Core

Man, this has been one hectic week...one in which I was glad to get a good work-out in! Ya know, where you're having one of those weeks where it's just nice to not have to think/worry about your life...you just get to feel the burn! Today was an awesome and challenging core work-out day! I know this might sound weird to you, but it felt good to work on something so hard for me to do! The fact that I was forced to concentrate on different muscles within my core and figure out how to engage those different muscles, helped me to realize that I was working muscles that needed to be worked!

But to start off our session, Nicole and I did arm warm-ups. I held my arms straight out and did small circles, twisted invisible doorknobs, flicked my wrists forwards and backwards, did tiny bounces, and finally bent at my elbows (to show off my muscles ;)) repeatedly. Then, in show-off-my-muscles-position, I raised/straightened my arms up individually. I kept hitting myself in the forehead as I brought my right arm back down! Doh!

Next, Nicole brought out the resistance band (with handles), and I pulled the band, with a straight arm, across my body. I always get a kick out of the fact that I may try to pull the band across my body, but I never can actually pull against the resistance more than like half the distance of my tummy! I did this on each arm, then Nicole set me up for my core work-out!

She had me hold a handle of the resistance band in each hand, and as she pulled and shook the band, I pulled the handles back (with bent elbows) and released out to straight arm. In multiple instances, I found that I had let Nicole pull the resistance band, and myself, too far forward. At that point, I was able to stop myself from falling, and I put a lot of effort into figuring out how to bring myself back to an upright position.

After we messed around with that for awhile, Nicole placed a "block" behind my shoulders, and I worked on pulling my elbows back and releasing my arms straight forward. Then I worked on "pinching" my shoulder blades together, with the "block" in, and no resistace band. 

I was pretty worried about the next thing we tried...sit-ups. With the point that I'm at right now, doing sit-ups seems impossible! But, I just went with what Nicole asked me to do and gave it my best effort! I leaned my wheelchair back and squeezed the heck out of my core muscles, trying to push my lower back and butt into the wheelchair backrest. I was really struggling with bringing my belly-button down to the backrest with no form of resistance to pull myself up with...to kinda get me started. Nicole brought out the resistance band, which she held up and back, down by my feet, and I gripped each handle. I was able to engage my muscles a little bit more, and Nicole helped me to keep trying and working my core muscles HARD. I wasn't able to accomplish a "full sit-up," but I for sure worked my core...I could tell by the burning sensation I was feeling in my stomach muscles! Whew!

We then did leg presses. My left leg remains stronger than the right. Nicole also had me straighten and raise both legs. She timed me and had me hold my legs up there for about a minute. And I was thrilled to be able to straighten and then bend my left knee up towards my chest! I was stoked on it, and we ended our session on a high note!

Genuine Jeanie

Originally Michelle and I joked about titling this blog "Negative Nancy" because Michelle seemed to be a little resistant to working out today. At first, it seemed that she was just joking around, but later we dealt with some fairly emotional issues. I'm so appreciative to her for sharing her real self with me, so I've renamed the entry Genuine Jeanie. Dorky? Yes, but that's how Michelle and I like it! We've also included an account of our interview with the Santa Cruz Sentinel via Michelle from this past Saturday. Enjoy!

Interview:

Saturday morning Nicole and I met with Bonnie, a reporter from the Santa Cruz Sentinel. Bonnie wants to do a story about my journey, from getting sick to present day and my work with Nicole, as well as my physical therapy, speech therapy, and pilates work. I hope it's a front-pager! ;) jk! 

The three of us sat in a circle on the floor of One to One, and Bonnie fired out questions. It was very casual, Bonnie writing down the answers in her little notebook as Nicole and I spoke. The interview was going pretty smoothly with Bonnie sticking with the "easy" question that both Nicole and I could answer. Questions about my work-out routine, exercise equipment that is used, how first meeting/working with one another went...pretty basic, non-personal stuff. Then Bonnie "hit me where it hurts!" She asked about Wes. Well, she didn't say "Tell me about your dead brother," but the subject came up. I think Wes was looking down and thinking he just had to get in on this opportunity for fame! Lol. I teared up talking about him and how he's my motivation these days. And Nicole added her two cents as well. She told Bonnie about my necklace that I wear daily. It is a silver teardrop w/a lil bling that holds in it some of Wes' ashes.I don't wear it to be noticed, Nicole just found out about it a couple weeks ago. Well, now it's out there, so sharing this in the blog shouldn't be a big deal. I just want it known that I'm not trying to milk the loss of my brother for attention.

