Furniture as Exercise

Sha Cerlin platform bed

I skipped the gym yesterday and the day before. It wasn't as if I was sleeping in or blissfully napping though. On Wednesday, I managed to patch parts of the parquet floor, pulled the king mattress and box springs off the frame, and then dissembled the bed frame into pieces that could be carried across the yard. That literally took all day. The old mattress is more than 35 years old, but oddly still seems to be in decent shape. It's really heavy. I got the new mattress on sale, but it's still pretty pricey. But it's meant to last another 35 years, so I hope it lives up to its reputation... 

Yesterday, I unboxed the new bed frame. I selected it because it had thousands of very good ratings (durable, easy to assemble, looks nice), I like the idea of a platform bed, and it's supposed to be able to support 800 lbs because it's mostly welded steel. The other contender was wood and rated to 350 lbs, and that just made me nervous. My husband is over 200 lbs and I'm 116. What if the dogs decided to jump in?

The bed came in a 100-lb box of individually labeled and packaged parts, and an assembly manual replete with diagrams and important tips. The first directive was to make sure all the parts are there, before starting the assembly process. That took a bit of time since I had to unwrap a plastic bag off each item to find the little white sticker with the identifying item letter. Some items were plastic-wrapped and then zip-tied together. And because I hate chaos, I had to gather all the plastic bags and all the cardboard for recycling. All the styrofoam and other plastic foam packing material to the actual trash bin.

I took a few breaks to eat lunch, walk dogs, eat dinner. Sometimes I just needed to rest my back after spending hours bent over thumb-sized bolts. Reviews for the product often state that the box is very heavy. Indeed! They also brag that it only took them a few hours to assemble, but they were two people. One fellow said it took him three hours but he was working alone. It took me a lot longer than three hours! But of course, I'm a lot shorter and smaller than most people. It was challenging to balance a long strut on my leg while lining up screw holes on a base!

It didn't help that towards the end, I discovered that I had the headboard positioned backward and had to undo bolts to flip it over. Afterward, I then had to flip over a cross-bar piece. This all takes time. And I only realized that after a center strut wouldn't reach the foot board. Apparently, lot of people make this error because the first paragraph of the online product description states what that strut length is in a king bed, and if it doesn't reach, to check the orientation of the header and footer. Ah...

I calculate it took me 7 hours if I exclude housework, meals and puppy chores. But it is done. Mostly. My old mattress is on the new frame until the new mattress is delivered, now scheduled for Tuesday afternoon. Originally, I had wanted to put the old mattress in the hall, but no matter how hard I tried, I could barely budge it. Part of the issue was my inability to gain any traction: my feet would just slide out from under me no matter what footwear I had on. Damn parquet floors. 

I make it to the gym today and I'm really tired. I have bruises on my arms and legs from hauling the old bed across the yard. I don't remember ever bruising so easily, but maybe that's just because I'm old? Wind Breaker is already on elliptical #1 so I do my cardio on #2. I see vaguely familiar members from years ago. Some are much skinnier now, like they've been sick. It's especially true of a few of the men: stick thin arms and legs instead of muscles. I don't think it's age. I think it's serious, like long-covid. Or cancer.

I'm tired but I'm still able to get to sets of pull-ups. Not as good as Tuesday, but not horrible. I'm surprised when Wind Breaker leaves the elliptical and doesn't return, while his water bottle is still in the holder. Normally he takes a break and comes back to pedal after 10 minutes. But not today. The step machine is torture and I try to ignore my discomfort. I wouldn't be able to exercise the way I do if it weren't for earbuds and music! I don't give my best on the cross-trainer as a friend starts texting me and I text back. But I am moving, so it counts.

I do most of the core exercises in the damp humid Aerobics Room. I realize that although the sciatic leg is bothered by some of these movements, it didn't actually hinder me during bed frame deconstruction and new bed assembly. Sleeping on a mattress on the floor hasn't made much of a difference either. Most of the foot/hip numbness occurs when I move between sitting and standing/walking. Sitting doesn't hurt. Walking doesn't hurt. Except in the transition. Then there's a lot of toe tapping and foot shaking to get the tingling to stop, or at least not get worse.

27 Sept 11:47-1:41

Friday — All Cardio

Cloudy Day — Timolol / sciatica

Wed-Thursday old new bed frames

Precor elliptical #2

Program 1

Time: 30 + 5 (5494)

Distance: 2.81

Cal: 310

Avg Hr: 149, 185-81

New FB: 51-134

HGPU 14 (sore right thumb)

Matrix StairMaster (R) 12:37

Manual timer 8+2 cool down

Minimum 5 minutes

Speed 5 (45-50) / 29-36 (2-1)

Steps 424

Floors 26

Cal 64

Hr 122

HGPU 14

Life Fitness X-Trainer #5 (12:56)

Program Manual L1

Time: 12 (+3min cool down)=15

Distance: 1.13

Cal: 109

Avg Hr: 110-115

HGPU 12

20 Hip Bridges pain right leg

Piriformis/Hip/Pencil Stretch

DeadBugs 20 x 5

Piriformis stretches

Quick Child’s Pose

Cat stretch 12

Child’s Pose

Fire Hydrants 20 x 2

   Skip Bird Dog Planks 60s x 2

Push-Ups 25 (creeping tingle)

Arm rotations 20

Air Squats 25

Neck stretch / Eye yoga