Thought I'd start a thread on this. Seems we keep sticking in some kind of exercise in other threads. It surely helps us in our quest to play piano.

You can post anything you want related to exercise on this thread. Got a new bike, etc.
Especially important is exercise that is focused on playing piano.
Anything you think might help others.

Before piano, I used to commute to work by bike routinely, but now I have to choose between 20 minutes more practice time or a ride to work.

How's that for a dilemma?!

In the last few years, I’ve been in a regular routine of exercising and watching what I eat… though I still like potato chips now and then.

The exercising has become a very important part of my daily/weekly schedule; I lost over 50 pounds the first year I started exercising, and I've been maintaining my weight since. In fact, I honestly don’t like it when something comes up that interferes with my exercising time.

I workout on a stair-stepper machine, do sit-ups and lift some free weights an hour or more on my days off from work, (the weekends) and I try to exercise at least 30 minutes 4 out of the five work days. I take one day a week off my exercise routine.

I feel better, look better, and my blood pressure, and cholesterol, are lower than they have ever been… of course, I do take a statin drug for the cholesterol; I asked my Dr. about stopping the statin, but he said it was good to take it for maintenance purposes. Not sure I buy that, but I still take the statin daily.

I think my exercising has done a lot to enhance my piano playing/practicing. Or, perhaps I just feel better and playing the piano is just more fun for that reason.

Anyway, I hope I can keep it up (the exercising). I honestly think it is the best thing I have going for me at this stage of my life.

Rick

You people might not know. I almost died permanently 9 years ago. I did die for a few seconds. I had diabetes that was causing weight loss. Doctors can't treat that. It either stops or it doesn't. I suffered damage, even nerve damage.

In my quest to find how to effectively recuperate and get healthy again. I had two sources of great info.

One was a book named: Younger Next Year. It is written by a retired lawyer. He did it with the permission and input from his Gerontologist. It is focused on people retiring. It is proven that these people start exercising. The result is they get younger each year instead of older. The age determined by common clinical tests. Think about this and playing piano. How many time you've used the excuse of getting older. You really should check this book out.

The other one was I ran across a guy teaching training. His name is Scott Sonnon. I wouldn't suggest to anyone here to try to get into training with him. His system of training is so involved mentally. You have enough trying to learn piano. I have always suggested to people to get his mobility program. He says that is the most important part of training. It is the one and only thing he wants people to do everyday. It is a fountain of youth.
I'll post later on some mobility to fingers I came up with just for piano. Also the reasons why.

My wife and I are runners. We live close to a wonderful park that has miles of running and biking paths. We run 5 and 10k events here in town. Whats great about being old is that there is not too much competition in my are group. We had to slow down a little this summer as we have had a health problem to deal with but we are now on the other side of that and hoping to start training for a half marathon this next spring.

malkin... I commuted to work at one time. Only problem was; I was so worn out after work. I really pedaled slow on the way home. It was only about 4.5 miles.

Rickster....sounds great. Sounds like you're doing real good.

WJ3....gee not much competition? I got second place in my age group in my ultra marathon. Now we can ignore the itty bitty, teenie weenie, little...well... fact.... that there was only two people in my age group at my distance. The important thing is I got second place! ... Good going for you. Keep at it.

Of course we will ignore that!

I used to wear (under my helmet) a cycling cap with the world champion's stripes on it. It always cracked me up, and I always said to myself, "I am the world champion or this here commute."

I used to race other cyclists on the 3 mile trip to work. We were crazy, and usually a bit on the "late" side. So there was no let up; a down gradient all the way, we were flying, and very sweaty when we got there.

It was a bit different coming home. Now, women pass me and I can`t do a darn thing about it . . .

Nice thread! To my regret, I am not much of a sport person, but I intend to do something about it.

