plum swings! a diary

[Plumfoodie]

Two days late, week 1 resistance kicked my butt all over the place today. With pauses it took me an hour! By the end my will to live had all dribbled away. I used a mix of bells, 6kg for most things, 5kg for the backscratchers and single arm presses, and 7.5lb for the punches and flies. I enjoy the flies, I wish they were in more routines! I did do everything without modifications today, which I think is why I had to pause so much!

On to week 2 core on Monday, assuming I can still walk!

 

[trimlee]

Go Plum!

 

[Plumfoodie]

And then I only went and did a whole load of hedge trimming and lawnmowing this afternoon. My arms are burning just sitting here and I know tomorrow will be all about the pain! Silly plum!

 

[trimlee]

And then I only went and did a whole load of hedge trimming and lawnmowing this afternoon. My arms are burning just sitting here and I know tomorrow will be all about the pain! Silly plum!

Ha funny 'cos I spent 4 hours sorting out the garden today -and still haven't finished yet! My legs and thighs are feeling it. let's hope the DOMS is not too bad tomorrow

 

[Plumfoodie]

What else is one to do when the summer's been so rubbish? Gotta seize the chance while we can!

 

[Plumfoodie]

Grr, argh! On the weekend I stepped off a step that was higher than I thought it was and landed badly on my foot. The GP says he can't tell without an x-ray whether it's a break or a sprain/strain, but even if he could there isn't anything he could do about it anyway. He said I should just wear supportive shoes and be careful of it so that if it is broken I don't shift things around in there where they're not meant to go. (yeuch) What I certainly don't want to do is aggravate it so it takes longer to heal.

I'm going to try core week 2 today and be mindful of not tweaking it, but I think resistance on Thursday will be trickier. I really hope this doesn't call a temporary halt to my kettlebell exercises as I have seen so many improvements in how I feel and also I enjoy feeling not so puny and having fledgling muscles! It might be that I could continue with the more specific DVDs (arms & shoulders, hips and butt etc) for awhile as I think it will be easier that way to avoid things that way. I am having a lot of other stress right now and so trying not to turn this into a 'doom! gloom! woe!' situation!

 

[Plumfoodie]

Week 2 core completed with my 6kg bell!

Isn't it funny how some of the exercises from the earlier weeks disappear entirely from the later weeks! Soo much harder with the heavier bell though, and I'm still struggling on the last couple of half getups with the heavier weight. Easier if I remember to press straight up and keep my arm stacked properly (so hand is straight over wrist which is straight over elbow which is straight over shoulder, that way your bones help support it) but still tough!

My foot was mostly ok, the strangest thing was that it was the swings and squat/row in the warmup that gave me the most trouble. I never realised before how much the feet are moving subtly to keep you balanced during those! I also had to do the planks on my knees and be careful getting up and down for floor exercises, and I didn't spell kettleworx, instead I just did reverse crunches so as not to wave my feet around so much. All in all I'm pleased that it went pretty well, hooray. Be interesting to see what I can manage on Thursday!

 

[Plumfoodie]

Kettleworx chest & back done today, I was too tired to do week 2 resistance after a long night with a poorly cat, and in fact did standing ab twists and horse-stance side bends instead of one arm swings to reduce the cardio energy required in this routine. Used my 6kg bell for everything except the flies (7.5lb) and did close- and wide-grip mantelpiece pushups instead of floor ones.

I enjoyed this routine, and bits like the superman crush (and accompanying eye rolls by the beefcakes) made me laugh. It feels like my arms got just as much of a workout as the chest and back, which is good because I'm always wishing they were more toned.

Just one thing... I was totally not expecting three sets. And the end of the 2nd set I was all smug... and then...

If I can, I'll tackle week 2 resistance on Saturday. The good news is that my foot doesn't look obviously broken (the consultant still has to review the x ray but the radiographer thought it looked good) so I'm hoping it will heal quickly.

 

[trimlee]

Kettleworx chest & back done today....

.....I enjoyed this routine, and bits like the superman crush (and accompanying eye rolls by the beefcakes) made me laugh....

Just one thing... I was totally not expecting three sets. And the end of the 2nd set I was all smug... and then...

