I have a rebounder (although it was shaking my brains), but my neighnour who lives on the floor below me went beserk! I am now too frightened to use it! I need to find another cardiovascular exercise I can do at home. I am a good walker, but on these rainy winter days I am not getting enough exercise.

Any suggestions? What do you do?

I heard that walking and running are very good cardiovascular exercises. I would take it easy on the running though if I had a weak heart, but I'm no Doctor.

I have a daily schedule that I try to stick to. It includes situps, pushups, chinups, reversed chinups for triceps, standing on my hands, and some back exercises and stretching - all with free weights (just my body) except one back exercise. This is what I love.

I also try to stick to running for twenty minutes two to three times a week.

Do you wanna excercise indoors? Perhaps you need some expensive equipment for that if you want to do some fitness training. I don't think you should buy one of those ropes if you want to keep the noise low. haha.

I wholeheartedly recommend a chinups bar which you can place in the door opening.

Hope this helps,
Robin

I recently discovered one great walking and aerobic exercise I can do at home when it rains. It's a video using heavyhands weights. If you don't know what heavyhands are, you can go to www.heavyhandsfitness.com for information and purchase of the video. Heavyhands are small dumbell-like weights with a stationary strap that fits over the back of your hands, so you don't have to grip the weights.

Heavyhands were developed by Dr. Len Schwartz, a runner doctor who suffered a running injury and wanted to keep working out. The doctor is 79 now, and he's in incredible shape!

The website above sells a video on walking outside with heavyhands and also a video on the indoor workout. I walk outside with the heavyhands usually a couple of times a week or so.

The weight ends are interchangeable, so you can work out with a variety of weight sizes. I started with 2 lbs on each hand and now I'm using 3 lbs. They only sell a medium and large size, and I have very small hands, so I need to wrap cloth around the straps to keep them on tight, but that's not a problem.

I also do yoga, but after menopause, my weight starting to rise (even on raw food). Running and heavyhands keeps my weight steady and definitely has built my strength and tone.

Good luck Rosemary, -Ally



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/17/2007 08:37PM by suncloud.

my aim is to walk 5 miles a day. i don't always make it but i try to at least walk 2.on my days off i walk 5 miles.i have a cardio stride treadmill.my gosh! it is torture.the little boys run like little crazy hamsters on it.i cann't.i also have a walking dvd...it is 4 miles.taylor

Tango dancing.
Kung Fu.
Running.
Hula-hooping.
Kayaking.
Hiking.

Probably some others I'm forgetting right now.

weights and love hiking

Yoga, massage and the five tibetans [www.lifeevents.org]

i always answer this the same way. i chase small children around all day. ha ha, but it's true. done with some body consciousness it's the equivalent of stretching, aerobics, weightlifting and a cardio workout all in one! and it really is all day long too.

i started fostering rescue dogs

an automatic 4 walks a day at least

and one of those is either in the woods
or at the beach

I've been walking a lot. A year or two ago I realized that I really enjoy walking. I once walked for three weeks with no destination other than to get to the next town. It was great. I would have continued but my feet got cut, then infected, so I was down for a while. Other things cropped up while I was recovering and so decided to quit. It felt so good to just walk ... for hours and hours a day. Day after day.

I have started to do Kundalini yoga using Gurmukh's DVD. For a 58 year old lady, she looks and sounds incredible. Of course there are parts of the routine though that you won't be able to do if there is someone in an apartment below you who wouldn't like hearing thump thump thump for a couple of minutes straight. Actually, there isn't that much jumping around. I don't know other Kundalini yoga styles but I think I've read that this lady has a unique, very different style. I would like to have more strenuous yoga but this is okay for me for now.



This way is not compatible with Zen practice. This way IS Zen practice. - Dr. Doug Graham

Nothing whatsoever should be attached to. - Buddha

Sometimes I use my elliptical or I do sit ups. I recommend exercise balls, they are nice and quiet =)

I do yoga, run, hike and I do strength training. Do you like yoga? There are some wonderful yoga dvd's that you could use at home. The yoga I do is a mix of going to a studio and doing dvd's at home. If you are interested, I can recommend a few to you.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/18/2007 04:04PM by Yogamama.

thankyou, yes I do yoga, but I'm looking for a quiet cardiovascular workout!

