Keep Moving

This episode, entitled “Keep Moving”, focuses on the importance of staying physically active—especially as we get older—and how even small, consistent efforts can make a meaningful difference.

Key points:

Movement matters at any level: The hosts emphasize that doing something is far better than doing nothing. Activity doesn’t have to be intense—walking, light weights, dancing, or even household chores all count. 

• Aging brings challenges, but activity helps: As people age, they naturally experience reduced flexibility, balance, and strength. Regular movement can help maintain mobility, prevent falls, and support independence. 
• Physical and mental benefits: Exercise improves cardiovascular health, blood sugar control, strength, and balance. It also supports cognitive function, memory, and may help delay conditions like dementia. 
• Consistency over intensity: The key is choosing activities that are easy, enjoyable, and sustainable. Making exercise convenient (like walking instead of going to a gym) increases the likelihood of sticking with it. 
• Adapt to your ability: The hosts stress doing what feels comfortable and appropriate for your body—especially for those with health conditions or past surgeries—and consulting a doctor when needed. 
• Variety and enjoyment help: Options include walking, swimming, dancing, cycling, group activities like pickleball, or even seated exercises. Social activities can also reduce isolation. 
• Practical mindset: Build movement into daily life—carry groceries, take the stairs, or use simple equipment at home. Start slow and avoid overdoing it.

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Transcript

 Hello and welcome to You. Still Have Time. You're your host. I'm Hope. And I'm Harold, and we'd like to welcome you back. Hopefully a lot of you have come back to listen to this episode, and if you're new here. We say thank you for listening and welcome. We hope that you will enjoy what we have to say, that you may get some benefit from what we have to say.

And I'm gonna shut up and stop rambling. Well, what do, what's the title of today's episode? Well, I've been calling it in my head, keep. Okay. That sounds good. Okay. Okay. Keep moving, keep on trucking, whatever. Stay active, staying active. We did a podcast last year talking about staying engaged, but that was a little different.

That wasn't, um, about physical movement. That was more about, you know, being in community with people, which is something you certainly can do while you're moving. But this, we're kind of narrowing the focus and just talking about. Uh, physical activities and its benefits. I think that we all have heard, uh, the value of activity, all levels of activity, but I think that we know it's better to be more active than not.

As we get older, it becomes very easy to sit in the house. Scrolling either through the YouTube or some of the other videos or just watching tv. It just becomes easier to do that. But I think that we all know inherently that activity makes you feel better, even though maybe not while you're doing it, but after you're done and.

Whereas Harold, um, is very disciplined. I mean, every single morning by six 30, he is out the door walking and before walking it was cycling. Before cycling, it was hiking. Before hiking, it was running. He's always. You know, managed to stay physically active. So every day he walks. Uh, the only thing that stopped him, you know, in the past few seasons was we had, you know, massive snowstorms, you know, a couple of months ago and that kind of.

You know, put the kibosh on things. It sort of slowed me down. Yes, yes. Right. But he walks and then he comes back and he has a bench and some weights, and then he, he does, you know, a weight workout. So, and, and I don't want you to get the impression that this is to make me look like a, I, well, I never looked like Jack Lane.

Oh my God. You, you just dated us. People are like, who the hell is Jackal Lane? Well, if they're listening to this, they've already, they, they know who jackal is, right? Yeah. So, but the point is just to stay active. I recognize that over the years, um, my balance has changed. My ability to, to just, uh, flexibility.

Oh my, well, I was never very flexible, but it's gotten even worse as I've aged. So in order to sort of combat some of these natural tendencies, you know, things sagging, muscle sagging. We, we, I, I think we just need to keep doing what we can hope, mentions all the activities that I've engaged in, but she didn't mention how each activity is at a lower level than the previous one.

Uh, well, at least you are moving. Yeah, and that's, and that's what we really wanna stress today is about do what you can. And despite this wonderful example of. Staying active and mobile and doing things. I'm a little less disciplined now. I like being engaged in certain things and, and through my lifetime, I mean, I've, I've walked and I've ran and I was in Taibo.

