April 2020 Well-Trained Bodies

[lynn]

On 4/9/2020 at 9:00 AM, wintermom said:

Glad you are enjoying the strength building work-outs! I have to admit to being excited about having defined muscles as a 50+ year old lady. 

What kind of podcasts do you enjoy? I can't wear ear buds or head-phones, so while walking I just listen to the birds chirping. I'd like to listen to a podcast at home, though.

I call them podcasts but most are just from YouTube.  I usually listen to Esther (Abraham) Hicks, law of attraction, or Fearless soul or Joe dispenza.  I'm always open to new options.

[Laura Corin]

@soror I'm sorry you are so sore. The house sounds great though.

I took a no-reading-news day. Highly recommended. I read my book, washed the dog, made some masks, talked to Calvin by Messenger, did some restorative yoga.

Edited April 12, 2020 by Laura Corin

[wintermom]

3 hours ago, Laura Corin said:

@soror I'm sorry you are so sore. The house sounds great though.

I took a no-reading-news day. Highly recommended. I read my book, washed the dog, made some masks, talked to Calvin by Messenger, did some restorative yoga.

No-news day sounds like a great idea!  What is restorative yoga? Sounds like something I could use after all the house painting! 😉

[Laura Corin]

7 hours ago, wintermom said:

No-news day sounds like a great idea!  What is restorative yoga? Sounds like something I could use after all the house painting! 😉

It's just gentle, stretchy yoga. Emphasis on breathing too usually. I haven't done these, but they might be good

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLui6Eyny-UzxghGvVE7V_6YsZ7rh5r1Fx

[Soror]

15 hours ago, Laura Corin said:

@soror I'm sorry you are so sore. The house sounds great though.

I took a no-reading-news day. Highly recommended. I read my book, washed the dog, made some masks, talked to Calvin by Messenger, did some restorative yoga.

No news day sounds like a great idea. I've greatly cutback but I've not eliminated it.

My shoulder is still not good but at least it is improved. I slept a bit better and made it until 4:30 today. I took a nice hot bath with the jets to massage it.

Today I'll do some stretching/yoga and some lower body strength work. Hopefully a walk.

We feasted yesterday and it was delicious, today will be the standard food. Dh helped me cook as I could hardly move in the morning without pain (hard to do anything without my right arm). I took a nap after lunch and was lazy and ate too much the rest of the day.

 

Wintermom- I am in awe of how quickly you have improved your push-ups, that's incredible.

Edited April 13, 2020 by soror

[IvyInFlorida]

Hi ladies, just wanted to let y'all know that I have had a miscarriage.  We are all pretty upset...even though it wasn't the plan to have a baby in the first place, of course we didn't want this.  Anyways, I really appreciate all the support and how excited y'all were for me.  What a bizarre roller coaster these last few weeks have been.

[Laura Corin]

3 minutes ago, IvyInFlorida said:

Hi ladies, just wanted to let y'all know that I have had a miscarriage.  We are all pretty upset...even though it wasn't the plan to have a baby in the first place, of course we didn't want this.  Anyways, I really appreciate all the support and how excited y'all were for me.  What a bizarre roller coaster these last few weeks have been.

I'm so sorry, Ivy.

[Soror]

4 minutes ago, IvyInFlorida said:

Hi ladies, just wanted to let y'all know that I have had a miscarriage.  We are all pretty upset...even though it wasn't the plan to have a baby in the first place, of course we didn't want this.  Anyways, I really appreciate all the support and how excited y'all were for me.  What a bizarre roller coaster these last few weeks have been.

I'm so sorry Ivy, hugs and prayers for you and your family.

[wintermom]

11 minutes ago, IvyInFlorida said:

Hi ladies, just wanted to let y'all know that I have had a miscarriage.  We are all pretty upset...even though it wasn't the plan to have a baby in the first place, of course we didn't want this.  Anyways, I really appreciate all the support and how excited y'all were for me.  What a bizarre roller coaster these last few weeks have been.

Oh no! That is really sad. Giant hugs to you and your family. It is crushing to lose a baby, and with a miscarriage you don't get all the support of a funeral and mourning period. My heart goes out to you. I lost my last baby in a miscarriage. It's hard. My thoughts and prayers go out to you. (((hugs)))

[wintermom]

7 hours ago, Laura Corin said:

It's just gentle, stretchy yoga. Emphasis on breathing too usually. I haven't done these, but they might be good

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLui6Eyny-UzxghGvVE7V_6YsZ7rh5r1Fx

Thanks so much! I'm definitely in need of some gentle stretching today. I'm still recovering from the painting. My neck is still quite sore. I forgot that day 2 after an especially tough work-out can be worse than day 1. 🤪

[wintermom]

3 hours ago, soror said:

No news day sounds like a great idea. I've greatly cutback but I've not eliminated it.

My shoulder is still not good but at least it is improved. I slept a bit better and made it until 4:30 today. I took a nice hot bath with the jets to massage it.

Today I'll do some stretching/yoga and some lower body strength work. Hopefully a walk.

