What is your excercise protocol?

[harmony]

I would love to hear what everyone does on an activity basis to maintain and improve their health.

I am trying to pull together a regular well rounded routine of exercises.

I don't want a strict schedule so much as a balanced encompassing of activities.
I find if it is a listing of 'must includes', that when I miss somethings here and there I feel a sense or failure, which really is not appropriate at all.

Daily for me:
Walking Hayley the crazy sled dog
rebounding - I try for three times a day for ten minutes but generally I get In two times.

swimming once a week

I try to include some basic work with free weights a few times a week, as well as floor exercises for toning and tightening.
I have my yoga, and Pilate's DVDs which I try to rotate .
I also on occasion do a kick boxing one, which is rather fun.
I don't care for aerobics so those tapes collect dust.

Available time is a major constraint.
I am definitely not an exercises - aholic. I need a fun connection to the activity or I find that I don't do things just for the exercise benefit alone.

Share - what do you do? Maybe I'll find some new fun stuff to keep active

[shelley]

Well I'm riding the bike around the block - all my thighs can manage at the moment.

I'm also trying to build up a whole list of "walking partners" so I can visit with my friends, socialize, GET OUT and exercise.

My dogs need their walk.

I have just one dumb-bell - manage to lose its pair, must replace it - and so I do a bit of free weights but not as regularly as I should.

I have my own dancing/stretching regimen that I created. I needed something I could do in my room that wasn't too high-impact (I'm on the second floor), taxing or boring, I think of it as a "Goddess Workout" because the trick is trying to use the widest range of movement in all areas - hips, shoulders, etc., and so you end up doing a kind of Belly Dancing pretty much. Best music for it is Loreena KcKennit, Afro Celt Sound System, Deep Forest and Peter Gabriel.

Once I'm warmed thru and thru I do some Yoga, mostly for the spine, and end with a bit of meditation.

[itslaura]

I'm getting back to exercising on a regular basis now that my basement is finished and everything is put back in. Here's what I try to do on a regular basis:

5-6 days a week: Tibetian Five Rites with a bunch of added stretches - 5 minutes on the stepper (a very basic model) - 5 minutes rebounding (twice a day)
5 days: 10-15 minutes on the stationary bike and at least 20 on the elliptical
2-3 days: upper body exercises

I take belly dancing classes once a week for an hour.

I did 6 weeks of physical therapy to strengthen my back (trying to get a breast reduction and that's part of it) and I want to start doing those exercises again at home.

Now that it's getting warmer, my husband, daughter and I will go hiking (nothing major, we're in flat Chicago! ) and bike riding.

Honestly, I hate exercising. They say that if you do something for however many weeks, it becomes a habit. I've been pretty consistent (except for maybe the past 6 months) since Fall 1998 and I still have to drag myself to do anything. If I don't, my weight goes up...like where it is now and I don't feel as good as I do when exercising. I keep hoping I'll have a change of heart and enjoy it!

[harmony]

I am in a similar state in regards to the lack of regular exercises in the past few months. I have gains a few pounds and I want them gone.
I feel better in all ways when I am lighter.
I don't enjoy the traditional exercises of the past.I really don't enjoy an aerobics class, but I do like being active and I'm coming to appreciate yoga a great deal

[Pam]

I do my rebounding 10 mins 2x a day
walk on the treadmill for 20 minutes once a day, everyday
plus I do alot of yard work, in the summer, in the winter
treadmill, free weights, and yogalitates.
Sometimes I just turn the music on and spend about an hour or so dancing with the vacumn, mop, broom and dust rag. lol

[cjb]

Hey, I found this thread while doing a search for "yoga." I have to say that I HATE exercising for the sake of exercising. In other words, I despise gyms, aerobics tapes, running around a track, etc. I don't call what I do exercise. My motto is...just like I want my vitamins to come from my food, I want my exercise to come from my lifestyle. I really felt like I was living this to the fullest when I worked on an organic farm. Now that I'm back in school, I'm more sedentary, so I have to make more of an effort to work activeness into my lifestyle.

So...to that end, I walk or bike to school, or to the store/errands, or out to eat, or wherever is close enough to walk/bike to. Luckily, I live in a town that makes this a pleasant experience.

In the summer, I'm a hiking fool. I also garden - for myself and for a living.

But the one thing that keeps me going is yoga. I do it almost every day. A fellow student once described it to me as "yoga crack," meaning it's addictive, and it really is. I have never considered it "exercise." I consider it a vital part of my lifestyle. I alternate between bikram, ashtanga (which both make me sweat and are real "workouts" - hate that word) and viniyoga, which I teach. Viniyoga is all about adapting poses and practices to changing needs and conditions, so that means I do whatever my body needs that day, which might be a vigorous practice or it might mean laying on my back and breathing. It's a wonderful tool to have, and really allows you to tune into what you need, and know that whatever that is, it's OKAY.

[spo1977]

6-8 pull ups with varied grips.
15-20 Dips
40-50 Squats using my body weight.

Its summertime so I am going back to the pool at the gym.

Considering taking up yoga, it is very strenuous though.