Physical Therapy Hurt Today

I went to physical therapy this morning and decided that was my workout for the day. I was scheduled to do lower body today, anyway. They put me up to 3 sets of 15 on my exercises--leg press, seated hamstring curls, leg abductions to the side and then standing, pulling my leg back (don't know what that's called). I also do this thing where I have to balance on one leg at a time on a little dome they call a "porcupine" because it has little spines all over it (but it's soft rubber so you're not getting stabbed or anything). I also stand on a short step and bend one knee lowering the other heel to the floor. I also have to do that one with 3 sets of 15 on both sides.

So they work my muscles with all that and then they did something called "Russian stim" which was downright painful. They put the little electrical stimulation pads on my quad muscles and cranked the sucker up. Normally when I get stimulation, they wrap it in a warm or cold wrap around my knees and it's a pretty comfortable amount of stimulation, often set around 12 or lower (the intensity goes up as the numbers go higher). But with the Russian stim they put it on 24! I had to tighten my quads as they were zapped all to heck--each leg was alternately slammed. Yowza. That's part of why I decided I was done with my lower body work after that. At least I got a bit of a massage and stretch as well.

Did I mention my PT said last week that I'm very flexible? That was a big shock--I've never thought of myself as flexible. Apparently it's my hips that are most flexible. I told her maybe it had to be due to giving birth to two big babies or something.

Tomorrow is supposed to be HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) cardio. I'm either going to do Amy Bento's Kickbox Xtreme or her Advanced Step Challenge II--to make that one HIIT I'll have to alternate step combos with segments from her Power Up segment or something. I just love that workout so I'd like to figure out a way to do it.

Physical Therapy Hurt Today

I went to physical therapy this morning and decided that was my workout for the day. I was scheduled to do lower body today, anyway. They put me up to 3 sets of 15 on my exercises--leg press, seated hamstring curls, leg abductions to the side and then standing, pulling my leg back (don't know what that's called). I also do this thing where I have to balance on one leg at a time on a little dome they call a "porcupine" because it has little spines all over it (but it's soft rubber so you're not getting stabbed or anything). I also stand on a short step and bend one knee lowering the other heel to the floor. I also have to do that one with 3 sets of 15 on both sides.

So they work my muscles with all that and then they did something called "Russian stim" which was downright painful. They put the little electrical stimulation pads on my quad muscles and cranked the sucker up. Normally when I get stimulation, they wrap it in a warm or cold wrap around my knees and it's a pretty comfortable amount of stimulation, often set around 12 or lower (the intensity goes up as the numbers go higher). But with the Russian stim they put it on 24! I had to tighten my quads as they were zapped all to heck--each leg was alternately slammed. Yowza. That's part of why I decided I was done with my lower body work after that. At least I got a bit of a massage and stretch as well.

Did I mention my PT said last week that I'm very flexible? That was a big shock--I've never thought of myself as flexible. Apparently it's my hips that are most flexible. I told her maybe it had to be due to giving birth to two big babies or something.

Tomorrow is supposed to be HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) cardio. I'm either going to do Amy Bento's Kickbox Xtreme or her Advanced Step Challenge II--to make that one HIIT I'll have to alternate step combos with segments from her Power Up segment or something. I just love that workout so I'd like to figure out a way to do it.

Physical Therapy Hurt Today

I went to physical therapy this morning and decided that was my workout for the day. I was scheduled to do lower body today, anyway. They put me up to 3 sets of 15 on my exercises--leg press, seated hamstring curls, leg abductions to the side and then standing, pulling my leg back (don't know what that's called). I also do this thing where I have to balance on one leg at a time on a little dome they call a "porcupine" because it has little spines all over it (but it's soft rubber so you're not getting stabbed or anything). I also stand on a short step and bend one knee lowering the other heel to the floor. I also have to do that one with 3 sets of 15 on both sides.

