Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 673.
Walking or running as an exercise.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 673.
I'm your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan.
For all of our current episodes... on our website that you can download.
You knew that too, huh?
Okay, you think you're pretty smart, don't you?
This episode is called Walking or Running as Exercise.
Let's get started.
Okay, I'm ready to walk my way to better fitness.
I'm glad you're so enthusiastic about starting to exercise.
I'm totally psyched.
Check out my new tennis shoes.
They're brand new?
You haven't broken them in yet?
I hope you don't get blisters.
Stop worrying.
Let's go.
I'm ready to work up a sweat.
Wait.
There are a few things you need to know before we start.
It's a good idea to stretch and to warm up to avoid injuries.
I stretched already, and as soon as we get started, I'll warm up slowly.
Let's go.
All right.
Here we go.
Nice and slow.
Come on.
How are we supposed to increase our heart rate if we walk this slowly?
Pick up the pace.
I don't want to get shin splints.
It's important that we start slowly and maintain a low-impact workout.
Forget it.
I'll race you.
The last one to the park buys lunch.
Ready, set, go.
Wait.
Raina begins our dialogue by saying to Lars, Okay, I'm ready to walk my way to better fitness.
Fitness is the level of your health and your strength, your ability to complete certain physical activities without a lot of difficulty.
If you have problems walking up 10 stairs...
You may need to work on your fitness.
You may need to exercise, to do exercises.
Reina's going to walk her way to better fitness, meaning she's going to help her health and her strength by walking.
That's her way, her method.
Lars says, I'm glad you're so enthusiastic about starting to exercise.
To exercise, of course, is to do some physical activity that will make your body stronger or healthier.
Marina says, I'm totally psyched.
To be psyched P-S-Y-C-H-E-D is an informal expression meaning to be very excited about something, to be very eager and enthusiastic to do something.
When it means this, it always ends in "-ed", psyched.
The word psych has other meanings which are not found in our learning guide, not this one anyway.
Reina says, check out my new tennis shoes.
Tennis is a game, but tennis shoes are a kind of shoes that you can wear when playing tennis, but you can also wear them for other sports.
It's a type of shoe you would wear to participate in different physical events or sporting activities.
So it's not just for tennis.
When spoken normally, the two words run together, so it sounds like tennis shoes.
Informally, you might even hear someone talk about their tennies, meaning their tennis shoes.
Lars says they're brand new, referring to the tennis shoes.
To be brand new means to be recently purchased.
You bought them yesterday or this morning.
They've never been used before.
That's another meaning here of brand new.
Lars says you haven't broken them in yet.
To break something in or to break in something is a two-word phrasal verb meaning to wear something, especially shoes, for short periods of time, until your feet get used to the shoes, until the shoes begin to perhaps loosen up a little bit so that it isn't uncomfortable to walk in them.
So when you buy a new pair of shoes, you may wear them the first day for a couple of hours, the second and third day for a couple of hours until gradually, you're wearing them all the time, a little bit more each day.
There are other meanings of this expression to break in.
Those can be found in our learning guide.
You see, those you actually can find in the learning guide.
Lars continues, I hope you don't get blisters.
A blister B-L-I-S-T-E-R is a small, usually painful, raised area of skin that is filled, usually with some sort of clear liquid.
It's caused when you rub a certain part of your body against something for a long time.
So if you're wearing shoes that are too small for you, the shoes will rub against your skin and you will get blisters.
Reina says, stop worrying.
She's not going to get blisters.
That's what she's implying.
She says, let's go.
I'm ready to work up a sweat.
The expression to work up.
Up a sweat means to do very difficult physical activity that will result or that will have the cause of water coming out of your skin.
When that happens, or when you're very hot, we say you are sweating.
That's what Raina wants to do.
She wants to sweat, to work up water.
Lars says, wait, there are a few things you need to know before we start.
It's a good idea to stretch and to warm up to avoid injuries.
To stretch, S-T-R-E-T-C-H
Here means to move the different parts of your body, your arms and your legs, for example, in sort of unusual ways, so that the muscles begin to work, so that your muscles are more flexible.
