Wake Up Those Muscles!

Whew! I just finished today's workout. I signed up for the "Absolute Beginner Gentle Course" of Justin Agustin. The course is supposed to slowly wake up your sleeping muscles. I asked my physiotherapist to take a look at the course before I signed up. She said I should go for it and just remember not to go over 5 when it comes to breathing. 

I have been doing wall push-ups everyday since April. I think it's helped my breathing a lot and I haven't had asthma for awhile now. Yay! I hope the course I signed up for will help me advance in a month or two. I'm on my own now since my PT has left the country. I'm grateful she's still keeping in touch and have been asking how I am. I'm using that as motivation to improve. I signed up for the full course at $49. I think it's sulit* since I spend at least SG$50 for taxi weekly when I used to have PT sessions.  

Since gyms are closed for now we decided to invest on an exercise bike. It finally arrived last Sunday and I've been ramping up also on spinning time. I did 3 reps last night and it didn't take me long to fall asleep. Whew! I hope to be consistent with this daily workout. Being cooped up at home is really bad for you and I miss walking around the park. Better to be safe for now and stay home. There's a lot of options anyway to move around more. 

If you want to check out the Justin Agustin course I first saw his workouts on Pinterest. I think he also has Tiktok (which I don't use). Keep moving!

*Sulit - good value for money

CB///*Yr2/53  #StuckAtHomeDay/Yr2/80 #StayHome #BeKind

Wellness Tip from my Physiotherapist

I've come to love my twice a week physiotherapy sessions. I used to dread it, but after two months of regular sessions my body has adjusted and look forward to the workouts. I've also tried to swim two to three times a week, but it's been suspended until the pandemic is over.

I told my physiotherapist today that the highlight of my week has been seeing her for our sessions. We've been following the government advise to only go out for essentials so I only head out for my PT sessions, nothing else.

So soon I hope I'd have real exercise photos haha.

How I felt about my PT changed a lot when I started working from home twice a week. I requested for the accommodation because I was getting sick from juggling work stress with the physical requirements of the PT sessions. My doctor recommended the accommodation since it would not benefit my body if I just kept getting sick every other week.

It took a long time, but now I realize why my doctor had been insisting for me to do yoga since my heart surgery. I tried a few times, but it was just unnatural for me to exercise or even just do some stretching. I thought I'd be forever young (haha!) and I thought it was enough that I was making an effort to reach my daily step target.

See how we try to integrate exercise during our day.

My physiotherapist explained that we were not trained to exercise our body like how we brush our teeth. She said that if we eat candy or anything else we all automatically brush our teeth. Sitting all day at work is just like candy for your body. To "clean it" you need to exercise to get the effects of sitting all day reset. I told her that it's strange that we all had PE (physical education) growing up. We were never taught though that we have PE to require us to continuously exercise our body. I guess we really won't think that way because we only have PE once a week at school.

That was a great perspective she shared with me today and now I understand even more the value of why you need to exercise. It's just like brushing your teeth! :D

Marching

Got a whiff of germs yesterday at work so I'm sick today. Since my brain is being fried by fever just thought I'd share this exercise vid that I follow every so often. Since Dr. Koo said my heart is okay I should try to exercise more (heart = +1, immune system = -1).

How I Work-out

I always wondered how my Mom managed to keep slim all her life. I never saw her participate in any sports activities like my Dad. She doesn't go walking every morning. And, mind you, there are times she eats more than I do! All along I thought it was her metabolism and I hoped that I inherited it. Unfortunately, my metabolism has slowed down a bit and there are days I have to do some extra activities so I don't go beyond my weight limits.

I used to play badminton and tennis, but both are extreme sports for me now so I try to stick to my weekly malling regimen. My doctor thought I played bowling and burst into laughter when he realized that I meant mall-ing, the act of walking around the mall and window-shopping all day. He said I was his funniest patient. Due to some health restrictions I realized that the best way to keep slim is to be my wriggly self all day in different ways. Here's what I do:

1. Cooking - when I was still living with my Mom I did not have to do any chores at home, save for the occasional days I had to wash dishes. But now I turn into Cinderella at 6 in the evening when I have to prepare dinner for my boys. It takes me an hour or two to cook dinner depending on what dish I'm making. I rarely turn on the fan in the kitchen when cooking so I could sweat a bit. Cooking exercises both my arms and legs.

2. Dish Washing - may be strange for some, but I love washing dishes. I hate bringing out stuff to the sink, so Miguel does that for me. My kitchen is small so I have set-up different drying areas for pots and pans and that forces me to walk around. More exercise for my arms!

3. The Laundry - doing the laundry allows me to carry around the dirty clothes bin. I first roll it down the stairs (hehehe), sort the clothes into separate bins and then carry them to the laundry area and pop the clothes in the washing machine. They come out almost dry so hanging them gives me a chance to do some stretching.

4. Sweeping and Mopping - I don't usually do this, but my cleaning lady has been sick for more than a month now and I don't trust anyone else to come to the house to clean for me. I do this by area since I'm allergic to dust. Aside from a complete workout, the best thing about doing this is taking a long cold shower after.

And the best work-out for me...

5. Garden Weeding - I have a tiny garden and my Mom insisted I plant some grass on it. I thought it made sense since grass kinda helps cools down your house (versus pebbles!). My Mom's gardener has been MIA too for awhile now so I had to cut the grass myself too and do some weeding. I spent two hours in the garden the first time I did some weeding. I could barely get up and I was drenched with sweat (kinda like how my boys are sweaty after a run). I was really surprised but liked the workout since I was being productive at the same time. And that's when I discovered what my Mom's secret is at keeping slim. Weeding and gardening!