“Being married to a writer means I pretty much abdicate all pretense of privacy,” M. observed the other day.

Well, yeah. If you know me, you’ll eventually end up in something I write. That’s just the way it is when you know a memoirist. It’s all fodder.

At the same time, I’m not afraid to put myself out there. This is one of those posts that could be mildly embarassing, actually. It’s a confession, of sorts.

And it’s all in the visual.

My trainer had to cancel today. So rather than trek over to the gym for my cardio, I pulled out my secret new stash: A set of Richard Simmons DVDs: Sweatin’ to the Oldies.

I moved the hassock from the foot of the bed, inserted the DVD and had one of the most fun, joyful aerobic workouts ever. It’s about 45 minutes of an easy-to-follow but good aerobic routine set to all the Golden Oldies.

And between singing, and following Richard’s dance aerobic routine, I laughed out loud with how fun it was. We ponied. We twisted. Great practice for our big wedding celebration dance party in January!

After about 20 minutes, Riley just couldn’t stand it. He had to join in. He started ponying with me and clearly wanted me to pick him up. So, I did, and we ponied together to one song.

Like I said. It’s all in the visual, isn’t it?

It’s My Party. Wipeout. The Twist. With hand movements at times. Yeah. Those lip-synch movements. Too fun!

I realized, though, afterwards, that on this diet I need to be careful about timing my small meals. This morning I didn’t have my pre-workout snack and my blood sugar plummeted during cooldown. I immediately sucked down a protein drink and my vitamins and felt fine.

This could be the one exercise DVD I could get M. to do, because he loves oldies as much as I do, and he loves to dance. I think we could have fun doing this one together.

Thankfully, none of his three dogs has the energy to join in, so we only have to include Riley. Who, by the way, dances pretty damn well! The challenge will be dodging our pet family, because there will be a dog or cat in every corner very soon.

I knew this was a good workout because I could feel the same muscles working that Trainer Tom and I work out. I was mildly out of breath after. Of course, you try ponying with a 9 lb. dog in your arms and see if YOU don’t get out of breath.

So for those of you Baby Boomers who enjoy channeling your inner gay man, and be honest, who doesn’t? This is a very fun workout. Here’s a clip of another segment in my set.