What do you do for exercise? What motivates you to do it?

I've coexisted with arthritis fairly well by trying a wide range supplements. I take a number of them and I'm not certain which is the most efficacious so I just continue taking a lot.
 

SeaBreeze said:
I admire your determination Blaze to get some exercise for your heart. Walking is very good when you can do it, congratulations on losing some weight doing it, I've also lost some weight with walking alone, but I don't have the physical limitations that you suffer with.

I was just reading an article about how people put socks over their shoes to gain more traction when walking on ice and snow. I never tried that, but it seems like a low cost thing to try for sure...sometimes in winter just my driveway and walkway will get really slippery. Do you take anything to ease your arthritis pain, meds or supplements?
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Thank you. That is a great suggestion but I have a hard time balancing even on indoor floors. Hence, the walker. In the small apartment, I use it only on the worst days indoors (because pushing it around makes my shoulders hurt) but the rooms are small. I get about balancing on walls and furniture. Outdoors, I'd have fallen many times without the walker to hang on to. I just won't risk snow and ice. As for pain medications, the only prescription one I haven't had a bad reaction too so far -- several have placed me in the hospital -- is hydrocodone which works wonderfully and actually also helps my IBS but I am wary of its addictiveness so I only take that when the pain is extremely severe and then only at bedtime because it puts me right to sleep. Doc tells me it doesn't make me sleep; it's the easing of the pain allowing me to sleep that does it. Mostly, I just take extra strength Tylenol, sometimes supplemented with a couple of aspirin. Cardiologist forbids ibuprofren and naproxin. I am on low-dose aspirin at his orders but sometimes on bad days I will take a couple of extra aspirin with the next dose of tylenol. I avoid it too though as it can upset the stomach. Take a lot of vitamin supplements too.

The bone disease is degenerative. The arthritis is caused by something called pseudo gout aka Calcium Pyrophosphate Deposition (CPPD). It's not gout but mimics it. Basically, calcium deposits in between my joints are rubbing the bones and wearing them down. There is no cure. Best case scenario is to limit the damage but there really isn't any way to stop it. I am expected to wind up in a wheel chair. When I do, I will then have to adjust to that and figure something else out for exercise. Heck, I taught my grandson to disco and we still dance -- but I'm already seated for that! Grandson is quite a styling dancer though if I do say so myself. :)

I'm a freaking mess but, well, it's a challenge and what's life without a good challenge? All I can do is view it that way and address the problems as they come. Trust me that sentence sounded a whole lot easier than it actually is. I get frustrated. I get discouraged. I have days when I swear and curse and why me and cry and feel sorry for myself. But then I pick myself up, brush myself off and say well, alright then (a movie quote my daughter and I both like to use when life gets tough) and go on. What else can you do really? Giving up is not really an option. Fortunately, I'm fairly optimistic so the why me, self-pitying days are the exception and not the rule.

It may hurt to walk but actually doing it and defying the body that wants to pin me down also keeps me on my feet and able to walk and keeps that wheel chair at bay and I will fight that as long as I possibly can. The current limitations are bad enough. So as long as I can force myself to walk -- and sometimes it does resemble Heidi's little friend in the movie when she finally gets out of her wheelchair and walks -- I will. When I can no longer force myself to walk, I will adjust and find something else. And I will still take "walks" -- just in the power chair. I already do that! Just force myself out of it for the walk around the block while I can. I can't walk more than a couple of blocks and I can't climb stairs or stand more than a few minutes.
 
I walk and do Yoga daily. I am motivated by how I feel if I don't do it! Back in the day I was an Aerobics Instructor (remember step aerobics?), but my knees will not allow that sort of activity any more. I do however achieve maximum flexibility with practicing Yoga. The trick is to start slow and build as you gain muscle and flexibility.
 

I really empathize with you re your health challenges, Blaze. About 25 years ago I started feeling progressively awful and started seeing doctors to find out what was causing me to have head-to-toe muscle pain, massive headaches, hair falling out, fingernails constantly breaking off, extreme tiredness, etc.

Some days at the office I just wanted to get down on the floor and sleep but that would be a big negative at review time. After several years of searching (and doing research on the Internet), in 2000 I found an endocrinologist in Boston who figured out what was wrong after running tons of tests. It turned out that my pituitary gland was no longer functioning which meant that I had no endocrine system. I felt so blessed to have finally found out the answer to all my symptoms. There is no cure for my illness which is called panhypopituitarism. To stay alive in this world, I must take replacement hormones daily to compensate for those that my body cannot make.

