Exercise Archives - Page 3 of 4 - Fran's Fitness Over 50

Challenge yourself to exercise

Has your exercise routine gotten kind of flat? Are you doing the moves but feel like you’re just going through the motions? Try a challenge to give your workouts a spark. That’s right: Challenge yourself to exercise.

You’ve probably seen groups, pages and influencers on Facebook run 5- or 7-day challenges to drink more water, or use your Instant Pot every week. It’s the same idea, but with this, you challenge yourself. You’ll change your mindset and look forward to exercise because you’re getting closer to the prize you will set for yourself. Set your challenge and a time limit – for example, exercise for 30 minutes every day for 30 days. And be sure to set a prize for succeeding in your challenge! Say, download Taylor Swift’s new album.

Kelly Froelich, an NASM- and ACE-certified trainer and cofounder of the digital fitness platform Balanced, finds that self-challenges are a great way to self-motivate. “Intrinsic motivation, such as an internal desire to do something, is great to stick to something in the long run, but sometimes you need a bit of extrinsic motivation, such as a prize, to start you off,” she says. So, make that prize something you really want. And don’t get it before you complete your Challenge! That’s cheating!

Challenge ideas

If you need ideas for your Challenge, or if you need a theme, try a step challenge for walking. Be sure to increase the number of steps you have to take each day, week-by-week. Or if you’re a runner, increase the miles you run! Or try a plank challenge. Increasing the time you’re in plank position. If the plank is old hat, then try a plank variation a day! To increase strength, do a weight challenge – but you might have to buy heavier weights by the end of your challenge time. Or try a Body-Weight Strength Challenge! This article describes some of your options for this.

Be mindful of the exercises you do

Exercise is great, but we must be mindful of the exercises we do every day and the toll they take on our bodies.

Yes, exercise makes us happier. And expending energy gives us more energy, as surprising as that sounds. Exercise is a natural way to fight depression, and it also helps us sleep better. Exercise has a zillion benefits. But we have to remember that our bodies need rest and recovery too.

Build rest days into your challenge

I’m not advocating exercising at full impact and intensity every day. Especially if you’re doing a weight challenge, build lower intensity or non-lifting days into your challenge. Take a speed-walk a couple days a week and a stroll or a yoga practice on Sundays. Be sure to do the work to meet your challenge goals, but be mindful of what your body needs. Schedule your workouts, including the exercises you plan on so you don’t lose track of your intense days and your rest days.

Challenge yourself to exercise. Don’t forget that you’ll get two prizes at the end: your Challenge prize and the prize of being more fit!

No time to exercise?

You’ve heard the arguments about the benefits of exercise for your healthy aging. And you … sort of … believe them. But – who has the time? If you’re saying, “I have no time to exercise!” you owe it to yourself to squeeze in a short but effective workout.

Everyone has 22 minutes

150 minutes a week. That’s all the CDC recommends for exercise. So if you have 22 minutes to get your heart pumping while you climb some stairs, take the dog for a walk, ride the stationary bike, you’ve met the guidelines!

Short workouts will keep you on track

If I’ve only got a half hour, I can still get in my workout and have time to clean up. Because that clean-up is important. I don’t have to worry about being late to an appointment and I will still feel virtuous that I exercised. But you’re saying, “How can I choose a workout, do it and get cleaned up in a half hour? That’s ridiculous!” Planning. Plan a week’s worth of exercise in advance. If you have a calendar for your appointments and commitment, schedule your workouts on the same calendar. I use Google’s free calendar so that I can color code my different appointments.

But are short workouts effective?

Now you’re probably saying, “I love the idea of short workouts, but will they work for me?” The short answer is, “Yes!” If those 22 minutes of your workout are intense and heart-pumping, it will get your blood and oxygen moving. You’ll get the memory-boosting benefits of a good workout, and you’ll release some endorphins and feel great after you towel off. So, never say you have no time to exercise.

