Wednesday, May 03, 2017

Doing Damns the Darkness

Over the last several weeks, my weights have gathered dust. First, I was deathly ill for several days, mostly from an adverse effect of one of the anti-biotics that I was put on, then, immediately upon recovery we were gone on a 17 day road trip. I did exercise during that period, less than I do at home, using some videos and the resistance bands. Let's not discount the fact that I push myself in my wheelchair very long distances, and much more frequently, than I do at home. So, it's been a while without weight lifting.

This morning I woke up early and the bus was coming 20 minutes later than it normally does, so I had time. I got to the computer, checked emails and stuff and very nearly decided that it would be nice to have another day 'off' from lifting but, then, I turned my resolve on, and got set up to do my routine. It's only 35 minutes of 3 reps of 10 lifts of 8 different lifts, I'm sure there's a right way to say that, but I don't know it.

OUCH!

They're heavy.

Really freaking heavy.

In that short time off I found myself really struggling to do what I used to do rather easily. I had to drop down weight for two of the exercises because I simply had lost strength. It was clear which exercises were related to wheelchair pushing and which were not. But, I made it through and then finished up with 45 minutes focusing on the core and on flexibility.

It felt disappointing that I had to step back.

But it felt good to get back on the road to establishing a routine for myself. The biggest achievement of this little episode was not lifting the weights but pushing aside the desire to just not do it.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Good on ya Dave. Those antibiotics are leathal when they get it wrong. I'm continuing my leg strength, balance and coordination exercising. It is hard some days to be motivated but I will follow your good example.

ABEhrhardt said...

Not stepping back risks hurting yourself. You should PLAN to step back when interrupted, and find your new setpoint before damaging yourself. We're not as young as we once were.

You will increase tyhe weight more quickly than before, but breaks have costs, and you don't need a lot more pain!

Take care of Dave.