Oh, I missed that part of your post!

thanks yogamama anyway...

there are some cardio pilates routines out there. you'd have to get a book or video from the store or library though, i haven't found a link to anything free.
do you have a bike? a pool nearby? aquafit is Awesome! super low impact and what a work out.

omg this is funny, what is wrong with healing and lying in bed ? lol

just kidding, but I have a point..

My exercise is bike riding to the supermarket to get food.

When I am not lazy I go to ballet class.

Sometimes sit in a hot tub, is that exercise?

There are a number of hatha yoga asanas that will provide ample cardiovascular benefit. Sun Salutations is probably the best known, but the key to any of them is breath consciousness. A personal favorite is simply going briskly back and forth between Up Dog and Down Dog with deep breathing all the way down into my belly which will heat up and open both the front and back of my body. If I get winded, I'll rest for a few breaths in either pose and let gravity continue to stretch and open the body. Best of all is it's free, nothing to buy to do yoga and it can be done anywhere.
Uti

that is true, ashtanga yoga will get the heart pumping!

If you do not like going to the gym, then Never Gymless is one of the best bodyweight books out there.

You can find it at [www.rosstraining.com]

24 Hour Fitness! Swim Swim and Swim. Playing in the ocean is fun too. Trail running at Fullerton Loop and Irvine Santuary. And Mountain Biking.

My exercise is just life; I walk everywhere, which equates several miles per day, and that's really all I need; in the summer I also climb trees to pick fruit.

Force the change you want to see in the world through direct, socialist democracy!

[www.dreamingearth.net]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/19/2007 03:15PM by dream earth.

Usually my regime consists of crunches, pushups, and flutter kicks. I also have been doing a few more pilates workouts especially on my exercise ball. I have free weights but don't use them as much. Right now I'm trying to rid myself of this nice little post partum stomach pouch I have going on . I've lost most of the weight from the pregnancy (I'm almost 3 months PP), but that little pouch in the front just does NOT want to go away

Also, I agree with GotVeggie - Swimming is amazing . I'd be doing that now but it is far too cold here.

____________________________________

~Christi~
Natural Living Info
AP/NL mama to Jacob 10/25/2006

uti Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> There are a number of hatha yoga asanas that will
> provide ample cardiovascular benefit. Sun
> Salutations is probably the best known, but the
> key to any of them is breath consciousness. A
> personal favorite is simply going briskly back and
> forth between Up Dog and Down Dog with deep
> breathing all the way down into my belly which
> will heat up and open both the front and back of
> my body. If I get winded, I'll rest for a few
> breaths in either pose and let gravity continue to
> stretch and open the body. Best of all is it's
> free, nothing to buy to do yoga and it can be done
> anywhere.
> Uti


I absolutely agree with that statement. My Yoga workouts really get my heart going. I don't "need" to run, but I do because I love it. Here is a good article for you about Yoga and it being a good enough cardio workout:

[www.yogajournal.com]

personally, since yoga is a religious practice i avoid using it for exercise. in this culture we treat it like yogaerobics, it's a shame. something to think about.
kudos to all who do observe the practice with honour and respect. i'll stick with pilates

Just out of curiousity, why do you consider it a "religious" practice?

I simply went out and bought a skipping rope and a rubber mat and that solved my indoor cardio issues with my own downstairs apartment dwellers. Skipping is good and the mat deadens the skip noise (as well as a bit easier on my ankles/knees/hips)

oh and if it starts getting too easy after awhile ...i started adding ankle wrist weights to my skip session to pump it up a bit



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/19/2007 06:30PM by Jgunn.

it IS a relgious practice in it's country of origin that's been appropriated and commercialised by western culture at large.
[en.wikipedia.org]
lotus wear and mirror lined studios and yoga teacher training with no hint of anything beyond the postures and how it can make your butt look are right up there with tattooing an ohm on your body. here, we love to pick the bits and pieces of other cultures that please us and absorb them into our culture with no respect for their history or true purpose. what was and is a practice of spirit has become entirely about working out. i choose to show my respect for ancient practices that i can know next to nothing about by not using them for stretch and strength training. pilates, weightlifting, or some other form of workout activity that's sole purpose is just that seem much more honest to me. just MHO.

