After two weeks off...not by choice!..., both Nicole and I were stoked to get back to work! I am really encouraged and feeling really healthy with the new "diet" that Nicole gave me...Nicole said she put me on foods that are anti-inflamatory, which is helping alot with the swelling in my ankles. Nicole said that my skin is looking really healthy, too, which makes me feel good! And as for my stomach feeling nauseous (sp?), the diet has really helped that, too! It was getting to a point where I almost dreaded eating breakfast, mainly) because I would almost always get an icky nauseous feeling. Now that I'm eating healthier (for the rest of the day as well as breakfast), I have been feeling tons better, which in turn, has re-lit the fire under my arse! It's crazy how much one's choices in foods can affect them! I guess because I had been constantly trying to put weight on (remember, I had gotten down to 89 lbs!), I had just competely ignored the nutrition facts and loaded up on cheeseburgers and french fries!
Nicole's desire to kick my butt was welcomed by me because of how anxious I am to step it up! First, Nicole had me pump my wheelchair back and forth across the studio floor...oh by the way, today was a widget/manual wheelchair day. I pumped my chair forwards and pulled the widget bars backwards.
Once I warmed up my muscles, Nicole had me park my wheelchair and put on the brakes. She had me do some different arm exercises with the resistance band. To start, I gripped one end of the band, Nicole held the other end, and I held my arm out straight, palm up, bending my arm up towards my face. And at one point, I bent my arm and kept it bent, pulsing against the resistance...that was a doozy! I did this exercise on each arm.
Next, Nicole stood behind me and she had me do push-forwards. Gripping the resistance band, I brought my uppr-arm to shoulder level with my elbow out to the side...like a half-T, for those of you who know cheerleading terms!..I would push my arm straight forward from there. Again, I did sets on each arm.
Then, I did fly-aways on each arm. I stuck my arm out straight to the side, and pulled my arm forwards. I hate doing fly-aways because my arms lose control on the return trip back to the stating position! I have to focus on keeping my arm muscles controlled on the return trip!
Then Nicole got a box to stand on so that she could provide good resistance with the band for pull-ups...or pull-downs. So. she stood on the box behind me, and I gripped the band with both hands, straight up above my head, palms up. I pulled the band down to my lap, repeatedly. Then I flipped my palms over and, keeping my arms straight, pulled down, out in front of me.
The last of the arm exercises worked my lats! Nicole held the resistance band on my left side. I gripped the band with straight arms out in front of me. With the resistance coming from the left side, I pulled the band to the right side. Then, Nicole moved to the right side, and I pulled to the left. These were killer! Ouch...
When we finished the arm exercises, I did a few more laps in the widget. My arms were WORKED, and pumping the widget rods was sooo much work!
Then, Nicole had me do leg lifts on each each leg individually. And then, lift them both together. My right leg has a slow start, but once it gets up there, it rises just as quickly and just as high as the left leg. I think doing all that work with Rosemary really helped me to figure out which muscles to focus on.
Nicole also wanted to try the point/flex of my feet...the exercise I did with Rosemary. As Nicole held each foot up individually, she noticed how the swelling in my ankles has gone down...drastically in the right ankle! Yay! I think my new diet is really halping me!
I'm kinda relieved I won't have another arm workout 'til Wednesday...actually, Wednesday will be a leg workout day...woohoo! ;)
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