Everybody, anybody remember Taibo? What was the guy's name who was famous for the Tibo? Billy something. Billy. Billy. Bang, bang. No, no. Billy Bang. Billy Banks, something like that. Something like that, yeah. Yeah. Um, tbo, I used to go to TBO classes. I used to go to dance classes. I used to go to Zumba classes.

But as I say, I'm 75% bionic now, you know, with, with two new hips and a new knee. And, and I'm also lazier to be very honest, as, as we all are, I mean, I mean, I'm, I shouldn't say we all, I'm sure many of us are. Or not, don't need the added motivation. But let's face it, it's hard to get up early in the morning when you don't have to go to work.

You did this, but it doesn't have to be early in the morning. That's true. That's true. You're right. It doesn't have to be early in the morning. It could be later in the morning or in the afternoon. But once the day gets started, you get involved in stuff. And it's harder to justify allocating an hour or 35 minutes at something.

I do it early in the morning because I have no excuses. And plus he's a, he's a early morning person, right? He really is. I'm a, I'm an early, he's at his best early in the morning. Um, I'm not. Opposite of that, completely opposite of that. I'm usually up pretty early in the morning, but to get myself motivated to do something, you know, I'm sort of a stop and goer, so I'll start.

Uh, I, when I was doing PT after my knee surgery, I said, oh, well I'm getting my exercise activity there. And when that stopped I said, oh, I'm gonna try to start. Walking. So, you know, a couple of days a week I try to go out and walk. And I've done this before, uh, but it didn't last. So my latest thing now in 2026 is I found an aqua or aqua, uh, not aqua aqua aerobics class.

It's once a week. They, they actually meet twice a week, but. Saturday's too crowded. So I go once a week and now I'm trying to, I think I've been to three classes and I really enjoy it. So I'm gonna try to continue that, and then I'm trying to add a little walking in with that. And then while I sit and watch tv, I have some hand weights and.

You know, work on my arms or whatever. I try to just try to move whenever I can. One of the tips I can give you for anyone who really wants to be more consistent with some level of activity is make it as easy as possible, literally as easy as possible, because I think that our. We, we want to not do it.

Most of us, there's some of you who don't need any encouragement, but most of us would rather not exercise if we didn't have to. So you make it as easy as possible. I used to belong to a gym, but I found that getting up and getting fully dressed and keys and starting up the car in the winter and then driving someplace and waiting on equipment that was, it was just too many obstacles.

Pick something that you know you can do. There's no reason for me not to get out and walk. I can walk every day as hopes, with the exception of icy days or really, really rainy days. Pick an exercise that's easy. You might not think that it's accomplishing much. But anything is better than nothing. Even if you just get out the door, walk around, or here's another one walking in the mall.

If you happen to be in the mall on a regular basis, which I don't know why you would do that, but in if you are. Just walk around the mall. Well, I think we, you know, we kind of had an order to this podcast and we skipped over what we were gonna open with, but that's okay. That's okay. That's how, 'cause we're still, we're still, this is, we are just talking here.

We are seniors. We can do that. Uh, because we wanted to cover some of the benefits and, and I'm certain that. Everyone who's listening to this has heard, you know, all of the different benefits associated with movement, especially as we grow older. Of course, there's the improved cardiovascular health and, and better blood sugar.

So if, if, if you're borderline diabetic or even a diabetic movement helps, all of that helps, you know, um, maintain, you know, uh. Beneficial A1C levels. Uh, certainly walking it on any movement is good for your heart. It gets your, your heart beating a little faster sometimes, and, and that helps it, you know, develop muscles.

The heart is a muscle, but the stronger, uh, so any doctor will tell you that, of course. Anyone? I used to say, and I probably have said it on this podcast, I'm at the age where I can't sit too long and I can't sit stand too long because you stiffen up. So exercise does help with just your mobility and.

Your flexibility. Um, and your balance. And your balance. Why do seniors, so many seniors have issues with falling is because we don't have the balance that we did as younger people and I, this last winter, I took a couple of spills. I probably would've taken more, but I do have some semblance of balance, but we just don't recover when we, when we get off kilter a bit.

