The Joy of Exercise

It’s simple, inexpensive, can be done anytime, anywhere, and it can be done alone or with somebody. No waiting for a tee time, no trying to get a tennis court, no looking for a hoop to use for your round ball practice, and no trouble with not getting the team together to practice. Walking is not a team sport. Hooray!

How’s your heart? Over the past 30 years, heart attacks have tapered off a little. This is due to many factors, including fewer smokers and more exercise. (more…)

Wrist Rotations

Start in Supported Virasana.

1. Exhale, extend through the fingers.
2. Inhale, release. Repeat 5 times.
3. Exhale, hold the extension and simply rotate the hands around the wrists 10 times, then reverse rotation opening the front and back of the wrist.
4. Inhale, keep breathing, relax and shake the hands out.

Wrist Stretch

This is a variation of the Wrist Rotations. Extend the arms straight out in front in line with the shoulders. (more…)

Savasana, or relaxation, is an internal workout, and it’s vital to come into Savasana at the end of your practice, allowing time for the body to absorb and integrate all your hard work.

Learning to relax is part of living well, but for some, this is one of life’s greatest challenges. In our busy and sometimes stressful lives, it’s hard to find the time to simply stop and be. Without being aware of it we are using up huge amounts of energy which can cause an overload on the bodily systems and create exhaustion. Then mental fatigue sets in and the body becomes tired and tense, leaving it vulnerable to disease. (more…)

It’s time for action, a gentle 10-minute warm-up to prepare both body and mind for the aerobic and muscular exercises in the main circuit.

Time invested in this part of your workout will pay good dividends.

• You want to work your way around your body, mobilizing each joint so that they move smoothly and safely. Try to act normally in the water. Move in a controlled and graceful manner, without cutting corners or becoming instantly uncoordinated.

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The mind-muscle link is a neurological pathway that is developed with experience in progressively contracting muscles during resistance exercise. Essentially, it is learning to feel the muscles work through a combination of strict form, mental concentration, and well-executed repetitions—all of which combine, in another of those synergistic systems, to create heightened outcome. To develop a muscle, it is essential to feel it work. (more…)

As I mentioned before, in the discussion of intensity in exercise, ground zero is this concept of positive failure, in which the last repetition you do in a set is the last one that you can possibly do without getting assistance or breaking good form. You must use a certain level of intense focus and physical effort to make sure that positive failure is truly all you can give, within the parameters given above. (more…)

Probably the most neglected of all activities that can build health and fitness, walking can be tremendously enjoyable no matter what your physical condition. The rewards are many, varied, and immediate. There are the delights of feeling fresh pure air entering your body, the tingle of a cold morning, the wind and rain on your face. You can become absorbed in the sights you see—wild honeysuckle on a summer evening, the antics of birds, the fascinating patterns made by water, the power of the wind, the delightfully absurd goings-on of other people, the sounds and smells. Such things, if you have the eyes to see, can engage your mind and dissolve your sense of time and thoughts about stressful aspects of your life. (more…)

This feeling of lack of time and neglect of their physical fitness not only affects the fitness itself but it increases the stress of an already stress filled life.

Then they rush by car to the nearest gym and work out for an hour. The businessman showers and rushes back to his office and maybe complains to his secretary that he had lost his earlier parking place and even had to walk three or four blocks to get back to the office (the walking probably did more good than the gym exercise). The woman after exercise maybe lights a cigarette and rushes to pick up one of her children where she may be a little late and has to be careful not to take her momentary frustration out on her children. (more…)

It may be a disappointment to some of my readers when they realise that this method of exercising, in spite of being Scottish, does not start with a glass of whisky.

I am a Scotsman and I must point out that the idea that Scotsmen are mean is not true. What they really are is absolutely fair: they demand full value for what they buy or acquire and at the same time they are sure to give the same. Every payment must be given full value and every effort must be used to its maximum effect. This applies even to physical movement.

I am an opera singer and I was for over thirty years a leading soloist of the Vienna State Opera. I was well known in Austrian society and counted many of the world’s leading doctors as my friends. (more…)