coco Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> it IS a relgious practice in it's country of
> origin that's been appropriated and commercialised
> by western culture at large.
> [en.wikipedia.org]
---------------------------------------------------------
It came from a huge country which had (still has) thousands of variations because it was mostly taught by personal transmission to illiterate people. -U
-------------------------------------------------------
> lotus wear and mirror lined studios and yoga
> teacher training with no hint of anything beyond
> the postures and how it can make your butt look
> are right up there with tattooing an ohm on your
> body. here, we love to pick the bits and pieces of
> other cultures that please us and absorb them into
> our culture with no respect for their history or
> true purpose. what was and is a practice of spirit
> has become entirely about working out. i choose to
> show my respect for ancient practices that i can
> know next to nothing about by not using them for
> stretch and strength training. pilates,
> weightlifting, or some other form of workout
> activity that's sole purpose is just that seem
> much more honest to me. just MHO.

Coco,
Yoga a religious practice? Anything can be put into form and made into a religion, including a raw food lifestyle. That's the human condition; to put everything into a box, to keep it in the known.

I personally experience yoga as more than a religion; for me it is a spiritual practice...getting one-on-one with God. Cleansing, purifying, and polishing the body vessel is a way to honor God and temper the being in preparation for a unified experience of God while in a human body. At least that's my understanding of the meaning of the ancient texts. I don't care much for the words anyway, it's the experience I'm interested in.

Hatha yoga, as you correctly noted, has been welcomed by westerners simply for the physical body benefits. It's just a starting place, Coco; the first step of a ten thousand mile journey into the unknowable and inconceivable. Do you really think that Mother cares if some of Her children only take a step or two in any given lifetime? Do you really think that She cares if someone is doing her yoga dressed in spandex standing on a sticky piece of foam or is naked standing on a simple piece of woven cotton? There are many doors to the temple, Coco.

I know a lot of people who came to the yoga to heal this or that in their body and eventually discovered that hatha yoga could be a lot more than exercise. And I also know a lot of loving people who aren't drawn to experience yoga as anything other than a gentle and peaceful way to exercise their bodies. Coco, I find it very painful that you are so judgemental of the later by calling them dishonest. I think they're just the opposite...honest enough to admit that what they want at the moment is just to feel better at the end of their workout than when they started. I find it very painful that you would deny anyone a microsecond of the grace of God because they aren't doing yoga in a way that you think it should be done. What a small universe that thinking comes from. I find it very painful to read that you even deny yourself the opportunity to get down on the floor and experience the grace of Mother with a little hatha yoga because you're afraid that you'll be disrespectful of a traditional yoga approach. What are you afraid of? That God will strike you dead for taking a few of the goodies. I got news for you. You can't take what she gives freely. All I see is a controlling mind talking you out of your experience.

Uti

If someone gets into yoga for the purpose of getting into shape, and then, through the practice of it, they gain willpower and a higher awareness plus they might possibly become more receptive toward the higher yoga practices of pranayama and meditation, then what's the harm?

According to the Yoga Sutras (the most ancient book on Yoga), the practice of Hatha Yoga (the physical postures) is only the first of several steps toward heightening one's spirituality. Yoga, or bond (with God) is simply the concept of strengthening one's self-control, beginning with control of the least subtle (bodily movement, moral activity, and breath control) to the most subtle (the act of holding one's mind on the attention of the bond with God through meditation.

Yoga in itself is not considered by yogis to be a religion, but rather a method or a tool for achieving greater spirituality, and it can be incorporated into any religion if so desired.

The practice of yoga is indeed so effective that it has the potential to raise one's spiritual awareness no matter what their motive was at the beginning of their practice. That's why it has survived for so many centuries. It works.

Perhaps all truly spiritual practices invite us to partake of them, no matter what our motive may be. After all, if we were all so high to begin with, we would have no need for the spiritual practice.

Becoming a raw vegan could be considered a spiritual practice because it has the potential of developing a person's willpower and compassion toward other animal beings. Should people not partake in the practice of being a raw vegan simply because maybe their motive in the beginning might be vanity?

People might be interested that (according to CNN), India has recently developed a program of Hatha Yoga for the schools, because too many of the kids were overweight.

Respect for a spiritual practice is a good thing of course, but if we all believed that only the most spiritual among us should ever commit to a spiritual practice, we might never get anywhere!