Effective Repetition

I am going to ignore the arbitrary number in the prompt. Why? Well, ascribing numbers to fitness is at the heart of many of the problems people have when trying to set up an exercise routine. It’s like the 10000 step rule, only adopted because the creator of the fitness tracking watch realised it sounded good. He called the watch Manpo-kei or 10000 steps meter. It sounded like a good target and the Kanji for 10000 – 万 – looked vaguely like someone running. So, over the years producers of fitness tracking equipment decided to keep with the original ‘goal’ until it was given the status of a fitness threshold. Actually, the sweet spot in fitness and cardiovascular terms is around 7500 but that doesn’t look or sound so impressive.

So, what are my exercises. Funnily enough I have hit upon a new exercise regime around three weeks ago just by experimenting and seeing what worked. So, I had been doing yoga for quite a while but that wasn’t really working well enough on its own. My answer was to go back to the old school Bullworker and combine both yoga and Bullworker training in one workout. Turns out they complement each other perfectly. I start off with the Bullworker then I warm down by way of yoga. The effect has been very clear already. My musculature is improving in leaps and bounds and my flexibility is being helped by my increased core strength. I do these exercises 5 or 6 mornings a week before breakfast and they are a great start to the day.

There is a third element to my fitness regime that has proven to be the secret weapon, gardening! Yes, you read that correctly. I have been set the task of clearing the back garden which had become overgrown and full of brambles. I now go out there 4 or 5 days a week and much to my surprise I really enjoy it. The exercises I get from gardening is not set in the way that the Bullworker and yoga are as gardening is literally organic in nature! I might be clipping back brambles one day and then the next I might be digging up roots (see below) and the day after I might be clearing and preparing a section along the fence so that I can plant vegetables and pollinators for next Spring. The different muscle groups I use with gardening mean that I am developing my strength in my legs and back in particular. I haven’t been this fit in ten years and I am totally focused on continuing this combination of exercises for the foreseeable future.