Nawchem, the taxes sound like a mess. Sorry about that. You haven't really said what's going on with your roommate other than she is continually taking advantage of your willingness to give her rides and not setting boundaries around that. Hopefully, it's early enough in the game to sort all that out and change the dynamic. You've gotten some really great advice about that in our other thread. Maybe re-reading some of that will give you a boost and help you feel like you are headed in the right direction.
Today I did a periodic fitness test that's built into my bodyweight strength training routine. (I'm writing all this down, because I really want to be able to look back when I'm in mediocre instead of terrible shape and see that I have really progressed.)
Sumo squats: The great news is that I did more than double the number of squats I did the first time (20 vs. 8), and I'm getting noticeably lower into them. This is huge for me because my knees and hips were in such bad shape I was having trouble getting off the sofa. This is definitely getting easier, and it's also easier getting up off the floor, though still challenging. Two months ago I would have to find something solid and
puullll. Now I can brace myself with one hand on a chair or table and the other on one knee and just make it up. This might be better if I wasn't dealing with the stupid ankle injuries.
Forearm plank: I only added about 10 seconds to my forearm plank, which surprised me. I got to 42 seconds instead of 33. I thought I'd at least be able to do 1 minute, because of all the core work I've been doing with the Pilates. But it's progress and I'll take it.
Push-ups: I still can't do any push-ups (even on my knees). The book advised that if you can't do any push-ups to just hold a full plank to build muscle. I think this helps my core, but not my arm muscles, which are really the weak point. Going forward, I think I'll just do sort-of half push-ups (go down as far as a I can and back up). That will work work my arms more.
Break Dancer: I still can't do any. The modified exercise I've been doing (lifting from my knees onto my toes) has been improving, but as soon as I tried to flip over, my arm couldn't hold me up and I fell right on my butt.
This reflects my total lack of arm strength that shows with the push-ups, too. I need to add a modification for this part of the exercise to help with this.
So, that's the state of my fitness. Still terrible, but slightly less terrible than it was. I'm supposed to go on to the next segment in the book, but I think I'll repeat the last two weeks of work outs at least once to really try to build some more arm muscle before going on.
Goal: Build some muscle, increase my flexibility, and become more capable.
Feb. - 24/28 days
Mar. 1 - Modified Beg. Pilates
Mar. 2 - Bodyweight Strength Training W2D12
Mar. 3 - switched to the Beginner Pilates and added side kicks (there are a bunch more moves in the regular beginner plan and I plan to add maybe one a week until I'm doing the full beginner plan
Mar. 4 - Bodyweight Strength Training W2D13
Mar. 5 - Beginner Pilates
Mar. 6 - Bodyweight Strength Training W2D15 (Switched to all upper body. Nearly got the better of me.)
Mar. 7 - Beginner Pilates
Mar. 8 - Bodyweight Strength Training W2D16 (all lower body; felt this some as I was going to sleep)
Mar. 9 - Beginner Pilates (feeling those side kicks--especially after the lower body workout yesterday)
Mar. 10 - Bodyweight Strength Training W2D18 (figured out a modification for one of the exercises I was struggling with, more of a prep than a modification; even that was tricky)
Mar. 11 - Beginner Pilates
Mar. 12 - Bodyweight Strength Training W2D19
Mar. 13 - Beginner Pilates
Mar. 14 - Bodyweight Strength Training W2D20
Mar. 15 - Beginner Pilates (added Teaser Prep I)
Mar. 16 - Bodyweight Strength Training W2D22 & gardening
Mar. 17 - Beginner Pilates
Mar. 18 - Bodyweight Strength Training W2D23
Mar. 19 - Beginner Pilates
Mar. 20 - Bodyweight Strength Training W2D25
Mar. 21 - 0
Mar. 22 - 1/2 mile walk
Mar. 23 - Beginner Pilates
Mar. 24 - Bodyweight Strength Training W2D26 & 1/2 mile stroll with dog
Mar. 25 - Beginner Pilates
Mar. 26 - 0
Mar. 27 - Bodyweight Strength Training W2D27
Mar. 28 - Beginner Pilates
Mar. 29 - Bodyweight Strength Training Fitness test