Tag: exercise

Muscle aches

His legs hurt because he’s been working them out so much. My legs hurt because I’ve been working them out so much. But my legs get all pinch-y and twisted on the inside, limiting my range of motion and use of the muscles as a whole. His legs just hurt so much from lactic acid soreness, he struggles to move smoothly and to be touched… like, at all. Two very different kinds of ache from exercise. One comical and one somewhat serious. After my visit to the chiropractor again this Friday, hopefully the latter will be resolved. And, if the former isn’t better by then, I might just have to poke him a few times, just to see a grown man squirm and squeal like a child. 😛

Post-a-day 2023

Testing

Test number three: passed!

Tonight, we did the timed sit-ups and push-ups and various kicks, all timed, as well as all of our karate techniques, not timed. Only a few of the group didn’t meet the requirement – we have to get maximum points available for this test, versus just meeting a minimum points on the lower belt level tests – and so have to re-do the push-ups tomorrow (and continuing each night until they get enough).

I barely met my max points for the sit-ups, and it was the first time I’d ever done it. I got over 76 sit-ups in two minutes, and it was tough. I genuinely don’t understand how others can get more than that, because I never stopped and I didn’t go slowly at all. Guess I’m just so out of touch with what youth bodies can do, I can’t even fathom it! 😛

Granted, I think they only had to do 78 in those two minutes, possibly 80. So, only four more sit-ups. The push-ups, however, the boys had to get 71, I believe, in the two minutes. But my gender and age only requires 40. That’s 40 push-ups in two minutes! I still took my time and rested and shook out my arms throughout it tonight, and I got around 53 or so. (I knew I was going to get the forty, so paced myself and didn’t push it. It was the first thing of the night, after all, and I didn’t need to drain myself right off the bat.) Push-ups are clearly a non-issue for me. But that sit-up speed… whoo… someone mis-judged what women over 22 can do on that scoring system! Only 40 push-ups compared to 71 for the boys, but 76 sit-ups compared to their 80? That just doesn’t balance out.

Anyway… it went mostly well tonight, I believe.

Afterward, we practiced our little presentation we’re doing for the black belt ceremony, and it went really well.

Now, I’m ready to pass out. Goodnight, all! Thank you, God. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

Why?

Why can I not get myself to bed at a reasonable hour?? Why??(!!!!???) Now that I’m going to the noon workouts, I have been pushing my bedtime back further and further, to the point that I’m now waking up just in time for the gym all over again… just like back when I was almost always a nooner, since I couldn’t fathom getting up early enough for the morning classes at 5:30 and 6:30am.

I’m not fully ready to be at the 5:15am workout class again yet – still getting adjusted to working out again, and being okay with having to use the really light weights for most things (which is way less than I used to be able to do, before my body got all twisted up last summer). 5:15 class is too intense for what I need right now. Right now, I need a supportive space that accepts me where I am, as I am, and that acknowledges my efforts. Right now, I need to be at the noon class. Because I also needed to be able to let go of the stress of wanting and needing to be in bed before 9pm weeknights. So, noon is really what I need right now. But I also need to start getting myself to bed sooner than three in the morning… There’s that, too.

God, thank you for this life. Help me to fulfill your will and express your love through it. Help me to do well in my current educational and career endeavours. Bless the relationship with me and my man, please. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

Monday

Okay, let’s try this whole ‘normal week’ thing again – last week was a bizarre bust, and I wasn’t back in time for the week before to be normal, yet that first week was way more normal than this past week has been! I have a karate physical fitness test this coming Saturday. Until then, though, I want to be back in the gym. I felt so, so good the several days I had gone before getting sick, I want to be back to those good feelings all around, especially the soreness. If needed, I’ll rest from the gym Friday, so I can be less sore for Saturday morning’s test. But I might just go Friday and take it super easy and with no weights, depending on the workout… hmm…

Anyway, I’ll cross that bridge when I reach it. For now, I’m going to sleep and then going to the gym at noon tomorrow. I can do this.

Then, perhaps afterward, I’ll go see about finding some wardrobe additions – working on the normal wardrobe now. Need a couple nicer dresses and tops, as well as a regular pair of jeans (100% cotton, of course, because all the rest feel terrible and cheapy and never fit quite right or feel sturdy enough).

Okay, goodnight. Thank you, God, for helping us both heal. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

Ouch (with photos!)

Another day later, and I still have bug bites all over me. I really wonder what they all were. The bites are mostly different from one another, a strong recommendation for their having come from different bugs. But, boy!, so they itch whenever they get rubbed by anything, clothing especially.

Hiking is great, but I think I just need always to wear bug repellent when I hike. Goodness…

A few examples of these various bites:

Post-a-day 2023

Getting ready

Family is coming over tomorrow for dinner. We spent today doing things on each of our to-do lists (which I had made the day before yesterday). Still no gas, so we have new oil space heaters from The Home Depot that he picked up during his several errands today. We have cute, seasonal-ish tissue boxes around the living space, now. I reasonably handled everything that I’d brought from the apartment, and so the dining room is cleared out and cleaned up. I handled whatever else I’d had sitting around the living spaces. I got my man to help remove the broken tiny lightbulb in the little chandelier in the dining room, and then replaced it with the brighter bulb and put the thing back together – looks and works great now. I set up the red and white towels and napkins and dish towels and rugs my mom dropped off yesterday for us to use as Christmas decor… and then I took most of them back down and out them in the washer, as they had obviously been in the storage unit for a few years (or more), based on their feel and sniff-scent (which is when you only can smell it up close, not a radiating scent). I poured the kettle of boiling water into the freezing cold wash, just to help however I could. Then I hung them all out to dry overnight. The big towels are resting atop parts of the oil heaters now, as they are big fluffy towels that likely wouldn’t be dry by tomorrow afternoon otherwise. (And yes, I know what I’m doing here, as I spent years drying my clothes on such heaters. Never cover the front part.) I set up the decorations I liked from the tubs my man pulled down from storage in the garage, including a little village and two tree skirts – yes, I did the one, then found a nicer one, and so put it just in top of the other, saving the effort of picking it back up – and a funky punching-bag-looking, triangular sandbag Santa and a few other little things to put around the house.

