June 2007
Week of June 3, 2007
Total Gym
Since I have been both physically and mentally depleted every day upon returning home from work, it has been difficult to motivate myself to work out during the week even with a family reunion looming in August. I have been lucky to push myself into a trampoline workout once on a weekday. One would think donning a pair of shorts and exercise bra would be easy enough to jump on a trampoline in one’s own backyard. Maybe the problem is not the preparation and time invested in the exercise itself but my frame of mind. I am tired. I am at the end of my rope. An intense cardio routine is too much for me after most of my working days. However, I have been able to make lesser commitments.
Work is not the only culprit in my lack of motivation. My husband has been experiencing pain in his leg and the doctor sent him to the hospital for a sonogram to check for a blood clot, the most serious and dangerous of the possible causes. Thank God he does not have a blood clot. The two most likely reasons for his discomfort are (1) a side-effect of one of his medications and (2) he needs the other hip replaced sooner than originally predicted. My father has also been feeling poorly and lives too far away for me to be able to care for him. Fortunately, his cousin and neighbor have been able to help. My father has been seeing a chiropractor and his condition is improving. These problems have minimized my petty concerns about the job I hate and will be leaving in a couple weeks but have also taken their toll on me emotionally.
The stage set, I still care about my body. I can’t let myself go down the drain too, can I? Please note, I am being intentionally superficial. I call my father daily and have made this time serve double duty by doing squats on my Total Gym while I am on the phone. If you are not sure what a “Total Gym” is, just think of infomercials starring Chuck Norris and Christie Brinkley. The thing is basically an inclined plane of variable angle with a rolling bed that uses one’s own body weight as resistance for various muscle-toning exercises. I bought it about a year ago, before my ankle injury, and later discovered doing squats on it improves my ankle flexibility. The rolling motion is also tremendously relaxing and almost hypnotic if you are tired enough. My typical conversation with Dad lasts about fifteen minutes, during which time I condition my lower half on this clever piece of equipment. Sometimes I am even inspired to do some upper body work after we hang up. This results in a bit of exercise, a bit I would not have gotten otherwise.
Of course, I have no intention of advertising for any name-brand exercise product, but I like to share my experiences with what’s available out there for the adult athletic set. I still have not gotten back to the rink, so I try to substitute other fitness activities that are both therapeutic and may ultimately benefit my skating. In my opinion, the “Total Gym” is a fun, low impact device that can provide a whole-body workout. Christie touts it as a pilates machine, but I have not unlocked its full potential for core strengthening. It is certainly a convenient item to have at home, as you can use it without changing clothes and with minimal commitment. I bought mine from a shopping channel, set it up with negligible difficulty, and did not go into debt. The thing has yet to morph into a laundry rack, and my cats like to sit on it. One even likes to go for a ride on my stomach while I do squats.
If you are really curious, check out the Total Gym web site: www.totalgymdirect.com
Wednesday June 13, 2007
Back at the Rink
I took a much needed day off from work and went skating, finally. I had not skated since the end of March, so a total of about ten weeks had past since my last trip to a rink. That itself is discouraging. However, I eagerly anticipated my day off and the skating I would have time to enjoy. I laced up my boots as though it had not been that long and stepped out onto the surface. The rink was empty except for a little boy and a man in hockey skates. Nothing compares to a daytime public session when the rest of the world is at work or school.
My blades cut conspicuously deep edges as a I slalomed around the rink in exaggerated curves. That ripping noise sounded delicious. Even though I have been doing aerobics, running, and various other exercises; since I have not been skating, key skating muscles have fallen into disuse. The actions of stroking and leg extension require strength in the buttocks and outer abductors of the thighs. I soon experienced soreness in these areas but fought through the discomfort until the kinks worked themselves out. No matter how busy or stressed out I may become in the future, I must promise myself to at least attend a public session weekly to maintain these muscle groups. Ice or roller would be fine, as the same stroking action is common to both forms of skating.
Unfortunately, I did not center spins well, with a couple of exceptions. For me, this is unusual. Even when I have been badly out of shape in the past, I could still center spins. This time, I must have too many obstacles against me including dull blades. I could have let this bother me, but I have been skating and spinning at an advanced level for so many years, that I believe my skill will return. Instead, I enjoyed my spins while concentrating on improvement.
I even did a few jumps. They were small, but fun. I may need new boots soon too. My ankle wobbled a little in a loop landing. The jump was tentative and the landing may have been shaky due to lack of practice, but I will keep a close eye on this situation. Loop landings are my first indicator of boot wear.
By the end of the session, I circled the rink in strong back crossovers and backward stroking. My current strengths are edge quality, posture, and power. Luck for me, these characteristics are at the heart of good skating. I left the rink in absolute peace and happiness. I had a great time. I love to skate, no matter how well I do or what I accomplish. Skating is its own reward.
