Today I realized, I am all caught up. Now that may not sound like a big deal to many of you but for me it is huge. Everything that I have outstanding weighs on me like you wouldn’t believe. Today I made a concentrated effort to scratch everything off my list and it actually happened. What a nice way to head into the weekend.
I have been pushing myself lately and quite frankly I am enjoying it. I am walking an obscene amount and doing either bootcamp or strength training every day (except Sundays). I am not only building strength but also confidence. Seriously, I’m nearly 60 years old and feel awesome with the exception of general aches and pains but what the hell. Today at strength class I was on a team with 2 women in I would say their early 30’s yet I was the one pressing the heaviest. What the hell? How did that happen.
When I got to the gym today the owner was taking the 5:30am class. We got to talking and she said I want you to do something. As always I am game and she said before your Tuesday and Thursday strength training I want you to walk here. Then when the class is over I want you to walk home. I thought she was insane but she told me she lives close to me and it is only 5km so she knows I can easily do it. She also told me that doing that walk after strength training will be awesome for me.
I had to think about this for a bit because it is a complete change in my routine which is hard for me. However, I thought, why not? What is the worse that can happen other than I keep getting even more fit every single day. And so on Tuesday next week (assuming the rain holds off), I am going to try this. I can’t see any downsides but I can see doing even better than I am now.
Here’s hoping it goes well and I can report about how great it was. Does it sound like I am trying to convince myself?
Ok, today started off a bit odd. It’s Tuesday so that means strength training. Of course the class doesn’t start until 6:30am so I still get up at 4:00am and do an hour walk before heading off to class. Except, I got up, had breakfast, got into my vehicle and headed off to the gym. It wasn’t until I saw the 5:30am instructor show up that I realized what I had done. What the hell, I decided I might as well stay and do the bootcamp class then the strength class. It was a bit of a different way to start the day but I got through it.
About 15 years ago I found a lump in my armpit. It was soft and pliable but still, it was a lump. I went to my doctor immediately and he told me it was a lipoma and not to worry about it, it was completely benign. Still, I watched it carefully and over the years and it never changed. I really stopped thinking much about it a while ago.
So what is a lipoma? Apparently it is just a lump of fat. They are slightly more common in women and usually appear between the ages of 40 and 60 though they can crop up at any age. The general description is that they don’t spread to other tissues, they are painless, tend to be round or oval shaped though usually symmetrical, move when you touch them and smaller than 5 millimeters in diameter. Healthcare providers are not sure what causes lipomas though though they are inherited (can’t think of anyone in my family who has had one other than me). There is no real treatment for lipomas though they can be removed if they are bothering you.
Now why am I discussing this now? Well, the other day I was in my show shaving my armpits (ok, that might be too much information but it is part of the story) when I realized my long time lipoma had just disappeared. When I got out of the shower I checked in the mirror and sure enough it was basically gone. I did some research to see if maybe losing weight or excessive exercise could cause them to disappear but the studies that have been done are inconclusive. Also, it is noted that in most cases lipomas don’t disappear without medical intervention so I guess mine was just special.
I’ve decided my narrative is going to be it is because my upper body is pretty much all muscle and so the lipoma no longer had a comfy home. Not sure if there is any truth in that but I’m going with it anyways.
It has been a big week for me workout wise. I walked a total of 239,521 steps for an average of 34,217 per day. This works out to a total of 159 km (99 miles) which is an average of 22.7 km (14 miles) per day. I also attended 6 fitness classes. I’m pretty proud of what I accomplished this week but also acknowledge that I have really pushed things this past 2 weeks. As such I have decided tomorrow needs to be a recovery day. What that means is the maximum amount of steps I want to put in is about 10,000. Then, Monday I’ll be back at it.
Today was the 3rd strength class this week. One thing I am realizing is how imperative it is when you are lifting heavy is to have the perfect form. Don’t get me wrong, normally during classes if an instructor notices you are doing something incorrectly they will come over and make adjustments. However, in these classes the instructors are watching us constantly and if you are off the slightest when lifting they work with you to get it right.