If I can, I'll tackle week 2 resistance on Saturday. The good news is that my foot doesn't look obviously broken (the consultant still has to review the x ray but the radiographer thought it looked good) so I'm hoping it will heal quickly.

Hi Plum, I haven't unwrapped my kettleworx chest & back DVD yet. It sounds rather crazy, fun and effective!

Great news about your foot Plum, thank God

 

[Plumfoodie]

Core week 3 today, poor resistance week 2 disappears uncompleted this time around.

Found it really tough today, couldn't do all the half getups or hip pump/crunch in set 3, and had to swap from the 6kg to the 5kg and eventually 8.5lb on the seated figure 8s - they're my nemesesesis. At the end the HRM definitely thought I'd worked less hard than my internal effort-o-meter did! On the plus side, I managed two of the three planks on my toes.

Having a little bit of twingey muscle pain in the back of my side, started during the horse-stance side bends, so I had to be a bit careful during those.

Roll on Thursday!

 

[trimlee]

Good going Plum.
What do you think of the hip pump/crunch exercise. Ryan: "I KNOW this one's your favourite exercise" (or something along those lines!).
Me: roll eyes, glaring, smiling or frowning - depending on my mood!
In fast abs Ryan gets bolder with it and tells us it's for one minute and "again, you're welcome for that one!" Hmmmph!!
Ok, he is a good trainer

 

[Plumfoodie]

Thanks trimlee. I don't really mind it but do find it much harder with the heavier bell! And I quite agree, I smirked in fast abs when he said 'you're welcome', haha. I find that how much I backchat him is largely dependent on my mood, as you say.

 

[Plumfoodie]

Bit of a washout today, feeling really drained and only managed set 1 of week 3 resistance, and that only in a totally half-@rsed fashion. Hopefully I'll feel up to a catchup sesh on Saturday!

 

[Plumfoodie]

No catchup session, but I did get in some dancing at a wedding reception. In a halterneck and fitted-waist dress that I wouldn't even have tried on before starting kettleworx. Thank you Ryan Shanahan.

 

[Plumfoodie]

Core week 4 today, an enjoyable routine! Used the 6kg bell throughout apart from set 2 of the side butt elevators, when I decided to see if I could do them without my bottom leg bent (I can't). I managed the first two sets of core rowers with my feet in the air (yay!) and had to do only 4 half getups per side in set 3 (usually I do 5). I'm still finding the 6kg hard going on these, my abs are fine but my arms don't think they should have to heft it so high into the air!

 

[Plumfoodie]

Slight change of routine this week, I'm going to try a beginner's pilates class tonight and aim to do what I can with the bells on Saturday instead, maybe one of the standalone routines instead of resistance depending on how I feel.

 

[Plumfoodie]

I am so grateful to Ryan Shanahan for his lovely core routines, which enabled me to *not* flail about on the floor of the pilates class like an inelegant gasping fish.

 

[Plumfoodie]

Week 4 resistance today with the 6kg bell! I did everything except the one armed swings, for which I substituted standing ab twists and horse-stance side bends. I like week 4 resistance as it's less cardio-heavy than some of them and so I don't have to pause as much!! Gosh, though, it's warm today...

I'm definitely feeling the effects of the pilates class, it obviously works the core in different ways to the kettleworx core routines and so I've had soreness in different areas. In a way that's good as today I could really feel which bits of my core the kettleworx exercises were hitting even when they weren't solely a core exercise!

I don't know if it's because the pain in my core was drawing my attention but today I didn't have as much trouble heaving the 6kg into the air for the half getups as usual!

Roll on Monday and week 5 core. I am toying with the idea of going to the pool that day also to try some swimming but I don't want to be too ambitious!

 

[Trash]

Wow well done Plum pilates and KW go you ;o) and i agree about the heat today its a blinder when its muggy and hot!

Just looking at your stats your doing brilliant i can only dream of a BMI anywhere near yours ;o)

 

[Plumfoodie]

Wow well done Plum pilates and KW go you ;o) and i agree about the heat today its a blinder when its muggy and hot!

Just looking at your stats your doing brilliant i can only dream of a BMI anywhere near yours ;o)

Aw thank you hon, it has taken me 18 months to get to this point just chipping away at it little by little and for a lot of that time I wasn't able to do any exercise (I think I started KW in March). If I can do it anybody can - you definitely can!