The Sun Porch Gym It has taken a long time, but I am slowly but surely getting back in shape again. I’m not there yet and I may never recover the level of fitness I had six months or so ago, but I am very satisfied with the progress I have made.
First of all, the running is going well. Whereas, back in June when I fell, it was still a challenge to run the full 5K distance. Now, I feel that I can do it easily. I have no idea what my pace is and I’m determined not to get fixated on that again. The important thing is that I can run the distance. My feeling is that the pace will get better as long as my running is consistent. In that regard, I have been doing well for over a month and have been running back and forth on alternate days on my backyard “track.” On my “off” running days, I pedal intervals on the Concept 2 BikeErg. It’s a good combination.
One piece of the recovery puzzle that I didn’t anticipate is the muscular weakness associated with essentially not moving the wounded shoulder for two months or so. As the pain diminished and I started to move it, I realized that I barely had the strength to move the arm in certain directions, in spite of the fact the pain encountered in doing so was minimal or non-existent. I use the K*I*S*S* Exercisers for my upper body workouts. The “horizontal” Exerciser is OK to use as well as the “vertical” Exerciser standing when pushing down and pulling up. However, when using the “vertical” Exerciser sitting when pushing up and pulling down, my strength at the pushing motion is just about nil. I suspect that this is the muscle/ligament area that was most severely damaged when I fell. This makes sense as, falling forward, it is probable that my arm might have been stretched out in front of me --- even somewhat overhead as I went down --- and damaged the muscles and ligaments associated with putting a sudden load in the downward motion. However, I am making improvement. As I said initially, I may never recover all my strength, but there will be improvement.
I think it was in late June that my second son, Fred, visited with us. He suggested that a better location for my gym would be in our sun porch rather than in the basement. This was an excellent idea that I never thought of. The sunporch is bright and cheerful and we really only used it for a mud room. Anyway, over the past month or two, I gave it a major cleanup and made a raised wooden platform to which the Exercisers are very rigidly bolted. I also got the propane heater in the room working. I love working out in this new environment. Now I do a strength workout almost every day. It’s not quite as serious as it was before the fall, but it is getting better. Little by little is the name of the game…
First of all, the running is going well. Whereas, back in June when I fell, it was still a challenge to run the full 5K distance. Now, I feel that I can do it easily. I have no idea what my pace is and I’m determined not to get fixated on that again. The important thing is that I can run the distance. My feeling is that the pace will get better as long as my running is consistent. In that regard, I have been doing well for over a month and have been running back and forth on alternate days on my backyard “track.” On my “off” running days, I pedal intervals on the Concept 2 BikeErg. It’s a good combination.
One piece of the recovery puzzle that I didn’t anticipate is the muscular weakness associated with essentially not moving the wounded shoulder for two months or so. As the pain diminished and I started to move it, I realized that I barely had the strength to move the arm in certain directions, in spite of the fact the pain encountered in doing so was minimal or non-existent. I use the K*I*S*S* Exercisers for my upper body workouts. The “horizontal” Exerciser is OK to use as well as the “vertical” Exerciser standing when pushing down and pulling up. However, when using the “vertical” Exerciser sitting when pushing up and pulling down, my strength at the pushing motion is just about nil. I suspect that this is the muscle/ligament area that was most severely damaged when I fell. This makes sense as, falling forward, it is probable that my arm might have been stretched out in front of me --- even somewhat overhead as I went down --- and damaged the muscles and ligaments associated with putting a sudden load in the downward motion. However, I am making improvement. As I said initially, I may never recover all my strength, but there will be improvement.
I think it was in late June that my second son, Fred, visited with us. He suggested that a better location for my gym would be in our sun porch rather than in the basement. This was an excellent idea that I never thought of. The sunporch is bright and cheerful and we really only used it for a mud room. Anyway, over the past month or two, I gave it a major cleanup and made a raised wooden platform to which the Exercisers are very rigidly bolted. I also got the propane heater in the room working. I love working out in this new environment. Now I do a strength workout almost every day. It’s not quite as serious as it was before the fall, but it is getting better. Little by little is the name of the game…
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