Author: Bob McMillan

What a treat it is to preach to the choir. I did a talk for an active group of seniors at my home gym earlier today. They do a moderately intense exercise class called [Fusion Stretch] on Tuesday and Thursday of every week, and have a separate workshop once a month after class.  The talk was about exercising at home and on the road when traveling.

They are a motivated group. They have passed through that psychic shift I wrote about last week; That shift that occurs at the point when a person shifts from a “move away from pain” perspective, to a “move toward a goal” perspective — from “I simply want to whatever, to where they say “I am willing to do whatever it takes to reach this goal.” Want doesn’t count — being willing does.

This particular group is made up of primarily Senior men and women who want to stay healthy and fit, and get together as a group to move for an hour of fun and invigorating exercise. They enjoy being together and exercising together as a group.

I believe for many Seniors, group exercise is far more beneficial that trying to get in a good workout by themselves. Many people need the support of having a group around them. Exercise at home or by yourself can be lonely and difficult to become motivated to begin. And there is no accountability except to yourself. For some, that’s all the accountability they need. For others, they need the motivation of being accountable to a group.

Most health clubs and gyms have group classes for many different exercise levels. My home gym offers Yoga, Pilates, Zumba, Fusion Stretch and several other classes. It also also offers a boot camp style program for people looking for a more intense style of exercise.

Many years ago I participated in the original boot camp style fitness program that swept the country in the 1980s and 90s. I was in the parking lot of a Community Center or Shopping Center every weekday morning at 6:00 AM. I loved it. I was in my early sixties hanging around with men and women in their thirties and forties. I showed up every day, but for those who didn’t, the class wanted to know why. They held you accountable.

Why can group exercise be so beneficial? Here are three basic reasons.

• Camaraderie and friendship
• “The Tribe” and the associated Group Dynamics. You’ll do what the others do.
• Group accountability. If you don’t show up for a session, you are accountable to the group as to why not. Often, this accountability alone makes the decision whether you show up.

For Seniors who understand the importance and value of exercise, but who don’t want to do it by themselves, the obvious answer for some  is to find an exercise group,  join it, and then show up. You are much more likely to stick with it and reach whatever goal you have set for yourself.

Thank you for reading.

When it comes to exercise motivation, WANTING is not enough, you must be WILLING TO DO WHAT IT TAKES! That means that you can REALLY WANT to lose 40 pounds, but until you BECOME WILLING to take action and stay with it, you will never start and never stay with it. It is often “too hard” or “I don’t have time” or any of the scores of excuses that people use to keep from starting, or continuing.

We’ve been told many times, by people who really know that sort of thing, that all motivation is self-motivation and is derived from either wanting to move away from pain, or being willing to move toward something pleasurable — avoid punishment or get a reward. This is not a new concept. Psychologists and others have known it for years and most motivational theorists subscribe to it.

“Good and evil, reward and punishment, are the only motives to a rational creature. These are the spur and reins whereby all mankind are set on work and guided.”  — John Locke, English political and educational philosopher.

“Nature has placed mankind under the government of two solid masters, pain and pleasure. . . they govern us in all we do, all we say, and all we think . . . “ — Jeremy Bentham

That’s why I believe that the real  key to MOTIVATION is found in a PSYCHIC SHIFT that occurs when you mentally shift from a MOVE AWAY FROM PAIN motivation to a TOWARD REWARD motivation. It’s about the change from “I want to MOVE AWAY from the old life”, to “I AM WILLING to MOVE TOWARD a new way of life.” At the precise point where you make that change in ATTITUDE,  the PSYCHIC SHIFT takes place. That’s powerful!

“The secret of success is learning how to use pain and pleasure instead of having pain and pleasure use you. If you do that, you are in control of your life. If you don’t, life controls you.” — Tony Robbins.

The real test of continued motivation is what you do before that psychic shift occurs between the two sides of the pain/pleasure motivational cycle.

All too many people start an exercise program in hopes of removing the emotional pain of knowing they are grossly overweight, or simply recognizing that if they don’t move the way nature intended, they will slowly deteriorate as they age. Sadly they quit before that Psychic shift occurs. That’s what usually happens with New Year Resolutions. They stop before the “miracle” happens.

