Archive for the Category » Exercise «

Aug
17

Taking Advantage of the Sunshine

Taking advantage of the sunshine of late, I decided to hop in the car when The Bloke went to work and to walk home. It added to 3ks exactly. And, of course, Brin loved it.

Yesterday, I decided to bring along the camera, though I only took the picture of Brin and a couple pictures of the fountain in the centre of the city.

Unfortunately, the walk has proved too much. Even after just a couple mornings, muscles in both my legs were (and still are) too incredibly sore to go for another walk this morning.

The Bloke thinks that the suddenness and the severity of the pain is thanks to the chiropractor straightening things out and me using muscles correctly for once.

This irks me to no end in the ‘binge exerciser’ way, but the calmer, more patient me knows that this is just a new thing to deal with. I’ll have to do more upper body work until my legs can do more.

Sigh. Oooommmm. :P

Category: Exercise  2 Comments
Jul
25

Bye Bye Booties – Conquering Mountains

Start: 277
Current: 274

Loss: 3 pounds

Yep, riding steady this week – but only in weight.

This weekend The Bloke and I trekked up to a national park to do some bush bashing and rock climbing. Da-yum did that ever push me physically. It was a steep climb up (the views make it so worth it) and thus a step climb down.

The interesting part of the trek was how if influenced me emotionally. I knew something was challenging me on an emotional level on the way up because I had that ‘tears may be welling up in your near future’ feeling. I tried to ignore it, but you know how that goes…

On the way back down, my husband was walking in front of me (because stairs/steep declines make me nervous) and at one point I just sat down and cried. I couldn’t hold it back any longer.

My wonderful husband is used to these kind of things and was very caring about it. He had me look back up at the mountain to see how far I’d gone, was enouraging, reminded me that the climb was the hardest test of physical endurance that I’d had at this weight… (Have I mentioned my husband is made of pure essence of awesome with a dash of charming?)

Once I’d cried myself out, which didn’t take long, I began to think about my reaction and a great big, shining light bulb went on over my head. I finally connected enough of the dots to understand why I don’t like really hard exercise and rebel against anything that pushes my limits physically:

Weakness.

When I was a little girl, I was constantly on guard. I had to be careful what I said and did, to say the least. I didn’t know I was ‘on guard’ all of the time because that was my normal. But I can look back now and see that I was always ready to run or fight.

Because of this, when I exercise and push myself now, I put my body into a weakened state. Exhaustion is hell on my emotional mind because my ‘little girl’ side hasn’t caught up with the fact that I am well and truly safe now; no one is going to hurt me. So when I was going back down the mountain and felt out of breath, wobbly knees and sore, part of me was aboslutely convinced that I was leaving myself open to attack.

It’s a hard thing to realise because I know there are things that happened to me that I don’t yet remember. But recognizing how I am reacting to other things because of them has been a huge step for me. I have been exercising off and on for years – hard exercising – and it’s taken me this long to figure this out.

Even so, I am proud. I am proud of the woman I have become, able to finally connect those dots. I am also proud of the little girl I was (and partly still am) who, despite everything, had the will and the strength to survive.

Category: Challenges, Checking In, Exercise  2 Comments
Jun
10

I Dare You to Move

I make it no secret that exercise is my Achilles heel. I have done incredibly strict (and sometimes unhealthy) things to my body via diet in the name of losing weight, but when it comes to moving my generous booty in order to lose the weight…

I few months ago when I had started some hardcore (for me) exercising (yet again) and ended up hurting myself (yet again), my husband sighed and called me a ‘binge exerciser’. He said I kept starting too big and ended up hurting myself in the process. Having a rotated tailbone certainly doesn’t make for easy exercise, but it does call for a bit of caution. Caution I apparently never bothered to have.

The term ‘binge exerciser’ struck me like a slap across the face. As a recovering binge eater, it didn’t occur to me that I ‘binged’ with anything else – certainly not exercise of all things.

