Beginning a Workout After 50

If you have never worked out before there is no time to start like now. And if it’s been a while since you have, what are you waiting for? If you are reading this, I know you want to.

So let’s discuss the why. Improved health, more energy, and increased mobility. If you’re like me, your doctor probably prescribed it for you.

I never thought of a doctor giving a prescription to start a workout. The doctors expect me to lose weight, decrease my blood pressure, lower my cholesterol and triglycerides, and improve my heart health. Exercise and losing weight is the prescribed method to accomplish all of this.

Plus they keep checking my blood sugar. Guess they are worried about diabetes for me. Not that I’m worried about it too much.

My blood tests keep coming back normal for blood sugar. Lately, my A1C has been sitting at 5.6. For some reason they keep mentioning pre-diabetic. Not me. Keep that label for someone else.

I did spend some time in a hospital last year. I am all good now. But still have to work to get my strength and mobility back. I know I will get it done. And who knows, I might keep kicking it until I get bulked up a little. Not looking to get very bulky though, just healthy.

So to start, walking is the go to. Everybody wanted me to walk. But I got them on that one. I like to walk. How about you?

Are you ready to start. Start walking. Hopefully walking is not an issue for you. If it is, there are other options. But like anything else in life, if you are making a large change in your life, check with your physician.

Generally speaking, for the over 50 crowd, it is recommended that we get 30 minutes of exercise 2 or 3 times a week. But you do want to start slow if you are not used to walking much, especially if you have had some health issues. Do 3 to 5 minutes and work your way up to it. Every hour or two if you can will help you improve quicker.

However you start, keep with it and slowly increase the length of your walks until you get to where you want to be. My recommendation, and please make sure your doctor is good with this, is to walk 5 days a week for 30 minutes. The 30 minutes can be split into two 15 minute sessions if you like.

And do not worry about missing a day here and there. As long as you are getting your 2 to 3 times a week, you are doing good. Don't give up living your life.

Just think, a good 20 minute walk can be a mile and with 10 minutes of stretching you will have your 30 minutes. You don’t have to have a gym membership or even leave the house to get your workout accomplished. There are plenty of activities around the house that can make up your workout.

For me, I still use a push mower simply because it gives me a good workout. Depending on the amount of rain and how long it has been since the last mowing can take me 40 minutes to an hour and a half. Yard work and other housework can burn some calories. Playing with grandkids definitely burns some calories and mine love to have Papa dance with them.

That covers getting started. I will cover some different workouts in other posts. Hope this finds you well and you have gotten some good from it. God bless you until next time.

Stretching Before or After a Workout?

How important is stretching? It appears that health professionals, fitness gurus, and your average workout buff all believe in the importance of stretching. But why? What does stretching do for the body? When should you stretch? And for how much?

So why bother with stretches. I feel it is a good way to start your warmup but physiologically stretching out your muscles is a necessity. Working your muscles, whether from everyday life or a workout, contracts your muscles. This contraction can cause your muscles to tense and shorten.

Stretching your muscles restores the balance in your body. This may decrease your chance of injury to your muscles and joints. And who wants the strain and discomfort from such injuries?

Plus stretching can help increase your range of motion. This may increase your ability to perform your exercises to the fullest. And the joy in your performance. Possibly even the number of your repetitions.

So let’s get in to it. I am not a licensed health professional nor a certified trainer. The discussion here is from my observations, research, experience and pure old opinion.

Some may say you should stretch before a workout. Others would say it should be after a workout. Maybe as part of your cool down routine. But the general consensus, especially among my friends, is that you should stretch before and after a workout. And that would include just going for a walk.

I have not seen much of a discussion on stretching upon rising from bed each day. As I recall, Charles Atlas, the renown fitness guru, advocated stretching upon rising every day. He was big on stretching your arms up with your hands reaching for the sky and stretching for as high as you could reach.

Holding your stretch for a count of twenty and repeating ten to twenty times should get your body warmed up a bit. Then bending over for toe touches with a few back bends, and adding some torso twists, should give you a physical boost to start your day. I also like to do a few leg and arm stretches. And flex my feet and stretch my fingers out a bit.