I have to evaluate how I feel every day in order to decide how long and how intensely my fitness program should be that day. I walk a lot and my motivator is my Corgi mix, Suki, who has to go for a walk 3 to 4 times daily. The two of us even walk in rain and snow. Also, I exercise my arms using free weights and dance around the house to Playlist music. Right now I have a torn rotator cuff in my shoulder so arm exercises are a bit restricted - go to physical therapy twice a week to get rid of the shoulder problem.

What actually wears me out a lot is driving to see my spouse who is in hospice at a VA Medical Facility an hour away. It's not the drive and walking from parking to hospital but the emotional stress of this visit that completely wears me out, much worse than any exercise program or walking regimen. In addition, some of the meds I have to take cause weight gain and having no pituitary gland means my body dos not metabolize food in the body in a normal way so I have to eat a very restricted diet so I won't get diabets or heart disease.
 
Kath said:
I really empathize with you re your health challenges, Blaze. About 25 years ago I started feeling progressively awful and started seeing doctors to find out what was causing me to have head-to-toe muscle pain, massive headaches, hair falling out, fingernails constantly breaking off, extreme tiredness, etc.

Some days at the office I just wanted to get down on the floor and sleep but that would be a big negative at review time. After several years of searching (and doing research on the Internet), in 2000 I found an endocrinologist in Boston who figured out what was wrong after running tons of tests. It turned out that my pituitary gland was no longer functioning which meant that I had no endocrine system. I felt so blessed to have finally found out the answer to all my symptoms. There is no cure for my illness which is called panhypopituitarism. To stay alive in this world, I must take replacement hormones daily to compensate for those that my body cannot make.

I have to evaluate how I feel every day in order to decide how long and how intensely my fitness program should be that day. I walk a lot and my motivator is my Corgi mix, Suki, who has to go for a walk 3 to 4 times daily. The two of us even walk in rain and snow. Also, I exercise my arms using free weights and dance around the house to Playlist music. Right now I have a torn rotator cuff in my shoulder so arm exercises are a bit restricted - go to physical therapy twice a week to get rid of the shoulder problem.

What actually wears me out a lot is driving to see my spouse who is in hospice at a VA Medical Facility an hour away. It's not the drive and walking from parking to hospital but the emotional stress of this visit that completely wears me out, much worse than any exercise program or walking regimen. In addition, some of the meds I have to take cause weight gain and having no pituitary gland means my body dos not metabolize food in the body in a normal way so I have to eat a very restricted diet so I won't get diabets or heart disease.
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Sounds like you have a lot to deal with. I know what you mean about work. At the end there, it was all I could do to put in my 8 hour day and I ate as little as possible for fear of upsetting my stomach. Comes a point where you just have to view it as a challenge.

It would be much, much harder dealing with the emotional stress of visiting your husband. I have a friend whose husband is in care with Alzheimers and has the same situation of visiting him daily. I think she is so brave but they have been married longer than I've been alive and her love for him is obvious. It takes a toll when he looks at her and doesn't know her but she lives for the small moments when he remembers her or makes some remark about their long, shared life. I admire both her devotion and her bravery.
 
EveDallas said:
I walk and do Yoga daily. I am motivated by how I feel if I don't do it! Back in the day I was an Aerobics Instructor (remember step aerobics?), but my knees will not allow that sort of activity any more. I do however achieve maximum flexibility with practicing Yoga. The trick is to start slow and build as you gain muscle and flexibility.
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I do yoga too! Don't you love it? Helps so much for strengthening, flexibility and balance too. I have a couple of CD's that I bought years ago and I've done them so many times that I don't have to 'follow' it so much as I can just flow through each practise along with the teacher on it. And it was filmed in and around Vancouver and so I get to enjoy images of home whenever I look up.
 
I lift a very large teacup up to my mouth first thing in the morning, brimming with hot Twinings tea and a dollop of honey in it.This gets me started for the day.:) Don't do any official kinds of excercise, but walking and gardening and any shopping and housework seem to keep me fit enough.
 
I hope very much your friend stays brave and strong. I live in a retirement community where many people cope with health problems (either theirs or their spouse's) every day. It is a place where there's a good bit of empathy and understanding so it helps to be in a place like this.
 