So they work my muscles with all that and then they did something called "Russian stim" which was downright painful. They put the little electrical stimulation pads on my quad muscles and cranked the sucker up. Normally when I get stimulation, they wrap it in a warm or cold wrap around my knees and it's a pretty comfortable amount of stimulation, often set around 12 or lower (the intensity goes up as the numbers go higher). But with the Russian stim they put it on 24! I had to tighten my quads as they were zapped all to heck--each leg was alternately slammed. Yowza. That's part of why I decided I was done with my lower body work after that. At least I got a bit of a massage and stretch as well.

Did I mention my PT said last week that I'm very flexible? That was a big shock--I've never thought of myself as flexible. Apparently it's my hips that are most flexible. I told her maybe it had to be due to giving birth to two big babies or something.

Tomorrow is supposed to be HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) cardio. I'm either going to do Amy Bento's Kickbox Xtreme or her Advanced Step Challenge II--to make that one HIIT I'll have to alternate step combos with segments from her Power Up segment or something. I just love that workout so I'd like to figure out a way to do it.

More Physical Therapy....

I went back to physical therapy today, this time for my knees. We did a lot of exercises and this time they used the electric muscle stimulation machine on my knees. I also got some advice on my workouts. I told him how I tried the MatStep in a step workout on Saturday, but still got knee pain, perhaps because of the high impact. I said that I could try doing just low impact as well as using the MatStep instead of a step, and he said to go ahead and do that, but to stop if anything hurt. He also said I could do kickboxing unless I started to have pain. However, I can't do lower body work except for what he assigns me. He's going to start fairly easy and then work up slowly to stretch and strengthen my legs and hips so that I walk in a way that doesn't make my knees go all wonky (I'm simplifying and summarizing here).

So I came home and did Cathe's 4-Day Split: Lower Intensity Step workout. It's low impact, and I also used the MatStep. I tried to put a lot of oomph in it but I still burned a lot less calories than usual without my step. It was fun, anyway. I tried to make up for the less intense cardio by cranking my weights up a notch. LIS has weight work for shoulders and calves, so I skipped the calves but went heavier for shoulders, which felt tough but great. Tomorrow is supposed to be a Tracey Staehle's High Intensity Step Mix 2, but I guess I'll be using the MatStep and modify for lower impact.

I'll be adding some more rotations soon, so come back later today or tomorrow for those.

More Physical Therapy....

I went back to physical therapy today, this time for my knees. We did a lot of exercises and this time they used the electric muscle stimulation machine on my knees. I also got some advice on my workouts. I told him how I tried the MatStep in a step workout on Saturday, but still got knee pain, perhaps because of the high impact. I said that I could try doing just low impact as well as using the MatStep instead of a step, and he said to go ahead and do that, but to stop if anything hurt. He also said I could do kickboxing unless I started to have pain. However, I can't do lower body work except for what he assigns me. He's going to start fairly easy and then work up slowly to stretch and strengthen my legs and hips so that I walk in a way that doesn't make my knees go all wonky (I'm simplifying and summarizing here).

So I came home and did Cathe's 4-Day Split: Lower Intensity Step workout. It's low impact, and I also used the MatStep. I tried to put a lot of oomph in it but I still burned a lot less calories than usual without my step. It was fun, anyway. I tried to make up for the less intense cardio by cranking my weights up a notch. LIS has weight work for shoulders and calves, so I skipped the calves but went heavier for shoulders, which felt tough but great. Tomorrow is supposed to be a Tracey Staehle's High Intensity Step Mix 2, but I guess I'll be using the MatStep and modify for lower impact.

I'll be adding some more rotations soon, so come back later today or tomorrow for those.

More Physical Therapy....

I went back to physical therapy today, this time for my knees. We did a lot of exercises and this time they used the electric muscle stimulation machine on my knees. I also got some advice on my workouts. I told him how I tried the MatStep in a step workout on Saturday, but still got knee pain, perhaps because of the high impact. I said that I could try doing just low impact as well as using the MatStep instead of a step, and he said to go ahead and do that, but to stop if anything hurt. He also said I could do kickboxing unless I started to have pain. However, I can't do lower body work except for what he assigns me. He's going to start fairly easy and then work up slowly to stretch and strengthen my legs and hips so that I walk in a way that doesn't make my knees go all wonky (I'm simplifying and summarizing here).