In fact, exercise physiologist Jenna Gillen at the University of Toronto, and her team showed in a study that just one minute of very intense exercise in a workout lasting 10 minutes total can improve fitness and health. Notice the words “very intense.” This is beyond maximum level – something I’m not really up for most days.

Plus, shorter, more energetic workouts can help you stay motivated to exercise. They’re done in no time, and you may actually look forward to your next workout. You won’t be bored with the workout, so won’t be tempted to procrastinate and then run out of the short amount of time you have to exercise.

I can’t do an intense, vigorous workout every time

I hear you. At my age, I just can’t face the treadmill and running for every workout. And that’s OK. Dr. Jennette Berry, family medicine physician at Advocate South Suburban Hospital, believes that fitting in movement throughout your day, no matter the length, is important for your health. “Exercise can help control your blood pressure and can help prevent future heart disease.”

The next time you find yourself thinking, “I have no time to exercise,” remember that no matter how much time you give it, exercise is always good.

The danger of overdoing exercise

Exercise is good but don’t overdo

I’ve been telling you about the benefits of exercise for a long time. The first time I listed some of the benefits of exercise was way back in 2015 in my article “Why Exercise ?” Exercise burns calories so you can eat more (still my favorite reason!), it can combat some health conditions and diseases, it boosts your mood and gives you energy, and on and on. Exercise is good, but don’t overdo it.

I remember years ago when I used to go to a gym there were women on treadmills and stationary bikes for hours and they wondered why they kept getting sick or weren’t losing any weight. In all probability, these people were overtraining.

Cortisol and “fight or flight”

Cortisol is a hormone your body produces when it’s under stress, or when your body thinks it’s under attack. If you’re walking along and a big dog jumps at you from behind a fence and starts barking, you’re still going to jump. Your heart is going to beat faster, even though you know that it can’t get to you from behind the fence. Your body is designed to automatically protect you from threats. It produces adrenaline and cortisol. Adrenaline speeds up your heart and makes you hyper-aware of threats.

When you realize that you’re safe and the threat is gone, your heart rate goes back to normal and your breathing slows down. According to the Mayo Clinic, cortisol “curbs functions that would be nonessential or harmful in a fight-or-flight situation. It alters immune system responses and suppresses the digestive system, the reproductive system and growth processes. This complex natural alarm system also communicates with the brain regions that control mood, motivation and fear.”

Cortisol and exercise

So, when you overdo exercise, your system thinks it’s under attack and produces cortisol. And keeps producing it. So your body retains elevated levels of cortisol. It can interfere with the way your body works normally and even slow down your metabolism, according to Louis Cohn, a physical therapist at Aurora Sports Health. Cohn says, “When starting out, aerobic sessions should be kept between 30 and 45 minutes. You are then able to obtain the positive effects of cardiovascular training without the negative effects of over-training.” So it turns out that over-exercising can be just as bad as not exercising at all.

Moderation in everything

My workouts are 30 to 45 minutes 3 or 5 days a week. On days when I don’t have anything pressing, I’ll do a 50-minute workout. This works for both aerobic and weight training. And remember to rest the muscle group you worked the day after that strength program.

So, like chocolate, exercise is good, but don’t overdo. Be sure to listen to your body. If you’re tired or if your body is aching in ways that are weird, you may be overdoing exercise. Take a break. Do something less stressful for yourself. A gentle yoga or pilates practice might be a good “rest day” activity. And be sure to eat well to fuel your body.

Why start a fitness program?

Last week I was completely winded after a practice agility run with my dog. I was huffing and puffing and thought to myself, “If I want to do more of this (which I do), then I’ve got to figure out a way to build my endurance and stamina.”

Do you huff and puff on the stairs?

Now, you may not want to run agility with your dog. But you may want to get fit for any number of other reasons. Do you have to pause on the stairs? Or do you look for a parking spot closer to a store’s entrance? You may wish you were in better shape, but thought it was impossible to succeed because your metabolism just isn’t what it used to be. So to start a fitness program would be futile.

