Crystal Hammon is a writer and vintage fashion enthusiast who lives two miles from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Her blog, Dressed Her Days Vintage, is the pink champagne every paid writer needs—a place to say whatever she wants, however she wants. She covers the evolution of fashion, etiquette and culture, and celebrates the upside of life after 50 while enjoying her Audrey dress. Follow her @DHDVintage or on Facebook.
When I was 16, I couldn’t run 100 yards without practically passing out. Fast-forward to now, and guess what? I still can’t run 100 yards, at least not on dry land. Back then, I was a scrawny kid with no endurance. My reasons are different now: my joints don’t allow it.
After spending my early adult and middle years as an aerobics fanatic, my body has some wear and tear that make me wish I had found a gentler form of exercise much earlier. At this point, I’ve become a big advocate of moderate exercise, and not just for myself.
There’s a lot of good exercise science that suggests you don’t have to train like an Olympic athlete to maintain good health. In my last few Karina posts, I’ve talked about how sleep and diet influence the aging process. Today’s post covers exercise, which is one of the ultimate anti-aging weapons, and will help keep you in that sleeveless dress for years to come!
3 Exercise Tips To Keep You In A Sleeveless Dress
- All you need is 150 minutes of cardiovascular exercise each week. That may sound like a lot if you’re one of those people who can’t find a spare hour in the day for exercise. Here’s the good news. You don’t have to exercise an hour at a time, and certainly not at maximum intensity. In fact, it’s better for blood sugar and metabolism if you do it in bits and pieces, 10 minutes here and there throughout a day. Almost anyone can find a few minutes three times a day to march in place or go for a quick stroll. Do that five days a week, and you’ve been active enough to keep your heart healthy. If you want to do more than that for weight loss or just because you enjoy it as a hobby, go for it. The main thing to remember is, “Move it, or lose it.” If you’re curious about the latest exercise research, look no further than The First 20 Minutes: Surprising Science Reveals How We Can: Exercise Better, Train Smarter, Live Longer, by Gretchen Reynolds.
- Strength training matters, especially for women. Without any form of strength conditioning, your body gets weaker with age. You don’t have to like it, but it’s a fact. You may not realize you’re weak until you’re traveling and can’t hoist your luggage. All the sudden, you’re injured from doing the most ordinary thing. Strength training can protect you against injuries that happen from imbalances between one set of muscles and another. It also helps your body retain calcium that would otherwise be lost. Best of all, weight resistive exercise helps you control your weight during menopause. For women 40 and older, it’s truly a must-do because it helps you build muscle and burn calories. Two to three times a week is usually beneficial.
- Maintaining full motion in your joints is important at every age. Ideally, everyone would move their joints to their fullest range of motion several times a day. Some physical therapists and arthritis experts say arthritis results from a lifetime of large or small injuries that cause inflammation. When inflammation lingers too long in a joint, it limits the joint’s range of motion. After a fall or an accident, get checked by a physician and/or physical therapist, and you may ward off arthritis later. The goal should be to reduce inflammation and make sure you recover range of motion. For daily maintenance, yoga is a good way of keeping joints moving. It draws synovial fluid into the joint, which is the only way cartilage can be nourished. You can avoid a lot of pain later in life if you’ll start moving your joints today.
What do I do?
Let me be honest: I don’t bust a gut in my workouts anymore. They’re a means to an end—the best health I can have. I exercise a little bit at least five days a week. That keeps me in reasonably good health, if not perfect shape. My body isn’t the same as my 30-year-old self, but it has served me so well that I can hardly knock it at this point.
I hide my figure flaws in clothes that emphasize the positives, and for that, I often turn to Karina Dresses. Paired with vintage jewelry or accessories, a Karina dress means I don’t have to think twice. I know they’ll flatter me with very little care or preparation. No ironing or dry cleaning! Yay!
I’m getting revved about new fall styles, but meanwhile, I’m finding ways to wear my summer Karinas into fall with layering, like this brown Audrey, which looked great on the first day of autumn with a belted black cardigan, leopard-print pumps and a 1950s handbag. What’s your favorite way to exercise if you have only 30 minutes?
You can find your favorite sleeveless Audrey dress at our online store!