Personal Stories: Harold

My Physical Activity Routine/Program

Most days, I start with stretching. That’s mostly to keep me in touch with what I can or can’t do that day. Then typically I’ll go down to the gym in our building and work my biceps, triceps, quads, hamstrings and stomach muscles. I may swim for 10 or 15 minutes for the aerobic part. In my case, since I want to get my heart pumping, I swim vigorously. Now that I’ve started teaching tennis again, I may skip the gym on days I teach. And several evenings a week I try to play tennis with my wife.

How I Do It: My Routine
Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat	Quick Check
tennis 60 min	tennis 90 min	swim 15 min		tennis 45 min	swim 15 min	tennis 60 min	Exceeds aerobic guidelines
	gym with weights		gym with weights		gym with weights		Exceeds muscle strenthening guidelines

Why I Started

After my physical catastrophes – high blood pressure, surgery for prostate cancer, hip replacement – my mental state was fragile. I’d never worried about my body because I’m an athlete. But when you can’t move, it’s extremely depressing! Once I decided to go through with the hip replacement, I started developing my leg muscles – quads and hamstrings – so my recovery from the surgery would be better. That ended up being a good thing, because the physical therapist said I recovered faster than most.

Benefits

Now, not only can I walk but I can run – like a little kid again!

Biggest Motivation

I want to live a little longer. I want to feel good. I love life and I want to be engaged in life. Both my brothers had strokes and one is gone – and they’re younger than I am.

Biggest Challenge

Now that I’m older, my weight zooms up very quickly. I’ve just lost 10 pounds, but for about a year it looked like it was never going to change.

Greatest Achievement/Biggest Thrill

I’ve been able to play tennis against some of the same people I used to play 5 to 10 years ago. It took a couple weeks, but now I’m actually winning games.

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