Had a lovely walk this morning. It was my first one for the year. Didn't need a cane on that last block and wasn't out of breath. Guess I need to add another block or two. We'll see.

Saw sweet Bella but I'm no longer on speaking terms with her Trump-loving family. I miss her but my motto for this year is these things happen and that makes it easier to accept the losses and move on to creating winners, at least for me. I give her a couple rubs if she comes up to me then I keep it moving.

I also made some gummies this morning and my fitness watch counts my vigorous stirring as "activity." So, I've met my exercise goals for today.

:bow:

I love working the Yes To Next videos, which are a mother-daughter team, each over 50 (mother is 80-something; daughter is 50-something). They range from 10 minutes to 30 and more. I may do a shorter one if I'm aching and still feel like I did something. They also emphasize balance and functional fitness.

I also like the Body groove videos, but those are more strenuous and you actually need coordination to do them. I'm also a little uncomfortable shaking things, even in the privacy of my home, but that's me and nothing really against the videos.

These sound really interesting and I will give them a try if I can find them. I really need something to help with coordination and function. Right now I am doing some exercises that my pain doctor recommended; they are based on Tae Kwon Do. But I can't do the upper body and lower body at the same time. I have to be sitting to do the upper body, and standing holding onto my walker to do the lower body. Even if I try to just do the lower body and balance with my arms instead of holding onto the walker, I lose my balance and fall over. I need something that;s going to give me all-over coordination.

Exercising was very good today. I was only able to workout for 22 minutes, but it helped a lot.

I've been slacking on the strength training. I don't like it because I gain weight so I'd rather walk or cycle, but that's not enough while I'm losing weight becuase I'm losing too much muscle.

My wrist, leg and hip started acting up. I thought it was my arthritic spine and was going to make an appt with the doctor. Well, I got pissed off about something and needed a strenuous workout so I pulled out the dumbells. By the time I finished I had worked out a few of the kinks in my wrist and hip.

I can't/won't do both walking and strength training, so I'll stick with the strength training for now because it's making a difference.

I'm thinking of signing up with a guy who has some strength-training videos for seniors, but I'll try it on my own for now.

no advice, please
 

Had a good workout this morning. Have focused on strength training this week with videos from April and her mother. Those kinks I worked out have not returned. I've gained a couple pounds but it is what it is. It's muscle weight that I need.

I'll stick with this for a while, but I'm still thinking about signing up with an online trainer.

Had another good workout this morning. The strength training is working out well and I'm gaining muscle. I'm using a body scanning app that shows the amount of muscle, fat, body measurements, etc.

I've only gained 0.2 lbs muscle but I really notice the difference in my body. I've worked out most of the kinks I developed since losing muscle mass over the last year. The bad news is it's way harder to gain muscle than it is to lose, but the good news is that it can be gained again, it just requires a lot of work.

Here's a link to the body scanning app. I use the free version and it lets me compare my previous scan to my current scan.

:fastcycling:

[B]Thanks, I will check it out. I've noticed some weakness and I know I'm going to have to work on getting that muscle back.

* * *

Currently I am mainly dreading going to the pain doctor tomorrow. I have not been keeping up with my exercises the way I should. I am really noticing increasing pain in my lower back, which of course makes me want to exercise even less.

Had another good workout this morning.

I've been averaging 150 minutes a week of strength training with April and her mother and it's really made a difference. My balance has gotten better, too.

I use:

• 2lb weights (for lifting above my head and core)
• 3lb weights (for upper body)
• 5lb weights. (for lower body)

I set small goals that I can reach. One of my first goals was to easily lift 2lbs over my head 10 times. Now, one of my current goals is to lift 3lbs over my head 10 times without shaking or giving up. I'll get there.

:bow:

Had a good workout this morning. I'm amazed at the kinks in my body that I've worked out with the strength training. In my hands, arm, hip, thighs... I thought the discomfort (not always pain, but shit that slows you down or wont let you do what you used to do... Ugh) thought it was from getting older. Nope, it was from not using those muscles and from losing some muscle.