The truth about your metabolism, even after “a certain age”

According to Dr. Nick Pryomski of the Advocate Aurora group, that’s nonsense. Your metabolism is the same as it always was. But you may find it more difficult to find the motivation to get out of your chair and do something about it. Dr. Pryomski says, “Metabolism doesn’t necessarily slow as you age. It only does if you are less active.” Likewise, “slender people don’t necessarily have a higher metabolism than larger people.” That’s good news for most of us.

So, it is scientifically possible to get fit at any age. But you may be completely overwhelmed by the prospect of losing weight or starting an exercise program.

Make your reason a no-brainer

Why start a fitness program? I started a running program for my dog. — Why start a fitness program? I started for my dog…

The secret? Be really honest with yourself. Know why you want to get in shape. If your reason is just to look good or age gracefully, that’s probably not good enough. But, if you want to be able to play with the grandkids as much as they want to? If you want to go for walks in the park (when the weather improves), or travel and be able to see the sights you’ve always wanted to see, then you’ve got a pretty good reason to start a new healthy aging program.

I certainly would not be pushing myself on the treadmill, up to 6 miles per hour so far, so that I have a prayer of directing my off-leash dog on an agility course, if I didn’t want to succeed in the sport.

Start small

The way to start your new program is small. Make small changes to your routine. Like walking for 2 minutes after breakfast. Get used to those little changes first before you make bigger changes. Then you can start to determine the bigger changes you need to make.

If you want to start a new eating plan with the goal of losing weight, same thing: start making small changes. Perhaps cut down on your starch and dessert portions. Don’t eliminate them – you know that I’m a believer in not depriving yourself! – just make those portions smaller for now.

Small goals lead to big results

No matter if you’re starting an exercise or an eating program, set goals for yourself. (See “Set goals – big and little.”) First set short-term goals – something for the next two weeks or a month, perhaps. Those goals should be doable but challenging. For example, if you start with walking 2 minutes a day, work up to a half hour in the next 2 weeks. Or lose 4 pounds in the next 4. And when you reach those goals, be sure to reward yourself with something that’s meaningful to you. Download that book you’ve wanted to read.

If you need an accountability partner to keep you “honest,” enlist a friend. I started out by scheduling my workouts on my calendar – my “date” with myself. You may find a step tracker a useful tool for motivation.

The key is to never give up. If your reason to get healthy is important enough, you’ll find the motivation and the tools to help you.

No one is going to do it for you.

You have your family and a circle of friends. Your teachers and mentors are, of course, invaluable. You’ve got lots of acquaintances. And there are the influencers you follow every day on Instagram, Facebook, and any other social media platform you subscribe to. No one is going to do it for you. And you know that there are loads of reasons to exercise – including improving your memory and reverse mental decline!

None of these people are going to exercise for you.

You have only yourself to rely upon.

You read everything you can about weight loss. Intermittent fasting. Mediterranean diet. Paleo. Vegetarian. Pescatarian. Low carb. Yes, they all work. But no one is going to do it for you. You actually have to do the work yourself.

The nitty gritty

Once you really decide that it’s up to you to get off the couch and exercise, you really have to do your homework and figure out exactly what you’re going to do. As many exercise pros as there are out there – that’s how many programs there are. Chances are a lot of them are really good. But you have to figure out exactly what you’re going to commit to.

Commitment

No one is going to do it for you. Choose an exercise program you can live with and commit to.

Because it is a commitment. I can shout from the rooftops that exercise is absolutely necessary to avoid the most obvious signs of aging – weight gain, loss of muscle tone, loss of balance – you have to do the work. And no one is going to do it for you.

Yes, it’s work. I’m not going to sugar-coat it and tell you that it’s not work. Because I’d be lying.

And you have to do it almost every day. I don’t exercise every day, so I can’t tell you to do something that I’m not willing to do. The CDC says that you need 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity plus 2 days of total body strength work. That’s 30 minutes 5 days a week of moderate aerobics plus muscle strengthening work on 2 days. I do more vigorous aerobics and combine that with weight work 5 days a week. Most days I do 30 minutes.

