"Fitness is a journey, not a destination. It must be continued for the rest of your life."
Dr Kenneth Cooper, founder of the Cooper Aerobics Center and the man who coined the term "aerobics"
(I interviewed him once in the 1980s. He's a fascinating guy.)
Last weekend I managed to hurt my back somehow, and in seeing my doctor this past week, she said that I sprained a joint in my lower back (I didn't think I HAD a joint in my lower back, but it has been a long time since I studied Greys Anatomy). She gave me a prescription for pain meds that I can't take without getting very sleepy (so I obviously can't take them during the day) and recommended that I go to physical therapy to find out how to do abdominal exercises to strengthen my lower back. I explained to her that I have been doing abdominal exercises for over a year, and she said "Then you must have been doing them wrong." Oy.
I am blaming the back trouble on the Saturday surprise (last Saturday, not this one) class in which we were supposed to learn to salsa, samba and shimmy our hips to fast-paced Latin music. Unfortunately, my belly and hips just refused to swing and shake and sway that way. I ended up looking like a hippopotamus doing the hula. That and the bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich that I succumbed to eating, filled with swell-inducing nitrates, I think had my back at a disadvantage.
So now I am trying to figure out ways to still exercise and not hurt my back further. Spin class has been okay, without any back-pulling manuvers, and I managed to get through balls and weights once, too. But kickboxing ala Janice nearly did me in. Billie usually teaches kickboxing, and its a fun aerobic workout, but Janice, as is her wont, is into extreme fitness, and her version of kickboxing involves a lot more leaping and kneeing the unseen enemy in the groin as you smash his face with a punch or a kick.
By the end of class I thought I was going to keel over. But that is generally how I feel after a Janice class. She gives no quarter, but by the same token, she doesn't expect us to do anything that she wouldn't do herself. She's always right in there, kicking, leaping and flinging out lethal blows to invisible enemies that make the rest of us look pretty wimpy.
I have to admire the woman. She has guts and underneath her no-nonsense exterior beats a kind heart. She is training to be at a bodybuilder competition, and I am astonished at how muscular she's become, particularly because she's only 5 feet tall (she seems much taller because her persona is 6 foot 4). Anyway, she's been eating carefully and lifting heavy weights and working her rump off, and I hope that she wins the first competition she enters at the end of the month. Go Janice go!
Meanwhile, though, I only made it to 4 workouts this week, and tomorrow I will take spin, but I hope that I've not set myself back by making and eating a couple dozen whole wheat craisin-raisin-oatmeal cookies with no egg or dairy, using only olive oil and some brown sugar, plus the flour, oatmeal etc. They were yummy, and I couldn't stop eating them. My addiction to sugar will not be denied!
Today I had a dutch apple bagel from Panera Breads that was heavenly! I also had a blueberry bagel with lettuce, tomato and turkey, and some baked chips (130 cal worth.) Yum. I wish we had a Panera Breads in Maple Valley, and a bookstore, but instead my whole family has to travel to Issaquah for those stores. Arg.
I happened to get a gift certificate to Lane Bryant and to Barnes and Noble as a late Xmas gift (Thanks Frank!) and I managed to get 120 worth of clothing for 20 bucks with my gift certificate and because of clearance discounts. YAY! And I have to say I was thrilled to note that I am a size 18/20 (more 18 than 20) when back in December 2006 I was a size 28. So I am getting there, ever so slowly, but inevitably. Here's hoping that I drop another couple of sizes this spring and summer!
It will soon be walking season, so I look forward to getting out there and hitting the local trails.
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