Monday

I like to do my workouts every other day, which means they change weekdays from week to week. But there are considerations. I really like Kerry for Aqua and she is there only on Mondays. I have sewing on Tuesdays. So doing Aqua on Mondays makes sense, and moving my regular workout to Tuesdays, before class, make sense. So I guess that's my schedule for now.

Yesterday afternoon I took tylenol arthritis. It helped. I didn't have much hip pain. Last night I took acetaminophen pm to help hold that line. This morning I don't feel that intense hip pain.

This morning I will do the Aqua. I admit I feel really lazy and not like doing it but I know I'll be glad I did...I hope I don't have to keep psyching myself up for these things. Eventually I want the exercise to be its own reward.

I took the elevator

Today I went to the gym to do a small cardio thing. I chose 30 minutes on the upright bike. My right hip - actually right thigh, upper, inner mostly - still hurt, had been hurting during the night too, and I limped into the gym. The hell with the stairs, I thought, and took the elevator both up and down.

I think it's good that I chose to go with just a regular upright bike, because that was enough. I found it quite uncomfortable after a while. If I can get comfortable with that bike then later I can work on getting comfortable on those "spin" bikes. When I rode my bike regularly I did get used to it and was able to go longer before it got uncomfortable, so I expect the same to happen here.

I managed the 30 minutes and actually built up a little sweat and a heart rate of 115. Not high, but for somebody 64 years old it's okay.

I limped off and went down the elevator and limped to the locker room. I decided to indulge myself a little by taking the disabled-persons' shower. I spent part of that time sitting on the seat in there and just washing the hot water over me. It felt good. Got dressed, went to the farmers' market in the parking lot, went home, still limping, still hurting. I think I will take some tylenol.

Blogging Minutiae

I don't believe this blog actually has any readers at this time, and with good reason: the entries are so full of minutiae, details of my daily life living with my particular arthritis. It's got to make even the most patient reader want to go away. Frankly, when I joined forums on weight loss the last thing I wanted to read was what other people ate for breakfast, or how many pounds they lost last week. Yet here I am detailing my exercises, going on about how this felt and how that felt, and how can this possibly be of interest to anyone else?

I don't expect it to be. What I expect is that over the long haul there will be changes that can be traced by looking back at these early days, and if I don't write what I feel and what I am doing now I won't remember then. So it will tell a tale to me eventually that may interest others in time, that will certainly interest me.

That said, I expect to settle into some sort of regular routine that doesn't change much in time, and so I will be blogging less about every day and perhaps more every few days or every week. Not yet, though.

pain again

Back to the gym for my expanded routine today. I got through it, glad that it is getting more comfortable for me, but I noticed that doing the three band routines was hard on my legs. They require that I stand and standing just seems so hard right now. It has been for a while, of course, but it seems worse somehow.

Again, I lay down for a while when I got home. But I didn't stay as long as I have lately. I got up to make myself some tea, to move around, and pains in my right hip came searing at me. I don't know what is happening here but it isn't making me happy. I am wondering if the "walking" book might help with some of this. Stay tuned for that.

For the record, my present routine:

11 minutes on bike (I am using upright bike now but not the "spinning" type yet) at level 8
1 set of 15 reps on row machine at 65 lbs
1 set of 15 reps on lat pulldown machine at 65 lbs
1 set of 20 reps on leg press at 140 lbs
chest stretch, 30 sec each side
calf stretch, 30 sec each foot

rubber band exercises:
compound row, red & green bands, 3 sets of 15
shoulder external rotation, red, 3 sets of 15
empty can, green, 3 sets of 15
lat pulldown, red, 3 sets of 15

squats on ball on wall - I put large ball in small of my back, put weight in heels, do squats - I'm doing five
squats at rail - weight in heels too, I'm doing five
stick stretch - I'm doing two stretches where my right arm helps stretch my left (the problem arm). Right now I am stretching three sets of ten seconds each
treadmill - walk normally, focusing on feet, knees, posture - I have managed all of three minutes

It takes me about 45 minutes, maybe a little more. As I get more comfortable on the treadmill and with the squats I figure it will take a little longer.

My goal is to do the chest and calf stretches every day, plus I figure I'll get in the stick stretches too once I get me a stick. Also, I am doing the lat pulldowns at home because I don't want to use a door at the gym.

Back into the water and out on the deck

Today I put together a dish for the potluck and went to the Aqua class this morning. Led by Cindy again, it was similar to last week's in that we moved backward and forward a whole lot, changing activities licketysplit. Sometimes I would just figure out what she wanted when she was on to the next one. The hardest ones are those that work the "core", I find. I have certainly lost a lot of strength in that area. I also find it hard to keep track, figure out what we're doing. I think that when I get stronger I might like this particular class a lot. I really hope so.

Then to the shower and back onto the deck. The potluck was held at the far end of the pool, next to the sand volleyball court (nobody was playing, good thing). Between 15 and 20 of us were there and there were a few salads so I did fine, with bread and crackers and all. Almost everything else had cheese in it. One person brought home made lemonade from her tree and that was delicious.

I talked a little to somebody else there and then to Cindy, who wanted to know a little more about me and how long I'd been at the gym. She clearly takes her job seriously. Another class member said she remembers everyone's names. We all signed a card for a class member who is in the hospital recovering from knee replacement surgery (I signed too, even though I do not know him). Then off to home.

This afternoon I have been feeling tired again, or still. My legs do better if I get up now and then and move around...

And now a word from our sponsor...

At the beginning of this month I wrote about the Arthritis Foundation's new campaign, "moving is the best medicine", at the request of a company representing the foundation. In that post I offered you, dear readers, the chance to win one or more of the items in a gift package from the foundation.  The package includes:

A copy of Walk With Ease (book)

A DVD of Tai Chi For Arthritis (2-DVD set, actually)

A set of light dumbbells

A coupon for Scrubbing Bubbles automatic shower cleaner

Pilot Dr. Grip Pen

Hefty 1 zip storage bag coupons

Cardinal EasyOpen Binders.

Well, the sponsor said she'd like to send me a package, too, just for me. And she did. I got all of the above except the dumbbells (darn!). I have been investigating the take since then.

The DVD set includes 12 Tai Chi lessons, which sounds great. I haven't opened it yet. The coupons, pen, and binder (just one) are all examples of products designed for "ease of use". The binder opens really easily, no sprained fingers (and it's easy to insert labels into the plastic as well), the pen has a grip that is easy to hang onto, the scrubbing bubbles is of course meant to make cleaning easy (I don't use these sorts of products), similarly the storage bag coupons.

I have started reading the book on walking. I used to love walking. It was perhaps a favorite activity. Now I can barely walk a half-block before I go into pain that makes me want to turn back. So I am interested in what this book has to say on that subject, if it can actually offer me suggestions that might help.

If any of these items interest you, go to the original post and make a comment on it! Leave me some way to reach you (either in the post or by separate email) and you will be automatically entered in a drawing for one or more of these items. You have until May 31 to do this!

Later that same day

I left the gym this morning glad that I had done it but feeling not much different. Stiff, my right hip hurting, heaviness in my legs. From there I went to a facial waxing appointment, where I got to lie down for a while, and then limp out. And so to home.

I felt so drained that I lay down for a while, napped, later got up and turned up the heat. Maybe this is just me, this tired thing.