Fran's Fitness Over 50

Get up and do it

If something is nagging at you, and you seem to always be thinking to yourself, “I really should …” Just get up and do it.

No matter the “it”

No matter what the “it” is – you’ll be so much happier and productive if you just get it done.

Exercise? Do it.

You tell yourself, “I really should exercise.” Get up, change into your workout gear, put some music on and move. Need something more structured? The next time you have 10 minutes free at your computer, search up some 30 minute workouts on YouTube and save the links on your Google Drive. Or subscribe to PopSugar Fitness. They’ll send you an email every day that usually includes a short workout on their site from a top fitness trainer.

Eat healthy? Do the planning.

You get take-out every night and you’re tired of it. “I really should cook something healthy for dinner.” This requires a little more planning but depending on what’s in your pantry, you can do it on the spur of the moment. Just Google “healthy eating recipes” and you’ll get too many choices. You may want to take a close look at a few of the recipes you find with this search for the future. Save your favorites, make a shopping list from them and you’ll be set for a few days.

Organize the closet? Start now.

Every day you reach into your closet and encounter a tangle of hangers and clothes and you think to yourself, “I really should clean out my closet.” That prospect can be overwhelming. The good news is that you don’t have to do it all at once. It may be cathartic to clean out an entire closet at once, but that can take hours. If you don’t have hours to spend on the task, take 15 minutes and grab a handful of that tangle. Only save the items you absolutely positively know you’ll wear again. The others go in separate bags to donate and pitch. During this process you’ll have more of a mess, but it will give you more motivation to finish.

Yes, Nike has it right – this isn’t the first time I’ve used their slogan: https://fitness-over-50.com/2020/12/just-do-it-and-that-means-exercise/

Get up and do it.

Get one thing done. What a sense of accomplishment! And it will give you a reason to do it again tomorrow.

It’s OK to be a little scared

It’s OK to be a little scared and to go outside your comfort zone every day is a good thing. Just a little. It’s all too easy to stay in your rut and not try new things. But that, more often than not, leads to insulation and isolation. And we’ve had enough of that in recent months. We’ve been quarantining and isolating, working and schooling from home, zooming with friends, relatives and colleagues. At first we were all in shock – most of us had never experienced a global pandemic and its repercussions – and were terrified to stick our noses out of our houses.

And then time went on. Social distancing and masks became part of our everyday lives. We set up a little area to work from. Set up accounts with our grocers or delivery services. Cooked more but sometimes had food delivered. And we adapted. Now these things have become routine.

Remember social interaction?

As more people get their vaccinations for COVID, we can start getting together. First in small groups. How will you get together? It will be Spring soon – and it’s the perfect time to do things outside. Meet friends at a park, at the zoo. Take a walk. Have a picnic! All things we haven’t been doing for the last year. Be safe, but be brave.

Try a new recipe

If you’ve been eating the same kinds of things for months, it could be time to try something new. Be adventurous – try a dish from a culture you’ve never tried before. there’s a different ethnic restaurant near you that delivers – give it a try. It’s just one meal. Or look online for a new recipe that looks interesting. Use herbs and spices in different combinations. You might be pleasantly surprised. We’ve been cooking chicken on the grill (when it’s accessible – without snow on it!) using a new spice blend on it. Delicious!

Applies to your fitness goals

I've added more jumping to my exercise routines. The key is landing safely.

Being brave and going outside your comfort zone applies to your exercising too. I’ve been adding more jumping in my exercise routines. The key is landing safely, with soft knees!

If you’ve been diligently exercising at home, you might want to try something outside. As the weather gets nicer, outside walks rather than on the treadmill might be enjoyable.

Or try a different kind of exercise routine. Perhaps you’ve wanted to try a different form of exercise. Search YouTube for examples and you might find an instructor you really connect with. And another article about mixing up your exercise routine.

Try a different dance move. How about a different culture’s music. Or a different era’s music. Like TwinsthenewTrend on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCopm4iCRGWS6PkLB8uDe-Wg You might like it – got a good beat, easy to dance to, give it a 10! These guys have been trying music from our era, and loving it.

We’ve been inside doing the same old things long enough. Be daring (just a little) and try something new.

Still anxious and stressed?

If you’re still anxious and stress, you could have GAD. That’s “Generalized Anxiety Disorder.” Yes, everyone is stressed these days. Combine a global pandemic with the country’s economic woes, and top it off with horrible weather – that adds up to a whole lot of stress. I wrote about stress a few months ago and some ways to deal with it. Stress hasn’t gone away. But regular, everyday stress could become bigger and turn into something that needs professional treatment.

