Working up a Sweat

As I progress into week #7 of my recovery, I thought it was time to start exercising again. It will be a slow process though. This week it will consist of my Yoga Athletic Stretch for Women's Health. The first day I used the dvd but it moved kind of fast and I missed some of it. The next day I did it myself since I knew it by heart. It was more of a workout the second day because I held each stretch for a count of 15 and I did it all. The whole workout gives a great stretch for the upper body, even when you're doing lower body stretches. I was breathing heavy when I was done but not to the point of exhaustion. I'm trying to push things a little anyway as I recover pretty quick and this is the only way I can build up any strength. I'll do a couple more days of this and then I want to move onto my Pilates stretch with the resistance band. This is a great workout and you feel wonderful afterwards. I have a Denise Austin Hot Body Yoga coming from Netflix this week and even though I'm not really interested in the hot body part of it, the yoga might be just what the doctor ordered. By the way, my blood pressure is back up, just like the doctor said it would be so I'm right on track with the exercise.

Buttocks Injection

This is in the headlines all over the place this morning. I watched GMA and heard what the doctor had to say about it. He said with so many large arteries back there, it was risky to inject silicone for fear of sending it somewhere else. I get that but then he said that exercise will give you the same effect. Hey, I've done those sort of exercises and I know they can be felt but will they really give you the same effect as injections? I think not at least not with normal use and then it's hit or miss. I still think genetics play a big part in how high your butt is and it's shape. Don't get me wrong - I still think exercise is better than any injection or artificial means but let's be realistic here. Especially in our sedentary lifestyle, it would take alot of butt exercises to show a real transformation. There's even exercises for the face and neck that are supposed to reshape and uplift. But with the invention of Botox, it's easier to just get a shot. Anyway, I'm happy this came out about the dangers and if someone hears what this doctor said and wants to try exercise instead, more power to them.

3 Fast Miles

I decided to write a review of sorts about my new exercise video I've been doing lately. I tried getting this through Netflix several times but with no luck. Of course, I think they thought they sent the right one but it wasn't. The first dvd in this set was a 2 mile walk from Leslie Sansone which I received but as I requested the 3 mile one, I got the same 2 mile. When I found this at Giant Eagle for $7.99 I grabbed it knowing all of these in Leslie's Walk Slim program are great. I wasn't disappointed in it. It doesn't have the intervals like the 4 fast miles but it keeps your heart rate up and gives you a good workout. She does some different moves in this, has alot of upper arm movements, and uses popular music throughout the dvd. On the downside, her cues are a little off at times, the camera isn't showing what it should at times, and as she hands off to friend Mary Kay to lead, we're at a loss because Mary Kay doesn't have a microphone on. We can figure it out of course, especially with Leslie talking throughout the segment. It was a very energetic workout that takes about 45 min. including warm-up and cool-down. I'll be able to see how it corresponds to Bob's (Biggest Loser) Power Walk dvd that I have coming through Netflix in a few days. According to the package, Bob does 16 min. walks which are not that fast compared to the Walk Slim program so that's why I didn't buy that one. I have a feeling he might use some weights along with the walk which I don't like at all. I don't mix my cardio walk with strength training except for squats or lunges which use my own body weight. I'll let you know how I make out with it.

Workouts

This week has shown a breakthrough in my workouts, at least how I feel after I do them. I've increased my workout time to one hour and have taken my time building up my weights. I'm still not doing what I was doing before but I'm very careful about that. I've had too much experience with pain once I've first started a strength program. I am faithful to the twice weekly weight workout that I do and so far it's worked. As far as cardio, my walking workout is about 50 min. and then my stretch , which comes to about an hour. That's been getting easier for me but I still feel like it's a good workout. In my attempt to vary my sessions, I started doing the Women's Health Perfect Body DVD. The only cardio on that is a 20 (approx.) min session so I supplement it with the Core and More part and then the stretch. It had been a week since I did the core part, which is very good, by the way, and has left me doubled over and in pain the first four times. This week was different - I knew what was coming, did it and completed it with no pain - until that evening when my whole torso hurt, alot like when I had my gall bladder attack. I was fine the next morning but it put a little scare in me. It's definitely a good one! My problem now is that there are very few if any one hour cardio workouts out there for me. Most DVDs divide up the workout into cardio, strength and flexibility and it leaves me hanging. I will have to find a workout with several cardio sessions that I can combine to get a sufficient workout. It's not an easy thing to find.

Good Workout

I had the best workout with weights in weeks, I guess. If I can't remember when the last time was then I knew I better take it easy. I have plans tomorrow and I certainly didn't want to be sore. This was a workout that I've done many times before but a condensed version, only 30 minutes. One of my goals was to increase my workout to an hour. This was the first of those strength workouts and I had to be very careful not to overdo it. I hear people saying that modification is not an option if you're serious but that's exactly what I did. I can't imagine how I would have felt had I not modified since as it was I shook all over when I was done. That tells me that I used all those muscles and it really felt good! I'm keeping a journal of all my workouts including specific DVD, time and actual weights used. I'll take it easy for a couple weeks, then pump it up to really feel the burn.