But I saw the truth in what he said. I never was one for baby steps, yet taking things with baby steps is essential to setting up long lasting habits. What I didn’t realise is that they are essential for more than one reason.

It’s obvious I need to move more, but it is also more than obvious that my movements need to fit where I am physically. I’d love to go for hour long runs and half-hours on the elliptical, but let’s face facts: I have a rotated tailbone, slack muschles and a body that is used to a sedentary lifestyle.

I need to start small.

I think the first order of business (besides going to a chiropractor because my hip has been hurting something fierce lately) is getting a pedometer. I know I’m not getting the recommended 10,000 steps a day (not by a long shot) so if I can just start with that, I’ll be doing heaps better than I am now. Plus, it’ll be gentle on my heart until I have the tests to show that everything is right as rain.

Category: Exercise  2 Comments
Apr
20

Walkabout 1

These shoes were made for walking…

Thought it turned out to be not quite the walkabout I had envisioned for myself thanks to a few work things, I did manage to stick to my plan and get out and about on Monday. I walked all afternoon!

While I am all for the walkabout with no particular direction, destination or path, I was very pleased to find out that there is a trail that goes straight through town. This trail is over 17kms long, goes both north and south of where I live and the trail goes right by the house.

I don’t think it gets much better. But then again, it did.

I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect autumn day with sunshine, cool breezes and plenty of wonderful autumn colours to see.

Once I’d been on the path for a while, most of the traffic and industrial sounds disappeared. All the pleasant memories of travel around Australia came washing back with the sounds and even smells of bush Australia. Though it wasn’t quite bush, even after a few ks of walking, it was close enough for me. I haven’t felt so good in such a long time.

I meant to stick with the ‘no destination’ attitude, but once I caught sight of ‘botanical gardens’ on a directional sign, I knew exactly where I wanted (maybe even needed) to go. I absolutely adore botanical gardens, and though I was hot, sweaty and tired by the time I’d gotten there, it was so worth it…

It was so beautiful. I could have stayed there all afternoon. As it was, I sat down for a lunch of an apple and carrots with hummus, enjoyed the laughter of the kids playing in the playground at the gardens and wrote for a while. I honestly did debate staying there for the afternoon, but something in me wanted to make it there and back on my own. I knew I’d have wanderings that would just keep going in the future, but my adventure for this day wouldn’t be complete without making it back.

All up, I walked over 7kms (thanks in part to a rest at the lake before meeting up with the Bloke for our usual evening walk with Brin). I know it was about everything but distance, but I still wanted to see. And that’s not too shabby for a woman who is in the worst shape of her life. Not too shabby at all.

Category: Exercise, Mental Health  4 Comments
Mar
23

Sore and Incredibly Happy

Today is only day three of my new exercise regime and I am incredibly sore. The combination of stretching, yoga, cardio and weights has me hitting pretty much all of my muscles.

The weird thing is most muscles recover quite well. As in, I don’t feel too much of the soreness until I go to do the exercises again. I’m not sure that is a good thing, but I’m taking it that way. I’m sore enough with the other places (especially right above my boobs and just inside the shoulder area on my chest – ow!) to be grateful for any reprieve.

Another strange thing is that I’m already noticing a change in my mood. I know exercise is a good mood enhancer, but I didn’t expect it to work this quickly! I know it’s partially because I’m teaching myself that even day two or day three in a row is something to be very proud of. But there’s more to it.

I’m not going to question. I’m just going to smile…

The best thing about all this exercise? Well, it should be my feelings of pride and all that good stuff, but it isn’t. Not right now, anyway. The best part right now is that I am enjoying the best nights’ sleeps I have had in weeks. I hit the pillow and I am out into deep, blissful sleep.

Sleep problems have been a pain in my arse for most of the month until this week. I knew exercise would be the trick that switched things around. Unfortunately, I need to go to sleep earlier because I’m so exhausted, but it doesn’t matter. I’m sleeping well!

Things are good. Very good. I’m going to make it this time.

Category: Exercise  2 Comments
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