I am the first one that will admit that I don’t exercise as often as I should. In recent weeks, I’ve been kicking myself to get back on track with this, so I’ve taken on two things:
Doing at least 20 minutes of treadmill outside, to break a sweat.
Starting to bike again: we got some really nice bike trails back in Central Florida (though Orlando is easily one of the least bycicle-friend cities I’ve seen -but that’s a different story).
Anyway, I was wondering how you all approach exercise. What do you do? How long? How often? How do you get over yourself when you don’t feel like exercising?
This discussion was a little “dead”, so I thought of resurrecting it by sharing with you the news about another very cool community hosted by Ning.com.
It’s called Health Nuts and it can be found at: http://healthnuts.ning.com. You can use your same username/password you set up for TuDiabetes.com, to join Health Nuts.
Very cool! I will go check them out. I am starting week 5 of my new, healthy, going to the gym everyday lifestyle and I stay motivated by going to the gym with a buddy. She keeps me honest. It has been hard. I am not the most athletic person (just today I’m pretty sure I broke 2 of my toes at the batting cages - long story!! ) but I keep reminding myself that I want to set a good example for Noah and to stick with it for my own good too.
M, W, F I walk at least 30 minutes outside or on the glider if I have to work late. I’m eventually shooting for 60 minutes on those days. On Tu, Th and Sat I work out with weights. My husband bought my boys this huge weight thingy since they both play football and I started using it too. I don’t know all the names of what I do, but I work both arms, legs and core. And every day, weather permitting, I am in the pool where I do different things on different days depending on my mood. At the very least I do a series of exercises under water (great resistance) and then either swimming laps or walking laps around the pool. Sometimes, the kids and I play volleyball in the pool. That is a workout. More recently, I’ve started doing other things. The boys are training hard right now for football and my husband has them doing sprints, so I decided to jump in on the fun and I’m doing two each day…its a bit laughable, but my boys are proud of me for trying. I’m also doing sit-ups and push-ups (allbeit, girlie ones) when they do theirs. So, just trying to get something in every day, some intense and some not so intense.
I’m a bit of a gym rat myself. I make my way to the gym at least 5 times a week, hitting up for 33 minutes of cardio (treadmill or elliptical, inclined with varying levels of resistance) and doing weight training and abs for about 20 minutes.
I make use of my fiance’s personal training background, subscriptions to Women’s Health, Shape, and Women’s Fitness magazines, and poking around on the internet for different exercises.
It’s tough to drag myself to the gym sometimes, but it helps to constantly arm my iPod with new music and to have Chris working out with me as inspiration. Also, finally seeing some results pushes me harder to achieve a higher level of fitness.
Something about knowing I’ll be wearing a wedding dress in 10 months is a bit of an incentive, too.
i was never a gym rat. but, as of learning about my condition, i’ve started exercising regularly.
i jog for 20 minutes daily on an elliptical machine at home. because i’ve got a weakened right leg due to nerve compression in the lower leg, which resulted in a foot drop which developed while i was in hospital, i can’t go on for much longer or my good leg begins to ache unbearably from overcompensating for the weakness in its right counterpart. after that i do about 10-15 minutes of stretching and some crunches.i’ve been trying to make this a daily affair, but so far i’m at it about 4-6 times a week. i tend to strain my good left leg a bit, so i need at least one rest day.
i can’t drive and relying totally on public transport gets me some form of light exercise too. i usually take a 15 minute walk to the train station nearest my house when i’m going somewhere. and it’s a 10 minute walk from the nearest bus stop to my house. when i’m out it also means walking quite a fair bit, especially when its the uni semester. i don’t take the shuttle buses because i find it far more convenient to walk even if it takes me 20 minutes to cover the distance between the two ends of the main campus.
I spoke with my mom recently and apparently everyone in the world even remotely related to me has diabetes. I have a hunch that I’ve had diabetes since my late teens and never realized it because of my rigorous workout schedule. I train like a boxer. How about if I just forget about the diabetes diagnosis and continue my life as if I never knew about it. Perhaps exercise can cancel everything out to the point where high blood sugar doesn’t even phase me. Possible?? I’m 35 now.
I have to admit I really don’t enjoy exercise in the slightest. I’ve found I don’t mind doing a stint on the exercise bike in front of a tv show. If it’s a good show I can go for 45-60 mins, but usually it’s 30 mins (not counting stretching afterwards). I try to do it 5-6 times a week (though lately I feel I’m in a slump and it’s more like 4-5 times a week).
