The 2017 Exercise Motivation Thread

[Winchester]

The only supplements I take are calcium, vit D3, Biotin, and Osteo BiFlex. The BiFlex is supposed to be for joints.

The doctor thinks I am knock-kneed. And I do wear my shoes out on the insides first. But walking that way puts pressure on the insides of my legs and joints....my knees. And because I am fairly consistent in my walking (few days off and I've really upped my mileage in the last several weeks by doing the extra steps every hour and the extra floors at home), it all puts pressure on joints. He says there's nothing wrong with walking 3 miles a day, instead of 8 or 9, largely because of my age, too. 

As for the Prednisone, he said to take it with lunch, not at night. For some people (and I'm one of them), it can give people the jitters and then they don't sleep well. Lunch is better than at night. With the Tramadol, we're not sure if I can even take it because of my allergy to a lot of meds now. I don't want to spend the money and then not be able take the Tramadol because my face swells up. Or, god forbid, my throat swells up. That's why I'm so leery with meds. I took Prednisone before and it was OK, other than my hair falling out about 7-8 months later! The Prednisone is for one week. 

He's pushing the knee brace because he thinks it's a good idea for me to have it on hand (for future episodes of knee pain). Evidently, he thinks it'll probably happen again. Because I walk too much.

So...in the last eight years or so, I've had a repaired meniscus in my left knee, a tendon that started to separate from the bone in my right foot, severe shin splints in both legs, sciatica in the pirifomis muscle in my left butt, and now an inflamed meniscus in my right knee. I've had PT for the tendon, PT for the shin pain, PT for the sciatica, and may be looking at PT for the meniscus in my right knee. All of these things happened because I walk. Every single one of them. Not to mention the hair loss that might be related to Prednisone. It's enough to make me seriously considering stopping my walks completely. I'm tired of being in pain and I'm tired of dealing with all the crap. 

Sorry, but I'm really depressed.....I'll get over it.

 

[foxxycat]

Don't be sorry. I didn't mean to take the pred at night-I was referring to trams. If you have allergies to codeine type meds then you may get a reaction from this. Trams are man made vs oxycontin where it's derived from the Poppy plant. Some people have good luck with trams. Some don't. I wasn't sure if you get generics but when I have had that prescribed it was only like $15 for generics and now it's even less like $8 for a script with generic.

And I do understand the depression. I know you work hard to keep the weight off and now this happens. Too bad we couldn't find a way to keep you moving without inflicting pain-wait-how about swimming??? Can you do that? You could get a tiny treadmill in the water and walk that way..I have seen them do this for pets for rehabbing injuries...just trying to think of ways to help you stay mobile. You sound like I am. I get depressed if I don't move around and I feel sluggish when I don't walk etc. Wasn't sure if you have a Y gym in your area that has a pool...I get the upset. I do. Sending you hugs

 

[foxxycat]

I wonder if there's a better Glucosamine? Too bad we can't try dasquin. Some people swear by it for their furkids..too bad they don't make human grade.

 

[Norachan]

Oh no! @Winchester  That really sucks! I hope you get over it quickly. I wonder if you could do some kind of exercise where you don't put weight on your leg? Maybe swimming or some kind of aqua aerobics?

I had to shovel snow for 30 minutes on Monday and Tuesday morning, then did 90 minutes of yoga after that. Yesterday I managed to leave the house!

An hour of yoga in the morning, 30 minutes on my bike and then another hour of yoga before my evening shift started.

Glad to hear you're seeing the results @catlover19  I'm feeling the benefits of all this extra yoga. I just wish spring would hurry up and get here.

 

[Winchester]

Thanks guys....

@Norachan  all that snow that we had is pretty much gone. The local weather-weenie showed a map of Pennsylvania this morning and the snow pack is only up around the northeast corner of the Commonwealth now. We have snow in areas in the yard, right behind the house and the trees where the sun doesn't hit. Since we're going into the upper 50s this weekend, we expect the snow to be gone after Saturday. More average temps next week, but rainy all week long.

BooBoo took Dasuquin for several years before his death. He had bad arthritis in his back legs and we do think it helped him. It's funny. I saw the Dasuquin bottles in the cabinet last night and told Rick I should try taking the pills! 

 I mean, they're just there now. We're thinking of giving them to Ms. Pepe (Boo's sister). She doesn't seem to have any joint problems, but maybe it would help stave any problems off. Pepe is 21 years old now.

Had the x-rays this morning, wearing the blasted brace (annoying in itself). I have a bag of peas in the freezer that has turned into my "knee bag". After this is all over, I'll just throw the bag away.

