Step by Step: Finding Fitness in Sacred Spaces

Transcript of video:

My name is Jeff Adams, and it is my great privilege to be the pastor appointed to Fairmont United Methodist Church in Fairmont, Minnesota.

My wellness challenge is that I'm not particularly wired to do physical things in the presence of other people, so I have had fitness club memberships and things like that, but they really don't work for me.

And understanding that, I tried to come up with a way that I could be better, using things that I had right around me. And that's when I noticed that my church, with its two-story education building, has ten distinct sets of stairs in a variety of lengths. And we also have a very long ramp going up into our worship space for people to use that maybe can't navigate steps.

So, I developed a routine that lasts 25 minutes– I time it– and I hit every set of stairs in this place, in both directions, three times. So it's a lively walk through the church, and walks down the hallways are interspersed with intentionally going up and down the stairs, reversing my direction, things like that.

Rev. Jeff Adams

And once per lap, I head up into the youth room and play about, 30 seconds to a minute’s worth of ping pong against the wall, and that both gives me some things to do that are a little bit more, slowed down, but also a little bit of hand-eye coordination and things. And it just breaks it up really well. And what it does is– it doesn't matter if when I'm at the church– everybody needs a 25-minute break when they're in the office. So I take that break in a way that leaves me well.

The other thing I did was to work with a personal trainer, and he came up with an amazing workout routine for me to use with just a chair and these adjustable dumbbells. As you can see, all I’ve  got to do is turn the handle that changes the weight.

I got them on Amazon, and he gave me a routine to work out in my chair that I can do right in my office, which I do do.

And this has been what I did throughout the winter. As soon as spring arrives, as soon as the weather gets good, I am out on my bike. But until then, this is what I've done to enhance my wellness and it has been very effective for me.

So I just want to encourage you to understand that there might be things that you can do that don't require going to a gym, that you can do in the comfort of your own setting, and make use of the spaces and resources that you have right in front of you every day.

May you be blessed with the wellness that you can find all around you.