So, on the advice of one of my
doctors, I decided to use the “resistance band” method. So this past weekend, I
went down to the local sports store to see what they had to offer. Imagine my
delight in finding a complete set of bands, CD, and “complete gym in a bag”!!! Hot
dog!!! We’re off to the races now!
So Sunday afternoon while Mike
was away at work, I decided was as good a time as any to start this new
routine. I watched the CD that came with the set; took out all the straps and
bands and figured out what they all were; set up the apparatus as explained on
the CD; did a couple of exercises as it went thru the “How To” section; and
prepared to do the work out with the CD.
Ready? Set? Go!
I wasn’t too far into the work
out when I started having conversations with some muscles I have spoken to in
quite some time, despite the 3 mile daily walks! My inner thighs, although not
often heard from on my walks, was the first to speak up and the last to shut
up! “What are you doing”? They wanted to know. “Hip adductions, hip extensions
and hip abductions” I repeated to myself. I continued with my workout, ignoring as much
as I could the discomfort the a fore mentioned muscles were giving me; then
they spoke again. “Hip adductions, hip extensions and hip abductions?! Seriously?!” My inner thigh muscles promised revenge as I
continued with the workout.
I finished the lower body workout
on wobbly, but still standing legs! I was so proud!
Then came the upper body workout.
I was so glad to see that I could keep up with the smiling instructor on the CD.
Her two companions were smiling, too.
The decline chest press, the
incline chest press, the high row, the low row, the stiff armed lat pull down…
I was able to do all of these with no problems. Then the instructor whipped out
the second level of exercises. Since I was doing so well so far, I followed
along.
What an idiot!
About 1/3 of the way thru of
doing the overhead tricep extensions, I heard from another muscle I haven’t
heard from in a while. My triceps! The
lateral shoulder raises and the frontal shoulder raises introduced me once
again to another group of muscle I haven’t spoken to in some time either- my shoulder muscles! Together, these muscles
decided that they were mildly amused with my attempts at doing these second
level activities; but not happy. They, too, promised revenge.
After sweating thru ½ hour of
twisting, turning, pulling, pushing, shoving, bending, stretching, lunge-ing
and grunting, I came to the end of the workout and reached the stretching
session. AHHHH! I could handle this! Sitting down on the floor, I followed
along as the instructor bent her body in half over her right leg. Like that was
going to happen! NOT! I did my best, but still had a good nine inches between
my nose and my knee. My inner thighs were laughing at me by this time just
begging me to try to go lower! And it wasn’t long before my shoulders joined in
the laughter.
Finishing the stretches, I turned
off the CD while the smiling instructor was wishing me a good day.
This was Sunday.
Monday morning I woke up and felt
fantastic.
Until I moved!
My inner thighs threatened to
take me down until I promised to stand and move VERY slowly! My arms and
shoulders didn’t want to cooperate with me to do anything if it included having
to move them. And my triceps yelled at
me every single time I went to pick something up!
Deciding to take a day off from
this new found activity, I picked it up again this morning (Tuesday). Although
I heard from the same group of muscles, they didn’t seem quite as pissed off as
they were a couple of days ago. This made me very happy! J
As I finished up the stretching
activity today, I was slower to turn off of the CD and heard that smiling
instructor tell me that in order to get the most benefit from this workout, it
should be done TWICE in a row!
I heard my muscles say, “Try it
bitch!”
