Exercising This Old Body

When I was young, sleep was unbroken, food was fuel and exercise was easy. Time was light on my hands, I expected to live forever and my body almost maintained itself.

Now I’m older and I find myself making nighttime trips once or twice or even thrice to the bathroom. Food serves not only as fuel, it easily turns to ballast. Life seems shorter than I expected and the end just around the corner.

For the subject of this post, I can only speak for myself, with the occasional observation about others. If you can identify with some of these thoughts, fine. If not, I don’t blame you, no one likes to dwell on a difficult side of life.

Maintaining fitness is an endless job, especially as I’ve aged. The older I get the harder it is to exercise and the harder it is to be fit, even if I exercise.

When I was young I enjoyed all kinds of exercise. I walked, I ran, I stomped on tin cans to crimp them around my shoes so I could clomp along feeling cool or run making a grand noise. I hammered together stilts from wood scraps and used sticks to roll barrel hoops. When I got tired of running I climbed trees to observe the world from a higher vantage point and when I ate supper I cleaned my plate and asked for more.

Incidentally, for those of you interested in taking up the art, it took a can with two good ends to make a decent shoe clomper. If one end had been cut out, as was usual, the can would flatten on that end so it wouldn’t do the job. Evaporated milk cans worked because they had small holes punched in one end. Also, in those days before aluminum cans, beer cans worked because the tops had only the openings made by the church key so the can would clamp nicely around a shoe.

Now I try to find ways to exercise that are fun but not too difficult or painful.

About nine years ago a new hybrid electronic game called Wii was introduced. At first I thought it was like the many other gimmicks advertised to magically take off weight, tone muscles and make its buyers handsome or beautiful, depending.

 The set consisted of a balance board, a small DVD player/game console and some hand-held wands with inertial sensors and pointer/clicker controls. The console was wired into the buyer’s own TV set and with that you were off and running, if you’ll pardon the expression.

I made a wooden support for my balance board so the feet wouldn't sink into our carpet.

 Compared to later gaming devices such as the X-Box and others with body-sensing capabilities, the Wii was pretty primitive. However, it was better than exercising alone so I tried out the various games and worked through many of the exercises and yoga poses. Finally I gave up playing the games but did manage to select a combination of eighteen yoga poses and exercises that I added to “my workout” and tried to do that workout every other day or so.

Almost ready to start the day's training session.

Like most things, the Wii had pros and cons. I liked the feedback from the balance board that helped me keep my body balanced and the positive reinforcement when I managed to do an exercise or yoga pose without falling over. "Nice balance," or "You've got great posture," made me try to repeat whatever it was that prompted that comment. On the other hand, I thought the wait between exercises was a too long and start-up time dragged out.

About four years ago I got another exercise motivator. A new little schnauzer came into our lives and he quickly learned how to get me away from the computer and out on the sidewalk every evening after dinner.

Being a cuddly little dog, Kuro fits inside my sweater on cold winter days keeping us both warm.

Walking with a dog is a pleasant way to exercise. I can walk as I like when we use the long retractable leash because Kuro keeps busy sniffing the bushes, ground and fire hydrants for evidence of other dogs passing his way. No matter my walking speed, he runs ahead, does his sniffing then runs to catch up and range out in front again.

When we use the short leash, Kuro knows he has to curtail his sniffing and keep close to me. He prefers the long leash but he’ll go with the short one if it means a walk.

At the beginning of last year I began using the Fitbit my son gave me for Christmas in 2015. It was a good little motivator also. If I was lacking some steps to hit the day's target I would walk a few extra blocks to make sure I hit the mark. It lasted about one year before the strap broke. Now I've gone to a Garmin fitness tracker. It's more sophisticated and accurate although so far it shows me descending more stairs than I ascend. The motivation level is about the same so I enjoy using the Garmin too. The sleep tracker, which shows times of light and deep sleep and time awake is a useful addition. 

The motion  detector/tracker which is worn on the wrist is synced with software which displays several different pages of stats on my phone. This is the display for last night's sleep.

The yellow circle shows total sleep, although it doesn't subtract waking
time. The sleep intensity bars near the bottom I find most useful.

Our treadmill is a last resort for me although Ikuko uses it almost every day; see the notes she uses to practice her shigin while walking up and down the treadmill hills. She has been attending shigin classes for many years and is skilled in the art but, as with any skill, she needs practice to maintain proficiency, so she combines pleasure with pleasure and sings while she walks. 

I use it when the weather discourages outside exercise. I’ve tried to teach Kuro how to walk with me but he can’t quite figure out the concept of a moving sidewalk and a stationary environment.

Lately, we’ve started a yoga class every Wednesday at our VFW post. I’ve never attended a formal yoga class so, in addition to the exercise and stretching, I’m looking forward to learning breathing and grounding techniques from a professional. After we've held a number of sessions, I'll try to post some impressions of a formal yoga workout.

One exercise lesson sticks with me in my older years. Persistence and dedication are essential to staying fit. It's so easy to find other, more interesting things to do. Instead of exercising, I see a book waiting to be read, email to be answered, the VFW office to be staffed or many other things to do, all so much more interesting than exercising. 

Scientists say exercise is even better for the bodies of older people. It fights bone loss and increases stability and balance. It warms the body and strengthens the cardiovascular system. All these are needed by people of any age but especially those of us who are a little older can reap the benefits of regular exercise.

The key for me is to remember that the time I spend exercising is a gift to my body and a way to brighten my day. Exercise is so important I now try to place it number one on my daily "to do" list, thus paying myself up front before I move on down the list. 

My motto has become: "Exercise to gain strength, agility, youthful vitality and happiness, not just to get the daily drill out of the way."