If Not Now, When?

Fitness-After-50 - Thomas D. Manfredi, Publisher
tom@fitness-after-50.com
http://www.fitness-after-50.com
February 6, 2006; Vol. 2, Issue 2
Published the first Monday of every month

THIS ISSUE: Couch Potato Exercises

Table of Contents:

1) Editor's Note
2) Food for Thought
3) Feature Article: Couch Potato Exercises
4) Teleclasses
4) Question & Answer
5) Our Services

Editor's Note

Hi,

I hope you are doing well and that your health and fitness goals are coming along.

I had the chance to get back to Chicago (my home town) on business in mid January. Since both of my kids and their families live in the area, I made plans to stay for the weekend. It was absolutely great! I spent all day Saturday visiting with my son and my two youngest grandsons, ages 1 1/2 and 5. I got to play computer games and crawl around on the floor all day long. Boy oh boy, the little ones sure do have a lot of energy! Saturday night I headed over to my daughter's house to spend the evening and all day Sunday with her and my two older grandkids, ages 9 and 12. I got to see all the Christmas gifts they got, which was fun since my wife and I weren't there for the holidays this year. We also went ice skating (I just watched), and I took them to the show to see the "Chronicles of Narnia". I stayed over at their house Sunday night, and headed back to Arizona on Monday afternoon. But, not before I got the chance to walk my 9 year old grand daughter to school on Monday morning. I wasn't sure why she wanted me to walk her to school, since her and her brother usually walk the two blocks by themselves. Well it turned out that she wanted to do a "grandpa show and tell" for her friends. She asked me to wait in line with her out in the school yard, and she introduced me to each of her young friends as they showed up. It was kind of cute, but I almost froze. I'm not accustomed to the cold temperatures of Chicago in January anymore. Oh well, it was for a good cause.

Back here in Arizona, we've been having a typically mild winter accompanied by a record breaking draught. As of today, we haven't had any rain for 111 days. They say that this means our fire season will be starting earlier than normal, which is definitely not a good thing.

This coming weekend our town is having its annual Gold Rush days. There will be a big parade, a carnival, a huge arts and crafts fair, and a number of other events. We get about 60,000 -70,000 people coming to town for the event. It's a lot of fun.

I think that's enough personal news for this issue. I'll talk with you again next month.

Best Wishes,

Tom Manfredi
tom@fitness-after-50.com
fitness-after-50.com

Food for Thought

Feature Article - Couch Potato Exercises

Have you ever had the chance to observe an animal in the wild up close? Did they look over weight? Probably not. Why do you think that is? It's because they get all the exercise they need in their regular daily lives. They don't need to join a health club or buy expensive exercise equipment. Everything they need to stay in shape is in their environment.

Generally, modern day humans seem think that they must do some extraordinary things to keep their bodies in shape. If you are a professional athlete or body builder, that may be true. But, for those of us that just want to stay fit, the challenge is different. It requires a little bit of a mind set change, but it's a lot easier and more convenient than you might think.

Do you watch television? Do you consider yourself something of a "couch potato"? Many of us spend a few hours a day watching something on the TV. Well, guess what? If you watch TV that means that you are subjected to commercials. Commercial breaks, on average, last anywhere from 2 to 4 minutes and there are at least 6 to 8 of these during every hour of television. That means that for every hour you are in front of a TV, you have at least 20 minutes you can devote to the pursuit of your fitness.

Let's look at some of the things you can do while commercials are trying to get you to buy the latest low fat snack food or explain to you why you really have to have that new car. While seated in your easy chair or on the couch, you can raise your arms over your head or reach down toward the floor and stretch your shoulders, your back, your arms, or your legs. Also, if you keep some stretch bands next to that easy chair, you could pick them up during a commercial break and do some repetitions to strengthen your arms and legs. If you push yourself to get up from that favorite chair, you could get down on the floor and do a few sit ups or push ups, or you could do a variety of different floor stretches. The point is, that with little or no equipment or room, you can turn those wasted minutes during commercials into valuable exercise time that can help you become more fit.

Animals in the wild, and even our household pets, know how to make the best use of their time and circumstances to get the exercise they need to stay fit. There is no reason why we can't do the same thing just by utilizing the wasted time we spend in front of our TV's during commercials. And, if you want to get really motivated and fit, you can expand the idea of stretching and exercising to include the entire time you are in front of a TV. For many of us, that will give us hours every week in which to fit in the exercise we didn't think we had time for.


(c)2005 Thomas D. Manfredi, MS

Teleclasses

I will be announcing upcoming teleclasses in this section in the future.

If you have a topic that you would be interested in hearing about in a teleclass, send an e-mail to mailto:teleclasses@fitness-after-50.com

Questions and Answers

About Our Services

Online fitness coach Tom Manfredi is the creator of the site "fitness-after-50". This site is designed with the mature adult in mind. There is a lot of information available on the site for anyone looking to start or restart a sensible exercise program. Learn more by going to fitness-after-50.com



Tom Manfredi, 1218 Easy St., Ste 101, Wickenburg, AZ 85390