After several weeks of meditation, sitting/walking, I noticed a general weakness of muscles, especially those of the legs. The cause is obviously, but how to avoid this, as exercising is not a promoted matter in a center. Thanks for your hints!

I do some work at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and there's an instructor there, a Colonel, who was a Ranger for many years. He says:


My point is, do some leg exercises.

disclaimer: not a doctor

deadlifts, hills, stairs

also, be careful with your heart, it could have atrophied as well and needs building back up.

physical fitness and nutrition seems to be overlooked in these parts.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like the issue is less about general leg fitness concerns in daily life and more about how to navigate the etiquette of trying to exercise your legs while you're completely trapped in a meditation center for a multi-week/multi-month retreat where no one else seems to exercise.  

Do you have a private room where you can do bodyweight squats or other bodyweight exercises?  Pushups/planks/glute bridges may help too, or you can check out https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/ .

"Bodyweightfitness" was a term I did not know. That is the only thing I can do on a retreat, as it works without bringing stuff along. I will search for isometric exercises. Most of them can be done even in presence of others, they do not see them! My gratitude to all posters!

+1 for the Reddit BWF RR (Bodyweight Fitness Recommended Routine). It has changed my life.

https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/kb/recommended_routine

On retreat, if space and logistics allow, on most days I will do 1 hour of a routine inspired by the BWF RR in the morning, 1 hour of yoga in the afternoon, and about 30 minutes of qigong (baduanjin and zhanzhuang)  in the evening. The trick is to keep practicing during all of that.