So I came home and did Cathe's 4-Day Split: Lower Intensity Step workout. It's low impact, and I also used the MatStep. I tried to put a lot of oomph in it but I still burned a lot less calories than usual without my step. It was fun, anyway. I tried to make up for the less intense cardio by cranking my weights up a notch. LIS has weight work for shoulders and calves, so I skipped the calves but went heavier for shoulders, which felt tough but great. Tomorrow is supposed to be a Tracey Staehle's High Intensity Step Mix 2, but I guess I'll be using the MatStep and modify for lower impact.

I'll be adding some more rotations soon, so come back later today or tomorrow for those.

No More Step Aerobics?

I went to the orthopedic surgeon today to ask him about my freaky crackling knees. The bad news is he said I had to stop doing step aerobics. It turns out my kneecaps are funky--move around a lot and look very off-center in the X-rays. He said I'm just built that way, so it's not a result of injury or whatever. Also, my quads have been weakened since the ankle injury (when I stopped doing much cardio and lower body work for a long while) and that made my already weak, wobbly knees even worse.

I asked him about exercise and what kind I do and he immediately said I should quit stepping. Like for good. I suggested a 4" step. Nope. And to quote him "step aerobics are the worst thing you could do with those knees." So I'm pretty bummed because stepping is absolutely my favorite form of exercise.

Anyway, the doc gave me a prescription for physical therapy. I was just seeing a PT recently for my ankle, so I can go back to the same one. It's a pain to schedule it in during the brief time my youngest is at nursery school (just 3 mornings a week) but I guess I'll have to do it again. He did say I could do other things like biking. And I told him I did kickboxing and at least he didn't nix that. I have gone ahead and ordered a MatStep which is a mat the same size as a step, so you can do step aerobics on a flat service (which would be basically like floor aerobics, but around the mat).

In other health news, I got my blood work results back today and it all came out normal, which is pretty much what I expected. However, I was again pretty tired yesterday and today--maybe just because I really cranked up the workouts this week and wore myself out.

Tomorrow I still plan to do my 4-Day Split Higher Intensity Step workout, maybe as a last hoorah for stepping. At least the cardio is fairly short and I can modify a little lower impact. I also just realized that I have it planned again for Monday, which seems awfully quick to do heavy weights for chest and back again, so I'm going to shuffle the rotation around in anticipation of being sore after tomorrow. I'll then put that on my Rotation Ideas document and repost it to the Fitness Tools Available for Download page.

No More Step Aerobics?

I went to the orthopedic surgeon today to ask him about my freaky crackling knees. The bad news is he said I had to stop doing step aerobics. It turns out my kneecaps are funky--move around a lot and look very off-center in the X-rays. He said I'm just built that way, so it's not a result of injury or whatever. Also, my quads have been weakened since the ankle injury (when I stopped doing much cardio and lower body work for a long while) and that made my already weak, wobbly knees even worse.

I asked him about exercise and what kind I do and he immediately said I should quit stepping. Like for good. I suggested a 4" step. Nope. And to quote him "step aerobics are the worst thing you could do with those knees." So I'm pretty bummed because stepping is absolutely my favorite form of exercise.

Anyway, the doc gave me a prescription for physical therapy. I was just seeing a PT recently for my ankle, so I can go back to the same one. It's a pain to schedule it in during the brief time my youngest is at nursery school (just 3 mornings a week) but I guess I'll have to do it again. He did say I could do other things like biking. And I told him I did kickboxing and at least he didn't nix that. I have gone ahead and ordered a MatStep which is a mat the same size as a step, so you can do step aerobics on a flat service (which would be basically like floor aerobics, but around the mat).

In other health news, I got my blood work results back today and it all came out normal, which is pretty much what I expected. However, I was again pretty tired yesterday and today--maybe just because I really cranked up the workouts this week and wore myself out.

