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Exercises to help stay fit
By Harry Jackson Jr. - 12/30/2008
Exercise books. YOUCH! Every year just after Thanksgiving, my mailbox is besieged by exercise books. Exercise by dancing, exercise by hanging upside down, get flat abs, rock-hard arms, make the cellulite disappear.
Before you drop any more money on these things, know something I've picked up over the years:
The best exercise is living. Get out of the chair and go do something. Walk around the house, park far away from the store and walk to the doors, window shop, use the stairs instead of the elevators, walk to your co-workers' desks to talk rather than send an email. Do things with your family and friends.
Next best exercise is play. Chase your children or grandchildren. Ride a bike, go fishing, camping or hiking or join a team or a club. My photography club often walks more miles than the orienteering club I'm considering.
Pick good parents. If you develop flat abs, don't thank the personal trainer; thank mom and dad. Your body type is dictated at conception; how you develop it is individual. In my youth, I once had the fortune of reaching the muscular, six-pack-abs athletic look. Here's what it took. I played college football. I was in a rowing club. I didn't own a car. I lived 18 blocks from campus, and 12 blocks from my two jobs, which provided enough money for $10 a week rent on one room and a shared bathroom, and tuition for the next semester. For food, my girlfriend sneaked peanut butter, bread, extra sandwiches and other condiments from the cafeteria and one of my jobs was in a grocery store where when something broke or ripped open, I ate it. And God bless receptions at the university. The cost of those abs was no sleep, couldn't afford food, and exercised three times a day. But I looked good. So did my army combat veteran dad and my dancer-actor brother, and my railroad worker grandfather, and now, even my daughter. Came with the genes.
Just know some people just won't be shaped like those folks on book covers, so don't be seduced. People are round, square, V-shaped, A-shaped, short and tall. Those on the book covers work on their bodies like you work your job, 8-10 hours a day.
Work on getting your blood pressure below 120/80, getting your total cholesterol below 200, getting your waistline below 42 inches for men and 38 for women, keeping your blood sugar level, maintaining healthy endurance and not imitating a book cover.
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