He was kind enough to make a few further recommendations for our winter efforts....
Hope this helps.
No problem. Part of my life’s mission.
Mature folks lose lots of strength, stamina over winter. And that does not completely recover come springtime activities. It accumulates annually until we are pretty much screwed.
The fitness maintenance exercises I could recommend would be…
1. repeatedly standing then sitting on and off a dining room chair WITHOUT pushing off with hands. Repeat this over and over until fatigue slows you. Time to stop. If easy, progress to softer living room sofa to do this. If you cannot stand from sitting without using hands, then cheat a little by placing a bed pillow on that seat to raise starting point enough to accomplish standing with mild to moderate difficulty, then work the exercise from there. remove pillow once you find yourself getting stronger. Works quads and butt, important muscle groups for safe moving about, walking, balance. Working these also dilates bronchial tubes for enhance lung function and safety.
2. climb stairs. Always with handrail available. Start with using rail, then check your balance control while not using railing. Protect yourself as you challenge the muscles. Works same muscles as the above exercise, but in a repeated reciprocating pattern that better matches function, gait, balance, endurance.
3. stationary bike great for cardio and pulmonary function, which can save your life if you get hit with a pneumonia or flu. Get MD approve you safe for coaxing up heart rate. He should be abe to suggest a max heart rate to hold to. A simple pulse oximeter costs $20 and can give you reading of heart rate as well as oxygen levels.
4. practice standing on one foot. Critical to protect you from fractured arm or hip or torn rotator cuff (all of these a potential disaster). Stand in corner of countertop to have a stable surface around you. Don’t use hand except to catch yourself when needed, trying to hold single-foot stance. Goal is 30 seconds. Check yourself and be prepared to be surprised. Balance losses sneak up on you silently as you lose balance control nerve endings in your weight-bearing joints as they wear down from age-related degenerative arthrosis. But the remaining nerve endings can readily trained to adapt and recover lost balance sensations. Simply grab 30 seconds of this for each foot several times throughout the day. Really easy and effective.
5. walking opportunities. When you find yourself in a shopping setting, consciously take on some extra walking laps around the place, just for the exercise.
6. theraband. A few pennies worth of elastic exercise bands. Buy the smallest package available, nothing fancy at all. Simply pulling on a three-foot length of lightweight (red) theraband to allow repetitive pulling to challenge both strength and endurance. Progress to green (medium) then to blue (heavy) as strength increases allow this progression.