An expert defines the terms

Angela Casper, licensed clinical social worker and behavioral health services coordinator at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in Chicago helps distinguish between run-of-the-mill stress and Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) requiring treatment. GAD is defined as excessive worry and anxiety for more days than not during a six month period. This worry and anxiety is not focused on anything in particular – not work or home life, a specific event or anything else. This stress can also cause severe impairment of daily life or job performance. Casper says that sufferers describe this stress as “free floating” and can’t really pin down any feeling specifically. If this sounds familiar, you’ll want to pay attention to the frequency of your anxiety symptoms and your difficulty functioning because of them. If you can’t do the things you want or need to do, then you might need to visit a professional.

Anxiety reducers:

If you're feeling anxious and stressed, meditation could help.

But if you’re unsure as to the severity of your symptoms, or just want to decrease your anxiety, Casper recommends trying these things:

Prioritize basic self-care activities and routines.
Maintain a consistent sleep schedule.
Maintain good nutrition.
Reduce caffeine consumption.
Be sure to take your prescribed medication.
Practice relaxation techniques like deep breathing or meditation.If you’re new to meditation, try a guided one like my “Garden meditation.”
Get regular physical exercise.
Acknowledge and express your emotions – journal them if nothing else. A journal is your safe place – you can write anything down and not be judged. No one else will see what you wrote. I’ve created some lined journals, available on Amazon.
Practice acceptance of yourself and others.

This is a stressful time, there’s no doubt about it. So whatever you do to reduce your own stress is worthwhile. And if you need to, talk to a pro. There’s no shame in getting the help you need.

Walk like a penguin?

You remember that old (1986!) song by the Bangles – “Walk Like An Egyptian.” The video showed performers doing fun, light steps, with straight legs at first, then a deep bend in the knee. Well, don’t do that in the winter. Instead, walk like a penguin to prevent falls! That’s the best way to keep your balance on slippery surfaces.

Freezing and melting and refreezing

This winter has been rough. Here in Chicagoland, February has been extremely cold and snowy – we’ve had about 30 inches of snow this month. But the last few days have been warmer, so there has been melting and refreezing. And those refrozen pavements are extremely slick. The last thing we want is to fall on the ice.

Penguins have it right

In winter time, walk like a penguin to prevent falls.

Think about a penguin’s anatomy – they have a very low center of gravity and their legs are short. When penguins walk they hold their wings out to the side. And they hardly ever slip on the ice and snow they live on. So, the best way to stay upright on slippery surfaces is to walk like a penguin:

Think “heavy.” We can’t do anything about where our actual center of gravity is, but focus your weight in your hips.
Keep your center of gravity directly over your feet. Don’t lean forward or back.
Don’t bend your knees much when you walk.
Take short steps.
Point your feet out a little bit.
Don’t transfer all of your weight to your front foot at once.
Go slow.
Hold your arms to the side.
Waddle – shift your weight side to side with the foot that that moves.

The Mayo Clinic even wrote that walking like a penguin is the best way to stay safe on ice: http://www.winmedical.org/press_room_article/walk-like-penguin-avoid-wintertime-slips-falls/

Every year the “memes” make the rounds of social media. But that’s because it’s good advice. So pay attention to those fun diagrams. And for more tips on preventing falls, see: https://fitness-over-50.com/2017/07/prevent-falls-my-interview-with-kathleen-cameron/

Dead battery

I had to replace my car’s battery last week. It was old, hadn’t been used much in the pandemic, and was close to dying.

Pre-COVID, I was on the move several times every week. Classes, practices. Occasionally a road trip to a dog competition or even a major road trip for a working vacation. But after the lockdown, I didn’t go anywhere more than 2 miles away, or do anything.

My car is about 9 years old, and it was still on its first battery. It had regular maintenance, and it had been used to travel many miles every week. But the travelling stopped. The battery didn’t get much use and was dying.

A metaphor

We can use my car’s battery as a metaphor for our bodies. With proper maintenance and a great deal of good use, we’ll thrive for years. With maintenance but lack of use, we’ll fade away.

We’ll see our doctors regularly, have all the prescribed tests. We’ll get the healthiest, freshest foods. We’ll listen to the top podcasts and improve our minds. But without the use, our bodies will wither.

