I recently came across this article in the Guardian on fitness routines by age, shortly before suffering an overuse injury that had me incapacitated for a couple of weeks.
I don’t actually hate my middle-aged body. I do hate the misuse of “ladies” though – it should be “lady’s”.
I’m glad it’s just a super tight soleus muscle and not a torn Achilles tendon or hamstring injury. But I’m still not impressed with myself for needing to use a cane for several days. As much as I like my physiotherapist and appreciate her getting me on the road to recovery, I would have been happy not to see her and need to have KT tape all over my ankle.
I will do my best to take my training a little easier, at least for now. And I have already started taking a Pilates class so I can work on improving my strength.
I know exactly what triggered the injury, and what made it so much worse a couple of days later. But will I stop doing dance or lifeguarding (which includes mandatory fitness training)? Not a chance.
Wow. January flew by and it’s time to check in on all those fancy words & promises I made to myself in December and January.
My word of the year is “steady” and I’ve maintained a consistent workout schedule which is feeling good and maintaining my steps per day at 10,000 a day.
I aim to cycle 30 km a week. At my current pace that’s 90 minutes of spinning. I’m in the ball park each week and trending towards hitting that consistently. I’m not stressing about it, I’ve already done more km this January than any previous ones. Yay!
The first few weeks I needed a day or two between spinning sessions as my legs were quite sore. After 4 weeks a recovery rides feel good even on consecutive days.
I continue to go to physiotherapy for my balance. Most recently Emily gave me some core exercises to further support my stability.
To compliment my targeted training I’m also trying exercise “snacks”. 5 minute yoga moment focused on wrists? I’m there.
10 minute standing core workout? Perfect!
15 minute dance cardio? Heck ya, let’s grapevine like it’s 1999!
I’m finding a bit of play and joy by not taking things too seriously. I am highly unskilled at dancing, lateral movement and core workouts. I find a sense of humor helps as I ineffectually flop about trying to cajole my brain and body into doing something new. I’m coming for you neuroplasticity!
I had recommitted to a daily yoga practice. I’ve taken a big tent approach to that by including stretching and meditation as “daily yoga”.
It’s feeling good. I’m more stable on my feet walking to work on icy sidewalks.
So far, so good with my 2025 plans. Hope yours are going well too!
Nat smiles at you wearing a green plaid shirt. Her hair is longer than it’s been for many years.
Ok, so it wasn’t any fun but starting my week with two hours in the dentist’s chair sure makes the rest of my week seem very straightforward.
I know a lot of people get stressed about dental work but I’m not all that fazed by the procedure itself, I just hate the cursed chair.
Even though I know I am only leaning back a little, I always feel like I am practically upside down.
How I feel at the dentist. Image description: a black and white photo of a bat hanging upside down from a tree branch with its wings outstretched.
And, to make matters worse, once I am in the chair, I can never get my neck in a comfortable position for the procedure so I often end up getting a headache or a migraine after a trip to the dentist.
So, in the interests of migraine prevention, I made sure to take the day off yesterday so I could rest and take good care of my neck after I got home from the dentist.
And in the course of doing some (very gentle) neck stretches, it occurred to me that since I often have neck troubles, it might be helpful for me to do more preventative stretches on a regular basis.
That’s when I discovered the dilemma in my title.
Are my neck muscles tight because of how I use them (perhaps putting unnecessary strain on them) so they need to be stretched regularly?
Or perhaps my neck muscles are actually weak and they need to be strengthened instead?
Maybe it’s both?
Let’s be real here – it’s almost definitely both.
Luckily, a lot of the strengthening exercises I found are similar to stretches I already do but when you add reps, they magically become strength training instead.
And that makes them feel infinitely more doable.
So, let’s give it some time and see if combining the two will make some of my activities less of a pain in the neck.
I don’t know if it will help at the dentist though, I think that’s going to require a fancy neck support of some kind.
How do you think the dentist would feel about something like this? Image description: A GIF of a small light haired dog lying on her back holding a newspaper over her torso while her head is on a shiatsu massage pillow
PS – Have I talked about my neck before? Definitely!
Have I come to this same conclusion before? It is entirely possible.
My shoulders have been cranky again lately – tight and sore and really, really particular about how I sleep.*
When my shoulders especially unhappy with me earlier this week, I decided to take some stretching advice that I read recently and hang by my arms from our chin-up bar for a little while to see if it would help.
And since I’m trying to do three minutes of fun movement every day for the next few weeks, I hung there for a bit longer than I would have otherwise. It was really hard BUT it was also really helpful and I felt much better afterwards.