Kath said:
I hope very much your friend stays brave and strong. I live in a retirement community where many people cope with health problems (either theirs or their spouse's) every day. It is a place where there's a good bit of empathy and understanding so it helps to be in a place like this.
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She -- they -- were living in a retirement community but when he went into care, she had to give it up because she could no longer afford the apartment and moved into my building. I truly admire her pluck for lack of a better word. She keeps herself going and she keeps others around her going to. Organized the card game I go to weekly which has brought half a dozen of us in separate apartments together and made us friends. She brings a 92yo friend from her former retirement community to join us. I never would have thought of organizing a card game amongst strangers in the building let alone have the nerve to go ahead and actually see if there were any takers for it. I think she's sad and lonely sometimes and she misses him just being there with her but she does things to keep herself busy and interacting with people. I think as long as she does that she'll be okay.
 
Enjoyed reading about everyones workouts and even though this thread is several months old, thought I would add mine.
Since I retired, I let myself get in pretty sorry shape from what I had been. This past July, I decided to remedy that. Enrolled in a local gym and since July 27th, have been hitting it four days a week, Mon-Tues and Thurs-Fri. Do an hour of exercises with weights, then an hour on a treadmill walking 3.5-4.5 mph at 1% - 10% incline. Five minute warmup, ten minute cooldown, and 45 minutes of walking as fast as I can. Depending on incline, I wind up with 3.5-4.5 miles covered, an average of about 16 miles a week.
Wednesdays and weekends, I manage to stay pretty busy. We have a state park within 5 miles of us with trails that run up to 11 miles and inclines up to 10% and it's pretty quiet and peaceful there, except for the deer and turkeys. It's a favorite strolling area for me.
 
I've started walking my dog again, but short walks. Hip is a bother. after a few surgeries, THEN a lower back explosion, THEN an inflamed Achilles tendon... I got very little walking done. Things have gotten better so I'm at the walking again, plan to increase distance in stages.
 
I think walking (very briskly) for exercise is the one that I come back to over and over. I do want to lift weights more and get started with yoga on a regular basis. Right now I'm having knee pain and low back and hip pain, which seems to be exacerbated by the walking, so I have to be careful not to overdo it. Now that we're into the cooler weather, I expect that when my wife heals from her recent surgery, we'll be out on our bikes more often. And of course, with winter not too far off, there's my least favorite exercise: shoveling tons of the white stuff.
 
I love to walk as well Bob, especially if there is even a slight incline. I like putting on clothes ( I hung onto thank goodness) and having them fit again;) I also had very, high cholestrol last Summer, 399, I guess that's not from foods my doc said, but genetic, so lots of water, sort of a Mediterranian Diet, and walking has helped a lot;) I want to enjoy my life. Getting old is a have-to, but some illness can be controlled by us if we work at it;) denise
 
jujube said:
Today, without even going to the gym, I will:

Stretch my budget.
Jog my memory.
Jump to conclusions.
Bend someone's ear.
Lift a cup.
Twist off a bottle cap.
Punch in some computer data.
And then I'll take a nap.
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Hey, you'll certainly burn some brain-calories, lol;)
 
I remember one night at closing time all of the employees were walking down a darkened hallway. A mix of ages and activity levels but still very physically demanding for almost everyone. The fellow next to me said " We look like Night of the Living Dead!"
 
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I found this on Pinterest this a.m. and wanted to say these are the types of exercise I do at home. NOT all of these, not yet anyway, and I modify them to my ability. or lack thereof, lol;) I like doing these because they work, especially at toning/strengthening muscles, improving muscle, and just getting me to loosin up and relax.

the mat is the only piece of "equipment" I use, and I can do these naked if I want, lol;) I like doing my exercises alone, no gyms, and no monthly fee;) These are just a few of probably a hundred, different exercises a person can do. I only do them maybe 10 minutes, but if I am in the mood, and in no hurry, I can do a few more;) denise

PS I'm motivated by the way I feel physically, and mentally after losing 22 pounds, and 5 inches of fat.
 
I work out 5 mornings a week. Three days of 1 hour circuit training (exercycle and Bowflex resistance training) and two days of biking (at least 1 hour, sometimes more). Each of these is followed by a full or partial kata, then stretching. My motivation? I take no medication. My blood pressure is 75/118. I'm nearly 70 and in better shape than I was at 60 when I started studying karate. Doc says its my exercise regimen. Oh, and almost every evening includes a wee dram of single malt. Regardless of what Doc says, I think it's the single malt that keeps me young:eek:nthego:
 
Oy the plank pictures make me hurt. Me just getting down on the floor takes some doing. But today I was proud...despite this blinking ankle pain I managed to get up to 35 on my FitBit friend list. That's out of around 300 people of all ages and genders. Pretty impressive considering the limp...pass the Aspercreme, I'm cooked.
 

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