Physically fitness getting better. Mental,....

[captainsblog]

Another stretch of yardwork today reminded me of having made some decent progress with keeping myself in decent shape for an old guy.  I continued the process of removing the tripwiry wisteria vines that burrow under our back lawn and then entangle themselves on everything from trees to cable boxes up above.  It again occurred to me that my current fitness routine was good preparation for this kind of work- or maybe the other way around.

The leading brand of "suspension training" systems goes by the name TRX- for Total Resistance (E)xercise. You may have seen them hanging on a wall at a gym near you-



The trainer I was with from the beginning of my slow descent from almost 300 pounds eventually installed one of these. Or rather, installed a knockoff of one, and it detached from the wall while I was in much the pose in that photo and led to a rather embarrassing (but non-injurious) faceplant.  The current studio has 14 of them, one at each of its "floor" stations, and they're the real deal and properly attached. Trust me, I checked.  Early on, one of their trainers gave a free seminar on their use. He explained that they were originally made out of parachute straps by military guys on an island who had nothing else to use for resistance training.

After doing outdoor work like I did today, I have an alternate theory:

Wisteria vines are basically TRX straps with dirt on them. As I spent a good chunk of this morning defoliating another Big Gulp garbage can's worth of them from over our heads and under our back lawn, I counted off the TRX moves (supposedly there are hundreds of them).  High rows, low rows, pullups and Y-raises- they were all in there. And best of all, no need to wipe the handles down when you're done:)

Three years, now, of this regimen kept me well below the worst-weight I started at something like seven years ago, and for most of the past year I'd stayed rather stuck in the 250-255 range- rarely going above, and only once ever noticing I'd slipped below.

But then came dog- and with her, daily morning walks and frequent evening chases.  I don't obsessively check weight at home or at the studio where I do these workouts, but the gym I use for cardio has the Official Scale I've relied on for years- and for the past two weeks, even with some breaks from the sessions and a few days of eating more than usual for ballgames or birthdays, that number has held steady closer to 245 for most of this month.

Eleanor's doing well, too. She wanted to have her shoulder checked out after her faceplant last weekend, especially because she'd had trouble with it before and had been to one doctor to check it out. She found him to be difficult to deal with and was condescending about both her (our) primary practice's medical advice and about some of the exercises Eleanor's PT had given her. So she switched this week to another doctor- one who'd previously seen her about pain in another body area- and it was night and day. He was encouraging about both our primary's diagnosis and about her PT efforts to contain the pain.  She wound up feeling very happy about both the experience and her own efforts that it validated. And I join her in that happiness.

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My plan was to get in as much yardwork as I could this morning because I had fun plans for this afternoon. Rochester friends of mine have hosted an annual outdoor deck party at their place for as long as I've known them, and this was the first year I both remembered it and wasn't conflicted with one competing thing or another. They even invited me to bring the puppy along!  This seemed a good idea for a number of reasons: it would keep Pepper from pining for me as she did last month when I met up with these friends for the Jazz Festival concert, and it would be her first road trip with me.  In time, I hope to be able to take her to see Emily and Cameron, and if an hour trip is going to be good, well, we can move to two, three, and maybe eventually the needed ten (with pitstops as needed).

My other weekend chore is going through my phone and email to make sure I've got all my work time recorded for the previous week. When I opened Outlook, the party came up- but on tomorrow's page. Huh. I coulda sworn it was today.

Don't swear, Ray. A quick check of the Event on Facebook confirmed that it is, indeed tomorrow. Woulda been pretty AWKWARRRRD if I'd shown up 24 hours early with dog and food in tow and quite probably nobody even there. (Scott's high school reunion is tonight.)

Least I caught it at the "do no harm" stage. So we're regrouping to do it tomorrow- after our usual dog park run at 8 and a workout for me at 10. Possibly even involving TRX straps.

Comments

[warriorsavant]

Yeah, gyms are for people who don't have physically demanding jobs (or hobbies). When I did belong to a gym, I generally walked there - made no sense to drive somewhere to exercise.

[uninvitedcat]

Congrats on losing the weight AND on keeping it off!