Amy, I don’t do any ”organised” (or whatever you want to call it) exercise.

I like walking. I walk everyday.

I like golfing. I like bocce. I like swimming. I like riding my bike.

I feel good. The doctor says I’m good.

I'm still waiting to find an exercise I enjoy. Walking is about as good as it gets for me. I like walking the dog. She is tiny though so it takes awhile to get around the block. It's often more socially beneficial than calorie burning.

Having and riding a horse was very good exercise. But Teddy has been gone for over more than 10 years. That's hard for me to believe.

For me, it changes over a year. I like walking in the spring, but not in August in Texas. Sometimes I sweat to the oldies with Richard Simmons. The past few weeks I've been setting up my patio garden.

And I have two bicycles and a tricycle.

What's important to me is to move around and enjoy it.

I started my routine during the pandemic and have kept it up since.

Three days a week I do 50-minute workout involving free weights, floor exercises and stretching.

Every day I get in 10,000 steps. I say get in because I do this just by walking around my house combined errands.

I am thinking of registering at a gym. It is free with Renew Active. But….since the pandemic, there are fewer glasses and I can't do early classes.

And no, I can't say I enjoy it. I keep going because I like like bring fit. I can squat down to that bottom shelf at the supermarket!

I like walking, and have enjoyed going to the gym, but it has to be within a larger stucture. Ever since DH started working from home, then retired, and does some of the domestic activities he enjoys, and our kids are on their own, my day and week have less structure, and I find it hard to create the structure for it.

I can’t even create a routine, and we have an elliptical and treadmill, and hand weights, and of course there’s plenty I could do with no equipment. But I need an externally-imposed structure to work it into.

I like skating, too, but I took the place of a handbell ringer who fell on ice and broke her hand, so I am actually afraid to go skating lest I break a hand during concert season!

I enjoy line dancing. I used to enjoy yoga especially when it was outdoors. I enjoy walking-- I listen to podcasts while I do it to keep my interest up. I enjoy walking with a friend. But would I rather be sitting on my butt reading or working a puzzle? You betcha!!

Nope, I don't enjoy it, but I don't specifically dislike it either. To me, it's like doing laundry: I like the results, so I need to do the activity.

Right now, my routine is a private Pilates class twice a week, and an hour treading water in the pool twice a week. The pool time is variable with whether or not I've got company to chat with while I'm there.....if I'm on my own it's deathly boring, and I usually give up after a half hour; fortunately that doesn't happen often. I take private Pilates classes so my instructor can tailor things to my physical and mental challenges with the discipline - it's at least a healthy indulgence.

I cant walk like I used to, but Im enjoying light, stretchy exercise sessions at a senior center nearby. The gal that leads it is cute and funny. It makes for a good time.

Some days I enjoy my exercise, some days I definitely don't. As I said here before, I started running three miles a day in 1977 and am still at it, just not the running. The decades I ran turned into brisk walking with the dogs, and in 2020, I stopped going to the gym and instead began hitting the Appalachian Trail every day. That's my favorite place in my life, but I haven't been there for three weeks now because of the lingering snow. So I've been doing the three miles along a lovely creek, and if the weather is really bad, then it's the mall and eight laps. This is so ingrained it's like brushing my teeth, it's just something that's programmed in every day. But some days, mostly in the sweltering, humid summer, it's a real chore. What I need to do is some upper-body exercises to build up strength.

Good for you for doing exercise despite hating it. It is true, you don't have to like it, you just have to do it!

My husband needed to start working out years ago for health reasons. I interviewed 14 personal trainers over the phone and told them all he hates exercise and wants a trainer who isn't going to try to convince him to like it. They all gave me the BS about how he'd love once he started. The 14th trainer was a brash Long Island woman who said, "Who cares if he likes it? I'll make him do it!" They have been working together for 13 years now. He still hates exercise but enjoys her attitude and he's in great health.

Aspiring couch potato here. I don't ejoy exercise, and if I could be lean, toned and tanned overnight by taking a pill, bring it on! Alas, it's the gym. We live in a small town with few choices, so it's Planet Fitness. At least it's cheap. I go 4 times per week, more or less. I jog a couple of miles on the treadmill for cardio, then do upper or lower body weights, depending on the day. I wish they had classes, but no.

I like riding my bike, but it's either endless circles through small neighborhoods, or two lane country roads with 55 mph and no shoulders. Nope. I'll stick with the drudgery. At least there are podcasts to listen to.