Last winter I started some indoors rock climbing - a great mind/body workout but not very good for the hands. You're supposed to use your legs more than anything but in the end you still use your arms a lot, especially when you are a beginner and a bit scared of heights! So fingers and forearms get stronger but possibly less nimble. I stopped for the summer but I want to start again in October, it was great fun. I also climbed a bit outdoors with friends who are good at it, but my goal is just to be safer when I go hiking and to be able to do some via ferrata's and things like that, I'm so not into real climbing.

I also want to start running seriously next fall. I had started a C25k program but I didn't stick to it. Now it's the time! I move around a lot here in the country, tending my olive grove and garden, but I need something more structured and complete.

My only hobby up until last year was running. From a casual runner with perhaps one marathon a year I really upped it in the last two years running in both 100 km an 100 mile events. I was forced to stop running altogether and took up piano and then of course put on weight. So now I like to get out about three times a week on the road bike, my usual course is 32km and takes me just over an hour. So today is one of my cycling days but found a new piece of music which has me captivated, oh the dilemma.

My sport is tennis. I practice tennis for 8 years in a club near my house. We have one/two sessions with a teacher during the weekdays, and we do some games in the weekend (usually at Saturdays).

Now, the interesting is that I can find a similarity between tennis and piano. In both activities I am "alone" i.é, I play piano alone, and tennis is played alone (I don't like to do doubles). So, every decisions and every failures are imputed to "me". I don't have any partner to accuse for a miss ball as I don't have any colleague to blame about a lost chord. On the other hand, I've to have the capability to restore my confidence for my self. Once again, in tennis and in piano (remember: I don't have a teacher), confidence must come from "inside".
It was funny when I started thinking about this.

Carlos CC I think there are a lot of similarities with piano and some sports.

My preferred exercise has changed over the years. I did triathlons in my thirties, rode dressage horses in my 40's and 50's, and now I just hike. Some health issues that cause vertigo have forced me to keep two feet firmly on the ground, but what a better place to hike than in the middle of the alps! Swiitzerland is covered in trails, and I can literally walk out my front door and end up on top of a mountain. This is what is outside my front door:



So, it is not as intense as the activities of the past, but climbing the hills does get my heart rate up! I hike daily, and try to get a long one in once a week.

Well, I'm not a very sporty person. I played squash a lot in my early 20s, and loved that. (I can't remember why I stopped, truth be told).... and for a while I was going to the gym very regularly . A detached retina put a stop to that for a while, yet even after my eye healed (and it is fine) - I have some restrictions for the types of activities I can do (no aerobics, no jumping, nothing with my head hanging down). I have found it impossible to get back into any sort of gym activity.
I am just too nervous about it.

I'm also hypothyroid so my metabolism is slow. Exercise is VERY good for me - I need to build up more muscle to have my system function better.

Cycling is the exercise I ENJOY. Anything else is duty.
Where we live, there are a stunning amount of cycling paths - paved ones along the major canals, dirt paths along the river, and trails in the woods, dirt roads through the farms - lots of opportunities to ride in car-free places!
When we go out, our minimum ride is 45 minutes, and our longest rides to-date are 52km. In the past few weeks we've done runs of 35km and 42km - we haven't hit the longer run yet. Maybe this week. I'd actually like to get beyond the farthest place we've been... that in itself isn't the problem. It is the return trip!


I have a mat and small weights which I can use at home - and I need to use more often!

I also read up on the mobility exercises Ron mentioned and I've started on those. I particularly like the ones for neck arms and shoulders.


I walk to work all the time - and that means 3-4 15 minute walks times 2 per day, most days of the week - some days a bit less. For some of my work cycling is more logical - we're talking 3-6 km one way.

The trouble is that I would much rather sit at the piano than do sit ups and weights!

I have the book Ron mentioned "Younger Next Year". I found it quite inspirational when I first read it. I think I should re-read it.

So....hmmm, if the FOYD, MOYD threads help keep me on track with piano - perhaps this one will encourage me to get rolling more with PE. .....That would be a good thing.

I will report back in a few days!

Wow SwissMS, what a view!

Wow, that's quite a view!

I also used to ride horses, when I was a teenager. The basic dressage/jumping skills for my riding license, then just some trail riding. Now I'd love to get a small cart horse, but roads are just too steep here!

