Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 1, 1995 TAG: 9503010066
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Throw punches while you bike, suggests Schroeder, author of "Taking the Work Out of Working Out." Shadow boxing while pedaling will increase the calories you burn and create a feeling of kinesthesia, which is a professorial word for the delight or sensation you get from moving your body.
You can get kinesthetic sensations from sliding your lower jaw from side to side or from moving like Tina Turner or just sucking in your stomach, or bending to compare the prices of the regular- and economy-sized boxes of detergent.
I believe, like Schroeder, that any opportunity to move can become a chance to exercise, both the mind and body.
TV star Kathie Lee Gifford stands on tiptoe and tightens her buttocks while she brushes her teeth. When I drive, I do shoulder lifts and rolls and face exercises to break the monotony and relax my back and shoulders. And anyone who has cleaned house knows that dusting can be made more bearable if done with stretches, squats and balletlike poses.
Taking a clue from Schroeder, I tried to play the body and, at the same time, check out the marketplace. When you shop for groceries, if you first push an empty cart up and down each aisle, you can scout out the specials, look to see what's in the coupon dispensers and see which meats have been marked down, all before you make a single purchase.
Imagine, too, the movement the next coupon makes when you take one out of the dispenser.
This kind of thinking is kinolyzing, where you intellectualize movements, like how a golf ball feels while rolling toward the cup or what it's like to swim upstream like a salmon. It makes you forget about the monotony of exercise.
If you can take exercise to the level of kinoart, theorizes Schroeder, you won't tire of it. To help do this, Schroeder, who has taught a variety of courses at the University of Memphis, produced a paperback manual that combines fanciful forays into art and literature with factual material designed to convince the reader that exercise is not only good for our health but can be a symphony.
Children enjoy moving until they are molded by a society that "tends to look down on those who dare to be themselves," Schroeder says. How much better off we'd be, he suggests, if we followed the wisdom of Henry David Thoreau:
"Let him keep step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away."
If the pool is closed, Schroeder walks the track and at the same time passes a horseshoe from hand to hand.
Just as Francisco Goya depicted diverse aesthetic experiences with "Saturn Devouring His Children" and "The Clothed Maja" (both shown in Schroeder's book), you should let your body experience jerky movements along with graceful ones and maybe even give it a bit of pain, he says.
"A beginning kinoartist should experiment by lifting light, medium and heavy weights for each exercise - and concentrating on the kinesthetic sensations of the movements," Schroeder wrote. Light weights will produce "barely discernible" sensations, but the heavy ones will make you "keenly aware" and perhaps "tend to be unpleasant," he points out.
If you mind works this way, or you wish it did, check local bookstores for Schroeder's book, published by Chronimed Publishing of Minneapolis.
You can contact Kelly at 981-3393 or at sandrakinfi.net
by CNB