Simple excercises?

Riverweed,

walking is great exercise , start by doing what you can and build to an hour + a day , maybe included some jogging if and when you can and work up a sweat

I started doing yoga 10 year ago, its great exercise maybe not for burning calories but flexibilty, all over body strenth, core muscle's and balance, its also hard work. every week I'm surprised by how many 20-30 year old struggle and have to leave the class

for what its worth , I met someone at the gym recently, slim as a pencil, has ran 30 marathons, he suffered a blood clot at home not running I might add !, nearly cost him his life, but thats another story,   dont feel to guilty and do what you can to get reasonably fit.

I can recommend swimming for keeping fit bit not necessarily for weight loss.  It hasn't worked well for me anyway since I put on weight while swimming 3 times a week and probably 50 lengths a session. Walking is a problem for me since I have other problems but I'm using the gym so hoping for some weight loss. Hard going though....just keeping it going after weeks of no success.

I believe weight loss is more to do with proper eating coupled with exercise rather than one or the other in isolation.

Good luck to you, don't over do it,

Steve

You have a gym already indoors.

The stairs are great for a workout. Just nice and gentle walk up and down a few times. Then

increase every week so that you don't overdo it but enough to make you slightly breathless.

Lifting a chair and repeats, press ups, stretches - all can be done without having to fork out for gym memberships.

The garden as Rob suggests is useful. Walking invaluable with maybe a little gentle jog for 150 paces then walk 15 minutes

then repeat but at no time overdo it. Nice and gradual. Try to do 2-3 miles per day. Build up gradually

Hi rivertweed - I also am 5'8" & 12 & a half stone - according to the charts this is not disastrously overweight. All the suggestions above + mine - cycling suits me, mentally and physically. Hope you find what suits you. The Borders is a lovely area for cycling.

All the best, Hugh.

Hi rovertweed,

I had a look at your bio before offering some thoughts for you to consider, the skipping may not be ideal to start with as it may cause you a bit of leaking due to the jumping up and down action. Also skipping may not be particularly good for your knees unless you wear good supportive shoes.

Gym membership can be bought quite cheaply at the moment due to the number of gyms competing for members generally. I was paying £50 a month at a health club, lovely kit, lovely fluffy towel given to you on entry, built in TV and radio and internet on the treadmills, beautifully tiled showers etc, a real chrome and carpet gym but with some serious kit. Having moved I am now paying £20 a month at a local authority gym, somewhat scruffy kit, bring your own towel, grubby showers. Hey ho, it works for me as it has all the kit I need. So you could join a gym for comparatively small amount, not any long term contract, then you might benefit from a personal trainer who would assess your needs and abilities and maybe devise a programme for you?

The issue with starting out from scratch, and forgive me assuming that you are not an ardent experienced fitness regular, is that without some quick results, which may well be achievable, you may get disheartened and lose the will to go on.

So, I would suggest looking at a local authority gym to get you going, with some personal trainer input to give you some ideas initially.

If you choose not to do that then I would consider what can you do that would be "low impact", does not jar you or your bones. Low impact = walking, swimming, rowing, yoga. High impact = road running, pounding feet on the pavement and shock transmitted through the feet to the ankles to the knee joints and hips.

Do you have any space at home for a treadmill, somewhere you can use it and watch TV or a DVD to while way the time? Tat way you get some exercise and keep the mind occupied?

What do you enjoy doing? Swimming is one of the best all round exercise, but if like me you swim like a house brick, that is not much fun.

So, if you want to lose weight, apart from diet you may wish to consider the rate at which you will exercise? What is you maximum heart rate? To work this out deduct your age in years from 220, it is not an exact science.

To lose weight, burn fat you need to be exercising at around 60 to 70%. Google "fat burning exercise heart rate", and you will see lots of information. You do burn fat working at a higher heart rate, working harder, but not so much fat.

Anyway, enough, I hope that this is of some use to you. Oh, and I once had a bullworker. LOL. On that building muscle is no bad thing, maybe you don't need to maybe you would like to? What would you airfare? At our age we none of us are going to be busting our shirts sleeves or bursting buttons any day now no matter how hard we train. ;-) I have no qualifications on training or diet, but at 57, having been training/working out for around 37 years and still reasonably fit I must be doing something right.

atb

dave

I am actually 5' 8''myself, (I explained the 6' 2'' in a previous post!), and just under 13 stone. I have a slight paunch, but nothing untoward. I usually play golf 3 times per week, and I always make a point of walking quickly between shots to keep my heart rate up. (I also hate slow play and waiting!)

At 62, I consider myself to be of average fitness. I have tried the gym, but could never maintain enthusiasm for it. When I go shopping, I will use the stairs rather than an escalator or lift.

My wife will be retiring soon, and I will then try and encourage her to swim. It's not a favourite passtime of mine, but the are definite advantages.

Paul

You lied to get in then Mo, you minx.

http://community.prostatecanceruk.org/editors/tiny_mce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-kiss.gif

Hi rivertweed,

Sorry if this answer is a bit late, but personally, I would suggest you DO dust off the old Bullworker and use it.  It's actually a great all-round exerciser and ideal for those who don't like the ambiance of gyms or just don't have the time to go there.  I've got one myself and go through spells of using it.  At it's best it's a relatively easy way to exercise in the privacy of you own home just about all the major muscle groups.  And it can be used very effectively for getting those ab muscles back into shape.

And, of course, the other thing is that it's quite compact.  I mean you don't end up with a room full of exercising kit, that used to be a bedroom or front room or whatever!  And if you go off of it for a while, you can just stick it away at the back of the wardrobe.

Well, a Bullworker?

I had one many many many years ago as a lad, neigh, as a boy. Designed and sold by Gert F Kolbel. I remember the catalogue so so well. Do whatever works for you. Bulworker, go for it. Anything else, go for it.

But do something, OTHER than just sitting there.

atb

dave