Keep On Exercising 2

5.2 mile walk
76/300

I have the Tuesday triple: hard core core, hard Pilates, and then 90 minutes yoga.
Wednesday was 60 x 25m swim
Today 40 x 25m swim and now we are on the train London Bound for portrait artist of the year filming. So excited!!

90

45 minute Senior Flex class. Some cardio, some leg band work, overhead press with two 3.7kg weights, biceps curls with 7.5 kg weights.

Active for Life, 1hr. Bike, 10 minutes, treadmill 2 minutes. 7 kg side raises, only 3 sets of 4. Shrugs with 17.5kg weights: 20, 20, 16. Big ball sliding down wall, 3 sets of 10.

58

55 mins pilates class
75.
I really need to sort myself out - caught sight of myself in the mirror in M&S tonight, and I'm looking much heavier than before Christmas.

45 minute Musical Theatre Fitness class
30 minute Stretch class

57

I have a Pilates ring (they’re really cheap). It’s incredibly difficult. One of my Pilates teachers is very strict about keeping your feet the same distance apart and when you try a ring you can see why!

3 days of doing nil 🫣
Yesterday - 44 x25m swim
73.
Today - 7.6 mile walk, 20 mins rest then straight to 55 mins pilates class. We used pilates ring and felt like we'd been through the wringer by the end. A good feeling! Pleased with today.
74/300.

Oh I’m at 87

@Comtesse that’s brilliant! One of my class instructors is about 20 and no taller than 5’7. She told us the other day that she does not weigh herself. She is a fairly small frame and she said she was 11.5 stone. She has slimmed down a lot through training (her family own the gym). There’s hardly any fat on her and she is now 13 stone! It’s actually unbelievable but I do believe her. Weird isn’t it?

Had things to do this morning, so couldn't do a full workout.

Pilates - 45 minutes: lots of work on glutes.

Chest press and chest fly. Only a few reps. 26 for the chest press and 19 for the fly - first time I've used it. Had to adjust the setting - realised it was too wide for me. I'm tall, but my wing span isn't the same as a man's.

56

I have to have an annual medical for my job and I got the full results back today and I was super pleased with the improvements that I’ve made. Healthy body fat percentage (first time for years), all cholesterol measures improved and now within healthy levels, OK still a bit overweight but better than last year and massive improvement in my health measures! Hooray! Maybe this exercise lark does make a difference 😀 (402 days on the bounce!)

60x25m swim this morning. Felt pretty good!

Hello. I feel like such a weakling compared to you beefy lot! 5kg is plenty for me dumbbell wise.

I have hyper mobile hips which means my dystonic leg has wreaked havoc virtually unchecked. It’s also why Pilates helps me so much because the careful core work stabilises my pelvis.

I have lower body
pilates
upper body and physio
8 mile (slow) walk to add.

86

Today's exercise, I'm afraid, was just cutting a bit more of my boundary hedge (above head height, so working on grip strength and overhead presses, I'm telling myself) and a fast twenty minute walk.

55. (Cheat)

Sorry, @MummyInTheNecropolis - I just move up via trial and error at the gym. I usually just go up one kg at a time, though I can manage a bit more with some exercises. I'm managing a few side raises with 7kg. I can manage biceps curls and single low rows with 7.5 kg.

I'm wary of jumping up too much. The time I tried to move up straight from 6kg to 7.5 kg for side raises, I thought that my pelvic floor was going to give way...

Today marks the end of my Easter holiday, back to work tomorrow so decided to take it easy and rest a bit. I had a short run this morning (3.5k), did some yoga afterwards (20 mins) and had a long leisurely walk this afternoon. I intended to remain glued to the sofa this evening now before returning to normal routine tomorrow!

I need to buy some new dumbbells. I currently have a pair of 3kg and a pair of 6kg. Both are too light for me now, I need heavier. What would you recommend I go for? I don’t want to buy ones that will quickly become too light for me again but also don’t want to go too heavy and injure myself! I tried the adjustable ones but can’t get on with them.

It might be that your physio will at least know of any programmes. Fingers crossed.

You're doing really well, @Skybluegreen. .

It's taken me more than two years to lose 26lbs. However, my grip strength has most definitely improved and my muscle and bone density are now at the top end of normal for an oldie.

I started doing 2kg side raises and I'm now up to 7kg. 7.5 for biceps curls and low rows. Not brilliant, but much better than where I started.

My shrugs and farmer's walk/carry are currently being done with two 18kg weights.

The bad news is that I'm still morbidly obese round the middle - the rest of me is normal. The last time I lost weight it took me 3 or 4 yrs to lose more than 4 stones. This time round, I had more than 5 to lose.

Like you, I much prefer weight training, though I'm having fun in the Musical Theatre Fitness class and there's no doubt that the Pilates and Stretch classes have been beneficial: I can now walk downstairs normally (in spite of my patella alta and arthritis). I obviously need to shove less food down my throat, though I have been trying to prioritise protein.

Last time round, I was on the Atkins' Diet and going to the gym two days a week. This time round I'm just cutting back and going to the gym as often as I can. Normally, I manage to get to two Active classes, two Senior Flex classes and Pilates - other classes when I can get booked. I use the apparatus in the gym between classes.

There's now a Musical Theatre fitness class followed by Stretch at another Fife Leisure gym 15 miles away and my membership is good for that too, so I've started to add that to my schedule.

Now that I'm old, it's harder going in one way...but my time is now my own so I might as well make the most of it.

That's the good thing about the Active for Life class - we're all on individual programmes which evolve with us. We were mainly originally referred to the Active programme by our physios or other healthcare practitioners and then transferred into the A for L drop-in class after 6 or 12 weeks.

It is possible to self-refer when there are available spaces. I wonder whether your physio might know of a similar programme? In Fife, there's some kind of arrangement between Fife NHS and Fife Leisure Trust. It means that we also get a reduced gym membership once we've completed the first set of 6 or 12 sessions. However, I'll get even more off this year when I finally get my State Pension. (Woot! As young people no longer say.)