For example, Thursday was chest press day. I’ve done tons of these over the past 2 years but I learned on Thursday better placement of my hands, how to lower the bar properly and how to thrust the bar upwards for the lift. Today it was dead lift day (first I learned that there are actually 2 types of dead lifts, conventional and Romanian). I have known for a long time that doing a dead lift properly means the power needs to come from you hamstrings and glutes but just making adjustments to how close together my hands were or hinging more than bending helps with that power. It also meant I was able to deadlift 110 lbs today, not bad for a nearly 60 year old woman.
But I also learned that I have to be clear on my limitations so that if the instructor needs to provide me with a modification they are ready to do so. The instructors all know I have the cranky knee and stupid ankle but I don’t think I have ever really explained how they can limit me. Today we were doing glute bridges (also known as hip thrusts where you lay on you back with knees bent and feet on the floor and you thrust your hips up towards the ceiling) which I am pretty good at. But the instructor came over and said to work the muscles the way she wanted me to I had to bring my feet closer to my butt so that my knees were bent more. I moved them closer and she said still need to bring my feet in. That’s when I told her I can’t, I don’t have proper range of motion in my right knee and it won’t ever really bend more than what it was at that point. She spun on a dime and said ok, move you feet a little further away from your butt but do the bridge with your toes pointing up so that only your heels are touching the floor. She told me that was now my permanent modification.
These strength classes are a new challenge for me and I am loving them. Well so far because Tuesday is going to be low bar squats and I really hate those things. Still I’m going to give it my best shot.
Well I survived day 2 of strength training. Today the big focus was on building up strength doing chest presses on the bench. You had to do 2 sets of 3 rounds of 5 reps at 65% of you maximum which for me was 45 lbs. You then in each set did to other exercises such as bent over rows and dead bugs. Funny, for the dead bugs after I the first round I asked if it was 10 total or 10 per side and the instructor said I could do whatever was best for me as some people really struggle with this exercise so it was 10 per side for me because I find them pretty easy. Anyways, I successfully got through all my chest presses and can’t wait to see what we are going to do in the next class.
Yesterday was a pretty busy day for me. I did my early morning bootcamp class. Next it was out for an 1 1/2 hour walk followed by coffee with the gang. After that I did a 1/2 hour walk then I was off to have lunch with a retiree group. I got home and was determined to do another 2 hour walk down to the beach and back despite being 2:30pm and in the mid 20’s. While I got through it, trust me when I say it wasn’t easy.
Now there are some things I do when it is warm out (the first one is usually do all my walking in the morning). Firstly I scope out which side of the street is going to have shade. This allows me to walk in slightly cooler temperatures at some points. Secondly, I come prepared with a seat rag because I know I am going to be soaked by time I am done. Finally, while I don’t carry water with me, there are 3 water fountains along the route which I always use and I know the locations of where I can buy extra water if need be. I also always make sure to drink water as soon as I get home to ensure I am well hydrated.
I’ve already talked about all the other stuff I do walking this time of year. You know wear a hat, sunglasses, sunscreen and light walking clothes. I did all of those things yesterday but by time I had done that 10 km walk I was drenched with sweat and completely wrung out. The worst of it is the bloody hill I have to climb to get back home.
Oh well, I still got in over 30k steps and 20km yesterday. And, I didn’t die trying to do it.
I have been crazy busy the past week or so. I have had multiple dogs that needed to be urgently rehomed. I have to say so many of the rehoming coordinators from other areas really stepped up and made this happen. While I loved the home I placed the Lagotto into last week, today was the best. It was a pomchi whose owner had gone into care and he apparently was nervous around new people. Not with us, he got very comfortable right away. Then when it was time to give him to his adopter he willingly went into her arms. Yet another successful transfer.
Today was my first day in my new strength training classes. It was interesting because there were women of all shapes, sizes and fitness level there. Some of them were actually taking their first ever class with the fitness centre which I thought was awesome. Again this is a 4 week program in which we will be measuring our results. I always seem to think that I can’t lift very much so I am hoping to build some confidence over the next 4 weeks.
So today was testing day and we were doing 1MR’s. Ok, I had no idea what that meant and was too embarrassed to ask. Basically you start with a lightly weighted barbell and do 10 reps. You then add weight and do 3 reps, more weight and 2 reps, more weight and 1 rep then your maximum weight for 1 rep (1MR stands for 1 maximum rep). There were only 3 exercises involved and I vowed to give it my best.
