Do What You Can Do to Stay Healthy

I agree with Jody Miller about doing a few minutes of anything you can do, as most working people don’t have the luxury to go to the gym daily. I do pushups and sit ups and a few bootcamp movements without equipment while watching the nightly news. I often stand on one leg at a time while at the computer station typing my notes. I do not use the elevator if it’s less than 4-5 flights of stairs (sometimes it’s longer to wait for an elevator than to walk up the stairs) 

I have begun to take some yoga classes now and will incorporate some stretching while watching the news. I also brush my teeth right after dinner to make sure I do not snack while watching the news. You have to do what you can do, with your limited time, to maintain your good health! 

There are classes at the gym which help both our strength and aerobic capacity. I have enjoyed kick boxing (now with my friends Angie and Ann on early Sunday mornings) which is an excellent all body workout, a combination of martial art and aerobic moves. Occasionally, I go to a cycling class at the gym before driving home to make dinner. My son would be working on his homework while I am at the gym.

If you have a dog, take him out for a walk, but it should be a fairly strenuous walk. Jogging by definition is at a pace of 5 miles per hour. Power walking, on the other hand, is a pace of 4 miles or more per hour. If you walk, try to vary your speed every two minutes. Walk as fast as you can for a minute or two, then slow down for the same amount of time before speeding up as fast as you can again. Interval training is the faster way to burn calories. 

A recent TIME magazine health section mentioned a study from Mc Master University of Ontario showing how these brief but intense workouts can be very effective in lowering our blood pressure or cholesterol. The workout can take only one, five, seven, or ten minutes with intense intervals i.e. at the speed as fast as you can handle. Interval training has been shown by many studies to be beneficial for our heart health. If you do not have even 5 or 7 minutes to exercise for your health, your life is too busy. Rethink your life to extend it!

I once heard of a famous fitness guru in Alexandria, Virginia who incorporated exercise movements into each of her activities. One of my friends who lives in her neighborhood reported how, while chopping the lettuce to make a salad, this fitness guru wouldn’t stand still. She lunged and squatted and moved around her kitchen counter. I do believe in a healthy lifestyle with time for exercise but, by all means, when having a sharp knife in your hand, do not attempt to exercise and chop your lettuce at the same time. Anything to the extreme can’t be good for your health. Fitness of the mind means not being so neurotic about fitness of the body. Take time to make your salad, then maybe do a few jumping jacks before eating it, without the knife in your hand!

If you are not a gym rat, do not despair. Keeping your life on a move at home will be beneficial to your health. Instead of watching hours of TV, do some household chores such as deep cleaning, laundry, vacuuming. If there are not enough chores, get your kids to do some fun exercise videos with you. Play WiFit, pingpong, hide and seek in different levels of the house. 

So you have heard of all the activities in the gym but can’t afford to join one or have no time to go? Do not despair, as most gym activities were meant to keep people’s interest up. The moves might look different in a weight training class, but they all work on the same goal of making you more healthy and fit. As Dr. Walter Thompson, a professor of kinesiology and health at Georgia College of Sports told Washington Post reporter Danielle Douglas-Gabriel, pull-ups, sit-ups, and push-ups remain the foundation of effective workouts. Master these moves and you are set for weight training. Do a few sets of push-ups and sit-ups while you are watching the news or your favorite shows. Do them in between commercials. Learn to stand on one foot on and off during the show. At some point, you will be able to stand much longer than you expected. It will become a habit for you to exercise, a few minutes at a time, instead of watching your favorite show with a basket of popcorn and a big bottle of soda. Exercise some, and you stay more healthy to see the next seasons of your favorite show!

You don’t need to run a marathon to be fit. Running too many marathons might not even be the most healthy thing to do, according to many fitness experts. A few minutes a day of interval exercise and you will stimulate your heart and brain. We are seeking not just a longer life, but a longer and healthy life to explore all the wonderful things in the world around us. Just a few minutes of your day! Is it too much for your body to ask of you?