So I got this from an unrelated doctor's visit but the details of that aren't really important. Basically he was going to help me lose weight and I'm fairly trim already so he said he couldn't really help me with that. So I said he is getting paid and needs to do better than that. He got fired up and here's what he told me:
One of the biggest issues old people face is lack of mobility when older and starting now(around 45) is when issues start presenting themselves. He said he would give me a bare minimum weekly exercise routine to follow and if I did I should be in good shape and able to continue to exercise for the next 20-30 years barring anything unforeseen.
So here it is for you for free:
Every two days
- 5-10 chinups; currently I'm hitting 5 barely
- 20-40 pushups; 18 only at the moment :(
- 30-50 air squats; 30 and I can do more but I'm keeping it down for now because of the lunges
- 10-20 static lunges; these were the hardest but I can do 14(look these up in a video because they are next to useless without proper technique, keep the upper body moving straight up and down and both knees at perfect right angles when fully down!)
- 20 mins walking every day broken up into morning and afternoon if I can
I'm going to be doing these every day instead of every second day because I need some pain burned into me if I'm behind on those pushups.
In his opinion if you do these 5 exercises it should keep your vital cogs turning enough to keep you out of trouble. His other bit of advice was not to push it past what you can do without straining. If you give it time you will build up enough muscle in those areas to get to the minimum and beyond.
For your chin-ups, start off by launching yourself off the floor with your toes a little OR rest the weight of one leg on a chair until you build some strength. My shoulders do this thing called "non-traumatic dislocation" and I had to start this way (basically, any weight on my arms pulls my shoulders out of joint and I have to use extra muscles to keep that from happening but this takes away from my "normal" upper body strength). It didn't take long for me to go from 1 pullup to 8 but you'll drop back down when you lose the chair... legs weight a LOT. Two weeks should be enough time. Also, don't be hard on yourself for lacking in this area. I was completely shocked when none of my friends could do even one. You're already ahead of the game.
For the pushups, start off doing half of what you can normally do and do the rest on your knees. Every day, add one to normal, subtract one from knees.
Don't be afraid to add one or two more of anything once a week.