Wow, Bully. That is really concerning. Maybe you should see a doctor? When is the last time you got an full blood work panel done? Most people don't get them regularly. I think we are supposed to get them every 2 years or something.

Day off and none. Took the dog out a couple times for a short walk.
Tomorrow start back on the week with my sit-ups and push ups for sure.

Hope you all had a great week, weekend and look forward to another good week coming up!

Today was a little rainy so I went to the gym. It was my first time back in almost three weeks. I was quite stubborn about the idea of lessening my routine due to having been away and just having gotten over a nasty bug, so my asthma did kick in a little here and there. My lungs are still not 100%, and I'm so tired of it.

Anyway, I did one hour on the Arc Trainer, Hill Interval program, Level 10. While on the Beast, I watched this Dance Mom's reality show that I've been watching for what seems like forever (plodding through the seasons). In this episode an underdog dancer, Chloe, got chosen to be the star of a music video by Lux, an up and coming pop star. In the video Lux falls asleep and starts dreaming about her younger self who is played by Chloe. Somehow it was so moving I nearly cried.

Then I did an hour of yoga, stretching, weightlifting, and abs. The gym was surprisingly empty for a rainy day, and I loved having all the space and equipment to myself. The highlight was when the gym speaker played "Blister in the Sun" by the Violent Femmes. That was a favorite of mine as an 80's child.

I'll be in this thread a little more frequently now :)

My work buddy and I are going back to the gym tomorrow. I am actually GIDDY with excitement and have made a new playlist to help me get motivated.

I'm still just ticking along as usual. I'm averaging about 4–5 miles per day on the beach although some days it isn't easy. What with all the work that is being done and having to work around giant holes that appear out of nowhere, areas fenced off for heavy equipment, and the looong bunch of plumbing running everywhere for pumping the sand onto the beach. Seriously, the barge is a mile off shore and there's another mile of it trailing down the beach. :blink:

I'm also getting to the pool a couple of times a week and really enjoying it.

The last couple of days my left hip has been a little upset with me. Today the ankle decided to join in the chorus. Good thing tomorrow is swimming.

:shark:

Oh yeah, the gym? Not so much. Money down the drain.

Yesterday was Ab day,
sit ups on the decline bench
oblique twists
and the ab roller
I even went to the driving range and hit a
bucket of balls for the first time in like two years!
It was great! It seems with golf, that the less
often I do it, the better I am!! lol
But we met a friend for dinner and I really
overate... I'm disgusted with myself to put
it mildly!

I can't let it get me down though.
Today I did back, chest and shoulders.
Three sets of one arm rows
Four sets of seated bent over rows
Three sets of dumbbell chest presses
Three sets of Arnold shoulder presses
Three sets of bent arm lateral raises
Three sets of seated behind the neck barbell shoulder presses
Three sets of barbell pullovers

It felt good doing mostly shoulders today.
I think I'm going to stick to this routine for
a few weeks.

October 2013 (week 2)
 

I don't always post often here, but I want to start making it a weekly part of my exercise routine. Mostly I want to do this because it will reinforce a stronger sense of stability in my life, when my life hasn't been too stable for almost two years now (employment factors).

So with that in mind, what I want to share is that I am going to monitor closely the intentional time I spend on exercising; with the goal in mind that it will help me do a number of things:

For example, this week, one goal is to spend half an hour performing stretches in bed, before I get out of bed. This may seem rather backwards to most, but I did something this morning and noticed how it improved my whole overall perspective on life, today. I did exactly that: before I even rose from sleeping in bed, I did a series of stretches - stretching the muscles in my back and in my legs as I pushed my hips up on top of my hands and rode a bicycle (in the air) and then laid on my side and stretched my legs up and down and then practiced some other hard-to-describe yoga stretches. After I did my stretches before getting out of bed, I found I actually could get up off my bed without rolling off to the side, to stand up on the floor. It really worked for me, to do this today. I forget what made me do it - I may have dreamed I was doing it and then talked myself into doing it. *lol*

Anyway, this is how I am going to begin each new day this week. I shall perform stretches in bed, before I rise to greet the new day.

As for how I made time (and what I did) for exercise today: We had amazing weather - lots of sunshine, blue skies for miles and miles and early today, I unplugged from life on the net and went outside and walked for about 7 miles (either walking or breaking out into a jog and jogging for as long as I could, then retiring to a mid-range kind of walking style).

