Simple exercises

Here are some simple exercises that require no equipment, but can help you boost your fitness if you spend just a few minutes every day.

Dance -- Pop in your favorite upbeat CD and dance. Put plenty of energy into it wiggle your hips, wave your arms and lift your knees up, have fun for three tracks in week No. 1, four in week No. 2, five in week No. 3 and six in week No. 4.

Wall Press -- Stand up straight in front of a wall, close enough to place your palms on the wall with your arms straight in front of you at shoulder level. Bend your elbows to bring the tip of your nose to the wall, then push back to start position. Do eight repetitions in week No. 1, 10 in week No. 2, 12 in week No. 3 and 14 in week No. 5.

Bridge -- Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Slowly raise your bottom until you have a straight line from shoulder to knee, hold for a moment then slowly return to start position. Do four reps in week No. 1, six in week No. 2, eight in week No. 3 and 10 in week No. 4.

Back Lift -- Lie on your front with your hands together resting on your lower back. Slowly lift your shoulders and chest as far as is comfortable, hold for a moment and return to starting position. Do six reps in week No. 1, eight in week No. 2, 10 in week No. 3 and 12 in week No. 4.

Pelvic Tilt -- Lie on your back with knees bent about 6 inches from the floor. Pull your tummy in and tilt your pelvis up towards your ribs, lifting your bottom from the floor slightly, hold for a moment and slowly relax. Do 10 reps in week No. 1, 12 in week No. 2, 14 in week No. 3 and 16 in week No. 4.

Luxury Stretch -- Lie on your back with your knees bent, feet on the floor and arms by your sides. Wiggle your hips downwards away from your ribs then, one by one, slide your feet away from your body till your legs are straight. Keeping arms straight, lift them over your head until they are stretched out on the floor behind your head, relax into the stretch. Hold for 1 minute weeks No. 1 and No. 2, 2 minutes weeks No. 3 and No. 4.

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Step by step

Get Active! Get Started! -- A Step-by-Step Guide:

Step 1: Get up and be grateful that you are alive.

Step 2: Pick an activity: Kickball, four square, dodge ball, Nordic walking, Irish road bowling, wiffleball, synchronized swimming, four-on-four flag football, arm wrestling, cross-train, stretch, play ping-pong, golf carrying your clubs, yoga, pilates, stand while you fish, tennis, shoot some hoops, skate, kick a ball, play catch, jump waves, dance, hike, water-ski, stroll, horseback ride, skull, meander, bike, go to a gym, set up a gym at home, walk with purpose to do your errands, bounce around on a pogo stick, garden, clean house with gusto, rock climb, wash the car, be your own chore service provider, fidget, aquajog, fence, row, kayak, canoe, play handball, peddle boat, dragon boat, play croquet, throw a frisbee, bowl, participate in pool aerobics, do tai chi, bocce, pickleball, play squash, H2O hockey, badminton, or racquetball, play horseshoes or shuffleboard, lift weights, surf, boogie-board, ski, skim board, play lacrosse or tether-ball, windsurf, do karate, jujitsu, ballroom dance, snorkel, curl, snowshoe, scuba dive, jump rope, train for a sprint triathlon -the possibilities are truly endless.

Step 3: If you don't know what activity to choose, start out doing what you liked to do as a child! Most of us liked to do at least one active thing or another.

Step 4: After you have picked an activity, and before getting active, get a physical from your health care provider. Also see your doctor before increasing the intensity, speed, or duration of any activity that you are already involved in.

Step 5: Then, there is nothing to hold you back: GET ACTIVE! Then relax, rest, and recover. Eat to fuel your new active lifestyle, no more, no less.

Tell us about the activity you chose to become active: www.irongeezer.com and www.irongeezelle.com

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The "Free" Way of Your Life

As we get older, it is strange that snippets of songs and poems return to our minds with new meaning: Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken" and Frank Sinatra's "My Way" dropped in unexpectedly, after reading an article about the prevalence of regrets in people of a certain age. 

