Be honest, how much exercise do you REALLY do?

[JMAngel1]

I think I need to up my exercise game - I'm 51 and noticing I can feel out of breath climbing four flights of stairs at work whereas I would skip up them a few years ago.
The exercise boards on here are really intimidating with everyone claiming to run followed by a swim or a HIIT class every day then yoga at night! I don't know anyone in real life like this so not sure what "normal" is I suppose.
So if you're a full time working mum like me, how much exercise do you really do each week? And how do you fit it into your days?

I do about 1.5-2 hours a day of farm chores, pushing a heavy wheelbarrow, mucking out animals, carrying heavy feed buckets around, water troughs, etc. I consider that enough on a daily basis!

When the weather is nice, may walk 10 miles once or twice a week. I’d definitely do more if I had time.

I do yoga every morning and night, but gentle yoga. That’s about it, I’m active and go for long walks almost daily but not for exercise and just for fun.

None. Zero.

I get worn out doing the most basic task

Those of you who do no exercise really need to address this. Yes, that's preachy. But it's true.

Not just for now, but your future well-being & aging is based on being active, flexible & with good bone health. So many women in particular become prone to falls at a relatively young age, are more likely to break bones, and recovery is really hard from there.

Walking is good, of course. But much better is something that leaves you a little breathless, as well as building bone density with weight-bearing exercises.

I’m 53 and there’s no chance I could get up at 05.00 to exercise ( 10 years ago I might have done). I’m currently injured ( knee) so swimming for about 40 minutes 3 x times a week. I’m also having tennis lessons and cautiously continuing with those although it doesn’t necessitate me running much thankfully. I play twice a week usually for 1 or 1.5 hours. I should do some weights and have previously worked with a PT but I don’t like it much. I’ve recently got a dog so my daily steps have increased from 5k to about 10k walking outside. I work from home 3 days which is how I fit it in.

67. Every morning 20 mins approx stretching and light weights. 2 sessions of 60 mins Zumba per week and try to walk a couple of miles most days. Probably not enough.

I think that sounds great - balanced & mixed types of exercise.

I just dug out my weights from under the sofa. Maybe less boring if I watch Mary and George while doing them!

Me too and I can only manage 20k a week!

49, absolutely none.

I tell myself every week I will start doing something, but don't, and I definitely have no excuse not to, plenty of time, nothing physically stopping me.

I keep trying and failing at Couch to 5 k. I can walk hours but not run.

Early 40’s and none. I keep starting and stopping, Dd has just started sleeping through at 4 so I’m going to try to start again, I’m not as bone tired as I have been.

But I couldn't have done that pre kids. Just a normal 9-5 job as a single person exhausted me. I barely did much else. I wasn't overweight then.. I've just always massive struggled with energy levels. I can get up very early occasionally but I pay for it for days after. I could not routinely get up before 7am without serious exhaustion!

I walk to work and do a physical job, I don't have the motivation to go to a gym and really don't want to run outside.
I work as a housekeeper so stairs, heavy lifting, lots of steps etc I do feel I am in good shape.

I am 51 this year and developed exercise intolerance after covid and don't think I'll ever exercise again tbh!

I used to run 3x a week for 45 mins, went to gym twice a week and walked the dog for 1-2 hours on the weekend.

Now I can't do any of that other than short walks. I average about 2000-5000 steps a day. I don't think it will change. Any more and it just makes me ill!

Mid forties with primary age DC and work full time, as does DH. I do 2-3 body/free weight classes a week (two are on the same night to be efficient) and run about 5k twice a week on my WFH days, aiming for about 29-32 minutes.

If you're a single parent who is looking after children at 6am when you're on the gym? I don't have much time in the week where it's not me looking after them, that's my problem I think.

I’m 61 and retired. I do 3 classes a week - Zumba Gold, Adult ballet and Adult tap. Despite that I have noticed that I have got very flabby around the midriff and my bum seems to be spreading! I’ve got about 6 months until we go on holidays so I’m going to up my exercise by doing some online walking workouts and targeted exercises for the belly. I’m concerned about high blood pressure which runs in my family so am taking my diet in hand as well.

Fuck all.

I jog only once a week and sometimes miss even that.
I walk to work every day and if I have nothing on in the evening, I walk back too.

As for people who do loads of exercise - I do know some including working mothers. I have a colleague who does yoga, pilates and running in her lunch hour for example.

I have started doing yoga every morning, 5-35 minutes depending on how I feel. As the weather gets better i’m going to add in long walks on the weekend, and I found an exercise class I like. I know i need to look at strength training or maybe find something with a social element as this is all a bit solitary and low impact.

I suspect most women in their 50s do almost no exercise at all. This is based on my feedback from my Garmin heartrate monitor. It tells me that I am within the top 30% for women my age for vo2 max, which is a rough equivalence for fitness. To put this in context, I herniated a disc last May and have been in so much pain, that I have been unable to do almost any exercise at all for the last 10 months. I currently walk about 5000 steps per day and cycle around town a couple of times a week. I am only just now starting to get back to doing very gentle circuits. For months even walking for than a couple of 100 meters was excruciating so I didn't do it. Prior to injuring myself, I was within the top 10% of women in their 50s and I ran for up to 30 mins once or twice a week and did circuits once a week. I did not consider myself particularly fit.

I could not routinely get up before 7am without serious exhaustion

I empathise, I will NEVER be the kind of person who could get up early to do exercise, I would be miserable I'm just not a morning person. No amount of health benefits or promised life extension could get me to make that shift.

The main life change that has helped me is WFH, because I'm home all day, I don't begrudge getting out in the evening for sports and exercise classes, I welcome the change in scenery even. I play some matches at 9pm, I couldn't that if I was in the office 5 days a week. I also don't know how I will manage when my DH goes away for work because whilst my kids are older now, they're not quite the age to be left for hours in the evening. It's quite a privilege to be in a position to have the means and energy to go out and exercise, even if we know we should be doing it.

Zero , and it shows . Need to get my arse in gear .

I started going to the gym in the summer following a very painful muscle spasm that went on for three months. The physio suggested joining. I am definitely more aware of my physical fitness now. I go twice a week and do mostly core and resistance. I sometimes go to aqua Zumba or just swimming (I am a very basic swimmer but I figure being active is better than not). I find it very easy to make excuses but videos like this one motivate me...

www.instagram.com/reel/C320egZqJXZ/?igsh=MTFmZGZ5OHFzdzIzMw==