What are you doing to stay in shape?

[BReeves215]

I’ve been maintaining a regular practice (3-4 times/week) of yoga and/or pilates, as well as walking, biking, and/or hiking on most weekends for the last 15 years, which has helped me feel good, energized, and in fairly good shape. Now that I’m 57 I’m concerned I should be incorporating weight training to prevent bone loss and resulting injury. Problem is I really dislike gyms and I can’t afford a personal trainer right now. Any DIY suggestions?

 

[MissySki]

I’ve been maintaining a regular practice (3-4 times/week) of yoga and/or pilates, as well as walking, biking, and/or hiking on most weekends for the last 15 years, which has helped me feel good, energized, and in fairly good shape. Now that I’m 57 I’m concerned I should be incorporating weight training to prevent bone loss and resulting injury. Problem is I really dislike gyms and I can’t afford a personal trainer right now. Any DIY suggestions?

As someone who just started back at a gym and working with a trainer… I’m just not exactly sure how one would really get the most benefit out of weight training without going to a gym, unless you have heavy weights to use at home. I only go twice per week though and then do other stuff at home.

I’ve enjoyed the Peloton online app classes for strength training… But now I’m realizing that it is NOT the same. Given that I was using like 20 lb weights at home whereas I’m now doing leg presses with over 300lbs of weight on the machine in the gym. I think you would need to invest in some weights and then do higher reps with the less weight than if you went to the gym and use higher weight with less reps or to failure. I oersonally like the higher weight less reps because it feels more efficient to me and I don’t want to dedicate more time than I need to.

I had no idea I’d be doing that much, so it has really put into perspective how lacking my weight training was previously. I think upper body is a lot easier to do at home, as the weights I use there are much less… though I’d still need to invest in more than I have now and I assume that will improve and get to higher amounts over time. But lower body seems impossible to lift heavy at home without a much larger investment in equipment. So I think it would have to be less weight and much higher reps. I wonder if you could work with someone to develop a home routine for you specifically though?