I read everything I can feast my eyes on. The article that caught my eye this week was in one of the Healthy Living bulletins on display at the YMCA (Aug.HopeHealth.com). The Olympics are on television right now. If you are like me, you are spending a lot of extra couch time watching your favorite athletes compete. Fortunately the Olympics are only on every four years, but there is always something to watch on television. It doesn’t matter whether your weakness is a favorite sport, a soap opera, or a talent show; most of us spend way too many hours in front of the TV.
Don’t you feel just a little bit guilty? Instead of watching all those talented young athletes compete, we should probably be exercising ourselves. The article stressed that an hour long television program includes a good15 minutes worth of commercials. If you exercised during those commercial breaks you could be at or near the recommended exercise quota for your week. That might be stretching things a bit but if you are a true couch potato it could do good things for you. What do you do during commercials?
Put aside the remote (especially if you have recorded your programs) and think about exercising. At the very least you can leap up and load the dishwasher or do other household chores. Well that grows old in hurry, but what about doing some serious exercising. You can alternate between doing moderate cardio moves, balance and flexibility work, and strength building moves. Nothing has changed. We all learned how to do sit-ups and crunches and lateral twists and forward bends in gym class so don’t say you can’t think of anything to do.
What kind of cardio can you do in your living room? If your have ever done an indoor walking video you know that you can build up quite a sweat right in front of your television. So, how about marching in place, doing some sidesteps, balancing on one foot or doing lunges? What about jogging in place or jumping jacks? Don’t just stand there! There are dozens of exercises that you can do.
Seniors are just as hard pressed for time as their working counterparts, and they come up with some pretty creative excuses. The biggie is that they don’t want to get down on the floor because they are afraid they won’t be able to get up. If this is a concern you need to see your doctor and a physical therapist right away. If you can’t get up off from the floor by yourself your days of independent living are coming to a close. You must learn how to do this. So, I am not even going to listen to that excuse. Exercise at any age provides multiple health benefits. People of all ages, with the blessing of their physician, need to engage in a combination of cardiac conditioning, strength training and flexibility exercises.
Seniors with transportation issues often find getting to a health club difficult. This in addition to being pressed for time or not wanting to workout in public, are all credible excuses, but they are not good enough. You can workout at home and one way is to use your commercial break time wisely. If you can’t come up with any ideas on your own, find a copy of “The Commercial Break Workout” by Linda J. Buch. Check out the public library or search for free fitness videos on the Internet or on cable television channels. No more excuses!
Leave a Reply