Basic Exercises: aerobics, stretching, and upper body strength

Stretching is an essential part of my exercise routine.

My exercise sessions include three basic activities; aerobic (get my heart rate elevated), stretching, and upper body strength. I’ll explain each of these activities in more detail in later blogs.

But first I want to explain something about the aerobic part of it. Up until about 15 years ago I satisfied the aerobic activity by running outside on paths, sidewalks, roads, trails, alongside rivers, parks, through cities, just about anywhere. The more unusual and interesting the better.

Then I started using an elliptical when the weather kept me indoors. Several years later I began to use the elliptical exclusively because it’s gentle on my knees and spine. I soon found how convenient it was, how much time I saved, and I could watch the news on TV at the same time, and the shower was close by. I was a total convert!

I was a runner for decades and switched to the elliptical in my eighties because it's gentle on my knees and spine.

As we get older our lower back, the back of our legs, and shoulders become less flexible and over time can tighten up a bit. Stretching helps maintain a certain amount of flexibility and helps prevent injury. I’ve experienced this myself so I include several simple stretching exercises in my daily routine

Upper body strength is important as we age for similar reasons mostly again to do with injury prevention. We may try to lift something or fall and without sufficient strength in our hands, arms, and shoulders we might end up in serious trouble. This category has several simple exercises as well.  I’ll talk more about stretching and upper body strength exercises later on.