If you’re new, don’t go all-out. Work up to it. You don’t want to wake up the day after you exercise and not be able to move. That completely defeats the purpose!

Choose something you can live with – for a long time

Choose a program you can live with for a long time, because you’re going to be doing it for a long time. Remember – no one is going to do it for you, so you’re going to be listening to that music and that instructor’s voice (if you’re going with a group class – either live, streaming or DVD) most days for a long time.

That’s not to say that you have to live with your first choice forever. If, after you’ve given the program a couple of weeks and find that you really can’t stand it – by all means change it.

And, it is a good idea to change up your routine every once in a while. I rotate the types of workouts I do every couple of months. Both for variety and to give my muscles a chance to experience new growth.

So – be happy with your exercise choice. Because you have to live with it and do it.

Life happens. It’s not an excuse.

Life happens. Don't let that be an excuse.

So, you’re in a rhythm. Working out four or five times a week, exactly on schedule. You’re eating right most of the time. Keeping your food journal and watching those calories. You’re getting plenty of sleep and meditating from time to time to keep the stress at bay.

And then things are scheduled three days in a row and you don’t exercise. Or the dog got sick and you had to rush him to the vet after work when you usually work out. Or you had to stop at the grocery store and the lines were a mile long.

Your living partner brings in a treat that’s too delectable to pass up. Or he / she made a dish that they were so proud of that you absolutely could not turn down.

You listened to the news or read an article that kept your brain working all night long. Two hours of sleep.

You fell off the wagon

Life happens. It’s not an excuse.

It happens to everyone. You’re not special. You’re not immune from life.

So what? You didn’t exercise for three days in a row. You ate a few extra calories. you can’t un-eat them – there’s no going back in time. Or you lost some sleep. No big deal.

Don’t make that an excuse

Life happens. Get back on the wagon. Get back to your regularly scheduled routine.

Don’t make not exercising or eating a few extra calories an excuse to stay off the wagon.

I’ve heard it too often: What’s the use? If I work out today, it won’t make up for the days I lost.

That doesn’t matter. If you wait another couple of days, you’ll be sore in the following days, your energy will be low, you’ll have trouble completing the workout.

You are an exerciser! You’ve built up that habit over months. Don’t spoil that now. Don’t change that habit. You just had an interruption. Get back on that treadmill. Or stick that DVD in the player. Change into your workout gear.

And those extra calories? They don’t matter now. Devote your energy to making healthy choices today.

Read another post about motivation.

It’s tough getting old

It’s tough getting old. In getting older, we want to stay fit and healthy so that we can enjoy our “golden years.” In order to enjoy those years, we want to reduce stress and be happy.

All those things are really hard. We’ve spent lots of years exercising and eating right. When is it our turn to go crazy? Just lie on the couch and eat junk food.

We’ve spent lots of years working. When do we get to just do what we want?

That’s harder than ever now.

Everything costs money. And everything is more expensive than it used to be. Our incomes are not going up, so we have to be creative. And that’s exhausting.

But, things are easier when they become a habit.

So, let’s create some habits we can live with and be happy about for many, many years to come.

Eating right

Meal planning can become a habit. And it’s easier when you plan out a week’s worth of meals. Pick one day and gather your favorite recipes. Decide on 21 nutritious but delicious meals (if you don’t plan on bringing meals in – we do carryout from our favorite restaurants a couple evenings a week), make a list of items you need from the grocery store, and plan your shopping trip. And plan your snacks, too – things you look upon as treats, but are still healthy. OK – maybe a tiny bit indulgent…

Exercise

I’ve written many a blog post about the benefits of exercise as we age. Here’s one: “Why Exercise?” For now, let’s just agree that it’s necessary. Pick a program and stick with it. You don’t have to spend hours a day exercising, but it should be fairly intense – for you – 30 minutes 4 or 5 times a week. The most important thing is to be consistent in your exercise. By all means mix up the kind of exercise that you’re doing, but do it.