The three of us then took it outside in order to clear up the studio for a class. At this point in the interview, all of the questions coming from Bonnie seemed to be directed to me. I was asked about my depression in Colorado, losing my voice, and how I feel to be back in SC.

As the interview wrapped up, Bonnie said that it was great to see the closeness Nicole and I share, which totally reminded me of how lucky I am to have found Nicole!...but don't tell her I said that! ;) LOVE YA NICOLE!

Tuesday's Session:

Today was interesting. We did our arm warm-ups and then I did bicep curls. Then Nicole thought of this cool idea where she transferred me out of my wheelchair and sat me down on a wooden block on the floor. With the TRX hanging in front of me, I used my core muscles to lean/reach forward and up to grab hold of the TRX handles. Then, Nicole made sure my knees were bent and my feet were planted. Next step, with Nicole's assistance, I pulled myself up to a stand...sorta. We did this multiple times, and then...

 

Nicole cracked me open today...somewhat. I broke down. I found/find myself feeling impatient, I guess. I have this feeling that no matter how hard I work, it's never good enough. Now, I can argue with myself that I am currently achieving so much as far as gaining strength in my body, improving my speech, taking the initiative and moving out of my parents house, making the phone calls I need to be making, filling out numerous applications for housing AND taking them to where they need to be taken, I'm constantly dealing with different parts of my brain injury so as not to make any mistakes, and so on. But it always comes back to what I'm not doing that haunts me. I'm not walking, nor speaking at a "normal" level/pace. I'm 26 yrs old and I'm just now moving out...with caregivers. I hate having to be SO dependant on them. I'm stuck with the SSI and help from my parents, rather than being able to have a regular lifestyle, with a regular job, making my own regular money. All of the paperwork I'm taking around town, I'm not actually driving...my caregivers are driving me. And ugh...I don't want to hear about any wheelchair-driven-vehicles, or any jobs I should look in to for disabled people. That's not what I miss! I miss driving my truck off-road. I miss road trips with my BFF, where we're both sitting up front, jammin' the tunes. I miss getting all done-up for work at Abercrombie & Fitch. And I miss calling-in "sick" to play hooky with friends. I know that times have changed and the days of random road trips and fake "sick-days" to hang with your buds are long gone...I'm not that naive! I guess I just want to be "normal" again. Like I told Nicole, my mind feels ready for me to get up out of this wheelchair, but it's super frustrating that my body isn't on the same page. Nicole told me that I'm for sure getting there, and not to forget that my muscles have pretty much just atrophied (sp?) over the past 6+ years.....which, I guess, is true.

 

After venting my emotions through tears, I pedalled the crap out of the recumbent bike...or at least I tried to. My pedalling backward really improved a lot, as I was able to do it all by myself! Pedalling forward (with more resistance) wasn't perfect, but I greatly improved. My left knee came unlocked a lot easier, and Nicole was barely assisting my leg...just holding my left knee out, lined up with my hip.

 

When Nicole transferred me back to my wheelchair, my feet/calves began shaking. I experience this pretty frequently with Crystal, the girl that does pilates leg-presses with me. It's just my leg-muscles way of communicating that they're tired as hell! I told Nicole that, and she laughed in relief saying, "Really? Sweet!" We had to use the TRX to straighten-out my hips in the wheelchair, but after that, we ended our session for the day.

Recumbent Bike

I have to say, working with Michelle has been one of the most rewarding experiences I've ever had. Yes, I work with a number of clients who inspire me every minute of everyday, but Michelle's case is different. She has shown dramatic improvement in a number of areas including strength, endurance and willpower. I am forever in awe of the positive attitude she continues to bring to our sessions and the clear and measurable changes she has made over the past 14 sessions. The first day, lifting Michelle was incredibly difficult because of her lack of upper body strength -- it felt like I had to carry the weight of the world just a few inches. Now, I can hold her, have her stand up and make her look in the mirror at us together. Her own two feet on the ground holding some of her own weight!

