Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - Gym Post

So at 16 weeks I think it's only fair that I post my gym workouts..I have been doing these for about two weeks now - my lateral strength is back, still working on the other hip muscles to return. I've been wanting Kevin to come to the gym to photograph me doing certain things but with his class schedule and everything else it's a little difficult - plus I don't want to look like the weirdo having pictures taken of her at the gym! SO...I figured the fitness center in the hotel this weekend would be the perfect time to showcase my moves and how far I've come already. Obviously, the hotel gym lacks in equipments so I could only show a few things and some I had to improvise - but you'll get the point.

So, I first start out either on the stationary (upright) bike or elliptical. Sorry, these pictures are really blurry since I was moving. I'll either do 30 minutes at moderate level or 20 minutes on one and another 10 on the other machine to mix things up. I try to not hold on so I'm getting a full body workout and really try to refrain from going too fast so I'm not doing any heavy weight bearing on the leg just yet. I try to be real light on my feet.

After I get nice and warmed up, I'll move to either arms, legs or abs. Since we're at the hotel today and they don't have much in the way of equipment, I went with abs just to help show my strength. If you want me to show other workouts, just leave me comments and I can do that as well. My first ab exercise (which I usually do between arm exercises) are the V-sit crunches. I'll sit on the edge of a bench and (at the moment) hold on just behind my butt and extend me feet out and then back into my chest - this counts as one. Prior to surgery I was doing 3 sets of 50...but just starting out again I can only manage 3 sets of 20. In between these, I'll hold onto the end of the bench, extending my legs straight out in front of me with heels on the floor, and do 15 dips to work on the triceps (one set after each V-sit set). It's totally awkward doing exercises while someone is snapping a picture and not look too posed. Apologies.

Next, (and usually every gym day regardless if it's an ab day, arm, day or leg day) I do reverse crunches on the Bosu Ball Rack.

This is one of the pieces the fitness center didn't have, so I had to improvise with the hand rails of the treadmill. Normally, I would rest my elbow on the pads and let my legs dangle, then using lower abs and hip muscles, curl my legs up towards my chest slowly and back down. You do not want to do a swinging motion as that doesn't allow you to target the muscles but relying on the motion to swing your legs up - not good. Here, I had to rest on my hands and try to get the same motion. I do 3 sets of 10. I may alternate with curling them to the left and right sides as well to target different areas.

From here I may do other arm curl exercises, crunches on an incline bench or squats. I was only doing a short workout so I didn't go too nuts. To finish the workout, I always stretch. Stretching is the most important part of working out and it's even more crucial when recovering from surgery. But you must go gentle and slow. Don't expect to do splits on week 6.

I'll typically do standing, legs spread reach down to each foot to stretch the hammies, then into a lunge stretch to mainly target the front of my hip, then straighten that front let to get the calves and hammies again, and standing on one leg pulling the foot to your but to stretch the quads and front of hip. Down on the floor, one leg out and one curled in and down to one side, then the other, finishing in a pike stretch. This is a quick glimpse of those as well as to see the flexibility thus far to hopefully show improvement over the next few months.

I hope you enjoyed my workout post and comment below with questions!

Thanks for following!