We will call this the "would've-could've-should've syndrome." It seems that many people, 40 on up, are afflicted.  What's a 40-something to do when regrets keep him awake at night, ruminating? The solution seems clear. The prescription is action!

It is never too late to do most things you wished you had done, although it may not be possible to do them precisely as you had envisioned. Pick something you always wanted to do -- be an athlete, be a "parent" to a kid, be a student, be in your dream job, be a great friend or romantic mate, etc, then find a way to express that today, now, and not a moment later because time is finite. "Time's Winged Chariot," and all that, but that's another poem.
Anyway, it may also help to remember that life in a free country offers an endless variety of possibilities to actualize your dreams; you know, the wishes that your heart desires. If you choose one avenue, one road to get there, though that also means that you may have by-passed another. Your choice can alter the outcome of your dream, taking you another direction on this strange, exciting trip that is our life.

Finally though, as you "face the final curtain," you may still have a few twinges of things undone, but, if you begin today to choose to have the will to do, to act, to participate: Do that one thing that makes your heart sing and your spirit soar because you can and you should. Do it your way, today! Share the dreams that you have put into action with us: www.irongeezer.com and www.irongeezelle.com

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Obesity: the rant

Two thirds of the American public is either overweight or obese. Adults and kids alike are gaining pounds and suffering dire, life altering, life threatening health consequences:  Type II diabetes, high blood pressure, metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease are among those consequences. We all know the list of diseases and their outcomes. So there is no need to belabor that point, is there?
 
Yet, why are so many of us unwilling to change eating and exercise habits? The doctors don't know. The exercise physiologists don't know. The researchers don't know. The government doesn't know. Actually, no one knows what to do about this looming health care crisis that will cost all of us, not just financially in increasing health care costs for everyone, not just for the overweight and obese, in increasing insurance premiums, money lost for sick days, and loss of productivity -- (and yes, Michael Moore, the nation's gadfly on health care in his recent movie Sicko, needs to participate in that aspect of health care -- the diet and exercise - and not just rant about what others need to do).

But most importantly, beyond the dollar signs of the issue, are the misery of lives reduced to couch sitting, huffing and puffing, missing out on really delicious, nutritious, fresh food, instead gorging on synthetic, industrial tastes of, let's say, "Twinkies." However, any mass produced food will do fit the bill here- as long as it is cheap, fast and satisfies fat and sugar and/or salt cravings.
 
All the "health apostles," as some call the reasonable voices for a sensible approach to food and activity, have tried to educate, cajole, beg, plead, threaten, negotiate, but have finally resigned. Doctors do it -- resigning themselves to the prescription pad, managing disease with the latest pharmaceutical -- statins for high cholesterol, for instance. What often should go on that prescription pad is a simple: "Exercise and eat sensibly!" Then, let's just see what happens. Maybe that might prompt even one person to a positive change.

Doctors are not to blame though; some even try this approach, but are rebuffed by patients, who are irate that a doctor would discuss nutrition and have the audacity to suggest getting their duff moving. The government has resigned -- it has tried throwing money, in the form of public education, at the problem, but no change has happened. The nation, the industrialized world as a whole, as a matter of fact, just keeps getting larger.

So, what happened? No one seems to know. We are suggesting that it is not the fault of television, the food manufacturers, the pharmaceutical companies, or any one else, but the "fault," if we can call it that, lies within ourselves. As a people, we have an odd relationship to bodies, food, and who we admire and at what tables we worship. On the one hand, we salivate over every detail of some emaciated glamour life, and sneer at the discovery that this celebrity actually does have cellulite; that's the euphemism for fat, by the by. All the while, as we are glued to the television screen fixated on this celebrities' life, we are eating a bag of potato chips.

