Day 196 – Week 29 – 29 mins
Phew – managed a full quota of stretching and strengthening today. It’s good to know I still have the capacity to do it.
And we’re set for some glorious autumn weather here for the next few days, so there’s no excuse to not get out and enjoy the sunshine for those jogs in the park.
Whatever you are up to – I hope you are managing to fit a few minutes of exercise into your day….
Suzi
Day 194 – Week 28 – 28 mins (15)
There’s definitely a whole lot of resistance going on here…
Despite the fact I had all the time in the world today, it was a huge effort to get myself dressed and ready for some stretching and strengthening. I managed 15 minutes before I just couldn’t bring myself to do anymore.
So – what’s going on? It’s not physical – I’m not feeling weak or tired – it’s psychological. My brain is doing everything it can to sabotage my efforts so far. I feel overwhelmed by it all, especially the thought that I will have to almost double my efforts before the year is out.
And this is something that I suspect happens to most of us regularly, and this is why we just stop and give up, sometimes for months or years at a time. Why is it that our brain, and not our bodies, stops us from looking after our bodies the way we should?
I have no answers. All I know how to do, is to keep doing a little something every day, until the enthusiasm returns, and I can make another leap forward.
Suzi
Day 190 – Week 28 – 28 mins
Mmmm…what to add for my extra minute today?
I look through my wonderful little book of exercises to do, can’t make up my mind, let it open of its own accord to a page….and what does it choose? A side plank! I didn’t even know you could do a plank on the side….
So now, not only do I have to do a normal plank, I’m extending the agony with a side plank, or two to be exact, because you can’t do one side and not the other…
I tell you what – that universe knows what you need – or at least, it knows what you are most scared of and gives it to you anyway….
I’m still doing them on my knees though….
Suzi
Day 184 – Week 27 – 27 mins
There is one exercise I live in fear of.
Whenever it would come up in a yoga class, or an aerobics class somewhere, I would start shaking with dread. Well – if I wasn’t shaking before the exercise, I certainly was afterwards.
Even the name of the exercise fills me with trepidation – conjuring up images of wild seas and pirates.
That’s right. You guessed it.
It’s ‘The Plank’.
Don’t tell me you haven’t felt the same, when someone tells you it’s time to do The Plank. My muscles are beginning to tremble just thinking of it.
But today – as I looked through my book of exercises you can do at home, trying to decide what I would do with my extra minute this week – the page fell open to the dreaded Plank.
I took a deep breath. Maybe now I was ready to tackle it.
I was delighted to discover there is a modified version you can do, where you keep your knees on the floor. Yippee! That’s the one for me I decided. As we all know – I’m all for gaining strength and fitness as slowly and painlessly as possible, and if I can do a half plank instead of a full one to get myself used to the idea, then I’m all for it.
There’s plenty of time to move on to a full and proper Plank at some other stage….
Suzi
Day 182 – Week 27 – 27 mins (5)
It was never going to happen today. I had to be out the house at 6.00am, and go out straight after work, getting home around 11.30pm.
So – just a brief five minutes of stretching/strengthening in the morning, after tumbling out of bed at 5.00am.
I went through a speeded up version of my usual routine – doing 10-15 seconds of the things I usually do for one minute. It was quite fun really – and I figure it reminds the muscles I’m there…
Suzi
