Marching into March

UncleMac

The winter is slipping away and spring is sneaking up on us...

February brought a remarkable winter storm to Texas... freezing rain followed by snow & freezing temperatures... with predictable results. In my area, we lost power for a few days, had supply chain disruptions and were under a "boil water advisory" for a week.

Mind you, this Canadian is well accustomed to cold, freezing rain & snow... My Texan wife was happy to have my skills available.

Does anyone have plans for spring fitness changes? Please do share!!

AnnPT77

Fitness changes? Truthfully, I'm just trying to slog along doing *something*, *sometimes*, until we get to on-water rowing season (which won't likely happen in March - narrow lightly built shells amongst floating ice chunks is not my preference . . . but the season does vary by year). At least we're getting some outdoor walking weather (after a period with temps in the teens F, and enough snow that my usual road-shoulder walking route from home was riskier than I'd like).

I recently added an indoor bike to my home, as an alternative to machine rowing and various weight or floor exercises. Though my Y is open and offering classes again (including spin with only a few bikes in a big room, and a mask requirement), I'm not going back anytime soon. (Right before the pandemic, I had some annoying respiratory bug - not Covid - that went into my lungs and caused coughing for weeks. I'm quite sure I got it from the woman on the next bike over, in spin class.) Still no vax for me, though I'm on multiple waiting lists as 65+.

Tried some Silver Sneakers videos, was uninspired, but should try more. I don't have a good video-watching set-up, among other dysfunctions in that realm. (No working TV at all, laptop sound card died, so tablet is it, and it's too small.)

Slogging along. Yup.

Hope others are feeling more energized than I, ATM!

UncleMac

Winter training is hard, especially when many of the facilities remain closed or restricted.

I've never enjoyed spinning. Machine rowing is better. Of all the machines, the elliptical remains my fav... especially if there is something on screen to distract me. I cut the tv cable years ago but I used to watch youtube vids.

Now I'm spending winters in Texas, most days I can walk on the hills in my neighbourhood... and I get my bearing exercises landscaping & moving heavy rocks.

Feeling energized doesn't happen for me... it's always mind over matter.

d_thomas02

I hear both of you.

During my slow season (Dec - Feb) I do body weight exercises (squats, sit-ups, pushups, planks) and a couple of dumbbell exercises (combination of squat, curl, and press with 25 lbs in each hand) alternating days with 30 minute elliptical cardio and then a daily walking treadmill for an hour (both machines with suitable video distractions, jazz in the earbuds for the floor exercises) until about three weeks ago when I managed to tweak my right shoulder doing I don't know what. Just started bothering me toward evening.

Sharp acute pain anytime I use it in an upward diagonal motion (think starting a small two cycle engine held in the left hand while pulling with the right), probably in the deltoid. Doc diagnosed it as unspecified muscle strain (probably 4-8 week recovery... at best). Been doing physical therapy combined with dry needling at the local super clinic for the last three weeks. Most of the acute pain is gone thanks to the dry needling but muscle is still sore as can be. Two more PT sessions left.

And my busy season starts... oh yeah, now. 150 yards of mulch to put down in the next three weeks. And then winter cleanups before mowing starts for real in April.

Going to be an interesting Spring.

MikePfirrman

I like machine rowing likely too much. If I just listened to my age more, I'd spend more time on my Assault Bike.

My wife will be 60 in a few months. I bought her the AirDyne Pro a few years ago. I have to say, Assault Bikes are fantastic. I wanted the Rogue Echo instead (Rogue is a much better company than who owns Schwinn now). I love the bike, but one pedal broke during a workout and I about killed myself. And because Schwinn's parent company blows, it took 2 to 3 months to get fixes -- even under warranty.

Older folks like us think Assault Bike -- that's too hard. But it's just a better built version of the old airbikes by Schwinn that are still around because they don't have motors. They are built well and last forever.

The nice thing is you don't have to kill yourself on them. Just like a rower, they are a great full body workout. You can go slow, program in intervals or whatever you like.

The Rogue Echo is like $800 and is built like a tank. It would last forever and, no matter what your fitness level, be a great (and low maintenance) buy.

I already (machine) row 6 days a week (4 easy, 2 hard) but I mix it up on occasion with the bike or LateralX (wouldn't recommend -- already running into issues). I'm just getting back to lifting. Very sore and stiff from it presently. Easy stuff mostly. Old man lifting.

There are a lot of older Schwinn Airbikes you can find online. I have a lot of rowing buddies that do X-Training that look for them. The older ones are built great. Perhaps that's something to look into.