Written By Alan Good
You’ve no doubt heard the expression, “use it or loose it”. Change that to, “move it or loose it”? What you don’t move—or use—you will loose. Ask anyone who spent a week or more in bed and then was asked to walk. Atrophy sets in. And it gets more pronounced as we age. Muscles loose strength.
For example, after winter, working on the garden or going out on that first golf day, we experience some aches and pains later. The next day may find us very slow to move. Those parts of the body that didn’t get used are now telling us they don’t wish to be awakened.
The last article spoke about the need to move. It’s a fact that regular movement can stave off effects of aging on our brains, hearts, and bodies. It’s been proven that with 150 minutes (minimum) of exercise each week the cardiovascular system improves, bones and muscles increase, and our brains grow.
Doing consistent exercise will improve your appetite, your mindset, and your endurance, not to mention help you live longer and enjoy the time you have. Movement is imperative. No matter the age, we need to keep moving to survive. It doesn’t matter what you do as long as it’s consistent. And it must be safe.
As always, we caution everyone to check with their doctor if some medical issue might be a challenge. Make sure you can do the thing you want to do. Get advice on how much, how long, and how hard to work out.
Then, start slow. No matter if you choose weights, exercise bands, tai chi, or yoga, feel for the proper starting point, for you. If you join a class, don’t look at what others are doing. Work at your pace.
During the exercise, keep track of your body. Listen to your heart, feel your lungs, watch for fatigue. Monitoring your body can be done by feeling for your heart rate either in your neck or wrist. Another way is by tracking your Perceived Rate of Exertion (PRE).
This is simply a wellness scale of 1-10—one being stillness to a ten rating that tells you you’re pushing it too hard. Usually, keeping at 3-4 during warm up and carrying on into a rate between 5-7 for cardio is a good standard. Get a sense of pain, breathing, over tiredness and rate it. Then, if you find you are too high, slow down, lessen the weight, in other words, pace yourself.
You could also use the talking/singing method. This works well for walking. If you can speak several sentences clearly or sing, you are okay and could perhaps step-up the pace. If you barely get one sentence out, slow it down!
Keep track of your weekly exercises. Make a chart of what exercises you do and the days of the week. Chart each day’s event as to what you completed and for how long. Remember, you are aiming for 150 minutes per week, for at least 20-30 minutes per session.
Always, slow and steady wins the… fitness regimen. Next time, take time to get FIT.
