Bored

Oh yeah, the reason I didn’t go too high on the weights off the bat was the tennis elbow. Oh well. Back to wimpy or whatever.

Back to feeling tired and semi-sore all the time, and bored out of my mind. They are good exercises, so I shouldn’t complain. I can tell they are working since I’m still sore. I tend to like safety of routines, but I’m also old, and there’s a point where I feel like “didn’t I just do this?” Isn’t exercise supposed to help you sleep better and have more energy? When does that start kicking in? Maybe I’d be more motivated if I noticed some improvement there.

Weight vs. Repetitions?

Intersting articles that browsers recommend for you once you search for something, like exercise bands. Of course, who knows if anything is accurate unless it comes from a Scientific Journal. Hint: If you don’t have to pay to access it, it’s probably not from a Scientific Journal.

One article attempted to asnwer the question which is better: heavier weights, lower reps, or lower weights, higher reps? It said it depends on your goal. If you want to bulk up, do more reps. If you want to get strong, do more weight.

So what am I doing spending all this time doing 20-40 repetitions of the arm exercises? I don’t need to bulk up. My main goal is to get stronger, get more muscle and burn calories. Not look buff.

The exercise videous seemed more for speed and endurance, maybe if using for cardio/aerobic. That could have a purpose. But at the same time, I’m not going to use any significant amount of weight as fast as they do – 20+ repetitions in 30 seconds. I thought the point of doing weights was to engage more mucle by doing slower controlled movements.

On the other hand, I have never followed the recommendation to do weights that are so heavy you’re exhausted and about ready to drop it and collapse after 12-18 reps. Tired, and possibly have the term “exhausted” come to mind, sure. But to the point you can no longer hold and and are in danger of dropping it and injuring yourself? No thank you. Previous to this article, I would have always thought of myself preferring more reps at a less extreme weight, if that’s what I had to do.

How many repetitions are enough, then? In any case, maybe I don’t need several wimpy weights after all. The small glycerin bottles are fun and I could still use those, but I don’t know that I need to invest in a lot more at this point. I tend to spend far too much time deliberating over reviews and trying to decide which type/model would be best and I will not regret buying.

1 Pound Weights

Only mild arm soreness since I started doing things only at my own pace. I've been aiming for 30-40 repetitions, based on counting how many the videos average. Enough soreness to feel like yay, it did something, but not the overwhelming or unrelenting pain.

I happened to buy two 1 pound bottles of glycerin the other day, so I treid them as tiny weights to see how long I could do the same exercises. I made it to 20 on most before I wondered if more would be regrettable. Since I don’t want to get overly sore, and I’m doing several different exercises, I’m calling that good for now. I think even mild weights might engage a few core muscles, for some of them, so this should be interesting to see how I feel tomorrow.

I also heard about the goblet march today. (My mind still thinks it should be goblin instead of goblet). I'm not going to to run into that full-swing, but I'm intrigued my non-situps or things that may not strain my back or neck. I'm thinking maybe I should try the march by itself first, then add itty bitty weights and see what happens. Reminds me of the Leslie Sansone knee-lifts. Hey, even that, without added weights, moving more than one previously did, isn't a bad idea.

Old, so Old

I’ve recovered enough to think of a new tactic while I wait for a doctor visit to ask what the heck I need to do in order to not keep hurting myself attempting basic exercises.
Watch, then do
I thought there’s a chance I’m not paying enough attention to my body because I’m concentrating keeping up with the video. So let’s either watch the video, then pause it while attempting, or memorize it and do it afterwards at whatever pace my body seems to think is acceptable.

You know how some people claim it’s possible to have an “old soul.” Perhaps my body has decided it’s real age is much older (there used to be a “real age” website that claims to give you a realistic estimate based on your lifestyle. Let’s not go there right now). Seems like my body significantly more delicate than I thought it was.

How’s this? I can meditate and attempt to ask the universe to channel all the wisdom of an expert physical therapist who works with severely geriatric people. One of my meditations said to have the mentality of an observer. Be almost detached. Ok, let’s pretend I’m helping some older relative who needs said advice getting more active. Apparently they’re 90, and having difficulty coming to grips that they’re not as fit and spry as they were at say, 50. They refuse to accept help from the people at their assisted living facility (sure, my husband does a lot of the housework, so let’s go with that). The only person they’ll listen to is me, so that’s why I need to help them figure this out. Uhm, yeah, not sure I believe that backstory either, but perhaps the details aren’t important.

Arggh, more pain

I was going to write how wonderful it was to get encouragement from a fairly fit friend the other day. They did an amazing job cheerleading me on. I felt so-so, and might have otherwise sluffed off my whole 10 minutes of strength training, but they inspired me to keep at it.

Now the only problem is my back hurting so much again. I know exactly what it was from, so I could avoid in the future, but I am still getting so sick of it. Hurting myself so frequenly when I’m trying to be healther. Looked up the youtube videos again, dug out more otc pain relievers and half a muslcle relaxant that didn’t fell like it helped at all. Called my doctor and realized this was the second message I left for them. I called three weeks ago about the initial back pain and never heard back.

