Arms, Legs, Abs...

Thursday was Hell-day for my poor muscles! I worked 'em hard today! Nicole had me strengthening my arms, legs, and abs! With all of these arm exercises, I'm gonna have to get a liscene for these guns! My poor biceps are achey...but Nicole says that's good! I may not be a heffer, but my muscles have been out of shape! It's truly been AWESOME to get to know Nicole and have her kick my butt!

And that's what did today! She started the session having me do arm warm-ups. First, I did small circle in the forward direction. Then, straight into twisting invisible doorknobs. Then, bending my arms at the elbows; in and out back to straight arms. Then, bringing my arms straight up from 90 degree angles. My arms were feeling the burn by now. Then, arms went back to little circles and invisible doorknobs. Then, with my elbows bent at 90 degrees, I raised my arms up, and returned them back to the 90 degrees. Keeping my elbows bent, I moved them forward, in front of my face. Then, I held my arms out to my sides and held them up there until the cows came home. At the end of the warm-up, my arms were on fire! Let me add that I probably skipped out on telling y'all the warm-up exactly,  but you get the jist.

From the arms, to the legs. I began with my wheelchair in its upright, sitting position. Today, Nicole had me working on raising both feet up at the same time. I brought my legs up to a straight leg position and let them drop back down, over, and over, and over again. Nicole had me keep going until it seemed impossible to do one more. The only problem with that was, my legs tired at different times. My left leg was raising up super easily. Whereas the right leg is still at a place where it raises slower and requires more of an effort. So, in order to provide more of a challenge for the left leg, Nicole used her hand to push my left foot down while I pushed up. I actually noticed that while my left leg was struggling against Nicole's hand, my right foot was rising quicker. Just another one of those things that make you wonder. We went on like this until my legs felt like cement bricks were tied to my ankles and raising them up was one of those task you just hold your breadth for and just pray you can pull through. And today was the first time my thighs burned in exhaustion!

Last but not least, my abs. Nicole had me lean my chair all the way back for sit-ups. She had me hold my arms in an X across my chest. This way I could bring my elbows up and throw them down when I was doing the sit-up. Although I can't crunch my body up yet, I can feel my abs working.The more I work on my sit-ups, the more I'll be able "sit," or pull my shoulders up off the backrest, I did a few sets of 20, then Nicole had me try lifting my bent left knee up while I was doing a sit-up. I tried each knee, trying so hard to match the picture of it in my head!

All I can say right now is I'm actually glad I've a wheelchair, because I'd probably need one tonight anyhow!