From exercise bike to mountain bike…

… and what a difference it has made!

Just thought I would share this little development with you as we all know how easy it is to get lazy when you work from home.  It’s great to have the luxury of being able to get up a bit later if you want to, and work whatever hours you like.  But to keep your writing muscle in tip top condition you have to give some due attention to all your other muscles as well.

You may remember a while back I revealed I was getting on the exercise bike every day.  I wasn’t doing too bad – about 7.5 to 8 miles in around half an hour.  But of course the ground is flat and there are no hills to cope with and, well… it all gets a bit boring.

So I got my mountain bike out, dusted it off and headed outside instead.

This is rock biking - and no, it's not what I do! I stick to the path... Looks amazing though doesn't it?

All due credit to my 12 year old niece here, as she came over to stay for 10 days a few weeks back and got me back on the bike again.  But I’m pleased to say I’ve kept it up, grown muscles I didn’t know I had, lost a bit of weight, toned up… and yes, got a sore behind as well.

So what does all this have to do with writing and working from home?

Well the main thing is the exercise of course.  It’s so easy to get into a rut of getting up, sitting down at your desk and writing for the day.   And when you finish work, you get up, perhaps cook dinner, sit down and eat dinner, and then sit back and relax for the evening.  You can see there isn’t a lot of exercise involved in all that.

So yes, I feel better for that exercise.  I try and go out every other day if I can, depending on the weather.  And when I get back and start writing I do feel better for it.  I’m more able to concentrate and I’m sleeping better too.  It sets off a whole new cycle (pardon the pun) of feeling good and getting more done.

There we have it.  For those of you who have a bike gathering dust, I recommend you get it back out and take it round the block again.  Before long you’ll be heading out further than you thought possible.

I’ll have to take a decent camera with me so I can post a photo to prove I’m doing these bike rides along the local estuary.  But then again, I’m better at cycling than I am at taking photos.  The point is the exercise – and that is a good thing for anyone and everyone who works from home.

Related posts:

1. The importance of keeping active when you work from home

Tags: exercise, working day, Working from home