We don't have the strength to straighten back up and we go down. So, and that's a major cause of injuries for seniors. That's a major cause of injury and as much PT as I've been through over the years, I know that there are specific strengthening exercises that help maintain your, strengthen the areas of your body that are important to help you keep your balance and you know, your balance carrying your groceries.

You know, I, I, I always, when I go to the supermarket, I have the shopping cart of course, but sometimes I don't have that much in the bag and I just leave the shopping cart at the, you know, supermarket door and walk to the car. Um, but a lot of times people don't do that because they just don't have the physical strength to to, to carry the bag.

And the bags usually aren't too heavy. I mean, if you have a lot of groceries, you're not gonna do that, but. Certainly you want to be able to do as much as you possibly can do, and, and that falls into the category of what I discussed earlier about doing whatever you can. You, you might not think. Carrying the groceries from the door of the supermarket to your car is not a big deal, but it's better than nothing.

If you know, absolutely it's better than nothing. Get your exercise. And one of the major benefits, you know, we had talked about all the physical benefits, but cognitive function, uh, you know, research has shown that exercise supports your memory, supports the way you think, helps you learn easier and, and can delay the onset.

Of neurological things like Alzheimer's. So there's, there's, there are no negatives. I mean, you don't wanna overdo No, no, no. And you certainly want to, um, especially if you have certain health conditions. You, you wanna speak to your doctor and say, Hey, I'm thinking about taking this class, or I'm thinking about starting walking, or I'm thinking about maybe lifting some lightweights.

You can talk to your doctor and get their input as to what you should do, but all we are saying is try to do something and, and one last, I guess, benefit of, of routine. For me, especially getting out early in the morning, it's a stress relief. You get out whenever time you get. I mean, maybe you don't get out in the morning.

I mean, hopefully you can find a place that's quiet and you can just reflect on what you want to. You don't have the pressures of, I mean, most of us have retired. Many of us are retired. We don't have the day to day drag of work. We could leave your cell phone home unless you wanna just listen to some books on tape or something and just really relax and get in nature.

Or if you live in a downtown city area, I mean, it's hard to get into nature, but you can still really get into your own mind and just. Bring your stress level down. It's, it's great in the morning because before you start your day, you already are in the right state of mind. And then there are so many different types of activities that you can enjoy.

You know, we, they break them up, of course, into low intensity and moderate intensity and all that. And we've all seen those folks, you know, at the end of the marathon, here comes the 79-year-old guy or gal who, you know, just finished this 26.2 miles and I'm like, God bless him. We don't even, we don't even drive 26 miles now.

That's very true. Um, not on both days anyway, uh, but, but certainly you don't have to go for that. In fact, it's probably not good if you're not doing any exercises. The best. You know, operation is to start slowly with low intensity, um, things. Walking. Walking is a low intensity, um, activity. My aerobics class.

So I would say aqua aerobics is, is tough because, you know, they give you these. Flotation things. Your flotation weights and, and everything and, and noodles. And it can be, but you take it at your own pace. You do what you are comfortable in doing and and that's the key. That is the key. You do what you are comfortable in doing.

And I know for a lot of guys I can, I think I can speak for guys, you're not going to be doing what you did when you were in your twenties. Just forget it, and you're not, or your thirties or your forties, or even your fifties, right? And sometimes that serves as an impediment for men because you, you go into a gym and you see these kids throwing up these weights and you're like, my God, I can't even lift the bar.

And you, you are embarrassed, but hey, who cares? Don't worry. Don't worry about it. Don't, don't worry about it. Let them live long enough. They'll be where you are if they're, if they're fortunate enough, that's, you know, that's exactly what I say. As I'm going and I'm walking, I see somebody zooming past me, I said.

I got clothes older than that person. I don't care. Yeah. So there's so many things you can do. We mentioned water aerobics, we mentioned walking, cycling, um, dancing. You know, a lot of us, you know, you don't wanna do a regular exercise, you know, I. Dance. You don't have to go to a party to dance. You could turn on the music you like and you know, take 15 minutes a day and just dance, dance like you were 17 years old and you know, at the prom, whatever, enjoy yourself.