SwissMS you were posting while I was writing - I missed your pic! Wow..... that's quite the view to wake up to! Gorgeous!

My wife and I have always been runners. We've each done one marathon, a few half marathons, and countless 10-k and 5-k races over the decades.

On the bike, we've also done BRAG (Bicycle Ride Across Georgia) a few times - it's a week-long bicycle vacation across the state - lot's of fun - usually about 350 miles.

And there's hiking - I volunteer to maintain a mile of the Appalachian Trail in Georgia. I plan to hike Maine to Georgia one year...

But my sport of choice is orienteering - running with a map and compass through the woods. I make maps for our local orienteering club, and that keeps me really on my toes.

Being fit and staying active definitely helps stay alert and focused at the piano!

Sam

For exercise I pat myself on the back, jump to conclusions, wrestle with dilemmas, knock my head against a wall, run in circles and sometimes kick butt...

Seriously, in my wild and crazy middle age I participated in triathlons, biathlons, marathons and various and assorted road races - now my wife & I bike on local rail-to-trail paths and I work out at a fitness center and play golf, which is truly a "good walk spoiled" as Mark Twain was remarked (only in half jest), where occasionally I get some bonus exercise by wrapping a club around a tree...

But, the workout I enjoy the most is the one at our local ice cream parlor and involves only the eager use of a spoon...

Gee... Lots of responses.
I'll try later to respond to each and every person since I'm the OP.

I really hope that this thread helps people who haven't done any exercise. Don't want to be no athlete. Not interested.
It's just that we are basically physical beings. To exercise somehow, helps us exist. Don't have to let people see you. Don't need no criticism from wannabe's. You can always do something.
I can't stress how important Mobility work is. It isn't even exercise. It makes deep changes in you. Leaves you wanting to move. It is no wonder why people who don't exercise, don't feel like it. Their bodies chemical reactions have adapted to that. The endocrine system. Your body adapts to whatever you expose it to. Make changes slowly so the endocrine system can adapt.
Gee... Piano is so difficult to play well. We need all the health we can for out bodies to execute that.

A Russian saying: Movement is life and life is movement. And dance is a celebration of life.

You really aren't required to respond individually to each post.

Besides riding my bike, I am a bit of a pro cycling fan. [img:center]http://www.graymalkin.gs/jens[/img]

I ride my tricycle (Catrike Expedition) or two wheel recumbent (Bacchetta Giro) to work everyday. I used to ride upright bicycles but they would put parts of me to sleep that I didn't want to be asleep. :-)

My commute is 10 miles round trip, rain, sleet, snow, or, like today, GORGEOUS.
Church is 16 miles round trip, the grocery store (trailer for the trike) is 14 miles round trip. Plus the riding for fun gets me around 6000 miles/year.

I haven't owned a car since 2008, and I've found that money is 'thicker' than ever without insurance, parking, gas.

In my younger days I pursued martials arts, earning a black belt. These days I practice Yang Style Taiji (martial arts for old farts). An epiphany occurred when I was 42 and nursing cracked ribs and a badly bruised hand from sparring the previous night. I asked myself the question 'when I'm 70 do I want to be able to play Bach or do high kicks?'

so the focus changed to a gentle, yet still mentally difficult martial art. :-)

I have found the 30 minute commute each morning ideal for mental practice and organizing the day's work - it's the best part of my day, and the exercise is built in! I do not use earbuds, and my TV time is 30 minutes of the local news in the morning. computer time (shhhh, I'm at work!)....

I practice in 15/20 minute chunks, with 10 minutes of yoga (a gazillion 10 minute shoulder/back routines on youtube) or taiji as breaks. So exercise is built in to practice time as well. Plus an intense 30 minute weight routine - upper body - 3 times a week rounds out the exercise.

Forrest

i used to lift when i was 19 till earlier just recently, im 24 now. I've switched from working out at the gym to playing tennis, so im a beginner piano player and a beginner tennis player

" It is no wonder why people who don't exercise, don't feel like it."
That happens when you get older. You really have to make a decision. To do or not to do. That is the question . . .and the excuses come thick and fast!

