Go to the gym or take a stroll in the park?

I guess this question is asking us to demonstrate our ideas about exercise. It is a really important issue for everyone because we only get one body to use in our lifetime and we do need to take care of it.  The problem is that, on the one hand, in our modern world of the internet we are bombarded with conflicting information about health and on the other, we often have mistaken beliefs about exercise handed down from our parents or even grandparents.

However, it actually isn’t that complicated.  We need to do 3 kinds of exercise to stay healthy: stretching, strength-training and cardiovascular (for the heart and lungs.) The older we get the more important it becomes to keep up with these areas.  Anyone can follow a stretching routine because there are plenty on youtube. I think people usually stretch very badly when they go to the gym. The -big- mistake is to stretch -before- strength training. Afterwards is actually the correct time.  Strength training means some kind of progressive resistance work done at the gym or at home these days because of covid 19. A typical mistake is to do long work outs. Short and intense is the best way.  Cardiovascular is the least understood. For heart health we need to do something that gets us really out of breath for about 2 minutes and then rest for quite a long time. Then do it again. And again. For about a total of 20 minutes.  This high stress/ relax is now widely accepted as the best way to strengthen the cardio system.

Taking a stroll in the park is great for our mental and spiritual health. It may improve the health of someone who does zero exercise and as a result has a completely atrophied body. However, in terms of building overall health and longevity a stroll in the park does nothing. It is a completely different thing.  So the answer to the question is simply one of preference.  I often stroll in the park with my wife because it’s a lovely memory.  I use the home-gym of my body to do yoga everyday. It’s not quite enough ‘cardio’ but it can be really tough. On the whole, it is enough for me right now.