Sitting kills more Americans than cigarette use. We are built to move, and most of us just stop doing things that don’t bring us delight.
According to James Owen, author of “Just Move: A New Approach to Fitness After 50,” the key is to just start moving more. Owen cautions against using the word “exercise,” saying, “Think of it as movement, not exercise.” The idea is to move slowly and steadily.” After watching a video of himself at 70, bent over and shuffling, the author, a retired Wall Street executive, launched his own mobility programme. Owen, at 81, enjoys exercising an hour a day, six days a week.
After all, S.U.N.S. SILLYASS FITNESS isn’t that ridiculous. Frisbee golf, which is nearly free, is better for your heart, balance, health, and money than regular, expensive golf. Dance burns more calories than weightlifting, whether it’s classical ballet, “The Time Warp,” or belly dancing.
Unless you are aiming to shape your body to reach a certain physique, your fitness objective should be to enjoy at least four times per week 20-30 minutes of heart-pumping action.
Here are some fun methods to get you to move more:
The silly-but-serious theme song for President John F. Kennedy’s American youth fitness programme was CHICKEN FAT. Capitol Records manufactured an estimated 7 million copies of the “Chicken Fat” movement song for free and delivered them to elementary and junior high schools across the United States. The peppy marching music, written by Broadway composer Meredith Wilson and delivered enthusiastically by Robert Preston, star of Broadway’s “The Music Man,” instructs like a Jane Fonda exercise DVD on laughing gas. On YouTube, it’s completely free. Get up and “GO, YOU CHICKEN FAT!”
DIDDLY SQUATS Human bodies were built to squat a lot. Consider all the years that passed before someone invented “the chair.” No one carried a lawn chair with Moses and the Israelites on their 40-year journey through the desert. They were doomed to be squatters in the Promised Land. Squatting isn’t often elegant, but it’s a wonderful method to firm your thighs, strengthen your core for simple movements like turning and bending, and minimise injuries. Plie’ is the ballet name for squatting with your feet pointed out at an angle, but if you can’t see yourself as a dancer, try some “Sumo squats.” Diddly Squats are completely free and may be done anywhere.
WALKING CONSTITUTES NATURAL WELLBUTRIN. Some people benefit from antidepressant medications, but almost everyone may profit from their own “positivity route.” Walking is quite cheap and accessible to the majority of people. When you take your foolish ass for a walk in nature, the emotional elevation is very powerful. Take a stroll on the wild side, sweetie.
BEAR YOGA Adriene Mishler is an actor, writer, and worldwide yoga instructor from Austin, Texas. Her YouTube series “Yoga with Adriene” has 11 million followers because it’s a fun, FREE, super-positive, sometimes humorous method for individuals of all ages and health stages to add some serious exercise. Many yoga practitioners are a little too “precious” and “self-serious” for my taste, but Adriene Mishler’s “Yoga with Adriene” is a delight.
BATMAN AIR PUNCH KA-POW New York City wellness specialist Robert Brace recommends the following four-minute practise to start you moving every day: 20 seconds of Batman “air punches,” running/walking in place, jumping jacks, and “Diddly Squats”—do these as quickly as possible, rest between exercises, and repeat. KA-BOOM, you fitness tyrants! Everyone gets four minutes to become in shape. SILLYASS FITNESS TWO S.U.N.S. “Holy corroded metal, Batman!” says Batman. —”Batman Returns” Robin and The Riddler—”Joygasm!”
MUSIC BAND Play some upbeat music. Begin with a jug of wine or chocolate milk in each hand. If you’re indoors, walk 30 yards out and 30 yards back, or go around the room many times. Don’t lean over while your glutes fire when walking. If this nonsense makes you feel too serious at first, reduce it to 10 yards out and 10 yards back. As your muscles strengthen, you may increase the distance and progress to gallon jugs. It’s no coincidence that dairymaids and elderly winemakers have slender arms. (NASM-certified personal trainer Pete Williams inspired this training concept.)
LIKE A CRAZY PERSON, JUMP UP AND DOWN. Reader’s Digest recommends SILLYASS FITNESS in March 2021: “Keep Your Hips Strong: Keeping both feet on the ground appears to be an excellent method to avoid breaking a hip. A Brigham Young University research, on the other hand, discovered that women aged 25-50 who jumped in place 10 times in a row twice a day increased their hip bone density in just 16 weeks. Find a large, level area and rest for 30 seconds between jumps.”
HEARTSTRONG STRETCH Stretching isn’t just for Hasbro action figures, but it’s also helpful for heart strength and health. Researchers from the University of Saskatchewan published findings in the Journal of Physical Activity and Health that show that adding stretching to your regular walks decreases blood pressure considerably, since walking helps to reduce heart-clogging body fat.
SNACK IN ONE MINUTE You don’t need to change into gym clothes or put it on your daily schedule for this. Simply incorporate some short bursts of activity into your daily routine. Stand up and perform some wall push-ups or Zorro “Z lunges.”
Mattie is a research journalist working performing her duties as chief editor at this news station. She is a talented writer and comes up with facts everybody wants to know.