Speaking of dance - that's part of what I do. I contra dance twice a month - it' not much, but it helps. I can tell you it really helps with piano! I have a pretty good sense of rhythm, and when I'm the one starting off a set from the band I dance in my head and (as we say of people who have gotten old enough that "smooth" is really important) in my shoes - which means the rhythm is in my whole body but you can't see me move Sometimes I get out front of the band, if the caller is still talking it through, and just walk/march around in time so they can see what the tempo is going to be. Dance FTW!

I had been looking for range-of-motion exercises like my mother did with the Arthritis Foundation, since I know it's important to be able to do things like look over your shoulder for cars in your blind spot, and it's harder as you get older, when Ron first mentioned the mobility exercises. Perfect. I started in maybe Feb and still haven't added legs yet But I swear I'm taller now, and I do feel better. They're worth doing, for me.

And I walk a lot. A couple of my clients are within walking distance, as is the library, the post office, a branch of my bank, and Trader Joe's. Walking distance, due to time, is about a mile and a half one way. I walk longer distances sometimes just for fun.

I used to be quite active - ski racing, rock climbing, tennis - so I miss being in shape. But I know that nutrition and exercise are their own rewards, so I'm back to doing both.

And just the habits of focusing during piano practicing, and exercising, and eating well, and, sigh, keeping the house dusted , are great for keeping the old body/mind connection in working order.

Cathy

double post - sigh

Today practicing, I noticed that my hands felt some discomfort. At first I thought I was straining a little, but then I realized it could be because yesterday I was gripping the handlebars too tightly on a little bit too fast of a downhill and bouncing across a little rough road surface. The light at the bottom of the hill was green--I wanted to make it!

I used to be the biggest coward on 2 wheels; now sometimes I am surprisingly bold.

woodog.... Gee those are nice bikes. One thing that has held me back in using my bike more is it getting stolen. You must have a good setup to make sure they don't get stolen when you get where you're going.

Jotur....Gee Dance... That is one thing my mobility has led me to. Enjoying movement. I'll let you in on a little secret. Those break dancers? They get that from this mobility and range of motion training. The Cossacks were the original break dancers.

Sweet06.... That is one thing I have always done in my life. Learning new things. Over and over. Always something new. It's a great way to live....learning.

Malkin.... I realize I don't have to respond to all. I probably won't. I'll try now and then to be a good host. Good on bike riding. That's a good one.

Oh Trapper... You forgot about the swimming in golf. It occurs about the time the guy remembers he put his keys and wallet in his bag. The bag and clubs he threw in the lake.

SamS... That's great what you do. They say the legs are half of the heart. I learned there is something called: Speed Hiking. One guy who wanted to get good at it got into running ultra marathons. I understand he is really good. Orienteering sounds great. You ever read: A Walk Across America? Interesting book. He starts doing the Appalachian Trail.

Cas....That's it. Just do it. That's what it's all about. Whatever and however. There was a Gym in Sioux Falls where the motto was: "No Excuses". The owner lived up to it. One of the few Gym's I could bring my clubbells into. My membership there was one of the few bright spots in that town. I remember being there early on Christmas morning. About 4am. A "Santa Clause" came in there to work off his drunk so his wife wouldn't remove body parts from him on Christmas. Now I got a good exercise room in my apartments. Also my own apartment serves most of my needs.

SwissMs... Nice Picture. Would love to see Switzerland one day. Understand it's so beautiful. It gives motivation for hiking. Just getting out there.

Sinophilia... Always interesting to hear what people do. Good to know you're doing. Have you considered running in Five Fingers? They are Italian. That's all I wear now. Run minimal. It's done me a bunch of good.