Use it or lose it

That old maxim is true. We’ve got to use our muscles or they’ll lose strength. We’ve got to use our bones or they’ll crumble away. We’ve got to use our heart or it will be subject to decay.

Move it

Don't let your body be like my dead battery. Use it or lose it.

Exercise is like a road trip for the body. Back in the good old days on a road trip I would drive for 8 hours a day, making pit stops every couple of hours. Exercise is not quite like that, as we only really need a few hours a week.

But exercise is crucial for a body that will last and get us through everything we need it to.

We need strength work for our muscles and bones, and cardio for our heart and lungs.

And it’s all good for the brain. Exercise has been shown to improve memory and focus. It helps us sleep better at night. Read more: https://fitness-over-50.com/2018/04/more-reasons-to-exercise/

So, don’t be like my car’s battery. Use your body or you risk losing it.

Sleep much?

Me neither. And we’re not alone. Insomnia is not uncommon, and the pandemic has made it worse.

Sleeplessness is not uncommon. Destress with this sunset. — Natural light can help sleep.

Our lives have been disrupted. If you worked at an office, chances are you’ve been working from home more. If you care for children, chances are they’ve been doing quite a bit of learning remotely. If you used to go to a gym or health club, chances are they’ve been closed. Restaurants have been closed too, so you may be cooking more. You have a different schedule than you used to. Being stuck inside could mean that you haven’t been exposed to as much natural light as you used to. You may be napping more, which also disrupts your natural circadian rhythm.

Stress also can cause sleeplessness

During normal times we have stress in our lives. And now, even a year after the pandemic began, stress is still with us. We still don’t know exactly what causes the infection, why it affects some people more than others. And while vaccines have been approved, they are not available for much of the population yet. So we’re stressed about catching the coronavirus and spreading it to others. We’re worried about that. We’re worried about the economy. And we toss and turn and lose sleep.

Isolation

Without contact with our friends, family and coworkers, we feel isolated and alone, leading to depression and sleeplessness again. Virtual conferencing is great and better than no contact, but it’s not the same as being in the same room.

Blue light

And we’re probably on our screens more. We’re home, perhaps bored, so we scroll. The blue light from the screens also disrupts production of melatonin, which regulates normal sleep patterns.

Sleep is still important

Even though we may not be going out of the house and seeing people, we still need a good night’s sleep. We think better with seven or eight hours of sleep. Our bodies function better when we sleep. Sleep can reduce the effects of certain mental health conditions like anxiety disorder and bipolar disorder.

How to get a good night’s sleep

So, how do we get that full complement of sleep?

First, maintain a schedule for your day. Humans love routine. It’s comforting to us. So set your routine and stick to it. The same bedtime and awakening time is helpful. Eating meals at the same time every day can also set your biological clock.

Use your bed for sleep. Don’t read in bed and don’t watch TV in bed. Certainly don’t scroll social media in bed. In fact, experts recommend that you shut your screens down an hour before bedtime. And make your bed as appealing as possible. Fresh linens regularly creates an inviting place for sleep. A cool bedroom also is helpful for sleep.

If you’re sensitive to extraneous noises, a fan or white noise machine is also helpful. I have tinnitus and use both.

Spend some time outside in the light and in fresh air. Getting as much natural light helps your body’s natural rhythm. And moving your body during the day is important for overall health, including good sleep. Good nutrition also will benefit your health and promote better sleep.

If you’re tempted to take a nap during the day, try to limit it to 20 minutes or so. Any more than that may disrupt your nighttime sleep.

While it may not seem that it would do much for your sleep pattern, being kind and generous may counter your feelings of anxiety and help you to sleep. Other relaxation techniques like meditation can help too. If you’d like to try meditation but don’t know where to start, short guided meditations are great starting places. Sign up for a guided Garden Meditation here.

So, know that you’re not alone in your sleeplessness. Also know that there are things you can do to improve it. Get some natural light, move your body, turn on your fan, turn off your screens and perhaps go for a brief but peaceful virtual walk in a garden.

It’s time to congratulate yourself

For whatever you’ve been up to. If you’ve accomplished anything – anything at all – it’s time to congratulate yourself!

So often we get caught up in life, in the everyday things, in the endless list of chores and errands, that we forget to stop for a moment, look back and say, “I did a good job!” But it needs to be done.

Congratulate yourself! Full plank with bird dog balance! — I did it! Full plank with bird dog balance!

