The Senior Walking Fitness Blog

Hello Everybody,

Unfortunately some of us will get the flu this summer. How will this effect our walking for weight loss program? A lot.

If you have a cold a walk in the country can make you forget the sniffs and coughs. You may feel more tired than usual afterwards, but generally carrying on with a reduced fitness walking program will do you no harm and cheer you up a bit.

Flu is different. It has been said that if you are in bed with a cold and someone scatters ten dollars on the floor you jump up and collect them. If you have flu you turn over and go back to sleep.

Flu is bad news, whether it is the fashionable Swine Flu or any other. At first you probably won’t know you have it, but the temperature, coughs, aches and feeling terrible will soon prove you have. So stop your walking for weight loss program and any static exercises you may have been doing. They will probably have stopped themselves anyway, but don’t feel bad about giving up. Just concentrate on getting better.

When you are better - and this may take a little while - start your walking for weight loss and your exercise program up again.

Do it slowly, walk half a mile for a few days and then when you are comfortable with that increase it to three quarters of a mile and so on. Use the same principle for static exercises.

While you were ill you will have eaten less and your weight may have gone down. When you get better and return to your usual diet, but without much exercise, it might go up again. Don’t despair, just get back to your normal exercise regime and all will be well

Remember, your body has been in a war, give it some time for rest and recuperation.

I do hope you stay fit and healthy this summer, but you may not. As my own doctor said when I was recovering from my flu experience. ’Let your body tell you what it wants you to do.’

See you soon,

30 July 2009

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Technorati Tags: fitness tips, fitness walking, heart health, over fifties, senior walking, walk fit, walking exercise, walking fitness, weightloss

Hello Everybody,

If you want to walk for fitness and weight loss there are five things you really must not do. If you make these mistakes your efforts could well be a waste of time.

Not keeping to a program. If you are walking for fitness your program of walking is quite simple. Do it every day. If you don’t your fitness level will either not improve at all or fluctuate.

Not walking far enough. You are not on a marathon but you must walk a reasonable distance every day. I would say a mile is a minimum. That is just half a mile there and half a mile back again. Not very far. Depending on your weight and speed of walking it can take an hour to walk off 350 calories. If you walk a hundred yards from the car park to the coffee shop and back again you will not have used up the calories in your coffee and croissant. So you’ll get fat. That wasn’t the idea of your walking for fitness program.

Wearing the wrong shoes. If you walk in the city you can get away with trainers in dry weather. In the countryside you need strong, comfortable walking shoes or boots. Walking with blisters is not an option and neither is twisting your ankle on uneven ground. So don’t make the mistake of thinking the trainers you wore in the city can take you anywhere. If you struggle with your footwear you will shorten your walk and we are back to not walking far enough.

Eating the wrong food. Your walking fitness program must have two elements. The exercise obtained from walking and the food you eat. If you take in more calories from your food than you burn off through exercise you will get fat. So you must look at your diet and cut out all those fats and sugars.

Walking alone. This is not really a mistake as some of the most enjoyable days out can be had by yourself. It is just that it is easier to keep to a regular program of walking fitness if you do it with a buddy. You can cheer each other up in bad weather and it’s always nice to have someone to chat to along the way. For some people happiness is a wet dog. Not for me, but if you really must own one they certainly get you out in all weathers. Although their conversation leaves a lot to be desired.

In the city, of course, walking alone in the wrong place at the wrong time can be a very big mistake indeed. This can be specially true if you have a regular route. Keep to safe lighted areas and, again, walking with a buddy is a good idea.

So these are the mistakes you can make. It isn’t difficult to get it right and then you can enjoy your walking and know that you are keeping fit and losing weight at the same time.

See you soon,

20 July 2009

Technorati Tags: fitness walking program, heart health, nordic walking, nordic walking exercise, senior walking exercise, walking for fitness, walking for weight loss, weight loss

Hello Everybody,

Quality of life is the one thing we are all looking for. But what is it and how do we achieve it? To me it is being able to do what I want to do and live where I want to live comfortably and without stress from external factors. As we get older keeping active has to be one of the keys to a good quality of life. Walking is much the best and easiest way of keeping active. If walking is possible, for as we get older hips and knees are often not what they were and in later years walking may be a struggle. The answer is just to do what is possible and if walking is not an option there are chair born exercises which, although second best, do help us keep fit.