Tomorrow I still plan to do my 4-Day Split Higher Intensity Step workout, maybe as a last hoorah for stepping. At least the cardio is fairly short and I can modify a little lower impact. I also just realized that I have it planned again for Monday, which seems awfully quick to do heavy weights for chest and back again, so I'm going to shuffle the rotation around in anticipation of being sore after tomorrow. I'll then put that on my Rotation Ideas document and repost it to the Fitness Tools Available for Download page.

No More Step Aerobics?

I went to the orthopedic surgeon today to ask him about my freaky crackling knees. The bad news is he said I had to stop doing step aerobics. It turns out my kneecaps are funky--move around a lot and look very off-center in the X-rays. He said I'm just built that way, so it's not a result of injury or whatever. Also, my quads have been weakened since the ankle injury (when I stopped doing much cardio and lower body work for a long while) and that made my already weak, wobbly knees even worse.

I asked him about exercise and what kind I do and he immediately said I should quit stepping. Like for good. I suggested a 4" step. Nope. And to quote him "step aerobics are the worst thing you could do with those knees." So I'm pretty bummed because stepping is absolutely my favorite form of exercise.

Anyway, the doc gave me a prescription for physical therapy. I was just seeing a PT recently for my ankle, so I can go back to the same one. It's a pain to schedule it in during the brief time my youngest is at nursery school (just 3 mornings a week) but I guess I'll have to do it again. He did say I could do other things like biking. And I told him I did kickboxing and at least he didn't nix that. I have gone ahead and ordered a MatStep which is a mat the same size as a step, so you can do step aerobics on a flat service (which would be basically like floor aerobics, but around the mat).

In other health news, I got my blood work results back today and it all came out normal, which is pretty much what I expected. However, I was again pretty tired yesterday and today--maybe just because I really cranked up the workouts this week and wore myself out.

Tomorrow I still plan to do my 4-Day Split Higher Intensity Step workout, maybe as a last hoorah for stepping. At least the cardio is fairly short and I can modify a little lower impact. I also just realized that I have it planned again for Monday, which seems awfully quick to do heavy weights for chest and back again, so I'm going to shuffle the rotation around in anticipation of being sore after tomorrow. I'll then put that on my Rotation Ideas document and repost it to the Fitness Tools Available for Download page.

Ready to Test the Ankle

I talked to my physical therapist today about when I'd be done coming to therapy and get back to working out. He gave me the go ahead to start trying step aerobics, etc. again and if I feel o.k. then my two appointments next week could be my last therapy appointments. I felt great at the visit today and really aced the balance exercises he had me doing. He tried harder ones and I still did pretty well. Of course, after all that ankle work I came home and my ankle was sore. I'm hoping that's just because I worked really hard on it. I thought about going ahead and trying some step this afternoon, but ended up taking a nap instead. Hey, don't laugh--I'm still a little sick. I put Ewan down for a nap and decided I needed a rest myself.

I hope to get up and do something tomorrow, but I'm going to make myself ease back into it--I won't start with my toughest workouts, especially since I've been on almost total rest for a week and a half. Maybe tomorrow I'll try some kind of cardio & weights circuit workout--I have a new Kelly Coffey-Meyer one I haven't tried yet or maybe Cathe's Low Impact Circuit. Then Friday I hope to go back to the yoga class and I might try something else later that afternoon. Of course, I'm still not 100% healthy so i know I should be careful with it. If this feels o.k. with my ankle, I might start Cathe's Nov. '07 rotation next week.

Ready to Test the Ankle

I talked to my physical therapist today about when I'd be done coming to therapy and get back to working out. He gave me the go ahead to start trying step aerobics, etc. again and if I feel o.k. then my two appointments next week could be my last therapy appointments. I felt great at the visit today and really aced the balance exercises he had me doing. He tried harder ones and I still did pretty well. Of course, after all that ankle work I came home and my ankle was sore. I'm hoping that's just because I worked really hard on it. I thought about going ahead and trying some step this afternoon, but ended up taking a nap instead. Hey, don't laugh--I'm still a little sick. I put Ewan down for a nap and decided I needed a rest myself.

