¨Don’t train to be skinny. Train to be a badass.¨ ~ Demi Lovato
I’ll let you in on a secret—I do not like exercise. Neither of my parents exercised or followed sports, and as a lifelong klutz, I was the last chosen for team sports. A soccer ball to the solar plexus in elementary school was the final straw. So yeah, none of this was a recipe for someone to like the gym or sports.
Despite that introduction, this article is for those with little inclination toward exercise in hopes I can motivate you to move more. If you like working out, running, cycling, swimming, taking Zumba classes, or playing on a team, great! Keep it up and you can skip this article.
For most of you who follow my writing, the menopause transition may also be messing with you—hot flashes, insomnia, GYN changes, and mood issues like depression, anxiety, and rage. Even if you exercised in the past, I imagine exhaustion and time constraints are working against you at this time of your life. But trust me on this, you gotta stay active to keep that brain fog at bay, your heart healthy, and your bones strong. And it might help slow down weight gain.
So how is it that I am not a blob? Well, I do move a lot in a day. In fact, I feel lousy if I sit all day. I walk a lot, either on the treadmill (reading), in my neighborhood, into town to run an errand, or on vacation. I’m a gardener and I love to dig—digging to plant, turning over compost, trenching the edges of the garden beds, and so on. Yeah, I know, it’s weird, but hey, some people love to vacuum.
The point is to find activitiesthat you enjoy which maintain your muscles and get your blood flowing more briskly. Many people start out with light activity such as walking slowly, which does raise the heart rate a wee bit. Moderate exercise increases your heart rate more, and while you can talk while doing it, singing with your tunes might be difficult. Vigorous activity causes your heart to pump even faster so you will be breathing hard and may have trouble speaking without taking breaths within a sentence.
“If we could give every individual the right amount of nourishment and exercise, not too little and not too much, we would have found the safest way to health.” ~ Hippocrates
The latest recommendations are for a person to “exercise” moderately for at least 150 minutes or vigorously for 75 minutes a week. Whoa—that sounds like a lot! Breaking it down, that is slightly more than 20 minutes of moderate activity or 10 minutes of vigorous activity per day, and it can be done in 5 to 10-minute increments throughout the day. Stay with me…
Depending on your interests, abilities, and energy levels, choose what works for you. Your friends or family might have insight about what might motivate you and they may even be looking for a partner for a daily walk, to work out with, or to try a new sport with (bowling, tennis, pickleball etc.).
For some, moving moderately for 20 minutes at the outset may be okay, but for those who are sedentary, that might be too much at first. Just get started—even if it’s only a walk around the block. Take it easy as you initiate activities since overdoing will cause soreness and de-motivate you. In fact, doing multiple repetitions of any exercise could prove to be too much too soon, precipitating tendonitis and bursitis.
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” ~Lao Tzu, attributed
One option to consider is the “exercise snack.” Just as snacks vary in size, yours can be as little as 20 to 30 seconds of walking up and down a couple flights of stairs, wandering around your home while on the phone, or riding that forgotten stationary bike for a few minutes. “Activity snacks” are great after sitting at a desk too long (tight or cold extremities) or when you hit a wall productively.
Don’t have time? Need to get chores done? Feeling frustrated and unproductive after working at a computer all day? Here are some legitimate multi-tasking suggestions to get you moving. Since many of these activities are busywork, they’re already ingrained in your muscle memory.
TABLE 1: Multi-tasking Activities
| WHEN YOU… | DO THIS TOO… |
| Watch TV | Fold laundry. Stand and iron. Sit on a balance ball and work on your core strength. Lift some small weights to improve arm strength. Perform yoga poses during breaks. Stretch—gently. |
| Talk on the phone or listen to a Podcast | Fold laundry. Put laundry away. Put out-of-place stuff back where it belongs. Wipe down your kitchen counters. |
| Spend time with the kids/grandkids | Take them to the playground. Move around, too. Play catch to develop their hand/eye coordination. Play ping pong. Push them on the swing. Walk the dog with them. Help coach a team. |
| Need to run an errand | Walk to the store, bank, or post office. If you drive, park further away. Park once and walk more. |
| Spend time with your spouse or friends | Explore your/their neighborhood or town on foot. Go for a hike and chat while on the trail. Go to the local pool or lake for a swim. Play tennis, pickleball, or other racquet sport. |
| Are angry or worried | Vacuum. Mop or sweep. Clean the house. Garden. |
| Want to be outside | Mow the lawn. Rake. Clean the porch or deck. Plant something! (May become a dangerous habit.) |
| Look at social media, watch news, or read magazines or e-reader | Walk on treadmill. Use your stationary bike. |
To increase physical activity, you do not necessarily need to join a gym and may not need special clothes or equipment other than some good walking shoes.
