OT what kind of exercise do you like?

I walk 1.5 miles most days and do a 3 mile hike on weekends.
And I have a yoga practice. I am a fanatic and have been practicing for 6 years now. I take two classes a week and practice every single morning.
It's helped my back--I rarely have back trouble anymore.
It's helped my balance and flexibility and has made me strong. I can now bend over with straight legs and put my palms flat on the floor. I also can do headstands and just started doing handstands. Not bad for a soon to be 62 year old! Yoga also helps to mitigate stress--it calms me down and keeps me in the moment. I love yoga but I don't think it burns calories.

Maryb

Dance Dance Revolution.

'nuff said.

Maryb wrote:...............
And I have a yoga practice. ............ I take two classes a week and practice every single morning.
................Maryb

How long are the classes and how long are your morning sessions?

Thanks.

My favorite exercise right now is sleeping and breathing into a 6 foot hose while I do it. Very interesting new skill. The heavy breathing part mentioned above may come later. I've been having some very active dreams, though.

When I work 12 hour days, I get up in the morning at 5 a.m. and use my elliptical machine. I read or listed to books on tape so it's fun. More important, it used to wake me up enough to function, since I can't use caffeine. I'm hoping I won't need it to get myself awake now that I'm using a cpap. The other reason I do it in the morning is that I've always been too wiped out later in the day, even when I'm only working 8 hours. This is one thing I hope will change.

I haven't been doing it lately because my schedule has changed, and I'm doing early morning gardening. I love the gardening, being outside early. It's not aerobic like the elliptical, though.

Rooster, I have done yoga off and on for years. Yoga can vary, depending on who teaches it and their style. The last yoga class I took, the instructor focused a lot on the relaxation/meditation part I fell asleep a lot , having undiagnosed sleep apnea at the time . However, from that class I really learned the importance of deeply relaxing and then doing the postures (exercises). For an older person, this relaxing and then stretching/strenthening in very small increments can be very safe. But if the instructor is gung ho and pushes people it isn't as safe.

I first learned yoga about 35 years ago, and it helped my balance then and now. Even though I didn't practice it for many years, I could tell that it had an effect. This is a real benefit as a person ages.

Many of the PBS stations have yoga programs on in the morning (not the manic yoga of the cable channels). This would give you an idea of what the class would be like. If you get a DVD of Lilias from the library, you could also see what yoga is like Get a beginning video because the advanced ones can look daunting. But it's all achieved very slowly and with awareness, which makes it safe and a wonderful experience.

I'm hoping to begin doing yoga in the evening again. Sessions can be 15 minutes (very short) to an hour. There's one exercise called the "sun salutation" that I may do for about 10 minutes that gets many of the major muscle groups, and is a delight to do. Most classes are about 1-1.5 hours. One of the yoga programs on PBS is 15 minutes.

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CPAPopedia Keywords Contained In This Post (Click For Definition): hose, video, CPAP

Rooster-
my classes are 1.5 hours long each and my morning practice is about 20 minutes. I also take yoga workshops every month or so and these are about 3 hours long. And I've gone on yoga retreats for ~ 3days that have 2 hours of yoga in the morning, 2 hours in the afternoon and 1 hour in the evening. But it's the daily bit in the morning that keeps everything on track. Check out beginning classes in your area. There are various types of yoga styles. I prefer Iyengar which stresses alignment and endurance in holding poses. RosemaryB in the previous post gives some good advice about yoga.

Maryb

rooster wrote:What about yoga? Does it burn calories?

I am regularly visiting my 85-year old mom in an assisted living facility and have become aware of how many elderly people fall. For many these falls make their last days on earth miserable (and shorten their lives).

I have been told yoga can dramatically improve balance (and everything else in life according to the fanatics).

If you have tried it, I would like to hear your comments whether you are fanatic or not.

I only do a few yoga poses (hey, there are only so many hours in a day), but I know a lot of people that do yoga. Its pretty darn good for you and will indeed burn some calories, how many calories depending on how you do it.

Its great for toning you up, improving your posture and balance, keeps the joints mobile and doing nice things for your internal organs, including digestion.

My wife and one daughter does yoga off and on. My Taiji instructor did yoga for many years, the guy I sit next to at work does yoga, so I see a variety of folks that do it. And a whole lot more that would definitely benefit by it.

My taiji (or the americanized spelling Tai Chi) instructor teaches at a number of retirement homes. He has several "simplified" variations for those with more restricted abilities. Tai Chi does wonders for balance and keeping the joints moving and is excellent for the older set.

