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Doing better
Feb. 4th, 2015 10:47 amI am still getting better form being sick in December. I lost a lot of strength--I suspect partly to lying around limply for a month, and possibly also partly because weakness is a symptom of high thyroid. And the bounce in my step was gone. (I normally bounce rather a lot when I walk; people have been known to tease me about it. One of the first signs that something is wrong is that I lose my bounce. This happens even before I start walking more slowly.) And even when I was back up to doing my full walk my feet hurt rather a lot. And my bad knee hurt too, which wasn't the case before I got sick. That was surprising because any reasonable person would think that losing fifteen pounds would make them hurt less, rather than more.
So to get my strength back I started going to the gym. I would ride the recumbent bike for half an hour for cardio and to warm up, and then lift weights. Now it has been easily two or three years since I seriously lifted weights, and I had to start *much lighter* than I remembered. But I included in my routine the balancing-on-one-foot exercises I used to recover from knee surgery and later back surgery. Balancing on one foot works muscles all the way from the bottom of your feet to the top of your spine.
And boy did it make my feet tired. They work like crazy to keep my center of mass over my single foot toward the end of the minute balancing.
I also included some of my other back exercises while I was at it, because I do my weight-lifting exercises in twos to save time. So I'll do one set of bench presses, then a set of squats, then a set of bench presses, then a set of squats, instead of sitting around between sets of bench presses. I needed some non-arm exercises to fill in, and the back exercises fit the bill.
But I have been able to increase my weights twice, I *think* I am holding steady at my new weight, my back doesn't hurt in the mornings and I've been able to cut my acetominophen in half. The bounce in my step is back at least part of the time, and my feet don't hurt when I go for my walk. Go me!
So to get my strength back I started going to the gym. I would ride the recumbent bike for half an hour for cardio and to warm up, and then lift weights. Now it has been easily two or three years since I seriously lifted weights, and I had to start *much lighter* than I remembered. But I included in my routine the balancing-on-one-foot exercises I used to recover from knee surgery and later back surgery. Balancing on one foot works muscles all the way from the bottom of your feet to the top of your spine.
And boy did it make my feet tired. They work like crazy to keep my center of mass over my single foot toward the end of the minute balancing.
I also included some of my other back exercises while I was at it, because I do my weight-lifting exercises in twos to save time. So I'll do one set of bench presses, then a set of squats, then a set of bench presses, then a set of squats, instead of sitting around between sets of bench presses. I needed some non-arm exercises to fill in, and the back exercises fit the bill.
But I have been able to increase my weights twice, I *think* I am holding steady at my new weight, my back doesn't hurt in the mornings and I've been able to cut my acetominophen in half. The bounce in my step is back at least part of the time, and my feet don't hurt when I go for my walk. Go me!
