The Athletic Adventures of Miss Pi
 

I'm starting a gym log to keep track of my exercise. I NEED to get more exercise.

Today's virtuous activity:

Upper Body Workout at the gym

10 minutes brisk walk on the treadmill for warm up

Gym Machines:

Weight x Reps x Sets

Machines:
30# x 10 x 3 Chest Press
40# x 12 x 3 Back Row*
20# x 10 x 3 Lat pulldown

*I don't know what this is really called. It's a machine where you sit on a bench with your feet at 90° to your torso and put your feet on these plates. Then you pull the cable close to your body and let it back slowly. I lean forward to give my back a good stretch and the bottom of the stroke.

With 5# dumbbell in each hand, and bench:

5 x 10 x 3 Butterfly Press (lying down)
5 x 10 x 3 Shoulder Press (seated upright)
5 x 10 x 3 Bicep Curls (Palm up, Hammer, Palm Down) (standing)
5 x 12 x 3 Tricep throwback (hand and knee of one leg on bench)

I know these weights are low, but it's the most I can handle and still get in the reps and sets with good form.

A little more cardio:

10 minutes dancing with my iPod (salsa)

10 minutes stretching, some yoga

Sit ups: 20 x 2

With exception to the mild headache I walked in with, which I still had when I left, I felt very good after this workout.

I need to get a better way to carry my iPhone. Today, since my pants had no pockets, I tucked it into my waistband. Most unattractive.

Motivation
 

I am doing “sport specific” training right now: I want to improve my upper body strength. My goal is to learn how to wind surf next summer, as well as go white water rafting. I’d like to join an amateur rowing team for fun.

I also want to improve my swimming (survival skill).

I don’t know why I’m so interested in water sports, but what the hey.

A bit of cardio at the gym today:

10 minutes elyptical stepper; 10 min treadmill; 10 minutes recumbent cycle. A few minutes of stretching thereafter.

I discovered that I HAVE to wear my orthopedic inserts when I go to the gym: my feet were hurting even after this small amount of endurance activity. Also my knees, a bit. I think the inserts will alleviate this.

Also, my feet were going numb at the end of the cycling. I'll try upright cycling instead, we'll see how that goes.

going to research sports training for windsurfing.

apparently, you need good all-around conditioning to be good at windsurfing, and windsurfing is a good all-around workout. No sport for sissies. I've got my work cut out for me!

A bit sore from Friday's upper body workout. I should try to make time to use the jacuzzi at the gym, post-workout, to reduce lactic acid build-up.

I was in Santa Monica today. Since the beach was only 2 blocks away, I put on my all-terrain sandals and headed out. It was, like, a mile from the parking lot to the water. My sandals filled up with sand. I poured the sand out of my sandals (do sandals attract sand?), rolled up my pant legs and walked a bit through the surf, then took off my shoes, which were useless at that point. It felt so good to walk barefoot in the sand, with the cool water swirling around my legs. The temperature was perfect. I unplugged and listened to the waves.

Oddly enough, I didn’t have any pain in my feet walking barefoot at the beach. I have to wear orthotic insoles in my shoes when I go to the gym.

The only people there were the tourists. Ha!

Walked 2.2 miles, with an average speed of 1.2 mph (I did pause occasionally).

I rinsed off my shoes and legs at the freshwater shower. Walked barefoot (carefully) on the boardwalk, but had to put my shoes back on for the sidewalk. The concrete was too hot to go barefoot.

I need to do a lot more endurance training. I know I’m going to feel this in my hip flexors tomorrow. I'm a little sore now!

Well, time to re-start this log.

I've been taking walks. Usually outside, unless its really miserable. Neighborhood walks, walks along the river. Twenty to forty minutes per day, around 2.5mph.

It's still my dream to windsurf some day. Could this be the year?

Baby steps.

Fifteen minute walk today, before settling in to watch the NFC playoff game. :)
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30 min walk in the neighborhood yesterday, 2.5mph. It was coooooold! Still, I liked it, the fresh air, the architecture. :)
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Video for future ref:

LC diets and building muscle

Exercise today was housecleaning. ;)
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Exercise today was 45 min. housecleaning. I've been a little under the weather - a cold? Plenty of coughing and mucus. So I've stayed in a lot since Sunday.
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Saturday I did an exercise vid called "chair dancing!" It was boring and cheesy, but it counts as exercise!