It’s been worse than it is today, but I am increasingly frustrated. I don’t feel like I deserve to see a doctor if the primary cause is that I’m overweight. But it’s difficult to exercise and be active if so many things cause an unreasonable amount of pain. I’m supposed to eat better so I don’t feel like crap. Except that I’m low on motivation because I feel like crap. If you lose weight, eat right, and become more active, you feel better.

Except that I feel awful and the pain on top lends to feeling more discouraged. So it must be my fault for being in pain, since I’m overweight, and I don’t really deserve medical attention until I lose a drastic amount. Which makes me feel tense, which makes the pain worse They have medications for that too. Though I wouldn’t need any of them if I was more active and weighed less, so there, it’s still my fault. Arghh. If this doesn't make sense it's because my brain doesn't work as well when I'm in pain (and feeling sorry for myself).

Chairs are our Friends!

Yes, I’m a dork. For all these seated exercises, all I had was a computer chair (doesn’t work) and a couch (sometimes moderately works). So two points of note today. #1, it’s not my arms that are really sore from the supposed arm work-outs, but my shoulders and chest. Still good areas to work, but my point is, I’m working a lot more than arms (which one should). The other point is how helpful it is to actually have the recommended straight-backed chair without arms. I’ve been standing, which you’d think isn’t a big deal. Engages more muscles, right? Sure. But when my upper arms and shoulders feel like they’re about to give out, I also start to pace around, do side-steps or knee-lifts (thanks Leslie Sansone, I'll never forget you). That would make me breathe harder and get more exhausted. Finally bought an appropriate chair, and the workout seemed so much easier (relatively speaking). Maybe not super easy, but toned down a bit to be tolerable and still able to follow along. Standing would still be good when an extra challenge is needed, but I thnk we’ve established I don’t need any more challenges than necessary right now. Yay for chairs! Still getting my heart rate up, still engaging lots of muscle, but it’s so much easier to breathe and actually recover during those little rest periods I was whining weren’t long enough. Viola! Just add a chair like you’re allowed to in the first place.

Hope

As trite as some of the videos yet, the one encouragement I did like (whether or not it’s true) claimed that after doing the exercises for a week, you would not only get stronger, but also be able to get through your day better. Ha, well, I have yet to see that, but I don’t do the same one every single day. Something to think about eventually, I suppose. But it’s a nice idea to hope in. Better than the dude that takes forever inbetween sets telling you to drink lots and take it easy, and ends up spending 5+ minutes going over 1 exercise.

Not too Sore, but Hot

Attempted 40 seconds of each arm exercise, 20 second rest inbetween. Afterwards had a warm shower, massaged muscle area with spiky ball, stretched a little (need to look up specific stretches), 2 aleve before bed. People keep saying lots of water, but I already have 3-4 30 ounce glasses by the time I’m off work, so I don’t normally keep chugging unless I want to get up all night. I did make sure I had a couple smaller glasses though. Felt ok this morning; barely felt a little tenderness that some musles had indeed been used. Today it’s already 99 F and I dread exercising in the heat. Indoors isn’t quite that bad, but bad enough I want to hide in the back room where it’s cooler with less windows. I may test the theory of doing an exercise one at a time and not doing all in quick succession. Like watch tv and do one here and there. Better than nothing in theory, right? I made a list of them and nofficial silly names to remember them, like the drum major, chicken flap, air traffic controller, waitress bend, and newly coined: muscle-man-double-deoderant-check. Let’s see how many I can remember without even checking the list.

Tortoise or Hare?

The arm exercise videos I’ve been doing seem based not only on pure repetitions and time spent, but also doing many different exercises in close succession, therefore tiring one’s arms out from holding them up for so long. They do have mercy – only usually 60 seconds at a time and then a brief rest (5-9 seconds). I’m getting sore and winded though, so I’m given to woder if it’s ok to take somewhat longer breaks inbetween? Or is it better to keep going as full-blast as I can, and give up when I’m exhausted, rejoin as soon as I can? If I take longer breaks (15-30 seconds?), am I’m still working enough? Or is that cheating too much? Is it better to do 10 min following the video precisely as fast/long, even though I semi-collapse a few seconds her and there? Or can I make a list of the exercises and do at my own pace w/breaks for maybe 15-20 minutes instead? If I do increase my rest time, what will motivate me to go back to shorter ones? Or get me ready to? I have not, and would not, try wimpy weights unless I slowed down to my own pace. So that is not an issue yet. But which is better, speed and exhaustion from close succession of exercises? Or engaging more muscle from using light weights but going slower?

Being winded, tired, sweaty, I can handle. It's being so rediculously sore that's annoying. I ease up on my effort for a couple days, feel fine, try to do a bit more, and then regret it. Do you know how exhausting it is dreaming about being uncomfortably sore and achey all over? You wake up feeling like you've been acutely aware of your suffering that much longer.