Taking the bull by the horns

Tags

exercise, muscle, postaday2015, strengthen

I have been internally beating myself up because I hate the way I look and feel, I feel heavy and bloated. I may have been harsh in my self-assessment , but I haven’t been very honest with myself; instead of being actively engaged in physical exercises,  even if not strenuously, it would still be doing something instead of nothing, I have been complaining and wallowing in negativity.

This weekend I decided enough was enough, my passiveness was going to end. I started to do small exercises on my own just to kick my bottom into a proactive mindset.

   
   

The Sphinx back press is a yoga pose that works the back muscles and the triceps, I like it because it allows me to work my arms without too much stress, allowing me to gradually build up my arm strength so that I can eventually graduate to more intensive yoga postions. I am basically doing baby pushups and that is fine by me.

The abdominal exercises are also a gradual buildup to more intensive poses later on. My goal is to reincorporate yoga back into my daily routine, I miss the days when my great friend Mary and I used to do yoga once a week for an hour and a half. 

My daughter has been doing yoga for over a month now and she is ecstatic about her progress and how much better she feels over all. I am going to follow her example.

I realize that just sitting here, feeling bad, isn’t the right way to manage my existence. I need to engage in moving my muscles, circulating my blood and jumpstarting the production of endorphins, serotonins, all the good stuff that floods the brain when the body is properly used.

So far I have been doing these simple exercies every day and I plan to make them a habit, I want to feel better and I also want to feel good about myself. No one can do that for me, it is up to me to step up to the plate and do it for myself.

I did my exercise!

Tags

exercise, health, heart health, postaday2014

I am documenting my exercise to provide myself with some added pressure to continue because at times it is hard to get motivated when you know that it is 92 degrees outside. I have found a loop right by where we are staying and I think that it’s about 3 miles long; I figured that length because given that it takes me 45 minutes at a fairly rapid clip, it makes sense. I remember from walking our little hill back home; the 3-4 miles would take me 45 to 50 minutes so that is how I came to my conclusion.

My face always gets this flushed when I do exercise and it takes at least almost an hour for it to go away. I get the added heat and sweat for longer than my physical exertion, which can be frustrating at times.

My outlook on exercise has changed over time; I don’t exercise for weight loss purposes anymore; I really do it for my overall health, especially my heart. I want to keep my circulatory system in the best shape possible and I want to keep my bones nice and strong; it is important after 40. You can’t stop getting older, but you can at least help determine how you are going to feel while getting there.

Jack is pooped

Tags

exercise, fatigue, Jack, postaday2014, tired

It’s almost 11:00 in the morning and poor Jack is passed out in bed, not moving. His new best friend Harry, my sister’s puppy, wore him out completely. My little Jack has maybe twenty minutes of running in him a day and he likes it that way. He isn’t used to two full days of intense cardio like he had with Harry. Harry can be a personal trainer for the lazy couch potato dogs such as Jack, poor lamb.

My muscles are not too happy with me

Tags

boots, carving, exercise, postaday2013, sking, skis, snow, the slopes

Today was day two of skiing and even though I walk every day at least two miles a day, that wasn’t sufficient enough to prep the weird grouping of muscles that are engaged during downhill skiing. On second thought it wasn’t really the downhill skiing that put my muscles through a workout; it was the pulling of the little ones around the ski area by my poles; me, straining to pull their weight as they held onto my pole with their hands while I walked with my skis in a crisscross pattern from the beginner’s lift to the tow rope for the little ones.

When my hubby and I were skiing, just the two of us, we were both going very fast and there, at those moments, I felt my muscles straining with the speed. It was a good feeling; my eyes were streaming with tears from the wind and I could hear my skis carving the turns against the snow. I could feel my muscles reacting to the commands that my brain was sending them, shift my weight from the right to the left and then back again as I cut my path down the slope.

The conditions were even better today than they were yesterday; the wind went away and the temperature was 37 Fahrenheit. The lines were non-existant; we would come speeding down to the lift and slam on our brakes and slide right to the lift, ready for another pass down the trail. The kids and my sister were even happier with skiing today than they were yesterday; no one was cold, no one fell and everyone felt really good about their progress on skis.