We feasted yesterday and it was delicious, today will be the standard food. Dh helped me cook as I could hardly move in the morning without pain (hard to do anything without my right arm). I took a nap after lunch and was lazy and ate too much the rest of the day.

 

Wintermom- I am in awe of how quickly you have improved your push-ups, that's incredible.

Glad your shoulder is improving! Take it easy for a couple more days.  Glad you were able to have a really nice Easter feast! We had a delicious meal, too. My mil made many batches of Irish Soda Bread for the extended families to pick up from her place. I decided to try and piece at dinner. It was wonderful, but I had some nasty abdominal pain for the rest of the evening. Confirmation that I need to stay clear of regular wheat products. I can handle small doses of wheat from a local open-air museum. 

My push-up challenge is coming along nicely! I'm always surprised how with training the body can build up muscle and endurance over time to accomplish tasks. It's really quite amazing. This is only week 6. I wonder how many I'll be doing by the end of the lock-down. 😉  I sure hope it's not crazy high. I don't want to be in 'social distance' mode for too long!

[wintermom]

I did a session of 'restorative' gentle yoga and wove in my push-ups. Played some relaxation music to add to the atmosphere. It worked a charm! I'm feeling much better now. 😊

If the rain stops, I'll also get out for a dog walk later on. 

[Laura Corin]

Goodness.  I had to search through to page three to find this thread - CV takes over the board, not just our lives.

Short two-mile dog walk yesterday.  Then what I expected to be a good, hard yoga session - it's a sequence I have enjoyed before, but my balance was particularly off.  Never mind, I struggled through.

I'm putting on weight, as expected, mostly due to proximity to the kitchen and extra snacking on delicious healthy things (nuts are my downfall).  Post-menopausal weight maintenance is not easy.  Hmmm.

Edited April 14, 2020 by Laura Corin

[Soror]

1 hour ago, Laura Corin said:

Goodness.  I had to search through to page three to find this thread - CV takes over the board, not just our lives.

Short two-mile dog walk yesterday.  Then what I expected to be a good, hard yoga session - it's a sequence I have enjoyed before, but my balance was particularly off.  Never mind, I struggled through.

I'm putting on weight, as expected, mostly due to proximity to the kitchen and extra snacking on delicious healthy things (nuts are my downfall).  Post-menopausal weight maintenance is not easy.  Hmmm.

I know I've had to search for the thread too. I did some balance work yesterday too, always good for me but I don't do it enough. I'm certain my weight is up some, my appetite was crazy last week with the work I did and then the huge meal yesterday with all the carbs and salt. I've been afraid to weigh.

20 hours ago, wintermom said:

Glad your shoulder is improving! Take it easy for a couple more days.  Glad you were able to have a really nice Easter feast! We had a delicious meal, too. My mil made many batches of Irish Soda Bread for the extended families to pick up from her place. I decided to try and piece at dinner. It was wonderful, but I had some nasty abdominal pain for the rest of the evening. Confirmation that I need to stay clear of regular wheat products. I can handle small doses of wheat from a local open-air museum. 

My push-up challenge is coming along nicely! I'm always surprised how with training the body can build up muscle and endurance over time to accomplish tasks. It's really quite amazing. This is only week 6. I wonder how many I'll be doing by the end of the lock-down. 😉  I sure hope it's not crazy high. I don't want to be in 'social distance' mode for too long!

Yes, I am taking it easy, I know the more I rest the quicker it improves. You must be one that can put on muscle well, that is amazing you can do that many so quickly. I've worked on push-ups for months and not ended up doing as many as that, truly incredible.

My shoulder feels perfectly fine today, which seems quite hard to believe. I've never had it hurt so bad and improve so quickly. I'm wondering if I didn't sleep on it funny Sat. night and with the strain it had been under it put it over the edge??? As I said I didn't have any pain before bed but work up in pain. It is so weird. I am doing lower body strength work and some yoga today, keeping it nice and easy. We'll see how it feels throughout the day.

We mowed yesterday afternoon, I stuck to riding mowing as I didn't want to strain my shoulder pushing and pulling the push mower. I don't know what we'll work on today, we've been doing some home improvement job nearly every day, I'm limited to what we can do without working my shoulder.

My allergies are really raring up, even with zyrtec and claritin I'm waking up with a horribly stuffy nose, there is so much pollen in the air my roof and van are tinted yellow.

Edited April 14, 2020 by soror

[Laura Corin]

@soror that's a lot of pollen.  I'm thinking that I'm having mild allergic reactions: I get snuffly, then it goes away, then it comes back.  I've not idea what I'm reacting too.

[wintermom]

4 hours ago, Laura Corin said:

Goodness.  I had to search through to page three to find this thread - CV takes over the board, not just our lives.

Short two-mile dog walk yesterday.  Then what I expected to be a good, hard yoga session - it's a sequence I have enjoyed before, but my balance was particularly off.  Never mind, I struggled through.

