Legs Be Having You.

My physio session involves trying to push a leg press thing (I'm sure it has a name, but don't know what it is), gradually increasing the weight until I can go no more with each leg.  My 'bad' leg failed at number 5 (probably 5Kgs), the right managed 5 perfectly OK, well fairly ok anyway.  2 weeks before, it had failed at 4, so there appears to be some progress.  He has given me some specific left leg exercises to do, which basically involve balancing on the aforementioned leg holding my 2 x 10kg dumbbells, lifting the other leg behind me until the hamstring gets a bit of work.  Hopefully I can get 2 x 20 of these in every day, so far so good.  I'm also trying to do some other 'things' with the dumbbells, such as arm curls (or at least I think they are called arm curls) whilst I have them in my hands as well as a sort of bendy thing where I lie on my back and lift my legs a little. I'm managing 20 of these at a time, and I can really feel my abs working hard for these.  6-pack here I come!

Load of Balls.

 I've had almost 2 weeks now of picking up dumbbells twice a day that are a bit heavy for me, and trying to balance on a ball whilst supporting myself on my back.  Yes, sounds a bit weird doesn't it, but probably because my description is a bit rubbish. Back to the physio tonight to see what he says.  I feel like a guilty schoolchild that hasn't done his homework, because when it comes to the balance ball thingy, I haven't done as much as I should have done.  Not that I haven't tried, but it's very difficult to have one leg on the ball, the other up in the air and move leg number 1 back and forth, therefore working the hamstring.  However, it feels a bit easier than when I started 2 weeks ago so there might be some improvement.  I haven't tried running during this time, so will be interesting what he says about that.  He seems to be keen on a 'no rest' recovery i.e. keep working the muscles a little.  Watch this space for updates.   

Core Values.

Yet another 'news' article today about someone (who just happens to have a few thousand followers) who had an amusing tale about an aeroplane armrest.  Thank goodness we have an 'Ad' symbol displayed when its clearly an advertisement - I wonder how long before we have another symbol that indicates 'Don't waste your time looking at this one', or maybe an 'I' for influencer or similar.

I have 1 week left before I visit the physio again and I'm struggling with my balance ball exercises, so much so that I'm already thinking up excuses for not doing them.  t does seem to be telling me that my core strength is generally very poor.  It should spur me on to get working on it, but it's quite the opposite in fact.   

Inflation is Going Up

Rupert Lowe MP spotted some rowers off the coast of Yarmouth, and immediately announced that illegal immigrants were about to land ashore.  However, it turns out they were charity rowers rowing from Lands End to John O'Groats and he made a bit of a fool of himself.  It got me thinking as to what his thought processes were - and my conclusion is that he didn't think, he just made a knee jerk comment based on his dread of aforesaid people 'invading Britain'.  In the old days, of course, he would have had the same thought, but would have had to ponder it awhile whilst he sought out a journalist or similar to relay the news to before it hit the headlines 24hrs later.  With a bit of luck, the journalist might have questioned his initial analysis of the situation, and possibly ran the 'Guess what our MP thought he saw...' type of headline.  Which is what we have now, only we also had the embarrassing invasion story.

My exercise ball and dumbbells arrived yesterday.  I have to wait 24hr before I inflate the ball sufficiently to use (long story), but I've already had 2 sessions of the dumbbells.  I think it's known as the Romanian Dead Lift, and intended to strengthen the hamstrings.  They are 10kg (each) and not the easiest things to move around.  

Weight a Moment.

Physio appointment last night, which was (I think) useful.  Because the hamstring didn't have any traumatic event to kick off the injury, he thinks it is a general loss of muscle tissue due to aging that made it weak coupled with getting cold for half hour waiting for the rain to stop that caused it.  He took me through quite a range of different exercises to ascertain how severe it was and I ended up with some homework to do involving a ball and dumb bells.  The ball is an exercise ball I have to roll outwards whilst resting my legs on it, and the dumbbell exercises involve bending over with my back and legs straight.  Sounds easy, but I struggled with both!  I go back in 2 weeks when he will assess how I'm getting on, so I need to set my stall out and do them.      

Paying a Debt to Society

 'Live in the moment' is a bit of a strange phrase.  It's often associated with 'wellbeing' (not one of my favourite words) and mental health -an overused 'catch-all' for a multitude of issues.  There is a photograph of the convicted nurse Lucy Letby dancing whilst out on bail, obviously 'living in the moment' as if it were a bad thing to do.  I'm not sure what I would do if I was on bail waiting to see if I was going to be convicted for goodness knows how many murders, but I guess enjoying yourself whilst you can would be a good philosophy.  As I'm getting older, I feel an overwhelming desire to live life a bit more 'in the moment', although at the same time I'm naturally risk averse so difficult to fulfil both objectives.  As I'm just past official retirement date, it does make me think if I should make more time for doing things that take more time but which are excluded (or at least curtailed due to my working hours).  In my head, I do have an outline plan of retirement by the end of 2027, based mainly on when all my debts will be paid off.  This is assuming I don't create more debt!

On the fitness front, I have booked an appointment to see McBride Physio tomorrow after testing my hamstring out last week, so more on that Wednesday.