2026, animals, Health, pets, Uncategorized

SAILing

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Well, I admit defeat. I am old. I am out of shape. I am stiff and sore. I need exercise.

I went to a SAIL class on Thursday at the American Reformed Church. (That is the less conservative Dutch Reformed Church in town, in contrast to the Christian Reformed Church, which is uber conservative.) SAIL stands for Stay Active and Independent for Life. It is operated by a community organization that provides services for senior citizens, and aims to prevent falls and keep older citizens in their homes.

I realized after my decision to attend that I had no work out clothes. I haven’t owned sneakers for 10 years. We made a trip to Sioux Falls earlier in the week to remedy that.

The class lasted an hour. We marched around, worked on balance, and stretched. They supplied hand weights. Some exercises were done standing. We worked on upper body and shoulder strength and thigh muscles. For some exercises we sat. I was the youngest person in the class. Some of the folks knew my parents.

It amazes me how woefully weak and stiff I have become. I will attend these free classes twice a week. We want to get a Cesky puppy in the spring, and I need to get into shape.

How often do you exercise? What defines “old” for you? Getting any new animal companions soon?

43 thoughts on “SAILing”

  1. Formally exercise? Never anymore. Old? When I make at least 3 medical visits a month. Met that for this month. Getting an animal soon? Nope.
    Clyde

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  2. Oh dear, at this point I’m just doing my t’ai chi class once a week, and Husband and I only get over to do indoor walking about once a week. I do my 7-minute stretching/yoga daily, but that’s about it unless you count the occasional shoveling! (I’m not getting to folk dance these days.)

    I only feel old on some days, though, and that’s when I wake up with all anxious, worry thoughts instead of some kind of good energy. Or when I wake up with knee or leg pains…

    “We want to get a Cesky puppy in the spring, and I need to get into shape.” This made me laugh, Renee. No puppies scheduled here, but I can see that’s something that would get us out walking!

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  5. Well, I just got a puppy, and she’s keeping me pretty busy, so I don’t think I’ll be getting another one very soon, if ever. She’s been difficult to train, to say the least.

    I have a set of exercises to do for my arthritic knees and my lumbar spine. Some are from standing, some sitting, and some are done lying on the floor. I haven’t been able to do the lying down ones due to Maggie. She attacks me pitilessly and I can’t get them done. They are good exercises for my knees and back too, so I need to do them.

    Maggie and I have been going for short walks. She enjoys being outside in our own yard, but she doesn’t really enjoy the walks. She tries to turn around and head back home while I encourage her to go for a walk. I usually have to carry her part of the way.

    Our puppy training sessions start next week. Also, Maggie has grooming next week. It will be a big week for her because she turns four months on Wednesday. Saturday night she’s going to stay overnight at a friend’s house while a friend and I go to Oak Center General Store to see David Huckfelt. My dog-sitting friend has two adopted dogs and a fenced yard. This will be a good experience for Maggie.

    I’d like to start going to exercise classes at FiftyNorth again, but so far I have had very poor success at crate training with Maggie, so I don’t dare be gone more than an hour. She is VERY stressed out when I leave her in her crate, and she shows her level of distress by emptying her bowels in the crate. I know, I know, as a rule dogs don’t want to do that. Tell that to Maggie, please.

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    1. I did not know Oak Center was still open. I have not heard about them for a long time. They used to have a sign in the bathroom: If it’s yellow let it mellow. If it’s brown flush it down. Very hippy.

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      2. Yes,I’ve seen that sign. They were closed during covid and open only sporadically after that. Steve S wasn’t doing well. This year they have a good line-up through April.

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      1. I think so. I could put her in her crate, then go into the bedroom. She is usually pretty good in her crate for awhile if she knows I’m in the house.

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        2. You need to teach her a word or phrase for pooping. So, when you have her out on her leash and she poops, pair a phrase like “Do it, do it, do it” excitedly and give her a treat.

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        3. A friend of ours uses the command, “Get busy!”
          That’s fine except when someone says “I’ve got to get busy”, that’s what I think of first.

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      2. Thanks, Renee! She is very food/treat oriented so that might help. It might also make her desire to get out even stronger. I will try it and see, and I appreciate any suggestions. I suspect there is still some indigestion, possibly parasites, going on. She has been treated three times for giardia, and she still had it before being treated last time. Her symptoms haven’t changed since then. They said they won’t treat her a fourth time. She still has these symptoms though, and I’m not sure what to do. I might bring in another sample anyway, just to see what they have to say. She goes four or five times a day, which is a lot. She’s still young, and she’s growing fast. She’s cheerful when we’re home, very active, very playful, into everything like a puppy should be, and she has a tremendous appetite. I do use a phrase, “Do your job!,” and I say it repeatedly. Then she is praised and given a treat.

        Today has been accident-free so far, but I haven’t really put her into very stressful situations.

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  6. Husband has forbade me from cooking or baking in my new workout clothes. He says I get new things too infrequently and he doesn’t want these full of flour.

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        1. I would never presume to have any proprietary interest in what Robin chooses to do with her clothing. Besides, what harm can flour do?

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  7. I do some sort of aerobic activity almost daily. I try for at least 30 minutes, but will walk outside for an hour at a 4mph clip if the weather cooperates.

    15-20 minutes of stretching most days. Weight training twice a week. And I’m bad at keeping at it, but if I’m sitting in my office for an hour, I try to walk 2 flights of steps down the the basement and back 3-4 round trips.

    “Old” to me is more the mind than the body. I think my wife has embraced being old much more than I have. Mentally, I still feel much younger (20s? 30s? 40s?). No idea, just not like an old person. However, I’m ruminating on a TB post I might write on being old for your entertainment. No guarantees. It usually takes me a while to decide to submit or not.

