Feeling a bit sluggish about now, deprived of gardening for all these months? Me, too! But not as sluggish as I’d be feeling if I didn’t have THE PROGRAM.  That’s what I call my ever-increasing compilation of exercises that a bevy of physical therapists has devised for me over the years.
Exercise for the gym-averse
See all my exercise toys? They’re cost under 150 bucks and with a little training in their use, comprise everything a gardener needs to stay fit – just add cardio. S
o if, like me, you’d rather not spend money on health clubs you’ll use for a month, or even if you DID go to the club you’d really rather not exercise with the sweaty young crowd there, no problem! Do-it-at-homers can get just as much done – with practically NO excuse for ever skipping a day.
So here’s my routine:
- Every single fricking day, right after reading my email and the NYTimes online, I get on the treadmill, with coffee mug in hand, for 45 minutes of fast walking. What makes this tolerable – nay, even enjoyable – is the television you see here, on which I play tapes of the Daily Show, the Colbert Report, an assortment of PBS shows and even the occasional network show (I’m loving “Modern Family”). Oh, and how can I forget Netflix? Good lord, what a great service! I’m currently racing through the fifth season of “Weeds”, thanks to those red envelopes of happiness.
- Also every day, I do a bunch of stretches and some Pilates core-strengthening exercises.  (Once you’ve discovered your “core”, you’ll never want to go back to your old, slouching, flaccid-muscled state.)
- Every other day I use those dumbbells and stretch bands and that cool “therapy ball” to staunch the muscle-deteriorating trend that kicked in big-time in middle age.  “Use it or lose it” turned out to be one of the better slogans from the ’70s.
That’s it. Plus in season, gardening my ass off, as we say in the GardenRant Manifesto.  So what do YOU do to keep your boding from wasting away in the winter?
Photo above right: The view from the treadmill. The TV is mandatory, lazy cat optional.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for the good words, Susan.
As a fellow boomer, I appreciate the need to keep in shape with indoor exercise. I hope your resolve and routine rubs off on me a little bit…I’m impressed.
Normally I shovel snow 2-3 times/wk in winter…this winter has set records for lack of snowfall, so my sloth is very guilt-producing.
I do hit the treadmill occasionally…and agree, the only way to keep that up is to have the TV blaring above the machine noise.
Thanks again for your inspiration!
Dan Eskelson
I’m getting ready to go back into the world of professional gardening after having been unemployeed for six months. We are moving all our stuff and I can’t lift what I used to. I can tell my upper body is particularly weak. I should probably do something about it before the spring really gets moving.
Ha, “red envelopes of happiness”, good one! I used to do a lot of different exercises but now I only do yoga 4 times a week. It’s a good hard yoga and great for that core. But it’s not enough to keep that middle aged waist from growing, unfortunately.
You put me to shame! I have discovered, in the past two days, though, that while my dog is sniffing around the back yard and I have to watch her (we’re not fully fenced), it is a good time to get some leg lifts, kicks and squats in.
I grade student essays and poems, often using colorful metaphos or garden allusions in my commentary and suggestions. I also carry all those papers home and back. It’s more a mental strain I guess.
Thanks for the reminder that if we follow your lead, once we get out into the garden we won’t be sore for a week and living on IBUPROFEN, or as I like to call it vitamin I (no pain, no gain). Time to get moving!
I put on ’70’s & ’80’s music and dance rather than walk around the house, all day long, doing special moves to work my core. I look like a dork but no one can see me, so big deal. Susan, I agree about that core work. My posture has improved so much. Good posture erases years of aging. I work evenings as an after-hours hospice nurse, and when the day staff leave for the day I can go to the office and walk ’round and ’round the huge clinical room.