I'm putting on weight, as expected, mostly due to proximity to the kitchen and extra snacking on delicious healthy things (nuts are my downfall).  Post-menopausal weight maintenance is not easy.  Hmmm.

Yes, there are so many cv threads it's hard to find the important ones! 😄  I'm having a challenging time keeping the scale from tipping into weight-gain territory, too. A big ham dinner and then loads of left-over ham conveniently sitting in the fridge isn't helping. Plus the Easter chocolate.  No easy.

I did more yoga this morning along with my push-ups. I can't do a balance pose early in the morning very well, though. ;)

[wintermom]

3 hours ago, soror said:

I know I've had to search for the thread too. I did some balance work yesterday too, always good for me but I don't do it enough. I'm certain my weight is up some, my appetite was crazy last week with the work I did and then the huge meal yesterday with all the carbs and salt. I've been afraid to weigh.

Yes, I am taking it easy, I know the more I rest the quicker it improves. You must be one that can put on muscle well, that is amazing you can do that many so quickly. I've worked on push-ups for months and not ended up doing as many as that, truly incredible.

My shoulder feels perfectly fine today, which seems quite hard to believe. I've never had it hurt so bad and improve so quickly. I'm wondering if I didn't sleep on it funny Sat. night and with the strain it had been under it put it over the edge??? As I said I didn't have any pain before bed but work up in pain. It is so weird. I am doing lower body strength work and some yoga today, keeping it nice and easy. We'll see how it feels throughout the day.

We mowed yesterday afternoon, I stuck to riding mowing as I didn't want to strain my shoulder pushing and pulling the push mower. I don't know what we'll work on today, we've been doing some home improvement job nearly every day, I'm limited to what we can do without working my shoulder.

My allergies are really raring up, even with zyrtec and claritin I'm waking up with a horribly stuffy nose, there is so much pollen in the air my roof and van are tinted yellow.

That great your shoulder feels good! I don't mean to nag, but I know with active people REST is a nasty 4-letter word. 😆 

Sorry your allergies are in overload. Mine are ramping up, too. Are yours outdoor related? Maybe all the outdoor painting and mowing isn't helping much. I've had to shut all my windows and stay indoors a lot more than I'd like. It is helping my head stuffiness, though. 

[Laura Corin]

1 minute ago, wintermom said:

Yes, there are so many cv threads it's hard to find the important ones! 😄  I'm having a challenging time keeping the scale from tipping into weight-gain territory, too. A big ham dinner and then loads of left-over ham conveniently sitting in the fridge isn't helping. Plus the Easter chocolate.  No easy.

I did more yoga this morning along with my push-ups. I can't do a balance pose early in the morning very well, though. 😉

I was doing yoga late at night.  Maybe that was the problem.  I find that balance just comes and goes though.  Mysterious.

Today: one strength yoga session accomplished at lunchtime.  After work, I'll walk over the fields to the pub, to leave a glass beer bottle for them.  We had a takeaway ten days ago and they gave us free beer (they don't have an off-premises licence and the beer was going to waste).

My work isn't very busy this afternoon.  I think I might spend half an hour putting together a yoga plan for the next month.  I'm finally finishing my 'March' plan.

@soror and others: what would be fun asanas to really work at?  So far I definitely want to work on headstand.  I think handstand might be too hard.  I'm looking for strength poses mostly, I think.  My idea is to alternate by day: longer flow practices one day, then on the second day a shorter warm up plus concentrated work on a particular pose.

[wintermom]

4 minutes ago, Laura Corin said:

I was doing yoga late at night.  Maybe that was the problem.  I find that balance just comes and goes though.  Mysterious.

Today: one strength yoga session accomplished at lunchtime.  After work, I'll walk over the fields to the pub, to leave a glass beer bottle for them.  We had a takeaway ten days ago and they gave us free beer (they don't have an off-premises licence and the beer was going to waste).

My work isn't very busy this afternoon.  I think I might spend half an hour putting together a yoga plan for the next month.  I'm finally finishing my 'March' plan.

@soror and others: what would be fun asanas to really work at?  So far I definitely want to work on headstand.  I think handstand might be too hard.  I'm looking for strength poses mostly, I think.  My idea is to alternate by day: longer flow practices one day, then on the second day a shorter warm up plus concentrated work on a particular pose.

I'm working on balance poses on one foot. I work on variations of 'tree' and arabesk (not sure what the yoga name is). I could add in hand stand, as long as I do it outside in the yard. No room indoors. 😉

[wintermom]

I completed a dog walk with ds 14 and then a bike ride to the local grocery store. There were snow flurries! I guess we burned extra calories exercising in the 'extreme cold,' so be bought added provisions (chocolate, cookies and caramel popcorn). 😉

[IvyInFlorida]

Hi ladies.  Thanks so much for the kind words.  @soror your poor shoulder!  I'm glad it feels better today.  @wintermom you rock on the pushups.  I get stuck at like 20 and can't do any more in a single set, plus I have trouble keeping my elbows in.  @Laura Corin I would love to join you on a walk across some fields to a pub!  That sounds like something out of a book!