Carlos... Tennis is great exercise. Good for ya!

earlofmar... You know what I think of Ultra's. Back after I almost died. I ended up doing my baby Ultra 18 months later. Had done marathons. Anybody in the Medical Industry I mentioned that to said: "You sure chose the right sport!" You know the eating, drinking, and running all at the same time does a heck of a job of training the endocrine system. Good going with the bike now. Gotta do something.


I have to admit. This thread is helping to motivate me. I confess that I've been leaning on exercise I've done in the past. It's effects have been so good, so deep, I've felt good. But Piano is motivating me to get serious again. My progress with my body to do what I want at the keyboard is just too slow. It's entirely physical. I know that. I gotta get those changes moving faster. I have the knowledge.

Look at it this way - more exercise than a single!

Ma great-grandpappy was a sodbuster in SD - lived into his 80's. My guess is he didn't play the piano though.

I was a pretty devoted runner in the late 80s and throughout the 90s. It was a way of blowing off the stress of graduate school and, later, the tenure track. I did mostly 5K and 10K races at that time, but I ran two marathons before my knees gave out, with a PB of 3:33:18.

Then I got married and pregnant, had a miscarriage scare, and just like that became an ex-runner. With a family and work, I had no free time, let myself slide physically, gained 25 pounds.

But not long ago, right about the time I decided to take early retirement, I realized that I don't have unlimited time on this planet, and I'd like the time I do have left to be as high quality as possible. So we joined the local YMCA, and I started going 4-5 times a week, working out an hour to an hour and a half each visit. Most of it is spent on the ellipticals, but I throw in a bit of weight training as well. I've lost most of the weight I had gained the past decade, and I am definitely feeling in better shape. And, I've become acquainted with popular culture through watching TV series on my Kindle Fire while I work out. I've worked my way through Grey's Anatomy, Parenthood, Justified, and I'm currently on season 3 of The Shield.

You can accurately gauge the shape you are in by the amount of effort it takes to trim your left pinky toenail with your right hand.

Tip: Cut out the starches (noodles, potatoes, breads). Carbs are fine and healthy but no need to carb/starch load unless you are planning on burning it all completely up.

rnaple, I have read your post, here:

Thought I'd start a thread on this. Seems we keep sticking in some kind of exercise in other threads. It surely helps us in our quest to play piano.

You can post anything you want related to exercise on this thread. Got a new bike, etc.
Especially important is exercise that is focused on playing piano.
Anything you think might help others.

_________________________________________________

As a beginner - others should be guided by more advance players. I don't believe in exercises - for me - because when I play the piano, I read the notes and say the names of the notes as I play them slowly without mistakes else I play the notes even more slowly until I can play them without mistakes. Of course, I also count the values of the notes as I play the notes in the measures.

If I as going to do a scale, I would read the notes of the scale as it was written out on the staff and say the names of the notes as I played them up and down the scales as written on the staff. It would not be beneficial for me to do any scale or exercise without reading and saying the notes as I played and also count the values of the notes as I played them through the measures.

I started exercising and jogging regularly about two years ago because I needed to lose some weight then. I bought a book on home exercise, a few basic exercise tools and I started eating less as well. When I got into the rhythm, it became easy to exercise 3 times a week, gradually adding more repetitions in each series of each exercise (sit-ups, push-ups and lots of other types) and also prolonging the jogging track length. In the end, I did about 5 series of 20 repetitions of each exercise and ran roughly 14 km 3 times a week. It was fun and I even looked forward to it at times.

All in all, I was able to go from 86 kg to about 74 in approx. 9 months. At one point my weight was as low as 72 kg (I'm about 1.83m tall btw.). At that point, however, the time needed for the entire exercise block was over 4 hours (from the first warm-up to the last stretching exercise). Eventually, I had to split it and do the exercise one day and go jogging the next.

Unfortunately, when I replaced home exercise with gym exercise with heavier weights and added beach volleyball into the mix, my right knee showed me it was not going to tolerate this stress anymore and I ended up with damaged cartilage. For 3 months, I was unable to even descend a flight of stairs without pain, much less do any sort of exercise. Thankfully, I did not start eating more so I only gained about 3 kg. After the three month recovery, I started exercising again and very slowly adding more repetitions and extending the running track again. Now I'm happy to say that my performance is pretty much the same it used to be when I was at my personal best but I'm still very careful about not overburdening my body.