Yesterday's exercise was house cleaning.
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The last few days my exercise was house cleaning, but today:

45 minutes of dance videos!
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Well Done !!

35 minutes walk yesterday, at a moderate pace (3 mph)! It was sooooooo good to get out of the house and exercise in the fresh air!
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Went to the gym today. I was too late for Zumba, so I decided to learn how to use the rowing machine, and asked a trainer there to show me how to use it. I did 20 minutes on it. I’m surprised by its overall effect on my body. I can feel it in the abs, glutes, shoulders, arms and back. My technique can use some work. Once I got home, I watched a few vids. I’ll improve it next time.

It’s kind of boring using this machine at the gym. I know it’s much more fun on the water. So I’m going to train a bit in the gym before I do that. I might bring my phone and groovy Klipsch headphones, and listen to tunes while I row. I’d much rather do this than sit-ups.

Very nice! Indeed, rowing is really comprehensive -- but be prepared that on the water is very different! Not quite so balanced :) Unless you have one of those super slidy real sculls -- we've always had canoes and kayaks, and they pretty much hit my shoulders...they call me quasimoto....

4 Aug 2018

Joining a challenge thread to establish a new good habit.

I’m pulled toward a quarterly cycle based on the sun (Winter Solstice, Spring Equinox, Summer Solstice, Fall Equinox). These days resonate with me symbolically (and usually physically), and I always mark them. But I don’t want to wait until the Fall Equinox to start. Why wait? I’ll just jump in and establish a new good habit.

Upcoming astronomical events this year:

September 22, 2018 -Autumnal Equinox
December 21, 2018 - Winter Solstice

The Summer Solstice was on June 21st. Today is the 45th day of Summer; Autumn begins in 50 days.

Why I Doing This?

To improve my health. Lately, I’ve been plagued with edema in my lower legs, mostly around the ankles. Only for about a week, but it’s pissing me off. The last time I had this problem I was at my highest weight. It didn’t occur for years after that. So: improve daily habits - a good idea in any case. I’m spending too much time sitting, not enough time moving.

Make the Most of Summer; Get Ready for Fall

SUMMER IS HALF OVER, BABY. ENJOY IT WHILE YOU CAN.

My new good habit:

Be active for 20 minutes (or more) every day.

For purposes of my challenge, “Activity” includes purposeful athletics such as: sports; sports conditioning; arts that could be argued are also sports (dancing!); activities which are not sports, but require physical effort (e.g. yoga, gardening, housecleaning, walking, a leisurely ride on a bicycle).

Potential results of this new habit MAY include:

Soaking up some Vitamin D;
Improved circulation;
Improved mood and appetite;
Improved muscle tone;
More energy;
Disappearance of edema;

and

Getting much of the pruning done in the garden before I have to call in the pros to prune the trees and tall shrubs. (There is MUCH to be done);

Purging materials from the basement, closets, and other areas;

Moving and unpacking boxes which are now cluttering up my life so I can move them into the magically cleared new space.

Then I can exercise in front of the TV in the beautiful emptiness that is now my den. There’s even a mirror in there. On I can exercise in another room upstairs that is pretty empty now. I just have to make sure that I don’t shift crap from other areas into that room. I need to PURGE. I need to PUT ORDER INTO CHAOS, and maintain areas which are good. But mostly, I need to purge.

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21 June through 3 August: sloth

4 Aug - walk, 20 minutes

I love walking early in the morning, when it’s cool, but walking at dusk is nice too. I enjoy seeing the efforts my neighbors use to light the landscape, the exterior of their homes, and any room seen from the street. The avenues are a bit dark because of tree canopy, but there’s still plenty of light at eight o’clock. The earth is fecund, you can smell it. The air is sweet and a little humid. Most lawns are dry and brown, but a few neighbors proudly show off their emerald green grass. Roses are still blooming. Urban gardens are producing vegetables. The Little Free Libraries which I’ve passed have nothing of interest, but I enjoy seeing them all the same.

5 Aug 2018

Spent 75 minutes pruning a large shrub. It was the first time I tried my new Stihl hedge trimmers, and i was a little nervous about it, as I'd never before used one that was motorized.

Anyway, it's easy to use, but it weighs 8 pounds, so swinging that thing around, raising it shoulder length or a little higher and waving it back and forth, moving it in an even upward swing to do the sides of the hedge... it was kind of fun, although I did have to use loppers for some of the larger branches, and hand pruners to reach in where I couldn't reach with the power tool. So it took me a little while, but now it's done.