We started out with deadlifts. Now I have been doing these for 2 years so am pretty comfortable with my form in doing them. Usually if I am using dumbbells and I use 2, 20lb weights but hell, I needed to find my maximum and so by time we were done I was deadlifting a total of 105 lb! Next it was on to low bar squats. I am not going to describe these because I am still a little confused about them Bottom line is I found them to be very uncomfortable and so did not push myself ultimately only doing about 60 lbs. Finally it was on to a bench chest press. I heeded the techniques I was given last week when I could only do 3 reps at 75 lbs and this week pulled off 2 perfect reps at 70 lbs.
I get this is only session 1 and there are still 11 to go but if nothing else I walked away with confidence that I can do this. My next session is Thursday with one of my favourite instructors and I am going to get her to help push my boundaries. I so plan on building my strength over the next 4 weeks and can’t wait to see the results.
Wow what an awesome week exercise wise. I decided I really wanted to start pushing myself again and so I committed to walking a lot every day. Even on Sunday which is the day I tend to scale back a bit I walked for hours. As of today I have averaged 30,700 steps each day which works out to about 20.5 km (13 miles)/day. It has really been a long time since I pulled this off. On top of the walking I got in 5 fitness classes (I had to skip this morning’s as I was off on an excursion with my husband). Next week’s goal is at least as much walking with 6 classes.
At my strength and mobility class the other day we were doing bench chest presses. I had committed a while ago that I would not use a barbell without weights (remember some of the barbells themselves weigh in at 35lbs) and I have kept that commitment. On round 3 I decided it was time to test myself so I picked a barbell loaded with 40lbs so a total weight of 75lbs. Sadly (to me) I only got through 3 reps though the instructor thought that was great and gave me kudos for at least trying. I, however, had expected better of me at this point.
But an opportunity to improve has popped up. Starting next week I will be doing a 4 week strength gain program. I will be attending at least 2 of 3 classes a week (let’s be honest, you know I will attend all 3) which will be focusing on improving strength and form. Apparently they are also going to be measuring outcomes to track everyone’s improvement. I’m kind of excited about this since it will give me the chance to really try and concentrate on a new area of fitness.
There is 1 downside to this, the class time. Currently I do the 5:30am class Monday – Friday and the 8:00am class on Saturday (it is the earliest class that day). However, the strength classes are at 6:30am on Tuesday/Thursday thought the Saturday time is still 8:00am. Normally I do the class then go for a 2 hour walk and so I needed to rethink how I can do this without seriously messing up my entire day. And so, Tuesday and Thursday I am going to do a walk from 5:00-6:00am, do the strength class then another walk from 8:00-9:00am and that will keep the rest of the day on schedule. I am not too worried about losing any endurance in walking given the fact that the other 5 days I will still be doing at least 1 2 hour walk.
I’m actually kind of looking forward to doing this. For the past 2 years I have focused more on my overall fitness especially my cardio endurance. Now it’s time to try something new and see what results it brings.
Wahoo! I get to spend a couple nights all on my own. Well at least I thought it was going to be a good thing until I realized that I have to look after the 2 dogs and 2 cats, I have to cook for myself and I am responsible for things like getting the recycling out tomorrow. I like it much better when someone else takes care of all these things for me. Oh well, it’s only 2 nights.
We are having a bit of a heat wave right now so I thought it would be a good time to do a quick post about being safe in this heat. While most of it is pretty common sense, it never hurts to take a few minutes to just make sure you have everything covered. Here where I live we are not good at dealing with heat (or cold) because we normally have weather that is pretty mild. However, we always seem to get a system coming through that brings what to us West Coasters is considered to be extreme.
I want to state that before I hit the gym in the morning I always have my breakfast. I know several of the other participants that say never eat until after class and I really don’t like that. For me, I want to make sure that I have fuel in my body before I start trying to burn it but hey, to each their own. I also make sure I have a large water bottle (note, it has to have lots of ice because I only like water really cold). I then make sure to hydrate through out the day especially in this heat to avoid becoming dehydrated. We are lucky in that our home has a/c (otherwise our upstairs area would be completely unbearable) and I use it to keep both me and my pets reasonably cool.