And I think that, you know, all those benefits we talked about, um, the mental benefits, certainly the physical benefits, all of that. You know, it's, it's fun. Have fun. It doesn't have to be a chore. Do something, as Harold said, that's easy for you to do and that also something that you like and get enjoyment out of it.

'cause you're more likely to do it then. And something that you feel that you can be consistent with. You know how many times that if you, if you are a member of a gym every January. The gym fills up, fills up, it gets more crowded and it tapers off as we get into February, March and April because people just peter out.

Pick something that you really feel that you are going to be able to stay consistent with and as, uh, hopes that most of these activities you could do them at a low level of, of exertion. Or you could step it up, whether it be walking or cycling or swimming. Dancing, pickleball. Yeah. Now, pickleball, neither Harold or I have played pickleball.

No, but pickleball seemed to like. Explode. Everybody was playing pickleball and I, and for pickleball. I'd say there are two things. You know, Harold talked about the sort of solitary mental calming effects of walking in nature alone, but there also. Activities that you can do socially dancing is one of them.

If you, you know, go to a dance or you join some sort of dance class, but pickleball where you're, not only are you getting exercise, but you're, you're in community, you're socializing, which we know. Has great benefits, especially for those of us as we grow older, because one of the serious concerns with older people is isolation and loneliness.

So find something that you like to do. If you are a knitter, I'm a knitter. Um. There are knitting groups you can meet up at your local yarn store once a week. Uh, maybe that's not aerobic. Walk to the yarn store. Yeah, walk to the yarn store. Walk to the yarn store if you can. Uh, but you know, do something to get you moving even in the house.

Your housework, housework can be very strenuous as we know. And we are not looking for anyone to overdo. But I think when you consciously put in your mind, every time I walk up the steps here in the house, I'm thinking, okay, I'm walking up the step. This is an exertion, this is an exercise. Maybe if you have nothing to do, walk up and down the steps three or four times in a row.

I don't know. Start slow because that could be taxing. You follow what we said? You have to do what you can do. Don't, don't push it. You know, especially if you're not. If you haven't exercised in a while, I don't think you should try to go from zero to a hundred in one week or one day, but you can start with just some, as hope said, you could just start with things around the house, simple chores, raking leaves, gardening, gardening, getting, think about it, getting down and up.

That, that, that's not me. Right. But, but you know that for some of us that's, that's challenging. It's ver Well, I, I know it's challenging. Yeah. I mean, getting down on your knees and, and then getting back up, you know, mopping and then getting back down, mopping the floor. Vacuuming, oh my God. Mopping from my back.

Oh, yeah. But, okay. Okay. So there's so many different. Ways to be active. And uh, uh, something just popped in my head because we were discussing this with some friends of ours and one of our friends who has a mo whose, whose mother is in her nineties, I believe. Um, you know, he didn't wanna see her sitting around.

He got her one of those, um, pedal devices that, you know, while you're sitting, you can pedal. And he said it's made a remarkable difference. In, in the way she moves around. That's fantastic. I need to get one of those. I, I think I might like that where I can just sit and I won't feel guilty about just sitting, I can be pedaling at at the time, but, but you know, there are so many different ways those of you.

Who go online, you can Google all these different right activities. Those of you who are members of A-A-R-P-A-A-R-P on their website, they actually have classes that you can part, you know, participate in from home. Just, you know, put it up on the screen and, and move along. You know, in the class, and you, you don't have to worry about anybody seeing you or what you're wearing or, you know, maybe making fun of how you do certain things.

Just do it at your own pace, but just keep moving and, and I guess the final or the last group of. A type of activity that we just wanna touch on lightly is the muscle strengthening and, and I know you've all heard about the value of strengthening the muscles and the bones as we get older, getting involved with some sort of resistant training, whether it's light, handheld weights, or machines or resistance spans.

And if you don't have access to those, to those. You can just use body weight, squats, lunges, planks, wall pushups, there sit-ups. I mean that, you know, what's the one that sits? You, you're in the chair and you stand up and you sit down. You stand up and you sit down. Mm-hmm. I don't know if they're called, but you, you, you get the point.

