4 Exercises Older Adults Should Do Every Day (silversneakers.com)
https://www.silversneakers.com/blog/should-you-ditch-low-fat-foods-for-good/?
I try to eat the real thing when available. Real milk. Real butter. But I didn't for years. My mom was all about margarine and 2% milk. Salad greens need full fat dressing, if you want dressing. (Not everyone does.) All that low-fat stuff and no calorie drinks just make one eat/drink more because they aren't satisfying. Not impressed with that plant-based, highly processed substitute for meat, either. If you have an ethical problem with eating animals, that's one thing, but if you think plant burgers will save the planet, you're kidding your self.
There’s something in my personality that’s very skeptical when I’m told something is easy or quick. Like, buy blessings bags to end poverty (school packs) or it’s easy to lose 15 pounds for that new Easter outfit. However, 2 minutes does sound doable, so I copied this from the Silver Sneaker newsletter and I don’t want to lose it, so I’m putting it in my blog. When I replace my ink cartridge, I may even print it. Filing e-mail articles IS NOT easy, no matter what they tell you about Windows 10! And why do they always give a handsome, muscular young man or woman to imitate. I want someone about 75 to limp out to the limited space in a condo to do this!
Exercise # 1: March
Do the move for 15 seconds
How to do it: Stand tall, and engage your core by imagining you’re about to receive a punch in the gut. March in place, raising your knees as high as you comfortably can. Bend your arms, and let them swing naturally as you march.
Do the move for 15 seconds
How to do it: Stand tall, and engage your core. Visualize an imaginary line in front of your toes. Step over the line one foot at a time, and then step behind the line one foot at a time. Continue stepping forward and back, moving as smoothly as you can.
Do the move for 15 seconds
How to do it: Stand tall, and engage your core. Step out to the side with one foot, and follow it with your other foot, tapping the floor. Repeat in the opposite direction. Continue alternating, moving as smoothly as you can.
Do the move for 15 seconds
How to do it: Stand with your feet comfortably apart, toes forward, and knees and hips bent slightly in a shallow squat. Engage your core, and hold your arms at your sides with elbows bent.
Pulse up and down slightly, and push through your feet to stand up. At the same time, reach your right hand up and across your body to your left side in an uppercut motion. Allow your right foot to pivot.
Pause, return to starting position, and reset your balance. Repeat the pulse and uppercut reach with your left arm to your right side. Continue alternating, moving as smoothly as you can.
Do the move for 20 seconds
How to do it: Stand with your feet hip-width apart and knees slightly bent, and engage your core.
Step your left foot back and slightly out to the side. Return to starting position, and repeat the movement for 10 seconds. As you step, move your arms naturally, but continue to keep your core strong.
Return to starting position, and repeat with your right leg for 10 seconds.
Do the move for 15 seconds
How to do it: Stand with your feet comfortably apart and knees slightly bent, and engage your core. Visualize an imaginary line between your feet. Step your feet in toward toward the line one foot at a time, and then step out from the line one foot at a time. Continue stepping in and out, moving as smoothly as you can.
Do the move for 15 seconds
How to do it: Stand with your feet comfortably apart and toes forward. Engage your core, and hold your arms at your sides with elbows slightly bent.
Push your hips back and bend your knees to lower yourself into a shallow squat. Push through your feet to return to standing, and curl your hands to your shoulders, making sure to bend from your elbows and not your wrists.
Pulse back down into a shallow squat, lowering your arms. Continue alternating, moving as smoothly as you can.
Do the move for 15 seconds
How to do it: Stand tall, and engage your core. March in place, raising your knees as high as you comfortably can. Bend your arms, and let them swing naturally as you march.
Bahram Arkadi built Lifetime Fitness (about 130 locations) where I have a Silver Sneakers membership and is a multimillionaire. Recently in the magazine "Experiencing Life" he pointed out the root causes of threats to biodiversity: overpopulation and overconsumption. He personally wants for nothing. Has his family and his millions, and he's lecturing the rest of us on birth control and materialism like someone running for president? The U.S. population is already below replacement rate, and his business was built on a never ending hunger and quest to look and feel better that will always sell.
