Today my emphasis is strength training, the how the Fatman way

Today my emphasis are body exercises and resistant band exercises. 

List of my fatman exercises

Kitchen workout

• adapted pushups off counter I do 20 reps
• adapted dips at counter corner - Using the corner of the counter with my hands located at my side behind me I do squats and also push ip with my upper body doing a dip. The first two dips I mainly use my legs then at dip 3 -15 or 20 reps I used my upper body more. By rep 12 I start to feel a burn in my triceps. I push hard to 15 and may let up as I work to 20.
• 12 to 15 heal raises

  

  My feet are flat on ground

• 12 lounges on each side using hand to steady me.

Bed workout - This concept came from an idea to fight my anxiety attacks I had about sleep and breathing and death. The exercises help me have confidence I could always get out of bed. My fears though real were both irrational and medical as well. In short my brain wasn’t working right. Medicines to help my serotonin levels and cognitive therapies helped me recover. The exercises may help any senior.

• sit ups or crunches - feet on the ground lay back on the bed and do a sit up. I have added places pillows behind me where it is more of a crunch. I do 1 to 3 sets of 20 sit ups.
• Squats from the bed 15 to 20 - What I like about this the bed limits how far I squat down. One can do these from a steady chair. A healer for my knees. Practical strength to get up and move.
• adapted push-ups off my dresser - My dresser is lower than my counter and therefore harder. 20 reps

  Band workouts two sets (look into band resistance and how to do it)

• shoulder press
• triceps press - hands start behind the head and push up
• curls
• rows
• squats
• chest press
• dead lifts

I will add more to this routine

The work outs are great for breaking up my workspace, Strength training is a must as we get older. Our goals is to keep moving and independence. Side effects if we work at it we may slow down muscle loss or even add a few pounds of muscle as we age. We are all different and our workouts can vary. As always check with doctor and experts on senior fitness. Keep walking

Walking at a work station getting close to 10,000 steps

One thing that I've been working on is consistency. Since my last entry I am in working on increasing my steps everyday and each day has its own emphasis. My indoor recumbent bike continues to play a big part in trying to improve my aerobic fitness.

I have read fitness articles on if you work at a desk job how to get more movement in your day. So taking that idea this is what I did today.

Today while working at my workstation, I've been taking half hour breaks where I walk  for about four minutes with indoor walking routine from Leslie Sansone. Using her routine works into a full body workout. For strength training today I will be doing TRX routine, plus my fat man exercises. (adoptive push-ups, dips, lunges and heal raises.)

Every half hour I have been doing a 3:20 walk. In a 4 hour work day that comes to 27 minutes of walking or about 3,000 steps. If I extend it to 8 hrs that is nearly and hour of walking and 6,000 steps. 10 minute strength training gives me 800 steps and I add 2790 steps for biking So today I have done so far 6590 steps and if I add 3000 steps by continuing my walks for the additional four hours I will get to 9590 steps. 

I keep a step conversion chart in a desktop folder to help me convert activities. 

Reaching close to 10,000 steps a few weeks ago looked difficult to reach. If I walk 5 minutes my back begins to ache. But at 3:20 I am OK. Well, time for another short walk. Pretty cool. Keep walking

My workout today a walk run

Today in my emphasis for steps I will work up a program that I have this spring to be able to run in 20 minutes in the summertime. Last year I tried the same thing but was only able to get 10 minutes. 

One of my goals in my training just to do things without falling. Another goal is to stay within my heart range. I would not be training to win a race but to complete one. 

Every half hour I get up from the computer and do a house walked inside. I am included two fat Man exercises at my kitchen counter where I do adapted push-ups and dips off the counter. When I do the dips I also include squats with the movement. With my hand on the counter I do 10 lunges with each leg and then I finish the workout with 12 Heel raises. On every hour today I did five minutes of indoor walking with Leslie Sansone and topped that off with a one-minute run. I did three cycles of that. This gave me 15 minutes of walking the pace she laid down which was a mile walking in three minutes are running. Now don't picture gazelle running, more like a slug. This afternoon I will go over to walk around’s with my walking stick outside. Throughout my working day I will continue every half hour with small walks. My efforts today should push somewhere between 6000 to 7000 steps. 

The one principle that seems to elude me is consistency. Changing the pace every day or the workout that I am emphasizing gives my body and opportunity to work different things. 

Movement is probably the greatest friend to anybody who has cerebral palsy. Moving your body through full range of motion will give you your best opportunity for a healthy flexibility. A muscle in motion both contracts and elongates stretching out muscle. Of course when you have CP your muscles are constantly contracting. At the end of the day you're wore out and very tight. Those of you who do not have cerebral palsy may find as you get older your muscles become less flexible. 

