To feed 8 cats and myself each morning. Other than that I have absolutely no motivation other than to enjoy my day what ever may come my way. Today I culled thru hard drives I had boxed due to being full. I still have more than a few to go thru to at least find out where things are that I know I have. It rained early and the lights went out on cue because this is lousyanna, so I lay down for two hours and slept for a while before the lights came back on, by that time it was already 1:30pm. Two nights ago I was sleeping so good I actually rolled off the side of the bed on my face. It woke me up fast and no harm done except for a slight bruise on my right big toe. I had to sit on the side of the bed nursing the ache in my toe for a couple minutes but had a really good laugh, the cats are all sitting there on their little perch overlooking the bed and all were grinning. First time in 74 years I ever rolled off my bed, those allergy pills are just killer, stops sinuses and makes you sleep like a snowball.
Well, my one leg is quite a bit worse than I thought, think I might go to the doc and see what he thinks. I mentioned how my calf raise exercises were a bust, I could barely elevate my body using my calf muscles. So, I thought maybe walking around the house on my tiptoes whenever might help. The first time I tried to tiptoe with my right foot, it just collapsed, completely unable to support my weight on my tiptoe on my right leg. It’s no wonder I’ve been finding walking laborious. While sitting last night, I used a nylon strap wrapped around the ball of my foot and used my calf muscle to pull against it. I can put some resistance against it but it’s not much. I’m surprised I could be unaware of such marked specific weakness.
The threshold of front and back doors are generally elevated anywhere from 1/2” to 1 1/2”. If you place the very front of your feet on the elevated part and keep your heels on the lower side and lean forward whilst trying to lift your heels, it might be a more comfortable and hopefully a more productive exercise. Even if you do not try to lift your heels, it should provide for a good stretch. Interestingly enough, I had a muscle cramp in my left calf last night that refuses to fully snap loose. I used the exercise I mentioned to stretch the muscle out and it helped quite a bit but I’m headed right now to grab my 10’s pen which should shock the muscle back to normalcy.
This post motivated me to get back to exercise! Usually I only walk at home on a treadmill or on the street, but I clearly lack strengthening exercises
I’m still at it. Haven’t increased or added to it yet since I had some stomach thing which set me back a bit. I sure do hate exercising just to exercise. I do feel a bit better, tighter, more in control of my body, but it doesn’t make me like it any better. And yeah, I think strength training is beneficial. It doesn’t have to be that strenuous, just give the muscles something to keep them in shape. Tasks are easier, not so likely to pull something or strain doing some things when muscles don’t have to work so hard at normal things. Good luck!
My motivation for exercise comes from seeking the same thing Ponce de Leon sought and seer vanity trying to maintain a beach worthy bikini body at least till age 90. My motivation differs from my reasons which are all health related. To clarify, when I exercised wearing baggy sweats solely for health reasons, I slopped through my routines and cut some short and omitted some I wasn't in the mood to do. Once I started wearing a bikini for warm weather and a crop top sports bra and leggings for cooler weather, I added more target exercises and did them all with more definition. By checking my measures and different poses in the mirror, I became my own drill Sargent. The results were amazing. If I compare my waist measures from when I was 62 to my measures now at 72, the results are unbelievable. At 62 I wore a 34" waist and now I wear a 27" waist. I had a roll that looked like a flotation device. While I look better and while that is a plus to a girl, one such as myself, the main perk is feeling better and general health. My fitness helped me to get through cancer surgery in record time. My early morning, first thing after getting up, workout is how I disassociate from the horrible head pain I have on waking. It is how I work out body soreness that bothers me from head to toe, however health isn't my main motivation. Pure vanity trying to look youthful and sexy is what keeps me pushing on with my workout. Shameful and perhaps even sinful in the eyes of some, but that is the game I play with myself. Without vanity, I would stop working out and just give up. Sad but true.
