. Got together with one of the groups I volunteer with for a Christmas lunch at one of my favorite places in town. All I had was the tomato basil soup with the jumbo garlic bread croutons, and that was plenty filling, so I'm glad I didn't get the salad, too. . And the price was right: $8.95.
I haven't used my weighted belt on the treadmill since Tabs made his suggestions, and I've been able to increase my speed from 3.3/3.4 (with the belt) to 3.6 without it, and a heart rate high of 111, which is still probably not my optimal peak heart rate as far as cardio benefit goes. I have to say I enjoy the workout a lot more without the belt and I "feel" stronger because I'm walking faster. I usually shoot for 30 minutes.
Today's a warmish day. I Would love to wash the salt off my car, but ehhh...maybe tomorrow. It's already 3 and the water will likely freeze on the driveway. Guess I'm too frugal for a car wash.
December 18th, 2025 at 02:45 am 1766025933
December 18th, 2025 at 05:11 pm 1766077915
As for the weight thing, I hope you will understand I’m just trying to help minimize injuries, which is the last thing any of us needs. The thing about weight is that it doesn’t just provide additional pressure on working the muscles, but it also adds unhealthy pressure on the knees, ankles, back.
If you want to add more work for your leg muscles, you can also increase the incline on the treadmill. Safer too. If you are doing this in a large gym with a stairmaster, feel free to give that a try as well, since that works on an even wider range of motion AND is a very practical movement.
As for BPM, I think that can be a bit misleading because it’s typically tied to jogging. Yes, jogging is a better workout than walking, but your risk of injury also greatly increases. If you narrow down your BPM search to just walking for senior citizens, you’ll find that your target BPM is actually pretty spot on!
Plus, no one is saying you can’t walk really, really fast if that’s what you want to do. If it’s still not enough, you can also try mixing in the occasional short intervals of jogging into your walk. Just do a light jog for a bit whenever you feel like it, and go back to walking any time. So long as you are doing it safely, there is no pressure here, and I find it helps to break up the monotony.
In the end, and as you say, the most important thing is to find that style of physical activity or exercise that you find most enjoyable, and will keep coming back to do it again and again. Netting that positive experience is far more important than whatever it is internet says how many times your heart should or should not be pumping at any arbitrary interval.