Tag Archives: Exercise

Take A Moment And Stretch by @TaylorLeeWrites

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My writer friends and I spend a lot of our lives slaving over our computers. It’s not surprising that when we look at the clock we see that we have been writing for hours. And if you are like me, your head, hands, and butt make it clear you need to move, I need to stretch.

Stretch

I’m a dedicated exerciser so assume that I’m getting the body work I need. As a daily gym rat, my chosen body wreckers are the elliptical and the bike. I rate my work-out on the number of miles I put on my internal clock. Like every dedicated exerciser, I know the importance of stretching. And at other points of my life I’ve done that. How could I not in that two of my gorgeous daughters are lifetime yogis? Over the years, I’ve practiced yoga, but resisted getting back into it. That avoidance got its comeuppance when my youngest daughter visited and stayed in the room next to me for a week.

Julia is as much of an exercise zealot as I am. The only difference is that in addition to her long-distance running, gym work etc. she is a dedicated yogi. And a talented one. All you have to do is watch her twisting up and down on “silks”—what they call the cloth panels aerial yogis use to support themselves as they fly, flip, and swing in the air. Think Cirque de Solei. Julia is also a nationally recognized yoga guru and instructor.

After listening to the litany of aches and pains I’ve been suffering, Julia didn’t comment on my gym routine. Rather she said carefully, “You seem to be tight, Mom. Not as flexible as you once were.” Rather than pointing out that, yes, my 78 year old body has changed, she said, “I think it would help if you added stretching to your routine.” Of course as a life-long exerciser I know how important stretching is. I just don’t do it.

Before I listed all the reasons I don’t do things that I know are good for me, Julia said, “How about for a month you work some mild stretching into your routine?” While I wanted to let her know that I appreciated her concern but… she cut me off. “Mom, if I told you, that you could change your productivity dramatically if you added ten minutes of stretching into your routine a couple times a day, would you take that time?” Sigh. Of course, I agreed.

All her life Julia loved charts, calendars, diaries, colorfully documenting whatever she was working on at the moment. I wasn’t surprised when she suggested I might want to document my stretching on a calendar. Not finding a calendar we liked online, she said, “That’s okay, I’ll make one for you.” Bringing back memories of all the calendars, charts, etc., my sweet daughter made as a kid, she quickly made one for me. And like the mother I’ve always been, I headed for the Dollar Store to get stickers for my calendar. (Wonder where Julia gets it?)

This brings me to the purpose of this blog. That is to give my writer and reader friends a gift. Two videos of my lovely daughter doing simple stretches specifically for those of us who spend our lives bent over a computer. Honestly, the stretches seemed so basic, so simple, I didn’t know how they would work. BUT after nearly a month of doing them, I’m amazed at how much more flexible I am. My gift to you are two eight minute videos that I urge you to add to your routine. I think you will be surprised at the difference you feel. And just so you know that Julia learned her “documenting” lessons from her mom, I’m also attaching my calendar….

Enjoy!!!

8 minute chair stretches:

8 minute standing stretches:

PICTURE of MY CALENDAR

Taylor Lee Calendar

P.S. And if you want a relaxing evening routine, check out Julia’s twenty minute “Rest and Rejuvenate” nightly routine, guaranteed to relieve any and all tension from the day, check out:

Did you enjoy Julia Pearl’s videos? You can connect with her online:
Instagram    l     Facebook     l     YouTube Channel

 

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After you are relaxed and rejuvenated, throw yourself into my:

NEW RELEASE

Revenge by Taylor Lee

REVENGE, Book 3: Mayhem on the Mountain

By Taylor Lee

Wonder how vicious, make that malicious—a candidate for governor can be? Meet Whitney Chabot. Then know she has an eighty percent chance of winning the election. Unfortunately, in addition to secretly underwriting a human trafficking cartel, it doesn’t help that her choice of lovers is more than a tad too close to home.

Standing in her way is the arrogant county sheriff. Calian Begay knows just how bad the wicked woman is. Unfortunately taking her down puts him in the crosshairs of the insurrectionists. The gang determined to eliminate the Native American interloper who’s taken the state by storm.

The evil candidate isn’t Cal’s only challenge. Convinced that his lover agreed to keep him in the loop on her next exposé, he underestimated the depth of Scarlett’s passion for autonomy. When she accidently runs into a group of trafficked teenagers she knows she’s hit paydirt. As long as she can keep Cal out of it.

Fortunately the formidable sheriff and his compelling police chief and FBI agent partners are able to take down the evil woman and the wealthy kingmakers and political zealots determined to turn his county into a raging inferno.

Now his only issue is convincing his go-it-alone lover that having a powerful, albeit arrogant champion, can make for a riveting, and passionate love affair.

If brazen media stars, tough-as-nails lawmen, and scorching passion lights your fire, dive into Taylor Lee’s sizzling new thrill ride. Discover how challenging murder and anarchy can be when sex and passion are in the mix. Grab Revenge: Book 3; Mayhem on the Mountain and prepare to be wowed!