Maybe you’d do a bit better with a little word salad. I have posted it before but there is one word that is never said and another that is rarely said in a gym setting. The word exercise is always replaced with training or workout and if we take notice, even the military calls it training or “the daily dozen”. It’s a psychological thing. For some reason “exercise” is kind of a negative trigger word that doesn’t really set up positive goals whereas “I have to train” has a positive connotation to it which indicates that there is a mental goal. Diet is the other one. We rarely say, I’m on a diet. Nutritional plan or even, I have a dietary plan, is the counterpart to the word diet. Diet is an across the board generic word that means just about anything you want it to mean. It doesn’t set a goal much less a healthy one in as much as most diets aren’t really that healthy….and boring. I know. Pototoes, potatoes, tomotoes, tomatoes. Still, all words have meanings and some have psychological inferences so it would seem reasonable that the right word in the right place makes all the difference in the world.
Yeah, I can see a little vanity coming into play when I train. I certainly do not want to go through a bunch of motions that won’t make me look bigger and better and I do definitely like the turned heads for a muscled up 73 year old. Still, I never liked the feeling of being defenseless and stove up but to that, maybe there’s some vanity/ego attached to that too. Probably.
The main drive in my vanity is trying to encourage younger women to stay fit as they age and be strong women and honor their natural born female bodies. I am a strong advocate of natural born females being proud of their bodies whatever shape they have and doing what they can to keep it in the best form possible. I am sickened by this "woke" nonsense that an obese young lady and her obesity because she lacks control with food, self esteem, and the drive to change, should be able to wear the same form fitting clothes a fit female would. Older women have earned the right to give up if they desire. I admire all that are faced with weight gain after menopause and still do what they can to exercise. I place exercise over what foods we eat because as senior natural born females we have survived monthly mensural inconvenience, most of us pregnancy, childbirth, and then as nature, God, evolution, or the universe (place the blame where you may) would have it, menopause. After menopause is over or lessened, we have earned the right to eat, drink, and be merry. P.S. Thanks to @Beth Gallagher I am now enjoying my 9 AM beer, cheese, and crackers guilt free. I won't even apologize for getting buzzed after one beer and going braless. Remember I get up at 3 AM so I have been up 6 hours before sipping the suds and debraing.
I saw a few YouTube vids where WAY overweight older and younger females [and males] were claiming themselves to be a 10 or some such and being generally proud to be so overweight. Now, it is indeed a wonderful thing that people can feel great about themselves even in spite of whatever someone else might opine differently. That said, the saying that “beauty is only skin deep” is mostly true but sans medical reasons for the inability to lose weight and be healthier overall, that under-the-skin beauty isn’t really beautiful at all and downright dangerous for the one carrying the weight around. Still, I’m not member of the weight police and whatever someone wants to do is their business as long as they don’t hit me with the electric scooter whilst I’m at Walmart or Sam’s.
Breakfast of champions? Personally I don't have a beer before 3 p.m. or so, usually with my dinner. But we are all adults so we can decide what's right for us, and I don't believe there are any time restrictions on beer. (Plus I'm usually going to bed about the time you're getting up...haha.) I agree about obesity being glorified as in any way attractive. Anyone with eyes knows that fat is not "pretty", nor is it healthy. My weight fluctuates so I know the never-ending battle to keep the pounds from creeping up. I'm sure the push to normalize and glorify overweight is because 3/4 of Americans are fat.
I can’t say much because years ago I had a couple of good morning beers which followed the “I haven’t been to bed yet” beers which generally followed the I don’t know what day it is beers. I just figure that when i decided to quit I had already consumed enough for a life time of good mornings so it’s straight black coffee and whatever happens after that happens.
You got it girl! When we don't want to take an affirmative action, we resort to justifying. The way I look at it is, us older women whether battling anorexia or obesity, have earned our right to look as we please and no justifying necessary. My breakfast was finished by 4 AM, so my snack and beer at 9 AM is a mid day meal, preparing for lunch at 11 AM. I have never had a beer for breakfast, but so have to confess to having a bloody Mary once for breakfast after the one all night craziness I foolishly pulled off once in my 30s. Never again!