Exercise is the spark....

In the words of Bill Phillips': "Exercise is the spark. Nutrition is the fuel. Without both, there can be no flame -- no results." Okay, July Babies I hope you will join my in logging your daily activities on this post. We need to keep in mind that there are two components to our success both what we eat and how we move.... our bodies need to become a furnace. When you exercise daily, it is important to make small changes in the duration, progression, and intensity of your exercise routine. By increasing the level of difficulty, changing your environment, modifying your activities, you can reunite your passion for exercise and gain a new prospective on your fitness program. Here are some helpful ideas for freshening up your routine. Challenge Yourself. Our bodies adapt quickly to most exercises, causing a plateau in the benefits received by the activity. If you aren't sweating as much as you used to during your activities, it's time to add new challenges. To do this, try increasing the duration of your workouts, the weight or repetitions, adding another day to your workout schedule, and/or changing your activity by venturing out on new machines and aerobic classes. For best results, experts recommended you modify your workout about every two weeks. You will see how these new challenges will keep your motivation on track and the workouts more productive! Change Your Scene. If you are tired of the health club scene, try moving your workouts outdoors. Find a partner and setup a weekly exercise schedule that includes walking, jogging, biking and other outdoor activities. Parks, schools and beaches are great places for both strength training and cardio activities. A workout surrounded by nature is sure to enlighten your senses and shine a new light on your routine! Vary Your Activities. Cross training is increasingly becoming a popular training method in which different activities are performed on different days. Cross training helps battle boredom, increases your overall athleticism and encourages you to conquer new horizons! Get Competitive. Try setting new goals such as finishing a 5K race, participating in a decathlon, biathlon, triathlon, golf or tennis tournament, adventure race or fitness cruise. Better yet, why not join a local running, walking or biking club? You will give your daily workouts more significance and increase motivation and adherence to your fitness program! So what have you done today? Mary

Mary, Obviously, you practice what you preach. Because of my pulmonary issues I was unable to do more than walk about 100 feet for a long time. I now use a Gazelle (I'm in a part of California where we have real winter with lots of snow and cold weather in the winter) for at least 1 hour a day. I am trying to work up to 1 1/2 hours, but haven't made it yet. Also because of limitations related to my pulmonary disease, I have a 5 lb. weight limit so my weight training is very light weight. Next week my daughter and I are taking a body condtioning class at the local jr. college. We have no pool in our little town--the closest is in Reno, 90 miles away. I am working to do the Paiute Meadow Race (our local 5 mile run or 2 mile walk) walking portion in less than 30 minutes in May. I did it last year in about 45 minutes. It is in the foothills, so there is a lot of up the hill and down the hill walking. It would be so wonderful if I could actually run part of the way. I haven't run in so many years. I am finding that my joints are not nearly as limber as they used to be, so I would like to take yoga, but there are no classes here. Thanks for starting this thread. Monna

Monna, You are doing great despite your obvious disabilities. You are truly amazing, it looks like you are continually looking for new ways to push yourself out of your comfort zone. You may want to look into Yoga DVD's/Video's for beginners, often times local libraries or video rentals have such resources. Great way to try things with minimal expense. Keep up the good work..you are an inspiration. Mary

Because of bad knees, I like to do my exercising in the water. There's less impact on the joints. I walk up and down 200 steps (in the water); jog laps and with flotation devices do situps; bicep and tricep curls. I'm trying to add resistance training using the machines. However, I'm more comfortable exercising in water for about 1 hr a day. So today.. 1 hrs of water aerobics step climbing jogging situps bicep and tricep curls

Denise, Wow, what a workout! I love water aerobics myself, however, I am taking a break trying to change up my workouts. I also have a sensitive right knee..I had a trainer put me on a treadmill for 20 minutes when I was 415 lbs..needless to say I had did a number on my tendons and ligaments. The recumbant bike and water areobics were my tools in the beginning of my journey. Lately, I have started taking a spin classes. The spin class forces me to stay in the class for an hour and I decide on the tension/resistance that I am working at...I wear a heart monitor to make sure that my heart-level is staying in the zone. I have found that cycling has been easy on my joints. Keep up the good work. Mary

I usually do Leslie Sansone's Walk Away the Pounds tapes. I vary the ones I do. There's the 2 mile Walk Away the Pounds which uses weights for part of the workout, the 2 mile WalkBlaster (step aerobics and strength training), Walk and Jog, and Walk Away the Pounds for Abs, which uses resistance belts. Most of the tapes are between 30-40 minutes and I generally do them 2x per day. I have also begun doing a bit of working with weights - just beginning, and hoping it will pay off. I'm in the northeast, so exercising outside is not really an option in the winter. When it's nice out, I usually add another 2-3 mile walk to my routine. Hugs, Nancy 280/175/155