My day was enjoyable and I think what helped me today was altering the way I normally rise for the day and I plan to make it a habit this week to spend a half hour stretching - my body and mind - before I get up for the day.

*Cheers* :bouquet:

ps/ Just want to say thank you to Dapper for the warm welcome to the thread and to extend the same to Medusa -- It's good to see you here! And to also share with everyone: thanks for your commitment and support and the way you share about your day in exercise. It tremendously helpful to me to read about your day of exercise.

exercise? what exercise?.......

Ok... I need someone to say something motivating.... coz I have some races to get ready for..... and about 20lbs to lose before said races......

While I was at the gym this afternoon, with my small dumbbells (it's hard to move up in weight!), I noticed an elegant, older woman in a sparkly violet T-shirt and violet yoga pants hoisting a barbell up and down rapidly. As I did my curls and squats, I counted her doing three sets of twenty lifts of 30 pounds. She was fit without looking hard. I guessed she was about 60, which means she was 80 :blink:. I don't gawk at people at the gym, but I often find someone around my age to use even temporarily as an inspiration :).

Today is day two......


I'm cleaning a bachelor pad with my mom again today.
Nough said.. :seeingstars:

(no offense to you bachelors)

I love deep water running. It’s the only real cardio left for me to do. That and interval stair climbing. It’s hard to believe that a shoulder injury can affect so much, but it has. I was told from the beginning, as soon as they looked at the MRI, that physical therapy for the shoulder would not be an option and would only further the damage. I can no longer lift weights of any kind (well I can do small weight on triceps and biceps but it has to be exercises that limit any deltoid involvement which isn’t much and it doesn’t eliminate deltoid involvement which is impossible.) It is hard to accept because I love to lift.

Luckily it is my left shoulder and I’m right handed so that helps with regular life. But since my right shoulder does all the work all the time, it hurts me often, bouts of tendonitis and such. I can’t run or do too much with my legs for any length of time because the pounding adversely affects my shoulder and the pain is too much and then it takes days to get back to being able to do anything. I have to be so careful. The only thing the orthopedic says they can do for me is a shoulder prosthesis. Shoulder replacement is just not really going to help me get more movement, it may help pain but that’s hardly a worthwhile trade off. The ortho agrees I’m too young for it really but under the circumstances he advocates that I do it because there is no other help he can offer for any relief. Not gonna happen.

Even stairs can hurt if I do too much. I can walk for 5 miles or so and get away with it, but depending on the terrain I may have problems with my shoulder if I go much longer. Anyway I find deep water running a wonderful exercise for me.

But I miss my life before. Even reading this thread sometimes makes me sad. I mean I'm thrilled for you guys, but sad for what I've lost. Then I smack myself hard and say get a grip. I just have to find ways to work around this. It's just a shoulder. And I still have the thing, it's just not very useful. LOL.

Keep doing it. Small victories are the only way. Little by little it becomes a way of life. If you walk every day for 15 minutes after awhile you'll miss it if you don't do it. And the more you get your body involved it will tell you when you don't give it what it wants. You'll find yourself craving it.

I have never liked walking as an exercise but now I try to do it places I want to be or have a destination that excites me. That does help.

I'm not saying this is what is happening to you but I know for me if i'm a bit down sometimes it plays out that I feel really tired and it's an effort to do shit.

Lousy, rainy day here...so I can only boast that I walked to the subway, grabbed a ginormous coffee, and began flying the desk.

Thank you so much for your encouragement. I honestly haven't done any walking or other exercise since I last posted here. However, the last few nights I have gotten a bit more sleep, which does help. It is a beautiful day, so I do plan to walk in the yard and play with the doggies out there today. I agree that doing it on a consistent basis is a very good idea.

I do find this thread encouraging because everyone has their own path and the place where they are at during this point in their lives. The struggles and small victories are just as impressive and encouraging to me as the strenuous workouts. It's all good. I also enjoy nycfem's gym observations and the cast of characters there. I feel like I am reading an interesting novel, lol.

Walking the mutt every evening - he's a big beast so a slow pace is not an option!

Going to introduce some light weights work from Monday and some work on my abs.

Need to adjust my playlist, need a little more oomph :dance2: