- Aerobic Exercise. The simplest way to meet this need is walking. Walking is the one of the best exercises for your body. The wear and tear on your joints is lower than jogging. Be sure to start off slower to warm up and increase speed slowly after about 3-5 minutes. To increase the intensity, simply lengthen your stride a bit and speed up your pace. The other strategy for increasing intensity is to increase your speed for short bursts of time. (see workout below) If you prefer, jogging is also good if it doesn’t bother your knees. Just know that walking is just as good if you go fast enough. No big investment needed. All you need is your sneakers, and maybe not even that if you walk on the beach. 30 minutes per day every day has been shown to be the optimal amount of exercise. If you don’t have time all at once, the same benefits are derived even if you break it up into 3 X 10 minute or 2 X 15 minute sessions. 2. Stretching. An important age marker is your level of flexibility. Yoga is a terrific way to keep your body flexible. If you don’t have time for a full yoga session, try to make sure you do 5 minutes of stretching each day after your aerobic exercise. To ensure you get most areas of your body, try a sun salutation, some seated twists, and a hip opener.
- Balancing. Balance, along with flexibility, is something that we lose with age. Practice this a little bit every day and you’ll be less likely to lose it. Yoga, again, is another great way to build and maintain balance. There are several yoga poses you could use to increase balance. Try one each day. A simple one you can do is to stand on one leg and grab the foot of the other leg to stretch the hamstring in the front of the thigh. As you build your balance over time try to touch your toes with your other hand while maintaining balance. It is helpful to keep your eyes focused on one point. Do this for 15-60 seconds on each leg.
- Deep Breathing. This is very important and here’s why. Your lymph system relies on the contraction of muscles and breathing to move the fluids of the lymph system around the body. Why is this so important? The lymph system “has three interrelated functions: (1) removal of excess fluids from body tissues, (2) absorption of fatty acids and subsequent transport of fat, as chyle, to the circulatory system and, (3) production of immune cells.” So, how do you get your daily dose? Aerobic exercise, yoga, and/or try The Deep Breathing Exercise 2-3 times per day. Here’s how:
Empty your lungs completely by pulling in your stomach while you exhale. Take a deep breath in. Hold for twice as long as it took to breathe it in. Exhale for 4 times as long as it took to breath it in. Do this 10 times. Enjoy the rejuvenation!
Weekly Exercise Regimen
Monday
Deep Breathing Exercise (Morning, Afternoon, Evening). 30 minutes Walking at brisk pace. 5-10 minutes stretching. One balance pose.
Tuesday
Deep Breathing Exercise (M,A,E). 45-60 minutes Yoga.
Wednesday
Deep Breathing Exercise (M,A,E). 30 minutes walking with alternating 3 minute power bursts/3 minute moderate pace. 5-10 minutes stretching. One balance pose.
Thursday
Deep Breathing Exercise (M,A,E). 30-60 minutes Pilates.
Friday
Deep Breathing Exercise (M,A,E). 30 minutes walking. 5-10 minutes stretching. One balance pose.
Saturday
Deep Breathing Exercise (M,A,E). 30 minutes walking. 20 minutes strength training. 5-10 minutes stretching. One balance pose.
Sunday
Deep Breathing Exercise (M,A,E). 45-60 minutes Yoga.
Do you have tips for keeping your body healthy? What’s your weekly regimen? Please share in the comments! K. Stone is author of Life Learning Today, a blog about daily life improvements. A few of her most popular articles are Ultimate Goal Setting Guide, So You Want to Be a Writer, Should You Start Your Own Work at Home Business?, and Top 10 Yoga Videos + Bonus Pilates Too.
