Exercise question #5345

What do you do, and why? Do you enjoy it?

I try to mix it up so that I don't get bored. Usually my schedule looks like below, but it depends on if I'm working from my cottage office or if I'm in the city where the tennis court and the company gym is. If I'm at the cottage I mostly go running and do strength training with dumbbells and home equipment.

City week:
Monday: Run (outside)
Tuesday: Gym
Wednesday: Tennis
Thursday: Gym
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Run (outside)
Sunday: Rest

I play hockey twice a week 10 months of the year and golf and I do some basic calisthenics at home. I've also been going to the gym at least once a week but generally twice or ideally 3 times forever, mostly weight training and always finish with a jog. Now that I'm 70 things have changed and not as powerful or quick as I use to be but I look around and wouldn't want to contemplate where I would be now without it. Cheers

i work out at home. i have a cable tower with a 205 pound stack that i use for resistance training 4 times per week with some barbell work. i ride an exercise bike 4 to 6 times per week, walk up and down the stairs in our building at least 3x per week, and i also use an aerobic step or a stepper on days when i don't ride the bike or to supplement it.

and i recently got a tiny treadmill with a steeper incline than the previous one (7%), but i can only do around 10 minutes on the new one at a time so far...

I struggle to do alone exercises. I like things that are planned out. I do mostly classes. My gym has a water aerobics class in the morning and a High Intensity Dance Exercise class in the evenings that I try to do. They have a ton of classes but these ones are fun and that is important to me. If I am miserable I'm not going to do it.

It's my on-season, so something like this M-W-F-Sa every week, sometimes more often:



That's me in yellow. Until June, I was cycling for a couple of hours a day usually 2 days a week, but when I starting working at the learn to row class 4 days a week, I had trouble scheduling it. I've biked and walked some on Tu & Th since that ended, but want to get more structured.

In Winter, usually alternate rowing machine and stationary bike for 40 minutes to an hour or so 6 days a week, add some strength training (type varies).

Note: This is not the schedule I started with. I've been quite active for over 20 years now, starting when I was obese. I started increasing activity to recover from cancer and cancer treatment, in my mid-40s. (I'm 67 now.) At first, it was a gentle yoga a couple of times a week, then adding in some daily yoga practice. As I got fitter, I tried out various group classes, including a group strength training class (basically group personal training, not the "everybody does the same stuff simultaneously at fast pace" thing. Later I started rowing, and did that 2-4 times a week, plus some low-impact aerobics on other days.

Recommendation, if you're newer to regular exercise: Choose something you find fun, or at least tolerable and practical. Aim for a combination of exercise type, duration, frequency, and intensity that's a mild and manageable challenge to your current fitness level. Aim for a schedule that has that challenge, but leaves you feeling energized rather than exhausted for the rest of your day(s). A "whew" feeling for a few minutes right after the workout is OK.

Ideally, include some strength challenge and some cardiovascular challenge (but it's OK to start with one and add the other later). Include enough rest and recovery time: That's where your body repaired, which is where the fitness improvement magic happens.

As you get fitter, increase duration, frequency, or intensity - or change type of exercise - to keep the mild, manageable challenge in the picture. That will keep improving your fitness.

Don't buy into the idea that it's essential to do miserable, exhausting exercise in order to lose weight or improve fitness. (That can actually be counterproductive.) Even elite athletes don't do every single workout at maximum intensity, and they have the professional experts advising them. Why would us regular duffers go at max effort all the time? It's not smart.

What do I do after a lull? I don't really relate to the question.

First, I love rowing, so I'd do it even if it weren't good for me, and biking is pretty good, too. (I'll do other stuff to get better at those things, besides.) I've been active long enough now that if I take an extended break (multiple days), I start to feel stiff, moody, cranky, and generally ungood. So I do something active, and feel better. I do usually have to push myself to shift from on-season (outdoor) to off-season (indoor) workouts. There's a particular annual challenge I do that starts on US Thanksgiving that helps me over that hurdle.

TL;DR: Find something you think is fun, that involves moving more. Don't be afraid to give new things a fair try (multiple sessions). Shoot for a mild, manageable challenge.

I get at least 10,000 steps a day. I usually get more like 12-15,000.

I do yoga for around 30 minutes a day.

I use a program on my rowing machine 5-6 times a week.

(I started with walking and yoga, but added the rowing.)