I cannot take all the credit, for it is Michelle who has been the individual here who is working hard. Biting her lip when she wants to profess her pain or inabilities. If it weren't for her hard work and positive outlook, we'd be working on holding a weight in her hand to this day. I am so grateful for her hard work-- it has been a daily reminder of just how important gratitude can be.

From Michelle:

Good Lord! Today was a work-out! Right away Nicole started me off on the recumbent bicycle. (By the way, I have no idea if I spelled "recumbent" correctly!) Because Nicole wanted to show-off how buff she was...j/k..., she transferred me from my wheelchair to the bike with my wheelchair half way across the room from each other! K, it was actually only a few feet apart! Nicole was amazed with how much easier it has gotten to transfer me. I didn't come in 30lbs heavier, so I can only assume that it's because I'm stronger now, and my leg muscles are doing the work!

 Once I was transferred over to the bike, the work-out began! Nicole had me pedalling forwards AND backwards. Now, for most people, pedalling a bike is as easy as blinking. But for me, I'm having to retrain my muscles to move in that circular motion. It's like telling your skin to grow spots. You know what spots look like, but your skin doesn't know how to produce them. Frequently, there are point where it's apparent that my leg muscle are starting from scratch with the whole bicycle-thing. It's as if my legs stop and need "reminding" of what to do. This "reminding" is provided by Nicole bending my knee and giving me a little assistance to complete the circle. Another BIG part of relearning how to ride a bike, is the muscle strength that I am currently lacking. For example, my hip flexors, which are a big aide in moving your legs forward/stepping, have been just sittin' there, doing nothing for the past 7 years! Obviously, these need work! Overall, pedalling was exhausting for me!

Staying positive despite groaning through this workout! 

After biking for approx. 30 minutes, Nicole got the great idea that I could push up on the side handlebars. I should have known she'd figure out a way to accomplish this task, which she had me attempt last week! I pushed down, attempting to lift my butt up off the seat, for about 15 reps. My right hand kept slipping off, losing its grip. I had to keep re gripping the handlebar over and over again! It was super frustrating, but Nicole just said, "ehhh, it's good for ya!"

When Nicole transferred me back into my wheelchair, my hip were all eschewed. So, we used the TRX to line me up straight.

Then I did bicep curls with one arm at a time. On the right arm, Nicole had me do an extra exercise where, with my elbow pinned to my side, I brought the weight in and out. Gotta love that arm burn I get!

We wrapped up our session with a painful right-hand massage.

On Wednesday, my previous physical therapist, Scott, had a visit on my Pilate's leg-presses session. He decided to bring a bar w/a 3lb weight on it. He handed me the bar and asked me to do lifts/push-ups with it. What Scott didn't know was that I had been working with 4lb weights for weeks previously. So Scott, expecting that I would be challenged with his 3lb weight, was surprised to see me easily raise and lower the weight! I think he was impressed!

April Showers...

April showers bring May flowers...that's what I keep running through my head as I roll into the work-out studio covered with wet drops from the rain, I'm greeted by Nicole with, "Don't you hate the rain!" I do hate the rain, especially in April! I'm ready to bust out my tank-tops and t-shirts...I'm sick of the cold, wet weather! But, it deffinitely could be worse!

 

I got into the dry BZ...Burn Zone...and immediately did my arm warm-ups. I started with the usual arm lifts and invisible door-knob twists. Nicole had me raising both arms over my head, yoga status. I also did this exercise where I held my arms out at shoulder-level and bent my elbows up, like I was showing off my biceps, then straightened my elbows back to straight arms at shoulder-level. Nicole also had me do one my favorite exercises where I bring straight arms out in front of me, and quickly move one arm on top of the other, back and forth. The arm warm-ups hurt like hell cuz of the repatitions! Arm warm-ups gave the BZ its nickname!

 

Once our arm torture was finished, Nicole had me do a round of punches into the blue, round, inflatable thingy....Geeze, I gotta ask Nicole the official name of that thing! For now, let's just call it "the target." Nicole had me imagine that I was punching the virus that did "this" to me. That was something that really stirred up my anger-emotions. Nicole held the target out in front of me, and I let out a lil aggrression as I swung my fists.

 

Then we switched over to doing "push-ups" with the pole, then back to punching.

