I regard exercise as a baseline activity, like sleeping or eating. Following the workout routines from calibrate.fitness is a must for me. If I want to avoid heart disease, back pain, weight gain, hypertension, and a slew of other maladies, I better keep moving. Besides, I feel incalculably better when I exercise.
I roughly divide my activities into cardio, resistance training and yoga, and try to get enough of all three each week. I like to exercise every day, but one or two of those days will be easy activities like walking, slow bike riding and/or yoga.
Cardio
I aim to get my heart rate up above 80% of its maximum three times per week, usually through a combination of Spinning, Zumba and step aerobics. When it’s sunny, I like to go outside and do running/walking intervals.
As a writer, I spend a lot of time alone, so I enjoy the social aspects of group classes. My ideal schedule is to get up, work for a few hours, then do 40-60 minutes of cardio around 11 AM.
I’m a sucker for fitness Groupons. These entice me to try out new classes at different venues.
Resistance Training
One word that strikes dread in my heart is “sarcopenia.” In an article published in the IDEA Fitness Journal, Len Kravitz, PhD, defines it as “a natural, age-related loss of muscle mass, strength and muscle function.” This means weakness and flab. Left to their own devices, muscles start deteriorating by age 40. I try to stave off this condition with two-three resistance workouts per week. Sometimes I lift weights in a circuit class, sometimes on my own. I try to cover all the major muscle groups and do about 15 repetitions of each exercise. Two sets feels optimal, but if I’m rushed I’ll only do one.
Yoga
When I wake up my body feels cranky, especially when I make it get out of bed. The first thing I do is grab my yoga mat. This is not lovely, flowing yoga; it’s survival. For five or ten minutes I fight the cat for the spot in front of the heater and try not to catch my toes in the hem of my bathrobe. I usually do a few sun salutations, cat/cow to soothe my back, lunges and hamstring stretches. I also like to attend a couple of hour-long yoga classes a week. Since yoga is a relaxing form of exercise, I prefer evening classes.