One down, three to go - but that last hedge is along the entire length of the driveway.

:)

Yesterday's exercise was a 20 minute brisk walk.

Today I spent two hours pruning shrubs. And it's only noon! Next garden project is pruning a very long hedge. Not today, though. It's too hot.

75 minutes walking. 2.6 miles!

>>>> WTG <<<<

Didn't quite make 20 minutes walking yesterday, so I added some stair climbing at the end of the day. Whew. Could only do four flights before I had to pause. Did some "high stepping" (knee raises). Need to improve my conditioning. It was a good test.

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Twenty minutes walking in the neighborhood. I walked with nothing but my house keys. No iPod, no purse, no water. As light as I can go. I fixed my hair so it wouldn't fly in my face, and I didn't have to wear a hat. I enjoyed feeling the evening breeze in my face.

I've discovered that my purpose in walking is to spy on the neighbors and critique their landscaping and exterior decor. One of my neighbors has painted his house black. Seriously. It looks okay, though, if a little bleak. Better than the houses that are painted a weird pinky-flesh tone. Some folks are watering the parking strip ONLY TO THE EDGE OF THEIR PROPERTY. THEY are keeping their lawns green. Their next door neighbors are going with the seasonal rainfall pattern and let their lawns go dormant. So you get these strips that are half green and half end-of-summer-drought-beige. Ridiculous.

The other purpose I've discovered for a 20 minute walk is as a warm-up. For dancing.

Danced salsa for 20 minutes in my socks to Ruben Blades and the Spanish Harlem Orchestra's "Across 110th Street". Most Excellent.

May I be ambulatory and dancing 'till the day I die.

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80 minutes of gardening yesterday. I got the SIDE of my long hedge, with my magical new Stihl hedge trimmers, now I need to do ladder work to get the top of it.

Yesterday's exercise: 315 minutes of cleaning!

AQ was for $h!t: we are surrounded by fires in OR, WA, and CA. The air has been hazy for 3 days. Kept the cat inside, because he recently suffered an asthma attack (first ever) and I don't want it to recur. It's been hot, so I decided that exercise would be cleaning, inside.

Thoroughly cleaned the bathroom, sprayed some areas with diluted bleach to whiten the grout, vacuumed and mopped two other rooms and the hallway; dusted and cleaned mirrors on the 1st floor; waited until the floors were dry to close the windows and turn on the AC. I enjoyed the warm breeze as the house aired out, and everything smelled so fresh and clean.

Also, I finally cleaned out the fridge. I don't know why it takes so long to clean out the fridge, but it just does, yo. Took out the shelves and drawers and washed them. Threw out so much stuff *sob* but now it's clean and I have room in there.

18 Aug 2018

Exercise last night was 20 minutes of dancing: swing dancing technique with patterns, barefoot in my living room, to Bobby Blue Bland, and salsa to Rubén Blades. Really enjoyed it. Love to improvise.

Today I took a 90 minute kizomba workshop at a local studio. Still learning, still improving. Here is a demo of kizomba:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq6DUjk-u9o

Of course, I don’t wear sprayed on pants, white or otherwise, but I did get a chance to try out my new brassiere (actually, I bought 3, but this one is particularly flattering) with a new, tight teeshirt. I felt like Jayne Mansfield, if she were a brunette. My girls were out and proud! Took the class in jazz flats.

I was in a fasted state throughout. Didn’t have my first meal of the day until much later. I didn’t feel dizzy or have a lack of energy at all. Made sure I was hydrated before I left the house, and supplemented my sodium with one (1) umeboshi plum. Wow, those things are salty. More salty than olives. ONE provided me with about half a gram of sodium. I also took a potassium capsule.

I prefer dancing when I'm hungry, or just empty.

Yesterday's exercise was 20 minutes of walking in the neighborhood.

Exercise over the last few days has been mundane, unexciting, in the realm of chores - a brief summary:

20 Aug - no; AQ very bad due to area fires. gov't encourages people to stay indoors, with the windows shut.
21 Aug - ditto
22 Aug - ditto
23 Aug - 20 minutes walking
24 Aug - 20 minutes walking
25 Aug - ditto
26 Aug - ditto
27 Aug - 90 minutes gardening
28 Aug - 50 minutes heavy cleaning

Walking is enjoyable. The chores are not FUN, but there is certainly satisfaction from having done them. :)

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