Practicing What I Preach

In conjunction with the release of my book ‘Living Fit After Fifty’, http://www.bearheadpublishing.com/, I thought I would post about my personal experiences with exercise. I am about to turn 59 years old and have old injuries and miscellaneous aches and pains depending on the weather, time of day, or what I have been up to. I still try very hard to ignore these signs of aging and keep up with my fitness routines. It would be pretty hard to sell a fitness book if I let myself get out of shape, right?

In my book I recommend that exercisers change their workout routines to avoid plateaus and boredom. While considering how I would next change my routine, I decided to try yoga. I have tried yoga in the past but never stuck with it because, by nature I am not a flexible person, and I struggle with balance. These issues made my past attempts at yoga unsuccessful, probably because I gave up too soon. Now I realize that yoga could be exactly what I need to limber up my unyielding body and improve my balance.

I located a class at a gym nearby that worked with my schedule only to discover - once I was well into the class - it was for advanced students. I had a tough time but hung in there to the end. The next day I woke up with a seriously strained neck. My first thought was that yoga was not for me and that I should forget about it. Then I thought I should try going about it differently.

Searching through my supply of exercise videos and DVDs, I found a yoga tape for beginners. After a few practice sessions at home, off I went to another class. This one was more user friendly and I did much better. I plan to return tomorrow morning for another go at it. Follow me on Twitter
https://twitter.com/#!/HainesCarol for tweets about my progress with yoga and my complete fitness program.