Daily Exercise

Hey Cepheid, that's good going, you adapted to what you could do in the circumstances.

Every training programme needs a step back sometimes, body and mind need it from time to time.

I had a lot of rest days in prep for my half marathon today, I did it!

Thanks for the support. I'm doing better today (it's up and down lately). Getting the exercise done at least makes me feel like I'm not giving up completely, and that I'm getting something done (looking after myself). But yeah, the occasional rest day or "going easy" day is important too.

Great job with the half marathon! Any good stories?

another check in:

Sun: couldn't find the strength/will, spent about 5-10 minutes on some mild core stability exercises as a last ditch effort in the evening
Mon: stretching class only, pretty sedate
Tue: crashed completely again, failed to do weights
Wed: still a mess, did my most intense solo cardio session ever to somewhat blot out the distress
Thu: plyoga class, disastrous, I should not have gone
Fri: today, still distraught, no exercise

(ref: Sun the 10th, Tue 12th, Fri 15th)

Hey Cepheid, don't be too hard on yourself - I can see you got some activities in last week even though you were struggling, that is an achievement.

A friend said to me it's the workouts we struggled with we should feel the most proudest of.

I have only ran twice this week, the first was a mile recovery run, second was a 5k, and I really need to get the motivation to run right now.

Ugh, I'm saying to myself 'just do it' as the well known sports brand ad says.

Thank you. I'm not beating myself up over it. It's just that the exercise gives me some respite while I'm doing it, and makes me feel better for a while afterwards. So getting into a state where I can't seem to get it done is a bit of a double whammy.

Also, I was in quite a bit of a tailspin and couldn't seem to post anything worthwhile in any of the other forums. So I posted a relatively thought-free update here (with mood commentary). I sort of bunched my stuff into the one post.

At least I do feel that. By the by, they also say that's when you make your most significant gains.

(When I said I should not have gone to the one class, that was because of the emotional stuff.)



Thanks again, and good luck!

Sorry to hear this happened to you. If I may ask, did you wear a ball cap and drank enough water/fluids during your bike ride? How long were you out?

I'm a biker myself so I'm curious.

Sat: felt better, did regular weights routine
Sun: felt mostly recovered, did a fairly hard cardio
Mon: stretch class
Tue: full and tiring day so no weights, but that was expected, felt okay
Wed (today): cardio again

Thu: class (struggled on this one)
Fri: lightly experimented with core exercises again
Sat: weights
Sun-Wed: really hot and humid weather + no air conditioning = no exercise
Thu (today): class (did suprisingly okay here)

It's unlikely there will be any more really hot weather this year, but I'll need to consider what to do next summer during any potential heat waves.

Another accountability check-in:

Fri: I don't remember , I don't think it was much of anything
Sat: weights
Sun: cardio
Mon: stretching class
Tue: weights
Wed: cardio
Thu: plyoga class
Fri(today): rest

So, a good week for the exercise.

Sat: unexpected full day, no exercise
Sun: weights
Mon: cardio
Tue: away for the day, no exercise
Wed: alternate class (including running up and down stairs, and lots of falling off a Bosu)
Thu: rest (well, a bunch of walking which helped loosen the legs after previous day)
Fri (today): did some rolling and core exercises

Oh, and went to the chiropractor today for a not bad but nagging sore hip issue and, after coming back home, found one of the electrodes still stuck on my back.

Sat: weights
Sun: cardio
Mon: class
Tue: weights
Wed: very fatigued for some reason and no exercise
Thu (today): class (still moderately fatigued, didn't do terribly well but pushed myself -- so yay)

And these posts are getting a little dry, so .... let's see ... an little anecdote from some time ago.

[overused, televison wavey fade-in effect]

I do that thing called "plyoga". Despite the name, it's very little like yoga, and more like masochistic boot camp. It mostly makes use of plyometrics, which is what drill instructors started doing a number of years ago when they decided calisthenics weren't sadistic enough, but otherwise looks fairly similar.

A few months ago, they started offering plyoga as a new class. The instructor asked people in the other class I originally went to, "So who's coming to plyoga?"

Now, I'd looked at some videos online after seeing the description on the community centre calendar. It looked way too hard for me at that point. But I thought that the local class would probably be modified in some way and made easier, right? And the instructor will probably soft sell it anyways. So I'm expecting comments like: "It's not that bad" or "You can do it". That sort of thing.

Therefore I venture, "Is it as hard as the videos I see online?"

The instructor only says, "Yes."

Oh good.

I tried it anyways. And I almost had to be carried out on a stretcher after the first time.

So when they say "Go as hard as you can." They actually mean "Pace yourself."

I had a very rough week or so, with daily bad mood swings.
Got a fair amount done anyways, at least at first.

Fri: normally a rest day (hoped to do some rolling and core -- hope took a hike and thus got more exercise than I did -- no big deal though)
Sat: weights (really, really didn't want to do it that day -- had a huge "We're not having an argument" tussle in my head -- but finally got started and maintained amounts/reps)
Sun: cardio (meh, moderate reluctance, moderate exertion, but got it done)
Mon: class (nothing of note to report (no enemy activity in this sector))
Tue: weights (feeling very dispirited in general, another slog)
Wed: cardio (???, depressed autopilot)
Thu: class (okay, I guess)
Fri: rest from exercise day, usually (had to do lots of manual labor that was not helpful exercise)
Sat: didn't do anything (felt badly, mentally -- and sore and tired physically)
Sun: another nothing day (really felt a need to "recover" somehow)
Mon (today): class (low intensity, it helped)

(some entries from journal notes -- so varying mood in prose, your mileage may vary, batteries not included, sorry no C.O.D.s)

Cepheid, that is quite some week!