All of that was before I got my piano but I haven't stopped even now that I have it. I usually do a little playing (20-30 min) before the exercise to get some "brain exercise" first, then the physical exercise comes and after that, it's some more playing. I'm still at the very earliest phases of learning so I tend to take too big chunks but having read a bit about how the brain handles new information, I try to cut them into smaller pieces.

The start is always the most difficult -- be it in physical exercise or piano playing.

I started yoga. It makes me feel great for the whole week. My piano teacher started doing it too. It's a great exercise for pianists and people work with computers all the time.

What if you're left handed...? (ok, I know, I know)

I've cut out those starchy carbs - oh...95%. Living it Italy the temptations for gorgeous breads and yummy pastas are everywhere, but in general I know have pasta once every two weeks, and bread very rarely. I don't remember the last time I had a potato... I think it was February.

My original reasons for cutting these weren't precisely weight related....I found that after pasta I felt like going to sleep - and then I realized I also had trouble digesting breads and potatoes.

I've also cut out most milk products - (fresh products seem to upset my system- cooked cheese, in small quantities, I can cope with).

The list of foods that create some kind of disturbance seems to be growing. There are days I feel quite crabby about it, though I have to be honest and say that I do feel better. I just miss old favourites. I suppose there will come a day when I will no longer crave them.


Yesterday: 2 shortish rides, about 10k.

I just got an advertisement from my Coach. A program he came up with for people who want to get into exercise. A basic program that teaches very common horse sense things people should know who want to exercise. I'm not posting this hoping for sales. He has gotten to be a better salesman. He is over and above most exercise teaching for common people. If you just read through his page on this. There are some good things you can learn.
5Classics

Talking about common horse sense.... Clayman... That was a great post. Just doing things. Nothing fancy or sophisticated. Just getting out and doing it. Great job.

OH Farmgirl.... Yoga is so good. You know that every single Olympic Athlete practices some form of yoga to some extent? It is part of a good general exercise training for anyone. You ever seen those girls usually at Casino's who hang from long "drapes" and move in a kind of dance with those drapes. That is a form of yoga. Got an interesting one for ya... prasara yoga. If there was only one thing I could do...it would be yoga.

I got disgusted with my progress on piano on Sunday. Thing that stops me from doing those Hannon's in Alfred's is that my left forearm and hand would start getting tight. Haven't done as much of those exercises that I want to. Practice in general gets cut for the same reason. So I went out running Sunday...did some intervals. Got to my peak sprint. My left forearm started hurting from all the blood flow. I'm getting many changes physiologically in the sophistication of the movement of the fingers. I did another run last night. Keep doing my WW each day. Easing back into working out. Feeling good and leaning on past training just don't cut it anymore. Piano is demanding I get back into my exercise training.

Mr Super-Hunky, I have read your post, here:

You can accurately gauge the shape you are in by the amount of effort it takes to trim your left pinky toenail with your right hand.

Tip: Cut out the starches (noodles, potatoes, breads). Carbs are fine and healthy but no need to carb/starch load unless you are planning on burning it all completely up.

_______________________________________________

Mr Super-Hunky, you are so absolutely correct.

My diet is no sugar, no oil, no salt, no starch.

I eat simmered chicken breast, a salad of romaine and tomato, fresh apples, fresh oranges, now switching to advocado instead of cheese, and raisins. I think beef may not be safe to eat because of how beef is handled so I now only eat chicken which I think is less harmful. I do lots of walking. My weight is stable and I weigh the same as I was at 21 which is 165 as opposed to my weight with a normal diet at 240 pounds. My blood pressure used to be borderline but my blood pressure is now fine says the doctors.

If you rub vegetable oil between your fingers, you then can get an idea of what any oil does to your body pumping through your veins. It is amazing we don't die at the age of 25 year with the oil we take in. It is almost impossible - if not impossible to get an oil free meal at a restaurant. I grew up in restaurants because my mother didn't like to cook and I continued the tradition, but now the only way to eat an oil free diet is to avoid restaurants.

@rnaple, thanks! I still do it because my (programmer) job requires me to sit for 8 hours straight and when I get home and continue sitting (at the piano or my desktop computer), my back starts to feel like it has a knife stabbed into it. So it's sort of a necessity but it does feel good as well. I get that warm and fuzzy feeling that I do something for myself and -- dare I say -- I managed to form my body a little, too. It's pretty demanding, especially when the body feels kind of weak, but it pays dividends.

All things in moderation, including moderation.

Well, when you are not feeding car culture, nice bikes are cheap!

The locks only keep honest people honest. At some point you have to trust that folks are honest - and most are - but still lock up the bike anyway.

Forrest

Soooooo tired. We just got back from the longest ride of the year so far...50KM. I'm pooped.

We were out for 3 hours and 10 minutes, but stopped at the "turn home" point for refreshement for about 25 minutes. Not bad.

Congratulations on your long ride, Casintaly. 50 km is a long way!

It was a gorgeous day here, so we walked up the Rigi (our nearby mountain) to see the views and visit the cows. It was gorgeous. It ended up being 2 1/2 hours of hiking with our nordic poles. I really like the poles because they give an upper body workout too. Plus, they are a stabilizer for me coming down the mountain.

There is one down side of hiking here though. I don't think there is a mountain in Switzerland that does not have several open air restaurants on it. So, there was the beer and Racclette at the top. I am not sure it was a negative calorie day....

I think this is very good too

http://bps.musespeak.com/2013/03/arm-and-hand-stretches-for-musicians.html

I just looked at the link. In the comment section I noticed Graham Fitch is commenting on. I will share this with my teacher too since he is an old friend of hers.

I love cycling too! Particularly in Swiss and Italy. Can anyone underwrite Firmgirls musical cycling trip? I will produce a good video. Oh wait. I don't even have a recording devise now!!

I truly appreciate this thread. I'm doing very little posting right now while I get settled into my new routines as a retiree. However, cycling, yoga and strength training are what I'm slowly putting back into my routines.

Right now, I'm taking advantage of my increased time to practice piano. Next week I've scheduled walking with friends and am looking forward to some bike rides in September.

I used to ride an average of 70 miles per week. It will be interesting to see how I'll do when I start cycling again in September.


Well, gotta go and practice!

Another tennis player here. I also run (jog) a bit, and do light weights to keep fit for the tennis. I agree with another post comparing similarities with piano, and one more to add is less tension in tennis is also good. The drawback is finger, wrist, elbow, shoulder injuries from tennis are sometimes felt at the piano

Here ya go, cyclists . . .my mobile phone on vid . . .and not piano this time . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fzc4tGJKevQ

You call beer and Raclette a downside?! Sounds wonderful!

I wonder if we could get a grant to support a grand tour of cycling and piano! How fun would that be?!

I enjoyed the video, Peter. It is a good reminder of how much fun I've had in the past cycling!

Added up my total cycling for the week at 190 km. That's not a normal week, normally you have to lever me off the piano. My friend today said if you want to race you need to be doing 600 km a week so guess I won't be taking that up.

When Mrs. Trapper & I are vacationing in beautiful, Victorian Cape May, NJ we bike everywhere - to the beach, to restaurants, up the coast to neighboring towns...I once did a marathon here from Cape May north along the Ocean Drive thru Wildwood, Stone Harbor and Avalon to Sea Isle City (flat all the way except for the small bridges over the inlets) - one of our favorite rides there is across the Cape at the lower end to the point where the ocean meets the Delaware Bay at Cape May Point - it is here that every night you can witness this moving ceremony:

Rigi, raclette, beer? Sounds great to me!

Peter, I enjoyed your video! Just curious was the camera on your helmet or ???? I trust that at the cobblestones it was just the camera that fell, not you?