I try to cover strength, flexibility and cardio so I do four classes a week (weights, yoga, aerobics and circuits) and a Sunday run. I also do a couple of walks a month with friends. I am not interested in going to a gym. I find it boring. I need a class to make me do it. I lack any motivation and every time I set off it's a real struggle to get out of the door. That said I never regret having gone and there are brief moments during the sessions when I feel relatively ok. Running is particularly hard to get started on, especially since I live in a hilly place and the weather is often unconducive. That said, being outdoors always lifts the spirits.... eventually.

I am amazed at people's step counts. My house has four floors, I live at the top of a steep hill and my legs are my only form of personal transport. But I rarely get up to 10000 steps a day just via daily life.

Floral, when I want to makesure I get my steps in if only at home, I make it a point to double or triple the activity. Bringing laundry up from the basement, I will make three trips instead of one. Talking on the phone, I walk around and talk, never sit. While waiting for something in the microwave, I walk around the kitchen. These little things add up.

Toronto, I like your thoughts process.

For seniors check if your insurance covers gyms.Renew Active, Silver Sneakers.

I hate exercising! I will do gardening, wheelbarrow, mulch, digging etc. That's enough for me. Dr wants me to walk. I walked the mall 5 days a week before COVID. After that I never got back to it. I think if I had a walking buddy I would walk. Always an excuse!

I do enjoy walking and often that is my exercise.

I do belong to gyms ( plural thanks to one pass which is similar to silver sneakers) and have for probably 20 years. I initially "did the machines" which I tolerated but never really enjoyed. I was pretty good about doing it regularly. One time, I was on the recumbent bicycle and kept hearing great music coming from a classroom/studio. I inquired and learned it was Zumba.

I went a few days later, and just thoroughly enjoyed it. I've been doing it for probably at least 15 years. I do it anywhere from 3 to 5 days a week. Some classes are not strict zumba, but dancing and stretching and always catchy music.

I'm not so good at it, but it doesn't matter because I enjoy it. I've realized that it really gives me a great lift emotionally. I love the music, and the camraderie that has developed.

I'm not in great shape, but I'm in better shape than if I did nothing....which I could easily do.

The key is that I legitimately really enjoy it and seek it out which is a win.

(I could win sedentary olympics if allowed..)

Ladypat, do you think there might be social walking groups in your area? There are a lot here for all abilities.

As much as I hate the thought of getting out and going sometimes, i am always glad I did.

LONG-time exerciser here but have had my share of gaps along the way. I enjoyed all the things in medieval days of my high school years…volleyball, basketball and track. Fast forward to my late 30’s when I discovered I needed to get back to serious exercise. We joined a new gym, I took racquetball lessons, we had a ’walleyball’ group (like volleyball but played on a racquetball court), and eventually took up a little running. Somewhere in there I had also learned to ski so had to workout to get ready for that trip every year. I worked with a personal trainer for several years in my 40’s and into my 50’s until he moved away. I ran longer distances, did 3 half marathons until my knees said ’no more), so I took up Pilates about 15-20 years ago when a friend started teaching and am still doing it. When I broke the trochanter in 2024 and had the rod put in my thigh from hip to knee, I knew it would take a lot to get back to somewhat normal. My Pilates instructor has made all the difference in my recovery.

She has cut back now to teaching 2-3 days a week but has other people (all are physical therapists and certified instructors) who also teach. I do 1-2 Pilates classes and 1-2 weight training sessions each week. The classes are small and we have a good group of ’the usuals’ I enjoy being with. I hope I can keep it all up a long time. I have a lot of upper body strength and my leg strength is back. I won’t ever be where I was in my 40’s but that’s fine.

I love exercise and I always have. I really love tennis but haven’t played it for a long time.

At one point, I played almost daily.

I moved and began playing raquetball instead. That was a lot of fun too. Lots of running.

Moved again and played racquetball with a friend but it wasn't the same.

Started walking/hiking with a small group after work and did it for years. I never really enjoyed the exercise, but enjoyed the socializing. I then began hiking with my husband and it took a long time, but I love it, being in the woods, moving.

’

Ive always enjoyed dancing and did square dancing for a couple of years. It was so much fun! Im thinking about getting back it to it in the fall. I’ll have to take classes again.

My husband and I walk our dog 3 miles a day and have for the last 11 years.

When I used to play challenging sports in year round adult recreation leagues (not softball), I’d play 1–2 games a week and do cardio workouts twice weekly. A hard 40-minute session on the treadmill, a Stairmaster, or in a step aerobics class left me drenched and breathless—efficient and effective when time was tight.

Now I focus on gentler exercise, for moderate conditioning and strength and mobility since I don’t need peak aerobic fitness.

If you mainly walk long distances or do other activities - that's' good, important to be active and keep moving. You’re maintaining mobility and flexibility —but you could boost your health by increasing intensity to get cardio benefit. Enough to get your heart pounding. Try walking fast enough that talking becomes difficult. Heavy breathing is a sign you’re working at a more beneficial level.

