Just one. I’m not a person for New Year’s Resolutions, and yet … I seem to have made a commitment to myself. And to my knees. It’s just one thing, it only takes about 30-60 minutes a day, and yet it seems to have completely eaten my brain.
What is it?
Going. For a walk. Every. Day.
Not “Eh, most days.” Not intending to take a walk daily. Not “I’ll try.” Doing it.
I don’t know how long it’ll be. At the moment I’m not walking far; sometimes a half mile, sometimes a little less, sometimes on the treadmill, sometimes outside. Usually it’s 15 minutes or so of actual walking. But it seems to be taking a lot of my attention to not forget, to not put it off too long, to get it done.
It is very much a pianissimo approach to my knee problems. I could probably walk further if I took an occasional day off. But that’s also the problem; days I don’t walk I get a bit stiffer and the muscles and joints don’t flow as easily. I’m walking fast enough to get into the “aerobic range” for someone my age, and I don’t mind it, but that’s not my focus either.
I don’t push for longer. I just push for doing it every day.
Okay, there’s a part 2. Part 2 is: some sort of strength training for my legs. Most nights it’s chair squats or leg lifts*, but one night I did some yoga poses. Oddly enough, this has been the easier part. It generally takes between 10 and 30 minutes.
Why am I doing this? Because I’m tired of limping and pain and not being able to keep up with the man of the house, and because less consistent approaches to my knee problems haven’t worked. So right now I’m focusing on consistency.
I don’t know how long this will last. Part of me doesn’t really care. I do know I’ve got 11 days right now, and right now, that’s good enough for me.
*Since I often get asked: Single-leg raises, seated leg extensions, side leg lifts.
Living ~400lbs 
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