I hope to get up and do something tomorrow, but I'm going to make myself ease back into it--I won't start with my toughest workouts, especially since I've been on almost total rest for a week and a half. Maybe tomorrow I'll try some kind of cardio & weights circuit workout--I have a new Kelly Coffey-Meyer one I haven't tried yet or maybe Cathe's Low Impact Circuit. Then Friday I hope to go back to the yoga class and I might try something else later that afternoon. Of course, I'm still not 100% healthy so i know I should be careful with it. If this feels o.k. with my ankle, I might start Cathe's Nov. '07 rotation next week.

Ready to Test the Ankle

I talked to my physical therapist today about when I'd be done coming to therapy and get back to working out. He gave me the go ahead to start trying step aerobics, etc. again and if I feel o.k. then my two appointments next week could be my last therapy appointments. I felt great at the visit today and really aced the balance exercises he had me doing. He tried harder ones and I still did pretty well. Of course, after all that ankle work I came home and my ankle was sore. I'm hoping that's just because I worked really hard on it. I thought about going ahead and trying some step this afternoon, but ended up taking a nap instead. Hey, don't laugh--I'm still a little sick. I put Ewan down for a nap and decided I needed a rest myself.

I hope to get up and do something tomorrow, but I'm going to make myself ease back into it--I won't start with my toughest workouts, especially since I've been on almost total rest for a week and a half. Maybe tomorrow I'll try some kind of cardio & weights circuit workout--I have a new Kelly Coffey-Meyer one I haven't tried yet or maybe Cathe's Low Impact Circuit. Then Friday I hope to go back to the yoga class and I might try something else later that afternoon. Of course, I'm still not 100% healthy so i know I should be careful with it. If this feels o.k. with my ankle, I might start Cathe's Nov. '07 rotation next week.

Rambling Post About my Health

I finally went back to physical therapy today and it went well. Sometimes my ankle feels better and sometimes it will give me a twinge of pain and remind me it's not quite 100% yet. My therapist asked me if I was able to get back to exercising with it. I didn't think he wanted me to try yet! So if I can try, I will try soon. But not until I can feel better in other ways as well. I still have a fever--can you believe it? I called my sister, who is in nursing school, to ask her if I should be concerned that I still have fever after being on antibiotics a few days. She said I should be taking acetaminophen instead of my usual ibuprofen, so I guess I'd better get some of that. I forgot to ask her about my hand tremors I've been having off and on the last few days, though.

So no formal rotation this week as I'm going to check my health day to day before working out. Today I just rested (well, as much as I ever rest since I did physical therapy, took kids to and from school, went shopping, did laundry and ironing, cleaned house, blah blah blah. Typical mom stuff. Hopefully tomorrow I will get up and do something--maybe one of my new DVDs I haven't tried yet. I am trying to be smart and not overdo it if I feel terrible, though.

I feel better about my crackling knees after talking to the physical therapist. I realized as I described the problem that it's gotten worse since I stopped doing so much lower body work and step aerobics. It's not that I wore them out with exercise; it's probably that I was doing great quad-strengthening stuff and then stopped doing much when my ankle was injured--so that has made the knees act funky. The PT described it better, but basically it makes me feel more confident about starting back with some lower body work soon. He didn't seem too concerned about it if my crackly knees aren't also painful (which others had also told me). Yay!

Rambling Post About my Health

I finally went back to physical therapy today and it went well. Sometimes my ankle feels better and sometimes it will give me a twinge of pain and remind me it's not quite 100% yet. My therapist asked me if I was able to get back to exercising with it. I didn't think he wanted me to try yet! So if I can try, I will try soon. But not until I can feel better in other ways as well. I still have a fever--can you believe it? I called my sister, who is in nursing school, to ask her if I should be concerned that I still have fever after being on antibiotics a few days. She said I should be taking acetaminophen instead of my usual ibuprofen, so I guess I'd better get some of that. I forgot to ask her about my hand tremors I've been having off and on the last few days, though.

