I was amazed at how much more strenuous *digging* is than walking! E.g., I can walk (at a brisk pace) for an hour and my heart will return to its nominal 66 bpm in a matter of 10-20 seconds. OTOH, dig for two minutes and it's hammering away!
Yes, the slack is the problem!
E.g., my two primary workstations are at the "inner corners" of the "U"-shaped worksurface. But, each feeds the *three* monitors along that bottom loop of the "U". So, the workstation on the left has to feed monitors 1, 2, and 3 (left to right) over the span of about 4 feet. The workstation on the right feeds monitors 3, 2 and 1 (right to left) over the same 4 foot span.
Monitor connections are about a foot above the level of the worksurface and pulled slightly forward. Computers are ~2.5 feet below. So, you've used the entire length of a 6 ft cable just to go "point-to-point" from each machine to its monitors. Try to pull the computer out a foot and you find your cable is short by that foot! :-/
And that ignores any other connections (SCSI, USB, serial, parallel, power, network) that might be associated with the machine(s).
[It's a veritable jungle of wires under there!]
My MIL is 90, and she's just now starting to slow down a bit.
A few years ago I had pain in my right rotator cuff, and it seemed like it would never stop hurting. But, luckily, after about 2 years of babying it, it finally healed up and doesn't hurt any more.
I've hurt my back several times and chiropractors did their thing for me. The last time I picked up a laundry basket that turned out to be heavier than I expected it to be and felt something in my low back object. It hurt so badly that I thought I had done something really serious to it because I could barely walk. I ended up in the chiropractors office every day for a week, and he adjusted my back each day and had me walking comfortably after the 2nd adjustment. I was able to get on a plane at the end of the week to go to my daughters wedding out of town, but I had strict orders that I wasn't allowed to life anything and to see him again when I got back to finish up the treatments. After that incident, I'm really careful about lifting stuff.
Doing the under the dash yoga hurt when I was 20...
I know a lot of "seniors" who THINK they cant do a lot of stuff anymore. I'm in that same age group. I dont ACT OLD. We all have a choice. We can ACT OLD, or ACT YOUNG. I have a few health issues, but I will continue to ACT YOUNG, and enjoy life till the day I drop dead.
I know far too many seniors who seem to spend most of their lives thinking about nothing but health, medications, aches and pains, and let doctors rule their lives. It's like those commercials on ME-TV. I love their programs, in fact thats about all I even watch on TV these days, but their commercials are horrid. 95% of them are about illness, medications, funerals, life insurance, and other thngs that society wants seniors to spend all their time thinking about. They have the absolute worst and most depressing commercials of any tv station. But we must all realize that the bottom line is that they want out money. Doctors and Insurance companies will take every last cent we have, if we let them.
Personally, I tell them all to "get f***ed". I wont give one cent to a life insurance company, and while I will go to a doctor when I am really sick, I avoid seeing them the rest of the time. I'm tired of hearing "at your age, you need all these tests". Fuck their tests. As long as I'm still moving, I'll keep moving, rather sitting in their waiting rooms, so they can tell me everything wrong with me, and end their discussion by saying "it's part of aging, but if you take all these poisons (drugs), we'll keep you alive for many more years".
I've told many doctors EXACTLY where to shove their poison drugs.... (which most of the time the side effects are 10x worse than what they are supposed to cure).
I force myself to walk some distance, but if I don't do it, I won't be able to. Steps are more difficult and ibuprofen is a regular part of my diet.
My wife had CHF about 15 years ago and is now borderline for valve replacement. It will be covered 100% with insurance if it does happen. I think the big difference is how we pay for it. I pay for insurance, you pay in taxes though overall it may be cheaper for you.
Per Ed Pawlowski:
I was looking at electric stair climbers for awhile - but concluded that their slowness would make me crazy.
Per Micky:
Husband of a couple we socialize with had that happen - but he fell down the flight of stairs and blew out his knee.
Per Don Y:
During warm weather I tend to bike - but not on roads.
During cold weather the solution that has proven itself to me over a number of years has been a PreCor Model 100 elliptical machine plus music at the local Y.
I specify Make/Model because I find other elliptical machines to be severely wanting by comparison.
In fact, before I discovered this thing I thought elliptical machines were for wimps - that *real* men used the StairMaster...even had a StairMaster knockoff in my garage.
But this elliptical machine gives me the most elevation in heart rate with the least perceived exertion of anything I have ever done. It's like swimming standing up.
Couldn't do it without music (or, maybe TV or a book)... but I have music and the pleasure outweighs the pain long term.
Per Dan Espen:
...
I have found that, with strength training, there is room to make it at least neutral while actually doing the reps - and pleasurable afterwards as the pump sets in. I'm not saying it's the greatest thing in the world, but it's something I can deal with 2x per week for a half hour to supplement the 1 hour cardio I do on the other days.
Per Don Y:
I avoid digging and shoveling snow. Both are just too far outside of my accustomed exertion window.
Guy I used to work with went outside one night to dig a drainage ditch around the house because of severe rain.
Wife found the body next day...
Have installed a couple for friends...they have been a veritable godsend for both. It has opened their houses back up for them.
There aren't many options here that don't involve roads -- without "taking a drive". We can bike along the "wash network" but it would be a leisurely stroll as you'd be biking amongst folks walking (like on a sidewalk).
The city tends to be bike friendly. But, that doesn't mean the
*drivers* are! And, with most roadways 4 or 6 lanes, left turns get to be a real hassle -- you either turn from the innermost lane (and find yourself trapped against the median after the turn, trying to "get right" across a couple of lanes of traffic), or turn from a "middle lane" (rightmost left turn lane) and hope you don't get clipped by through traffic while you wait to cross.Most of the pro/semi-pro bicyclists who train here gain protection by traveling in "packs" -- effectively occupying an entire traffic lane! Hard to do that with one bike...
Excellent! I will try to track one down! I've been considering buying something so I'm not governed by weather, time of day, etc. with my exercising (walking). But, know too many pieces of equipment that get bought then become dust magnets.
For me, the advantage to a machine is that I could rest a book on the handlebars -- not possible to read while walking otherwise (the book bounces around too much).
The problem with exercise (and diet and other lifestyle choices) is that the costs tend to be deferred -- until a point where you can't recoup your losses. OTOH, the (apparent) "savings" are immediate: "I can enjoy this unnutritional -- but tastey -- meal RIGHT NOW!"
(sigh)
Time to load the car...
All things considered, not a bad way to go.
...if he fell in the ditch...another problem solved.
Found him the next day? Uh, .... oh never mind. Living alone my neighbors the ones who also live alone, we kind of check on each other, sometimes.
It's an unavoidable evil ... but I actually stay pretty active in other ways too . Unfortunately there's more diggin' in my future , but I might just rent that trac-hoe again when it's time to start the bedroom .
Per Don Y:
Have you tried music?
Probably not for everybody, but for me it introduces a feelgood factor.
Books/TV, OTOH, just distract me from the effort - not a bad thing - but music actually enhances the sensation.
Per Dan Espen:
Tough on the wife, though.
Maybe, maybe not. If a guy dies working in the yard, first of all, he died outside, not in a hospital room hooked up to machines. That alternative could have been much harder on the wife.
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