Still settting and meeting small goals.

:heavyweight:

I joined a group hike at a local nature preserve today. I was on the wait list for the group (Meetup) and didn't think I'd get in but, I did! It was a really nice 5 mile meander. At first I was a little antsy because the pace was slower than I like to go but then I got into it. There were three Naturalists in the group who were there to talk about and answer questions about plant and animal life we were seeing. The focus was on the Karner blue butterfly who feeds on the blue lupine that are nearing the end of their peak. I also got to pet and love on 5 dogs during the hike.

My crew team starts back up tomorrow (Yayyyyy) so I've been making sure to get on my indoor rower every morning. I brought my bike to work today too so hopefully I'll stay committed to taking a ride after work.

Got back in the crew boat yesterday! I'm not sure how far we went but it was a solid hour and a half of rowing in a 8 boat. It was so good to be out on the river.

https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/b/eigh...e-45103584.jpg

Last night rowing was WILD. It's been raining for weeks now and the water is quite high and the current is strong. We were supposed to go out this past Sunday but it wasn't safe. Yesterday, the rain stopped 10 minutes before practice started and the sun came out. But the winds were heavy and the water was still pretty high. We had like, the best row I've ever experienced. I think we all really focused on the need to be super synchronized. We went further than before and practiced some racing drills. I'm a little sore this morning, in the best way.

Had another good workout this morning. Still groovin' with April and Aiko with improvements. I'm clocking 150 to 160 minutes a week with at least one day of rest. My goal is to do all the exercises with 5 lb dumbbells. I'm not even close to that goal, but I'll get there. It will just take time and your girl got plenty of it.

As my muscles build I will need to have more rest days, but I'm good for now.

We have a new coach for the crew team I'm on. Last night was his first night with us. OH MY. He hails from England and was a coach there so his style is a little different. He worked us hard with a lot of distance and racing drills AND he had us go for stints with our eyes closed! We had to rely on feeling the movements of the boat and the sound of the oars to stay in sync with each other. It was quite the experience!

This new coach for the crew team. I love him and I'm terrified of him. He's so good and so challenging and I think he's testing how far he can push us. Last night I thought he might be trying to get us to tip the boat just to get it over with so we don't have that worry in the back of our minds. (We didn't tip) I wish we had more women in the group though. It's really hard to balance the boat when it's mostly men. The women on our team are smaller and placed in the back and the men overpower us.

I do sub in for the all women's team but they are well established experienced rowers. They pull from the subs when they can't fill a boat with their team members. I got to row with them on Monday and it was soooo nice.

Crew was cancelled M-W due to extreme heat so it was good to get back on the boat last night. HOWEVER Coach put me in the stroke seat, which is the very front of the boat in charge of pacing. That was stressful to say the least. But I got some really good coaching and got the hang of things! We had a new guy who was riding in the launch boat with our coach. Toward the end of practice I switched out with him and got to ride in the launch and watch the team. While in the launch, I got some really good feedback on improvements I'm making and I didn't expect that. It was a great workout. Scary at times but I survived the experience!

Had another great workout this morning. Have been killing it at least once a week and I was on it this morning.

I’m still doing strength training with April and Aiko and I average 2hrs 15 min a week.

I haven’t graduated to 5 lb dumbbells on everything but I’m improving. I’m killing it on the stair stepper. I have come so far with that and my knees are good.

I donated the bike. I rode a couple times and I just wasn’t hitting that spot so I put it on the curb and it was gone in an hour. Hope it’s as useful to someone as it’s been to me.

Health, like love, is a form of protest. They want us to be unhealthy and unloved. They especially don’t want us to love ourselves. Fuck that.

:bow:

I am obsessed with a yoga back work out on YouTube it heals me :)