Before a workout or heading out for a walk, run, or bicycle ride, a good stretch can be a good start. Warm muscles respond better and help protect from some injuries. And if I’m going to do a serious workout, I like to do some good old fashioned jumping jacks after stretching. Ingrained behavior, thanks Coach.

A lot of my friends like to do stretches as part of their cool down routine. I do too. But I am changing that behavior. I read that post workout stretching should be done after you have cooled down. And that resonated with me. Makes sense to me to let yourself cool down and then stretch out your muscles after they have settled.

Stretching should improve your flexibility over time. And is also good for improving mobility. We will get into individual stretches and some stretching routines at another time. Below are some links to some stretching routines that I will be trying out. Try them for yourself and see how they do.

Now here comes the kicker, You don’t have to stretch. Some research shows it doesn’t make much difference. But there is other research that shows some benefits. And the anecdotal evidence does indicate that it is beneficial.

So go for it. You will probably feel better. I know I do. And range of motion improvements are working for me. As you get older you will appreciate it. If you’re not into stretching you might want to pick one of the three; either upon rising from sleep, before, or after your wakeup. Guess which one I would choose? Until next time.

Please share your opinions on the above. And answer this question; what are your favorite stretching methods?

Links for stretching routines:

The 21 Best Stretching Exercises for Better Flexibility by Amy Marturana, C.P.T. @Self.com

The Truth About Stretching by Sonya Collins @webmd.com
Find out the best ways to stretch and the best times to do it.

Stretching: Myths, Facts, and Beginner's Stretches - @Healthline.com

Smoothies: For Breakfast or Snack

Who doesn’t love smoothies? Sorry if that’s you. I love a good smoothie and the variety possible is endless.

They are a quick, easy snack or breakfast. My go to is a simple fruit smoothie. Toss the ingredients into a blender and whip it up to your desired consistency. And enjoy!

Simple ingredients:

1 small banana, 6 to 7 inches -- remove the peel and place into your blender
½ cup of yogurt -- my preference is plain Greek yogurt
½ cup of frozen fruit -- strawberries, blueberries, or raspberries
¼ to ½ cup of milk or juice -- any kind will work

Blend away. My blender is great. It has a smoothies button.

I use some frozen fruit and some fresh, more or less. The frozen fruit helps to thicken it up and make a cool concoction out of it. The liquid is only required to help smooth it out and make it easier to blend. No liquid, or very little, will make it thick.

A small plastic cake spatula, or scraper, helps to get the mixture into a glass. And helps break the mixture up if it is not mixing well. Hopefully you are careful in and qualified to operate a blender.

Options:

Any kind of fresh or frozen fruit works. Even frozen chopped spinach for a veggie touch.

Oatmeal for a Healthy Breakfast?

Quick, simple healthy breakfast. Heart healthy oats, milk, fruit, cinnamon and honey.

Recipe:
½ cup of quick oats
½ cup of milk, dairy or nut
½ cup of fruit, fresh or frozen
½ teaspoon of ground cinnamon
½ tablespoon of honey

Mix milk and oats in microwave-safe bowl and microwave on high until the milk is absorbed. Be careful to overdo it. Then mix in the fruit, cinnamon, honey and additional milk to desired consistency.

Additional ingredients can be added if desired. Ground ginger, nuts, raisins, etc.

Personally I double  the amount of each for a more filling breakfast. And used 2% milk.

Nutrient summary:

Protein 26 g
Fiber 13.3 g
Potassium 767 mg
Vitamin A 162 ug
Vitamin C 2.7 mg
Calcium 590 mg
Iron 2 mg
Saturated Fat 7 g
Sodium 202.5 mg

Tip:  Using strawberries will increase the vitamin C.

Walking for Health

Ask anyone what is the best way to start getting fit and you will predominantly receive “walking” as the answer.  That is the first thing the doctor said I needed after heart surgery. Only do as much as you can stand but don’t over do it. Sounded like good advice.

