Another Heatwave

I made it to the gym today and had a decent workout. I had planned to go yesterday, but instead spent hours pulling stuff out of my kid's bedroom to get to the root of the heinous odor pervading the house. Yep, who could imagine such a tiny dead body could create such a stink. Mice are powerful creatures in death. It was especially important since my kid was coming home for the weekend and I didn't want the house to reek of dead things. 

It's been unseasonably hot. The aroma of death seems to have attracted a lot of flies, which I admit, I have taken great delight in smoting with a fly swatter, and then using tweezers to drop them into the open maws of my Venus flytraps. I have learned that sometimes one swat only stuns a fly and if one is not quick to administer a second blow, the fly might just revive and fly away. Again. I did find an escapee with wings stuck to the flypaper coil in the kitchen with little flailing legs. A quick pluck with tweezers and the insect was another Venus flytrap meal, a quicker death than the flypaper.

My sciatica has not been great. I started seeing the local chiropractor again, but truthfully, I have not been thrilled so far. I feel that spinal decompression would help my symptoms but the chiropractor insists on a protocol with 10 minutes standing on a vibrating plate. Honestly, I hate that. It makes me clench my teeth as both my feet go numb. The chiropractor claims that this is circulating blood through my lower extremities. But walking does that, doesn't it? I'll go to one or two more appointments but after that I think I'll make an appointment with the acupuncturist. I still have to find out if the neurosurgeon is on my health insurance plan because he's probably my best bet. 

Today's workout was good but not great. I got on elliptical #1 and pedaled for 35 minutes. My toes were a bit numb. That got worse during pull-ups. I skipped the stair machine and pushed weights again. However, I was on a different bench and that put a bit of stress on my sciatic nerve because I have really short legs. I can't plant my feet flat on the ground if I sit on most benches so there's strain on my knees and other joints. The gym was mildly busy for a sunny Saturday but I got all my sets done. The Aerobics Room was icy cuz no Senior classes today so no need to turn the thermostat up, and that was really great. 

Too hot to do anything but snooze

Today, I decided to skip all the movements that make my sciatica more painful. So, no Dead Bugs and instead substituted crunches, with knees bent and feet flat on the floor for one set, and knees to chest for another set. That didn't hurt. No Bird Dog planks. But the push-ups definitely were a struggle. I hope the heat wave breaks. The dogs especially think it's too hot and I don't blame them. 

13 June 2026 12:55-2:39

Sciatica Saturday

Still hurts

Precor elliptical #1 (1:32)

Program 3

Time: 30 + 5 (5320)

Distance: 2.76

Cal: 301

Precor HR: 147, 196-78

Fitbit: 41-130

(Toes burning)

HGPU 12+3

(Sciatica makes this really painful)

Skull Crushers/RipSkulls (1:40-2:15)

30 lbs x 24 reps x 4

S/s with

DB Laterals w/u 10 lbs x 15 reps

15 x 15 x 3

S/s wit

DB Alt Curls w/u 10 lbs x 12 ea

15 x 12 x 3

Icy Cold Aerobic Room!

What if I skip every exercise that aggravates my sciatica?

20 Piriformis/Hip flex

10 Hamstring stretches

Flat hip rotations 10 (numb foot calf!)

   Skip DeadBugs 20 x 5 (!!!)

20 crunches knees bent feet flat

20 crunches knees to chest

10 Piriformis stretches

Child’s Pose

Cat/Cow stretch 12

Child’s Pose

Fire Hydrants 30 x 2

   Skip Bird Dog Planks 60s x 2

Arm rotations 20

Push-Ups 25

Air Squats 25

   Skip Standing X Body Knee Elbow

Neck Stretch / eye yoga