A few years ago I tried qigong (a simplified form of taiji) and really enjoyed it, but it was at my current employer and when I changed jobs I fell out of practice. About a year ago I found a shudokan dojo run by the same master who was in charge of the style I studied as a kid, so I jumped back in.

I'm VERY overweight, and now I know why I've had trouble losing it and keeping it off. I've trained hard for a year and lost zero pounds (as opposed to my lovely wife, who started a few weeks after I did and just passed the 35 pound mark. Yay for her!) Now I know that my body chemistry may have been stymied by OSA, so perhaps I can start seeing results soon!

That being said, my endurance has improved--I can do things I couldn't dream of trying a year ago, and while I'm not as...bendable...as the younger folks in my class I'm keeping up just fine, thank you. Between that and starting xPAP I feel like I'm making progress for the first time, perhaps, in my adult life.

Now I just have to find out what this "all the way awake" thing is people keep talking about...

ScottH wrote:A few years ago I tried qigong (a simplified form of taiji) and really enjoyed it, .....

quigong is also an EXCELLENT form to ease into exercise. It does a LOT for flexiblity, self-healing, and internal energy. We often start out my tai chi class with some Qigong exercises.

Some Qigong classes are offered in my local area and its worth checking out, for sure.

I think you will find as you get your Apnea therapy more and more effective, your energy will raise and the exercise of any kind will be more effective and will result in more weight loss.

Maryb wrote:.............
It's helped my balance and flexibility and has made me strong. I can now bend over with straight legs and put my palms flat on the floor. I also can do headstands and just started doing handstands. Not bad for a soon to be 62 year old! .............
Maryb

I am totally impressed! That photo avatar could be of a 35-year old.

My question about yoga concerns the knees. I had both my knees replaced less than 2 years ago. I have achieved a good angle of flex with both, but so far I am unable to kneel or put my knee to the floor for a split second without unbearable pain. I would like very much to be able to get to the floor and back up, but without the knees working right, I can't do it. Does this restriction make yoga impossible for me?

[quote="Babette"]BTW, Bast, I'm thinking of buying a reel mower. Upgrade from my wussy electric power mower, which was the upgrade from the smokey gas power mower.

I'm hankering after this one:
http://www.peoplepoweredmachines.com/su ... -mower.htm

What did you get? And how much do you love it yet? I've been reading great things online about the new generation reel mowers. My small lawns should be no sweat for one of these babys. Maybe sweat for me - but that's the point, right?

Cheers,
B.

Catnapper wrote:My question about yoga concerns the knees. I had both my knees replaced less than 2 years ago. I have achieved a good angle of flex with both, but so far I am unable to kneel or put my knee to the floor for a split second without unbearable pain. I would like very much to be able to get to the floor and back up, but without the knees working right, I can't do it. Does this restriction make yoga impossible for me?

Do you have a good physical therapist to help you with your knees? It sounds like getting that working would be important for any exercise. I have to be careful of my knees. I tore the meniscus in one of them and it kept me from exercising for quite a while, except for the exercises the PT gave me. I've had PTs for two different problems, one great and the other not very good at all. So if you've had PT already, what did they say about the pain?

About the yoga. There are many postures that do stress the knees. I'd only do it with consultation from your PT, if you have a good one. I wonder if taiji would be easier on your knees. From what I've seen (a couple of lessons is all) it seems like it would be.

For anyone who is really limited, you might try Feldenkrais. I loved doing it and it helped my back tremendously. I went to a chiropractor for years. Then did Feldenkrais for about a year and never had the back problem come back. It's extremely gentle, but effective in many ways. You need to find a Feldenkrais practitioner for this, though.

rooster wrote:

Maryb wrote:.............
It's helped my balance and flexibility and has made me strong. I can now bend over with straight legs and put my palms flat on the floor. I also can do headstands and just started doing handstands. Not bad for a soon to be 62 year old! .............
Maryb

I am totally impressed! That photo avatar could be of a 35-year old.

Rooster-
thanks so much for the complement! Actually the picture was taken when I was 58 and so is a bit out of date. My hair is grayer now but hair dye helps that!
More about yoga: find a beginner class in your area but if that is too daunting then get a beginner video. Also, be patient with yourself when you start--it will take awhile for your body to get use to it. But if you stick with it, the benefits are great.

Marb

I just picked up a basic book and two DVDs at the local library. The book has a twenty-minute beginners' workout and a more advanced twenty-minute workout. The short time is important to me because I don't want to give up my free-weight lifting and hill climbing walks.

I wonder if a twenty-minute yoga session would be a good warmup for a weight lifting session?

Running: my fingers over the keyboard
Bending: my elbow at the dinner table
Swimming: in a tub of warm bath oil suds
Stretching: to reach another bottle of water