It is a rare day that I don't get in 1.5 - 2.0 hours of training.  On weekends I'll go closer to 3 hours (I take long bicycle rides and equally long walks/runs with my dog and I cross-country ski when I can).  I am compulsive on the matter of exercise; I simply do not feel well when I miss a workout.  I am quite fortunate to have the circumstances permitting me to workout as much as I do.

During the week, there is an aerobic component included every day (a couple miles of running OR running the full basketball court doing lay-ups or pulling up for jump shots OR Cybex Machines OR elliptical machines, stationary bikes, stair-steppers, etc.).  I like to change-it-up a lot.  Keeps my workouts fresh.  Somedays this component goes a full 1.5 hours, somedays only half an hour.  I can predictably burn 1200-1400 calories in one hour on the Cybex Machine while reading.  

Every other day I include a weight-resistance component to my workout.  It's mostly upper body stuff and gut-buster exercises which take me about 45 minutes to complete.  

The third component I've introduced this past year involves core muscle strength-building & stretching, which I do at least every other day.  This routine came about as a result of phyical therapy I was undergoing for back surgery that I had during Thanksgiving week.  I had completely underappreciated how valuable these muscles are.  These routines are both Pilates-like and Yoga-like.  They take 30 - 40 minutes and I feel like a new man everytime I finish with them.  Not only is it invigorating; sticking with this component since Thanksgiving has clearly helped me with my other, more rigorous exercise activities.

When I can get away, I'll also get out for a half-hour walk at lunch.  Alternatively, there are a bunch of 20 & 30 somethings playing full court basketball at the local Rec Center for a full hour at lunch every other day.  I've started back with those guys (the surgery had slowed me down) maybe once every other week and, so far, I haven't been embarassed.

Sadly, as much as I do work out - and I've been doing so religiously for decades now - I really do NOT control my diet.  I also know I need to get a handle on this.  No matter how hard or how long you work out, your body's metabolism simply does not burn calories as effectively as it did when you were younger.

When canoe-tripping time rolls around, there really isn't much extra that I do to get ready.  Oh, I guess in some years I'll fill up my blue barrel (ie. food pack) with 80 pounds and go walk around the woods for an hour or so.  I really don't mind anymore the weird stares I would sometimes get from folks when I did that.  That one year when I threw the canoe on my back, too, was real memorable!

I might do a little paddling in advance but nothing really gets the hands & shoulders quite conditioned like a steady diet of paddling (which I don't do).  The weight lifting & the other stuff I do probably offsets some of this issue but, in most years, I'm bound to feel a little soreness for the few days of a trip until I get battle-hardened.

I will say this, though: No amount of working-out helps much when you come down with the flu during a canoe trip.  That has only happened to me once but that once was enough!  Could be that the only reason I got through those 10 days or so that year WAS because I had been working out so much (AND because I stayed conservative w/routing options AND I had a sympathetic & helpful paddling party) but, at the time, even I thought I was going to run out of gas & might have to be carried out!

I am serious about year-round fitness and I always have been.  It's more than just trying to hold onto yesteryear; I just feel better for it.   My intention to be canoe-tripping for a minimum of another 15 years - if it comes true - will be a secondary benefit but a very important one for me.  I guess at age 70 I'll re-calibrate & see where I am then.  Having said that, I also know it will take continued good fortune to make such tripping possible (good health, continued employment, no new obligations, etc. & so on).

If your circumstances permit it, I strongly recommend maintaining a year-round exercise program.  I've never met anyone who has done so regret making the move.  Two years ago, one would never have used my wife's name and the word "exercise" in the same sentence.  Eighteen months ago, she acquired the year-round exercise habit and she will never be the same... and never go back.  Stronger, fitter, 40+ pounds lighter, and full of energy.

Ok, I'm off my soap box now.

Jimbo   8-)