Exercise to Stay Out of A Nursing Home

Exercise is important!

I don’t think I can stress the importance of exercise too much!

• Everyone must get exercise to be healthy.
• Exercise improves mental health.
• Exercise improves physical health.
• Exercise prevents disability.
• Exercise brings people together.
• Exercise is the answer to all problems.
• Exercise will bring world peace.

OK, I suppose I can overstate the importance of exercise, but you know it is very important.

History of Exercise

Any long-lived nation had exercise as part of their culture.

• The ancient Egyptians practiced calisthenics.
• The Chinese had yoga.
• Indigenous Americans used their own body weight to exercise.
• The Grecians started using free weights to increase strength for battle, as well as for athletics contests. They wanted to get big muscles, look ripped and have six-pack abs before six-packs were invented!
• The Romans continued the practice of free weights which has been the mainstay of exercise equipment until the 1950s.

Before the industrial revolution, most people worked with their muscles all day. The work of the world required muscles. Men and women used muscles all day so the common man who did manual labor had no need of exercise. For them, just living required exercise. People didn’t have to run on a treadmill to get exercise. Burpies would be funny. Why would anyone do that on purpose? However, modern life, motors, and cheap energy have changed the way people function. We don’t need to use muscle power. We go to the gym and take the escalator up to the spinning room on the second floor to use the stair-stepper machine. Our bikes, scooters and skateboards have motors on them. Hoverboards can also get us around town with little or no effort. We have remote controls on everything, so we don’t even have to get up — my phone can control all the lights in my house!

So, how do we get exercise? I asked multiple people about their exercise routines. The following are a few of them:

How Christian Exercises

I started exercising for money. As a videographer, I got a gig filming running sequences, so I got paid to run. I never enjoyed running before, but by the end of the job, I found I enjoyed it. At first, I had to force myself through the wall. But just two weeks of running every day completely changed my life. By that time, I had begun enjoying running. I had to do it 30min every day to continue to stay in shape.

I have suffered with anxiety almost every day for years. Once I started running regularly I found it helped like crazy. I feel so much better. Now, just thirty minutes of a slow jog and stretches helps with anxiety and depression. It helps me feel like I’m doing enough with my life when I’m exercising, I feel accomplished. Also, I have been doing a hundred push-ups, and 20 pull-ups, it doesn’t help as much with my anxiety. But it makes my body ripped!

How Kehli Exercises

It all started with yoga. I knew I had to work out, so I found a yoga class online. Over time I found asanas that I liked. The enjoyment kept me motivated, and I was able to do it at home, even in inclement weather. I have taken breaks at times, especially when I travel. But when I get home, I get back into my routine easily because I feel better when I exercise.

How Sarah Exercises

I never exercised before. After the delivery of my babies, I had post-partum depression. The baby didn’t sleep through the night so I couldn’t sleep either. I needed the energy in order to survive. I used to exercise as a form of mental health.  But I get depressed. I feel so much better mentally and emotionally when I exercise, and that motivates me to continue. I think it’s super important to find what works for you. I found a YOU TUBE series of 10-minute workout videos that I can do every day. I love the one I found. I can’t stand the ones that talk the whole time during the workout! The one I use have no talking, just demonstrations of exercises that I can do. My little children look forward to our workout sessions and do it right alongside me. It’s been a lifesaver!

How Shannie Exercises

I don’t like working out, and I don’t like the feeling of working out. I found I need a reason to exercise. I took ballet classes to get a good workout. The fact that I was improving in my strength and abilities gave me the motivation to continue. Now, I no longer have ballet classes, but I have taken up surfing. I find it to be a great workout, and I am improving every time, besides finding it a very enjoyable activity. Catch a wave and I’m standing on top of the world! (With apologies to the Beach Boys!)

