Let’s face it! It is a fact that keeping our weight in check and staying healthy are some of our biggest life challenges. It is never-ending, except for the alternative. At some point, my mind knows that someday I will just give it all up…for the ghost, that is…but I am not there yet!
Good health balances eating well, moving enough, and getting enough rest. We eat approximately three times a day and sleep approximately seven to eight hours a day, but we need to think about movement in the same terms. Our body needs it as much as it needs food and rest.
Years ago, I wrote a blog post about being too sedentary. My mother was a prime example of what not to do. You can find the story here.
It still breaks my heart twenty years later that she gave up much too early. My aunt is 96 and my grandmother lived to be 99. Two of her sisters lived into their 90s. The genes were especially good in my mother’s family, but none of them, except my mom, let themselves become sedentary. They were all extremely active. Mom died at 75.
I have tried to exercise my entire adult life. I had a role model. My Grandmother Roe exercised with Jack Lalaine on the television. I would come in and watch her in the living room. She lived next door. She also gardened and walked. I watched her do the latter almost daily until she moved to a rest home three months before she passed at the age of 91.
When I was in my 20s and early 30s, I exercised with Bodies in Motion by Gilad. He was on WCTV early in the morning, and the 30 minutes at the beginning of my day was also a great destresser. My girls were elementary age and my marriage was falling apart. I tuned in five times a week. I did other things on the weekend and played a good bit of tennis then. My best friend was also my partner in doubles.
Sometime in my mid-30s, I found Denise Austin and her daily workout. She introduced me to Yoga, and in the late 1990s, they dropped all exercise from programming. I had to find other avenues, but none of them allowed me to exercise in my pajamas. I was not a happy camper.
I went through several gym memberships, and I swam laps in our pool 2-3 times a week. I spent several years doing Yoga twice a week with Catherine Dean at Halfmoon Yoga, who I believe is the best at her craft. She taught me the correct way to move and was extremely proficient at working with someone with severe back problems. But I lost her in the early 2010s. She retired and moved away,
My doctor lectured me about my muscle tone and I lifted light weights. I bought a set for the house and did more calisthenics. I never liked gyms, so I gravitated back to exercising at home.
Here is what I do now, and it requires a TV and a place to work out in the same room. I’ve been using this new system for several years, and it gives me enough variety to stick with it.
Here’s My Secret!
Regular YouTube has a wonderful compilation of exercise videos of all lengths and they’re free to use, as is regular YouTube. I use it early at 7-7:30 am, before I eat breakfast or drink my coffee. I put in my contacts so I can see. Here’s my schedule.
Monday – Cardio
Tuesday – Yoga
Wednesday – Weight Training
Thursday – Pilates and sometimes Tai Chi
Friday – Regular exercises with music
I have a free YouTube account, and in it are folders called playlists with the above names, plus other folders such as Neck, Shoulders, Core, Standing, Balance, Back, etc. Below is a screenshot of some of my folders.
This is an example of how this works—
Let’s say, I get up on a TUESDAY morning and my left hip is hurting. On my TV, I search on YouTube for a 20 to 30-minute Yoga video with an emphasis on hips. Then I spread out my yoga mat on the floor in front of the TV and workout in my PJs.
On MONDAY’s, I can really mix this up for cardio. I can exercise with a video, like this 80’s dance party video,
or I can just take a brisk walk to the courthouse and back, a 1.8 mile walk. If I know Chuck and I are planning a hike with someone later in the week, I do that instead. Or maybe I went swimming with my grandchildren the day before—cardio done! This one I play by ear, but if the entire week passes without a 30-minute cardio session, on Sunday I take that brisk walk.
We already talked about Tuesday, so let’s move on to WEDNESDAY. If you use the search feature on YouTube and ask for “exercise with weights”, you get all kinds of choices. I am looking for a woman using light weights. For example, last Wednesday, I was concerned that my core was getting too soft. So I used a core “standing abs” video with weights. I have a set of 3s, 5s, 8s, and 10s. This video below happened to have cardio attributes, too.
On THURSDAY, I do Pilates, but I have never worked out with a professional Pilates instructor, so I am more cautious with this. I realized that Pilates is also used in yoga. So let’s say my shoulder has been giving me problems. Then I look in my playlists for a Pilates video that emphasizes the upper back, neck, and/or shoulders. I already have some stored, so I look there first. If I don’t see one I like, then I use the search term, “exercise pilates shoulder”. Voila, YouTube gives me choices.
FRIDAY, I use a simple exercise routine that helps me maintain range of motion and the muscles in my back and hips. I do two sets of 20 each with a YouTube music video in the background. There are many great “best of…” videos, such as Classic Rock, 60s Rock, Classic Country, and DooWop, You name it and it is probably there somewhere. I keep a file (a playlist) of these, too.
As I listen to this nice, easy music, the six exercises I use are:
Side Leg Lifts – On hands and knees, lift the right leg to the side in a doggy lift, 20 times, then repeat 20 times with the left leg.
Back Leg Lifts – On hands and knees, extend the right leg back and lift 20 times, repeat with the left leg.
Back Bent-Leg Lifts – On hands and knees, extend your right leg toward the back but bend it up at a 90-degree angle. Do 20 leg lifts and repeat with the left leg.
Side Lying Leg Lifts – On your side with the lower leg extended and your knee bent, extend the right leg and lift it 20 times. Do the same for the left.
Inner Thigh Lifts – Lie on your side, straighten the bottom leg, and cross the top leg over the bottom leg. Raise the bottom leg 20 times.
Hip Lifts – Lie on your back with knees up and lift your hips 20 times
Then repeat the six exercises.
Afterward, do 7 cobras for back flexibility and 7 psoas stretches for hip flexibility.
Cobra Pose – Lie on your stomach, toes pointing straight back and shoulder length apart. Place hands underneath the shoulders and elbows close to the body. Lift your chest first without your hands and then use your hands to find “your” full expression of the pose. Everyone is different. The pose is like the sphinx in Egypt but not as pronounced and your hands should be under your shoulders, not stretched out. Only lift as you are able. Hold for five seconds and repeat five times.
Psoas Stretch – Kneel on one knee, with the other foot flat on the floor in front, like a lunge. Then lean forward, keeping your back straight, to feel a stretch in the front of your hip. Hold for five seconds and repeat five more times. Repeat on the other side. Make sure you feel the stretch in the front of your hip. I got the last two stretches from my physical therapist, who suggested I do them at least twice daily to keep my back flexible.
If you are unsure about the exercise, google the name of the exercise. There will be pictures to help.
But you should choose exercises for your own health demands. Mine are mainly my hips and back.
And the music puts me in a great mood!
That is it.
These are my 15-30 minute daily exercise routines. I have another 15-minute weight routine. I do it two days a week with heavier weights, but that will be another blog post strictly for building muscle.
Learn how to make your own playlists using search words. I built my playlists on a day-to-day basis. I looked up one exercise video daily, and if I liked the routine, I added it to my playlists. Each video can be added to multiple playlists.
If you don’t know how to do this, google it. Google and YouTube videos have all kinds of “how-to” guides. Learning to use them will increase your tech-savvy! Just enter your journey as a personal experiment! Keep trying until you get it.