Ideally if you’ve just had surgery or been living a mostly sedentary life, you walk a short distance. As far as you can go in a few minutes without stressing yourself. Then slowly increase from there.

What worked for me was a two minute walk that I stretched out to three minutes after three days. Then increased it to five minutes for a week. After the week I felt much better and noted that my walking pace was increasing. I wasn’t back up to my pre-hospitalization speed but was feeling stronger.

I utilized the health app on my cell phone to keep track of my walking time and number of steps I was taking. So for the first week I worked up to five minute walks. Then spent the next week doing daily five minute walks.

The third week I doubled up to 10 minutes, that would be equal to a good half mile walk. Not too bad for having been in the hospital a few weeks before. Still on a 10 minute walk a day, I get hit with another setback.

The day started out fine but I was feeling tired and shortened my walk by half. Then I get a call from the cardiologist office. It’s been 4 weeks since my surgery and I’m still wearing a heart monitor. It has recorded an anomaly and transmitted the data to the monitoring station who notifies the doctor’s office.

I am informed that my heart rate has slowed to forty beats a minute. And I am asked to report to the Emergency Room. Oh joy. More fun.

At the ER I get checked out and my heart is at 36 BPM. By the time they get me situated and into a room upstairs I’m down to 30 BPM. Doctor comes in and informs me I need a pacemaker. Apparently the valve replacement surgery has healed up and caused some scar tissue which is apparently blocking the signal route to the lower chambers of the heart.

Long story short, I get a pacemaker that evening. I am informed later that prior to surgery my heart rate has dropped to 20 BPM. Two nights in the hospital I go home on a limited activity restriction. No walking for 10 days.

Then I get to start over. A bit tired from everything, I start with 5 minute walks. Up it to 10 after a week or so and eventually make it up to 20 minute walks in 5 minute increments. It takes a little over a month. That’s a whole mile.

In another month I am at 40 minutes, completing two miles. I had one step between one and two miles at a mile and a half. The best part is being able to complete the walks without being out of breath. No huffing and puffing.

I am also able to push my heart by pushing my speed. Not really fast but I go from an average of 2.0 MPH for a short walk up to 3.0 MPH. Now that I am doing two mile walks I want to push it a bit more. Build strength and speed.

My speed goes up to an average of 3.1 MPH and then 3.2 MPH. Not speedy but faster than some. I wonder if I can get it up to 4.0. We’ll see.

The moral here is that no matter where you are at when you start, you can improve your health by walking. Get your physician’s approval before starting. Don’t push yourself too hard. Increase your time and speed as you are able and enjoy it.

That’s my story on getting back to walking. I have always enjoyed walking. I check out what nature and beauty there is. I love checking out gardens and seeing what flowers I can identify. And identifying birds, visually and by their song.

Until next time.

Starting Over

I have languished for too long, time to get busy. I am in a different place now. No longer working a full time job. Ready to get some of my own personal projects off the back burners and move forward.

Looking forward to mixing it up with some Social Media Marketing. Put the degree to use but it’s mostly going to be taking my technical and business background and mixing it up with some reading and videos to Crush It! Thanks Gary Vee.

I have had a number of ideas on marketing and a few projects rattling around in the old noggin. Now I have the opportunity and time to organize some things and get some of these projects into motion. Part of it is getting myself into better physical shape.

And that is what this blog is about. Getting fit and documenting the journey. Along with including anything health or fitness related that comes across my plate. Hoping to make it a little fun as we go along.

So do not be surprised at what will pop up along the way. I have ideas to cover some technology, healthy menu items and the recipes for them, supplements, exercise and equipment, health issues, and more. I am expecting to surprise myself on occasion with something timely and unexpected. It is going to be fun.

For each post I will include links to related articles, especially items used to research each topic. And links to any items reviewed or related to the post. I will link to items that I personally use and hope I can answer your questions.

I am not anticipating getting rich from this blog but I have to try my hand at monetizing it. I thank you all for any purchases made. So there is my fair warning that this site will attempt to make a buck or two.

So let’s get started!