Still feeling pretty rough... I guess it will take a few days for the pregnancy symptoms to go away...?  I have been extremely nauseous and fatigued the whole time (literally nausea would wake me up in the middle of the night), and while it's starting to let up, I'm just so worn out by feeling sick to my stomach all the time that I am desperate for it to go away.  I slept a lot yesterday.  Still having a lot of food aversions and living on bread and cheese.  Hopefully I can go back to normal energy levels, normal food, normal workouts soon.  I gained 3 lbs (thanks a lot, bread and cheese) but I know that will go away once I return to normal eating and activity.  Emotionally...It has been such an extremely tough year for us so far that my husband and I are kind of in the numb, "ok, what now" mindset.  My older son took it pretty hard.  But we are all just hunkered down loving each other and helping each other get through the day, and that's what it's all about, you know?

Love you guys!

[Laura Corin]

Love you too @IvyInFlorida. Sorry this is so rough. Be good to yourself. It's easy to push it when you are in coping mode.

[wintermom]

@IvyInFlorida  Big hugs to your whole family. I hope the nausea disappears really soon. That must be awful.  It's so hard dealing with the other children's loss at the same time as your own loss. Thanks for checking in. Praying for you all.

[Soror]

2 hours ago, IvyInFlorida said:

Hi ladies.  Thanks so much for the kind words.  @soror your poor shoulder!  I'm glad it feels better today.  @wintermom you rock on the pushups.  I get stuck at like 20 and can't do any more in a single set, plus I have trouble keeping my elbows in.  @Laura Corin I would love to join you on a walk across some fields to a pub!  That sounds like something out of a book!

Still feeling pretty rough... I guess it will take a few days for the pregnancy symptoms to go away...?  I have been extremely nauseous and fatigued the whole time (literally nausea would wake me up in the middle of the night), and while it's starting to let up, I'm just so worn out by feeling sick to my stomach all the time that I am desperate for it to go away.  I slept a lot yesterday.  Still having a lot of food aversions and living on bread and cheese.  Hopefully I can go back to normal energy levels, normal food, normal workouts soon.  I gained 3 lbs (thanks a lot, bread and cheese) but I know that will go away once I return to normal eating and activity.  Emotionally...It has been such an extremely tough year for us so far that my husband and I are kind of in the numb, "ok, what now" mindset.  My older son took it pretty hard.  But we are all just hunkered down loving each other and helping each other get through the day, and that's what it's all about, you know?

Love you guys!

Hugs and much love to you Ivy. I'm sorry you are feeling so rough still, that is utterly unfair, I hope you feel better very soon. You have had a horrible, no good, very bad year.

[Laura Corin]

Okay.  I've set up a rough schedule for the next month.  There will be rest days in there but I haven't scheduled them.  They should happen naturally when I'm busy in the garden or whatever.    I've scheduled a lot of videos that I've never practised, so I'm sure I'll have some of the levels wrong.  I've set it up a cycle of three days, rather than two, to make sure I'm not overdoing it.  I'll also be walking between 2 and 5 miles a day:

1 strong practice - intermediate flow or strength

2 sun salutation followed by work on Eagle and Headstand then savasana

3 gentle practice

I've attached the file, but the links are to a subscription site.  A lot of the sessions can also be found on Adriene's Youtube channel.

Yoga calendar.docx

Edited April 15, 2020 by Laura Corin

[wintermom]

3 hours ago, Laura Corin said:

Okay.  I've set up a rough schedule for the next month.  There will be rest days in there but I haven't scheduled them.  They should happen naturally when I'm busy in the garden or whatever.    I've scheduled a lot of videos that I've never practised, so I'm sure I'll have some of the levels wrong.  I've set it up a cycle of three days, rather than two, to make sure I'm not overdoing it.  I'll also be walking between 2 and 5 miles a day:

1 strong practice - intermediate flow or strength

2 sun salutation followed by work on Eagle and Headstand then savasana

3 gentle practice

Looks awesome!!  I may check out some of the links you included, if you don't mind.  I'm doing a little more yoga these days, and it's feeling really good. Thanks for the inspiration!

[Laura Corin]

Just now, wintermom said:

Looks awesome!!  I may check out some of the links you included, if you don't mind.  I'm doing a little more yoga these days, and it's feeling really good. Thanks for the inspiration!

Please do, but  I don't know if they will all work as I took the links from the paid-for site.  If not, you can search for the names of the routines in Adriene's channel on YouTube and most should be there.

[wintermom]

It's a bright, sunny morning, though shockingly some of the brightness was from the fresh snow on the ground! 🥶

I completed my stretches, yoga and push-ups. I even tried a few handstands! They felt really good. I think push-ups are a good progression to handstands. I'm assuming that it's completely fine to do handstands against the wall for training and safety purposes. 😉

I'll be heading outside for dog walk #1 right away. Hopefully I'll get in another walk and possibly a bike ride, depending on the wind conditions.