I also made a wreath from the scraps I’d picked up the other day at the Christmas tree lot. Hopefully, we can find the old door hook and hang it on the front door tomorrow.

And I wrapped all the little gifts I’d had stashed for my man, and I put them under the tree, atop the pretty little skirt.

I set up the two power strips for the village and for the lamps and internet extension and tree lights. And I put lights on the tree, as well as a single ornament I’d found of a red fire truck, old style, and a few candy canes. I left the rest of the canes for my man to dress the tree, though. I’d wanted to decode it together, but realized that neither of us has any ornaments, anyway. So, candy canes, down separately will do. He was in the room when I did the lights and candy canes, anyway. Sure, he was vacuuming, but it counted well enough for this hurried night of to-dos.

Oh, and I also put away and tidied some clothes in the spare room, put some things away, put some things in the give-away pile, made a Santa hat for our St. Francis statue in the kitchen, put various beverages tidily in our outside fridge, cleaned up the drink area of the garage, and fed us a bit.

My man ran a bunch of errands, handling a lot of important stuff for us both, and giving the dog a fun adventure. He put the stove back in its nook against the wall (even though it doesn’t have any gas yet). He built what I estimate to be about 35 feet of fence on the side of the house – and it looks good. He pulled out all the Christmas lights for the house, starting to sort them and ready them. He tidied his stuff a bit on our back patio, and a bit in the house, too. He helped me light our Advent candles on our newly-placed-out advent wreath from my mom, while I sang the lovely German song for lighting the Advent candles (and he joined for the last chorus!). And now he’s at the gym, working out and then taking a hot shower.

Tomorrow, I have to tidy the office, especially my desk; put away the hang-upside-down board (obviously, the right words are not coming to me so late at night right now…Inversion table! Got it!); wash dishes with my ridiculous boil-pour-dip method of using the water kettle to handle our lack of hot water; set up the German cookies and chocolates I got; clean all surfaces; work – yep, still have to get those few hours of coding stuff in!; take a nap; fold the napkins and put all the towels back, once all are dried… and that might be it…. Oh, and hang up the wreath on the front door! I also would like to tidy more in the spare bedroom, and handle finishing touches on everything.

My man has to work his whole work day – he’d have taken the day off, but his boss is already off tomorrow, so he’s just rolling with it – and he also has to put up the Christmas lights on the house, finish tidying in the back, and finish tidying his things inside the house. Hopefully, he’ll also get a nap!

We can do it. I know we can. God, please, help us do it with grace and ease, if you will. Thank you for everything. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2022

Muskelkater

That’s the German word for sore muscles after exercise, and I love it. My leg muscles are especially sore right now, and have been for about a week now. Mostly my hamstrings hurt, I guess, though it all is sore, just to varying degrees.

I had my man rub the backs of my legs for me tonight. I asked and told him to be gentle and careful, and use his whole hand to speed the pressure out… and he kind of did. But he also forgot or got distracted every couple seconds or so, and then pushed pointedly and much harder. I even started genuinely crying at one point, it hurt so much. I’d keep telling him when it was too hard, too much, yet he didn’t always seem to believe me… something like that. Whatever the case, his help was extremely painful at times, leaving me writhing in pain, yelling loudly, and, even, crying. It was helpful overall, but the too far stuff was just that – too far.

Hopefully, my muscles heal better tonight and tomorrow than they have been doing.

Post-a-day 2022

Testing, testing

Another test tomorrow for karate. This one is the first official one for the black belt status, and it is the most elusive, I suppose I can say. All we know is that, “it is really hard,” it is a kicking test, and it includes holding up the leg for a long time. Beyond that, we haven’t a clue. People keep asking me if I’m ready for it. Heck if I know! I’ll find out Saturday morning, though!

I did speak to the man giving the test, though, and he said not to be worried. So, I choose to believe him and to trust my physical fitness level. Just need to roll out my legs and warm them up on the morning, I think, and I should be good to do my best.

Deer God, please, help me to perform my best tomorrow. Help me to show that I am both capable and worthy of this goal. Help me to be a force for good, and to inspire good in others. Please, accept my boldness in asking for these things. Please, heal my man and me, that we be our best selves through you. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2022

Ouch, but yay!

Well, I still feel a bit like I have the incomings of a cold, and my muscles are still achey all over, but we got our shopping all handled this afternoon and I passed my test with flying colors this morning. We started at eight and finished almost exactly at noon. Some stuff was a touch harder than I’d anticipated, just for my tiredness and soreness here and there differently so than usual, and other things went much more smoothly than I’d anticipated. For my katas, our instructed regularly shared how she “doesn’t give twenties” on the scoring of them (points are between five, ten, fifteen, and twenty, and she always writes in an eighteen of you do a really good job, which I usually do for my katas). And yet, somehow, today, I got not one but three twenties out of my six katas (the other three were 18s, as usual, of course). Now that was cool and unexpected. Thank you, God, for my effective performance there this morning.

Post-a-day 2022