Firstly a little bit of honesty, things have not been too good recently. I am currently off work suffering from anxiety, stress and exhaustion so my poor old Blog has suffered a wee bit. Any kind of heightened anxiety makes you over analyse things so any draft Blogs I have composed have been scrutinised so many times they had lost their meaning and, in turn, me with them. So, having now deleted all the ‘anxious’ ones, this is me getting back on the blogging track with a catch up.
My friends what is the one thing a recovering gymophobe does not want to hear from your GP or read in any ‘anxiety’ related material? The promotion of exercise! For example this article from Harvard Medical School publications positively encourages exercise as a means to coping and recovery, and as I hate being ill in any shape form or size and constantly feel like I would rather just stay under the duvet in my PJ’s, the gym has had to factor largely in the last few days.
So what have I been up to? Well dear friends you better sit down and get a strong drink in your hand for a brief summary because the gym at the Western Tennis Club on Hyndland Road has become a second home. I have been going for an hour four days a week as well as working out at home. Yes, you did read that correctly, I have been doing two days doing mainly cardio on the treadmill, bike and rowing machine, and two sessions with GymGuyMark. Do I feel better, yes and no! It is almost like being back at the beginning again, bits of my body are complaining like never before, my legs are about to go on all out strike because of all of the walking I am doing and my arms, well they are just refusing to speak to me. However having said all that, my poor old body is feeling the benefit in one way, sleep. I am knackered in a good way, so 5 out of 10 times my sleep is a healthy one and not interrupted or stressful.
What are we up to in the Gym?
GymGuyMark has my weights up on one of the machines; he didn’t tell me he was doing it, which was probably a good thing. My poor arms felt like they were hauling a herd of elephants into the air but I did all the reps and kept my arms in their sockets. Have completely forgotten what the weight was though.
We have also been using the kettlebells again. I was having a bit of trouble getting the movement right so GymGuyMark told me to think Nelly the Elephant and swing it like a trunk! It then took me at least 5 minutes to try and get that song out of my head only for it to be replaced by Oh Mickey by Toni Basil. Believe you me the sight of GymGuyMark doing his cheerleader routine is something to behold. Little success here as well, the kettlebell weight was 12kg. Ouch!
Finally the one other session we had was a boxing/self-defence lesson. I fully admit that I love this; the tension it releases in a controlled environment with an experienced instructor is amazing. It is not as easy as it looks as it does takes patience to learn and to control some of the movements. The day after this session my shoulders,arms and legs had formed a union and were starting picket lines, it hurt so much but the wee bit of confidence it instilled helped me cope with a very stressful situation.
So my friends, that is just a brief catch up, other parts of my life may be off track at the moment however the goal to look fabulous in the frock at fifty is still there. But for now I am still singing along with Lena Martell and taking it one day at a time.
Gx Back to normal blogging!