Tag Archives: #excercise

My Journey back

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Week 17

I thought last week was an interesting week but no; it wasn’t. This week my dad tested positive for COVID-19 and I was a close contact, despite having a negative result I had to isolate for seven days. Couldn’t leave the house and do my usual out door runs or do weights. So I went on YouTube and downloaded strength and cardio exercise to do at home. My strength training exercise did not involve weights. Used my own body weight. My cardio exercise involved dancing, and I had a good workout.

What did I learn

•             I have done weights for months, lifted heavy weights and not once have I pulled a muscle, but when I did home exercise, I pulled a couple of muscles.

•             When I go for my jog or do weights, I wear my gym clothes but at home I worked out in my pyjamas, no shoes, just socks, didn’t have to worry about my hair.

•             Another great thing about working out at home is, you can wake up late because you don’t have to get dressed to leave the house or worry about rain or anything.

•             You don’t have to worry about stopping to let cars pass, or overtake people while running, tripping over a cracked pavement or the sun blocking my eyes.

Articles

31 Advantages and Benefits of Working Out At Home. https://shapelyways.com/benefits-working-out-at-home/

My Journey back

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Week 9

It is autumn here. I am happy doing runs when the day is cooler and cloudy. The days are getting shorter and it’s still dark by 6 am. I avoid running in the dark, love running when I can see outside. So my running time has changed. The days are getting shorter and cooler.

The past weeks, I have been increasing my reps during my strength training and increased my workout days. What have I learnt the following weeks?

  • My legs are stronger than my arms, my legs can lift 30 kilos, but my arm can lift 20 kilos.
  • Doing leg curls and going for a run the next day is hard on the legs, but I kept pushing.
  • I felt exhausted the first time I ran up the hill. But now I ran up and down the hill twice and feel fine.
  • A stray cat followed me, but it must have got bored with me and disappeared. I remember once someone’s dog ran beside me and the owner was calling the dog to stop, but the dog didn’t stop and kept running with me until I stopped and the owner came and got the dog. Dogs prefer running than cats.
  • The mind says, “we will go for a run tomorrow.” I ignore that voice and feel glad I did a run in the morning.
  • Squatting reduces back pains. I had a back pain, and I did a squat and the pain disappeared. Love squats.
  • If I am going to miss a running day, I will combine it with my strength training day. I run for thirty minutes and do strength training.
  • Rest when your body is tired. You can exercise the next day.
  • If you want to run further, trick the mind. Sometimes your mind says. ‘We should stop now’. Say ‘yes’ and keep running. It works for me.

My Journey back

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Week 7

This week I started strength training, lifting weights since I haven’t lifted weights for over two years, began lifting smaller weights and will progress. Woke up the next morning with my quads hurting. Did my morning run, and I used an alternative route, thought I had done an hour of running (I never check my Fitbit tracker until I complete a circuit.), Noticed I had only done thirty-seven minutes, so had to run the route for the second time. On Wednesday, I got my walking steps by getting lost. I walked in the opposite directions, my GPS is to blame.

I came across an article about the benefits of strength training. Strength training helps you lose calories, boost your mood, makes your stranger, builds lean muscles, and it also emphasises on starting on a smaller weight and not overdoing it. I do strength training for an hour. 

14 Benefits of strength training.

https://www.healthline.com/health/fitness/benefits-of-strength-training

Another article I came across explains the different strength training. I do muscle endurance, where I lift weights. They also say you should strength train at least twice a week. So my exercise days have increased, I do one day cardio and the next day I strength train. I avoid doing them both on the same day.

Strenght Training 101: Dos and Don’t for beginners. https://www.womenshealthmag.com/fitness/a30522035/what-is-strength-training/

My Journey Back

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Week 2

 Increased my distance this week by one kilometre, increased my runs and reduced my walking time, did 5km for three days. Weight reduced by 0.4g, happy with the results, slow progress is better than no progress.

Things I had to change this week, changed my yogurt to a low fat yogurt, eat foods high in carbs such as wraps, and increase my protein intake. I didn’t know wraps were high in carbs than bread and used to avoid them. Made sure my food had both protein and carbs, for example, a chicken wrap. 

This week two of my days were fun, enjoyed my run but on my last day had a bad run day. I didn’t sleep well, which led to my body being tired, which affected my run. On top of this, I had to run up and down a hill, which was tiring after not running up and down a hill for a year. The secret to running up a hill is to go fast and running down is going slow. They were moments I wanted to stop when I run up the hill but kept pushing. Running down is much easier. Walled back home after my hill running.

Saw a lady who walks with her little dog. A few years ago, her dog approached me and I walked away from the dog and the lady said.

“My dog just wanted to say hi.”

Today I saw the lady with her dog again and stopped and said hi to her dog and found out where she leaves. Don’t worry, I wasn’t stalking her. She stays a few blocks from my house.

It was verge collection this week. All the neighbours throw their rubbish, so my run was interesting because I got to see what everyone was throwing away. Many people seem to throw their old sofas away, mattresses and appliances. Some people’s verge had blocked the walk path and had to run on the road. 

Since I hadn’t run for a while, I was happy to see the usual suspects on my road. The usual suspects are people who you see on regular bases going for their walks or run. The Old Asian couple who walk every morning, the lady who goes and buys her newspaper, the lady with the small white dog, the guy with a big white dog, the old Indian guy who walks fast up and down the road. Haven’t seen the old man with the brown dog and the Asian guy who runs with a backpack, (I don’t know why he runs with a backpack, maybe he has water inside his backpack) and the man who walks barefoot on the middle of the road.

Saw an interesting article on Women Running about running and treadmills. Hate running on treadmills because time passes slowly, and it feels boring because you are running on the same spot. Guess running outdoors makes time move fast because to notice different things.

Why Does Treadmill Running Feel Harder Than Outside?