I'd have to join the Y in order to use the pool and I simply don't have the money right now. The medical bills are starting to come in from Rick's skin surgery and stuff that we both had done and we need to pay them. The bills aren't going to break us because we do set aside money for medical expenses, but still. It's frustrating. I thought that's what insurance was for! 

 

I am not a good patient. 

 

[foxxycat]

I bet they won't hurt you. Never know. The inactive ingredients are probably the same as human grade. Maybe the glucosamine is a better grade than human grade? The cat ones have tuna flavoring in them but I don't think it will hurt you. 90% of medications for animals were originally for people. hey I won't tell!

 

[foxxycat]

Oh I bet if you went to the Y they may give a discount for being "older". Some places it's 55. Check it out!

 

[Norachan]

I should start taking glucosamine. I put my knees through hell with horse riding and running and trying to get into some of the more advanced yoga poses.

I had a day off yesterday. Today I did 90 minutes of yoga and then took a 90 minute walk. There are still little flurries of snow coming down. A few years ago it kept snowing until April and we had snow and cherry blossom at the same time.

Does anyone else find they have days of being really strong and flexible followed by days of being weak and creaky? I wonder why this is?

@Lily Paddy  How did things work out with your eliptical?

 

[Norachan]

90 minutes of yoga on Saturday.

It's snowing again today. I started with 30 minutes of shoveling, then an hour of yoga in my lunch break. By the time I finished work it had snowed so much you couldn't see the path I'd cleared, so I had to shovel for 30 minutes again.

90 minutes of yoga after that.

 

[catlover19]

I got bored of 21 day fix so I decided to start a new program called insanity max 30. It's 2 months, today was day 1 cardio challenge.

 

[foxxycat]

Insanity is AWESOME. I have tried variations of those workouts. I stick to HIIT. 45 seconds go as fast as I can with whatever I am doing then 15 seconds even pace. And when I get tired I break it into 30 seconds on 30 seconds regular. By the time I hit 5 minutes my head is soaked.

Last week I did make the gym. two affternoons. I think it was thur and fri. 1 hour cardio on Thursday and 30-45 min on weights. Friday was cardio only. bike for 30 min then elliptical 30. I am able to go farther on the bike if I turn the pedals upside down and don't use the foot straps. That was causing the pain in the middle of my feet as it feels like my foot is fighting to stay straight but the strap prevents this. The straps are not adjustable or removable. I did try my foot ontop of the strap but it kept sticking out on the inside and smacking against the hub of the bike so that's why I just put my foot on the underside. Kind of strange but I sure hated the foot pain those straps give me. Remember my feet are wider than most peoples so I couldn't even position my foot accurately on the pedal with them.

I hope to hit the gym tonight once I drop off some packing paper/bubble wrap at the antique store. Hopefully it won't be too crowded. Wed night going to a different location with my sister's partner=she has a black card and I got a trial of 1 week with the black card. She's just starting up last week and has no clue what to do or where to go.

 

[Norachan]

We've had so much snow this week. I had to shovel Sunday morning and evening, but by Monday morning it was above my knees again.

I spent an hour clearing snow off the deck yesterday, then dug a path to the shed where I keep the extra cat food. 90 minutes yoga after that.

90 minutes yoga this morning. The sun came out today, hopefully this snow will all be gone soon.

 

[foxxycat]

today at lunchtime attempted to do 30 minutes of aerobics. more like 10 min of jogging and rest was resistance training. squats. pushups off the counter. passive burpes. no jump. just walk hands out to a pushup position then walk back or in my case jump up because no strength to walk back to upright.

used this video, more to follow the minutes to do 45 sec work and 15 sec rest. HIIT is supposed to burn more calories for us fatter folks. I am committed full stop to getting to the gym nightly. I have gained another 5 lbs and I need to get my eating under control.

if I have wheels tonight I will hit the gym for an hour. 30 min on the bike and rest on elliptical. still pain in right foot BUT not as bad so I still can't do jumping jacks or calf raises yet. BUT my pain is very manageable.

by the way I was only able to do 15 minutes of this video. I am WAY out of shape but I kept moving for the entire 30 minutes I have.

 

@Norachan  we are getting more snow this weekend!!! I still have a foot of snow in my yard! We will never see spring!

 

[Norachan]

@Norachan  we are getting more snow this weekend!!! I still have a foot of snow in my yard! We will never see spring!

It's starting to feel that way, isn't it?

90 minutes yoga yesterday morning and then an hour in the evening. I did another Hip Opening yoga routine from YouTube. It was a tiny bit easier this time.