Many recreation and senior centers offer yoga, tai chi, water aerobics, Pilates, dance, or other activities that will get you moving. Pilates, yoga, and tai chi are great introductions to strengthening your core muscles and improving balance.
Aerobic exercise should be low impact to avoid stressing arthritic joints and inflaming tendons and bursae. Remember to go at your own pace, not match that of others. Warming up by walking or gentle stretching is good and ending your activity with gentle stretching is even better.
Walking briskly (for you) outside or at a shopping mall can substitute for not having the space or budget for a treadmill or stationary bike. Taking a hilly route and climbing stairs are also aerobic activities.
An inexpensive pedometer can help you monitor how many steps you take in a day. The day-to-day comparison of steps can help motivate you toward that random, yet now traditional 10,000-step goal. It allows you to gauge how much walking feels good (for me, between 7500 and 12,500 steps) and how many steps are associated with feeling sore (for me, below 3500 and above 15,000). Unfortunately, pedometers don’t measure activity done while cycling or swimming and may not register steps very well on an elliptical machine.
Acquiring balance, strength, flexibility, and aerobic tolerance are the goals. Balance work prevents falls. Strength training might reduce injuries sustained in a fall since these exercises lead to stronger bones and perhaps, some added muscular padding. Flexibility allows you to reach itchy spots or zippers in back. Aerobics gives you endurance. Altogether, they improve your ability to live independently which is what we all want, right?
Balance suggestions:
*Stand on one leg for up to 30 seconds, first with a hand on something for support, then without it once you are steady. Switch legs and repeat 5 to 10 times throughout the day.
*Slowly sit down onto your chair and then get up immediately like the seat is wet. Repeat several times during the day.
*Try sitting on a balance (yoga) ball at your desk instead of a chair. Bounce, wiggle around, make circles, try lifting one leg up, or with one or both hands gently on the desk, lean back and try taking both feet off the ground. (Buy a yoga stability ball that is anti-burst and the right size for your height—45 m diameter for those under 5 feet, 55 cm for 5’1” to 5’8”, and 65 cm for 5’9” to 6’ 2”.)
Strength suggestions:
*You are doing this to tone your muscles, not body build, so you will slowly increase weights only to a certain point and maintain this goal weight and number of repetitions. A sports trainer can evaluate where you should begin and tailor a program to follow.
* You can start with food cans as weights. A 15-ounce can of tomatoes is approximately a one-pound weight. If your hands have trouble holding cans or dumbbells, you can buy weights that strap around wrists (or ankles). Weights and resistance bands are available at local sports stores and on the internet.
Flexibility suggestions:
*Try classes or a stretching program found on the internet, but take care, advance slowly, and be gentle with yourself to avoid overstretching. Stretching should not be competitive. Flexibility is dependent on how lax or tight one’s ligaments are, your body’s innate architecture, and whether you have arthritic changes or past injuries which have create restrictions. Each of our bodies has unique limitations, so do not berate yourself for the inability to perform the same amount of stretch as others. Listen to your body.
Aerobic suggestions:
* Walk up and down the stairs a few times.
*Take a spin on the stationary bike for five minutes to get the blood flowing. If you’re reading, you may end up riding longer. Increase as desired and tolerated.
*Walk outside and find a hill to climb or increase your speed.
Aerobic exercise is good for burning off nervous energy and reducing frustration. Eliminating pent-up energy leads to better sleep, anxiety reduction, and less irritability. High energy and hyper-aroused persons may benefit from more frequent exercise “snacks” or longer sessions of continuous physical activity as this can be a form of self-soothing during the day. Some examples of these activities include bouncing your legs at the desk, cycling, walking the treadmill, using an elliptical machine, hitting a punching bag, vacuuming furiously, or kneading dough. That said, one would need to build up to this level of activity to avoid a repetitive motion injury.
I hope that I have motivated you to get moving. Time for an exercise snack!
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