So no formal rotation this week as I'm going to check my health day to day before working out. Today I just rested (well, as much as I ever rest since I did physical therapy, took kids to and from school, went shopping, did laundry and ironing, cleaned house, blah blah blah. Typical mom stuff. Hopefully tomorrow I will get up and do something--maybe one of my new DVDs I haven't tried yet. I am trying to be smart and not overdo it if I feel terrible, though.

I feel better about my crackling knees after talking to the physical therapist. I realized as I described the problem that it's gotten worse since I stopped doing so much lower body work and step aerobics. It's not that I wore them out with exercise; it's probably that I was doing great quad-strengthening stuff and then stopped doing much when my ankle was injured--so that has made the knees act funky. The PT described it better, but basically it makes me feel more confident about starting back with some lower body work soon. He didn't seem too concerned about it if my crackly knees aren't also painful (which others had also told me). Yay!

Rambling Post About my Health

I finally went back to physical therapy today and it went well. Sometimes my ankle feels better and sometimes it will give me a twinge of pain and remind me it's not quite 100% yet. My therapist asked me if I was able to get back to exercising with it. I didn't think he wanted me to try yet! So if I can try, I will try soon. But not until I can feel better in other ways as well. I still have a fever--can you believe it? I called my sister, who is in nursing school, to ask her if I should be concerned that I still have fever after being on antibiotics a few days. She said I should be taking acetaminophen instead of my usual ibuprofen, so I guess I'd better get some of that. I forgot to ask her about my hand tremors I've been having off and on the last few days, though.

So no formal rotation this week as I'm going to check my health day to day before working out. Today I just rested (well, as much as I ever rest since I did physical therapy, took kids to and from school, went shopping, did laundry and ironing, cleaned house, blah blah blah. Typical mom stuff. Hopefully tomorrow I will get up and do something--maybe one of my new DVDs I haven't tried yet. I am trying to be smart and not overdo it if I feel terrible, though.

I feel better about my crackling knees after talking to the physical therapist. I realized as I described the problem that it's gotten worse since I stopped doing so much lower body work and step aerobics. It's not that I wore them out with exercise; it's probably that I was doing great quad-strengthening stuff and then stopped doing much when my ankle was injured--so that has made the knees act funky. The PT described it better, but basically it makes me feel more confident about starting back with some lower body work soon. He didn't seem too concerned about it if my crackly knees aren't also painful (which others had also told me). Yay!

Physical Therapy

OK, I was fairly clueless about how this physical therapy thing goes. I met my new PT today and he was nice-- reminded me vaguely of the guy from Prison Break--Wentworth Miller--but not so attractive. There was just something about him that reminded me of WM. He did a lengthy examination of my ankles, comparing the good and bad one, measuring stuff, making me walk barefoot on the cold tile floor, pushing it here and there, etc. Then he made me do some fairly gentle ankle strengthening exercises. After that I had these electrode thingeys stuck to my foot and ankle and a cold wrap put around that. They did muscle stimulation with a machine for about 15 minutes. I have a little list of exercises to do daily and I am supposed to come for physical therapy twice a week for at least 4 weeks. Yikes. I have had to schedule my next few weeks of Monday & Wednesday mornings while Ewan's in nursery school. I describe all this in case any of my readers ever ends up going for physical therapy for an ankle injury some time. I didn't really know what it was like until I got there.

The bad news is he told me I shouldn't be doing step aerobics, jogging, or kickboxing right now (though I admitted I'd been doing some already). He said I was at high risk for injury until I strengthen the ankle more. This is not surprising since it felt a bit wobbly and I twisted it slightly once while jogging Saturday (not bad but it was scary for a moment there).

I decided I'd go back to mainly upper body weights, and alternate it with yoga. I am hoping to visit a yoga class on Friday morning while Ewan is in school. On Mondays and Wednesdays after my PT I can do a yoga video as well.

