[at-l] Snow-Fitness

[greyowl@xxxxxxx (greyowl@xxxxxxx)]

It is hard to believe that just a couple of days ago we had
temperatures in the seventies and this morning I have several
inches of snow, frozen slush and frozen rain in my front
yard.  For Gosh Sakes it is Spring!!  I need to plant my peas
in my garden.

Two weeks ago I took a nasty tumble down my basement steps.
Scrap some skin off and thought that I may had broken a bone
in my foot.  The x-rays were negative (my wife want a head x-
ray to see if I had a brain because I sure as heck don't have
any common sense).  Talked to a sports medicene chap who
essentially told me not to walk on the foot for a couple of
days and to keep it propped up.

Since it was the insurance comapany's dime I asked him about
getting in shape.  Because of the nasty weather I had not
been able to get out for my noon time walk and the only
climbing I had done was the stairs at work.  So we discussed
exercise.  I discovered that he was big believer in
walking/hiking and tried to do a two to three hour trip every
weekend and a couple of times a year to do some backpacking.

The one interesting comment he made was that most backpackers
really hike incorrectly.  They usually try to get too many
miles in for a day and they don't warm up properly.
Backpackers should spend some time stretching all of there
leg muscle groups.  He spends 5 minute stretching when he
runs and he spends the same amount of time when he
backpacks.  One should also do the stretching routine when
one gets up from a break (all five minutes).  Each morning
before he puts on a pack he also goes for a roughly 5 minute
walk without the pack.  He is also a big believer in Tai Chi
and he does a 18 step Tai Chi (roughly 15 minutes) before he
hits the bed.  The routines gently stretch the tendons and
ligaments and he finds that his muscles are not as sore in
the morning.  He also sleeps better.  I can attest to the
sleeping better as I also do about 15 minutes of Tai Chi
every night.

Finally, if you have only 10 minutes to exercise the best
exercise is walking up and down stairs, followed by walking.
It is really a too short of time period to go bicycling or
jogging.  But a slow meander is both good for the soul and
the body.

Grey Owl