Friday June 22, 2007
Paid Up for a While
School is out, I am free of my miserable job, and I went skating. I enjoyed a two-hour lightly-attended public session. I arrived early because I had an appointment that morning and driving home just to turn around and come back made no sense. Fortunately, the manager allowed me to go on the ice a half-hour early, which was absolute private heaven. I warmed up with stroking and moves in the field then some spins. My wayward spins have returned to center, making the ride much more gratifying.
I hit a couple of beautiful forward camels, stretched my arms and free leg for intentional beauty and rode the spin for as many rotations as physics would allow. One of these lovely camels combined readily with an equally secure back camel. It was as expert a combination as anyone could expect. My laybacks were strong, centered and long-lasting. Laybacks have always been my favorite.
To balance my practice, I also experimented with every single jump, except the axel. I am not ready to go there yet, which implies I may be ready at some point in the near future. Instead of hopping cautiously for the whole session, I picked up speed and put a little guts into it. Not my usual powerful approach, but respectable. My jumps can return with a few more sessions of experience. I did a series of waltz jumps using a trick I learned on the trampoline to enhance height. This is old news, but it clicked for me through cross training. I reached my arms forward as my leading leg attacked the jump. This steadied the take-off and enhanced straightness of flight and distance. Once I get back up to speed, this technique should lead to improved, more advanced waltz jumps. A big, floating waltz jump is a sure sign of expert skating.
The most wondrous tidbit from this skate came in the form of a little spin I played with before my ankle injury. Years ago, my former coach, Geoff, tried to teach me to do back sit spins as individual elements rather than the second component of a combination spin. At the time, this skill eluded me. Last year, I enjoyed limited success with back sit spins from a forward inside three-turn, the entry used for basic backward upright spins. For some fluke of a reason, I gave one a shot. My hip snapped closed to create the position and it rotated as if my magic. Not only was the spin skillfully achieved, it was fast. My sit position may not be the deepest, but it was definitely recognizable and not necessarily a squat. Where did this little delight come from? To ensure that it was not a one-off, I repeated the spin several times, each with similarly satisfying results. Maybe this is my reward for persistence and overcoming adversity. The backspin also came with a combination to a forward sit. The forward sit will build back lost muscle in my formerly injured leg.
I no longer consider myself and injured person or a person coming back from injury. I feel strong, healthy and free to do whatever I want. Between the two accidents I had in the last year, hopefully, I am paid up for a while.
Week of June 24, 2007
Elliptical
Joint difficulty due to injury and overuse seems to be the most common problem for athletes and those who just want to get some exercise. Many people who need exercise are overweight and are exercising with the intent to drop a few pounds. The pounding of excess weight on joints contributes to the risk of injury creating a vicious cycle: I need to exercise to lose weight, but I should lose weight before I can safely exercise. This problem as well as the joint injury has made low-impact exercise a relatively new craze for the fitness set. Options such as power walking instead of running, low impact aerobics instead of traditional all-out jumping around, and elliptical trainers instead of treadmills have become popular.
If a delicate little flower like 1998 Olympic champion Tara Lipinski can wind up in hip surgery, imagine what skating, running, and kick boxing have done to a buffalo like me. And I’m not alone. The average female adult is probably at least one-and-a-half to twice the size of Lipinski. The average adult skater does not do triple jumps like a world-class competitor, but what we do we are doing in bodies that did not weed us out of the elite track at puberty. One of my big single loop jumps probably creates as much force on my knee, hip, and ankle as one of petite Tara’s triples. I used to wear a brace on my landing knee in the good old days when I skated four times per week and was working on axels and doubles. Many of the full-grown skaters wore knee supports.
On to the point. My husband and I took another cruise this week. Cruising is another word for floating, uncontrollable gluttony. However, this particular example left something to be desired in the cuisine department. Fortunately, cruise ships also have gyms, so us guilt-ridden hogs can burn off our indulgences. I warmed up with a half-hour of reading a delicious historical novel on the stationary bike then moved to the treadmill for a run. Of course, I am not in the shape I was before my ankle injury last July, but I can be patient. I planned to push a little more each day, as I do at home. What I did not take into account was that at home I only run a couple of times per week and have time to recover in between. On vacation, I want to exercise daily. The second day, my shins ached when I hit the treadmill. I had to stop and walk. I tried power walking. The pain did not stop. I realized I am still favoring my injured ankle. This favoritism caused an abnormal stride that put stress on the shin.
On the third day, I ventured to the elliptical trainer. I have used this type of very popular low impact machine before with little success. I was not familiar with ellipticals and did not know how to adjust the settings to suit my needs. Watching someone next to me, I lowered the pitch of the ramp and reduced the resistance so I could peddle comfortably. An elliptical trainer fuses the motions of bicycling and jogging into a smooth gliding stride. The feet move in an elliptical pattern (hence the name) that virtually eliminates impact on the joints. Now that I unlocked the fairly obvious secret of using the elliptical, I enjoyed it and built up a good sweat.
In the future, I will space my running workouts throughout the week with recovery time and cross-training. I do not want to give up running, but I need to develop a smart running routine. Sometimes I get enthusiastic and try to force myself to do too much too soon. I have always known running every other day is better for the body than daily running. I just needed a friendly reminder.
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