Like a lot of people, I made a New Year’s resolution to exercise more, lose a little weight, and get into shape.

All right, “resolve” might be a strong word. Let’s call it a desire to get a little more value for my $50 a month gym membership than the once-a-month visits that became the norm in 2024.

For a while I’ve been stuck in the fitness paradox. When starting a regimen your muscles hurt after a workout so you want to rest, but the more you exercise the less they’ll hurt. Give it a couple of weeks and you’ll power through it.

It’s one of the biggest hurdles to getting into shape, and one I was reminded of again this week. I hit the pool for a modest 2,000-yard swimming workout, my first since Christmas, and had to grind hard to finish the last half of it. If I’d been in the water a couple times a week it would not have been nearly as taxing.

Time and work are big obstacles to exercising, of course. Especially this time of year. Getting home at 5 or 6 p.m. as the sun is setting and the temperature is dropping limits the neighborhood walks that are an easy way to burn calories. Covering a basketball game at Vicksburg High once a week and trekking up the hill from the parking lot in the dark isn’t going to cut it.

Another roadblock, for me at least, is other people.

I’m primarily a lap swimmer, so access to an indoor pool is the main reason I joined my gym. Unfortunately, it also means everyone else has access.

Besides other lap swimmers, that pool is used for children’s lessons and water aerobics classes.

When you lap swim you can’t see what’s in front of you — you look down, not ahead — so you’re trusting other people to watch out for you. Young kids trying to stay afloat have bigger concerns than avoiding you, so you need to develop a high level of ESP to avoid smashing into them like a torpedo into the side of a destroyer. It’s stressful.

The water aerobics folks have been nice and friendly when we’ve crossed paths — maybe a little too friendly. They tend to hang out and float for a while after their classes and get chatty. I don’t want to be rude, but also don’t want to swap life stories and recipes when I’m trying to stay on an interval and in rhythm.

The water aerobics folks have also scheduled thrice-weekly evening classes from 6 to 7 p.m., which is primetime for a post-work workout. I have to leave work early and go in the middle of the afternoon, or squeeze in a late swim and hope the gym managers don’t decide to lock up early.

Getting forgotten about and trapped in the pool overnight is a weird but not irrational fear, right?

I know there are more forms of exercise than swimming, and I probably need to explore those and stop making excuses. Hit the exercise bike or treadmill, for crying out loud. Lift a weight heavier than a 12-ounce Coke can.

Or just complain and rant. That burns calories, too.

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Ernest Bowker is the sports editor of The Vicksburg Post. He can be reached at ernest.bowker@vicksburgpost.com