Exercise

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Just move
Anything that does not move will stagnate and decay. The concept is: use it or lose it. If you cannot move something a lot, then move it a little. But don't overdo because injuries are no fun. Just as in dieting or any other aspect of life: fast won't last; slow is good to go. Slowly increase your movement.

If it is fun, you are more likely to continue. If a person is weak, then shuffleboard, horseback riding, lawn games like Croquet or pitching horsehoes are a good start. If a person is able bodied, start with a 5 min walk, then stand on each foot for 5 minutes, then do 5 jumping jacks. Increase by 1 each week until the number 15. For those who want to be in great shape. Play sports. Learn social dancing.

Buy a wii (or any other game console) and do indoor exercise. www.amazon.com/wii

There are exercise videos for people confined to a wheelchair.

Don't forget to exercise the muscle between your ears, your brain. Use it or lose it. Do puzzles, read books, learn something new.

Royal Canadian Air Force Exercise Program
The 5BX (Five Basic Exercises) Plan is an exercise program developed for the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) by Bill Orban in the late 1950s, first published in 1961. "The Royal Canadian Air Force 5Bx program for men", booklet, 1961. The plan was developed for men; a corresponding program was developed for women under the name XBX (Ten Basic Exercises).

The 5BX plan
The 5BX Plan is composed of six charts arranged in increasing order of difficulty. Each chart is composed of five exercises that are performed within 11 minutes. The first four exercises are calisthenics, and the last an aerobic exercise. As the individual progresses within the system, the number of each type of exercise that must be performed increases and the difficulty of each exercise increases. This is the actual booklet as a free pdf

Exercises
Throughout the charts and levels, the five exercises are the same, but more difficult variations are introduced:
 * 1) Stretching
 * 2) Sit-up (exercise)|Sit-up
 * 3) Back extension
 * 4) Push-up
 * 5) Running in place

A walk or run may be substituted for the final exercise; the distance and duration (time) are also specified in the plan.

History
The RCAF asked Orban to develop a fitness program for their pilots, a third of whom were not considered fit to fly at the time. The plan was innovative in two respects. Firstly, it did not require access to specialized equipment. Many RCAF pilots were located in remote bases in northern Canada, with no access to gymnasium facilities, so it was important to offer a means of keeping fit without their use. Secondly, the plan only required 11 minutes per day to be spent on the exercises.

While performing research in Illinois, Orban had noticed that, when testing oxygen intake, long periods of exercise did not necessarily lead to significant improvement. This led him to the conclusion that the intensity of exercise was more important to improving fitness than the amount of time spent on it. This aspect of the plan drew a negative reaction from others in the field but the 5BX program proved its worth in the three years of testing that the RCAF performed before releasing the program. "The Royal Canadian Air Force 5Bx program for men, 3rd edition, booklet, 1975.

Twenty-three million copies of the 5BX booklet were sold to the public. It became popular around the world and was translated into thirteen languages. Orban, creating the program as a public servant, received no additional income from the success of the plan. An interview with Bill Orban, Ottawa Citizen Monday, July 15, 2002.

The exercises are no longer performed by the service as of 2008, and are considered unnecessarily hazardous in part because they are unsupervised. Many exercise physiologists consider the Sit-up (exercise)|sit-up in the higher levels to be capable of causing spinal injury, and, therefore, unsuitable for an unsupervised program. Children under the age of 17 were at risk of heart failure and lung weakness due to the intensity of the exercises and therefore were not required or advised to demonstrate the 5BX for any public school. The sit-up exercise can be replaced with the more modern crunch (exercise)|crunch]].

John Walker (programmer)|John Walker's]] book The Hacker's Diet contains a simplified version, that is claimed to be suitable for everyone.The fitness ladder, The Hacker's Diet November 2005 The original 5BX programme has also been updated by three Australian fitness trainers under the title The Goodbye Couch!The Goodbye Couch! Chris Gurney, James Nathanael Christie & Stephen Rodda Len Deighton's novel Only When I Larf contains a reference to this program.

In a CBC Radio interview in 1970, George Burns remarked that he was devoted to the RCAF exercise plan and performed the exercises every morning. Burns lived to become a centenarian.

Health Story
Leroy, as a newborn, did not have any leg strenth. An aunt told the mother that this was not normal and compared the child to another person's newborn who had leg strenght. When this was brought to the doctor's attention, the doctor said that the child would be fitted with leg braces when it became old enough to start walking. The aunt thought the doctor's plan was rediculous.

The mother began doing isometric like exercises. The mother held the baby's foot (one at a time) and if the baby pulled or pushed ever so slightly, the mother would gently create opposite tension. The muscles started gaining strength. When the child was older, the child was put into a Johnny Jump Up (it is a spring jumper that hangs in the doorway). The right leg was noticeably weaker.

When the child learned to walk, the left leg would walk normally, but the right leg would drag to catch up. At about age two or three, the family had the kid do sprints. When they left the house, the kid would run to the car. They continued to exercise the weaker leg. As an adult, nobody can tell his legs once did not work, but Leroy says that his right leg is still weaker than his left. Leroy does martial arts (Brazilian) to keep in shape.

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