MSI Press Blog

Sometimes grandmothers have a senior moment. Really, they do! It is not just a myth. For my training regime, that means I could pick up a set of weights, ready to start my workout, and then think, "Why am I holding these weights?" And then, sometimes, I get busy and forget even about the dates with my weights. One of the more useful set of exercises I do regularly, from Strong Fitness Magazine (highly recommended), takes only two minutes, but it is a very rigorous two minutes. Remembering to do it regularly, even though it is brief, slips out of mind all too often. So, since this is one of my favorites and most useful, especially for developing cardiac capacity, which is my weakest area (probably is the weakest area for most seniors), I simply posted it on the back of the bedroom door. So, every time I walk out of the master bedroom after getting up, cleaning up, using the bathroom, or spending time on the sun porch off the bedroom, I stop for two minutes and do thos

As I was traveling to St, Louis from San Jose today, an elderly man and his wife sat in the row next to me. We got talking when we noticed that I was watching Angel Has Fallen, a great movie but lots of violent action. Somehow, the conversation passed on to the time he spent in the British Army and the time I spent in the American Army. He commented, "Looks are deceptive. I thought I was sitting beside an old lady in a cardigan. Figured you were a writer (I am -- and I was doing some on the plane as I watched the movie, so that did not take a big guess), working on some leisurely writings in retirement (well, I am retured, technically, since I get a pension, but nothing else about my life is "retired." Yeah, I suppose a dress and cardigan (the picture is not me -- I do not have one of me from the plane -- but is fairly approximate) might be deceptive. At the end of the flight, being short, I had trrouble reaching my luggage in those big cabinets on the bid plan

Maintaining motivation long-term can be quite challenging. One would like to think that one week of hard work would show up somewhere somehow in something, right? Alas, no. And age, equally alas, plays a role, even if we try to get around it or deny it. There is some evidence--factual, medicaal--that recovery time for muscles that have been worked hard increases with age. Personally, I have found that it takes 2-3 days, typically three days, to recover whereas the young ninjas need only a day, as I did during my Army time.  So, I do with myself what my trainer does with me: one day concentrate on upper body, the second day on abs, the third day on lower body, and most days also on cardio. Cardio is another challenge for me; it seems that I do run out of breath too quckly. Not energy. Just breath. But breathing is rather important. So, all of this can be disouraging. It is like reading one page of a book a day, It takes many days to finish the book, and a sense of the story within

The long slog through five years of preparing to be able to take on a set of ninja obstacles can get discouraging. Little improvements are not exciting. Moreover, little improvements are rarely seen. It is like climbing a mountain. You climb and climb or hike and hike, and the top still seems pretty far away. But, if you stop and look down, you can often rejuvenate your enthusiasm not because the top of the mountain is close but because the bottom of the mountain is now visibly farther away. Small progress...great injection of motivation. So, too, this week I passed a goal I did not even know I had. After all, who has a goal that the bottom of the mountain will be X amount of distance away? It was a goal that became a goal only after it was achieved. As I was going my homework--and adding repetitions to it--I realized that I had surpassed the number of push-ups, sit-ups, and planks that I was able to do when I was in the Army years ago. Yes, finally, something!! And to mark th