Quite unexepectedly, I was reminded that it is indeed, still January, and T-shirts still need to be covered by hooded sweatshirts to protect you from the rain! I guess that I was just starting to get used to the super nice weather, and all of a sudden, back to reality.
I went to the studio this morning in the rain...it caught me off gaurd! However, with my cozy sweatshirt and socks on my feet, I think I was prepared to weather the storm!
I brought my widget in today. I started out by going backwards in giant circles around the studio. I need to work on keeping my core tight when I'm pulling the widget-arms backwards. I've got the forwards motion down, but it's pulling backwards that causes me to fall forwards, or off to the side, at times. So, although my core has undoubtedly gotten stronger, it still needs a lil work!
When I finished with the giant backwards circles, Nicole had me do tiny forwards circle with only my right hand pumping the widget-arm. I rotated around about 3 times, then I did tiny backwards circles with only my left hand/arm. Because me left arm is stronger than my right, Nicole likes to challenge me more on the left side!
But there was nothing more challenging about one side or the other when Nicole had me raise both feet/legs off of the footrests, and had me do tiny circles while holding my legs up! It was super hard no matter which direction I was going!
After that, I took a water break before we did the killer arm exercises! I really don't think "killer" adaquately describes the brutality of the workout! ;) We did arm circles forwards, arm circles backwards, twisted the invisible doorknobs, drew C's with our arms, held our arms out to the sides at shoulder-level and bent/straightened our elbows, and punched our arms forward...right, left, right, left. When we finally finish, and I can drop my arms down, I'm always sooo glad to be done!
Then, Nicole got out the resistance band. I firmly grabbed ahold of the band, and with Nicole standing to my left side, I twisted my upper-body to the right, pulling the r.band with straight arms. I did 20 on each side, and did "full-on" sit-ups in between my second round of 20 pulls on each side. And I finished with a final round of "full-on" sit-ups.
I had taken my seatbelt off during my sit-ups, and once I was finished, Nicole had me buckle myself back up. This appears to be a simple task. HOWEVER, it's quite tricky when the seatbelt on my power-wheelchair is designed opposite the widget! So, I fumbled around with it for a few minutes, but in the end, I figured out how to make my hands cooperate and I successfully buckled my seatbelt!
Next, Nicole had me work on applying my wheelchair brakes, and disengaging them...REPETATIVELY. I know it sounds rather simplistic, but it's good practice for myy brain to get the right signals down to my hands.
And that was my very last Wednesday at the studio. Sad. But we still got Friday and Monday!
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