Week from March 1 to March 8

Monday: 10mn stretching, 15mn arms reinforcement, 10,496 steps,

Tuesday: one-hour stretching class, 13,480 steps, 5mn jogging, 41mn aerobic walking,

Wednesday: 15mn stretching, arms reinforcement, 32 mn aerobic walking, 3-mile LS, 12,205 steps

Thursday: 15,512 steps, 50mn aerobic walking (including 30mn on hospital elliptic, 10 mn stretching, 15mn arms reinforcement

Friday: one-hour stretching class, 30mn aerobic walking, 9,473 steps, LS 3-mile

Saturday: 5mn stretching, 15mn arms reinforcement, 8,631 steps, 28mn aerobic, LS 3-mile

Sunday: 10mn stretching, 10,233 steps, 50mn aerobic walking

Sunday noon, rain, rain, go away!

Week from February 22 to February 28th

Monday: 15mn stretching, one-hour Feldenkrais class, 29mn inzone, 8,131 steps, including LS 2-mile

Tuesday: one-hour stretching class, 5,350 steps, 10mn arms reinforcement

Wednesday: 5mn stretching, 10mn arms reinforcement, 32mn aerobic LS 3-miles, 6,000steps

Thursday: 5mn stretching, 15mn arms reinforcement, 15,750 steps, 45mn inzone walking including elliptic bike (was at hospital)

Friday: one-hour stretching class, 10,000 steps, 3miles LS, 28mn inzone,

Saturday: 10mn stretching, 3-mile LS, 30mn inzone aerobic walking, 13,665 steps

Sunday: ElderExercise Anniversary, 10mn stretching, 3-mile LS, 45mn inzone aerobic walking, including outside walking, 14,552 steps

Happy birthday, ElderExercise

This is ElderExercise’s birthday! The first post ever was on February 29th. Naomi, who moved west to greener pastures got the idea that February 2008, and people have come and gone, I am still around, and hopefully we are all here for a long time.
Looking at my Google Calendar, I realized that I have been keeping track of my exercise for a longer time. I started writing what I did on December 2007, recording my steps and later other forms of exercise. I find that it helps me keeping focused. Don’t you?

Also at one point, they mentioned tri-glycerides (hope that’s what they are called in English too) and I said that I had cholesterol but didn’t have those and was quite surprised to learn that what I didn’t have was excess tri-glycerides that would appear in my blood test, but that the darn things were ‘parked’ around my waist and in my belly! Again, those are what I am after!
So in fact, when I say 26mn aerobic walking for example, it just means 26mn inzone, (between 120 and 130), I might have done quite a bit above the inzone, thus burning sugar instead of fat!
 
Another question I asked was: was it OK to count 10mn + 15mn inzone as 25mn. And the answer is yes! As long as segments are at least 10mn, no problem. But nothing below 10mn.

Week from February 15 to February 21

Monday: 10mn stretching, 26mn aerobic walking, 9,540 steps, one-hour Feldenkrais class

Most days have been grey, misty and chilly this week

Tuesday: one-hour stretching class, 8,500 steps

Wednesday: LS 2-miles, 21mn aerobic inzone, 15mn stretching, 13,115 steps

Thursday: 10mn stretching, 13,650 steps, 50mn aerobic, 20mn arms strength

Friday: one-hour stretching class

Saturday: 15mn stretching, LS-3miles 30mn aerobic, 12,022steps

Sunday: 10mn stretching, 14,340 steps (3-miles LS), 29mn aerobic

Monday: one-hour Feldenkrais class, 15mn stretching, 10,102 steps, 10mn + 30mn aerobic walk

Tuesday: one-hour stretching class, 13,142 steps, 23mn aerobic, (Leslie Sansone, 2-mile walk)

Wednesday: 15mn stretching, 10,624 steps

Happy Valentine! I didn’t buy any of these lollipops

Thursday: 10mn stretching, 10,400 steps (including LS 2-mile) 20mn + 16mn aerobic, toning and stretching workshop

Friday: one-hour stretching class, 11,009 steps, 20mn X 2 aerobic walk

Saturday: 15mn stretching 8,500 steps, 25mn aerobic walk, two-hour Feldenkrais workshop

Sunday: 15 mn stretching, 9,753 steps

It’s been quite an interesting week as I had one appointment with my nutritionist and another with the sports coach at the hospital where I started the anti-cholesterol and HBP treatment two years ago.
The bad news is I’ve put on 4 pounds since I started walking really fast. The good news is I have lost quite a bit of fat mass. Hard to understand.

It turns out that I was right to wonder about my heart rate being too high when I exercised, not because it would hurt my heart or anything, on the contrary, but because it just didn’t aim at destroying belly fat, which is what I am after.
The reason why I am after that fat is not that I want to look slimmer, I couldn’t care less, but that apparently, it is where cholesterol and more generally fat mass accumulate.
So it seems that each of us has a specific heart rate, which will allow her to target fats when exercising and in my case, 140 is just targeting sugar (I’m not too sure about using the proper words here, hope it makes sense to you ladies.) and not fat.
My magic number is 125, so if I exercise between 120 and 130, I’m fine. It’s actually both easier and more difficult. Easier because it’s not as much effort, but it’s difficult to NOT accelerate when I’m walking. So I really have to wear the heartrate monitor (hate it). Now I have it set so that it will beep under 120 and over 130.

