Exercise is Critical to Living Well

Byketolivingcoach

This is definitely the toughest recommendation of all. In general, I try to maintain a Vegan/Pescatarian diet around 85% of the time and focus on avoiding sugar and carbs. However, diet alone won’t give you the full health benefits—exercise needs to be woven into your daily routine for the best results. Here’s my approach:

Exercise Routine

Start slowly. Don’t go from a sedentary lifestyle to an intense workout routine overnight. You can begin by walking every other day and gradually work up to a daily routine. As you progress to more intense aerobic exercise, joining an affordable gym can be a great option. I started with Crunch and eventually bought my own equipment over the past 20 years. Crunch can cost as little as $10/month (check it out here).

Motivation for Daily Exercise

The key to sticking with daily exercise is finding motivation. For me, it’s all about watching shows I love while working out—this keeps me looking forward to my workouts every day. I watch NFL game replays, Korean dramas, and my favorite shows on NFL app, Netflix and Hulu. Find something you’re excited about and use it to motivate you on those lazy days.

Timing Your Workouts

For me, if I didn’t work out first thing in the morning, I was always too tired by the end of the day. Everyone’s different, but find a time that works for you and make it your dedicated workout time. A helpful tip: walking after dinner helps regulate blood sugar and manage weight. A 15-30 minute walk on a treadmill or around your block is easy to do and effective. During winter, a treadmill at home helps eliminate weather-related barriers.

Aerobic Exercise

Common aerobic exercises include treadmill walking or running, biking, and rowing. If you’re older like me, rowing is great because it works about 80% of your muscles, particularly the core. Staying active as we age is important, and rowing is a fantastic way to maintain overall fitness.

Personally, my routine consists of daily workouts with Sundays as a rest day. My sessions last 1 to 1.5 hours, using the treadmill, bike, and water rower. I also play pickleball 3 times a week for several hours, which gives me around 5,000 steps a day.

Tracking Your Progress

I recommend setting daily step goals and tracking your steps, whether via your phone or a fitness tracker like a Fitbit ($99) or Apple Watch ($250). I use the Apple Watch, but honestly, your phone should work just fine for step tracking.

My Equipment

Here’s a breakdown of the equipment I use:

  1. Peloton Tread – $3,300 (from Peloton site)
  2. Peloton Bike – $2,200 (from Costco)
  3. Water Rower – $1,200 (from WaterRower link)
  4. Elliptical – $3,300 (from Amazon: link)

A Note on Peloton

If I could go back, I wouldn’t buy Peloton equipment. While you get an excellent workout and the equipment is pretty good for the money, you can find similar experiences through YouTube or Apple Fitness. Peloton charges $44/month ($528/year) for access to their instructors, and their equipment is locked to their service. This means that even if their service is down, you can’t use the equipment effectively. Alternatives like Horizon treadmills($1,000) and Bowflex bikes ($1,000) offer similar experiences without the ongoing subscription fees. Over the next 5 years, I’ll be paying about $2,500 for Peloton’s instructors, and I’m not sure that’s a good investment.