Back to Back... to Back

Wooh! This back-to-back training is pretty draining.

DAY 2: Today was a leg workout and bicycle workout day. I spent the entire session on the recumbandt bike. I was transferred onto the bike by my caregiver, Monica...our main goal is to not hurt/strain Nicole's neck. Nicole had me do a number of things on the bike, but remembering the order of them all is beyond me. So, I'll se all the exercises with you, just out of order...it doesn't really matter anyways, cuz you weren't there! ;) Regardless, I started with pedaling backwards. Less resistance that way. Then I switched directtion, a pedaled forward. Nicole helped me to not let my left knee lock-out. The goal was to get a fluid motion going with my legs. Also, when Nicole let go of my leg, my knee would simply fall in towards the other one. It turns out, that this is due to a lack of muscle-tone in my hip-flexors. Both of my knees just lean in on eachother when my egs are bent up, So, Nicole and I worked on bringing my bent knee out and back in. Nicole used very little assistance, making me try my hardest to engage my hip-flexors and work my muscles. She would have me push my knee into her finger, and had me move my knee out/in towards her hand. This was probably the toughest exercise partly because my leg muscles are generally only asked to kick straight out and up, never side to side. My brain had to remember how to send those signals down to my knees. The other part that made this so challenging, I would think, is my weak lil muscles in my hip-flexors and thighs. Those muscles deffinitely need to be worked on!

I continued working on my pedal-rotations a lot, and Nicole had me work solely on the left leg, bending and straightening, bending and straightening, bending and straightening. With the right leg, I worked on strengthening my push/kick foward from a raised bent knee.

 

Then Nicole had me lean forward (with my feet out of the pedals and stablized on the ground!) and grab the handlebars at the front of the bike. Nicole chuckled and said she could see the fear on my face! She reassured me tho, and reminded me of all the muscles I've built up that were holding me on the bike! Keeping my arms straight, I pulled my back forward and straight, my boobs out, and my chin up and alined. From there, I would release the tension and let my back kinda roll back to where it started. I did about 10-15 of these per set...I did a couple of sets.

 

Next, I brought my hands down to the handlebars right at the sides of the seat, and I tried pushing myself up. In the past I have kinda push my pelvis forward, off the chair. This time I focused on bringin my butt straight up. Thinking back on it now, I'm pretty proud of myself for doing just that! Yay me!

 

Also, Nicole placed 4lb weight in each hand, and with my arms hanging down at my sides, I leaned over to the right, brought myself back up to the middle, then leaned to the left, and brought myself back up to the middle. Then I did only the right side, and then only the left.

 

Lastly, I leaned forward again and grabbed the handlebars upfront. In this position I was able to do a round of push-ups.  

 

Now, my legs feel like mush and my arms may look good, but their sore today! Oh well...keep it coming Nicole!

 

PS- there's no way i'm proof-reading this! please forgive me! ;)