Mom Rocks

Ok, It’s time to go weekly instead of daily. I finished the week with a whimper. My volunteering on Wednesday was awesome. I totally loved it, and got a fantastic workout. Unfortunately, the recovery was intense. It’s 5 days later, and this is the first day I’m going to attempt a real work out, and even then, I’m going to sub regular down dog for the bear block. My left hamstring is still killing me.

All that said, I definitely felt the effects of my workouts during the volunteering on Wednesday. I was stronger, more stable, and more able to use those thigh muscles that have been squatting so so so much. Also, lots of time in a semi bear crawl position – leaning over, using my hands and shoulders. So, real world effects are beginning.

Another lasting legacy of the volunteering, poison oak. I’ve got little patches all over – not a surprise, and nothing super annoying. I find the key to keeping it under control is a very soapy shower just as soon as possible after exposure – isolate all the clothes (hats glasses and masks too) and launder/clean them before use again. If I do this, then the patches that show up are small – just a dot or two where the plant actually touched me. If I don’t (usually because I don’t know I touched it), then the oils have time to spread out and I get large palm sized patches (or larger).

So, I’m back to +2. hmpf. I’ve been focusing more on the exercise than the diet. Oh well, I’m still feeling pretty good about it.

I’ve been out in the real world lately. On Day 7, I was complete jelly from the exercise the day before, and other than some light stretching, I took the day off. Yesterday, the kids and I headed to the Zoo. We were there for 5 hours! Our zoo isn’t a flat meandering sort of place, it’s on a steep hillside. Even a short trip is decent exercise. After 5 hours, I was again completely exhausted.

Today, more real world exercise. I’m volunteering for invasive species removal in one of my local parks. Four hours of pulling Scotch Broom (Cytisus scoparius) should put me in the same state today.

Today, I tried again to complete the first day of the GMB program. I had high hopes, I can feel my body getting stronger… but still no joy. One part of the ‘bear block’ that I haven’t yet successfully done even in practice is the twisty leg extended bit. Today I tried it, and it felt off in my knee and with my foot. The knee pain is unfamiliar, but the foot pain is the familiar issue that I’m dealing with. So, for now, I’m taking that completely off the table.

Little bits of progress are happening. I was able to complete 60 seconds of squats (slightly modified) with a 30 second break. I also did the bear block for 60 seconds – but during the second rep had to just rest in down dog for the last 15 seconds or so. In all, I did the warm up, the practice section (with the exception of the twisty bits), and 2 out of 3 reps of the push section – with only slight modification. So, maybe by the end of next week? we’ll see.

I am continuing to push on the exercise days, and do the ‘active recovery’ on the in between days. My body certainly feels it. my thighs are like jelly right now.

Oh, and (way to bury the lede) I finally have a pound lost – so Day 6: -1. Yay.

On to the rest of my Sunday – a game, a birthday party, and lamb shanks for dinner.

Here we are, 5 days in, and I’m finally back to my original starting weight. Yesterday was the last day of school, so I was off my diet plan – ice cream and our first out to dinner (outside) since last February. The kids and I did get out for a walk, and I did my GMB exercises.

Today is an ‘active recovery’ day. I did the back stretches, and it felt again like it approached a light workout rather than rest – and I think that’s what it’s supposed to feel like.

While my body does hurt – I’ve got aching muscles all over the place – it’s the good post work out kind of ache, not an injury ache. I do have something wrong in my right foot (I’ve had a ton of foot problems over the last decade), and I’ve got something off in my left hip/glute/lower back area. I’m thinking that both will improve with the GMB routine.

In the mean time, I’m drinking my water / tea, I’m moderating my diet, and I’m being more conscious about movement – not just in workouts. I’m finding myself squatting instead of bending when I reach into the bottom cabinets. I’m aware of the stretch, and the muscles that bring me back to standing when I bend to take stuff out of the dishwasher. I’m working to include at least short walks into my days post work-out, which I think will also help me recover faster. And, I’ve been getting very good sleeps.