And while you are at it, check out this terrific box set from me and my Authors’ Billboard hotshots:

Brazen ProtectorsBrazen Protectors (Protect and Desire Book 4)

Engaging tales of heroes and heroines taking command in unlikely situations, these champions just as provocative as they are brave.

My book in the set is:

Line Of Fire

Line of Fire: Passion Meets Politics

Facing political opponents is a piece of cake for Gia. Facing her insecurities about her superstar lover is another matter.

Gia’s unconquerable political skills make winning the election a sure thing. If only she was as confident of her ability to capture and keep her inimitable lover. The arrival of one of his former paramours doesn’t help. Particularly, when the sexy blonde agent isn’t above sowing seeds of doubt in the insecure Gia—just for the heck of it.

Corrupt doesn’t begin to describe Gia’s political opponents. Try hooking up with international terrorists. Oh yes, and silencing a pregnant mistress when necessary. They might have been able to get away with it, if not for Logan and his super- secret agent team.

Unfortunately, the villains conclude if they can’t take Gia down at the polls they’ll have to take her down… permanently.

Grab Line of Fire today. Discover how challenging elections can be when sex and violence are in the mix.

 

Me, a Health Nut? Guilty as Charged! by @TaylorLeeWrites

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I admit it.  I’m a health nut.  I don’t know how anyone could sit on their butt all day the way we writers do and not be concerned about their health  much less the size of their ‘butt.’

Health Nut

I’m a seven day a week exerciser and am seriously out of sorts if I miss a day at the gym where I do a minimum of seven miles on the elliptical and fifteen minutes on the rowing machine. I’ll admit, vanity is probably a bigger impetus for me than paying attention to my health but both spur me on.  Even I know that the benefits of daily exercise are more than looking good or even feeling good. Which brings me to this terrific article in the New York Times that was catnip to this addicted exerciser:

“Regular Exercise May Keep Your Body 30 Years ‘Younger”

The muscles of older men and women who have exercised for decades are indistinguishable in many ways from those of healthy 25-year-olds, according to an uplifting new study of a group of active septuagenarians.

The authors of the study confirm that “worryingly, statistics and simple observation suggest that many elderly people experience frailty, illness and dependence.” They add, “But science has not established whether and to what extent such physical decline is inevitable with age or if it is at least partially a byproduct of our modern lifestyles and perhaps amenable to change.”

“While there have been hints, that physical activity might alter how we age. Recent studies have found that older athletes have healthier muscles, brains, immune systems and hearts than people of the same age who are sedentary. But many of these studies have concentrated on competitive masters athletes, not people who exercise recreationally, and few have included many women.”

So for the new study, which was published in August in the Journal of Applied Physiology, researchers at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., decided to look at a distinctive set of older men and women.

Exercise as a Hobby

“We were very interested in people who had started exercising during the running and exercise booms of the 1970s,” says Scott Trappe, the director of the Human Performance Laboratory at Ball State and the new study’s senior author. They took up exercise as a hobby.”

The fact that this is precisely when I began my focus on regular sustained exercise encouraged me to read further. Indeed like me, the participants in the study maintained that exercise regimen throughout the next 50 or so years, running, cycling, swimming or otherwise working out often, even if they rarely or never competed. And like me the men and the women are well into their 70’s (Ditto.  Seventy-seven for me)

Using local advertisements and other recruitment methods, they found 28 of them, including seven women, each of whom had been physically active for the past five decades. They also recruited a second group of age-matched older people who had not exercised during adulthood and a third group of active young people in their 20s.

To test their premise the authors also recruited a second group of age-matched older people who had not exercised during adulthood and a third group of active young people in their 20s.

A Hierarchical Pattern

The researchers focused on the cardiovascular system and muscles because they are believed inevitably to decline with age and the scientists had expected they would see what Dr. Trappe describes as a “hierarchical pattern” in differences between the groups.

The young people, they thought, would possess the most robust muscles and aerobic capacities, with the lifelong exercisers being slightly weaker on both counts and the older non-exercisers punier still.

But that outcome is not precisely what they found. Instead, the muscles of the older exercisers resembled those of the young people, with as many capillaries and enzymes as theirs, and far more than in the muscles of the sedentary elderly.

“Together, these findings about muscular and cardiovascular health in active older people suggest that what we now consider to be normal physical deterioration with aging “may not be normal or inevitable,” Dr. Trappe added,  “These people were so vigorous, I’m in my 50s and they certainly inspire me to stay active.”

WOW!

P.S. If you found this article intimidating or downright annoying, take heart. There is always the inimitable Joan Rivers, who lived to be 81 years old and said: “I don’t exercise. If God had wanted me to bend over, he would have put diamonds on the floor.” 

~  ~  ~  ~  ~

P.S. AFTER you’ve done your promised workout, reward yourself and curl up with a hot book.  If you want a book sure to raise your heart rate, I recommend:

JARED: Book 1; The Justice Brothers Series.

