Dear LPG,

We have no excuse to not have something to celebrate.  Every day is now a reason to celebrate at least one aspect of life these days and today is no exception.  It is Saturday which often means shopping day for many, but today is also National Fitness Day.  

I am sure that the next thought in many older heads will have something to do with why this celebration needs to be acknowledged by anyone over retirement age.  Celebrating exercise and fitness conjures up thoughts of the younger people running marathons and showing off toned, muscular bodies like the ones that we are never going to have again, while the whole concept just reminds us oldies of how much harder it is to move any part of our anatomies without feeling a degree of pain.

That pandemic we are just beginning to see as something that has happened, rather than something we are still in the middle of, has left so many of us with an excuse to get out of the habit of doing the bits of exercise that we used to manage.  So many clubs and day centres which used to incorporate an exercise class of some kind have either closed altogether or been suspended indefinitely.  

After some two years of inactivity, while the spirit is willing, it is no wonder the flesh is having problems doing much about it, but perhaps, while the young are down at the gym, today is the day for us older people to get started again by adding just a five-minute-routine to the day.  perhaps, in recognition of the sentiment of the day and the needs of your body, this might be the day and the way to get back into it.

I know that I would be embarrassed to attempt any sort of exercise in public right now.  Are you, like me, very aware of those things that you used to be able to do which you have not done for so long now that you wouldn’t want to try them in public?

I have found a few internet routines that might help you get back into better shape.  Why not try a short daily morning routine or team up with one friend to start your quest to get back to better fitness with one of the five-minute (well short-ish) routines below?   

MA, Catford 

LPG would remind readers that a talk with your GP might be a way forward before you start, but don’t let not having that chat be an excuse to postpone your new routine…

 While there are lots of other exercise videos, MA offers the following as a starting point…

(►►►)   (►►►)     (►►►)    (►►►)   

  (►►►)     (►►►)