Equinox Autumn

I limped through the day yesterday because my hip twinged sporadically all day. I'm not certain but the inside of my left knee felt a bit tender on the elliptical for a few seconds and that might've been enough to cause the front hip issue. Again, I think it's where the sartorius muscle inserts, the sartorius being the longest muscle in the body. Its endpoint is at the tibia, just under the knee.

Today, it only twinged once this morning as I was getting up. It felt fine at the gym but I still went to the chiropractor later because sleeping on my side has thrown my jaw out of alignment. I have those sloppy ligaments and things slide out of place. My TMJ (temporomandibular joint) makes my mouth click if I open it too wide, which isn't very wide at all. I once had my jaw lock open and it was extremely painful to pop my mouth closed. The chiropractor made a few intense adjustments to my jaw with his thumbs, then gave me an exercise to practice: opening my lower jaw and skewing it to the left several times every few hours. This has helped lessen the intensity of the clicking in my head every time I open my mouth (like when I'm eating).

I got to the gym late and skipped hanging from the Smith because there were just too many HS kids in the weight room. Program 3 on the elliptical had me worried since most of the program is set with high inclines but pedaling backward didn't cause any lower back spasms. My knees were also okay and there were no further hip twinges. 

Adding a few crunches back to the routine had the surprising effect of making me aware of how sore my abs are. Otherwise I guess I'm oblivious to them! Still, I feel as if I could double the amount and not suffer any repercussions. But of course, I thought I could change the sheets on my son's captain's bed without any big whoop and instead suffered from such bad sciatica that I had to sleep on my face for 5 weeks. 

I do push-ups and wonder about keeping my head more perpendicular to the floor. When I look at the floor, the bangs on my face sweep the mat and eventually I feel increased pressure in my head. So I try looking forward but wind up hitting my stomach on the ground. Not what I'd intended. I'm not sure how to judge distance without actually looking at what you're aiming for.

At the Stretch Cage, I get past 12 reps but can only get my nose to the bar, not my chin so I only count that as a half. Clawing my way back to more reps... as long as I don't give myself tendonitis I'm good!

22 Sept 2021
Autumn Wednesday

Precor elliptical
Program 3
Time: 30 min + 5 min cd
Distance: 2.79
Cal: 307
HR: 82, 132-167

Crunches knee-bent 30
Piriformis/Hip/Pencil Stretch
60 Dead Bugs
Elbow Plank 60s
Quick Child’s Pose
Cat/Camel stretch 15x
Fire Hydrants 25 x 2
Bird Dogs 60s x 2
Child’s Pose 10s
Cobra Pose 30s
Push-Ups 25
Mild Mat stretch w 3 Eye Yoga
Air Squats 25

HGPU 12.5