How Karyn Exercises

I was 43 when my husband was pushing his wheelchair around the high school track, getting ready for a bone marrow transplant. As I went around the track with him, first we could only do one lap, then two, then three, then four. I was so inspired that I ran a whole mile! However, after my husband died, I found it so boring to go around the track, so I started running in the streets. Running was so important to keep me sane with all the stress of becoming a widow with six children at home. I think I would have gone to the insane asylum if I didn’t run every day. After a while, instead of running along the street, I took a short drive to the canyon with my dog because I enjoy the fresh air in the wilderness. We hike only a couple miles, even in the snow. The mountains are so beautiful. This keeps me sane.

How Bret Exercises

I started working out at the request of my wife. She thought it helped me with stress-relief and I would be easier to live with. After continuously doing it, I began to notice that I had more energy! I was able to keep up with the kids, and had more clarity of thought, feeling mentally awake. After feeling the benefits, there was a point where I transitioned to doing it for me instead of for her. When I took time off from exercising I didn’t think clearly and didn’t have as much energy. I know now that if I want to have a good day, I need to exercise regularly. Now I’m doing kick-boxing, mountain biking, and running. Rather than feeling sluggish in the morning, exercising gets me into third gear to have a better day. I go to work with vigor and energy. I feel so invigorated while running! Also, it feels so cool to have wrapped hands and boxing gloves. I also challenge myself to do my age in push-ups every day. In my 30s it’s easy – but it’s going to be hard when I get to 50! I think it helps men to go out and burn calories and hit some pavement, with all the relationship, work, and other stresses of life. I exercise every day.

How Weston Exercises

I feel crappy if I don’t exercise. I feel like garbage. I feel like I should exercise every day, but I only work out two or three times per week. When I do, I feel like I have accomplished something and my day is more worthwhile. I know how to work out from sports and school. I just do a lot of running, and then bench press. It’s easy to get out and run because it doesn’t require any equipment.

How Heidi Exercises

I exercise intuitively. Some people eat intuitively, deciding what foods to eat by what they feel their body needs. Likewise, certain times of the year I move a lot and do squats, push-ups and calisthenics every day. Otherwise, my usual activities are good exercise. For example, I hold babies. Also, I am working now part-time at a warehouse where I lift heavy things all the time. Other times of the year I feel like I don’t need as much exercise, so I just do my daily activities, work, and kids.

My Story – How I Exercise

I prefer organic exercise. I cannot stand the thought of wasting calories on a treadmill. If I’m going to make an effort, I want to have accomplished something. I want something to show for all my effort, not just burn energy for the sake of burning energy.

As a child, exercise came easy. I didn’t want to sit around, ever! I went out as much as possible. My three brothers and I would run all day! When we were in the house we were usually fighting, which is great exercise!

From grade school through high school in southern California, I rode a skateboard everywhere.  I also rode bikes and walked a lot. I built things and remained very active. This made it hard to do homework, because I didn’t like to sit for any length of time.

Even in college, I kept active. I ran long distance. I played racquetball. I took dance classes. I walked a mile to school. Since I was in Utah, I learned to ski during the winter. When I was home for the summer, I was a carpenter, mostly building 3-story condominiums. Hauling wood, climbing walls, lifting beams, and swinging a hammer all day was an excellent work-out.

After medical school, I always had a project. I was remodeling my house, or building one. I also built sheds and chicken houses, planted gardens, and did landscaping. There was always some physical activity that kept me active as a young adult.

However, as I age, I have been using my brain more than my body. I don’t have as many projects, or, rather, the projects pile up as I work longer hours in front of a computer, sitting on my bottom. I even get home and sit more on the computer. I get up in the morning and turn on my computer and start working. There is no end to the computer work. Since COVID-19 has made me do a lot more telemedicine, I can be anywhere and be at work. If a test result comes in at 9:00 PM, I look at it and need to take care of it. I have seven “IN-BOXES” to go through every day, and I don’t get through them all each day. So, how do I find time to work-out, or exercise?