Day 5: OK… I fulfilled my commitment to walk/jog for 30 minutes each morning this work week with one day off. I have done it! I took our dog Rio with me this morning knowing that it would be hard to jog steadily with him since he wants to stop and smell/pee on everything. He is out of shape too and was fairly cooperative with some coaching especially on the way back because he was already pooped (pun intended). We did 42 minutes and went almost as far as yesterday. I jogged “off and on” for a few short blocks but the calves were still burning and I could feel my lower back “talking” so I walked the rest of the way. The shins felt much better however so that is good. I also verified my heart rate was at 135 after stopping which is in the correct range for cardio although the low end. Afterward, I actually did some stretching and leg lifts for the Abs…
Time for a new commitment: I am going to let my calves rest this weekend and then do the same thing next week with the intention of jogging the entire distance each day and maybe going a bit further. I will listen to my body and replace jogging with swimming if necessary. I am also going to get my bike fixed up so I can mix it up a bit and glue the sole of my shoe back on… 🙂
Until Monday…
Go baby, go! How wonderful that you are on a path now.
Let’s hope this gets published. I’m having trouble.
OXOX
Mom
Work it Siechen!
Fantastic Job Mark. Don’t worry about doing ab exercises right now. Working on abs at this point in your journey is kind of like trying to install windows in a house that hasn’t had the frame even built yet. It’s premature. Trevor is right when he refers to the squat. The squat is touted as probably the single best exercise you can do. And the cool thing is there are about 1000 ways to do it. Right now I would recommend doing air squats – just simple squats where your arms are straight out in front of you, keep head up, back straight, chest up, feet a little wider than shoulder width and toes pointed about 30 degrees out, keep heels on the ground and squat down so your upper legs are at least parallel to the ground. This exercise can kick you in the butt far more than will be immediately apparent. A huge amount of muscle groups and connective tissue will be activated so don’t overdo it.
This is absolutely awesome. The first few weeks suck, baby steps, but you’ll get there. I’m pulling for you – you go man!
Good job Mark. A suggestion to shake things up. Two simple but very effective activities are squats and push ups. Both will raise the heart rate, reduce the impact on the lower back and build strength. My trainer once told me if there were one workout to do it would be squats.
T