2 hours of yoga today.

I'm planning a jaunt up to Tokyo tomorrow, so my exercise will be walking around art galleries and climbing up all the stairs at the subway stations. I promise not to take the escalators.

 

[foxxycat]

Gym last night

27 min on elliptical 2.something miles

35 min on bike 7 miles.

one ab machine thingy. it was 6pm and I still had to go food shopping..i wanted salad..

 

[foxxycat]

Gym thurs nite

46? min on bike. almost 10 miles. 9.92 miles.

23 min on elliptical 2 miles

Gym Friday night

only did some weight machines. my buddy was there who I have not seen in months so we spent time talking shop talk about my job and his job. I showed him how to use the universal weights and we had competition to see if he could outlift me. He beat me on the ab machine at 140lb but I beat him on lat pulldown..or rather  I had previously done heavier than his weight but last night I wasn't able to move it past 85-100lb where I was up to 120lb back in Jan before I injured my foot.

I didn't do cardio last night-the foot was a tad sensitive so just focused on various machines..left around 6? Can't remember...not bad.

No gym this weekend. Monday back at it.

 

[foxxycat]

lunchtime jam. no one here to see me look like a fool. kicked it up a notch. sweaty hair! 20 minutes of solid jogging and skips/jump rope type moves with arm exercises with 5lb weights.

My knee acted up a faint hair but not bad. my right foot cramped up twice so I moved to step ups with my foot going to my other side bending knee. once I walked it out it was because I keep clenching my toes and cramp up. I have to learn to relax my feet when jogging. for some stupid reason I curl the toes when foot off the floor. and worked on my breathing to not breathe through mouth. not bad. I think my endurance is coming back despite falling off the workout train for 2 months.

followed a few moves in this video. started it at 15 minutes and did what I could. 30 pushups off the counter. the lower one. my goal is the floor. last night only can do 6 classic pushups..bad! I used to do 22! So here we go again! Ride aboard the workout TRAIN! and don't jump off this time!

 

 

[Norachan]

Good for you @foxxycat  You're putting us all to shame.

Spent all day Friday queuing to get into galleries, walking around gallerias, walking from one subway station to the next. Felt like I'd run a marathon by the time I got home. The bus back from Tokyo took forever because it was snowing and they had the snow ploughs out clearing the highway.  

This was the view from my bedroom window yesterday morning.

View media item 416851
Half an hour clearing the snow yesterday and two 1 hour yoga sessions.

90 minutes of yoga planned for after work this evening.

I usually start running again in April, but I think it's going to be a late start this year.

 

 

[Winchester]

@Norachan  that's not funny. What a cruel April Fool's joke Mother Nature played. Is it warm enough overall that your snow will melt fairly quickly? I think it took a little over a week last month for most of our snow from that bad winter storm to be gone around here because it warmed back up above freezing so quickly. And everything is greening beautifully now. Keep going and doing what you can. It sounds like you had a great time on Friday.

@foxxycat  keep going woman! You're just rocking the gym out! 

 

[foxxycat]

I don't know about putting you to shame. I could only do 20 minutes of that video yesterday. But it's a start. I did 45 minutes of shoveling last night. we got 12+ inches of HEAVY wet CRAP. Jon tried to clear the driveway but the snowblower sheer pin busted right at the road where the heaviest crap is. I am trying to talk him into putting a plow on my truck then I can put the crap OUT of the way sideways. It won't be pretty but at least it will only take 5 minutes. Very short 2 car driveway. I figured if I can go at it from the right side angled to the left and push the snow towards the big yard. But he said no. Said it would chew up the lawn. I said what if I only scrap down to just before 2 inches? then he can scrap with the shovel and he said no...and oh he doesn't know where the pins are. Said he had some but can't find them..I told him go to the store and get some.

GRR Men.

Tonight going to shovel some more=the lawn where the girls hang out is now 4 feet deep. I normally shovel all that clear in March so we can get some grass growing. And Honeybee likes to sniff around there. So tonight going to go slow and steady and see how much I get cleared. I posted a photo of the snow in the weather thread

so tonight is shoveling snow and walking in the grocery store=why do I always plan it on a Sunday? when they are out of things and crowded. that's my plan.

oh my foot-sort of cramping so I only jogged for 10 minutes today just to get my heartrate up then walked around for the rest of the time. My knee is ok. Looks like pain only on days I push myself but the next day not too bad...not sure what that means.

Going to use today as my rest day as I was told I am doing too much and not resting enough...bahh humbug!