It is recommended that you do at least 150 minutes of moderately aerobic exercise each week. There is no prescribed way for how long your workouts need to be. Even taking the stairs, rather than the elevator, can be a great brief workout to get your heart beat elevated. When you are exercising, practice mindfulness of your heart beat. If it isn’t accelerated, see if you can bump up your intensity a notch.
Remember, it’s never too late to start developing an exercise routine. Always tailor your exercises to your specific needs and abilities. If a life-altering event occurs and your routine is derailed, get back on the horse and begin again. Everyone messes up! It’s ok to be human! Consider starting by underdoing it rather than overdoing it. Discouragement can be incredibly impairing so set yourself up for success!
Three Variables to Adjust When Working Toward Fitness Goals:
Frequency: Try increasing how often you exercise. Consider working out roughly every other day. Your body may need the day in between to rest and grow muscles.
Time: Try increasing the duration of your workouts. Increase this slowly and be mindful of the way your body is responding to it. It’s ok to just do 10 minutes at a time at first.
Intensity: Try increasing how much effort you’re putting into your workout. Are you warm? Are you breathing harder and faster? Is your heart rate accelerated? You must figure out what is moderate intensity for you personally so you can coast there.
Talk Test
How do I figure out what “moderate intensity” aerobic exercise looks like for me? When exercising, try talking to a workout buddy or even to yourself. You should be able to speak fairly comfortably. High intensity aerobic exercises basically prevent you from being able to carry on a conversation because you are breathing too hard. If you find this to be the case, consider slowing down or reducing the intensity a bit. If you have a lung disease, this may be different for you. Consider using the Perceived Exertion Scale.
Perceived Exertion
The Perceived Exertion Scale simply invites you to endorse a number from 0 to 10 indicating how hard you think you are working. Zero means you are doing no work (e.g. lying down) and 10 means you are working as hard as you can (e.g. sprinting).
Heart Rate
Checking your heart rate is another way to measure how hard you are exercising. Generally speaking, your heart rate should be accelerated to about 55%-70% of your safe maximum heart rate while you are engaging in moderately intense exercise. As you age, your safe maximum heart rate decreases.
In order to take your pulse, place the tips of your index and middle fingers at your wrist below the base of your thumb. Move your fingers around until you can feel the pulsation of blood pumping. Count how many beats you feel in 15 seconds. Multiply this number by four.
How to Calculate your Target Exercise Heart Beat Range:
Subtract your age from 220:
Example: 220 – 60 = 160
To find the low end of your exercise heart range, multiply your answer in step 1 by 0.55:
Example: 160 x 0.55 = 88
To find the upper end of your moderate intensity range, multiply your answer in step 1 by 0.7:
Example: 160 x 0.7 = 112
The person in this example now knows that they should be achieving anything from 88 to 112 heart beats per minute while they are exercising.
Count how many times your heart beats in 15 seconds while you are exercising. Multiply that number by 4 so you can calculate your heart beats per minute. Does that number lie in your target heart beat range? If so, good for you! If not, consider taking your exercise up or down a notch to achieve this goal.
Warming Up and Cooling Down
Do not exercise cold. Do at least five minutes of a warm up. Gradually increase your heart rage. This reduces the risk of injury, soreness, and irregular heartbeat. Also, it is important to cool down for five minutes after your workout. Consider implementing some of the stretches we discussed in Lesson 7 as this can reduce muscle soreness and stiffness.
Aerobic Endurance Exercises
Walking
Walking is a highly recommended form of aerobic exercise as it is free, easy, safe, and able to be done almost anywhere. It is a low-impact form of exercise and as such puts only a small amount of stress on your body. You can walk while using a cane or walker if need be.
Consider alternating brisk walks and slower walks to build up your endurance and duration of your workouts. You may wish to aim for about 30 minutes of walking each day, but it is ok to start with five or 10 minutes. Be mindful of your posture while walking. If you walk with a friend, you may want to ask them to let you know if your posture starts to look bad (e.g. shoulders slouched, back bent, head down) while you are walking.
Tips for Walking
Choose your ground: Walk on flat surfaces such as tracks, shopping malls, and quiet neighborhoods.