Today I did an early morning 10km walk followed later by 2 5km walks. Trust me that last walk at 2pm was brutal because it was so hot. I did the smart thing and planned my route to ensure I took advantage of as much of the shade as possible. I also threw on some sunscreen because even with my leftover Mexican tan my skin needs to be protected. I also am never out in the sun without sunglasses as I have a couple of small cataracts and one of the best things you can do to protect them from growing is to wear sunglasses when it is bright out. I will also often wear some sort of hat if I am in the sun for more than an hour to help prevent overheating. Finally, not really a safety issue but I am never out in the heat without some sort of cloth to help keep the sweat out of my eyes.
But I think the most important thing about being safe in the heat is to check on anyone you know that is vulnerable. Today at my caregivers’ support group I reminded the participants (all of them are seniors) to try to keep cool and make sure they are hydrated. So take a moment to check in on your family and friends to make sure they are equipped to deal with the heat.
I hear the city of Vancouver has voted to lower the speed limit in residential streets from 50 kph to 30 kph (30 mph to 20 mph). The rationale behind this is it will keep pedestrians safer and will reduce the likelihood that they get seriously injured or die. I laughed and laughed when I heard this. Then ironically, I was crossing the street to start my walk on the promenade this morning, I stood at the edge of the crosswalk and the vehicle in the left lane stopped at the last minute when they saw me. The vehicle heading in the opposite direction who was at least 1/2 a block away at the time sped through the crosswalk and shouted out ‘sorry’. Oh and the speed limit on that street? You bet, 30 kph so I feel much safer.
I was due to have my annual mammogram last month. Unfortunately, I had a scheduling conflict so had it postponed until July 3rd. I showed up on time for my appointment only to be told the screening mammography machine had just broken down. Crap! They rescheduled me to July 24th but a cancelation happened and they could get me in yesterday. The called on Tuesday (I was in a group session but took the call sure they were going to postpone it again) and they asked if I could take an earlier appointment. I showed up yesterday only to learn that once again the mammography machine had broken down. But, they had come up with a work around. They took 3 of us into the hospital itself (screening is done in a separate building) as they had decided to use the diagnostic mammography machine for those of us who had had multiple appointment changes. Phew, finally got it done.
I have a screening mammogram every year because my Mom had stage 4, terminal breast cancer. I am very adamant about getting this done as Mom’s cancer means I am more at risk. According to BC Cancer there are 3 reasons to get a screening mammogram;
- They save lives. It is imperative that the cancer be found when it is small allowing for more treatment options and a better chance of survival (1 in 8 women in BC will be diagnosed with breast cancer.
- They are safe and effective. As well they are considered the international gold standard for detecting breast cancer early by finding lumps 2-3 years before they are felt. Research has determined that there is more than a 25 per cent reduction of death from breast cancer among those that are regularly screened.
- Breast cancer risks increase with age. 80 per cent of breast cancer cases are diagnosed in women 50 years or older (there is an argument that screen should start at age 40 to be most effective).
If you go for your first mammogram they will likely advise you that you may be called in for further testing. I know when I had my 1st one done the tech let me know that 10% of women who receive mammograms are called back but that less than 10% of those women are actually diagnosed with breast cancer. She told me to definitely not panic if I was called back, chances are everything would be fine. I was really glad she told me that up front because if I had been called back I would have convinced myself that I had cancer.
The bottom line, screening mammograms are important for women who have a family history and more importantly for all women 50 and over. So if you fit into one of those categories and have not done a screening mammogram or don’t do them on an annual basis, please suck it up and get it done. Yes, they are not pleasant but ultimate they could save your life.
Recently we had our deck replaced. It had developed many soft spots and was getting to the point that it was unsafe. It ended up being far more expensive than we thought it would be so I joked we will have to spend all of our spare time on the deck for the rest of the summer. My husband seems to be taking that seriously. The reality is because the deck is so nice and the layout is much better, we all are spending a lot of time out there. As well, we have had several friends over to enjoy sitting out there with us. While it was costly, I now think it is well worth it.
