We belonged to the gym at the University for a number of years and only sporadically used the facility.
Recently, however, we have bought a recumbent exercise bike and it is placed prominently between our living room and our kitchen where we have to walk by it numerous times a day. We have a calendar with our appointments we print and hang on our refrigerator and we put a sticker on the calendar each day we use the bike for at least ten minutes. Last month we used it fifteen days.
The bike only cost $200 on e-bay It is well built, comfortable and easy to move around.
I am posting this link for anyone that might be interested.
the Ol'Buzzard
Nice machine. I have a trek magnetic resistance roller device I bought years ago which I use, but I try to actually bike a few times a week here on the hills. Frankly, I truly believe if I didn't submit to my masochistic impulses to punish myself with exercise, I would not be alive today. Never stop because rust never sleeps. I have a buddy in NYC who is 75 and rides at least 100 kilometers a week. I keep a bike here for him so we can ride together when he visits, but the dude still wipes me out on the hills!
ReplyDeleteMy friend in NYC is Italian and from Perugia and laughs at me when I tell him it's too cold to ride...Just stuff news paper in your shoes! Yeah right!
ReplyDeleteGood for you guys!
ReplyDeleteI did not say I do not exercise. I said I'd don't follow a set routine. There is a difference. I live in a rural area. We heat with wood. I garden, I walk, I do a lot of stair climbing, I'm active. I just don't obsess about it.
ReplyDeleteShould have added you're totally right about the need to be active. However, it's never too late. I was at a conference a few years ago (back when I was an an academic) to present a paper; it somehow got lumped into a session on issues concerning an aging population. Long story short, one of the other presenters was a physical therapist who described how he worked with the frail elderly to restore physical strength. He had clients in their 80s who had allowed their muscles to atrophy through lack of use. Some of them were dragging around oxygen tanks; one lady hadn't been able to climb the stairs in her own home for almost 10 years. She went from getting exhausted just walking from her living room into the kitchen to where she could climb those stairs carrying two full 1-gallon milk jugs without losing her breath. He started off having her carry a small weight a couple feet and did a little more every day. He said in many cases the problem is the way friends and relatives want to pamper old people. You know, adult children give their elderly parents a ride somewhere and insist on door to door service -- they never let their mom or dad walk more than a couple feet. Younger people keep telling old people to "take it easy" when they should be figuring out ways to keep them active. Society doesn't help much. I notice more and more stores doing special parking for "senior citizens." You don't have to be disabled anymore to get a space close to the entrance; all you have to be is old.
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