Exercise and me

As an adult, I have been good at exercise. When I was a child, I was a dedicated athlete and ice skated daily before school, after school, on weekends, in skating shows, and basically a lot. Then I discovered being a teenager is more fun than spending your life at a skating rink and I was less of an athlete but generally active.

Eventually I discovered the benefit of a daily walk and walked my way through cancer, multiple surgeries (benign and malignant), and all sorts of fun. When I turned 40 37 for the fourth time, I joined a gym. Then my back started to hurt and nearly a decade later, I joined a gym for decrepit people. They are familiar with decrepit people and health issues. In fact yesterday when I was there, there were two people on cardio machines while on oxygen.

As part of my expensive (but worth every penny) gym membership, I get a three month evaluation free of charge. Yesterday we talked about how I can exercise with RA and fibro to my best benefit. We went from the 'lets do lots of things to keep in as best shape as we can' to 'lets do a few things to preserve balance, flexibility, and strength without injury or causing more pain'.

Now my work out consists of 45-50 minutes of cardio instead of 40 and maybe 10 exercises at lower weights for 1 set of 25 reps instead of 20 exercises at medium weights for 2 sets of 15 reps.

I tried it yesterday. Last night I was hobbling around. Today I am still hobbling but haven't decided if it is caused by my workout yesterday. Today I am not exercising unless going to the grocery store counts. Pushing around a big grocery card can cause pain. I just won't buy a lot of heavy things.


I will get exercise again tomorrow I think. I have to skip a day between work outs or I end up in bed for a few days. Call me wimpy but call me alive.