I am 75 now. I started running after my 2nd baby in 1977. Ran competetively til 2000 . First just road races 5 &10k’s and then I took up cycling in the early 90’s and added duathlons. Then in 1996 started Ultramarathons and went from 10k’s to 50k, 50 miles, 100k and did two 100 milers. 24 in all in 4 years. Did my last one in 2000.

I joined my first gym 43 yrs ago in 1982 after my 3rd baby. I have lifted free weights ever since. I don’t do classes although I have tried off and on. I lift in a very mindful slow intense way and it doesn’t fit with the way classes are taught.

I took up bicycle touring long distance in 2010 when I turned 60. It was my gift to myself. I found some companions on Adventure Cycling and 3 of us rode from St Augustine FL to San Diego CA 63 days carrying everything I needed in a trailer I pulled . In 2011 5 of us rode from Key West Fl to Bar Harbor Maine in 58 days pulling the same trailer. 2012 one guy who is still a good friend and I rode from Victoria BC up to the ferry , took it through the Inside Passage and then rode down the Ice Fields to Banff and across the Prairies. I had panniers by then. . DH started to ride with me and he and I got new touring bikes and rode a 500 mile circle around FL to break them in. Then we rode the Velo 6 across Europe from Vienna Austria to Nantes France. Then DH and I took the train with our bikes and rode all around the Netherlands . We’ve done the Upper Peninsula and the Maritimes- from Halifax NS to PEI , New Brunswick back to Kingston Ontatio. We have always arranged everything ourselves no tour groups.

We haven’t done anymore long touring but we have taken month long trips first to FL for 4 years in Spring and then Tucson AZ last year in March with our bikes and riding every day on rail trails and roads.

We go to the Y 3 days a week and once the weather evens out we are back on our bikes . We love hills so the Shenandoah Valley right by the Blue Ridge is the perfect place for us. I don’t run as much as I used to and fortunately all my parts still work very well.

I currently use a Bosu ball hard side up and balance on it holding a 20# weighted ball , I do 50 squats . Then I do wall sits with that ball and move it side to side etc. I do abs and free weights. I do planks . I finish with the Jacobs Ladder and do different paces and lengths of time. It is an amazing machine . When I get tired of something I look for a new challenge.

The one constant is as you get older you have to do more not less to keep fit. We talk about it at the gym all the time. There are some amazing fit 70-80 yr olds. Every single one agrees on that point. Never hurting yourself but always challenging.

It is a great read finding out all the interesting ways so many on here are keeping fit. Keep moving ! Trailrunner .

photos from the Upper Peninsula with our friend Pete and DH and I . Fully loaded bike!

“The 14th trainer was a brash Long Island woman who said, "Who cares if he likes it? I'll make him do it!" They have been working together for 13 years now. He still hates exercise but enjoys her attitude and he's in great health.”

She is a keeper.

Gardening alone gives me lot of physical exercises but I also do cardio (biking, walking, running) and free weights, and when possible do swim laps. As for mind exercise, I do breathing meditation in a quiet room to gain clarity and mindfulness.

Like Palisades above, spending several hours a day gardening is our top #1 exercise. On nice days we will dust off our 2-seater trike for a spin. We used to ride a tandem bike but it was getting too hard to control at our advancing age. The trike is easy to use and makes conversation easier too. This isn't a pic of our trike but it's exactly the same model and color...

I need to do yoga, or some other stretchy things. I have tried it before. But I avoid it because for one, I am impatient and get annoyed having to hold a pose for so long. I like to go go go. And for another thing, I usually end up writhing in pain from my muscles cramping suddenly from the stretching. When I attended the yoga classes, I was always trying to hide the considerable discomfort I was in, and I had to quietly slip out the back a few times to work the cramps out. I do not want to disturb others at all, but much less during a class about a practice that is meant to be peaceful. Even when I tried to do it at home, with help from instructional videos, it was hard to overcome those things. So I quit.

Right now, I am trying to force myself to push harder in my weight training. I want to improve my upper body strength.

@amylou321 try taking Magnesium Glycinate supplements - I have almost zero episodes of muscle cramping since taking this - my doc recommended. 2 240mg pills nightly. Must be Mag Glycinate - there are other forms of magnesium.

Oh I already do KW. I have been taking it for a while now. I have always been "crampy." I get random cramps in the hands, feet and toes, hips, arms (very weird feeling) and of course my legs, both shins and thighs. It does seem to help some but when I stretch the wrong way nothing seems to help prevent it.

The other thing recommended to me is to drink an electrolyte drink before / during & after exercise. Liquid IV - sugar free - is what I drink