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!;)