- I don't do yoga
- I don't do pilates
- I don't do tai chi
- I don't have an exercise bike
- I don't work out
- I don't aim for 10,000 steps a day
- I don't do marathons
- I don't go jogging
- I don't cycle
- I don't swim
I suspect that a lot of exercise regimes don't actually make much difference to your present or future health. It's probably more the case that it makes the person feel good or they like the sense of self-discipline. At any rate that's how an exercise sceptic like me explains my sedentary lifestyle.
I certainly don't need to exercise surplus flesh away. My weight has remained constant for over 40 years at around 11½ stone - the ideal weight for my height of six feet. Strangely I always shed several pounds overnight. It seems that my body uses a lot of calories concocting the weird dreams I'm saddled with.
I suppose that's one benefit of all the cricket and rugby I had to play at school - I left school in good physical shape and not covered in flab, like so many of today's podgy youngsters.
Walking is good, but I wish I had started resistance training and lifting weights 30 years ago. It might have made a difference in my osteoporosis diagnosis.
ReplyDeleteBijoux: Yes, that might have stood you in good stead, but how many twenty somethings think about osteoporosis?
DeleteAnonymous Fly. I get enough exercise dealing with the animals here.....though Costa Rica is rotten with yoga mats and ringing bowls for those daft enough to come up for it.
ReplyDeleteFly: I'd never heard of singing bowls (is that what you meant?) I must say they seem like yet another bit of ritualistic nonsense.
DeleteAnonymous Fly...that is perfectly possible! I lost the will to live after a few minutes of some exploitative ex hippy explaining the benefits.....
ReplyDeleteFly: I think I'll pass on the singing bowls and stick to a few glasses of wine!
DeleteWalking is absolutely the best exercise and I wish I had kept it up. When I stopped walking a few miles per day I quickly gained 30 pounds and never lost it.
ReplyDeleteLinda
Linda: Gaining 30 pounds must have been a bit of a shock. Presumably you stopped walking because you had knee trouble?
DeleteNo. I stopped because we lived beside a highway so there was no safe place to walk. The knee trouble came later.
DeleteLinda
Linda: A shame there was no safe place to walk.
DeleteI believe movement is critical as we age. I have always exercised regularly. Currently I run 5 mornings a week. 3 miles. I find it helps with stress release. I love walking too. We typically go for a 3 mile walk on Sunday mornings in good weather.
ReplyDeletePaula: I don't run because my knees are a bit twingy and I don't want to turn the twinges into something more problematic.
DeleteWalking is the best exercise.
ReplyDeleteJoanne: So people say. I choose to believe them!
DeleteI agree that exercise makes me feel good about myself but as I only do it once a week probably doesn't actually do me much real good.
ReplyDeleteLiz: Well, some of the commenters above say walking is the best exercise - but more than once a week!
DeleteI have to say I really miss my running which I had to stop after my bad fall on the ice and the spine injury. Apart from physical benefits, it really made me feel better mentally also which so many runners agree on.
ReplyDeleteXO
WWW
www: A pity you had to give up running because of a serious injury. I don't run because my knees are already a bit bothersome.
DeleteI am with you Nick on not doing nearly all the exercises in the list, but I do walk every day and in recent months have made 10,000 steps a daily goal. I do know that it's not necessary and that 4-5,000 daily steps are considered more than sufficient. Since I am able to walk on a treadmill at the gym within our mill apartment and listen to podcasts or audio books while doing so, it's not really difficult and quite doable. Not all the steps are done on an indoor treadmill as I also try to include walking outdoors on good weather days, dodgy right now with a recent snowfall. Thankfully, it's possible to walk a 1/4 mi just within the mill apt interior.
ReplyDeleteBeatrice: Very handy having a treadmill and a gym in your apartment block! I walk a lot farther on good-weather days, but I've no idea how many steps I'm taking.
DeleteMary says "The only exercising I do is walking with my dog."
ReplyDeleteMary: Most of the people I see on my daily walks are dog-walkers. They have a lot more exercise than those without dogs!
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