Dear LPG,

Although I am retired and have been for quite a few years now I still spend a lot of time sitting behind my computer desk.  Now that my children have flown the nest my wife and I have the house all to ourselves again and so our extra bedrooms have become our personal spaces.   Over the past few years mine has turned into a computer room essentially and I spend quite a lot of time there.

For a year or two now I have to admit that I spend more and more time working on a book that I am trying to write and, though I have always thought of myself as fairly fit for my age, my other half has pointed out that I am beginning to spread a little in the usual places.   This was the inspiration for the Christmas present that she bought me which I call the ultimate conscience jogger.

She bought me a state of the art Fit Bit smart-watch and it has had quite an effect on me.  I hear that for some it provokes them to exercise their days away and for others it can really depress, but every time I look at it or it vibrates on my wrist I become aware of how much exercise I am not doing and feel a little guilty.

It is the step count that I really don’t live up to.  Apparently the average adult should achieve 10,000 steps per day but being the average older adult I have decided that my goal is 8000.  The watch has also taught me that it is recommended that you are not moving enough unless you take 250 steps per hour and sometimes I get so involved that I don’t actually get up that often. 

But I found a solution which I thought that I had devised all by myself and that I want to share for those younger pensioners who still choose to involve themselves in the virtual world perhaps a little more than is good for their exercise regimes.

Most people who use a computer either spend some of the time reviewing what they have written or watching something on YouTube and in the couple of minutes that that takes you can convert your office swivel chair into an exercise aid.   

With my arms and elbows at shoulder level, and with hands not quite touching in front of me, I twist my arms to the left and my hips to the right, then reverse the movement creating a sort of sitting version of that chubby checker inspired dance which we all called the twist in 1961, and before I know it my 250 step problem is solved.  I did a bit of maths though and worked out that even if you let Chubby Checker guide you every hour between 9 O’clock in the morning until 5 O’clock in the afternoon it will only account for 2000 steps a day so you will have to factor in some walking or other exercise somewhere.

I thought I was the only swivel chair exerciser but no, there are chair exercises all over the internet and I hope that LPG will share the links that I have sent.  If you have an exercise orientated smart watch your stats will look better for trying a bit of this…

OW, Forest Hill

Some of the LPG group had a go at some of these exercises because, like OW, we spend quite a bit of time behind computers and we also noticed that all of the videos he has left us feature young office workers.  We had a degree of success with the one he describes but we are all pensioners too and would recommend that if you are going to try them you make sure that you don’t overreach when assessing your abilities.   A little practise has also taught us that you will need to create a little space between you and your desk to make most of these exercises work!

OW shares some theory…

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A video showing an exercise similar to the one he was describing…

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Some more advanced things to try if you are up to it…

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… and Chubby Checkers inspirational song …

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