Wednesday, May 16, 2007

MY ABS HURT TOO

A few days ago I decided that I wanted to start a modified exercise routine. My thinking was that I would do it throughout the summer, along with whatever knee and ankle exercises I need to do as part of my physical therapy.

Since I’ll be wearing the external fixator all summer, I built the routine around exercises that I can do on a mat on the floor of my apartment. So it’s mostly arm and ab work, with a little bit of yoga.

I started it on Sunday, thinking that if I do it everyday until the surgery, it would become a habit and therefore easier to resume doing after the surgery. What I didn’t anticipate is how freaking sore it would make me.

It’s very humbling to go from being able to do hundreds of crunches a day just a few years ago (okay, seven years ago), to being so incredibly sore from doing one set of leg raises.

Also, whatever ability to do push-ups I once had is now gone. I can barely eek out ten, and that’s on my knees!

I’ve been mostly inactive the last couple of years because of my back pain. But I hadn’t realized just how out of shape I’d become. It’s going to be a long road to getting back into shape, especially when I add in all the rehab I’m going to be doing for my leg.

But I’m making a commitment to myself right now that from here on out, daily exercise is going to be a part of my life.

Days until surgery: 14

2 comments:

Annie said...

I hired a trainer after I was healed and I was amazed at how weak I was, but it was worth the money and I am now about where I was 1 yr ago, just before I had my surgery!

Anonymous said...

I'm glad you're prepping for the rehab road ahead, koney darling. I've made a new effort to get my ass in shape -- my ass, abs, and hamstrings, which are tight, weak, and inflexible, respectively. By a new effort I mean I got up with Caroline at 6am and did my damn pilates DVD. Why oh why did my sister-in-law get me the intermediate version? Because she knew I'd need some ass kicking, that's why.

My chiro/boss said my LB is super tight, so that's why I can't touch my toes. who knows -- maybe I'll be toe touching by the end of 2007.

also, I may have to get some knee surgery. the right one has swollen a bit, much like junior (?) year volleyball, when I was playing on it 2 hours a day. unfortunately I'm just doing a bit of jogging, a titch of cycling, and softball on the weekend, so I guess I'm getting old. that, or I tore the cartilage long ago and now it's acting up. we'll see what happens when I get the MRI.

do you like how I'm using your blog to blog? too lazy to have my own blog. and I like your blog. it's good reading.