[Laura Corin]

4 minutes ago, wintermom said:

It's a bright, sunny morning, though shockingly some of the brightness was from the fresh snow on the ground! 🥶

I completed my stretches, yoga and push-ups. I even tried a few handstands! They felt really good. I think push-ups are a good progression to handstands. I'm assuming that it's completely fine to do handstands against the wall for training and safety purposes. 😉

I'll be heading outside for dog walk #1 right away. Hopefully I'll get in another walk and possibly a bike ride, depending on the wind conditions.

Sounds lovely.  It's sunny and bright here too.  I took a five-mile hike with the dog through the woods.  One of the reasons I like going there is that it's fairly steep and I used to find it hard going, but now it's pretty easy.  I may do some gentle yoga later.

Edited April 15, 2020 by Laura Corin

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

@IvyInFlorida I am so sorry to read your sad news.  I am glad to hear you are in the loving and supportive arms of your family.  

[wintermom]

@Laura Corin  Beautiful photo! You have leaves already - and green grass! I saw some buds on a few bushes today, and there are a few pieces of green grass pushing up between the brown, dead ones. 

[Laura Corin]

1 hour ago, wintermom said:

@Laura Corin  Beautiful photo! You have leaves already - and green grass! I saw some buds on a few bushes today, and there are a few pieces of green grass pushing up between the brown, dead ones. 

I'm afraid we have green grass year round...

[wintermom]

1 hour ago, Laura Corin said:

I'm afraid we have green grass year round...

So your lawn mowers never get a rest? At least we can put ours away for several months. Many people swap them out for snow blowers. 😄

[Matryoshka]

I've been far to sucked in by all the Coronavirus threads and keep forgetting to look for this one...  also been very distracted with dd19's unanticipated move back home - we spent two weekends moving and cleaning out her apartment and getting her settled here.

@IvyInFlorida, so sorry for your loss.  Hugs to you and your family, and be gentle with yourself.  That's a lot to process in a normal time, and things are so topsy-turvy right now!

For myself, I've managed to keep doing something my Fitbit recognizes as Exercise 5x a week.  Mostly a mix of the OT at-home workouts and various P90X stuff, though I made up my own workout that I've done twice now (heavier weights than OT's using for at-home, and more of a full-body mix than the P90X ones, and added some Pilates stuff).  I've done that once a week the past two weeks.  I think I might make up one more like that, and add those to the mix.  

And I'm really regretting never having bought a rowing machine...  apparently I can't even buy one new now if I wanted.

[Laura Corin]

1 hour ago, wintermom said:

So your lawn mowers never get a rest? At least we can put ours away for several months. Many people swap them out for snow blowers. 😄

Luckily the grass stops growing over winter.  It just sits there looking green.

@Matryoshka it's odd having grown children back, isn't it? I'm finding 'Hobbes' easier to live with this time though. I've considered getting a rowing machine too, but the dog forces me outside whatever the weather, so I might as well just go with that.

I didn't do any more exercise today. Just sat with my book, which was good too.

I forgot to post this photo earlier, of bracken fronds unfurling.

 

[Matryoshka]

@Laura Corin, dd19 is also being easier to live with, at least so far.  I think it helped that she's been on her own for a while and has been forced to feed herself and do her own laundry.  Plus she was so lonely there by herself, so far she is really grateful to be back home... hopefully this better attitude will last!  She has been interviewing for a virtual internship for the summer - I hope this happens, even though not only is it unpaid, but we pay for it (!) - but I really think she'll need something to do other than lie around the house, so considering the lack of other options, I'm happy to pay at this point.  And it will be something, at least, for the resume.

And dd21 called this morning and asked if she and her girlfriend (and all their stuff) might be able to move back for a while as well.  😱  They're probably more easy to get along with than dd19, but we're kind of stuffed to the gills here at the moment.  Boxes and bins and extra furniture galore. Suggested they look for a 1-bedroom close to campus...

Have to say it was very relaxing being here with just dh...

[wintermom]

40 minutes ago, Laura Corin said:

Luckily the grass stops growing over winter.  It just sits there looking green.

@Matryoshka it's odd having grown children back, isn't it? I'm finding 'Hobbes' easier to live with this time though. I've considered getting a rowing machine too, but the dog forces me outside whatever the weather, so I might as well just go with that.

I didn't do any more exercise today. Just sat with my book, which was good too.

I forgot to post this photo earlier, of bracken fronds unfurling.

 

I always wondered what 'bracken' was. We call them ferns. And when some varieties look like that people eat them as 'Fiddle Heads' or 'têtes de violon' (as I first learned about and tried them in Quebec). Great photo! 

That's nice to have grass that stays green but doesn't grow during the winter months. Looks good and you don't have to mow or weed it! Perfect!

[Soror]

Laura- the plan for yoga looks good, I was going to suggest some arm balances for fun challenges, side crow would be a next good step. Like wintermom, we call the plant in your pic the fiddlehead fern.