 

Then we did "pull-ups" with the pole...Water Break! Nicole and I were both out of  breath. :) Guess I'm stronger than I appear!

 

We also did this thing where I put a hand on either side of "the target," squeezed, and raised my arms out in front of me. We had attempted this a couple week ago, and my hands and arms were too weak. This time, I SIGNIFICANTLY improved and was able to squeeze and raise "the target," It took a lot of concentration, but I did it! :)

 

I then did work with the weights. First, Nicole had me do bicep curls, switching off arms every time. Last session Nicole timed me at 2 mins doing bicep curls. Today she pushed me out to 3 mins. But I think I cheated with a tissue-for-my-runny-nose-break in the middle of the 3 mins!

 

We then leaned my chair back (not all the way, but I dunno if that matters!) and it was time to work my legs. We started with the right leg, doing leg presses and adding my arms in with those. I told Nicole how I seem to only be able to work one muscle/muscle-group at a time, and by getting the arms to push down on my leg, we're working on my multi-tasking ability! When we switched to the left leg, I said the dreaded words "I can't." But I had a good reason...I had to pee and if I kept pushing, things could get interesting. Relieved at my reasoning, Nicole laughed and we went over to the bathroom where she transferred me to the toilet. After relieving myself, Nicole said that my body felt so much stronger than those transfers we did a little over a month ago! YAY! We used the TRX to help Nicole and I get me seated in the wheelchair properly. I pull my upper body up, and Nicole wiggles my straight legs to help me get my hips in the chair straight. I'm pretty sure we're fun to watch! And just like that, our time was up. Nicole says that our hour long sessions fly by...Well, time flies when you're having fun! And I am pretty fun!;)    

Oh Lucy...

You'll have to bare with me on this blog entry. I just got the news that my apartment fell thru.

 

So, yesterday we warmed up the usual way. After the arm warm-ups I did some work with the TRX. I did upper-body pull-ups. Then Nicole wanted to try to get me doing the push-up motion with my arms sort of bent at my sides. Of course the way she attempted to set it up wasn't working, so we had to scratch that idea pretty much all together. So, we leaned my chair back and did leg presses. They had me gritting my teeth and squeezing my abs super tight. Nicole has me pushing myself to the edge and breaking a sweat.

 

Once Nicole had gotten me to break a sweat, she had me do push-ups with the 5ft long pole. At first, I was pushing back her body weight. But then my Pops showed up! Nicole thought it would be a great idea to have my dad, not exactly a short or shrimpy man, hold the pole in front of me! Pushing against his body weight seemed like a joke! Although I could tell he wasn't pressing his entire body-weight down on me, the push-ups with a man's weight deffinitely felt more intense.

 

Next, I did a chunk of bicep curls with the 4lb weights. Then, Nicole asked me to raise the weights with straight arms, starting down below my hips, bringing them up to shoulder-level. I still can't get them up to shoulder-level, but I am lifting them significantly higher than before. My arms burned as I continued the arms work-out.

 

We then did "pull-ups" with the 5ft pole. And then I got one of those painful hand massages. Oh. And Nicole's new pooch, Lucy, hung-out with us the whole session. She's way sweet and she's got amazing sphynctor muscles! Lucy almost took a fat dump in the studio, but she held it in as Nicole hurried to find her leash and take Lucy outside! lol.

From Michelle

So, today was another successful day of work-outs. Nicole was "off" today because she got the brilliant idea to give up coffee as of yesterday! What a kook! I don't think I'd ever give up coffee! But I'm not a daily consumer of coffee either so, gotta cut Nicole some slack!;)

 

Guess what we started with...............................................,,,arm warm-ups! (for those of you just joining us!) The arm exercises burned like crazy, as usual. Once I had my blood flowing and my arms burning, Nicole had me do some punches. She held the big blue bouncy ball out in front of me as a target. She had me do individual punches and then two with the right arm, one with the left. Then switch!

