Bringing It

Now that I'm back in town, it's time to get back to work on improving my health. I have decided to kick it up a notch and do the impossible, which is to get into good enough shape to feel the way I did when I was young. What a challenge the aging body is. When I was young, I had to deal with the changes brought by puberty and hated the monthly bill when it came due. But now that menopause has claimed my body and nothing works the way it used to, I have been investigating ways of improving my health and quality of life.

Not being able to do my weight training during the winter (due to extreme cold in my gym... which is on my list of things to correct), I started walking at the campus near our house, got an ellyptical and a training program called P90X. Okayyyyyyyyyy... so maybe I bit off more than I could chew here. But I'm gonna try it. I'm on Day Four and hurt in places I never knew existed. I have worked out for years, and conventional programs don't even come close to what I'm doing now. This program is extremely intense (hence the "X" in the name) and is definitely not for anyone with any kind of chronic injuries or illnesses. I probably shouldn't be doing it either, but I figure if I don't try it, I may never progress beyond what I was able to do on my own. I'm learning how very difficult this is for someone my age and body composition.

So... this program is heavy on pull-ups. I can't do a single one. How embarrassing. Fortunately, I'm not failing in front of anyone I don't know. My boys are taking turns making sure I'm not doing something stupid and overdoing it. Case in point... on Day Two I decided to try the Ab Ripper workout. Jay sat down to babysit me, and after I started it, he got this look on his face that clearly said "This is not going to end well." Boy, oh boy... It's 15 minutes of pure rip and I could only do 10. Again, embarrassing. This particular session is scheduled to be done after an upper body session, which I had done the day before. Oh. You mean RIGHT after it. I couldn't even MOVE my arms after the upper body workout. How was I supposed to work the abs?

So I did what I could. I'm taking this first week or even two weeks to get familiar with the program and what kind of equipment to use, as well as familiarize myself with the nutrition aspect of the program. I have ordered a pull-up bar and some other necessities for this program, and can't wait until they arrive. For those of you who, like me, can't do a single pull-up, you can use a chair at first to get you up to the bar and steady you as you build the upper musculature necessary for this exercise. I am giving myself a drop-dead date of April 1 to begin the entire program in earnest.

Can I do it? I'm going to go out on a limb and say yes. I've come a very long way from where I was 18 months ago. At that time, I could barely walk and had a bodyfat composition of 44.89%. Today I'm not only walking, but pushing it, and bodyfat has gone down a whopping 11%. I've got a long way to go, but it's a journey. Do I have a goal? Sure. I want to be strong, healthy and flexible and at 20% bodyfat. Did I give myself a date to do it by? Nope. But I'll settle for a 1 or 2% drop in bodyfat per month. At that rate, in another year I will either have reached or almost reached that goal. Just gotta keep bringing it. Film at 11.

Nazdrowie'

Paczki Puta

The Tough Road Back

Anyone who has been following my blogs here or in other places, knows that I have been down with the flu for about 5 weeks. It has really taken a toll. I'm hocking up things that shouldn't be mentioned, and I would not be the least bit surprised if I saw a lung in the sink the next time I cough. However, I feel like I have finally taken the turn for the better and am taking the long, tough road back to health.

I started this road again today, with a short, half-hour strength workout that would have made me shake my head and say "wimp" earlier in my life. I had to stop several times to make sure I would get each rep in. Mind you, this is a NOTHING workout. But afterward, I felt like I was going to puke my guts out. Those 2 sets of 15 crunches on the stability ball just about did me in. I watched Gidget sleeping right next to me as I grunted and groaned. The sweat was so intense that I had to wipe it off several times, and wonder if maybe, just maybe, I was taking it a little too fast. TOO FAST??? Geez. This is not the "me" of several months ago, when I was adding to my workout, and it was not the "me" of several years ago, when I spent at least an hour daily hitting the iron. But I had to start somewhere, right?

And I hate cardio. God, how I hate it. I'm not going to do any until my strength gets a little better. My heart was already pumping like I was running a marathon. And now I'm tired. You know the feeling after you've pumped iron for a while. You want to collapse. At least I do. I'm gonna love tomorrow. Yoga. Ahhhhhhhh... stretching to beautiful, calming music.

So here I start the tough road back. I know it's not going to be easy. But I've got to try. Sistah, you there with me?

Nazdrowie'

Paczki Puta

A Matter of Health

During the last 2 years, I have been dealing with a cough that wouldn't go away. I finally had the necessary tests done, and the verdict was something that I can't accept... a lung fungus that will never heal.

I went through taking all the poisons (medications) that the doctor wanted me to take to combat this "never healing" fungus. They made me sicker than the disease. So I stopped. Cold. But I didn't give up. I decided to go on a holistic approach to killing this thing. I have long been a believer in holistic medicine, having used it to help me several times in my life. After all, if you had a choice between taking rat poison (anti-coagulant) or drinking a glass or two of wine every night, wouldn't you choose the wine? Thought so.

I started this with a complete body and parasite cleanse. It's just a series of herbs that help your organs to push out all the creeping crud that accumulates in the body. I am in Week #2 of the cleanse, and am feeling better than I have felt in a really long time. It hasn't been harsh on my system either.

The idea of doing a body cleanse came to me after talking to one of my cousins (thank you Amy), about how she did the same thing before her cancer surgery. She said she never felt better, and the meds she had to take after the surgery worked so much more effectively than if she hadn't done it at all. It made a lot of sense to me. I don't want to end my life having to take more and more medications just to function normally. Since that is what was happening, I concluded that the crap is building up in my system, making it less effective than it would have been otherwise. I'm sleeping better now, eating less (I'm just not hungry), and am stronger physically than I had been the last few months. I am actually cleaning house now! (Pick your jaw up from the floor...) It's still a little rough going, but I am SO much better than I was just a short month ago. Maybe soon I'll be able to get back on my workout program. Oh hell... housework IS a workout!

I haven't gone back on the meds for the lung thingy. I'm going to try a homeopathic remedy after the cleanse is over. I'll keep you posted.


Nazdrovie'

Paczki Puta