Exercise With and Without Equipment

When I was a kid, my mother and many other mothers turned on the TV every afternoon to exercise with Jack LaLane. He was the “Godfather” of the modern fitness movement.

He was the person who pushed for the development of gyms with training for athletes.

On his TV show, he demonstrated how to use household items like chairs, broomsticks, and cords to increase resistance and muscle strength.

He also was a proponent of healthy nutrition after getting sick from a “junk food diet” in his teens.

Exercise and movement are essential for our health. According to the Mayo Clinic (where I did two years of my residency), exercise and movement prevent or manage:

• Stroke
• Metabolic syndrome
• High blood pressure
• Type 2 diabetes
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Many types of cancer
• Arthritis
• Falls

It can also help improve cognitive function and helps lower the risk of death from all causes.

Besides helping to prevent or manage many health conditions, it helps in these areas too:

• Weight loss and management
• Improves mood
• Increases energy
• Improves sleep
• Improves sex life
• Improves social life when done with others

There are two types of exercise, aerobic activity and strength training. Most aerobic exercises, such as swimming, running, or walking, can be done with or without equipment.

Strength training can be done with or without equipment, although most people think of this in terms of resistance bands and weights.

Combining these types of training results in the best muscle strength and health of your body.

This section will look at various types of equipment, videos, and streaming service options.

Don’t feel like you must do it all since that will make you find excuses.

Check out what you are interested in and go from there.

I can tell you that I have used swimming, regular and recumbent biking, walking, and using a Bowflex and NordicTrack over my lifetime. I don’t use them all now, but I used what I needed to at different times in my life.

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