How do you stay in shape?

[JeffN]

....I really enjoyed reading your post here. Simplicity is great. I have a handful of meals I prepare and our family loves them - mostly variations of potatoes and veg or rice and veg or soups - my daughter asks for split pea soup nearly every evening!

The "exercise" thing though really struck a chord for me. I have always not liked gymn type things, equipment nor organised "classes". I am always telling my husband to use his own strength and weight for resistance too. We garden, I walk, he cycles and my 4 and half and 6 and a half year old daughters body surf on boards and do anything their bodies will let them. I often just look away if they are too high up a tree or doing something many other parents are cautioning their children about. I felt as virtuous as buying them books when just recently we bought them wetsuits for our Australian Autumn waters at the beach.

But the greatest pleasure I have had in recent times was an Autumn afternoon with our whole family doing handstands on an isolated beach. My 6 year daughter was doing cartwheel after cartwheel like a circus clown and handstands and 'walkovers', my 4 year old was performing handstands. At 40 and 38, my husband was walking on his hands and I was doing handstands, cartwheels and 'walkovers'. The four of us looked a little mad, but it was great. When people ask me how I stay healthy and trim I am too reserved to say I do handstands around the house and eat alot of potatoes and veg! - if I said it I don't think they'd believe me anyway.

thank you for sharing your experience of the ease and enjoyment of simplicity - I understand all that you say from an experiential point of view. By the way I have been reading " The Power of Now " and interestingly when Eckhart Tolle writes some things I am instantly reminded of things you have written (albeit perhaps in a different context) - a great compliment to you.
Thanks again,
Marcia

Wow!

Thanks! I am humbled by your comments!

BTW, you could always tell my house in the neighborhood, when my daughter was growing up. We were always the house where ALL the kids from the neighborhood were out front doing headstands, handstands, somersaults, cartwheels, jumping rope, etc..

It is still that way though much less so now that there are no more kids, so unless I find a bunch of kids

But, I am still always walking on my hands, going down escalators doing dips, doing pull ups on any bar, etc etc.

Thanks again!

In Health
Jeff

[JeffN]

Thanks for sharing that Jeff. I am looking for ways to stay active throughout the day. I have applied your message this week while at work. I work as an Engineer, so much of my time is spent on the computer and around machines. I have been working on sample orders this week that has me operating equipment. This particular operation has about 100 seconds of dead time where I'm waiting for the cycle to complete. Instead of just standing around, I've started walking around, doing push-ups, squats, lunges etc. during this time. I find myself sore and feeling more energetic overall. I am going to continue doing this as much as I can. I have a pedometer and found that I added at least 4000 strides every day I've done this. Keeping exercise simple and small has helped a lot in just a few days. I am curious to see what this accomplishes over the coming months.

Michael

Thanks Michael!!

Sounds like you are making some great use of some dead time and turning it into some living time. BTW, 4000 steps is the equivalent of about 2 miles and about 200 calories.!

My favorites in situations like you are in are the old calisthenics like you are already doing and also jumping jacks (using alternating foot movements), toe touches, alternating toe touches and my all time favorite, the jump rope!

Keep me posted!

In Health
Jeff

[JeffN]

1. Help maintain weight

2. strengthen heart muscle, make cardio vascular system more efficient

I would also add in flexibility/range-of-motion, balance/co-ordination, strength, agility and endurance for activities of daily living. I would also add in emotional well-being, and maintenance of adequate bone mass.

Let's say if you follow the calorie density principle, you wouldn't need to rely so heavily on exercises to maintain weight.

Correct.

don't you think these informal light weight bearing exercises won't benefit cardio vascular system as much as aerobic/high intensity exercises would do.

I am not sure what you you are referring to here and what you mean by "informal light weight bearing exercise."

So that brings us back to we need to do some high intensity exercises in order to keep your cardio system in top notch shape. maintaining weight, flexibility and bone density etc is only part of the equation. What do you think?

The program I recommended above covers it all. The amount of exercise needed to provide all the benefits I listed above can be done formally in under 30 minutes, 5x a week. This is actually in line with the exercise/fitness recommendations from the leading national organizations.

My above comments are based on your comment that it is not necessary to go for formal exercise routine if you keep moving throughout the day.

This is true only if someones daily activities provided those same opportunities to get those benefits.

Formal exercise is a modern invention. Many of the long lived populations do not engage in any formal exercise at all. They have no gyms, no YMCAs and no exercise equipment.


In Health
Jeff

[JeffN]

Staying in Shape when Sheltering at Home

I thought I would add a post about how I am maintaining my workout while also sheltering at home

Like with the food, it didn’t seem like I had to change much to adjust to the current pandemic. in regard to the food, I already kept lots of backup at home in the form of staple dry, canned, boxed food.

