Top of the class

That's me!

I toddled off to the gym mid-morning, lady of leisure me. Confession time: it was such a thought to do today's work. Day 2 on my programme is cycling and leg work. Or Torture Of The Lower Limb...

Here's the good bit. My cycling training, when I adhere to the script, is interval training. So, 5 minutes on a high resistance setting, followed by 2.5 minutes on a low setting, and so on. I did this today, and I pushed hard. After 30 minutes though, the only reason I had to stop was because I had run out of water :) I felt I had more in my legs but I was so thirsty I didn't want to make myself ill. So I guess I'm progressing quite quickly. My legs have always been muscly, they're just hidden under cellulite these days :o

What is niggling me though...I was paying attention to my the movement of my legs. The right knee, the one I hammered off a tree at a fast clip years ago (on a horse of course!), bends in, so it's not running true. And I feel like I put more weight down my left side. I tried so very hard to keep my leg straight. It hurt a bit, I guess that's the out-of-place muscles voicing their objections to being worked in a different way. Not sure how to change how I sit, that's part of the bigger picture. It's a little overwhelming right now to address the squintness...head is firmly buried in the sand at this point!

I followed the cycling with my lower body training. Calf extensions, they burned. Weighed lunges, they burned too. Actually, they really hurt my hip flexors. Only for a while after, they're not sore now. I can't be surprised, I spend every waking day sitting down...I tackled my leg raises one limb at a time. Lifting both together is impossible as I have zero core strength, I sort of end up half sitting up and half lifting my legs instead!

Oh, I mustn't forget. 120 sit-ups! Forty straight up, and forty working each side of my obliques. My tummy muscles were scorching by the time I'd finished, I felt sickly. But I pushed. I do think perhaps I ought to do my sit-ups prior to to any cardio. Cardio makes me so thirsty I consume a lot of water. So when sit-up time came, every time I engaged my tummy, there were sloshing and bubbling noises. Somewhat embarrassing *lol*

My knees and back are sore tonight. I am undecided between this being a necessary evil to break the bad habits of my posture, and warning signs that I am doing something wrong. I do wonder if I should take ibuprofen and push through, or...well, I don't know what else I can do?

But in summary I am quietly pleased with myself today, just that I found my motivation and I gave today my greatest effort. I felt great for it. I enjoy the exercise for what it is, I'm not worrying too much about what I'm working towards :)