I found there's a bit of surprising trouble with a pulled butt muscle. (And any pulled muscle for that matter has, if you think about it, surprise.)

And that's the question of "How do you stay in shape when you can't run, or even jump rope, and when walking itself is a pain in that backside?"

I've found that resting a very sore muscle sets off a temptation to rest many more muscles.

But do that, and you can easily bloat out and get slower and weaker.

And it feels like forever before you can get in shape again.

And motivation dims.

So what to do?

SWIMMING helps. I've done that twice this week at the Guilderland YMCA. It's great. Can't say enough good things about it. It stretches you, works wonders
for your shoulders, back, stomach and knees, and it cools you off all at once.

With swimming, there's the terrific WATER JOGGING EXERCISE, which I do during my swims. I'll swim four laps, water jog two, then repeat.
Y'all can look it up online under aquajogging.com

All the YMCA's in the area (there are nine branch locations) have aqua jogging belts stacked and ready for use at their pools.
Or you can buy your own online for about $25 each.

I'm a huge fan of the exercise. The belt allows you to RUN UPRIGHT IN THE WATER, while your head and shoulders stay above the water,
and you're breathing free, enjoying the scenery, and pumping your legs below. (You can also swim with the belts on)

Water jogging is three experiences in one: it's running, running against the resistance of the water, and it's a muscle massage, which the water does for free!

Water jogging has brought me back from 10 bone surgeries (8 baseball-related) from 2004 to 2018, speeding the healing time and helping me stay in shape.

Were that all, that should be enough out of one exercise.


But it's really not, though, because limiting exercise and doing nothing much while your muscle heals, means the BELLY HAS DECIDED IT CAN GROW FREELY..


That's happened to me: For the first time in my life I found this May yikes! belly fat. That's when you can grab two handfuls of belly at once.

So what to do? A friend who's just turned 74, is my height (about 6 feet), has been doing t'ai chi - the gentle stretching exercise from China - for about 50 years,
and has the proverbial washboard belly, said, "Mike, we've talked t'ai chi before." He recommended it again. Nice guy. Persistent, too. Lucky me.

So, finally I tried it: I did my first t'ai chi (pronounced "tie chee") three times this week, doing it all from sitting in a chair. Each session
took 20 minutes.

All I can tell you is if you think just sitting down, watching some animated image of a man in a chair go through about 20 exercises over 20 minutes,
and all you have to do is mimic it , you don't have to lift a single weight or run a single step, so just stretch your arms, legs and back in this
direction or that if you think that's EASY ... I've got a word for you: Hah!

I played college football (Cortland), ran the Boston and NYC marathons and played adult baseball since 1993, and I can tell you
the three t'ai chi workouts I did this week are, by far, the HARDEST WORKOUTS I'VE EVER DONE. Twelve minutes into the 20-minute
exercise, and I want to scream, "Basta! Stop! Enough!" In fact, first time, I did scream it. Though I didn't stop.

T'ai Chi aims its exercises at specific body muscles and body actions. So, the one I tried, which is below, is specifically aimed
at the belly that is, at getting rid of belly fat and tightening my belly. It did tighten it some - though three exercises isn't really enough
to assess or finish the job.

The video announcer made a point that got my attention: there are two kinds of belly fat. A topmost layer just under the skin,
called subcutaneous, which is what our hands grab when we get a belly full, and deep visceral fat that surrounds the
organs. Even the sound of that is spooky. Name an organ heart, liver, pancreas, etc. and unhealthy fat can surround it.
The T'ai chi exercise here aims to reduce both sets of fat.

The video's animated guide recommends exercising first thing in the morning, but any time during is good.

There are perhaps thousands of t'ai chi exercises which fits, the exercise began in China 400 years ago and are now worldwide.

And the exercises are not only aimed at sore or weakened muscles, but they also target things like stretching, posture, balance (a big one
as you, the coordinated athlete, age and find yourself suddenly out of the blue stumbling about), fluid motion, relaxation. And
some target two things or more at once, such as balance and strength. You'll find all the t'ai chi exercises you might want to try online.

Meanwhile, here two you might want to try out: the first, the one that got me screaming, is for belly fat; the second, for
coordination, balance - and again, belly fat.

So far, my friend's advice has been on target.

- Mike Hart

NEED TO POST TWO THANK YOUS:

First to John Reel for his comments to my last posting. Much appreciated, John.

And then to long-time fellow CDMSBer Doug Reisinger who stopped at a Capital Division game last Sunday (7/19) at New Scotland. Doug and I played with
and against each other for years, and he's always been an easy-going, good hitting and good fielding first baseman. At first, in his civvies, I didn't
recognize him (I need to do t'ai chi for memory), but he filled me in and we laughed about that and about memories of other good moments in CDMSBL.
Thanks, Doug. - Mike



BELOW TWO T'AI CHI EXERCISES. MANY MORE ONLINE:



-- Edited by mikehart on Sunday 26th of July 2026 03:47:12 PM