In regard to exercise, I already was doing lots of at-home, body weight exercises.

Here is what I am doing...

- 5-10 minutes doing some dynamic movements ands stretches

- 45 - 60 minutes at a moderate pace on an MagneTrainer 5-6x or a week or a brisk walk outside. I bought this for my mom many years ago and before sending it to her, I had it delivered to my house to check out. I was so impressed with it, that I kept it as a back-up and alternative. It is very smooth and quiet. I got the extended front leg and the wider pedals. (i make no money off the link and there are many other options)

https://magnetrainer.com/index.php

- 10-15 minutes high intensity aerobics at 3x a week. I live in a place where we are a walk-up. So after you go through the front door, you have to walk up the equivalent of 1.5 flights. I go up and down this for about 10-15 minutes. If I didn’t have the stairs, I would do intervals on the MagneTrainer or I use a jump rope

- 10-15 minutes of resistance workout with body weight, exercise bands and dumbbells. 2-3 sets, 12-15 reps 3x a week. These include squats, overhead press, rowing/pull down, push ups, crunches.

My wife and I also go for 2 walks a day (to get some sunshine and fresh air) about 30 minutes each.

There are any other alternatives, some mentioned in the earlier posts in this thread.

Stay safe and healthy
Jeff

[Ltldogg]

- 45 minutes at a moderate pace on an MagneTrainer 5-6x a week. I bought this for my mom many years ago and before sending it to her, I had it delivered to my house to check out. I was so impressed with it, that I kept it as an alternative.

Did you by another one for your mom???

[JeffN]

- 45 minutes at a moderate pace on an MagneTrainer 5-6x a week. I bought this for my mom many years ago and before sending it to her, I had it delivered to my house to check out. I was so impressed with it, that I kept it as an alternative.

Did you by another one for your mom???

Yes.

She is not a big fan of it. However, she is 86, in good shape and likes to walk around her complex for exercise at a brisk pace

In Health
Jeff

[verde]

Thank you so much for sharing! Very inspiring! I was only going for walks but given that I too notice the need to get my body less "stiff" I'm going to try to slowly get back into home exercises!

I hope you don't mind if I take inspiration by your routine?

I have a few questions though:

I don't have the Megatrainer but does a treadmill do the same effect by walking on it for 45 min?
What about the high intensity aerobic exercise, will a few jumping jacks and or running in place do it? I wish I had a jump rope...

When you say:

- 5-10 minutes doing some dynamic movements ands stretches

Is this a warmup style segment?

And lastly,

- 15 minutes of resistance workout with body weight, exercise bands and dumbbells. 2-3 sets, 12-15 reps 3x a week. These include squats, overhead press, rowing/pull down, push ups, crunches.

Are these 15min every day?


Thank you so very much again! You truly are an inspiration for us all!

Sincerely,
Joana

[JeffN]

I don't have the Megatrainer but does a treadmill do the same effect by walking on it for 45 min?

The Megatrainer is just an example of a simple piece of equipment one can use at home that I happen to have. Any pice of aerobic equipment, such as a treadmill, elliptical, exercise bike, rowing machine, ski machine, etc would all work. The goal is at least 30 minutes per day, most days. You just want to be at a moderate pace, the equivalent of a brisk walk.

I What about the high intensity aerobic exercise, will a few jumping jacks and or running in place do it? I wish I had a jump rope..

Yes, anything that gets your heart rate up for 5-10 minutes is plenty, though, not required. Jump ropes are great

- 5-10 minutes doing some dynamic movements ands stretches

I Is this a warmup style segment?

Yes, just a few warm up exercises, stretches (jumping jacks, toe touches, twists, arm swings, leg swings, etc). You can google dynamic stretching and find a series of moves or routines

- 15 minutes of resistance workout with body weight, exercise bands and dumbbells. 2-3 sets, 12-15 reps 3x a week. These include squats, overhead press, rowing/pull down, push ups, crunches.

Are these 15min every day?

No, 3x a week

The week would look something like this...

M, W, F
5-10 minute warm up
30-45 minute aerobics
10-15 minute high intensity aerobics

T, Th, Sa
5-10 minute warm up
30-45 minute aerobics
10-15 minute Resistance exercise

Thank you so very much again! You truly are an inspiration for us all!

Thanks

In Health
Jeff

[verde]

Thank you for your generous and thorough answer! I'm excited! It's even simpler than I was imagining! This is the kind of thing that makes us feel like "oh, maybe I can do this after all! It's not so complicated"!
Thank you!! Some wise soul has said that genius lies in simplicity! And it's once more proven to be true!