How much physical activity do you manage?

We belong to a health club , which we go twice a week , no more , can"t be allowed to dominate . Mr Nonu goes in the gym and I swim lots of laps We also go for nice walks of about 20 mins or so . Enough for me !!

I used to play badminton quite seriously but have had to give up because of wrist problem but have found I can play short tennis which I love, still pretty active and great fun. Also took up table tennis a couple of years ago and really enjoy that also. Found the gym a bit boring and not very social. Very difficult to find active sports to play when older as all that is generally on offer in our borough for older people is Tai Chi and gentle exercise.

We had the ideal environment when we were children. We played out and went down to the shore with the dog. I learnt to play tennis and, inspired by Wimbledon, we haunted the local courts during the summer holidays. We swam at the outdoor pool or at the North Shore. I suppose it must have rained sometimes! After school there was hockey practice and matches on Saturday morning. I wasn't specially good at any of these games, but I did love them. Oh and our normal mode of transport was our bikes. When I went to University I didn't play games, but we walked everywhere and I used my bike around town. In my 20s in Kenya, there was tennis and squash at the club and I continued to play squash into my 40s when an elbow problem stopped me. I kept up with swimming and later aqua aerobics until the last few years.Having written all this, I realise that, for me, exercise used to be the norm. I need to get back to it.

I am going to pin my hatred of exercise on my horrible PE teacher. The only thing I ever mastered was hanging upside down on the wall bars. She was determined that I was going to vault over the horse, and I was determined that I wasn't. I had to wear glasses from the age of 9 and I was terrified of smashing them and was barely able to see the damned horse without them. I won.
My parents were in their 40s when I was born and as my mother worked full time as well as looking after four children with no domestic appliances she had no time for artificial exercise. My father was never really well, and died at 58 from emphysema.
None of us liked sports - my poor sister once got the strap on her hand for not trying her best at netball. We were great readers and much preferred a good book to any sporting activity.
I did enjoy dancing and went several nights a week from the age of 15 to our little local dance school. I then found roller skating - a perfect way to meet boys as you could skate round on your own without waiting for a boy to ask you. I met my ex-husband in our local roller rink. He taught me all the dances and I was quite good, but I have never been able to master ice skating or in-line skating - I need a wheel at each corner.
I am still not in the least sporty - I just enjoy walking and swimming.

You are right, mishap. In my family, there was no notion of sport or exercise, even though my ever slim mother had danced all her life. (And never sat still...) But my wonderful DiL (now an Olympic athletics coach!!!) talks about teaching "body confidence" - something of which those dreadful women who patronised and bullied me during PE etc had no concept.

Oh, how I hated it all.

Thank you, soop - I certainly had no intention of making anybody feel bad because they were unable to take much exercise, when I replied to the OP.
I had no excuse at all when I was taking none!

I think that many adults do not take exercise because school sports were such a drag - let us hope that nowadays exercise in school has a wider scope with dance etc.

Why? Greatnan It's okay to be honest.

Oh, dear, jeni is mad with me - I am putting myself on the naughty step for half an hour.
We need a 'sorry' emoticon.

I was a member of a health club but cancelled my membership because I wasn't using it enough. I haven't been very energetic since polymyalgia rheumatica was diagnosed last year, though when I went to France with my sister she dragged me round at high speed! I have almost recovered. I am reliably informed that the caravan site I'm going to with the family has a heated outdoor pool so I will do some swimming every day next week. Promise! And when I get back will have another look at health clubs with decent pools.

greatnanYES!!!!!!

Mishap I KNOW how you feel. Some days it's very difficult to put a brave face on, isn't it? Yet, I hardly ever mention all my probs to family or friends living nearby. Nice to be able to have a quiet moan on this thread.

Yes yoga is a form of gentle excerise, I do it as I have a back problem, and the gentle exercise helps strengthen the muscles each side of my spine which will help support my damanged spine.
Also yoga makes 'you' aware of poor posture and can hep correct it, which is important when going about your every day life, even in the garden.
I wish I had started yoga a long time ago and then perhaps I would not have the back problem I have now

Goodness me, this is turning into a 'why i can't take exercise' thread.
They mentioned yoga as a form of vigorous aerobic exercise on the bbc news last night. Wot, I thought. Depends entirely on what kind of class you go to. Some are very energetic, requiring a lot of strength. Others very much not.