If we are able to walk there is so much to see, whether it is the countryside slipping from spring into summer or the changing shop windows in a city. Quality of life is often in our heads. It is about appreciating and enjoying what we have and accepting that there are things we can’t have or can no longer do.

Keeping independent is another quality of life goal. Older people can decrease their risk of disability and increase their likelihood of maintaining independence by over 40 per cent if they take part in a fitness walking program.

For some the very words ‘fitness walking program’ sounds scary, but there really is nothing to it. Just allow yourself a slot of an hour or so every day to go walking. All you need is a pair of good comfortable shoes and, if you expect bad weather, a waterproof anorak and off you go.

If you are unable to walk the following chair exercises are recommended by health expert Debbie La Croix.

‘Begin slow.   If you feel tired, stop and take a break. You will build stamina and strength the more you do it.

Stretching.     Many of your exercises will involve stretching your arms, fingers, legs and torso. They are as simple as lifting your arms about your head, pushing your legs out, and raising your arms and leaning backwards. Stretching is an important step to take before beginning any exercise.

Exercise Examples.  You need to exercise your arms and legs to tone your muscles and keep them strong. Some easy chair exercises for seniors include:

Boxing or punching (without fully extending or snapping the elbow)

Arm circles

Foot bounces (put your feet flat on the floor and lift your heal in time to the music, do one foot at a time, both or alternate)

Leg kicks (extend your leg and kick out)

Leg crosses (scoot down on your chair so you can fully extend your legs, Cross them, and uncross them in the air)

You want to work your lower body as much as possible. Many chair exercises for seniors involve popular warm-ups sitting down.Seated Jumping Jacks

Work your full body by pushing out your legs and arms at the same time and straightening them.

involves sitting up tall and placing your feet spread apart on the ground with all your weight. Then lift them up, cross them in the air, and place them on the floor crossed. Lift again, uncross and put down. Repeat this exercise 20 times.

Another variation of chair exercises involves standing up and using the chair for balance or as a tool. Leg squats or knee bands are a great example of standing up and using the chair for balance’.

So it is possible to keep fit to some extent whatever your age and with fitness will come an improved quality of life.

See you soon,　

Peter Stockwell.

12 July 2009

Technorati Tags: fitness walking, fitness walking program, heart health, over fifties, senior walking exercise, Senior walking fitness, walk fit, walking fitness

Hello Everybody,

Do you love coffee shops? I do - if I can find one free of badly parked pushchairs and badly behaved children. It can be a joy to sit quietly and read, or maybe write your best selling novel over a whole milk latte and an almond croissant. Utter bliss. Or it is until you consider what it is doing to your fitness walking program.

A Starbuck’s Grande with whole milk is 234 calories. Rather a lot really, but it doesn’t stop there. An almond croissant contains 520 calories. So your little morning snack has set you back 754 calories and you are only two or three hours away from lunch.

Now for a 10 stone moderately active woman that is a quarter of her required calories per day and she still has lunch and then dinner to go. It really is not the best way to lose weight.

There is a way out, but sadly it is nothing like as nice. Black coffee has about 10 calories, a butter croissant 380. So you can halve your calories and still enjoy your time in the coffee shop - if the badly behaved children let you.

There is a debate about whether or not coffee is good to drink anyway. The consensus is that 3 cups a day will do no harm except in exceptional cases. Indeed it can do good. Yet another researcher, this time Dr Arendash of the Florida Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centre, tells us that studies in mice show 5 cups of coffee a day could not only protect against the disease but in some cases reverse it.

Other research suggests 3 cups a day could reduce the danger of Alzheimer’s by 60%.

I would suggest going the 3 cups a day route. That way you will avoid being high on caffeine most of the day and will sleep better at night. I do, of course, mean black coffee. You might have a naughty but nice moment and treat yourself to one almond croissant a week. But don’t forget your fitness walking program.

See you soon,

Peter Stockwell 

7 July 2009

Technorati Tags: fitness walking, fitness walking program, heart health, over fifties, senior walking exercise, Senior walking fitness, walk fit, walking fitness