I can see that my son is starting to dread me waking him up to go to the gym, and I only do it 3 days out of 7. However, he's going away for 8 days of Boy Scout summer camp where he'll be up at 7 am instead of 10, and in bed by 9 instead of the wee hours. Hopefully he'll be more receptive to gym time when he gets back as there's a few weeks before the next session of Scout Camp. Because I'm not letting him spend all his time on the couch playing video games!
My left eye has been achy when I wake in the morning. And it looks slightly red. I know that my IOPs rise in the darkness because the pupil dilates, forcing pressures up. There's not a lot I can do about that. The Travatan® is suppose to work best when administered once daily at night. Azopt® also works to lower IOPs but through different biochemical means. The oldest medication, pilocarpine, works differently by causing the ciliary muscle to contract, forcing the trabecular meshwork to expand and increase eye fluid drainage. It stings, like being squirted in the eye with grapefruit juice. I've pretty much exhausted the medication checklist as I've tried several and have developed allergic reactions to Lumigan® (bimatoprost), timolol and brimonidine (Alphagan®). I haven't lifted heavy in over a month and my IOPs are not any lower, so maybe pulling heavy weights isn't really having any deleterious effects. But I don't really know. My IOPs used to be lower, but my workouts used to be more intense. There's not enough information to tell me whether resuming heavy (for me) lifting can be beneficial. Only cardio seems safe. I get my IOPs checked in 2 weeks, so I'll compare them. They were the lowest when I did nothing at all on the days immediately following the operation. But I can't do nothing. Seriously, that's just not healthy.
Yesterday my son helped me lug 4 bags of water softener salt into the basement. We actually needed 6 but I didn't know that when I bought them. The bags are 40 lbs apiece and we have to climb over the knee-high sandbag wall before descending three steps into our wet half-basement. I take a bag out of the back of my car and hoist it onto my shoulder. I still need to walk along the side of the house to get to the back. My son just grabs the bag and hugs it to his chest. "Isn't it easier to carry it on the shoulder?" I ask him. He says it isn't, and I'm surprised. But he's got almost 40 lbs on me, several inches in height, and much bigger limbs. My face is red and I'm panting by the time we're done. He doesn't look tired at all, but he complains that those bags were heavy. I don't know what to think.
Because we're at the gym slightly earlier than usual, it seems crowded. We do 30 minutes on the treadmill first, then 15 on the StepMill. When I first touch the heart rate handlebars, the screen shows me a HR of 94 and then climbs slowly. Meanwhile, SquareJaw is blathering loudly to a guy with shoulder-length hair I don't recognize. My son and I both agree that if the person isn't wearing headphones but is still yelling, they must be deaf. At the Stretch Cage, I turn off my tunes and pull out my headphones so that I can speak to my son in a soft voice. The gym is blaring This Is America, the controversial Childish Gambino (aka Donald Glover) hit song and video. I'm not a fan and I wish I had my tunes turned on. Apparently I'm not the only one, because halfway through, the channel changes abruptly. Yaaay! I tell my son I'm expecting 10 pull ups from him. He rolls his eyes (he wouldn't be a normal 13 year old if he didn't) but actually gets them done. Great! He's not comfortable enough to drop into a full extension at the bottom of the movement, but I'm not concerned with that. His forearms ache a bit afterwards, but that discomfort doesn't last. I keep an eye on his joints because he's a child (with tender growth plates) even though he's bigger than I am. I suspect that I'm actually stronger. But that might only be because I know what I'm doing, and he doesn't. (Also, his fast walk is faster than my fast walk on the treadmill and stairs.) I do 15 because that's what I can do without feeling too stressed. I make a point of monitoring my breathing as well! We go to the classroom to do our push ups. I want to challenge him so I tell him that at the end of 20, we'll rest in the top position and then see if we can get 10 more. Not a problem!
He rolls his eyes again when I tell him Lunges. But he marches across the floor. He feels them more in the front quad of the trailing leg, instead of the hamstring and glute. It's probably because he's not actually performing a Walking Lunge where you bring the back leg past the front leg, instead of stopping at the front leg, then stepping forward. That's just a lunge. It carries a different momentum and stress when using an actual walking gait. It also emphasizes balance. He's still frustrated by the stiffness of his hips and legs, but I encourage him to do what he can. We discuss the scissor machine and how it can make the leg adductor and abductor muscles so tight that stretches become more difficult. Next time I'm going to have us try the Dead Bug pose. It looks silly enough to be fun.
Friday the 13th
30 treadmill
5% Incline Speed 3
Calories 191
Miles 1.50
Average Heart Rate (94) 109/126
15 StepMill
Speed 3
Floors 31
Total steps 509
Calories 82
Average Heart Rate 122
Max pull ups 10
HGPU 15
Push ups 20, 10
Bicycles 50
Crunches 30/20
Smith Inclined Press
Bar (30) x 12
Max
50 x 12
60 x 6, 12, 12
Max Lat Pull Downs
70 x 12
85 x 12, 12
Lunges
Max 27
Me 32
Side Planks 2 x 60s
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s
Elbow Plank 60s
Stretch
Never heard it called "dead bug" pose. In yoga it's called "happy baby".
ReplyDeleteI looked up hip stretches and found images of positions I thought my son might be able to do without too much frustration. Happy Baby seems appropriate too, but I think he'll respond to Dead Bug better. ;-)
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