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Active Adult Living Del Webb Communities

Exercise Workout Routines

I took the above photo of our gym at Village at Deaton Creek at 7AM this morning. 7AM I have found is a great time for me to exercise. It sure is nice to have a gym in our activity center.

7AM is works for me because it is early enough not to be the least crowded.

Exercise Not Talking

AT 7AM, the social takers have not yet arrived. They seem to do more talking than exercising. They gather around the coat rack or the water fountain and if you start a conversation there with them, you are likely to be there at least 20 minutes. That cuts into your exercise time.

Don’t get me wrong, I love to talk with people and  several of the social talkers are my good friends. That makes it harder not to talk for a while. Some people have told me they went to exercise but ending up talking and did not get any exercise done!

It is easier to have some small talk when using the exercise machines. But when I am race walking on a treadmill at 5.2 miles per hour, it takes my full focus to maintain my pace.  If I talked it could be dangerous as I would probably fall off.

In fact, I try to look straight ahead and not even at one of the 4 TVs in front of me.  CNN and Fox News doesn’t seem to go with exercise anyway.  If you are going slow enough to watch TV, you are probably going too slow.

Several people do have ear plugs while using their treadmills.  Besides TV stations, they do offer radio stations. On my smartphone I used to listen to a great running playlist of music that I really looked forward to.  Too bad they don’t let you listen to music in race walking competitions.

Forming an Exercise Habit

The other thing about hitting the gym at 7AM is that you  can get your exercise done for the day. Every active adult should have an exercise routine.

The key to developing an exercise routine is making it a habit to go to the gym everyday at the same time. When I wake up at 6AM, I like to drink two glasses of water and have a Cool Mint Cliff Bar with caffeine equal to one cup of coffee. That is enough before I exercise. Then after I exercise and return home, I eat a small breakfast.

It nice to be back in an exercise routine. It makes training some much easier.

Categories
Active Adult Living Retirement

Planning Your Schedule in Retirement

When we were in the work world, we had a routine didn’t we? You knew where you were going each weekday and most likely what you were going to be doing.

Then finally retirement comes along and you rejoice in not having a routine. You don’t even have to set your alarm clock for a change.  Just get up and do what you want to do. Not what the boss wants you to. Nice.

But then you realize there are pitfalls.  One day you don’t get dressed until noon and some days you may not even go out of the house.  Having a lot of free time without anything to do leads to problems.

You realize you need physical and mental activities. You need and miss socialization.  You start doing things again, things you look forward to and want to do.

In an active adult community there are plenty of things to do and people to do them with.  At first when you are new, you want to try as many things as possible and actually that is a good way to find out what you really like to do. But you find out you can’t do everything. In fact, more is not necessarly better.  One, two or three scheduled activities a week is just fine for many folks. Some want more.

Planning Your Retirement Schedule

You realize you are missing out on some things you really wanted to do. You check the activities calendar and do some juggling on your schedule.  You discover  planning your schedule in retirement is key!

Then you realize there is a pattern, a routine of events and activities. You sign up for the bocce league and get assigned to play every Tuesday at 10am.   Or, you play pickleball with a group every Tuesday and Thursday.  On Monday and Friday you take a Cardio Sculpture class from 11am until noon.  My wife, Mary Ann, is likely to play Hand and Foot card game with a group every Tuesday from 1pm until 3:30pm. I play Hearts on Wednesday.

Be the master of your own schedule

It is ideal to schedule some physical, mental and social activities. A lot of activities cover some of each.

You find it best not to crowd your schedule. You are not trying to schedule your whole day. Most days I have something scheduled. Today it’s trivia at 4pm. Then there is always filler activities like going to lunch, taking a walk, visiting the gym or the library and many more.

The weekend comes and everyone takes a break. There are not as many scheduled events on the weekends at active adult communities. Next week we start again.

Your schedule starts to settle down to a comfortable pattern. The activity is always fun but you no longer have to hassle with planning your day. You have developed a routine and a schedule. Life is good!

Developing and planning your schedule is part of part of the adjustment to a successful retirement.

Enjoying busy my way!
Enjoying busy my way!