SWEET HOME AND GARDEN CHICAGO
January 22, 2010
OUT FOXING MOTHER NATURE
SELF.COM had this great video on their website, along with an article by Caroline Bollinger titled YOUR BEST BODY AT ANY AGE. According to the author this customized workout will not only make you look good but can actually help you be young forever .
How's that possible? Researchers studied the lifestyle habits and DNA of 2400 twins and found that those who exercised ( even as little as 30 minutes daily ) had longer telomeres or tags at the end of their chromosomes than their couch potato counterparts did. Telemores shorten with age but the longer ones looked 10 years younger.
Carol over at Maydreamsgardens is already dreaming of Spring and is using her treadmill in prepartion for the coming gardening season . According to what I've read, treadmills are the one machine that people tend to use the most in home gyms. Years ago I spied one marked down from $1200 to $150 because it was a floor model and had a few nicks and scratches. The motor was heavy duty, however, and I wore out three belts before I retired that machine 10 years later.
To prevent a return of the Plantar Fasciitis I've had I have to save my feet which means less walking than I'd like. So I must do other forms of exercise to stay in shape through the long winter months and during the gardening season. I've found that stretching and weight lifting is good for the muscles we need for serious gardening -lifting, hoeing, shoveling, digging, etc.
I lift a 26 lb. weight named Lea ( my granddaughter ) up 3 flights of stairs several times a day. Chasing after a 14-month-old will keep you in top form but I find her easier to carry than those 25-lb. sacks of soil conditioner.
So if Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's have taken their toll now is the time to get back in the swing before the garden season begins for us winter weary northern dwellers.
Written by Carolyngail at Sweet Home and Garden Chicago
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Carolyn - I got rid of plantar fasciitis by riding a bike (indoors or outdoors). I've not had it come back and that was years ago. I don't know if it works for everyone, but it did for me and I had suffered for over a year before accidentally discovering the remedy -- because I couldn't do my walking, I started biking and poof! :-)
ReplyDeleteI think gardening keeps us young!
Cameron
Hey Cameron,
ReplyDeleteIt appears that the comments from you are being published now. Your last comment on my garden design post refused to print no matter how many times I tried.
You are lucky that your PF went away so quickly. I'm afraid that my PF was so severe ( both feet) that at one point I was almost totally disabled so I had a minimally invasive technique called Cyro surgery which gave me about 80 per cent relief. Still, after 3 years, I have to limit the amount of walking and standing I do or my feet will cause me great pain.
Gardening is definitely a way to keep young unless you're from Hollywood. I was watching a movie the other night and a "gardener " dressed in a silk suit was planting petunias! What's wrong with that picture :-)
Hi Carolyn Gail, I seem to remember that you're very good at reminding us in the Colder regions to be at our exercising during the Winter. This was interesting information that I'll research a bit more. (Wouldn't I love to be able to lift a weight such as yours a LOT more often?) :-) Have a good weekend.
ReplyDeleteGuilty as charged, Shady. Call it stir crazy but I can't sit for very long.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you would love to have your 5 gorgeous grandchildren all the time .
Enjoy your weekend as well. We are having a heatwave -43 degrees today.
Hi Carolyn: I'm having a real challenge with exercise because my knees are full of arthritis and related crap, and I did something evil to the meniscus and a connecting muscle a couple of weeks ago. I love to walk, but the pain in my knees is probably somewhat akin to the pain in your feet as far as keeping us from doing some things is concerned. I can do some upper body exercise but even my shoulder joints suck. However, I shouldn't whine. Others have way worse to deal with. I'm getting physiotherapy now and there's some discussion about a knee replacement sooner rather than later. We shall see...
ReplyDeleteSo sorry to hear that Jodi. My good friend and many other baby boomers have worn out their knees and hips. She's had both a knee and hip replacement and she's only 50. But the good news is that they now have minimally invasive techniques with quicker recovery time.
ReplyDeleteHope the physiotherapy works for you.
Looks like a good workout Carolyn. I can commiserate on foot issues that rule out a lot of walking. I used to walk three miles a day until shin splints, Morton's neuromas and sesamoiditis forced me to stop.
ReplyDeleteI definitely need to take your good advice and get moving - I tend to be more sedentary during the winter than is healthy. We're fortunate having a workout room at home with cardio and weight equipment. It's so convenient, I should have no excuse for winter inactivity.
I want a treadmill and an elliptical machine, alas there is no room in my basement for them. Boo. It sounds like those grandkids will help keep you in shape though. I keep planning on getting started with an exercise regime, but I always find too much other "stuff" to do and I forget.
ReplyDelete