I am ashamed to admit my exercise has stalled, a mixture of reasons, some physical, some mental (motivation). Tonight I WILL go to my running group, and just to make sure I will check in here afterwards.

Coming back to fitness after a long bout of illness. Or trying to, but finding it difficult as I'm still suffering with fair amount of pain throughout the day.

Hopefully joining this thread will help keep me accountable and consistent. I want to thank all the awesome people for contributing to this motivating thread. Reading your posts inspire me to push through the mental and physical obstacles. :)

Sat: Walk around park and strength intervals 5X.
Sun: Walk around park and strength intervals 5X.
Mon: (Sore and tired from lack of sleep)
Tues: (? Hopefully)

Well I'm posting back to say I did go to group tonight and ran over 5km.

Bad news is my knee did hurt a bit.

Welcome Hearty!

Kudos to you for running 5k+! Sorry to hear about your knees though. Been dealing with sore knees myself so I've been walking and avoiding stairs/running. Have you tried Menthol balm, icing, and self massage? They seem to really help. Hope your knees feel better soon.

Thanks for the kind welcome, Prefabsprout! :)

Yeah, well, nothing like a little amateur colour commentary on my part.

Congratulations! Show that wagon whose boss!

Evenings are a tough time for me to do workouts. So, I'm impressed. Sorry about the knee though.

My knees just feel a little sore/tired at times. Not actually painful, but not right either. Probably just over exerted them at some point. But I'm giving them a rest and I found various knee-friendly leg exercises to be on the safe side. I'll be seeing a doctor in awhile and I'll have them check it out regardless.

Let me add my welcome too. Great to have another person around.

I'm sorry to hear about the lingering pain. It sounds like you're inspirational yourself.

Oh my. We have some kind of sad knee club going.

Hope everyones knees are okay today!

I ran 5k this morning a bit of a plod but no knee pain.

Ps Thanks for tips Hearty. I am finding foam rollering helps and also strengthening exercises (clams and side leg raises with theraband)

Hey prefabsprout, good going.

I just haven't been getting my established weight routines done, what with having to drop a whole bunch of stuff because of the knees and just feeling bleech lately. Then I had to stop a set in class the other day, due to sore wrists. That was sort of the final straw.

For the moment, I'm dropping my regular weights altogether and going back to physiotherapy and stabilization. It's frustrating to go backwards like that, but I think it's wise at this point. It's certainly better than not doing anything at all, which looked like it was going to happen.

I just finished a bunch of knee, leg, wrist, and core moves using some stairs, light weights, theraband, and a newel post. I need to sort out a proper routine and stick with it.

And at least I should be able to keep up my usual cardio.

Good job, prefabsprout! Yay for 5k's without knee pain!

CepheidVariable, are you using gloves while lifting? I've been using heavy-duty lift gloves with long wrist straps, and it's significantly reduced the pain in my wrists and hands.

Thank you so much for the kind words and welcome, CepheidVariable! Love this thread.

The park, usually vibrant with all kinds of people and activities was desolate due to cold and rain today. I dreaded getting out of my toasty warm car, but I bundled up in my down jacket and did my usual low-impact workout. Once I got warmed up, the cold wind was energizing and it was fun to smile and say hi to an occasional runner and walker passing by.

Sat: Speed walk + Strength Intervals 5x

Thanks for the tip. Actually, my home weight routine seems fairly benign on the wrists. It was doing plain-old push ups in class (20x3 in intervals, ugh -- I'm sure I couldn't have done 60 anyways) that caused trouble because it puts a lot of pressure on the wrist taking my weight at a hard 90 degree angle. I think it's just that my wrists are always slow to develop strength, and so become a weak point.

So there's this:
https://breakingmuscle.com/learn/7-e...ength?page=0,1

I'm glad to hear about your good day, and congratulations on getting it done. Heh, it just occurred to me -- "a walk in the park". Sorry, just kidding.

So, I'm curious, what kind of strength intervals do you do in the park?

"A walk in the park." Haha Well yes it is...once I'm out there! Don't know about you but it's always a challenge getting myself off the sofa and out the door. But after I'm outside and warmed up, moving my body becomes a fun and easy walk in the park.

Due to chronic pain, I'm doing gentle, short reps of pushups, lunges, planks, and various leg and ab work intermixed with low impact cardio. I'm taking it slow as I don't want to set myself back even further with more pain. I'm hoping to get at least 75% of my physical strength back within 6 months or so...

I was asking you about lift gloves because I always wear them during pushups to take the weight/pressure off my wrists. You might want to try them as they've lessened my wrist pain.

How long have you been working out? You seem like a seasoned fitness buff. Thanks for the heads up on the fitness website. I can't wait to peruse through it. It looks really good!

Hey Hearty!

1. Oh yes, with exercise, getting started is always the hardest part for me.

2. Ah of course, for some silly reason I thought you were doing your strength intervals in the park in your down jacket. Sounds good. I do fine with bridge, but struggle with proper plank for any real length of time.

3. Good idea. I should try the lift gloves for class, so I can keep up.

4. Seasoned fitness buff? Hardly. I went to a gym and got a personalized program around 20 years ago. Since then, pretty sedentary until about six months ago. Then I got serious about my health and using it to help with my depression. So I asked around and did some research.

And I don't know about the web site as a whole. I'm not really into actual "bodybuilding" myself. I honestly haven't gotten around to checking it all out. But the article and video seemed like one of the better ones I found regarding wrist strengthening. Please feel free to share anything useful you find.

I hope you have a good day.