Active Hypochondria

I'm getting to this blog late because we've been out of the house all day. Literally. I'm glad my dog is old and patient, sleeping most of the day when he's not barking at the UPS man. I let my son sleep in a bit but then off to the gym! I do a 10 minute warm up on the cross-trainer and then my body weight routine. My hip is soooo much better today although my left quad is peculiarly sore. I don't normally only have one sore limb if I've exerted myself. There's still the lingering "ghost" of discomfort in the left hip, almost like a warning sensation not to step a certain way. But no actual pain. Cool!

What's bothering me now is the tenderness under my rib cage. Right side. Which is where the liver resides. I'm not sure why I only started feeling pain there while doing pull ups, but it's not getting better. Now the area just under the right rib is tender to the touch. Unless I flex my abs and press hard. In which case, nothing actually hurts. So, to my medically untrained mind, that suggests not the muscle but the underlying organ. Uh oh. Liver. Gallbladder. Hmmmm. I look up symptoms online and find jaundice, nausea, death. Uh oh. I've been mildly queasy for the past few weeks, but I had attributed that to the seasonal changes screwing up my sinuses and inner ear and giving me mild vertigo. It happens every year. Maybe it's not my ears after all? I've been taking milk thistle to aid liver function. Could it be having an adverse effect? I haven't read anything that supports that notion about this particular herbal. Dang. I do love drinking sangria, hard cider and peach moscato. And I'm a flyweight.

Pain doesn't actually deter me from doing pull ups. Yeah, I'm stupid that way. Just like having a wonky hip didn't stop me from doing cardio, or whacking the kickboxing machine. I do have an appt to see my primary care physician for a routine physical but I'm thinking maybe I shouldn't wait 4 weeks to get this checked out? Maybe I'll just cut out alcohol, milk thistle and anything else even vaguely suspect? Or maybe I'll just call the doc tomorrow and ask them whether they think this is serious or not. Because I have no idea. I don't want to die young because of something stupid.

Because I have serious time constraints, I don't do a full Mat stretch. I also change the last set of push ups to Leg Lift Push Ups, doing 25 push ups with one leg raised, then another 25 with the other leg raised. Of course I'm doing it wrong. The YouTube videos say that do it with one leg raised, then again with the other leg and call that one push up. Uh, no. Your arms and chest worked that twice. It's two. I also add another full minute to one of the plank sets. I did the Bird Dog from the Straight Arm position for 30 seconds each side. That's really hard and I had trouble balancing. Then I dropped down to Knee and Elbow for anther 30 seconds each side. That's soooo much easier. Side Elbow planks are easier than Side Straight Arm Planks, and pulling the top leg up into the air is crazy hard. It's also fun and looks really silly.

I try to mitigate the pain in my abdomen by pulling my knees up to my chest. But that doesn't change anything. I also try positioning my hands on different bars but I smack into the side of the Cage. I'm really quite annoyed by all this because I'm just starting to feel like I've accomplished something by doing sets of pull ups and not wrecking my elbows. Two steps forward, one step back. At least I get to whack the kickboxing machine tomorrow. Yaaaay! And then I have to rush off for the annual mammogram that I didn't do last year, and be back in time to get my son from school to take him to kung fu, rush home to feed and walk the pup and ourselves before rushing off to a Cub Scout Pack meeting. Bleah! Friday I get to have SLT done on my left eye so I'm not even sure if I'll make it to the gym. Maybe I'll come in just to do cardio. Happy Autumnal Equinox!

Fall Equinox Humpday Workout
(3.9 miles cardio)

Cross Trainer

Warm Up

Calorie :   44 CAL
Distance: 1.19 mile
Speed :    7.09 mph
Duration : 00:10:06

Hammer Grip Pull Up

168

Set 1 : 112x15

Regular Push Up

Lost track!

Set 1 : 70 Lap/Rep

Straight Arm & Elbow Plank

Set 1 : 00:02:01

Diamond Push Up

30

Set 1 : 30 Lap/Rep

Bird Dog Plank

Set 1 : 00:02:01

Dand Push Up

30

Set 1 : 30 Lap/Rep

Side Elbow & Straight Arm Plank

Set 1 : 00:03:00

Leg Raise Push Up

30

Set 1 : 30 Lap/Rep

Cybex Torso Twist

Set 1 : 50x25
Set 2 : 50x25

Hammer Grip Pull Up

168

Set 1 : 112x15

Elliptical Training

Intervals

Calorie :   312 CAL
Distance: 2.71 mile
Duration : 00:30:03

Hammer Grip Pull Up

168

Set 1 : 112x15
Set 2 : 112x15