I ended up not doing any exercise yesterday, the highway dept started by as I was getting ready to start and I got distracted. Last year they started spraying industrial herbicide instead of mowing the ditch banks to save manpower and as there is so much overspray it ended up killing a rose bush and a good chunk of my lilac and butterfly bush and part of my weeping cherry tree. My rose bush they killed was 10 feet from the road and barely a foot high, so no where near where they should have sprayed. I was so pissed. So, the second time they came around last year I told them they better not spray my things again but I wanted to be out when they came on my side of the road to make sure they remembered to stay away, I'm guessing I made a lasting impression as they didn't even attempt to try this year. 

Anyway- today was 20+ minutes of yoga, hollow body hold (3x) and 1 set each of push-ups and inverted press. I only did 1 set as I wanted to see how it felt. It felt hard, way harder than it seems it should and I didn't do much. Feels utterly discouraging to have everything 1 step forward and 2 steps back perpetually. 

I did a bit of work outside today although it was really windy and not the best day to wash the shed I got it done.

We'll see how the shoulder feels tomorrow after washing the shed and the push-ups before I decide what I'll be working on in the am. Probably some yoga for sure, then who knows what else, some work outside as it will be the nicest day we've had since Sunday. Maybe I'll work on some prepping some pots for when I can get some flowers for the porch.

 

[Laura Corin]

8 hours ago, soror said:

Laura- the plan for yoga looks good, I was going to suggest some arm balances for fun challenges, side crow would be a next good step. Like wintermom, we call the plant in your pic the fiddlehead fern.

I ended up not doing any exercise yesterday, the highway dept started by as I was getting ready to start and I got distracted. Last year they started spraying industrial herbicide instead of mowing the ditch banks to save manpower and as there is so much overspray it ended up killing a rose bush and a good chunk of my lilac and butterfly bush and part of my weeping cherry tree. My rose bush they killed was 10 feet from the road and barely a foot high, so no where near where they should have sprayed. I was so pissed. So, the second time they came around last year I told them they better not spray my things again but I wanted to be out when they came on my side of the road to make sure they remembered to stay away, I'm guessing I made a lasting impression as they didn't even attempt to try this year. 

Anyway- today was 20+ minutes of yoga, hollow body hold (3x) and 1 set each of push-ups and inverted press. I only did 1 set as I wanted to see how it felt. It felt hard, way harder than it seems it should and I didn't do much. Feels utterly discouraging to have everything 1 step forward and 2 steps back perpetually. 

I did a bit of work outside today although it was really windy and not the best day to wash the shed I got it done.

We'll see how the shoulder feels tomorrow after washing the shed and the push-ups before I decide what I'll be working on in the am. Probably some yoga for sure, then who knows what else, some work outside as it will be the nicest day we've had since Sunday. Maybe I'll work on some prepping some pots for when I can get some flowers for the porch.

 

That's really bad about the herbicide.  Sounds as if they didn't wait for a still day and you got a lot of drift.  We are surrounded by fields but the EU gives grants for leaving field margins for wild plants, so the field edges are usually not sprayed.  The local farmers usually have contracts for cutting the road verges.

I've been doing some hollow body hold and equivalent recently - glad to find it's even possible for me.  Inverted press looks hard!  I'm hoping that the prep for headstand will continue my arm and shoulder development.  Side crow looks fun.  I chose this month's focus as headstand (because I've always wanted to be able to do it) and eagle (because I used to be able to do it fairly well but I've lost the trick/strength/balance).  If the schedule works, I might keep the structure and just slot in new focuses each month, so I'll keep side crow in mind.

[Laura Corin]

How do your partners/other important people in your life feel about your exercise and their own health?

Husband is very supportive of my exercise aims and will work around them as we sort out family schedules.  He would prefer to eat more meat but is okay with the current schedule (he cooks meat; I cook veggie).  I think it makes him sad though that, despite my vocal appreciation of his cooking, he knows that I'd probably prefer to eat veggie.

He doesn't eat his five a day.  I've mentioned that to him and he acknowledged it, but he's not changed his diet and I'm not going to nag.  He eats toast and muesli for breakfast; a meat sandwich on wholegrain bread for lunch with maybe half a tomato and some chips/crisps on the side.  For supper he will get at least two portions of veg if I cook but only one if he cooks.  For snacks he will eat whole-grain crackers with cheese, and maybe a banana.  So it's not the worst diet but not the best either.  If I cut portions of veg and leave them out for snacking, he mostly won't eat it.

He swims several times a week but not for long each time.  He stretches after swimming.  He walks the dog, mostly on the flat, for a couple of miles several times a week.  I've sent him articles about the importance of strength work but he doesn't do any.  His back is not strong, but he doesn't do any core work to support it.  He's not overweight, but by being the same weight as he was thirty years ago, he is much less muscular.

I think that he looks at his own father, who took no exercise at all from 1950 onwards, was overweight and had no strength in his legs, and thinks that he is doing so much better.  I can see him disabled by back pain, and falling like his father did from lack of muscle.  Even now, he's really tired after one of the five-mile light hikes (only 750 ft elevation gain) that I do several times a week. 

