Monday Night - tired

Tonight's workout was a challenge. I didn't get around to it until around 9pm after a long day and very little sleep (lots of back pain) the night before.

I did 20 minutes on the elliptical and 20 on the treadmill. I kept my speed low on the treadmill (back hurts when I jog today) but did 12% for two minutes and reduced by 2% every 2 minutes through the workout (when I hit 0, I would push back to 12%).

Did some time on the inversion table. That thing is amazing. You have to work your way up to it, though. You can't just jump on and hang upside down with your heart pounding from the workout and stay there very long. You get more used to it over time.

Do an ab workout on an inversion table also takes some getting used to. I haven't done a real core workout for a LONG time. So it would be nuts to just start firing off reps even if I could (I have done it in the past and suffered for it). I'll work my way up slowly with a very small range of motion. It won't take long to be doing real crunches (raising hands to knees).

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Sunday workout - walking the dog, pushups

Weekends are a time to relax and spend time with friends and family but you have to get some exercise too. On Sunday a friend and I walked the dogs for a little over an hour. That left me needing to fill in about 10 minutes of exercise since I discount walking as 50% for time and am working on 40 min per day as my new plan now.

To make up the time I did some stretching and some pushups. I am not ready to do normal push-ups in quantity yet so I use the stairs.

Placing my hands on the 4th stair or so I do 10 very slow reps (forehead to the stair above my hands). After 10, I move down to the next stair without leaving pushup position and do 5 more, then then next stair and do 5 more. My goal is 10 reps on each stair, 5 times. Eventually I will be able to 150 push-ups in the normal position and when that gets too easy I'll leave my hands on the ground but position my feet on the stairs and work them up through reps.

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Saturday workout - shovel snow, Daniel-san

I took Friday night off, as per my plan.

This morning I did some light snow shoveling and played with the dog (requires lots of bending down to get his fetch toy and throw it, and he will do that ALL day). I was working for about 30 minutes, so I will credit myself at 50% with 15 minutes of exercise, leaving me with 25 to go (moving up to a 40 minute workout today).

I plan to do some cardio but have to do some cleaning first. :)

Meditation is improving. I find I get into it a little more rapidly these days and enjoy sitting for longer each time .

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Headboard installing IS exercise

Last night my workout was a 20 - 30 minute dog walk and then, after dinner, we attached our new MDF (heavy) headboard to the bed frame. It's king sized and there's JUST enough room to turn our bed around in place so there were lots of adjustments, mattress shifting/moving, lugging of tools, etc.

I am one of those people who would LIKE to be handy but really needs to work at it. I have (mostly) the right tools but lack experience. This means everything takes longer.

Anyway, with my arthritis (or whatever it is) I was really feeling all the bending, lifting, reaching, etc. But in the end it was worth it. The headboard looks great and I was active last night (and sore today). :)

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Got it done

I managed to get a workout in tonight. I really didn't want to miss two days in a row. I spent the day having back spasms so I am exhausted now and was when I started. I feel better than when I started the workout, though. :)

Time to meditate for a while.

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Tuesday was a miss

Tuesday night wasn't a workout night. I wanted to all day and finally got around to it just before 9pm. I went to move the latest Democracy Now to my mp3 player and it wouldn't connect. Hmm, low batt... No, new AAA and no charged rechargeables. I searched the house for a good AAA that wasn't in some more important use (god forbid I disable a remote control) and put my rechargeables on the charger. The universe didn't want me to work out, I guess.

OK, the batteries were an excuse. I was just really tired and had a long day. Tonight will be better. Bring on the cardio! I am just worried every day I let it go, it is easier to let it go the next time. I am comforting myself with the fact that I did a lot of walking, some lifting, and a physio session that day (and had xrays, bought hardware to attach a headboard to a bed frame, worked, and so on).

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Monday night

Got a good workout in tonight. Did some pull ups using the crossbar on the treadmill... working my up to a chin up bar, maybe. Used the inversion table again and it felt good... just stayed on for a minute or so (seeing if this helps/hurts and gradually phasing it in).

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Easter Exermacise

So I missed a day. I normally take Friday off (or at least it will be "normally" once I have maintained this for a while but I want to workout on weekends (maybe more so). But I missed Saturday. I basically was out the door soon after waking and breakfasting (and cleaning the kitchen) and was on the go visiting and running errands till 10:30 at which point I was exhausted...

When I got home I was really too tired to hit the machines. I should have done it anyway but bailed. I DID walk for about an hour or more throughout the day but it was no cardio workout.

Highlights of today:

• Stepped it up to 35 minutes (adding 5 more minutes a week till I hit 1 hour).
• Did 20 min on the treadmill (jogging at 3.4 when I could and walking the rest of the time) and 15 minutes on the elliptical on some program I can only follow for about 8 minute before it out does me (I just keep going at the best pace I can).
• Did some push-ups on my usual square but moved down to the next one for the last 5.
• Set up my old inversion table and got upside-down till it started to hurt (or was it a stretch?). I am just about to research if that thing is good for me or not (sounds like it should be). If it is I will start doing crunches on it.
• Been working on the exercises I got at Physio last week, one of which is a cat stretch (yoga thing) that feels really good after the cardio.

One more thing: looking into getting a chin-up bar with the goal of being able to do one well-formed, non-rushed chin up by my birthday (June 22).

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Another boring exercise blog

I am just making these entries to motivate me to exercise every day (I guess recording it publically motivates me, not sure why).

Last night, despite the pouring rain (it wasn't that cold) I went out for a walk with a friend and our two dogs... The dogs loved it. I would like the walks to be longer (like an hour) if I am replacing cardio but last night was rainy and windy, I was tired, and it was better than nothing.

I am taking Fridays off so tonight, no work out. Resuming on Saturday.

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Another workout

Got another workout in tonight still only 15 min each on the treadmill and elliptical. Also did 30 push-ups in a row. Used to be able to do way more but it's a start.

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Osteoarthritis?

Yesterday I went to see a rheumatologist for the first time. She advised me that I probably have Mechanical (Osteo) Arthritis along with Crohn's.

In addition to some more xrays and CAT scans of my spine, she recommended Calcium and vitamin D as well as Physio (already made an appointment).

I also learned through my own research (actually, I already knew this) that the best thing I can do for myself right now is lose some weight. So last night I portion controlled my meal and hit the treadmill and elliptical for 30 minutes then did some push-ups on the stairs (normal ones still hurt too much--- I used to be able to sets of 20 to 40 until the cows came home). I was uncomfortable the entire time but such is life (most people are when they start exercising).

My goal is to get 60 minutes of exercise a day. Starting out at 30. I will include walking the dog, yard work, etc. as exercises at first (can use half my time for that so I don't get lazy about cardio and strength training) but eventually I want 60 minutes of straight gym-type activity. My goal is to be able to jog with my dog at some point (the impact of running kills me right now because all my joints and back ache like crazy) and definitely to be surfing even occasionally by August/September (I mean paddling out and catching waves, not just the half-assed attempts I've been making since the pain really started coming on).

Anyway, time to get to work.

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