Two more days will make it a week – and the longest I’ve kept to a consistent daily routine in years.

First, the Day 1 Report:

• Net weight +2. I know this is going to go up and down, so I’m not freaking out about it yet.
• Food: I did good. I met my 4 glasses (pints) of water goal with tea. I also had coffee with half and half, and my only big break from the plan, a glass of wine. I had a salad for lunch with extra chicken and home-made pickles. For dinner, I had a hamburger (no ketchup, no bun) green beans, 1/2 corn on the cob, and crudités. I also had a midnight snack of salami with cream cheese and blue cheese. For supplements, I took fiber, vitamin D and women’s multi.
• Exercise: As I already reported, I did the first day of GMB’s free week.
• Other: My sleep was horrible. I couldn’t get to sleep for hours, and then when I finally did, my youngest had bad dreams, and that kept both of us up until the not so wee hours of the morning. I’m working on only about 3 solid hours of sleep today. It’s a common problem for me, and I know I’ll push through it.

Now, onto Day 2

I feel good – besides the lack of sleep. My body feels used – my quads, triceps, shoulders, and glutes feel it most, but I’m impressed by the wide distribution of minor aches. I’ve got that early exercise soreness deep in my belly, in my chest, back, hands and wrists, just about everywhere. It may be the endorphins talking, but it seems to me that the day 1 GMB was a nice full body warm up, and I’m feeling it – in a good way. Otherwise, I also feel pretty good. No headache, no heartburn – both common problems for me.

My plan for the day is more of the same. The GMB routine for day 2 is a choose your own adventure. They call it active recovery, and the moves I have to choose from are all primarily stretches, with a bit of movement and weight bearing exercise mixed in. The routines to choose from are hips, back, and shoulder focused. I’m feeling motivated, so I figure I’ll do all three. I’ve already completed the hip one, and It felt good. a couple of the moves were easy, a couple hard, and one I couldn’t really get my body to move correctly. Next time, I’ll try it with a prop.

So, I’ve been looking around for a workout routine. I’ve chosen to start with GMB Fitness because it looks more fun than most, I like the focus on movement, and the ability to do everyday things. The mom endorsements were the kicker. Every mom that’s tried to do yoga with toddlers around understands that the cat/cow pose is actually ‘horsie’ and child’s pose is actually an invitation to pile on mommy. A fitness routine that allows for the intervention of kids, and uses it as a benefit – yes, please.

Let’s be clear on my starting place. I’m way out of shape. I love to hike. I can walk for miles, and do fairly often, but that’s about the extent of my fitness routine. I’m also overweight. So, anything is going to be difficult for me. I’ve never been a consistent exerciser apart from hiking, and in the summer, swimming. I do both of those for entertainment though, not for exercise.

I looked at a bunch of different programs last week, including the GMB fitness program. I picked it as the early winner over the weekend and signed up for their free intro week today. I’ve just completed the first workout. It was pretty tough and sometimes awkward.

I like the set up – they have an intro section where you hear about what you’re about to do. Next a prepare section with some stretchy warmup things, then practice and push. Finally they wrap with a Ponder section – which I think is lovely – think about what you just did and make some notes.

It was certainly a workout – relatively short, but I was breathing hard even in the warmup section. The wrist exercises and stretches were surprisingly hard, and I can see how they will build strength and flexibility that will work into the weird flowy yoga/gymnastics movements that I see in the more advanced videos. Squats are squats, and they were tough, but the bear walk, which was basically a moving downward dog was the toughest of the day.

I admit that when I got to the end of the ‘push’ section, I was feeling pretty proud of myself for getting all the way through it. Then, I scrolled down and saw that it said to do the thing 3 times and I said a bad word. I’ll try again later, but I did not do the thing 3 times.

Overall, a good first experience!