I think there is nothing as invigorating in the morning as a good exercise session?
Each morning my wife and I do our 10 minute gym routine for seniors with the effervescent Joe Wicks . His big message is to keep the heart pumping and your joints moving .
This is a very worthwhile, doable routine with its 5 exercise done twice. The exercise lasts 40 seconds with a 20 second rest after each exercise.
The dumbbells are located and put in place on the appropriate place on the table .
The chair is in the allocated place for the squats and after a few stretches we are ready for Joe and his lively encouraging banter..
Firstly we do our extended stretches with arms outstretched above the shoulders and swivelling on our hips as far left and right as our grimacing faces can endure while doing the obligatory breathe in , breathe out routine and a few huffs and puffs for dramatic effect.We perform these with mouth closed lest a suspected droplet of corona might inhabit the air around us.
Next we move on to the arm movements with arms extended and rotating them twenty times backwards and twenty times forward . We remember our scapulars, opening up our shoulders and rotating in a big curl. This is a real ‘toughie’ when you are doing the full rotation and you are reminded by Joe of the need for the full rotation. Having stretched the arms forward the obligatory 20 times we change around to backward rotation.
Having stretched to the limit we proceed to the next exercise which is the chair routine.
This necessitates the stretching move of sitting on a chair and standing up at least 20 times without any support except the gluteus maximus. We must keep the weight on our heels and stand up fully and then sit down slowly squeezing our quads and keeping our legs strong.I find this exercise tough but very worthwhile which has not got any easier with 3 months practise. The routine of stand up , sit down, stand up sit down is embedded in my mind. I do think my glutes are much more toned up and my abs are truly amazing now. I am so proud of them. Your glutes of course are very important in supporting and strengthening your lower back for lifting and for general movement.
Having finished with the chair we move on to the weights .
When we started this routine, we were using two tins of chick peas but now we are up there with the sporting elite and gym enthusiasts with our dumbbells.These give us great arm exercises with the lift , swivel up and over the head, down swivel and the same again please. These keep the auld biceps in great trim.
These are truly brilliant exercises and I feel my upper body and stomach muscles are so much more toned up. I don't think I will be entering any Superman competitions just yet .
I don't see myself in competition with those bronzed or fake tan crew displaying their six packs.
Now that we are toned up in the core and the upper body it is time to concentrate on the pins below that are the basic foundations and scaffolding supporting all these newly discovered and toned up muscles.
So now we once again stretch the arms ,bent at the elbows and raised heavenwards in a prayerful fashion. You then raise the head in a kind of pleading fashion, and you start the knees up routine and do as many as you can in 40 seconds while huffing and puffing as appropriate at various stages.Joe continues to exhort us to keep going. It is real militaristic march stuff bringing your knees up and across to the raised elbows. It is truly mighty stuff. Having done all this prancing about you start all over again for round 2.
After the exertions we have the healthy breakfast starting with our 20 mls. of pomegranate juice .Then we have the overnight oats soaked in milk or the Polish Kefir.
The overnight oats are liberally sprinkled with ground almonds, roasted chopped hazelnuts, pumpkin seeds, walnut pieces and then we add in chopped apples, chopped banana and raspberries and blue berries and strawberries in season. We also add natural yogurt and Lecithin.
It is important to change around and have a range of breakfasts over a week adding in oatabix one day and maybe porridge in season,or bite sized shredded wheat. We will still add in many of the fruits in season and a variety of seeds and nuts to taste.
So there you have it. Keep well, get on the phone, keep communicating stay positive and keep reasonably fit.
Now it is time to head for the great outdoors and start my daily 5 kms or 10000 steps.
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