Warm up and cool down: Have an arch to your workout such that you begin walking slowly, get faster in the middle of your workout, and end by walking slowly.
Set your own pace: Use the aforementioned talk test or perceived-exertion test to assess the intensity of your work. Keep your fitness goals in mind as well as your target heart rate.
Increase your arm workout with weights or by swinging your arms more vigorously: If you don’t own weights, consider holding cans of food. If you have lung disease you may want to avoid arm exercises as they can cause more shortness of breath than other exercises.
Shoes
Consider wearing shock-absorbing soles and insoles in your shoes when walking. You shouldn’t feel pressure on the sides or tops of your toes. Wear shoes with a continuous composite sole. Avoid wearing shoes that are too heavy.
Swimming
Swimming is another low-impact form of exercise. It allows your joints to work through the full range of motion, which can help with flexibility. Swimming also targets muscle toning and cardiovascular health. The moisture in the water can help reduce shortness of breath for those who have asthma. Such a large amount of arm movement may make shortness of breath worse for people with lung disease. Avoid swimming if you have had an implantable defibrillator (AICD). For most people, however, swimming is a highly recommended form of exercise.
If you have not swum for a long time, consider joining a class or getting private lessons. Also, most YMCAs or similar gyms have aquacize classes that can be very fun and good for you. While swimming, try out different strokes. Try to swim continuously for at least 10 minutes if possible. Please note that swimming does not improve balance or strengthen your bones. Thus, it should only be one part of your more global fitness routine.
Swimming Tips:
Consider using a mask and snorkel if your neck hurts while swimming so you do not have to twist your neck.
Consider wearing goggles if the chlorine bothers your eyes.
A hot shower or bath can help loosen you up after your workout.
Be mindful of having a qualified lifeguard on duty. Never swim alone.
Aquacize Tips (Water Exercise):
The Arthritis Foundation, numerous heart and lung associations, and various community groups can refer you to good aquacize classes.
If you have access to a pool and do not want to join a class, you can learn about aquacize through exercise books.
The Arthritis Foundation recommends a pool temperature of 84 degrees Fahrenheit
Wear something on your feet to help you get traction on the deck and pool
If your body gets cold consider wearing lyrca exercise tights and latex gloves
If you are struggling to get in and out of the water suggest that pool staff position a three-step kitchen stool in the pool by the ladder rails for you to step on.
You can use a flotation devise to take more weight/pressure off your hips and knees.
If you have had a stroke or another condition that affected your balance, have a buddy close, or even have a stool in the water on which you can sit to help with stabilizing.
Stationary Bicycling
Stationary bicycling is another excellent low-impact, easy, safe form of aerobic exercise. It can be used rain or shine and can even be performed by those with paralysis of one leg or arm.
Tips for Stationary Bicycling
Watching tv, reading, or listening to music can entertain you while you ride. At the right tempo, music can help you maintain a steady rhythm.
Start with no resistance and work your way up.
Start with about 50-70 revolutions per minute (rpm) or whatever is a comfortable speed for you personally.
Set a goal of bicycling for 20-30 minutes. Alternate brisk and slower segments of your workout. On days when you’re tired, maintain your exercise habit by reducing the resistance and rpms. Just keep doing some exercise consistently!
Keep a record of your times and distances for encouragement.
Other Exercise Equipment
Consider using a restorator (small piece of equipment with foot pedals attached to the foot of your bed or placed in front of a chair) or arm crank if you don’t have access to other exercise equipment. Treadmills, rowing-machines, mini-trampolines, and elliptical machines are great options as well.
Self-Tests for Endurance
It can be very helpful to track your progress over time. Here are some ways to do that:
Testing by Distance
Use a pedometer to track how far you have walked.
Measure distance ahead of time on the track or trail on which you plan to walk. There are numerous websites that can help you with this such as http://www.mapmyrun.com/
Testing by Time
Set a time and see how many repetitions you can do in that time or how far you can go in that time. Or pick a distance and calculate how long it took you to travel that far. Consider recording your perceived exertion as well.
References
Lorig, K., Holman, H., Sobel, D, Laurent, D., Gonzalez, V. & Minor, M. (2012). Living a healthy life with chronic conditions (4th ed.).Boulder, Colorado: Bull Publishing Company.