Get happy

Money may be tight, but that’s no reason not to do things that make you happy. Every day. Read a book. Reread a favorite. Listen to music. Go outside and breathe some fresh air.

Hate to exercise?

Do you hate to exercise? I’m not a fan either, but I do it because I like to do other stuff, as you know. But if that isn’t enough of a motivation, and you know that you need to exercise, start small.

Just walk for 15 minutes. Or 5 minutes. If it’s a nice day, just tell yourself that you’re going outside and breathe for a few minutes. Pretty soon you’ll be taking a few steps and you’re around the block.

Starting small leads to big things! Tell yourself you’ll do 15 jumping jacks, and pretty soon it’s 30 because 15 is easy.

Tell yourself you’ll jump for 2 minutes. Just up and down – maybe not even leaving the ground. And pretty soon it’s 5 minutes. Full squats and everything.

Tell yourself you’re just taking the dog for a walk. You’re snapping on his leash and pretty soon you’re both walking for 20 minutes. It’s good for both of you! (Just don’t forget pick-up material!)

It’s finally starting to feel like spring here, and the garden needs work. Tell yourself that you’re going outside for 5 minutes to pull weeds. Pretty soon you’ll find that you’ve been outside working for a half hour. A few weeds turns into raking and cutting back, and who knows what else!

Just don’t overdo it! If you haven’t exercised in a while, and those 5 minutes of walking feels too easy, just do 6 and see how you feel the next day. The goal is consistency – if you’re too sore to get up the next day, you’re not going to exercise and then you’ll forget all about it for the future. And that’s bad.

So it’s okay to start really small and build up. 5 minutes today, 10 minutes tomorrow. Then maybe add in a little jog for a few seconds and see how you go from there. Remember, there’s no deadline!

I break my own rule – constantly

You know how I just told you to find a workout you love and you’ll be more likely to do it? Well, I don’t do that. I found results that I love and do the workout program that created them!

Reality check here – I hate working out. No, really! I’d much rather be reading a book than sweating and squatting. I’d rather be training my dogs than doing lunges. I’d rather be writing … anything … than doing bicep curls.

But I do it because I love to eat. I do it because I do love to train my dogs. I love to run agility with my dogs. I love to hike in new destinations. I love being able to run up and down the stairs five hundred times because I forgot … whatever … or I have loads of laundry to do.

And I love not having knee pain, back pain, hip pain. I stumbled in my dog agility class the other night. (I’m not the most graceful person, and some of the moves our instructor had us doing were a little complicated.) I didn’t fall, but I could feel the stress on my knees, ankles and shins. I thought to myself – well, tomorrow’s going to be an Aleve day! But it wasn’t. No pain.

Of course, I do like seeing more definition in my arms and abs. I like that my pants are feeling looser in the hips and tummy.

And it just takes 30 minutes a day in the basement for me to do an insane workout. Yup, a lot of days I don’t feel like working out, but I do it because it is just 30 minutes. I know that I’ll feel virtuous for having exercised. And that shower afterward feels SO good!

Burn more calories every day

Here are a couple of easy tips. First, work out in the morning. You’ll burn more calories! Why? Since you’re more rested, you’re probably working harder and you may be exercising a little longer. Fewer rest breaks, too. It’s more convenient for me to exercise in the afternoons on most days. It’s just how my day goes. I understand that I’m burning fewer calories, and I may be taking an extra rest break. But when I’m done, the stress from my day is gone and I feel so much more virtuous!

Increase your speed and you’ll burn more calories! If you’re walking or running, add in a sprinting interval and up the speed. You can do this even if you’re doing a video. Double time it! And make sure you’re swinging your arms – you’ll up the calorie burn by as much as 15%!

See a flat surface? Do some counter push-ups! When you’re picking up a few things at the grocery store, use a basket rather than a cart and you’ll be working your arm muscles (biceps and triceps). Adding strength moves is a good idea since more muscle mass increases the calorie burn. Also, take the stairs when you can. Work your abs by sitting on an exercise ball rather than a traditional chair!