This PT appointment was another one of those times when I felt funny saying how active I am. I described the activities I normally like to do and wondered if they'd believe me with my figure. But I also figured a physical therapist would know better than to assume an active person would always look like a fitness model. Of course, this week I haven't been as active as I like! I'm going to work tonight on a new rotation to finish out the week focusing on upper body. At least I have some new workouts, such as Cathe's 4-Day Split and Amy's Slo-Mo Strength Challenge, which should help with the boredom of a continued upper body focus.

Physical Therapy

OK, I was fairly clueless about how this physical therapy thing goes. I met my new PT today and he was nice-- reminded me vaguely of the guy from Prison Break--Wentworth Miller--but not so attractive. There was just something about him that reminded me of WM. He did a lengthy examination of my ankles, comparing the good and bad one, measuring stuff, making me walk barefoot on the cold tile floor, pushing it here and there, etc. Then he made me do some fairly gentle ankle strengthening exercises. After that I had these electrode thingeys stuck to my foot and ankle and a cold wrap put around that. They did muscle stimulation with a machine for about 15 minutes. I have a little list of exercises to do daily and I am supposed to come for physical therapy twice a week for at least 4 weeks. Yikes. I have had to schedule my next few weeks of Monday & Wednesday mornings while Ewan's in nursery school. I describe all this in case any of my readers ever ends up going for physical therapy for an ankle injury some time. I didn't really know what it was like until I got there.

The bad news is he told me I shouldn't be doing step aerobics, jogging, or kickboxing right now (though I admitted I'd been doing some already). He said I was at high risk for injury until I strengthen the ankle more. This is not surprising since it felt a bit wobbly and I twisted it slightly once while jogging Saturday (not bad but it was scary for a moment there).

I decided I'd go back to mainly upper body weights, and alternate it with yoga. I am hoping to visit a yoga class on Friday morning while Ewan is in school. On Mondays and Wednesdays after my PT I can do a yoga video as well.

This PT appointment was another one of those times when I felt funny saying how active I am. I described the activities I normally like to do and wondered if they'd believe me with my figure. But I also figured a physical therapist would know better than to assume an active person would always look like a fitness model. Of course, this week I haven't been as active as I like! I'm going to work tonight on a new rotation to finish out the week focusing on upper body. At least I have some new workouts, such as Cathe's 4-Day Split and Amy's Slo-Mo Strength Challenge, which should help with the boredom of a continued upper body focus.

Physical Therapy

OK, I was fairly clueless about how this physical therapy thing goes. I met my new PT today and he was nice-- reminded me vaguely of the guy from Prison Break--Wentworth Miller--but not so attractive. There was just something about him that reminded me of WM. He did a lengthy examination of my ankles, comparing the good and bad one, measuring stuff, making me walk barefoot on the cold tile floor, pushing it here and there, etc. Then he made me do some fairly gentle ankle strengthening exercises. After that I had these electrode thingeys stuck to my foot and ankle and a cold wrap put around that. They did muscle stimulation with a machine for about 15 minutes. I have a little list of exercises to do daily and I am supposed to come for physical therapy twice a week for at least 4 weeks. Yikes. I have had to schedule my next few weeks of Monday & Wednesday mornings while Ewan's in nursery school. I describe all this in case any of my readers ever ends up going for physical therapy for an ankle injury some time. I didn't really know what it was like until I got there.

The bad news is he told me I shouldn't be doing step aerobics, jogging, or kickboxing right now (though I admitted I'd been doing some already). He said I was at high risk for injury until I strengthen the ankle more. This is not surprising since it felt a bit wobbly and I twisted it slightly once while jogging Saturday (not bad but it was scary for a moment there).

I decided I'd go back to mainly upper body weights, and alternate it with yoga. I am hoping to visit a yoga class on Friday morning while Ewan is in school. On Mondays and Wednesdays after my PT I can do a yoga video as well.

This PT appointment was another one of those times when I felt funny saying how active I am. I described the activities I normally like to do and wondered if they'd believe me with my figure. But I also figured a physical therapist would know better than to assume an active person would always look like a fitness model. Of course, this week I haven't been as active as I like! I'm going to work tonight on a new rotation to finish out the week focusing on upper body. At least I have some new workouts, such as Cathe's 4-Day Split and Amy's Slo-Mo Strength Challenge, which should help with the boredom of a continued upper body focus.

