As I have been talking to my patients over the last few weeks, one of the recurring themes is an increase in physical activity. Due to our “stay at home” orders, combined with an absolutely gorgeous spring, one of the best and safest ways to get outside is to go for a good long walk. Last Saturday my wife and I ventured into a nearby park, “Phantom Forest” which hooks into another forest area “Bittersweet Woods.” As we walked around we took an uphill path, figuring that we didn’t have anywhere else we had to be. The path entered into a neighborhood common area. We decided to explore, finding a previous unknown neighborhood pond. We skirted around that neighborhood and found a separate entrance to the woods near another pond in the adjoining neighborhood. We had quite a good time exploring all around our very own area.
Gyms, swimming pools and rec centers are all closed but Mother Nature provides all the recreation we truly need (though I do miss my morning swims). My son-in-law decided to run his first marathon this year. He has been training for months. He literally put down his payment for the race the day before the stay at home order. Undeterred, he continued his training and mapped out his very own marathon right where he lives. Last weekend he set off early in the morning before it was fully light. Using the tracking app on our phones we could see his progress and my wife and daughter criss crossed his route to intercept him with bells and cheers. I stayed close to home but was able to add my cheers several times as he did two large loops. He finished what he started and was awarded all the medals we could find! I am proud of him for sticking with his goals and seeing it to the end. Now he can say that he ran, finished and WON a marathon!
My daughter is a High Fitness Aerobics instructor at the YMCA. It was a great job for a young mother as she could drop off the kids at the child center. Of course, COVID closed the YMCA down so she decided to continue to teach her classes via ZOOM. She has a good sized following and simply said that “donations are welcome.” To her surprise she has made more at home than she did at the YMCA.
My youngest son has put up a slack line in our back yard. If you have never seen one of these before, it is used by rock climbers. It is a broad band of material anchored between two rocks or trees. It takes a lot of muscle control and balance to be able to walk on it like a tight rope. I fear it may be more dangerous to my health so I have not tried it yet. He is quite good at it.
I pretty much have stuck with biking and running. About once a week I spend an hour stretching, doing abdominal exercises as well as some strengthening of the core and shoulders. I use an old gymnastics mat that I put next to my bed and have a foam roller and an exercise ball that I use. It is a great way to loosen up and work out the knots that build up from tension and bad posture.
Exercise is good for the body but even better for the mind. One of the best pieces of advice that I have come across is, “don’t go to bed without a plan to exercise the next day.” There is no better time than now to get into good habits. Most of us make sure that financially we put aside money every month into a retirement plan. In my mind regular exercise is just as important. If we want to be healthy and active on our retirement years, we need to set aside the time to make good habits right now.
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