WARNING: A bit of a soapbox preach from a newly converted exercise supporter, who has no professional expertise in this field, and has a lot to learn about physical fitness.
I am someone who was told over and over in the last 50 years that exercise meant 30-60 minutes of cardio, which had to increase your heart rate by 50%, in order to be effective. I hated sweating, and broke out in hives, I hated the racing heart😝, the smelly gyms, the complicated equipment and also thought that pain was my body's way of telling me to stop what I was doing, or I would do damage. I had an ALL or NOTHING attitude towards exercise.
I have recently been informed that there are other ways to be active, and that ANY MOVEMENT during the day, including non-weight bearing activity in 2 minute sets, is of great benefit, to joints, muscles, balance, pain, preventing falls, etc. I have now seen the light.💡 I now know that physical pain from movement cannot kill me or cause further damage, but inactivity can cause me an excruciatingly slow miserable painful life and an earlier death.
Here are some of the ways I am fitting in activity all day long:
✳ When I am chatting on phone or watching TV, I am using a pedal exerciser.
✳ When I am brushing my teeth, washing dishes or chopping vegetables I am rising up onto tip toes and bending each leg back at knee, one at a time to raise it off floor.
✳ When I am waiting for my meal to cook or a cup of coffee to heat up in microwave, I am sliding my back down kitchen wall to get as close to a sitting position as I can.
✳ When I have sat too long at the computer, I get up and down 10 times from the chair without using my arms.( I have not been able to get up from a chair without pushing up on table or using arm rests, for at least 20 years.)
My eventual goals are to be able to go for a walk with my camera gear and tripod on my back, or maybe with a dog at my side, for fun and enjoyment, anytime I want to. No walker and no cane. Also I want to be able to sit down on the grass in the park or sit on the sand at the beach, with full confidence that I can stand up with no help. If I could then volunteer in my community, this will make me a very happy and content senior citizen with very few complaints.
