Senior Living: Exercising in the winter months

There are four primary types of exercises to consider. All are important, but you may want to focus on one category more than another depending on your current physical condition and what goals you want to achieve. 

1. Endurance exercise. Also known as aerobic exercise, endurance activities are prolonged, repetitive exercises that get your heart beating faster which over time will strengthen your cardiovascular system. Some examples of endurance activities include walking, biking, hiking in a park, or swimming laps in a pool — which I can tell you has limited visual excitement!

2. Strength exercise. Strength or resistance training builds muscle and supports joint health. This type of training involves working against resistance such as using dumbbells or resistance bands. As I mentioned several weeks ago, you can also use your body weight to do push-ups, planks, or squats at home with little to no equipment.

3. Flexibility and joint mobility training. Flexibility refers to a muscle’s ability to lengthen, while joint mobility refers to the joint’s ability to move freely. Both types of training go hand in hand because they allow you to move with less restriction. Lack of flexibility and joint mobility can limit your ability to participate in everyday activities — like picking a piece of paper off the floor — or yourself.

Some examples of flexibility and joint mobility activities include participating in yoga, doing a stretching routine in the morning or before bedtime, and warming up before a workout by moving your joints comfortably.

4. Balance training. Balance training is often overlooked but is an essential part of independent movement and confidence. Without adequate balance, you feel uncoordinated and awkward, leaving you vulnerable to falls and injury.

You can find a variety of exercise classes in the Gorge but two that incorporate many different types of exercise are the Strong People classes and Tai Chi.

A Strong People class can improve your strength, balance, flexibility, sleep, mood, social connections, and more. There are nine locations in the Gorge. Visit the OSU Extension Strong People website for locations and times or contact Lauren Kraemer at 541-386-3343 or Lauren.Kraemer@oregonstate.edu.

The second is Tai Chi classes that aim to improve strength, flexibility, balance, and body awareness, as well as increase concentration and reduce feelings of anxiety and stress. You can attend a Tai Chi class at the Hood River Valley Adult Center, Pioneer Center in White Salmon, and at the Mid-Columbia Senior Center.

The key is to do something. Start small, doing what you enjoy and that gets you moving. And exercising with friends is a great motivator. Eventually, you’ll no longer feel exercising is something you should do, but something you want to do.

You can learn more about the types of exercise and how to stay active during cold weather at www.ncoa.org/adviser/medical-alert-systems/staying-active-cold-weather.

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Brain Tease. What comes next? 1,4,9,3,6,11,5, 8, 13,7,  ?

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The name of the brother and sister in the reading series named after them are Dick and Jane. And for the bonus question, their dog’s name was Spot. “See Spot run.” “See Spot jump.” “See Spot — no, not there Spot!”

I received correct answers from Judy Kiser and Debbie Medina. Those who also mentioned Spot were Doug Nelson, Rhonda Spies, Linda Frizzell, Lana Tepfer, Kim Birge, Eva Summers, Marny Weting, Craig Terry, and Marlene, but not Keith, Clymer. And then Kim Birge also remembered their little sister Sally and thus is this week’s winner of a quilt raffle ticket. And last week I missed Eva Summers.

You may remember Terrytoons, an animation studio active from 1929-1972 that created many cartoon characters, including Fanny Zilch, Mighty Mouse, and Gandy Goose. The studio also created a pair of identical, yellow-billed talking magpies cartoon characters who starred in their Saturday morning television series from 1956-1966.

For this week’s “Remember When” question, what were the names of the pair of magpies who were always causing problems with their crazy antics? Email your answer to mcseniorcenter@gmail.com, call 541-296-4788, or send it with “The Talking Magpies,” released Jan. 4, 1946.

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Well, it has been another week, trying to keep my body moving in the direction my head wants to go. Until we meet again, there are times when you just have to go with the flow, because as they say in Arabic, “The wind does not blow at the ship’s desire.”

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“Don’t underestimate the value of Doing Nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can’t hear, and not bothering.”

— A.A. Milne

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Nutritious home-delivered and in-person meals are available at noon Monday through Friday unless otherwise noted.

Seniors of Mosier Valley (541-980-1157) — Wednesdays with music on second and fourth Wednesdays; Mt. Hood Town Hall (541-308-5997) — Tuesdays; Hood River Valley Adult Center (541-386-2060); Sherman County Senior and Community Center (541-565-3191); The Dalles Meals-on-Wheels (541-298-8333).

For meal sites in Washington, call Klickitat County Senior Services: Goldendale office (509-773-3757) or the White Salmon office (509-493-3068), and in Skamania County call Senior Services (509-427-3990).