Some of my fun movement drawings – note my weird lengthy arms after my session of hanging around. Image description: My visual record of my exercises this week. On the left hand side of the image is text reading ‘Move Towards Fun’ with small dots and accent lines around it. Then there are 4 drawings 1) a circle with 4 wiggly lines coming from it, text next to it reads ‘wiggly dance’ 2) a stick figure balanced on one leg with the other high in front of it, text next to it reads ‘high kicks’ 3) a drawing of my closet doorway with the chin-up bar across it and me hanging by my hands from the bar. My arms are ridiculously long and bent oddly and my legs look really short because they are bent behind me. Text next to it reads ‘hanging stretch (hard!) I felt like I was on the rack!’ 4) a stick figure standing on one leg with the other leg bent out to the side. Text next to it reads ‘flippy knees’ – this refers to me pointing my knee inward and then outward while standing on one foot.
In case you were wondering, what I was doing is called a modified dead hang (a name which sorta skeeves me out) – I was lightly resting my toes on the floor behind me while I bent my knees toward the floor.
I was modifying because the bar is not high enough (and I am not strong enough…yet) to do a full dead hang and this approach puts most – but not all – of my body weight on my hands, arms, and shoulders and gives me a good stretch without being entirely too difficult.
I always liked that swing-by-my-arms kind of movement when I was a kid and I would like to be able to do more of it now but it is entangled in the whole ‘need to build upper body strength – gotta have pre-existing upper body strength in order to do the movements I enjoy’ conundrum that tends to plague me when it comes to exercise but I’m working with it.
Speaking of conundrums, after doing the modified hang I discovered that there are just as many people saying that activity is bad for your shoulders as there are people who are saying it is good for you.
I recognize that every person’s body is different and that it is hard to give all-purpose advice but it would be swell to have a little less fuss about every damn thing.
Anyway, all of this is to say that my fun movement challenge is going well and that I am one of the people who will benefit from hanging around like that.
How about you?
Any fun movement lately?
Done any hanging around?
*Sometime last year I learned that curling my arm under my pillow while I sleep (as I have done for as long as I can remember) is actually a terrible thing to do to my shoulder. (Apparently that position is one way that various physical therapists stress a shoulder joint to determine range of movement.) So I had to teach myself to sleep with my arms in a different position (not easy!) which took a lot of getting used to. And I still end up with cranky shoulders – just less cranky than they used to be.
No, don’t worry, I’m not referring to any of my friends, family, or coworkers, I literally have a pain in my neck.
Ok, so it’s more of a muscle knot than anything else and it’s right where my neck meets my shoulder so it could technically be a pain in my shoulder but that doesn’t make for a fun title.
Anyway, one day last week, I managed to crunch up my shoulder in exactly the wrong way and I deeply offended one part of my trapezius muscle on my left side.
It’s putting a serious cramp (ha!) in some of my ‘Feb 5’ plans since I can’t do my core exercises or any rowing.
And during my patterns class at Taekwondo last week I had to tuck my left hand into my belt and only do the right-side hand movements of each pattern. (Just so you know, that makes it REALLY hard to let muscle memory take you through the movements.) Also, I’m pretty sure it looked as funny as it sounds.
I’ve tried heat, cold, muscle relaxants, leaning on a massage ball, and complaining about it and none of those things have really worked. Although that last one made me feel better for a few minutes. 😉
And, of course, I have been doing some gentle stretches and some yoga to try and get the knot to release.
I’ve found some relief that way but mostly this feels like one of those things that just has to work itself out.
Hopefully next week I’ll be able to report that my neck is less grumpy and the Feb 5 plan is going marvellously.
In the meantime, I’ll be taking good care of myself, doing some stretching, and enacting this protocol:
I have a tank top with this saying on it but it’s stored with my summer clothes so I had fun making myself a little drawing. Image description: a small square sign that with gold and black letters that read ‘Maybe Swearing Will Help’
I know that a lot of things this time of year are metaphorically a pain in the neck (or a pain in the ass) but for the last 4-5 days all kinds of things have literally been a pain in the back for me.
And I am ANNOYED about it.
A GIF that zooms in on a very grumpy looking husky sitting on a carpeted floor. The dog’s expression is an excellent approximation of how I feel right now.
Do I know that this may be, in part, related to the post-Covid lingering symptoms that a lot of people report?
Yes.
Do I realize that, even though I tried to take it as easy as possible, the last few weeks have been kind of hectic and that my back likes to hold that kind of tension until later?
