Whether you are a fitness instructor or you hate the “E” word, there may be knowledge to gain from my take on practical exercise. While there are many and varied reasons to exercise and benefits of exercise, I bring it down to two simple questions: Will my exercise program help me to live longer? And will my exercise program keep me more mobile as I age? Longevity and mobility are the two barometers I use to decide what type of exercise I do. If I did all the exercises that every exercise guru or every exercise machine manufacturer and every infomercial producer would have me do I would run out of hours in the day, and money in my pocket. I can exercise to look better on the beach. I can exercise to lose weight. I can exercise to build a stronger core. I can exercise to tone. But the question I ask is this, “When I am 60 or 70 or 80, what exercise should I have been doing when I was younger that would have helped me to live longer and to have more mobility now, and less dependence upon medicine?” My answer to that question is very practical. I need an aerobic exercise to keep my cardio-vascular system healthy and a stretching program to keep my joints healthy. And something else that I must consider is how likely is the exercise to cause injury, since healing from injuries takes longer the older we get. Based upon the above questions here are my rules to exercise choice:
1) You must like the exercises you do or they will eventually pass as a fad, not become part of your daily lifestyle.
2) Your primary exercise must be for the cardio-vascular system. It should be low impact for joint health. Your goal is 45 minutes of elevated heart rate in your target zone 3 times a week. To find your target heart rate Google it. I recommend walking in a hilly area, but I refer back to rule #1. You must like whatever you choose.
3) Your secondary exercise is stretching of joints.
a. The most important joints to stretch are the spinal joints. I recommend my stretching/exercise sheet for easy examples how to do this.
b. The only other joints of the body that need regular stretching are the hips, the shoulders, and the wrists. Ankles, knees, and elbows do not need to be stretched.
4) If you wish to add additional exercise to your lifestyle, this is where toning comes into play. My minimum recommendations are push-ups done on a 1-1.5’ high wall/coffee table. This angled approach to push-ups significantly reduces the risk of shoulder injury while maintaining toning of the muscles involved.
The exercise buff or instructor would point out that this program neglects many muscle groups and ignores many measurable aspects of fitness. He would be correct. I do this intentionally as this article is about practical exercise, not optimal exercise. It is about finding the minimum exercise program for the maximum benefit, or what we could call exercise value.
Stretch your spine every day. Exercise your heart 3 times a week. Do some minimal toning exercises for your arms/shoulders. If you want to do more fantastic, but if you do less, you will one day come to regret your inactivity, your laziness, your inability just to find the time. You have to plan your life around your health, not your health around your life.
1) You must like the exercises you do or they will eventually pass as a fad, not become part of your daily lifestyle.
2) Your primary exercise must be for the cardio-vascular system. It should be low impact for joint health. Your goal is 45 minutes of elevated heart rate in your target zone 3 times a week. To find your target heart rate Google it. I recommend walking in a hilly area, but I refer back to rule #1. You must like whatever you choose.
3) Your secondary exercise is stretching of joints.
a. The most important joints to stretch are the spinal joints. I recommend my stretching/exercise sheet for easy examples how to do this.
b. The only other joints of the body that need regular stretching are the hips, the shoulders, and the wrists. Ankles, knees, and elbows do not need to be stretched.
4) If you wish to add additional exercise to your lifestyle, this is where toning comes into play. My minimum recommendations are push-ups done on a 1-1.5’ high wall/coffee table. This angled approach to push-ups significantly reduces the risk of shoulder injury while maintaining toning of the muscles involved.
The exercise buff or instructor would point out that this program neglects many muscle groups and ignores many measurable aspects of fitness. He would be correct. I do this intentionally as this article is about practical exercise, not optimal exercise. It is about finding the minimum exercise program for the maximum benefit, or what we could call exercise value.
Stretch your spine every day. Exercise your heart 3 times a week. Do some minimal toning exercises for your arms/shoulders. If you want to do more fantastic, but if you do less, you will one day come to regret your inactivity, your laziness, your inability just to find the time. You have to plan your life around your health, not your health around your life.