Exercise – So What’s Up With That?
Let me be honest here, I don’t like to exercise. I like to walk and hike but other than walking my dog, Harriet, not much exercise is happening in my life.
Early on, as I was reviewing some of my blogmates’ posts on MenopauseManiac.com, I saw a video of one of the BodyLogicMD doctors talking to a patient about exercise. The doc was suggesting that the patient should get on a treadmill three or four times a week and walk fast enough to get her heartbeat to over 100 BPM for 20 minutes. O.K. I can do that, but as a man I feel the rate needs to be more like 115 or above. I started with that goal and within a few gym visits I could do that easily – in fact I could increase the rate of the treadmill and still reach that 115 or above heartbeat level. I know that’s good as my body was beginning to accommodate the increased rate.
What’s next is to do something to get the belly weight to be muscle weight. Lifting weights after a 30-minute warm-up on the treadmill is the best way to do that. I made an appointment with my massage therapist, who also teaches exercise training. Tom Bauer (check out the video on this site) suggested before I do the weightlifting that I should do some exercise using an exercise ball to strengthen my core body strength. As one who has had the advantage of Pilates classes, I understood what Tom was saying. I learned those (see video) and we wrote down my starting level to begin with. He also gave me some exercises for my arms, back and chest muscles. I am doing those three times a week – hoping to be on the treadmill more times than that per week.
I have only been doing the core and muscle strengthening for a week. I’ll keep you posted on my progress.