Motivation
Whenever I feel like skipping my daily exercise I think of this picture:
It's from this fitness and strength training video with Angie Flickinger at about 27 min 30 sec:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbQZSGUmmjU
There's also a newer video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDFbsYCXqcY
The slide shows the condition called sarcopenia. The thigh cross section scan on the left is from an active young woman. The cross section on the right is from an older sedentary woman. The women are about the same size and weight but the difference in the muscle (lighter gray) versus the fat (darker gray) is startling. And yes, you will never look at those packaged ham slices in the meat case the same way again ! BTW the program of exercise is a well tested regimen used around the world and is supposed to be a proven way for people to gain strength.
Now to be truthful I've never really made a consistent effort on strength training. The video workouts are about an hour long and maybe that is why I never did them. But this is probably a good time to start before I begin to lose more and more muscle.
I got caught up in the aerobics fad of the 1980s, especially using a Nordic Track ski machine for 20 minutes every day. Aerobics is more for your heart than building general muscles. Within 6 months of getting the ski machine my resting heart rate was about 60 - and it's been that way for over 30 years (tonight it was 62). I've always justified the focus on aerobics because any doctor show or crime show with a dying person NEVER shows the doctor checking the abs of the person or their thighs, always the stethoscope is being used to listen for heart sounds. But another blast from the past is: "I've fallen and I can't get up" which is REAL:
People need a certain amount of strength just to get up from the floor. When you are a kid you are always on the floor. And as a young adult especially a parent you are always on the floor with the kids or lifting them. But it gets harder as you get older. I've always wondered if that wasn't an advantage of traditional Japanese life where people, even the old, sat on the floor instead of on furniture.
Best Regards,
Chuck, WB9KZY
http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm
