Nearly finished the new EXERCISE routine for my ladies (and one gent) with ARTHRITIS

I’ve been teaching this class for over 10 years now, and like to keep it interesting with new songs and new moves. Most people in the class have arthritis, but one lady has MS and our one gent is recovering from a stroke. So it’s actually suitable for any condition that means you can’t exercise standing up.

I mentioned the other day that I was trying to get this finished for the start of the year, but then realised I was putting unnecessary pressure on myself. But today I really do want to get it finished, as once a month I take a class across town, and that’s this Friday.

Since I did all my cooking on Monday, I can take time to work on that now, and dinner will be so quick and easy.

But before I tell you about my new routine, let me tell you about my sister. She’s thinking of joining Steemit (yay!) to blog about weight loss, farming and gardening (well, homesteading really), her animals, her garden, what she makes with her produce, what it’s like to be a woman living on her own in this situation, the things she’s had to learn how to do for herself. But she didn’t know if people would be interested. If you think you would be, comment below so I can show her.

Back to exercise… First here are a couple of my previous posts about the exercises. What the class is about and some of the music I’ve used ~ Seated exercise – legs ~ Seated exercise – head & shoulders

This new routine has a summertime theme, so most of the songs have either summer or sunshine in the title.

Warmup 1 is Nana Mouskouri - Turn on the sun - with just a few easy arm and leg movements. Some arm circles, some foot taps, and other arm moves.

Warmup 2 is Cliff Richard - Summer Holiday – picking up the tempo a bit, and using a range of arm and leg movements to get well warmed up

The next track is Rod Stewart’s version of Sunny Side of the street and that has a bunch of hand movements

Another lively one with Katrina & the waves - Walking on sunshine – but a lot of the moves are done half time, as they would be too fast otherwise.

Let’s slow down a bit now with the Brothers 4 and Green Leaves of Summer. I try to throw a few moves to work the brain, and a slower one like this is suitable.

Lively again with Stevie Wonder - You are the sunshine of my life

I usually include a funny / novelty number for some light relief and this one is Zip a Dee Do Dah

We need to gently move the head through a variety of movements, so we use something slow and Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong – Summertime – is perfect. (Though I did chop a minute off the front, so we start when she starts singing.)

Keeping it slow with John Denver - Sunshine on my shoulders. Some leg moves, turning the palms, walking the feet in and out.

Now time to stand up for two tracks. We do mainly leg moves standing up, and usually holding on to the back of the chair. I’ve chosen The Beatles - Here Comes the Sun and The Beach Boys - All Summer Long.

After the standing ones, we want to take it slow for a while, so we’re having Oh What a Beautiful Morning from Oklahoma

Ok, we can speed it up again now with Bing Crosby - You Are My Sunshine

Let’s work those hands again with something from the musical Hair - Let the sun shine in

An old favourite of theirs is the Lawrence Welk singers - Cruising Down The River

Next is the Seekers with a Fijian tune called Isa Lei which we do some traditional arm movements to, like hula.

Slowing down with Bill Withers - Ain't No Sunshine

And then we finish with a number using either a hat or a scarf, to practise moving things from hand to hand. I’ve chosen Michael Buble - Feeling Good and this week we’ll be using the scarves. It isn’t exactly a summer song, but it seems to fit. I’d really like to do some pole dancing or burlesque to this, but sadly neither they nor I am capable of that… Well, I could probably still do burlesque, but let’s get real, nobody wants to see that!

As you can see, I like to use a lot of different styles of music to keep them on their toes. So to speak…

Attitude of Gratitude

Today I’m grateful that I can have fun choosing new songs, making up movements, and teaching them and get paid a little bit for it. I also appreciate that they put up with my singing along and occasionally even join in.

EDIT - Movement is one of things we need to keep healthy. So I've just changed one of the tags to #makeithealthy - check out @woman-onthe-wing's Make It Healthy project here.

Thanks for reading and please help me persuade my sister to join us.

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