In another post, I mentioned that I'm dieting. I'm also trying to get back into shape. The same thing that derailed my diet a year ago, destroyed my exercise routine and now I'm horribly out of shape. I hate feeling this way - I want to be strong and healthy, and not being able to do my workout routines really makes me feel old. Anyway, one of my favorite workouts was Pilates. It is deceptively hard - I remember when I first started, my husband came in while I was doing planks, (basically you get into the starting position for push-ups, and just stay in that position for as long as you can) and he started laughing at me and saying, "I thought you were going to work out." Well, I jumped up, and said, "Get your butt on the floor and try it!" After 20-30 seconds, his arms were shaking and he was struggling to keep his body straight. It did my heart good. I then talked him into doing the whole workout - and he could barely keep up. It's also fun, the moves are fluid and some are kind of silly, but you can really feel it working. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to strengthen their core and work on balance and flexibility. Anybody else enjoy it??
Yoga is good for keeping the body flexible, one problem that aging brings on is the lose of balance. Yoga helps you to keep your balance and your muscle strong. I don't do yoga but I do stretches to help stay flexible.
To improve balance, you need to strengthen your core - your stomach and back muscles. These muscles have to be strong in order to keep your body centered and maintain balance. Even if you just do a couple dozen "crunches" everyday, this will help. Also, strengthening your ab muscles actually helps with back pain.