It sounds as though you and I are paddling away in a similar boat soop - I do lots of things for lots of people, but none of it constitutes exercise - too much pain. And the giddiness is a killer frankly - I do not feel stable on my feet at all, even though I look young and fit (or so I am told!).

And I too have tiresome problems in the gastrointestinal department - some mornings I am tied to the house - maybe that is where I get my exercise, chasing to the loo and back - I will "reframe" it, as the psychologists would say, and regard it as an asset from now on!!

Is yoga exercise? I do that, and gardening and a bit of walking, but not much else! And I have no excuse, because I'm very lucky to have no health problems.
There again, I'm not overweight and feel OK, so I won't worry too much about it.

Mishap If your body says, NO! Then don't do it. I have a curvature of the spine [born with it] and arthritis in several joints and I also suffer from fibromyalgia. I've also got a b****y tiresome bowel problem. I used to swim for the county as a teen. I walked mile upon mile and could dance forever. Held down a busy full time job until I was 62. All that has changed. Have just given an hour to dusting books on a series of shelves. Guess what? I'm well and truly knackered. I believe that mind over matter keeps me ticking over. I may move like an ancient lady [right this minute] but, once I've recovered, I shall have a girlish sprint in my step. There is nothing wrong with taking things easy. Do hope that you can relax and enjoy the fact that sun may soon shine.

My sister is the same - she can walk only short distances and standing for more than a few minutes gives her very bad back ache. She doesn't feel guilty, though - she just accepts that that is the way things are now. She does manage to keep her house and little garden looking very smart and she gets out every day on the bus to Morrisons, where she has a wander round leaning on a trolley and gets a cup of coffee and a cake with a friend.
I do feel a bit guilty remembering the years I lived in Chelsea and worked in Kensington High Street, and drove the 3 miles to work. (I had a residents' parking ticket for both areas). There was absolutely nothing wrong with my health - I was just idle. My only exercise then was dancing in singles' clubs till the early hours. I was also drinking about a bottle of wine a day and eating out nearly every night. No wonder I put on weight.
I suppose that having discovered the joys of pleasurable exercise, I am like most converts - annoyingly enthusiastic!

Same here!

Aw. You don't need to feel guilty, mishap. I've had to stop cycling, swimming and dancing because of pain. Like you, I just do what I can. x

I hate these threads and programmes, because I get virtually no exercise.

I have a problem with my balance which makes it very hard to do any exercise - I also have a disc problem and a bad hip. I have tried swimming, but it gives me terrible pain afterwards in my hip.

What I like is to plough on as best I can without these threads making me feel guilty!!!

When I was young exercise made me hurt but it was a 'good' hurt; I knew that when it went away i would feel better for it. Now exercise just makes me hurt and it stays hurt . A few years ago I three jobs; one of them involved a lot of walking; I looked after two dogs and a horse and went walking in the Peak District at weekends. Now I have one job and all my time is spent maintaining my house; someone else walks the dog. Not sure how this happened.

I have never, ever, felt the need to go to a gym so never have. I've always had an active lifestyle though (walking, cycling to work, swimming with the kids, Scottish dancing with friends), gone on active holidays (walking in the Highlands), and done plenty of physical work (e.g allotment). A gym is more likely to put menoff exercise than anything. DH likes "exercise programmes" though. He was recently doing a "mowing" exercise with weights (or something). I just looked at him, baffled, and said Why don't you just mow the grass? Swinging a scythe is excellent exercise, as is maneuvering a heavy lawnmower on our hill.

I had a really good exercising year from May 2011 but it all fell apart when I had a 6 week cough. Got quite good at jogging. Trying to get myself motivated to get back in routine and do my 5 times a week . Weather does not help.
I am v bored with gym and need to put my (expensive) notice in.
Does anyone else find that exercising gives them sore muscles in their lower back/upper buttocks. End up taking a weak ibuprofen in the night sometimes (often).
DH and I have reached an agreement whereby I lie on floor and he massages upper gluteus with his heel while watching something on TV. (or watching my backside) That helps.
But feeling more bouncy with stronger legs is a big bonus. Psyching myself up. Not in the mood. But I am going to the gym this morning.

Janthea Of course you get lots of excercise, all that rushing around on the underground using your sharp elbows to push through while muttering b*** tourists. You must be very fit