Lead Foot

No, the title does not refer to the way I drive--though my Daddy Bob often said I drove like my mother with a lead foot--the man was a great critic of everyone's driving. You should have heard him singing "Nearer My God to Thee" in the back seat of my friend Ellen's massive Ford LTD. Anyway...the lead foot refers to the way my feet felt today. Actually my legs. OK, actually my whole body. I don't know if it's related to the soreness from jogging on Saturday (I'm really out of practice with jogging) or if it's related to my ankle, which started stiffening up today, or if it was just general fatigue. I suspect a big combination of those bland ingredients--a recipe for dragging through my workout. I managed to get through most of Cathe's Rhythmic Step workout, but skipped the Challenge section at the end (the challenge runs through the combos together a few times). I could just barely drag myself through it, even though it's my favorite step workout! I chose it knowing I felt unmotivated and tired, so I can just imagine how tough it would have been to do a workout I didn't enjoy. I really started to feel my ankle toward the end, though it's hardly bothered me lately, so I'm glad I 'll be seeing a physical therapist on Wednesday.

Do you ever have these kind of workout days? Maybe it would have been better to just take a rest day, but I feel like I do that too often when I get in this mood. I did really want to complete a workout, and I did manage to do most of it, so I felt good that I pushed myself, but it wasn't fun the way my step workouts usually are. I did enjoy parts of it, especially as Rhythmic Step has gotten so much easier now that it's more familiar, but I didn't bound with the joy I knew I could feel in it on a good day.

I think tomorrow if I don't feel any better, I'll go ahead and rest and hit it harder on Wednesday (after I check with the PT that I am not overdoing it anyway). I'm tellin' ya, I'm even having trouble motivating myself to get up and wash my hair (so hard to do when the boys are up during the day), so you know I'm dragging. Here's to a better day tomorrow! I lift a glass of chocolate skim milk to you! (OK, better go get some chocolate skim milk so that I can make that a reality--maybe it will help.)

Lead Foot

No, the title does not refer to the way I drive--though my Daddy Bob often said I drove like my mother with a lead foot--the man was a great critic of everyone's driving. You should have heard him singing "Nearer My God to Thee" in the back seat of my friend Ellen's massive Ford LTD. Anyway...the lead foot refers to the way my feet felt today. Actually my legs. OK, actually my whole body. I don't know if it's related to the soreness from jogging on Saturday (I'm really out of practice with jogging) or if it's related to my ankle, which started stiffening up today, or if it was just general fatigue. I suspect a big combination of those bland ingredients--a recipe for dragging through my workout. I managed to get through most of Cathe's Rhythmic Step workout, but skipped the Challenge section at the end (the challenge runs through the combos together a few times). I could just barely drag myself through it, even though it's my favorite step workout! I chose it knowing I felt unmotivated and tired, so I can just imagine how tough it would have been to do a workout I didn't enjoy. I really started to feel my ankle toward the end, though it's hardly bothered me lately, so I'm glad I 'll be seeing a physical therapist on Wednesday.

Do you ever have these kind of workout days? Maybe it would have been better to just take a rest day, but I feel like I do that too often when I get in this mood. I did really want to complete a workout, and I did manage to do most of it, so I felt good that I pushed myself, but it wasn't fun the way my step workouts usually are. I did enjoy parts of it, especially as Rhythmic Step has gotten so much easier now that it's more familiar, but I didn't bound with the joy I knew I could feel in it on a good day.

I think tomorrow if I don't feel any better, I'll go ahead and rest and hit it harder on Wednesday (after I check with the PT that I am not overdoing it anyway). I'm tellin' ya, I'm even having trouble motivating myself to get up and wash my hair (so hard to do when the boys are up during the day), so you know I'm dragging. Here's to a better day tomorrow! I lift a glass of chocolate skim milk to you! (OK, better go get some chocolate skim milk so that I can make that a reality--maybe it will help.)