Isolation

The better part of the last year, we’ve each been quite isolated and without a great deal of personal contact with others. It’s easy to wrap ourselves in that cocoon to protect ourselves and continue as we’ve been going. The coronavirus pandemic has been so widespread and so deadly that it’s become almost second nature to fear outside contact. So we hibernate at home. Working and visiting friends remotely, through a little screen. No hugs, no handshakes, no high fives. And no dressing up to meet friends for dinner. No church or any other place of worship. No classes for the kids or for us. I train my dogs at home, in the basement. Not because there are any trials that I would feel safe entering, but because the dogs don’t understand that we can’t go to training class and still need both the exercising and the interaction with us.

So we’ve been at home, working, learning, cooking, entertaining ourselves, ordering from online sources, doing jigsaw puzzles, binging Netflix, organizing closets.

If you broke through – accomplished anything – Yay!

And if you did any of that – if you learned a new skill, started a new hobby, learned to cook new dishes or cleaned out a closet – Yay! Good for you! Congratulations! Well done!

You’ve tried to make the most of a very difficult situation. You didn’t feel sorry for yourself, but actually did something positive. No matter how big or small, just the fact that you thought about something other than the depressing world we live in is a positive step toward growing your resiliency! And for that, you should feel wonderful. That’s one certain way that you’ll come out of this better than you were before.

Here’s more about resilience: https://fitness-over-50.com/2019/07/grow-your-resilience/

Be Bold – Be Optimistic

I’ve been writing about optimism quite a bit lately. Perhaps because the times we live in are so stressful, I feel the need to try to rise above the stress and bring others along with me. It’s natural to have down days as well as optimistic ones. And of course, things can happen throughout the day even if you start out optimistic to cause you to sit back and reflect, and possibly feel down. But that’s the easy route. Be bold – be optimistic.

One chance

Be optimistic. Smile. Be grateful - you're alive.

The fact is, we only get one go-round in this life (that we know of). So I figure we might as well make the most of it. I’ve got enough wrinkles from my 65 years of living, I don’t have to manufacture more with frowning. When I feel down and recognize it, I try to bring myself out of the doldrums any way I can. Of course, sometimes I don’t recognize my bad moods and depressed thoughts, and it goes to others (mainly my sister) to figuratively slap me upside the head and take a look at myself and listen to what’s coming out of my mouth. Because when I’m feeling stressed, anxious and in a bad mood, I have the unfortunate tendency to take my bad mood out on others. Again, mainly my sister. For that, I sincerely apologize.

Smiles ahead

So how do you make a frown turn upside-down? Easy. Step one: just smile. Many times your thoughts go where your expression is. So if you’re feeling gloomy, put a huge smile on your face. Exaggerate it. Show lots of teeth. For five seconds. Not feeling so grouchy anymore, are you?

Move it

A great way to feel more optimistic is to move your body. This doesn’t have to be a full-fledged workout, although that is certain to do the trick, but if you get up and move to your favorite music, say, after a couple of tunes you’ll be on your way to optimism.

Exercise reduces bad moods and depression. That “exercise high” is not a myth! Regular exercise helps the brain produce a protein that seems to fortify parts of the hippocampus susceptible to depression, neuroscience has revealed. And Swedish researchers have found that exercise helps to keep your brain safe from harmful substances (one is called kynurenine) that build up during stress. Read more about how exercise will benefit you: https://fitness-over-50.com/2018/04/more-reasons-to-exercise/

Another great way to feel more optimistic (but perhaps not immediately) is to improve your diet. Research has shown that a cleaner diet kind of cleans out your brain too. So, cut back on the processed foods and eat more fruits and veggies. But watch the fruit because there’s a lot of sugar there. So eat more veggies.

Don’t think

Meditation has been shown to be a mood lifter too. You don’t have to be a serious yogi to meditate. Just find a comfortable position and clear your brain for a while. If clearing your brain is hard, you might want to try a guided meditation. And it doesn’t have to be long, either. As short a period as 3 minutes can make a huge difference.

Gravitate to Gratitude

Lastly, a sure-fire path to optimism and happiness is gratitude. You can have no place for unhappiness when you’re feeling grateful. And feeling grateful for something – anything – will set you far along on your path to happiness. It may seem too simple, but it’s true. Just by saying, “I’m grateful for the sunshine” will make my unhappiness go away? Perhaps not so easily, but you’re looking at the sun shining, squinting your eyes, and smiling, aren’t you? And smiling is a definite step to happiness.