You might put your hands up in the air or put, one hand against the other and start to pull.
That would be stretching.
You'll often see athletes stretch before they participate in their sport.
The theory is and not everyone agrees, this is true, but the theory is that by stretching you will Avoid injuries, meaning you won't hurt yourself.
For other meanings of the word stretch, take a look at that learning guide.
To warm up means to do a physical activity gently or slowly for the first few minutes.
So, for example, if you are going to go running, you may run slowly for the first few four or five minutes until your body and muscles start getting used to what you are doing, and then you may start running faster.
Reina says, I stretched already, and as soon as we get started, I'll warm up slowly.
Let's go.
Reina just wants to start.
Lars says, all right, here we go, nice and slow, meaning very slowly, comfortably.
Marina says, come on.
That expression come on when shouted at someone can mean that you are frustrated with them, or it could mean that you want them to go faster.
Reina probably has a little bit of both of those meanings.
She says, Your heart rate is the speed at which your heart beats.
B-E-A-T-S, which is the verb we use for the movements of the heart, the movements that the heart muscle makes.
To increase your heart rate means that your heart will start beating faster.
It will start working harder.
Raina wants Lars to pick up the pace, P-A-C-E.
To pick up the pace means to begin to do something more quickly, to move more quickly, to hurry.
Lars says, I don't want to get shin splints.
Your shin, S-H-I-N, is the part of your leg, the front of your leg between your knee and your foot.
Shin splints is a condition where you experience pain in that part of your body, often caused by running on very hard surfaces or wearing shoes that are not appropriate, that aren't good for running.
Lars says it's important that we start slowly and and maintain a low-impact workout.
Low-impact is an exercise that doesn't require that your body be moving or jumping or running on a hard surface.
It's also a general term for exercise that isn't very difficult.
It's sort of easier than doing other kinds of exercise.
The noun workout is a session, word or a short period of time of doing some sort of physical activity, especially if you do it regularly.
I work out Monday through Friday by walking every morning.
That's my workout.
Notice I also used workout two words as a verb, meaning to exercise.
Here it's used as a noun.
It means that period of time when you are exercising.
So Lars wants to do a low-impact workout.
Raina says, forget it.
Meaning, I'm frustrated with you.
I'm tired of you.
I'm not going to do that.
Raina says, I'll race you.
To race someone is to see who can run, in this case, the fastest.
Who can do the activity the quickest.
Raina says the last one to the park buys lunch, meaning they're going to race, they're going to compete against each other, and the last person to arrive at the park where they're going in their run or walk has to buy lunch.
If you lose, in other words, you have to buy lunch.
Reina says, ready, set, go.
These three words are traditionally used to begin a race.
Ready, set, go.
And then you begin after the word go.
It's sort of like three, two, one.
But we use this expression, at least in American English, ready, set, go.
We're not sure in this dialogue if Lars is lazy or Raina is not too smart and may injure herself.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Okay, I'm ready to walk my way to better fitness.
I'm glad you're so enthusiastic about starting to exercise.
I'm totally psyched.
Check out my new tennis shoes.
They're brand new?
You haven't broken them in yet?
I hope you don't get blisters.
Stop worrying.
Let's go.
I'm ready to work up a sweat.
Wait.
There are a few things you need to know before we start.
It's a good idea to stretch and to warm up to avoid injuries.
I stretched already, and as soon as we get started, I'll warm up slowly.
Let's go.
All right.
Here we go.
Nice and slow.
Come on.
How are we supposed to increase our heart rate if we walk this slowly?
Pick up the pace.
I don't want to get shin splints.
It's important that we start slowly and maintain a low-impact workout.
Forget it.
I'll race you.
The last one to the park buys lunch.
Ready, set, go!
Wait!
Our dialogues are always brand new.
That's because they're written by our own scriptwriter, Dr. Lucy Say.
Thank you, Lucy.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again, won't you, on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2011 by the Center for Educational Development.
