Item: 1 Buns of Steel videotape
My friend Sheila gets credit for introducing me to this exercise series. I think a bunch of us were at her house and did the tape together. I distinctly remember finishing the warm-ups, being exhausted, and then hearing "Now we're ready to begin the exercise part of our program!" I remember saying something sarcastic like "Right, because we weren't exercising before." This is sort of funny, because the warm-up part of the program isn't actually all that difficult.
So I bought this tape at some point when I lived in Iowa, and realized that outdoor exercise during the winter was not feasible even for a determined person like me. I remember doing this workout in the basement, all winter. I've gone for long periods of time since not touching this videotape, not having a TV, or not having a VCR, or living in a place where there wasn't any room to exercise, but then there always seem to be times when I end up coming back to it. I don't know why, but every single time I start this program I'm inescapably back in that basement (which was cold and had only one small square of light blue carpet on the cement), and this is a good feeling.
The instructor on this video is Tamilee Webb, who is maybe the first person who ever tried to teach me some sort of physical activity and used the words "you're doing a good job." Tamilee Webb was clearly in great shape and was not above wearing a scrunchie in her hair, and looked to be the type of person who spent her evenings out at beachfront clubs on Miami summer nights. I had a lot to learn from her.
When a person does an exercise video on a regular basis, it becomes ingrained in her consciousness so that she knows it word for word, including the little glitches in the routine and odd pauses in the background music. It becomes ingrained in the body too: It's been probably 3 years or more since the last time I did it, but when I played it this week I could follow the exercises without even thinking about it. I didn't know that muscle memory lasted that long.
This tape came out in 1991, and for all I know, these exercises have since been determined to be really bad for you. But I've been trying to do the tape piece by piece as kind of a test to see how much my knee can handle. If I happen to also achieve buns of steel as a result, so much the better.
So I bought this tape at some point when I lived in Iowa, and realized that outdoor exercise during the winter was not feasible even for a determined person like me. I remember doing this workout in the basement, all winter. I've gone for long periods of time since not touching this videotape, not having a TV, or not having a VCR, or living in a place where there wasn't any room to exercise, but then there always seem to be times when I end up coming back to it. I don't know why, but every single time I start this program I'm inescapably back in that basement (which was cold and had only one small square of light blue carpet on the cement), and this is a good feeling.
The instructor on this video is Tamilee Webb, who is maybe the first person who ever tried to teach me some sort of physical activity and used the words "you're doing a good job." Tamilee Webb was clearly in great shape and was not above wearing a scrunchie in her hair, and looked to be the type of person who spent her evenings out at beachfront clubs on Miami summer nights. I had a lot to learn from her.
When a person does an exercise video on a regular basis, it becomes ingrained in her consciousness so that she knows it word for word, including the little glitches in the routine and odd pauses in the background music. It becomes ingrained in the body too: It's been probably 3 years or more since the last time I did it, but when I played it this week I could follow the exercises without even thinking about it. I didn't know that muscle memory lasted that long.
This tape came out in 1991, and for all I know, these exercises have since been determined to be really bad for you. But I've been trying to do the tape piece by piece as kind of a test to see how much my knee can handle. If I happen to also achieve buns of steel as a result, so much the better.
posted by Karen at 7:20 PM
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