I was thinking the other day about when I was in school and thought back on when we went out for recess. It was a time for fun, running, swinging, climbing the jungle gym, jump roping and many other activities we could think up.
When at home, after finishing up our chores, we could go out to play. That might have consisted of riding my bike, walking to a friends house to play, climbing a tree to read a book, raking leaves into trails that lead to make believe rooms, roller skating, ice skating and more.
As an adult thinking back to these activities brought a smile to my face. Why then don't we adults go out for "recess" or go out to "play"? Instead we give physical activity the dreaded words of "exercise" or "workout". They don't sound like a lot of fun. When we were out for recess or out playing we got hot and sweaty so why are we complaining about getting hot and sweaty when we exercise?
I am trying something new with this train of thought and when I am at home and have home exercises to do I am thinking of it as recess or play. Even 15 minutes of recess can help clear the mind, make one feel good, and continue to accomplish what one needed to do around the house. Going out to play would be when I go to the gym and I tell myself I am going to play on the machines. This I find does help and it puts a smile on my face. I will even tell myself, " I am out playing and having a great time!"
If you have a pet, either a cat or a dog, observe them when they first get up. They go through a process of stretching to get any kinks out. Do we do that when we first get up. I am trying now to sit at the edge of my bed in the morning and I will stretch my arms over head and then move my neck to stretch the muscles and finally I will slowly turn side to side to loosen my back muscles. This does help before getting up to walk. I guess we can learn something beneficial from observing animals more closely.
Movement is so important to daily living and the quality of life.
Update: Last week I injured my low back so that my legs and knees were quite painful when standing and walking around. I had tried some leg machines and they are bad news for my low back. At least the machines are. They tilt backwards when you go to lift up with the legs and even though I had everything positioned correctly and of course, tightened my core muscles and used a light weight it felt like a knife in my low back and I just haven't been the same since. At the gym on Wednesday night, I didn't have a meeting to go too so I went to play at the gym even though I hurt. I first did 30 min of the bike and then when to one of the weight machines where you have to pull down and slowly release back up. This took care of the pain in my back and I felt great the rest of time I worked out with the weights. Then just before finishing, I unfortunately used the leg lift machine. Once again sharp pain in the low back and then had problems walking. I did some walking on the treadmill and then 30 min. on the elliptical machine and to finish I went over to the weight machine that I first used that got rid of the back pain but unfortunately it didn't work. Needless to say I did not go to the gym for the rest of the week because of how painful walking was.
I had a wonderful 90 min. massage on Saturday that did help some and I am hoping that my stretching my lower back muscles will eventually free things up more. This is my real trouble area.
I had a doctor appointment on Friday and my bone density is about the same so that is good so fractures of the lower spine and hip area is low. We talked about one of my finger joints and he showed me what to do to try and relieve pain and if it continues to bother he said he can do an injection. I haven't had problems with this finger until I started working out at the gym. It is most likely having to grip everything and that joint just doesn't like it. At least I don't have to return to see this doctor for another year unless something changes.
So my goal for this week is to strive for the 30 - 60 minutes of aerobic activity and thinking of all of my workouts as recess or play.
Enjoy your week! Until next time.........
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