 

It’s FREE September 25-29

Jared

  • On her first mission, Officer Hailey Michels confronts the leader of a dangerous Cartel.
  • Her chance to become a hero evaporates when the powerful Cartel member turns out to an undercover agent.
  • It was bad enough to blow his cover but when she discovers who he really is, Hailey’s budding career, along with her heart, takes a decided nose dive.
  • The rookie cop learns the hard way that when tangling with the Justice Brothers, Justice—like Love– isn’t always fair or
Sweet and Sassy Falling In LoveAnd check out our Author’s Billboard terrific new box set:

SWEET AND SASSY: Falling in Love

 My book in the box set is—“You Can’t Always Get What You Want”

Challenging Year

About the book:

He’s a hard as nails police chief. She’s a feisty ADA. The one thing they have in common is arrogance. Sparks flare when the challenging duo face off.

Police Chief Garrett Drake rules his dominion with an iron hand. Short tempered, irascible, and a fierce taskmaster, the chief doesn’t suffer fools gladly. He barely tolerates the cowering ADAs the DA sends him.

Zoe Tanaka is legal royalty. The talented Japanese-American ADA, happens to be the daughter of a former associate justice of the California Supreme Court. Outspoken, confident and beautiful, the diminutive force-field isn’t easily intimidated.

Garrett concedes he’s never run up against a woman like Zoe Tanaka. Hell, she was almost as arrogant as he was. She’d clearly been bred to think that she can rise to meet whatever challenges she faces. As she no doubt had—in the past.

Amped by the adrenaline of the near-death attack, Garrett surprises himself when he invites the sassy woman to his pad for a nightcap. The only person more surprised is Zoe who accepts his daring invitation.

If you like smart characters, cops, courts, and scorching passion, you’ll love Taylor Lee’s sizzling thrill-ride.

The Mini-Trampoline – A Healthy Alternative To Walking by @_NancyRadke

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Walking on pavement is hard on the joints, you breathe in exhaust fumes, and you can’t stop if you get hurt some distance from where you are going. But you need to exercise so is there anything better? Well, have you ever used a mini-trampoline for exercise?

Mini-Trampoline About fifty years ago, my friend sold me a Rebounder, also called a mini-trampoline. It was developed by a trampoline coach who noticed how healthy his children were while using a regular-sized trampoline. I have used mine for over fifty years as the only exercise equipment I ever needed. As I’ve grown older, I’ve come to appreciate it more and more, since other types of exercise equipment simply do not do as complete a job in such a short time (usually under 30 minutes).

The mini-trampoline uses GRAVITY as a form of LOW IMPACT resistance, working every muscle in your body, even the muscles in the eyes. It has been “prescribed” by surgeons after knee surgery, to speed up healing in the knees without doing any damage. Because the trampoline surface flexes up and down, there is no impact to harm the joints, while gravity moves the fluid in the joints to help heal.

HOW A MINI-TRAMPOLINE HELPS YOU:

MUSCLES: It strengthens every muscle in your body, including the muscles that support your abdominal area. A week or two using the Rebounder will stop those embarrassing leaks most ladies get after childbirth. Rebounder exercise keeps older ladies from having to buy adult diapers. It strengthens your tummy muscles and tightens your rear.

A paralyzed person can sit on the Rebounder while someone stands on it with him and bounces. Remember that the resistance used is gravity, so the paralyzed person doesn’t have to do anything. As long as he is being moved up and down, he’ll benefit. Try holding your babies in your arms for short periods of time while bouncing gently on it.

CIRCULATION (BLOOD AND LYMPH): Bouncing against gravity acts like a pump, assisting in both blood and lymph circulation. My brother, who sat too much and suffered with swollen legs, told me he was going to go buy some support socks. I asked him if he still had his Rebounder. He did. It was in his garage. As soon as he put it back in his house and used it for around a week, his legs and ankles returned to normal size. Now it sits in front of his TV and he bounces and runs in place while viewing.

BREATHING: Practice deep breathing while bouncing and it becomes an aerobic form of exercise. The longer you bounce, the harder you’ll breathe.

BALANCE: One fellow I know bought a Rebounder and told me that he noticed his balance was better after his first use. I told him that basketball coaches used it right before games to improve the jumping ability of their teams. Rebounders come with an attached bar which is especially useful for the elderly. The bar is convenient to grasp while bouncing and improving balance.

FUN: You’ll use this because it is fun to use. Put it in your house and enjoy it, bouncing and dancing to music. Kids will use it and be exercising without knowing it. It really helps wiggly kids learn, and you can have them memorize math and other facts while bouncing. If you live in an apartment and there is a blizzard outside, you can still get your daily exercise. Stay safe and stay off the hard sidewalks that damage your feet and knee joints.

Mini-Trampoline 2

Go online and look at the different mini-trams available. They even have some that fold flat. They last a long time for their price. When you first get it, you may only be able to move slightly up and down, and for a short period of time…maybe less than 5 minutes. By the end of a week, you will notice that your time has lengthened and you can already feel body changes. I usually try to do twenty to thirty minutes, with high bounces for short periods of time.

No worries. I don’t own any stock in a mini-tram company or know anyone connected to one. I just happen to be an over-the-top Rebounder enthusiast. If you already own one and can think of other ways it helps, or just want to add your praise, comment below.

Remember to check the ABB monthly board for great books and prizes. Oh, and check out this week’s ABB newsletter where you’ll find lots of free and bargain ebooks.