You, you really need to do those a couple of times a week, you know? And, um, so I guess we, we, we just basically covered all the types of things. Under the fall, brother of staying active, staying engaged, keep moving. This is just so that as we get older, we don't lose our, I don't know, we, we don't lose capabilities that we once had.

I mean, we're gonna normally lose some. I mean, there's, yes. You know, you're not at if, if you are in our age, we are in our seventies and we don't feel like we did what we were. Gosh, 30. We don't even 30 we don't even feel like we did when we were in our fifties or sixties, quite frankly, you know? Or yesterday.

Yeah. And so my mother used to stay, 'cause my mother was always very active. Uh, she used to say, if you rest, you'll rust. And I think that's, she, she, your mother had all of these little sayings, you know, and when she was saying them, we were like, what the heck is she talking about? Yeah. But she was, now we know.

Now we know. Now we, we understand and you know, my mother was doing things she shouldn't have been doing well into her seventies, you know, household activities, you know. On roofs and do silly stuff, and that's a point, especially for you guys. We're not saying get up on the roof and change your shingles.

You know, at 75 years old or shoveling snow, we had a episode about that. No, no shoveling, find some kids in the neighborhood or pay somebody. You don't need to be shoveling snow at 70. Yes, do but don't overdo, don't overdo, be sensible about it. Okay? Moderation is the key. You know, if, if you're doing something and you start feeling uncomfortable.

You can stop, you can take a breath. And, and as I said earlier, uh, please check with your doctor. You know, we're old enough. We, we, we go to the doctor frequently enough. The next time you're at the doctor, say, Hey, doctor, you know, I'm thinking of starting this exercise program or doing this, or whatever it is.

Um, if you have any concerns. Because you know, they will guide you as to what kind of activities might be good for you and what kind of activities you might want to avoid. So I think that we have covered all of the ways that we know. At least, maybe not all of the ways, but at least a lot of ways for us to stay active, stay engaged, stay involved.

And I'm gonna go walk up and down the, the stairs a couple of times. Liar, I'm lying. No, she's not gonna go up and walk up down. She could walk down the stairs to dinner. Uh, but, uh, we'd really like to hear. From you? What do you think? Yeah. What do you do to stay active? Yeah. Tell us maybe there's some things that we've missed, you know, enlighten us.

Right. You know, um, and, and if, if you have like a success story, I, we would love to hear the success stories. You know, you go online, you see these things, oh, what is it? Tai Chi, walking. I don't know how many of you guys have seen this. So they have this person and, and they're like, you know, 50 pounds overweight and we are gonna start.

Tai Chi walking on Monday and, and here and a month later, 28 days later, look at me and it's like the person has lost, you know, 45 pounds and yeah, a AI. Uh, yes. I don't believe that ai, yeah, I don't believe that AI manipulation. I've been, I've been walking on all these years and I haven't lost a pound.

That's because you're eating and drinking to replace it. Well, okay. That's, that's actually the motivation for his, his wine. Well, you know, that's funny because when I was a lot younger, I always. That I would, because when I was a cyclist I would do that, so that I could drink more. But anyway, uh, if you have any comments or you have any questions, if you wanna reach out to us, you could send us a text message or text, uh, information is in the show notes.

You can email us at You Still have time, podcast@gmail.com. You can leave us a voicemail message@speakpipe.com, which is also in the show notes. You can follow us. On Facebook, on every Facebook, Spotify, YouTube, uh, is there any other place they come? Follow? I dunno. Wherever, wherever you listen, look, look, look for, look for us.

Wherever you listen to podcasts, you should be able to follow us, right? And until then, we hope that we've said something that will motivate you to get moving and to keep moving and. Just doing this is motivating me to do that. So, you know, maybe I'll update you on, on that too. But I am gonna do the water aerobics.

I, I do en enjoy that and, uh, you know, I don't even have to feel embarrassed about how I look in a bathing suit because. There are all kinds of body types and most of the people there are my age or older and, you know, nobody is looking like, you know, Halle Berry or uh, um, I'm trying to think. Whoever, whoever.

Yeah, you, you, you know what we mean. Anyway, until the next time, uh, keep moving and always remember you still have time. That's right. Take care.