I’m trying to get my courage up to go to a gym. I can get free access to a small gym through my partner’s job. I feel so self-conscious exercising around other people though.
I used to do workout tapes/dvd’s at home and when I was first diagnosed I used to go for a walk but I feel I get more of a workout on the bike (I’m very sweaty by the end of my session!).
Also, we got a Wii the other day and the boxing game feels like a big workout too!
I try to get in 30 mins of walking (with my toddler in a stroller) around the neighborhood. sometimes twice a day but its hard to get anything done with a crazy toddler. I love in Alaska so when winter hits I’ll be joining a gym with daycare.
On my lunch breaks at work, I walk around the development its only about 5-10 minutes, but its not bad. I park in the furthest parking spot and walk to the store. Basketball at the local YMCA.
Since I have limited mobility, I have a chair exercise video that I do. You’d be surprised at the muscles that you can use exercising from a chair! It’s relaxing, helps burn calories, and strenghtens some of the muscles in my body that are gradually getting weaker.
Well, I don’t do a ton of exercise, but I don’t really stop moving durring the day. I think just high activity levels of any sort are good, expecially when you work on computers all day long.
Right now I am taking a rock climbing class, which is alot of fun. I can feal my arms for DAYS after a class. While I really should be doing alot more cardio type stuff, this is a fun way to blow off any steam and focus on just getting up the rock. When you get over a really hard section, you feal like you are on the top of the world. (Having people watch you practice Dynoing though, and watching you fall does not on the other hand)
While the class is good, my main exercise is just doing things. Working on the house over the weekends, playing with my son, working on the cars, ect. Don’t take the elevator when the stairs are just as good, don’t drive when you can walk, stand on the bus instead of sitting. Little things like that work well for me.
Every morning I do some stretches and some pushups, situps, etc. I live on 10 acres of land with lots of trees and whatnot, so there’s usually work to do outside, which I suppose also helps. Besides that, I just chase around the dogs and play guitar (which can actually be quite physical).
mondays: 1 hour cycling or 1 hour water aerobics, maybe some treadmill after that if im still wide awake
tuesday: 1 hour kickboxing and 1 hour yoga
wednesday: same as monday except add 30 min abs class
thursday:stripaerobics 1 hour
friday: 1 hour free cardio- what ever i want to do, since there is no class after work, or if i have the day off, water aerobics 1 hour
saturday: 1 hour whatever or rest day
sunday: same as saturday
oh and as for motivation, I tell myself that I should be thankful to go to the gym…many people can not work out due to some sort of diability and would love to be in my shoes…to run, to walk, to swim, to cycle. You never know if you will be one of the severely disabled tomorrow, so take advantage of your body today!
It’s been different things at different times for me. In HS and college, I played volleyball and did whatever it took to stay strong for that (lifting weights, some running, drills, etc.). In my mid 20’s and 30’s I did Jazzercise a few times a week and walked some. I slacked off for a while and then hubby and I joined a gym. We started working out with the help of a personal trainer (cardio machines and lifting weights). Then I did a weight lifting class at the gym 3 times a week for about a year and started running. I’ve done a handful of 5K’s and am currently training for a couple of half marathons in the winter. This means I run 5 days a week and lift weights 2 days a week. As for motivation, I just think it’s fun to feel strong and see improvement. I’m not fast, but races are fun because I’m always trying to do better than I did the time before, and I’m surrounded by other people doing the same thing. I also like the outdoors, and running gets me out there. My best advice is to find something you like, and stick with it as long as it’s still fun overall. If it stops being fun, find something else and do that, but just keep moving.
Well, I’m doing a lot of work at home right now - so I started doing Leslie Sansone’s “Walk Away the Pounds” - I do 2 or 3 miles - several times a day. some with hand-weights. I average 6 to 7 miles a day. I’ve downloaded some of the audio onto my I-phone as well, so that I can take it to the gym or on the road with me & I also bought two of her DVD’s - so I can do it anywhere. I’m about 4 weeks into the program & I am seeing a real difference in my body and fitness level.
I have been participating in the 10,000 steps program. http://www.10k-steps.com I’ve logged my steps for 48 days and have 8 days left. So far, I’ve walked 557,003 steps. That’s an average of 9,956 steps a day. I really want to reach the average of 10,000 steps a day. So, I’d better step it up the next 8 days.
I work out 5 days a week and have a personal trainer who manages her father’s diabetes who is also on insulin. I do an hour on the ellipitical trainer and then usually 30-45 min of weights. I also bike to the gym and back and that is about a mile. So far I have lost 25 lbs in a month doing this.