And when you write down the things that you’re grateful for, when you journal your feelings of gratitude, your happiness will grow. Just the act of writing something down solidifies it. (That’s one reason we all took notes in class at school!) Of course, you can journal your gratitude on anything, but sometimes nothing comes immediately to mind. It’s OK if you have to look for things to be grateful for. Sometimes days are like that. So it’s helpful to have journaling prompts. This Gratitude and Happiness Journal not only has prompts, but also inspirational quotes to start you thinking along an optimistic path.

So, be bold. Be optimistic. You’ll stand out, and everyone will think, “Wow, she always seems so happy. I want to be like her!”

Cold, cold, cold …

Outdoor exercise is possible when it's cold.

Here in the Chicago area it’s cold today. Really cold. The high temperature today will not reach 20 degrees F. That’s cold. If you like to exercise outside, do you quit in the winter? Or do you grudgingly move indoors? No need to do either, according to experts. In fact, exercising outside can help you avoid a Vitamin D deficiency by exposure to the sun’s rays (wearing sunscreen, of course, to avoid the harmful effects!).

Don’t stop exercising

You still need to exercise in the cold months. That requirement does not go away when the weather is bad or you don’t feel like going outside. Your lungs, your heart, your bones, your muscles still need the work. To help strengthen the lungs, if your usual running route is snow-packed, then skiing or snowshoeing are good alternatives.

And the old myth that inhaling cold air will damage the lungs is not true, according to Dr. Olugusen Apata, a pulmonologist, critical care physician and sleep specialist with Advocate Trinity Hospital in Chicago. He says that because the air is dryer in winter months, some people may experience coughs, but the air is warmed sufficiently before it gets to the lungs.

The best way to exercise in cold weather

If you want to brave the cold to exercise, be sure to dress warmly and in layers. Layers will trap the air close to your body and warm it, keeping you warm in the middle. Be sure to wear appropriate shoes or boots that are comfortable for the sport you engage in but keep you safe from slipping on unseen hazards, like black ice. And warm gloves or mittens will keep your hands toasty and safe from frostbite. (I personally exercise indoors year-round. I’m no fan of running but when I do it for exercise, it’s on a treadmill. This post explains how I stay warm inside, at my desk at work, where the heater is not the best…)

Hydrate!

And you still need to drink plenty of water. You may not sweat as much when it’s cold, but you’re still burning calories and need to hydrate!

Stress caused me to …

Watching this play out on a live stream!

This has been a difficult time for many of us Americans. A sitting president urged his followers to riot at the Capitol. Through the miracle of technology we saw the events unfold in real time. Barricades fell. Legislators, in the midst of one of the most important jobs in months, were forced to evacuate to safe locations. Rioters overtook the chamber and congressional offices. They vandalized offices, stole equipment and perhaps sensitive documents. People were killed in the melee.

I did not get much work done this last Wednesday afternoon.

Stress takes over

Like many others, my stomach was churning, my head was spinning. I knew I had to do something to reduce my own stress. There was nothing I could do at that moment to alleviate the situation, all I could do was make sure that I did not take my stress out on my family, friends or dogs. I sometimes lash out when I’m feeling stress. It’s not fair to my sister or my friends. And the dogs certainly do not understand. They pick up on stress and tend to act emotionally too. Simon will race around, doing laps around the dining room table and leaping from the kitchen chair, over his brothers to run around. Booker will claw at us, insisting on our complete attention.

Step aerobics at my age?!?

So I did the hardest step workout I own. Now, at age 65, I won’t do a whole lot of jumping and the step is only at about 6 inches. I modified many of the high impact moves, but still got my heart rate up. Even though I modified the routines and made it more low-impact, it was very high intensity. And 45 minutes of intense cardio on a step is guaranteed to produce a lot of endorphins. (Thank you, Gin Miller!)

Intense physical exercise is a sure-fire way to release stress, burn a whole lot of calories, and leave me more even-tempered. I was much more able to face the rest of the world after that workout!

If you’re interested in step aerobics, check out some videos on YouTube before you invest in a step. For this type of exercise, you definitely need a step designed for it. Also, for those of us over 50, we may have knee and hip issues as well as other conditions, so check with your doctor before you start exercise, especially high impact and high intensity exercise.

And then calm…

And after that high-energy step workout, I did a short guided meditation to calm down. If you’ve heard of meditation and think that is something you’d like to try, there’s really no special equipment or background you need. Just sit comfortably and close your eyes. And then think of nothing. Clear your mind. If you have a hard time doing that, then a guided meditation can help.