Take A CPR Class
cpr, american red cross, heart
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I just finished a recertification for adult CPR/AED and got more out of the class than I bargained for. During the class, I realized that about this time last year, I made some drastic changes to my lifestyle - as a direct result of the CPR class last year.
Now most of my life I have been a little more fanatical about exercising than the average joe, being involved in martial arts at an early age and especially since weight training started for high school sports. Running, lifting weights, bicycling, spinning heel hooks, you name it - they've all been a part of my continuous but evolving exercise regimen. But there have been many times in my life - maybe even most of it - that I wasn't that concerned with the choices I was making to fuel my body. A little more than a year ago, I started a new job that had a full-blown fitness center on site (gym, classes, trainers, etc) and at that time they were looking to add some new classes to the schedule. Since I had experience teaching at a karate school for many years, I offered to teach a cardio kickboxing class. They agreed and sent me off to CPR class.
What an eye opener that was. Of course, much of the class is hearing about statistics related to heart disease, cardiac arrest, strokes, etc. If you happen to get an experienced instructor, you also get plenty of real-life stories about heart-related emergencies. I remember that class a year ago, thinking about all the males in my blood-line that had "heart issues" and decided then that I was going to do the best I could for my own heart. Today it hit me how much my lifestyle with respect to eating has changed. It's been so long since I've had french fries that I might not remember what they taste like (yeah, right), and the only bread I will allow near my mouth is "whole grain something or other". I still drink way too much alcohol, but in general I would actually rather have a salad than a pile of carbs deep fried in boiling grease. And I feel good about that.
I think my heart is happy about that, too.
So once again, today as the instructor was happily shocking us with bad heart stories, it was reinforcing the choices I've made over the last year. And I'm going to keep making those choices...
Some final thoughts. As we were going around to room to introduce ourselves, I found it interesting that at least 3 other people stated their reasons for being there were because of fitness instruction or personal training. Seems like a good trend. And look up your local American Red Cross office to find a CPR class near you. You never know what you might get out of it - the very least is knowledge that could help save someone's life. Maybe even your own.
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on 4/5/2008
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