Friday morning exercise class

Tags

exercise, osteoporosis, postaday2013, repetition, social hour, weights

This Friday morning we had lively discussions during weight class. The ladies were talking a great deal about the Pope’s resignation. No one was critical of the Pope, on the contrary they were very supportive of the Pope’s decision and they admired him for his self-awareness and his selflessness. All of the ladies in the group go to Church faithfully and are very active in the Church’s social calendar. So I can, with confidence, state that my dear ladies thought about the Pope’s decision and its ramifications very seriously and thoughtfully.

After the ladies had exhausted the subject of the Papacy, they moved on the Meals On Wheels and how prolific it had become, how much better quality the meals are now over fifteen years ago and all the good that the program brings to its patrons. Everyone in our group has family around them, so I am pretty sure that they will all be well taken care of later on down the road and probably won’t be dependent on the elderly program of Meals On Wheels which, sadly for many elderly, is the only source of a hot meal and some company during the day.

After that, the ladies moved right along to the latest deaths that had been in the obituary’s that past week. The one that had the most impact was the suicide of a successful businessman who ran the Pomeroy farm and maple syrup/general store and breakfast restaurant. His death was a shock to all of the ladies and they spent the last part of the class talking about the funeral, the family taking over the running of the business, the fact that there wasn’t a will.

I kept quiet, content to listen to everyone’s viewpoint and opinion. My exercise class for me is relaxing and serves as nice social hour. I love my ladies.

Yoga in December

Tags

exercise, postaday2012, stretching, yoga

At the Christmas Tree lighting this past Sunday, Chuck our Historical Society President, approached my friend, our newest Director, and I and asked us if we had ever done yoga before and without waiting for an answer, he told us that this nice lady was in town and she was looking to give yoga classes for six weeks; three Wednesdays in December and three Wednesdays in January. He went on to say that she was very nice and his wife was going to participate and it would be a shame if they were all alone. Basically my friend and I, by this point, said yes because I think it would have been awkward otherwise.

The good news is that we have both done yoga before; my friend has done power yoga and belly dancing so she is in tremendous shape. I, on the other hand, haven’t done yoga in over two years so I knew that I was going to be rusty but I didn’t care if Chuck wanted to show support to this nice lady I didn’t mind.

The yoga class was nice; she is kind, tiny with a gently voice and led a gentle yoga class. The poses that she had us do, I was familiar with and my muscles were saying “oh yes, I remember vaguely doing this, oh wow, we sure are staying in this pose for a bit” as my muscles were shaking. I’m really glad that I went, it was an hour that I gave to myself, for myself and if anyone has the opportunity to practice yoga, I highly recommend it or at least trying it. It does wonders for you; physically, spiritually and mentally.

I am looking forward to next week’s class.

Weekly weight class and the girls

Tags

exercise, osteoporosis, postaday2012, social time, weights

Every Friday morning the girls and I do weight class together, it starts at 9:30 and ends at 10:45. It doesn’t sound like much but it does the trick for me. The weight class is part of the Council of Aging and my mother-in-law, a few years before she passed away, dragged me with her for a few sessions and before I knew it, I was asked to be the co-leader of the group with Sybie. So Sybie and I are the leaders of our osteoporosis weight class and we alternate leading every week.

Since I am the baby of the group, I make it my job to listen and soak up as much of the girls wisdom as possible. I’m the newest addition so while the girls take the opportunity to solve the world’s problems, I take notes and try to remember what I don’t want to be like when it is my turn to be old. I have to admit that I do hear a lot of how lazy the youth are today, how it is all the mother’s fault for not being there, the youth of today. I often wonder how in the world did they forget that their own parents probably had the same criticisms about their generation.

They are also republicans, not all of them, only the vocal ones, so when politics enters the airwaves, I keep my mouth shut. I like these women so very much and I don’t want to make our time together about political disagreements. I always try to steer the conversation towards food, who can resist speaking about food; good bread, different ways to make chicken, how to make a nice spinach gratin, what kind of filling to put in a puff pastry and I can go on. I end up making everyone hungry by the end of class.

We have off next Friday because it is the day after Thanksgiving, we did promise each other to take the time to go for a long walk after our Thanksgiving meal to get some exercise in on our special day of feasting.