Has spring arrived at last? - stay active - the lazy fitness guide April25.5

Stay active 

Peta Bee covers J Strength and Conditioning about minimal fitness sessions in the Times. 'If you exercise regularly you can get away with doing much less and still stay fit':

Cardio - 13 minutes x2  per week at 75% maximum heart rate. Or, 30mins around 50-60% maximum heart rate. In other words shorter and more intensive.

Weights - 6 exercises, performed slowly, once weekly, one set of repetitions. Oldies may need 2 sessions.

Balance - important skill for oldies. Balance on one leg every day increasing to 30 seconds. Eyes open to start, then closed. 'Then try squatting down on one leg or moving centre of mass by swaying on one leg with eyes closed'.

Step counts - you can get away with 4500-5500 p. day according to JAMA (based 17000 older women) and US National Institutes of Health.

Warm up - slow version of the exercise you are going to do, then maybe 5-10 seconds of effort before starting.

Cool down - don't stop suddenly, gradually reduce intensity.

So my usual advice - do something and do it regularly.

Garden Glimpses

BBQ as well maybe if the weather holds

Awayday - narrow canal from Slawit to Marsden

2.30 pm train - no one to take our money and no machines we could make sense of. The water levels were down and a couple of boats were tilting, grounded on silt. A few boat people had taken root with enclosures, canopies and tents on the bank. Industrial architecture everywhere, memories of the canalside industries. A reminder too that the canal was a much-needed water source for industrial processes as well as transport for goods. Converted Holme Mills is home to Darkwoods Coffee and Zapato craft ales and is one venue for the Marsden jazz festival. I'm sure they have their own water supply.

The Slawit guillotine lock is the only one on the whole canal network in working order.

One of my maps has a caption 'Marsden Junction' at the National Trust carpark. There was a pub by this name, confused with Tunnel End. Both pubs are shut now. One source, 'Last of the Summer Wine', suggests that the three railway tunnels and lines easily facilitated switching which entitled Marsden to call itself 'junction'. A practice more common on the Midland we're told.

Easy walking, perfect for the older person.