DAILY EXERCISES

 I've written this opinion before but will repeat it here: a lot of old folks ailments are due more to inactivity than age.  And another adage: you must have a plan of activity before you retire, otherwise you end up sitting in your chair vegetating.  My retirement plan consisted of riding my bike and writing a book about it.  I did two books.  Therefore, my exercises are undertaken to ward off some age-related ailment and/or to facilitate my bike riding.  As for writing, I do that in my two blogs.  One more thing, unless I take a sleep aid (Benadryl), I only get five hours of sleep.  Generally, I'm asleep by 10:00 pm.  What follows is my daily routine, unless otherwise noted.

Upon getting up, I'll wander to the kitchen and have ten ounces of water and a thyroid pill.  The pill doesn't require that much water, I take it to get my body moving.  Next will be a set of exercises I've been doing since 2001 and it is for my hands.  Standing, arms straight in front of you, palms out (fingers toward the ceiling).  Make a fist, hold, release.  Fifty times.  This is followed by hip circles, five each way followed by three sets of ten each way.  I used to do these while the coffee was brewing, but now I put it off until returning from the gym.  Then I do the neck exercises described in the April 19th post.

The Y opens at 5am.  They offer Activtrax, a computer trainer.  I leave the house at 4:47 and arrive at the Y at 4:58.  I set the program for forty-five minutes of upper body work and I go to the Y four or five times a week.  Even though cycling is mostly legs, to race efficiently, you need upper body strength.  Starting last year, I began working on that.  The program varies the exercises so I don't repeat them during the week.  It also gives me six abdominal exercises per day.  I do them at home, at whatever time is convenient.

I have coffee upon returning home and after coffee I do Myrtl (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mj8uZ1Qtx3M).  This is a set of hip-openers. From a prone position: Clams, Lateral Leg raise (10 each foot neutral, pointed down, pointed up). From all fours position: Donkey Kicks, donkey whips, Fire Plug, Knee circle forward, knee circle back.  From a standing position: Hurdle, leg forward, Hurdle leg backward, Lateral leg swing, Linear leg swing (first with straight leg then with leg bent).  If I happen to wake up early, I'll do these prior to the gym.

The full set of exercises my chiropractor wants me to do overlap some of the others, so might not get done in rotation.  But this consists of: Dead-Bug, clams, 4-figure stretch, Floor angel, the three neck exercises, Doorway stretch, Scapular Retraction, hamstring stretch, child's pose.  Two years ago I went to a podiatrist because of a shooting pain in my heel.  Turns out, it was caused by my hamstring.  I hadn't been doing my stretches.

After breakfast, while it settles, I do the neck-roll thing for twenty minutes.  Then the traction device.  I'm now up to fifteen.

Sometime during the day I will do standing yoga poses.  I prefer to get them done prior to getting on the bike.  With my recent transition to fixed gear, most of my cycling has been in the one-hour range, with longer rides on the weekend.  Ideally, upon finishing my bike ride, I'll do hamstring and quad stretches.  Sometimes that doesn't happen.  One thing I learned when training for my coast-to-coast ride was you don't stretch immediately after a strenuous bike ride.  You give the body time to recapture electrolytes in order to avoid cramping.  

I'm trying to incorporate Core X (https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=bhjtGRZX8j0) into the routine.  It is a great 5-minute set of exercises.  My plan is to alternate that with the Activtrax abdominal work.  When I did it in the past, it would actually take me seven or eight minutes.

I have an exercise ball that I lay back on.  Given the forward lean I get on the bike, it feels good to bend the spine the other way.  I have dumbbells in the garage, but with the gym back open, they haven't been used is awhile.