    We got Iris the cat last January, so I think that’s it for our animal purchases. She may outlive both of us, so it might not be fair to add more pets to the house as the years pass.

    Chris in Owatonna

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  8. I worked with a physical therapist trainer at Livewell at AbbottNorthwestern hospital for years and continue that via Zoom 3 x per week since Covid & ANW construction. MY guest room now looks like a gym (no bed). I also add PT prescribed exercises on my own for my irritated R hip flexor tendon (s/p bilateral hip replacements and 1 knee replacement). My goal is to climb step over step with my right leg which I am just getting to. It is hard to do these regularly but having the scheduled paid sessions with the trainer means I don’t skip those.

    No pet right now as I want to travel plus cat on lap (purralasis) discourages exercise bike or getting up for hall walking.

    Also on a plant based diet with no sugar or flour (Bright Lines diet) so losing weight as planned. My discipline re this has improved since holidays are over. I hope my preventive cardiologist is pleased. She had suggested going on a GLP1 but I refused- I have lost 34 lbs from my high. Why? Because like Chris, mentally I feel younger than my 78 years and want my body to keep up!

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  10. I just joined the Y yesterday and signed up for a Strength Training class. Yikes. I cannot imagine how badly that class is going to kick my behind, but I also know I need it now. It’s only going to get harder the longer I put it off.

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  11. Rise and Shine, Baboons,

    Exercise, non-athletic exercise to be precise, has been a part of my life for many years. Back in the 1980s my siblings and I all started walking outside. I don’t know what got us started with that, but we all have kept it up for decades. I find that without exercise I am prone to increased levels of depression and anxiety. Rather than taking medications, I would rather walk in a gym or outside. It is just more straightforward and I love being outside in the early morning. My dogs help me get out of the house as well. After lunch McGee and I will head out for a mile walk around the neighborhood. (Right now with the ice and snow, I have a pair of tennis shoes that I keep cleats on, which protects me from falling on the ice.). Gardening is such good exercise that I did that and walking in the summertime for many years. Now with my new hips and no pain, I plan to walk in the summer again.

    The local community center was very affordable with a gym and swimming pools as part of it, so I joined that which I use in the winter time. Now I go to water aerobics three times a week which is a vigorous workout that has few consequences with impact. Because of husband’s illness it is harder to get to the gym daily in the winter, so I just bought myself another treadmill (I wore one out about 10 years ago) so I use that now as well on days when we do not have a caregiver come in to be with him.

    I am so fidgety and restless that exercise is a must for me just to manage myself.

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  12. formal exercise five days a week for real exercise seven days a week when your body starts turning on you mine started about 10 years ago started getting old and I’m fighting getting older now. Looks like my complaining about my leg not working is going to result in my getting a new hip shortly. I’ll be looking forward to that so that I can move properly.

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  13. During the 80s and most of the 90s I was an exercise fiend – did high impact aerobics, step classes, circuit training, treadmill, exercise bike, etc. at least 5 times a week (including working out after a night shift before going to bed). Going through early menopause at the age of 43 flipped a switch – little motivation to exercise at all for a very long time. I finally went back to a club in my late 50s but didn’t enjoy it as much so only went once or twice a week. My biggest motivation for getting back into a routine was the pandemic. For the better part of a year I hardly moved and did way too much stress eating. When clothes no longer fit I stepped on the scale and was appalled. Since late 2020 I have done my own exercise routine at home daily along with better eating habits. It includes stretches, using light weights and kettle bell, going up and down stairs many times, walking, and a little bit of balance work. There are still the occasional snack food indulges but I rarely cheat on the exercise part. I am a firm believer in the “if you stop moving, you WILL stop moving” mantra. I want to keep traveling as much as possible so I will keep moving.

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  14. As to the other two questions:

    Mentally I feel about 40 but my joints don’t agree with that. I still have all my original joints and hope to keep it that way as long as possible.

    I have never owned a pet and won’t start now. I am a very good pet aunt with my sister’s cats and my niece’s cat.

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  16. I have enjoyed an active lifestyle until about three years ago. Although I recognize the importance of daily exercises, I don’t enjoy participating in group exercises such as Silver Sneakers or water aerobics, although I have done both in the past. I much preferred going rollerblading or skiing, or playing tennis or softball, or working out under the guidance of a personal trainer at a gym. For a while I tried to convince myself that I could be a runner, but I failed.

    I have had three knee surgeries on my right knee due to a tennis injury in 1978; the most recent surgery was a total knee replacement in 2007. That pretty much ended my tennis playing, rollerblading, and skiing. At this stage of the game, I have degenerative joint disease in my left knee which makes walking and standing painful, so I’m way too sedentary.

    I haven’t worked out regularly since I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2023, and my body is slowly falling apart.
    Thankfully my brain is still functioning reasonably well. My brain gets a much better daily workout than does my body, no doubt about that. I’ll be 83 in April, and though my body and the mirror say I’m an old woman, my mind just doesn’t feel it.

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  17. Pingback: SAILing – Uttam Roy blog

  18. For years I did yoga very regularly. I took a weekly class which continued on Zoom through the pandemic. When my yoga teacher retired, I found a yoga instructor on YouTube that I liked and continued. Then last year we got our kitten, Charlotte. She is very active, loves to play, and it’s easy for her to get over-excited. So the yoga mat has been in the closet for months. I really miss it and can tell that not doing it has affected my overall fitness, so I’m trying to work up the courage to resume.

    Needless to say, I’m not considering any new animal companions, even though my daughter and Husband suggest that maybe Charlotte needs a “friend.” Nope.

    I don’t consider myself old, and don’t think it’s wise to think of oneself as old. It can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. My mother is a good example of this, and it’s an example I don’t intend to follow.

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