Exercising again after a holiday

My time away over the Christmas holiday set back my regular exercise routine slightly, but I bounced back quickly.

Since I started writing this blog, I’ve been taking more notice of how my workouts are affected by the way I feel when I start.  I then look at the two statistics (speed and heart rate) that I keep on each routine and compare them with previous sessions. I think the layoff from exercising over the Christmas holiday affected two of my exercises just a bit.

When we left home to visit our children and grandchildren before Christmas, I was doing my exercise routine at a level in line with the previous several weeks. Elliptical speed was about 6:10 mph (pace of about 9.8 minutes per mile) and heart rate about 104 (my elliptical is not reliable). My weight was 144. Since being home after 6 days of no exercise and a Christmas dinner, my weight is 148 and my speed is closer to 6.0 (pace of 10 minutes per mile) and heart rate about 98. (My resting heart rate is usually about 52).

Normally a 6-day layoff would have no effect on a competitive runner. In fact, it’s usually the case that a runner will take several days off before a big race such as a half-marathon or a marathon to rest and store up strength. I’m a lot older now and usually if I take a few days off I can still resume my exercise routine without too much of a difference in the time I take to do the nine exercises that comprise my normal daily routine.

On my first exercise session after returning home after Christmas I found my elliptical speed was a touch slower and it was a bit more work completing my 25 pushups. All the other exercises were completed normally. There was the long tiring drive back home and I discovered I was coming down with a cold. But even taking those things into account, I was able to resume my routine with only the first and last event being noticeably affected.

I’ve discovered over the years that exercising each day, or at least 4 or 5 days a week, is much easier than doing a routine say three times a week, or mostly on the weekends. It depends, of course, on your available time, what your goal is, and your general fitness condition when you start. It’s also easier for me to make this into a habit since being at home I can fit a half hour into my morning almost every day.

Exercising each day, or at least 4 or 5 days a week, is much easier than doing a routine say three times a week, or mostly on the weekends.

In my case I’m only interested in maintaining a level of fitness and good health. I’m not trying to achieve some hard-to-reach objective, not trying to win a race, or break any records. I just want to stay fit and feel good!  

Remember that old saying “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.” Just substitute “exercise for “apple” and you’re on your way! You just start slowly, do a little of the exercises you like, stop when your body tells you to, and then mark on your calendar you’ve had one big success for the day!