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Thursday, April 15, 2010

Another workout, another two nights, and water

The night before last I had another episode of tightness and pain in my calf, but this time my left calf, again around the ankle. It wasn't as severe as the one the night before and I was able to relax it enough to get back to sleep without heading for the shower. I did get up, limp into the bathroom, and back, and was able to handle the weight on that foot.

Yesterday I did another workout, my fourth and last of my four free passes at the gym. I did the bike ten minutes at level 3, handled it well. I upped the rows to 50 pounds from 35. The rest stayed the same. As I was reaching to grab the lat pulldown handle with my left hand (I had already pulled it partway with my right) I wrenched that arm and it hurt like blazes. But it eased off and I was able to finish the reps. All good.

After showering I headed for the membership desk and paid for a membership for a year ahead. I felt good about the decision, about doing this for myself, and good about my prospects.

And now that I am a member I got to thinking what else I might want to do. Today I took an aqua class. I had done a few of these in a former gym a few years back and felt unsteady on my feet, not all that comfortable with it. But I thought I'd give it another try. This class was a full hour long and was run much as a typical aerobics class is, with cardio, then weights, then stretches, with the difference that we were mostly underwater and using foam "weights" and noodles. There are some times when I felt twinges in my left knee in particular, and near the end I couldn't raise my left arm, of course, for a stretch, but I did what I could, which was a lot. I will need to bring sunscreen next time because it's outdoors.

Overall I am finding that I am stiffer. Stiffer when I get up in the morning, stiffer after exercise, before exercise, generally stiffer. I suspect that this stiffness will ease off and I will start to loosen a little over time.

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