 

Then I leaned my chair all the way back, and we worked on my legs. I will say that I am definitely feeling it now, 7hrs afterwards! We did the leg-presses, where Nicole pushes in n my feet, my knees bent up near my hips, and I press/push against her until my leg is straight. We did this on each leg individually.Then Nicole tied a resistance band around my thighs, and I worked on trying to spread my thighs apart. I was disappointed with the lack of movement I was getting with my thighs, but one thing I've learned about my body over this past month w/Nicole, is that I definitely improve each time I do the exercise. So, the next time Nicole binds my legs together with a resistance band, I'll be able to whip apart my thighs and bust that lime-green band to oblivion! lol...nah, but more realistically, I should get more movement the next time around! My next task was to hold an inflatable squishy thing between my knees and thighs, and push/squeeze my thighs together. Nicole and I had tried this exercise before, and this time I was much more successful in squeezing my thighs together. My thighs aren't near where I want them to be, but I really feel like their getting there with all these sessions with Nicole.

 

Once we finished with my leg work-out, I sat my wheelchair back upright and exercised my biceps! I did bicep curls with the 4lb weights. Then Nicole had me do "mini curls," where I brought the weights up to about my elbows. There was nothing "mini" about the pain I felt! Those suckers burned, mainly my right bicep! Then Nicole had me start with the weights at my sides, raise them up to shoulder level, then bring them out in front of me with straight arms. I am so weak! I could barely lift the weights up to the level of my lap! It burned/hurt sooo bad! Nicole had me take a break, then do it again. The second set was so much better than the first! I was able to lift the weights higher, not up to shoulder-level, but definite improvement.

 

After my arm-torture, Nicole pulled out the 5ft pole, and had me do "push-ups," "pull-ups." and arm-presses without weights...I was just working on arm control. Then Nicole massaged my hand...not a pleasant massage!

 

K, and I just found out, I GOT A PLACE TO LIVE!!!!! May 1st I'm moving on my own! I AM SUPER STOKED!

Ready for Another Week

Thursday, March 29, 2012 8:59 PM

Alright, so today's session was definitely tough, but it was fun! Nicole busted out the kick-boxing exercises! Not only did she do the techniques, she also let her lil "Bob from Biggest Loser" come out! She had me imagining her face as I attempted to punch the crap out of the target! I have to say, imagining her face wasn't really motivating me, so I used a different technique to get me going...I just put all of my focus on changing my body. I know that's not as motivating for some people, but for me, CHANGE is a big motivating factor! But I could just lie and say that I was imagining Bin Laden's ugly-ass mug!

We started out the session with arm warm-ups, Nicole totally wanted to confuse/shock my muscles, so she had me doing all new arm warm-ups. We did all sorts of new things, like stretching the arms forward and switching them off up and down, placing the arms in front of the face, bent elbows, and bringing arms out n' in, and lots of other stuff that BURNED!

Then Nicole brought out an inflatable punching "target," and had me punching forward, once with the left fist/arm and twice with the right. Then she had me switch---once with the right, twice with the left. She also had me doing upper-cuts. On each side she had me punching my fist upwards, all the while shouting to "punch harder!" and "faster!"

Next, we took a break from Fight Club ;) and Nicole handed me the weights. I did biceps curls repetitively then I raised the weights out and up from my sides with straight arms. Nicole has had me do these before, but I don't think I've had to do such long repetitions before! My arms were killin' me, but loving Nicole didn't seem to mind!

As I sat in my wheelchair, catching my breath and feeling the sweat build up under my sweatshirt, Nicole smiled and said, "We're gonna try to have you do something similar to push-ups." Initially I was skeptical, but as Nicole described how we were going to do it, I felt silly for my initial skepticism. We made it work like this: Nicole held up a flat surface in front of me, I placed my hands on either side, and as I pushed my elbows out straight, she pushed with her entire body-weight back against my arms. Make sense? Man, the effort put in by both her and I was definitely intense! We were both out of breath after those!

After a short break for both of us, Nicole grabbed like a 5' pole and had me pull in towards my chest, as she put resistance on the pole. We did this on each arm, then we tried pull-ups. Nicole held the pole above my head, with I can only assume was all her strength. and I pulled vigorously down, at times lifting my butt off the wheelchair.

Lastly, Nicole was my hand-masseuse! She decided that my right hand needed to be massaged cuz it's super tight and my thumb is always bent and in...again, make sense? So, as most would expect, I was excited for a nice, relaxing massage. But Nicole found the most painful spot to rub! The good news is, it relaxed and opened-up my thumb! 

This session felt really good and I'm excited to see what Nicole comes up with next week!