To think that I am doing all this to avoid taking drugs

Monday: one-hour Feldenkrais class, 15mn stretching, 7,534 steps, 23mn aerobic walking
Tuesday: one-hour stretching class, 3-mile Leslie Sansone, 25mn aerobic exercise, 6,000 steps
Wednesday: 15 mn stretching, 11,703 steps
Thursday: 15mn stretching, 6kms’ walk. Had forgotten my pedometer. I imagine over 12,000 steps or maybe a bit more.

Thursday’s route

Friday: one-hour stretching, 7,647 steps
Saturday: 15mn stretching, 23mn aerobic walking (Leslie Sansone), 11, 234 steps
Sunday: 15mn stretching, 60mn Leslie Sansone, (3-mile + 1-mile, 30mn aerobic step), 7,000 steps

I didn’t go out either on Tuesday or on Sunday, but got my minimum of steps done thanks to LS

I had a look at her 4-mile walk, and figured that it was too advanced for me (too fast and includes jogging, which is not the best for my back) but figured that If I did the 3-miles and went back to 15mn before the end of the video, it would add up to a doable 4-miles, which is what I did yesterday. On good days, I feel up to an hour workout. Not every day though.

Week from 25 – 31 Jan 2010

Monday: 15mn stretching, one-hour Feldenkrais class, 11, 572 steps, 25mn aerobic walk

Tuesday: One-hour stretching class, 11,153 steps (including LS 3-mile) 20mn aerobic

Wednesday : 15mn stretching, 30mn aerobic walk, 9,000 steps

Thursday: 10mn stretching and lots of rest

Friday: One-hour stretching class, 5,953 steps

Walking (too fast) from home to Jardin des Tuileries

Saturday: 15 stretching, 42mn aerobic walking, 8,275 steps

Sunday: 15mn stretching, 10,300 steps, 3-mile Leslie Sansone, (23mn +10mn aerobic walking)

Between the LS video and the walking outside, I managed 5 sessions of aerobic walking this week. That’s nice, but I also realised that LS was more efficient because when I walk outside, I don’t like wearing my cardio training thing and I did Saturday and it turned out that I was walking too fast, believe it or not!
So I will have to wear that darn thing around my chest (I hate it) outside if I want to walk briskly.

It’s been rather a good week for me in spite of lousy weather. It’s been so bleak around here that I went back to my India and Nepal photos to see some colour and sun!

Two elders with great posture

Maybe one day, I’ll be able to sit on the floor for more than two minutes, but it hasn’t happened yet. Sitting on the floor is one of the things I hate most!

Anyway, here’s my week from 18 – 24 January 2010

Monday: 15 mn stretching, 3-mile Leslie Sansone walking, 25mn aerobic, 7,375steps
Tuesday: One-hour stretching class, 8,420 steps
Wednesday: 15mn stretching, 3-mile Leslie Sansone, 7mn stepper, 8,048 steps, 25mn aerobic,
Thursday: gave myself a rest 10mn stretching and no more. A lot at the computer and on the couch, though!
Friday: One-hour stretching class, 8,274 steps
Saturday: 15mn stretching, 15, 355 steps, 3-mile Leslie Sansone, 25mn aerobic. Did the LS in the morning and went to a restaurant with a friend. Then we walked and walked and walked. I was pooped when I got home!
Sunday: 15mn stretching, 6,861 steps, 2-miles walk Leslie Sansone, 20mn aerobic, 8mn stepper

The LS walking includes quite a few steps. When I mention aerobic, it includes the LS and the stepper.

Near the larger pyramid at the Louvre

So here’s my week from Monday, January 11th to Sunday, January 17th, 2010

Monday: 15 mn stretching, 7,526 steps, 2 x 15mn aerobic walking
Tuesday: one-hour stretching class, 4,401 steps (not much apart the stretching class)
Wednesday: 15mn stretching, 2-mile Leslie Sansone, 18mn aerobic, 6mn stepper – managed 6mn instead of the usual 5! Great progress
Thursday: 10,310 steps
Friday: One-hour stretching class, 9,909 steps
Saturday: 15mn stretching, 20mn aerobic: 2-mile walk Leslie Sansone + 6mn stepper, 9,676 steps
Sunday: 15mn stretching, Leslie Sansone 2-mile walk, 18mn aerobic, 9,736 steps

Another week with four aerobic sessions. I’m rather pleased with myself and might try Sansone’s 3-mile walk (not sure I can do it though — I’ll let you know!)

Couldn’t squat like that either!

By the way, one of the things my stretching instructor recommends, is to squat and stand up three times in the morning. I do that, holding on to a broomstick for balance, and am pretty pleased with myself because now I do manage the three times! Not every day, granted, but several times a week. If you had told me I’d be able to do this two years ago, I would have laughed and thought it impossible.

Anyway, here’s my week from Monday November 30th to Sunday December 6th 2009
Monday: 5,525 steps, 10mn stretching (not much but something at least)
Tuesday: One-hour stretching class, 9,650 steps, 20mn + 20mn aerobic walking
Wednesday: 10,207 steps, 20mn aerobic walking (all in the rain)
Thursday: 7,624 steps, 15mn + 20mn aerobic walking
Friday: one-hour stretching class. At least I did that! No walking
Saturday: 5325 steps, 10 mn stretching
Sunday: 10mn + 25mn aerobic walking, 11,098 steps, 10mn stretching