One way to help the environment is to pick up trash on your walks—and you don’t do that in a gym.
I used to write a blog about the people I met in coffee shops. But I gave it up—going to coffee shops. Now I go to the gym and I see a lot of interesting people, and even talk to some, although I rarely know their names.
Today on the next exercycle there was a woman who is an immigrant. We’ve chatted numerous times. She goes to her “home” country for 5 months of the year, but her adult children were born in the U.S. “I’m very close to my children,” she told me today. “We talk first thing in the morning, and later maybe 8-9 times.” I would like to think I misunderstood that, she having an accent, but I don’t think so.
One older (older than me) man dresses up for the holidays. This month he’s all about green—hat, tie, shirt, knee socks, neck wear, etc. We chatted a bit one day—he’s also a graduate of the University of Illinois, sometime in the mid-1950s.
The fashions are fascinating. Some women are perfectly color coordinated—shoes, pants, shirt. If the women are very young, say 18-25, they might wear shorts, but very few do that. And only those with really fabulous legs. Some men wear shorts—old guys have really baggy shorts, and if a young man wears tight fitting shorts, he’s probably gay.
One woman has been recommending books for me to read. She suggested “What Alice Forgot,” which I checked out of the library, and really enjoyed. She also suggested “Elegance of the Hedgehog,” originally published in French, which I’ve started. Today she suggested a non-fiction title, “After Emily,” about the 2 women who organized Emily Dickinson’s poetry. https://www.wbur.org/radioboston/2018/11/06/emily-dickinson-dobrow I often see people reading, so I don’t talk to them. I haven’t had much luck reading on the treadmill, although I do it on the cycle. Most people have their smart phones with them and ear buds, so they are not interested in chit-chat.
I often talk to a very friendly couple who moved to Columbus from California. She’s in excellent shape. They came here because two of their children live here and their only grandchild. Her mother is 101 and still lives in California, so she goes there a few weeks of the year.
Another couple I’ve met are also living in Columbus because of their son and grandchild. They actually own 3 homes, and vacation in the summer in Minnesota, and go to North Dakota to ski. It’s a bit tricky to catch up with them—they are always traveling.
And then there’s Dan. He has neuropathy, is always in a lot of pain, but struggles in every day using his walker. He was getting much better, but one day was hit by a car in the parking lot. Although he had been able to give up his walker a while back, he is now using it all the time. He’s an inspiration.
Another woman has had her leg amputated; the other day I saw a man using a white cane with another man explaining the machines to him; I’ve seen several people who appear to be recovering from strokes.
I’ve seen a number of members of our church there. Sometimes so many I think we should have a committee meeting.
I enjoy working out at Life Time Fitness (117 centers in 26 states and 34 major markets under the LIFE TIME FITNESS® and LIFE TIME ATHLETIC® brands in the United States and Canada) on Henderson Rd., near our home. I really do. I’ve been going about 5-6 times a week since January—treadmill and resistance machines. I think it’s helping my balance and the strength in my hands. However, as I read through its magazine, "Experience Life," I do sense that focusing totally on oneself--personal empowerment--body, nutrition, well-being, fitness, breathing (mindfulness and other eastern quasi-religious exercises are big), and "connectedness"--is a tad shallow even if it is a billion dollar business. "Small acts of kindness. . . offer great health benefits and make us feel more secure" and so forth.
The Founder, Chairman, and CEO is Bahram Akradi, who immigrated to the U.S. from Iran as a teen-ager. His father was in the Iranian Air Force and sensed a revolution was coming so sent his son to the U.S. to live with his brother. He's positive that embracing respect as our guiding principle is good for our health and the country. See what you think and whether something is missing.
https://experiencelife.com/article/a-healthy-dose-of-respect/
https://gym.lifetimefitness.com/upper-arlington/gym-columbus
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