On the other hand, we are willing to try most fad diets, at least once -- swearing today that carbs are good, then bad; tomorrow, it's the cabbage soup diet, the South Beach diet, and next, we discuss the "wondrous, marvelous, awesome" moment of sports television, a gluttonous, disgusting hot dog eating contest, complete with spewing vomit from one of the contestants. That's just sick, depraved, and alarming on so many levels. What does it say about us and our culture when we award a person who can force-feed himself until he spews or wins?  Metaphorically, not historically, we have sunk to the level of a declining Rome, just before the fall of that once great civilization. The Romans, too, vomited at their lavish banquet, so that they could continue eating. Interestingly enough, force-feeding geese to produce foie gras is coming under scrutiny and has been outlawed. Right or wrong? At any rate, someone is watching out for the geese. But what about the overweight children? Isn't it abuse on some level to allow your children to eat themselves into a state of obesity? Do we sense there is a disconnect here somewhere? Our mental state, our bodies, our nature are out of sync. And that's the essence of the problem.

Can we fix it? Yes, but the cure is hard. It worked with smoking. Yes, bigger is not better; bigger is bad. We are not talking about people either. Don't make the cars, houses, chairs, beds, plates, portions, etc, bigger: keep 'em normal. Once we accept larger as normal, larger becomes normal, and we can grow larger yet. Not a good idea. But that's not going to happen until we make obesity as much as a pariah as smoking has become. Remember, in the not too distant past, smoking was normal, perfectly acceptable; now, it is marked as a "disgusting, tumor causing habit" -- well, guess what, so is overeating. I already hear the politically correct choir chiming --  and yes, o course, the overweight are humans with feelings and no one suggests here that those should be ignored, or that people should be outcast, ridiculed or shamed in any way -- we are all here to help. Just remember, if you think that this is tough medicine, substitute every idea about obesity in this sassy piece with smoking, and you will find, for instance, that smokers are people with feelings and rights, too, and we weren't nearly as politically correct when it came to them. Why? Maybe because eating is a necessity, smoking isn't. Maybe because eating is seen as benign, compared to smoking. Maybe because smoking, as in second hand smoking, affects others, but guess what, so does obesity -- we all pay for that health crisis in the end.

And lest you think the authors speaks from a lack of experience: One has been a smoker, and I understand addiction, and one of us has weighed 205 pounds, so he understands being overweight.

Agree or disagree? Need help getting off the couch?. Check us out at www.irongeezer.com. Or www.irongeezelle.com.

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Who are your workout partners?

Surround yourself with supportive people. Decide what kind of support you need. The Mayo Clinic suggests that you think about the following: Do you want them to remind you to exercise? Ask about your progress? Participate with you regularly or occasionally? Allow you time to exercise by yourself? Go with you to a special event, such as a 10K walk/run? Be understanding when you get up early to exercise? Spend time with the children while you exercise? Do not to ask you to change your exercise routine? After asking yourself these questions, create a support cadre of friends, family, co-workers who strengthen your resolve to exercise, not derail your efforts. Two is better than one, for many of us: Share your activity time with others. Make a date with a family member, friend or co-worker to go for a stroll, a swim, a hike, a ride, pump iron, take a fitness class together. Involve your kids, too: Be their active role model and make them your partner in your workouts -- that's truly quality time for all. For more from Cliff and Tatjana, click here, or here.

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Be good to yourself by exercising for health

It doesn't take a lot of hard work to enjoy the benefits of improving your health through exercise. Improvements such as better cardiovascular health and maintaining proper weight are just a couple of the better known health benefits of daily exercise; the list of improvements to your general health is endless.
 
Despite this, more than 50 percent of the U.S. population does not get enough physical activity to provide the health benefits of being active. A very large percent of older Americans do not even spend 20 minutes a day outdoors. How gloomy is that?

This year resolve to get active, be active and stay active. To be active for health does not take much money or too much hard work. It only takes commitment. If you haven't been active and want to start, first check with your doctor, then start out slowly and don't overdo it. Perhaps you could join in with others and participate in the physical activities that you enjoyed as a child. Some fun ways to exercise for health include dancing, swimming, biking, walking, jogging, gardening, triathlon, and hiking.
 
And as always, check with your health care provider before starting any new activity or increasing your present activity. Tell your doctor that you want to have fun being good to yourself by "exercising for health." Ask what he suggests for you. Need help getting started? Visit www.irongeezer.com and www.irongeezelle.com.

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