life on YouTube? Robin something. I did 12-15 min basic Pilates videos and loved it so much that I subscribe to the daily routine on the app. If you miss Pilates in person, you might like this.
Will check it out! Thanks. I’ve done Pilates Anytime off and on for years, really think Pilates is helpful to me.
Way to go, Ann! I’m afraid I’m still hoping that my genetics will save me.
Now I believe the saying, “Use it, or lose it.” It’s true! Getting up and moving every 20 min or so in the middle of knitting a project is so important. I haven’t perfected the art of doing chair squats while knitting, but I can certainly do them when I take a “ movement pause”. Good for you to find Vince
So true!
I’m with you on the excercise, I hit snooze and think I’ll do it later but then later never comes. I feel so much less rusty when I have some morning movement.
My motivation comes and goes, really hard to be consistent!
My current “Vince” is a 3-yr old sweetheart of an adopted dog named Sadie. She’s gotten me out of bed to walk every morning, and isn’t virtual, so the sloppy kisses are real! She also flips over her (heavy!!) Yeti water bowl in the kitchen when it’s empty – which sounds like ringing a bell for me to get up from my knitting! 😉
Ha! She’s got you trained, excellent.
I can read about Andrea Mowry anywhere. Please, more about Vince!
Ok, Vince sounds like an inspiration we all need. I’m much more likely to stay in bed especially if it’s a crummy day outside. Thanks for the great writing, you are so much fun! I’ve taken a knitting break and just doing washcloths to calm my soul.
This business with Vince is all very nice, but can you keep up when Kermit gets the zooms?
So happy you have started featuring Spincycle and Andrea Mowry’s patterns. A few years ago her patterns + their yarn introduced me to a completely different & more adventurous way of thinking about color! Plus the Spincycle ladies and Andrea all seem to be generous-spirited people, whenever I read anything they have to say or see their newest creations, they always make me happy. They belong in the MDK family, glad to see you all got together!
What a great letter. So entertaining and well written. I’m in bed right now… with a cold. So no 30 seconds for me today.
Vince probably had no idea how influential you are, Ann. 😉
Figures 42 and 43 are marvelous. That poor woman! Thank goodness we have leggings, with pockets, these days.
I retired from teaching elementary school in July, 2015. I immediately signed up for an exercise class for the over 50 at my senior center. I would go twice a week for an hour. Then came the corona virus and that shut down all the senior centers. I have now finally gone back to exercise class which started in April for twice a week. It’s so good to be back with most of my exercise friends. It was hard doing aerobic exercises for the first 30 minutes, but I do feel better and breathe better. I have asthma and arthritis and exercise helps. Of course, I was doing some stretching exercises at home and getting on the exercise bike during the shut down.
When not in exercise class, knitting, reading, and playing the piano make my day!!
Kudos! Embracing the need for exercise reaps rewards with untold riches. You have bolstered my less than robust commitment, thank you!
Ann, RIGHT ON! Doing ten percent = practically channeling Max Daniels! Our minds tend to ruminate & our bodies want food, rest, & yes, movement. Walking has saved my sanity during these last few years. And then I got back on my bike (yeah, my 30-year-old bike!, still fab) & started doing hills in winter of 2021. Feel like a happy kid every time. Go for the endorphins Ann, you will be chuffed. Remember the word comes from “endogenous morphine”! As in, the drugs my body knows how to make all by its brilliant self.
Fabulous, Mary! Love this. I’m also pretending during my flailing around workouts that I’m being chased by a swarm of bees, which sort of happened to me when I was in Topanga State Park in LA not long ago, and seriously, if the swarm of bees had wanted to get me, they would have! SAD state of affairs…
In the neuroplasticity world, our brain learns by association. Sooooo maybe not the bee visuals if you wanna keep going, or at least entrain your exercise with good feels. But yeah, the HIIT stuff does resemble fight/flight!
My “Vince” is a pair of 5 year old black Labradors. They’re all amped up in the morning, so we walk and walk and walk and walk. Then, bless them, it’s just a siesta the resta the day. So I knit and sew and draw and …I LOVE my personal trainers!!!
You should get a dog, Ann! My “Vince” is also a pair of black labs – 10-yr old Rueben and 6-month old Lucky. Lucky provides the weight training – we got him at Christmas when I had bronchitis and hubby was recuperating from hip surgery, so we quickly fell behind on puppy training. Now we are trying extra hard to overcome the 50 lb pup pulling on the leash when we walk. My arms and back are finally starting to feel stronger – ugh! But once we win this battle, he will be pure joy, and he helps the old dog get his exercise, too. Gotta love ’em!
Love to keep up with all the comments on the MDK website, when I can. They tend to be almost as entertaining as the original article. Ann, your explanation that Vince’s routine uses your own body as it’s weight training is very intriguing. My “Vince” I lost several years ago when we moved. He used a variety of disciplines – weight-training, cardio, t’ai chi, etc. in a Senior-friendly routine that still surprisngly gave me results despite their gentle nature. Still looking for “that” Vince but lifting weights and walking in the meantime. Love the dog idea but we travel too much.
My favorite online exercise program is HASFit. Right now I’m doing their prenatal workout. I was doing really well during the first trimester, but then I had loads of complications and basically did nothing for the entire second trimester. Now I’m 30 weeks and realizing I need to get myself in shape for delivery so I’m trying to get back on the wagon. If only I weren’t so exhausted all the time! I’d much rather sit and knit. (Besides, I have a log cabin baby blanket to finish!) But I’m also scheming an Andrea Mowry pattern with all my single skeins of handknits – I thought I knew which one I wanted, but now I’m not so sure…..
Thanks for a lovely article, Ann!
I love all the comments! I’m turning 70 this year and seriously overweight. I just went to uTube to look for a couple exercise groups listed in the comments. I can totally take 10-15 here and there during my work-at-home day.