It's very frustrating, because I feel that he could do a little bit more to avoid consequences to himself and to me.  But I've said all that once and nothing has changed. He is largely retired, so he has the time.  He's 63 and I'm 57.

[Soror]

2 hours ago, Laura Corin said:

How do your partners/other important people in your life feel about your exercise and their own health?

Husband is very supportive of my exercise aims and will work around them as we sort out family schedules.  He would prefer to eat more meat but is okay with the current schedule (he cooks meat; I cook veggie).  I think it makes him sad though that, despite my vocal appreciation of his cooking, he knows that I'd probably prefer to eat veggie.

He doesn't eat his five a day.  I've mentioned that to him and he acknowledged it, but he's not changed his diet and I'm not going to nag.  He eats toast and muesli for breakfast; a meat sandwich on wholegrain bread for lunch with maybe half a tomato and some chips/crisps on the side.  For supper he will get at least two portions of veg if I cook but only one if he cooks.  For snacks he will eat whole-grain crackers with cheese, and maybe a banana.  So it's not the worst diet but not the best either.  If I cut portions of veg and leave them out for snacking, he mostly won't eat it.

He swims several times a week but not for long each time.  He stretches after swimming.  He walks the dog, mostly on the flat, for a couple of miles several times a week.  I've sent him articles about the importance of strength work but he doesn't do any.  His back is not strong, but he doesn't do any core work to support it.  He's not overweight, but by being the same weight as he was thirty years ago, he is much less muscular.

I think that he looks at his own father, who took no exercise at all from 1950 onwards, was overweight and had no strength in his legs, and thinks that he is doing so much better.  I can see him disabled by back pain, and falling like his father did from lack of muscle.  Even now, he's really tired after one of the five-mile light hikes (only 750 ft elevation gain) that I do several times a week. 

It's very frustrating, because I feel that he could do a little bit more to avoid consequences to himself and to me.  But I've said all that once and nothing has changed. He is largely retired, so he has the time.  He's 63 and I'm 57.

My husband is very supportive of whatever fitness path I choose but does hardly anything for himself. He is overweight and has put on some pounds in the last couple of years with more desk work and a heap more stress. He eats maybe a couple of servings of veggies a day, only because that is what I pack. I wish he would lose at least a bit of weight. He has aspirations for all these active things to do but is not in shape to do them and will only lose fitness if he isnt using it. He does have a fair amount of strength from his job (he is not always at the desk) and work around the house. He acts like the decline of age is inevitable and it annoys me to no end, so much is on us and what we do.

____________________________

Shoulder is feeling ok, no worse anyway, but I do not think chin-ups are wise.

I've done a bit of yoga and will finish after classes and some shrimp squat work and l-sits.

I'm just hanging on with a bit of inside exercise, working outside so much has lost my motivation, of course the point of a lot of exercise is to replace the movement we would naturally get working so I'm ok with that for a season, working on flexibility and mobility and some strength.

I'll do some project outside, we'll see what I'm up to, maybe clearing some brush.

 

[Laura Corin]

1 hour ago, soror said:

My husband is very supportive of whatever fitness path I choose but does hardly anything for himself. He is overweight and has put on some pounds in the last couple of years with more desk work and a heap more stress. He eats maybe a couple of servings of veggies a day, only because that is what I pack. I wish he would lose at least a bit of weight. He has aspirations for all these active things to do but is not in shape to do them and will only lose fitness if he isnt using it. He does have a fair amount of strength from his job (he is not always at the desk) and work around the house. He acts like the decline of age is inevitable and it annoys me to no end, so much is on us and what we do.

____________________________

Shoulder is feeling ok, no worse anyway, but I do not think chin-ups are wise.

I've done a bit of yoga and will finish after classes and some shrimp squat work and l-sits.

I'm just hanging on with a bit of inside exercise, working outside so much has lost my motivation, of course the point of a lot of exercise is to replace the movement we would naturally get working so I'm ok with that for a season, working on flexibility and mobility and some strength.

I'll do some project outside, we'll see what I'm up to, maybe clearing some brush.

 

I'm glad I'm not alone in feeling irritated!  Glad the shoulder is feeling better.

Did the penultimate Empower Yoga workout - the one with the bunny hops!  It felt good though.  I had a quick go at side crow - that would need a lot more work!

[wintermom]

2 hours ago, Laura Corin said:

I'm glad I'm not alone in feeling irritated!  

I could get really irritated about dh's health management habits. He's overweight and eats too much junk food. He is trying to improve his eating habits, but it's usually 1 step forward and 2 steps back.

On the bright side, my dh does a good job doing the activities he likes. He loves outdoor tennis, so in the spring/summer/fall I feel a little like a 'tennis widow' and only see him when I'm playing tennis with him.  He is doing a fantastic job with all our house painting and renovations as well. He'll also go outside and play basketball with our boys.  He even mentioned that he's like to do some stretching and walking with me. I don't know if this will actually materialize, especially if we do manage to get a backyard tennis court working. 