Here are a few ideas I think might help you:

• Talk to your doctor about how you can become more flexible
• Ask about if physical therapist who specializes in helping older people. Here you might want to check out your search engine to find ways to be more flexible as you get older. There are a lot of good ideas out there. (I often do stretching from a chair or off the side of the bed.)
• Before you go to bed consider a hot shower or bath, your body is gently moving in these activities. Take a few moments before you go to bed to gently stretch and relax your body. It is a good time to do some pleasure reading and having some relaxing music in the background. Using a strong belt or towel can be used to stretch out stubborn muscles. I work my stiff achilles' heel using my navy belt.
• If you have CP, progress is very slow. But one of the real cool benefits to keeping up the fight to be more flexible is that it reduces more pain then any pain pill. I doubt many people realize how painful it is with cerebral palsy when the muscles are tightening up. Every person with cerebral palsy needs a physical therapist. We also need to learn to do is many things that we can do for ourselves because support isn't always there. 

If you have CP, I would love to hear from you. You probably have learned things that have helped you. Keep walking, rolling, and fighting back!

Today I walk like a Frenchman

I was reading an article in which the writer was trying to reach the goal of 10,000 steps a day by walking in the house. So this week I'm going to work with this theory to encourage more moving in my day. Besides walking around, today is my 10 flights of stairs day. I will be doing 30 minutes of biking which will give me about 3000 steps. And there is notoriously my fat man exercises which are body resistance exercises that I do for about five minutes in two sessions. 

The idea of house walking fits very well taking walking breaks frequently to break up a sedimentary life.

So far at 2:10 pm. I have 5,332 steps. I could add another 2000 steps to me day today. Men in Japan walk a little over 7000 and in France they walk about 6500 steps. But if I go to the land down under in the western parts I am walking 10,000 steps. 

Each day I will take a different emphasis, today stairs, tomorrow resistance training, next day shadow boxing. It is snowing today so part of the house walks which will be outside will increase the amount of the house steps. This strategy also keeps me safer from falls. When you convert steps make sure you count going down as well. If walking 2 flights of stairs takes me 1:15 then it is 113 steps up and 44 steps down in the step converter. I have already met my 10 fight goal for today.

Review

3000 steps or less not enough. (We are all different and always best to be in tune with your own body and what your doctor thinks.)

5000 moving in to a better activity range. If this includes an aerobic walk awesome.

7000 steps and you are walking better than a Frenchmen. 

10,000 steps you are active.

12,000 steps almost guarantees weight loss.

15,000 steps you are fit like my grandson Liam. 

Well I think I have found my scooter. It is called a liberty trike I can be peddled or motored up to 11 miles an hour. The trike breaks down easily to be carried in the car. I can use it like a scooter or a bike for exorcize. I can shop with it use it on day trips and the motor will give assistance up the hills. I am considering put on an electronic motor to my recumbent bike. My recumbent bike has 21 gears and will give a better bike workout. The motor will help me get up hills, trikes are harder than regular bikes. And if I'm tired or too hot I'll just cruising the motor. 

Biking seems to be a better fit for me than walking outdoors. I am in a no fall zone. 

House walking or frequent small walks I want to do it as well. 

Walking has many strategies. If you walk 15, 30, 45 minutes there are all kinds of benefits, even if your over all activity is down. Keep walking

https://www.libertytrike.com

https://www.verywell.com/housewalk-your-way-to-weight-loss-1087907

https://www.verywell.com/whats-typical-for-average-daily-steps-3435736

keep finding a way to keep walking

Hooray! I put it into my schedule today a workout on my recumbent bike for 30 minutes. I applied the principle of interval training where I cycled for different resistant levels at a fast pace. The higher resistance levels push my heart rate up to where my cardiologist wants it in a work out. I was also breathing deeper with higher intensity. 

5 minute warm-up and level 1

3 minute warmup at level 2

3 minute warm-up at level 3

3 minute higher reps at level 2

3 minute higher reps at level 3

2 minute higher reps at level 4

3 minutes higher reps at level 3

2 minutes higher reps at 2

1 minute at higher reps level 4

3 minute less intensity at level 2

2 minute cool down at level 1

5 minutes after workout heart rate recovered back to normal.

There is nothing written in stone other than I did it. The intervals can be changed. This type of training can be applied to walking, running, swimming just as easy. Intensity has to be personal and factor in age, conditioning and heart monitoring. For me it would be unwise to train as a twenty year old who is possibly training for competition.

I was reading Leslie Leland Fields blog where she walks in the mountains where she lives

Kodiak

on Kodiak Island. Her pictures are breathtaking. She calls her walks her prayer walks. I would be praying to on an Island that has the biggest bears. 

Sue and Rick have been walking all winter with the limited snowfall. They spend a lot of time in the Illinois wetlands. 

Barb has been keeping up with her indoor walking. 

Where are you at? I hope to encourage you with mini walks throughout the day. Others may be able to walk 10 steps, and others like me are trying to carve out a thirty minute workout. You know where you are at. If you are older you probably have an idea what your doctor thinks you should be trying to do. Most of us can still improve the quality of our life by moving. If we are older it may take a little longer to improve strength and aerobic performance, but the science it there that we can do this well into our 90’s.

In our 20’s we had maximin results. That declines as we age but we still get results or improvement. 

keep finding a way to keep walking