New Workout Partner

Exciting news! It may take some time to actually happen but we will be adding a 4 legged workout partner to our family 🙂 I have been harassing hubby about this pretty much since we’ve been dating and we’ve finally come up with a good compromise for both of our wants when it comes to a dog in the family. Since we are currently in an apartment some breeds aren’t allowed so it took some time and research to find a dog we could rescue, that is big enough to take on runs etc but gentle enough for an apartment. We put in an application today to rescue a Cane Corso so, fingers crossed it will all work out and in the next couple weeks we’ll have a new member of the family.

Yesterday I did a (very) short home workout for biceps and back:

3 sets of:

• 20 bicep curls
• 20 push-ups
• 20 resistance band pull-aparts/shoulder squeezes

3 sets of:

• 10 single leg hammer curls/side (balance on one foot and curl)
• 20 resistance band rows
• 20 weighted crunches

Then I went to physical therapy so did 10 min on an exercise bike and ankle/leg drills

Today I’m going to do legs but I have PT again tonight so it will be focusing on drills and muscle groups that don’t get as much use in my therapy drills.

 

 

Act Like a 2 Year Old

No, I don’t mean kicking and screaming if someone won’t give you a brownie (although if you’re on a low carb day you may want to…). This sums up another conversation I had with my PT while she was attempting to correct my terrible habits.

This time she was talking about bending over. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this but I have chronic back pain from an old cheerleading injury so, while she’s been working on my foot she’s also been monitoring my back/hips. The other day I bent over to put my phone back in my purse… seems pretty mundane… and was pretty much instantly told to stop. I gave some smart response that when I bend it maintains hamstring flexibility which got a laugh but was quickly followed with an explanation of why I was wrong. So on top of changing my deadlift form, the way I walk and… other things I’m supposed to be working on, I now am also focusing on squatting down EVERY TIME. Apparently this is not just for when you’re picking up something heavy.

So where does the two year old come in? If you have a little kid around, watch them. Even if they just are reaching for a crayon or to pick something small up from the ground, they squat down to get it. As soon as she said it I realized she was right, I also feel like I’ve heard that mentioned before but never in the context of little things like putting my phone back in my purse. So adding to my long list of goals, I am now working on acting like a 2 year old. 😉

My niece is adorable but please don’t steal my pictures

On a more personal note, I have been a bit quiet the past week because I’ve been making some changes with my job. After a lot of debate and thought, I decided the hospital I had started at was not the best fit for me. So I have accepted a new position (still ER) at a different hospital that is closer to home and over the next couple weeks will be finishing up at my present job and getting things in place to start the new one. I’m excited about the new opportunity but kind of sad to be leaving the other hospital already. We still haven’t heard about the house we put an offer in on since it’s a short sale but, hubby gets home next week and hopefully we can start moving towards some kind of routine now.

“It’s the PG version of Crack”

…Exercise that is. These are the things that come up during my physical therapy sessions twice a week. I am a firm believer that you need to enjoy going to physical therapy, or at least feel like they’re on the same page with you, so I always look for a sports medicine place. So far, I am FINALLY seeing progress and love my PT–is that weird? They’re trying some new things and they explain to me why they’re doing what they are.

But, I’ve learned some things that I think I should pass on. For starters…

1. I’ve been doing stiff-leg deadlifts wrong for YEARS. The simplest way I can describe the change is you should feel a stretch in your hamstrings when your hands are just below your knees to mid-shin. If you don’t, keeping your knees slightly bent and back straight, think about pushing your butt back. I was always just going basically all the way to my toes and bending at the waist instead of pushing my hips back.

Deadlift video

2. My squats were jacked up too. But that was more from favoring my ankle and compensating from the injury the past year. If you ask it to, your body will find a way to do what you’re pushing it to do. Which can be a great thing but can be a harmful thing (like when you jack up your alignment from finding ways to compensate…)

**I do not have the rights to this photo

Moral of the story? I’ve worked with a lot of trainers, one of who taught me the deadlifts and multiple who never caught the incorrect form, so be careful! And do your own research, if something doesn’t feel right keep asking until you get an answer that seems correct. I’d asked a couple different times because my “old way” always kind of hurt my back, I should have paid more attention to what my body was telling me. Writing it out makes it seem very common sense but I’d been doing it that way since high school and once you’re in a habit, you just don’t really think about doing it with a different form.

Have you ever found something out that completely changed the way you did exercises?

New Job, New House, New Goal

Let me preface this by saying this will be more about life than about fitness and it’s going to be pretty short.

I’ve officially started my new job in the ER here and I’ve been traveling a lot on weekends/days off to see hubby (thank goodness he’ll be home from this in Aug!). We also have put an offer in on a house and I’m back in physical therapy twice a week… so my workouts have been limited. But I have started going into physical therapy earlier so I can sneak some cardio in before PT- I have to warm up on the bike anyway. And now that I have some idea of my schedule I can figure out which days I can work out, my ankle can’t handle a 12 hour+ shift and a workout so, for now, I’m limited to 4 workouts/week IF I workout every off day.

SO that’s my goal for August. Work out (at least 20 min) 4 times a week. I’m going to have to get hubby on board so even on my weekends with him we make sure to get to the gym, but he’s (thankfully) always been pretty supportive of that. Time to make a new routine… again 😉

“Beast Mode”

So I have these moments where I tell hubby not to worry about something that would normally fall under his “domain” because there’s another project I’ve been wanting to finish or because I like just enjoying the time we do have together since right now he’s gone most of the time until August. Today I had one of those moments.

We found a great deal on a bed frame that we couldn’t pass up. It took a long time for us to find one that we both liked and this one was hugely discounted since it was the floor model and it is missing the side boards/under support (which we’ll just make but since this isn’t a DIY blog… I’ll move on). What we didn’t know is it comes with a huge box of extra parts for if you want to convert it into a full canopy bed… a huge HEAVY box.

To make a long story short, I had told hubby I would take care of opening it and finding a home for the pieces so we could enjoy a date night last night and he could just finish a couple, less time-consuming, projects before heading back to training. I went to open up the box, expecting the size to be mainly due to packing material, only to find that it didn’t make any sense to take the parts out because it didn’t save any space. Which left me to move the huge, heavy box from our guest room to our room so there was space to tuck it against a wall. Doesn’t sound so daunting right?

Except in order to get from point A to point B I had to make three tight turns with this 8 foot long box. After lots of squats, twists, curls, and dragging the box I succeeded! As I was walking away from my “accomplishment” I had the realization that I really don’t think I would have been able to move that box by myself a couple years ago and then I felt even more proud of myself! It’s so fulfilling and motivating to see the benefits of strength training and living a healthy lifestyle in my everyday life.

Success!

Okay, bragging over 😉