I'm thinking I could do a similar one of some of the spots near our place. I have a new, very light (and flat!!!) camera - my old one is practically a cube and weighs almost a kilo (4 batteries!)

It was the camera that dropped off! And fortunately it didn`t pick up my expletives . . .it wasn`t damaged, but be warned - cheap handlebar holders aren`t as good as they seem . . . headgear holders are better, and you`ll get less shaking from the road (my tyres are rock hard lol) but - more movement from your head, whichever direction it decides to point . .!
Have fun . .

"You can accurately gauge the shape you are in by the amount of effort it takes to trim your left pinky toenail with your right hand."

You`ll be getting us doin` lunges next . . . "Pop!"

Trapper John, I missed your video earlier - what a moving ceremony. Thanks for posting to share it with us.


Peter, thanks for the filming tips. I'll see what I come up with!

We did a fairly short ride today - about 13k. I guess we were tired from yesterday!

You people are getting me to think wickedly about those cameras. You should see the looks on people's faces when they come across a truck on a small two lane highway in the mountains. Especially the bikers. They think they get their lane and part of your's.
Just this week I had a few trikes coming the other way. First one was over. So I showed courtesy and hit the white line. Others weren't so I didn't stay on the white line. Then, this guy with one of those camera's on top of his helmet. He starts glaring at me. So I glared back and moved a little closer to the yellow line.
I really don't have money to spend on one of those little action cameras. I could come up with a doozy of a youtube video though.
I don't know that anybody would want to see my personal take on Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse.
I do have a little still camera that will do small cheap videos.

Those of you who have gotten into any kind of mobility work. Even you yoga people I should be able to understand.
I"ve come up with some mobility drills specifically for fingers that I haven't seen before. Only people like pianists would benefit from these.
Basically the idea is to get to doing finger mobility in figure eights, clovers, and such. Correct accurate movements. That results in a sophistication of the nervous system that is different from piano. It gives a change. A change from "sport specific" movement. This we all need. "Sport Specific" all the time is not good. You lose development of support muscles. You should already have gotten to doing circles well.

I also have one compensatory movement I came up with. I got it from working toes. That is to put your hand flat on a table. Lift the palm. Then easily roll over all the fingers. From one side of the hand to the other. It's an opposite movement from playing piano.

Don't consider me any kind of teacher. I am not certified to teach mobility. I'm just sharing ideas. You can judge for yourself. Just trying to help.

I'm still just picking up slowly on my exercise. Not even using my GPS/HR monitor. Not much need to.

peterws... The most interesting thing about videos like that are; They give us a view of the real world there. That's what I find interesting. What living is like for people elsewhere.

Thanks Trapper... That's what it should be about. Remembering each and every person.
Kinda like back on 9/11. Everybody was so upset. Yes it was big. But I asked them to think about each of those individuals who died. Didn't matter to them they died in something big. Think of the reason. They could have died with only a couple others by a suicide bomber from the same source. Goes on everyday. Most ignore those reports. Now..... all the 9/11 ceremonies remember each and every person.

EDIT: It's rather ludicrous all we have gone through in airline security when: All we had to do is what the Jews did to stop the suicide bombers on busses in Israel. Put a bucket of pigs blood on the bus. The bombers are afraid they might get some of that blood on them in the blast and go to heck. So they don't do it anymore. I imagine the buckets of pigs blood are becoming more popular all over Israel.

I was in Sydney the last few days volunteering with Oxfam at a 100km walk/run in 48hrs event The organisers expect to raise $3 million at this one event so it's pretty big stuff. I had various duties but it seemed my major achievement was to stand around and eat my own body weight in museli bars. It's back to regular exercise for me this week for sure.

BTW the winning team in the event did the arduous course in 13hrs 24 mins

I've come to the conclusion. At least for me right now. If I have some time and choose between piano practice and exercise. Strictly for the sake of piano playing. I'm better off doing the exercise right now.

I even had my right arm tighten up on me. Found working my light Clubbells got rid of it. I need the exercise and cardio right now badly.