Fitness & exercise

[East]

How important is fitness and exercise in your life?

Do you have a routine? What kind of exercise do you do?

For me...in my 20s and 30s I was extremely physically fit as I worked out every day for at least an hour...did a lot of aerobics...and I danced ALOT. I LOVED to sweat and I loved the burn so that was one of my motivations but I also worked in a gay bar and the better you looked...the more money you made...so I made sure I was toned and tight.

I was addicted to the endorphins and what was nice...I could avoid the depression medication because the exercise made it bearable....

In my 40s I slacked off and it showed...I was happy in my relationship and I gained weight (UGH)...and I was trying to motivate myself to work out again...

...and then I had a heart attack. Three stents later and 10% of my heart dead....I entered a new phase of exercise and fitness. I had a couple trainers over a two year period and the nice thing....

I had a four hour heart profusion test recently and the doctor told me my treadmill stress test was beyond excellent and the imaging of my heart was healthy and with the exception of my dead part of the heart it would appear I was in excellent physical shape. He also told me that people who had a heart attack in their 40s or 50s were likely to be in much better shape in their 60s than people who never had one. The reason...you understand the importance of physical fitness....

I still have some weight to lose and I go to the gym now maybe 3-4 times a week and switch it up every time...would like to get to the point where I go everyday. I am 56 now...gonna be 57 in a few weeks...and the only thing I want for my birthday is my health...and that is something I have to give to myself......

So...what are your thoughts on exercise and fitness?

[LONDONER]

Exercise is absolutely essential in life. I jog for an hour each morning. I know what you mean about the endorphin rush. That's a real buzz. Anyone who doesn't do some form of exercise is asking for trouble. I would love to gain some wait but I know that the only way I could do that safely would be by lifting weights and that requires dedication.

[Uneunsae]

Agreed. Exercise is vital and completely undervalued by the general population. There are endless ways of getting exercise, but most people think it has to be a dismal grind in the gym (which is great for those people who love that!).

Even though I have chronic pain, I move around. Pain gets worse if I don't because a stagnant body is a sick body. Of course, I pace myself according to my needs. Most of the time this means I just walk around for awhile, but at least I'm moving. Even when I had a full time job with these health issues, I never came home and sat in front of the TV. Even on days when I'm really sick, just getting out and having some fresh air while walking for 10 minutes can help me.

Tai chi, yoga, qigong, and walking are what I do now. I'm going to get back into kung fu and biking after surgery next year. I'm excited about that!

[East]

Agreed. Exercise is vital and completely undervalued by the general population. There are endless ways of getting exercise, but most people think it has to be a dismal grind in the gym (which is great for those people who love that!).

Even though I have chronic pain, I move around. Pain gets worse if I don't because a stagnant body is a sick body. Of course, I pace myself according to my needs. Most of the time this means I just walk around for awhile, but at least I'm moving. Even when I had a full time job with these health issues, I never came home and sat in front of the TV. Even on days when I'm really sick, just getting out and having some fresh air while walking for 10 minutes can help me.

Tai chi, yoga, qigong, and walking are what I do now. I'm going to get back into kung fu and biking after surgery next year. I'm excited about that!

VERY GOOD POINT.....there ARE endless ways to get exercise and I think it truly is vital and essential for our mind, body and soul....

My BF has a lot of pain as well and he got a trainer who works with people with chronic pain and with the specialized circuit he has his pain has subsided 75%...amazing results.

I would love to do yoga....

[Uneunsae]

Oh, you mentioned dancing. That is one way of getting exercise. It's easy to just turn on music and move around. I can do that in my bedroom (with the curtain pulled haha omg).

Yoga helps my pain a lot. Also, not many people know that there is yoga that is basically strength training. I became gently toned a few years back from doing nothing but yoga.

[LONDONER]

Don't let's forget abgout Pilates. Gentle exercise bearing in mind the fitess level of those doing the exercises.

[East]

Don't let's forget abgout Pilates. Gentle exercise bearing in mind the fitess level of those doing the exercises.

At my gym they have the fitness on demand classes which cover all the bases...not sure if they have pilates but they probably do... but I remember at my old gym they had a pilates class...and it looked very difficult. I would try it though....

[Wolfpack]

I like to keep myself fit, do not go to the gym or anything. My line of work keeps me vey active and I ave just got a new push bike for getting to work so I guess that will keep my fitness level up as well.

[Iceblink]

I work out every other day. It is important for me to try to stay fit as I do have some fairly serious health problems, diabetes and heart disease. Staying active and fit are not going to make what I have go away, but it will make it easier to live with and cope with and improve the conditions. Because of the heart problem, dilated cardiomyopathy, I avoid heavy weights while working out and instead use more of a medium level of weights and increase repetitions in attempting to get results, skewing a little more towards an aerobic exercise using weight. I also take longer periods of rest that what most people would.

[Virge]

Exercise, fitness AND DIET are the best ways to correct most self image problems and a whole list of health problems from diabetes to mood disorders to future heart diseases.

East was right about endorphins but I'll take it further. Endorphins are the strongest, most reliable and the CHEAPEST treatment for depression known to medicine and psychology.

There's only one problem with endorphins. Doctors writing prescriptions for patients to get more exercise are frowned at by most insurances and big drug manufacturers who have a direct line to the doctors' income.

But... that's going to be changing in the US during the next few years.