A friend posted on FB the other day about her mental health. She noted that she knew she had ADHD and depression but she had recently hit her lowest point ever. She paid to see a psychiatrist in the US (she’s American) and was diagnosed as bipolar. They are now working on an effective treatment plan which may take some time. She says she posted about this diagnosis because there is still so much stigma attached to mental health issues and we need to change that, I couldn’t agree more.
When I was in my 20’s I remember people I worked with who would take stress leave. When this happened the rest of us would talk about how that person was scamming the system. How could they be that stressed, we asked. We discussed how stress wasn’t an illness and tried to figure out why doctors would so easily validate this type of leave. Oh, and if we heard the person was doing things like going to the gym or on a vacation, well that just proved they were faking. I am so glad I would later learn how wrong we were.
As I became more and more involved with health and safety in the workplace I started learning that mental health issues can manifest as physical issues. It started with changing the narrative from stress leave (which doesn’t exist) to sick leave due to stress related illness. If I heard people talk about stress leave I would correct them every time. I eventually taught a course regarding stress in the workplace and would draw a body on a flipchart. I would then ask participants to use sticky dots to place on that body to indicate where they felt it when they were under a lot of stress. When they were done the participants were always surprised to see all the dots particularly on the head, back of the neck, shoulders, stomach, etc. I explained this is how we know that stress impacts us physically.
I guess the point I am trying to make is that we need to start pushing the narrative that mental health is health, end of story. We need to remove the stigma of mental health issues as being seen differently from physical health. We need those suffering from mental health issues feel comfortable about seeking help and treatment rather than worrying that they will be looked down upon. We just need to make mental health issues a normal part of health care.
I am happy that my friend decided to put her situation out there. I am hoping that it will start a very important dialogue and take more people down the path of removing the stigma around mental health issues.
Went for a very early morning walk today and saw something awesome. As I was leaving the pier and getting back onto the promenade I saw a teenaged boy, maybe 15 or 16, with a man who was obviously his father because they looked so much alike. Off they went starting to run. They ran together for quite a while then the father told his son he didn’t need to stay behind with him. So then son picked up his pace probably so that he could get a good run in while the dad just carried on at his own pace. It was really nice to see.
Every Friday it is circuit class at the fitness centre. Our normal instructor was on vacation so we had a sub but someone who’s classes I enjoy because they are often brutal. I was a little worried about how tough the circuit class would be and the instructor didn’t disappoint. As always she seems to have a repertoire of what seems to be unique exercises and they are challenging
I often take myself out of my comfort zone and try things that intimidate me. For example, standing on what appears to be a very large elastic band doing pull ups. The first time this was set up in a class I thought, no way. That band looked far to flimsy and unstable and given the fact when I blew out my knee it was by having a significant fall, my head said, don’t even think about it. After a few rounds of exercises I decided to overcome my fear and successfully did those pull ups and have had no problem doing them ever since.
Yesterday it was bar bell snatches. This is where you bend down to pick up the bar bell, keeping close to your body and then ‘snatch’ it over you head. Now don’t get me wrong, I do dumb bell snatches all the time which is the same concept but you do it with a single dumb bell using a single arm. Even that move took me a while to get used to. However, we were given the option of just doing dumb bell snatches so I decided that would be better for me though I acknowledge I used a significant weight.
We got to the 4th and final round of the circuit and I thought, I’m not letting that one exercise intimidate me. So, as I was doing the exercise before the snatches I walked by the instructor and asked if she would coach me a bit on the snatches which she seemed thrilled to do. And so I bent down, picked up the weighted bar bell, pushed through my legs and snatched that sucker over my head. Don’t get me wrong, it was really hard but I conquered it and managed several more snatches in those 45 seconds.
I just can’t let challenges intimidate me. Yes there are things that my cranky knee simply will not let me do like bench step ups but that’s understandable. There is not a single exercise that I thought to be intimidating that I have tried where I wasn’t successful. I find once you do it, going forward it just won’t look that bad.
Moving forward, unless I know it is something the cranky knee will not be able to do, I’m going to give all exercises a try. You know that old saying, you can’t succeed if you don’t try.
gwennefarrell 