 

[wintermom]

Completed my morning yoga, push-ups and extra long dog walk with a friend. We had snow flurries during our walk. Typical early spring weather here, where it can be +20C or - 5C with snow. Don't put away the winter coats, hats and mitts just yet! 😉

The last couple evenings I've been adding in some relaxation yoga in the evening before bed. It's nice. I'm going to try and keep this going. It didn't really help me sleep any better, as my neck was sore, but I did enjoy it and it stopped me from snacking in the evening. 😄

[Soror]

20 hours ago, Laura Corin said:

I'm glad I'm not alone in feeling irritated!  Glad the shoulder is feeling better.

Did the penultimate Empower Yoga workout - the one with the bunny hops!  It felt good though.  I had a quick go at side crow - that would need a lot more work!

No, I try not to be aggravated and leave it to him but I find it hard to bite my tongue at times. Dh eats decently at home it is snacks and soda at work that does him in.

16 hours ago, wintermom said:

Completed my morning yoga, push-ups and extra long dog walk with a friend. We had snow flurries during our walk. Typical early spring weather here, where it can be +20C or - 5C with snow. Don't put away the winter coats, hats and mitts just yet! 😉

The last couple evenings I've been adding in some relaxation yoga in the evening before bed. It's nice. I'm going to try and keep this going. It didn't really help me sleep any better, as my neck was sore, but I did enjoy it and it stopped me from snacking in the evening. 😄

Great idea to do some relaxing yoga before bed. I'm glad to have my spring and not yours 🙂

Yesterday was more of the same, some yoga, shrimp squats, and hollow body and lots of work outside.

Today is yoga and we'll try a few push-ups.

I really wanted to paint but held off to give the shoulder rest.

Today rain is expected and it is dd's 13th bday so it will be a family day inside.

[wintermom]

2 hours ago, soror said:

No, I try not to be aggravated and leave it to him but I find it hard to bite my tongue at times. Dh eats decently at home it is snacks and soda at work that does him in.

Great idea to do some relaxing yoga before bed. I'm glad to have my spring and not yours 🙂

Yesterday was more of the same, some yoga, shrimp squats, and hollow body and lots of work outside.

Today is yoga and we'll try a few push-ups.

I really wanted to paint but held off to give the shoulder rest.

Today rain is expected and it is dd's 13th bday so it will be a family day inside.

Happy Birthday to your dd!!! Teen-ager at last! 😊

Enjoy your yoga and push-ups!

[wintermom]

I just successfully completed 40 push-ups!!  One set of 30 + one set of 10, with a little stretch break between. It felt pretty good. 

My neck has been quite sore. It could have started with my ceiling painting, and not helped by me trying the 'bridge' pose. I think it just caused too much tension in the muscles. I've been using a heating pad and it helps a lot. 

I'm going for another walk with a friend this afternoon. We're walking on a trail that used to be a railroad track, so it's nice and wide and easy to maintain our correct distance. 😉

[Laura Corin]

Happy birthday to your daughter, @soror

Well done on the push-ups @wintermom

I finished my Empower yoga series with a gentle coda.  It took me six weeks to do a one-month set, but that's okay.  I'll start on my self-designed programme tomorrow.  I tried again to do side crow today and I actually could imagine getting there at some point in the next decade, so maybe I'll sneak in a little practice here and there.  I've also been slowing my flows so as to hold longer in chaturanga - it's too easy to swing through it without getting full benefit.

I'll walk about three miles with the dog after work, then home to make supper.  We have fresh fish for this evening and also locally-smoked fish in the freezer: Husband organised a van-trip from a local supplier on the coast for the village.

[FarmingMomma]

@IvyInFlorida I'm so sorry for your loss 😥

@soror I'm glad your shoulder is feeling better.  I've often slept wrong on mine and ended up with bad shoulder and neck pain the next day.  

@wintermom wow, 40 pushups! Way to go!

@Laura Corin your yoga posts keep inspiring me to try to fit more yoga into my schedule

I've been MIA again this month, calving has been really busy.  It's finally slowing down, we only have a little over 40 head of cows left to calve out of 300.  Now instead of 10-15 calves a day we get anywhere from 1 to 5.  Of course with spring on the way we'll soon have plenty of farm work to keep us busy.  I did start a new workout program this week, the new 10 Rounds program from Beachbody.  I've only done two of the workouts so far, but I'm enjoying them and I like that they are only around 30 minutes.  My youngest started the same program last week and is already into week 2, and he loves it!  Three days a week are boxing moves, alternated with 2 days a week of weight lifting (1 day upper body and 1 lower body).  There are core exercises in every workout, plus the boxing really works your core the whole time.  My core is where I still need the most work, so it's perfect for me right now 🙂 

[IvyInFlorida]

YOU GUYS, I DID NOT MISCARRY.  I had an ultrasound today at my husband's insistence and there it was, perfectly normal!  There was a huge spot where a hematoma bled horribly and they said no wonder I thought it was a miscarriage.  I'll update more when I get a chance!   I'm in shock still.