Friday, May 3, 2013

Fitness Challenge: Day 19


Is it just me or has this been the longest 19 days ever? LOL I know this is good, and I know I need to doing it, and I'm already looking forward to a time in a couple months, when I feel like I'm in good enough shape to start doing some 5Ks and 10Ks. I'd love to do a half-marathon, but I don't have the time to train for that.

This morning, I did the stretching/workout on a video I got from the library. It was made in 1994, but funky outfits aside, I always worry about fitness videos from that long ago because things change in the fitness world and some exercises or practices that used to be common are no longer so, because it's been determined that they do more harm than good. 

I own about 10 fitness DVDs, and I've owned and sold several more, as well as borrowed quite a few from the library. I also started studying to be a personal trainer about three years ago. (I've never been any good at biology and trying to learn all the body parts was too much for my non-science brain.) But nothing on this video rose any red flags, except a hair-do or two.

What did bother me was that one of the main things the doctor (did I mention it was a back-care specialist?) said at the beginning was that twisting, as well as twisting and bending were very bad for your back, and to avoid them if at all possible. So what's the last exercise she has you do? Lie on your side, with feet up in almost-fetal position. Then keep your knee down while you twist your elbow to the ceiling. Which, if I'm not mistaken, is quite a twist on the old spine. I didn't do that one.

Her exercises all seemed quite gentle, things that I've done with other programs, or toned-down versions of moves I've done before. So I don't know why my back has been hurting since I did them this morning. My back wasn't hurting before. It hasn't hurt since I did the one day of yoga last week. I haven't needed to do any more. I guess my body is finally getting used to working out, and also I've been making sure I stretch more after.

Needless to say, this video will be going back to the library tomorrow.

After my 30 minutes of back exercises, we took a 15-minute walk. I wanted to walk tonight, but the weather is getting ridiculous again. I probably won't be able to go out and walk tomorrow, either, so I suppose it'll be a DVD in the morning.

I had 5,813 steps yesterday.

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