The new exercisers WANT to move away from their pain, but they are not WILLING to do what it takes to see it through. You can really WANT to lose that excess 40 pounds, but until you become WILLING to do what it takes, you will never stay with it when an obstacle pops up. You haven’t reached the point of psychic shift.

So start now. Take control. Change that WANT into a WILLINGNESS and then make that psychic shift from the pain to pleasure. You won’t want to stop.

“The hardest thing about exercise it to start doing it. Once you are exercising regularly, the hardest thing to do is to stop.”  — Unknown

Let the “miracle” happen.

Thank you for reading.

Do you need special equipment for a decent exercise program at home or when traveling? The answer is simple: Yes and No. Yes, you can go running or walking and all you need is a pair of decent shoes. But, as seniors we need more than just running or walking. In fact, as I wrote two weeks ago in Energy Bite 230, while some seniors are still actively running, if you are new to exercise, you probably should be walking — not running. Why not running? Primarily because of the added stress on your aging joints and other infrastructure. No matter how physically conditioned you are, if you do a lot of running, your knees, ankles and feet take a tremendous beating. And when traveling, sometimes a walk after dark in a strange town can be a bit uncomfortable.

But beyond walking, what else should you be doing. For most seniors, the goal is mobility and functionality. This includes the ability to completely control your body both during exercise, as well as for the functionality required for your day to day activities. Functionality is the ability to use your body to do the things you need to do: carry groceries and put them away, lift your infant grandchild, smoothly and easily get in and out of a car (both driver’s side and passenger side). It means the ability to push, pull, lift, carry, bend and twist, and balance. In short to move your body easily and smoothly, with complete physical control of what you are doing.

And that requires more than sitting on the couch all evening watching TV or playing on your computer or smartphone, even after a walk.

So what sort of equipment do you need to get the kind of exercise and movement your body requires to be mobile and functional? Let’s start with the equipment you see on late night TV infomercials. Do you need it? NO! The only exercise equipment I found on TV that I liked was the old time “ab wheel”. I bought furniture “sliders” at Home Depot which work better than the ab wheel, particularly on a carpeted floor. And furniture sliders are a lot less expensive.

I suggest that exercise bands and light dumbbells are great for exercising at home. The dumbbells might be a little cumbersome to take on a trip, but exercise bands are easy to jam into a suitcase and carry with you for travel.

I suggest light dumbbells of 3, 5,10 and maybe 15 pounds each for home use. You can buy them at Target, Dicks, or other big box or sports equipment stores. Use them for simple resistance exercises for your upper body, mostly your arms, legs, shoulders and back muscles. For the beginning exerciser, you can use soup cans to do most any movement you can do with a dumbbell.

I prefer resistance bands for travel. they come in several forms. You can buy them with handles or you can buy bands that look like oversize ribbons (wide bands, normally without handles). They come in various resistance settings identified by different colored bands: easy, moderate and hard, and are often sold as packages. Since one size doesn’t always fit all, I recommend the bands that come in packages of three, with varying resistance

Of course your own bodyweight and the floor are two of the best pieces of exercise equipment you have. They are free and don’t take up space in your suitcase when you travel. Depending on where you exercise at home, there is usually sufficient space to move around at home. It’s far more confining in a hotel room on the road. In travel situations, you usually have the space between the bed and either a wall or a dresser with a TV on top. Sometimes there is a couch with a table. You can always push the table to the side and free up some floor space. But it doesn’t take much space to use exercise bands.

The fact is, your body is the best exercise equipment of all. If you really want to, you can get all the benefits of most any equipment available on the market by just using the weight of your own body. The nice thing about your own bodyweight is that the difficulty of the movement can be changed simply by changing the position of your body.

That’s it. That’s all you need. If you belong to a gym or a health club, you’ll normally find all of the equipment you’ll ever need. If you choose to move your body at home, it’s really not expensive to pick up resistance bands and a couple of dumbbells. And of course, best of all, you can use your own bodyweight to get most of the resistance you will ever need.

And don’t forget to walk.

Thank you for reading.