Sometimes, when a person has let herself get really out of shape, and then decides to…do stuff, it hurts.
A lot.
Okay, okay. It’s not *that* bad, but I do have some serious aches and pains going on, and it’s largely the fault of my lack of physical fitness. I mean, it’s also partially because I fell over the Murphy-dog in a dark hallway the other morning (yes, he’s fine, but I twisted myself up making sure *not* to smash him), but even that wouldn’t have been as bad if I’d been in better shape overall.
I do yoga, and I walk when the weather’s decent, but I don’t do nearly as much lifting or weight-training as I should, and it is painfully evident after moving straw bales, taking a metal arch down, and working on a plumbing problem for the better part of a day (it’s partially fixed – but still needs work).
There was a time when all of this wouldn’t even phase me physically. Just another weekend, no biggie. I’ve gotten so much lazier as I’ve gotten older, and it’s not serving me well in the least.
This does seem to be the year of painful change, doesn’t it? And as much as I love sitting on my butt, I need to get off of it and…well, move. Not only do I have things to do that requires me to sit, I also have things to do that require me to move, and it really, really shouldn’t be painful to be productive. That just makes me want to…not be productive.
I think this every time I do something that should be painless, and then hurt the next several days. And then I think I’m going to fix it, but I have to wait so long to heal (another “perk” of getting older) that my good intentions get lost in the healing period, and the cycle continues without me getting stronger.
That’s just stupid.
So, since I’m embracing the “year of perpetual change” in so many other ways, might as well add this to my list too, right? Walking the dogs and yoga are both great ways to work out, and I need to start chasing Pokemon again for an afternoon workout, but there’s one other thing I need to do, and that is to add a weight training element in two to three nights per week. Twenty minutes is all it would take to raise the level of my strength exponentially. Two upper body and one back/abdomen workout would give me some pretty dramatic results in terms of strength and stamina. Walking/climbing stairs is sufficient for my legs, though I do have ankle weights I could walk with to give that a boost too. Might have to dig those out. But definitely the nightly weight training sessions. That would help more than anything else.
And that would almost undoubtedly improve my motivation for getting off the couch, and getting stuff done.
So, a workout calendar seems appropriate. Nothing pre-filled or anything like that, but a calendar to record workouts on. Give stars for. Something fun to look forward to completing, just because.
But! I’m not waiting until the end of the calendar year to start, I’m starting right away. It’s going on my schedule. We’re doing this. At least one workout, this week.
Only I have to wait just a couple more days, for a couple of the “injuries” I sustained just yesterday to have a little more healing time.
Dammit.
Support your author:
This House of Books (my local bookstore!) | Bookshop.org
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Smashwords | iBooks | Audible