Yes.
Do I know that I just have to accept what is, take good care of myself, and just do what I can?
Yes. Damn it.
BUT I can accept it without actually liking it so that raises another question:
Am I also allowed to be annoyed that my back is reacting now, just as I am getting to some of my favourite parts of holiday prep?
Oh hell, yes.
So, if you need me, I’ll be over here being grumpy, alternating between rest and gentle movement and, of course, drinking tea like it’s my job.
Here’s one of the stretches I‘m doing, in case you were wondering:
A video entitled ‘Relieve Lower Back Pain Real Time Stretch’ from the Ask Doctor Jo YouTube channel. The still image shows the title on the left in black letters and, on the right, shows Doctor Jo sitting in a back chair with a blue yoga mat behind her. She is wearing black pants and a tie dyed shirt and she is resting her left leg on the floor while she uses her clasped hands to pull her bent right leg toward her chest.
I don’t know if the recent tension in my upper back is from inadequate stretching after my TKD classes, from lifting heavy things as I declutter my basement, or from not paying enough attention to my posture but I do know that I am not enjoying it.
I have done some extra stretching. I have spent a fair bit of time lying on a lacrosse ball. I have draped myself over my foam roller.
Nothing has really helped so far.
Apparently, I needed a slice of pizza to do this correctly. I’ll keep that in mind for next time. Image description: a GIF of a person lying on their back on a bumpy orange foam roller. They are holding a piece of pizza to their mouth and the point of the slice is between their teeth. They are leaning back over the roller so their head gets closer to the floor and then they are lifting their head and shoulders further away from the floor, holding the pizza in their mouth the whole time. White letters in the bottom right show a url – rollga.com and at the top of the image is a hashtag in white letters reading #pizzaroll
Then, this morning, I received a newsletter from Yoga with Joelle announcing her latest video – Yoga for Rhomboid and Upper Back and I realized two things:
1) I’ve stretched but I haven’t done any yoga specifically for my upper back.
2) I had forgotten that those muscles were called the rhomboids.
(Rhomboid is a very fun word, go on and say it a few times in a row.)
My storytelling self knows that knowing something’s true name gives you power over it.
I’m going to do this video a few days in a row and see if name magic holds true for muscles. 😉
A YouTube video from Yoga with Joelle. In the still image she is wearing a grey tank top and burgundy leggings and is doing a seated twisting pose with her right hand behind her, her right leg folded over her extended left leg, and her left elbow resting against her upraised right knee.
PS – After writing this, I remembered that I was working on a similar issue last year. I started out with a plan to give my shoulders some attention and then realized that part of the problem was my chair and my monitor. I guess I need to make upper back attention part of my regular routine.
I hope that you have space and ease and rest in your day no matter how busy it is.
Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates it.
Happy Holidays to anyone celebrating something else.
And a restful Saturday to everyone else.
No matter what today means to you, it is just one day. It doesn’t have to be perfect. It doesn’t require you to work yourself into a frazzle.
I wish you some relaxation and I wish you firm boundaries.
Our videos for today can help with both of those, I hope.
Here are some relaxing stretches for today;
Here are some relaxing stretches from the Fitness Blender YouTube channel. Still image is a person in a dark blue shirt standing with their back to the camera. Their shirt has white lettering that reads ‘workout complete’ and they have their left arm extended overhead and they are leaning to the right.
And a meditation for boundaries:
A meditation video from Ashley Krout’s YouTube channel. Still image is of a path extending into a wooded area with green grass visible on both sides of the path.
As always, I hope you can be kind to yourself about how your day unfolds, taking good care of yourself in whatever way is feasible.
And I celebrate your efforts to find space for yourself today and always; ⭐️
For those of us who celebrate Christmas, it’s going to be tricky to find a little space during these next three days.
And for those of us who don’t, you will still be facing similar challenges as you try to maintain space for yourself amidst the commitments, activities, and obligations of a full life.
The pressures might be different in each case but the results are the same – very little room to take good care of yourself.
I hope that you can figure out a way to make a little space today. Maybe with these videos, maybe with something else.
I know that I often feel like I don’t have five minutes to spare but later in the day I will realize how often I checked my phone or scrolled through social media posts.
Hanging out on social media isn’t a bad thing, as long as it feels like a real break and you feel like you are connecting with the people whose posts you see. But, I often find that when I feel ‘too busy’ to do a short exercise video or ‘too agitated’ to meditation, I’ll hop on social media to get a break and it won’t feel good. It will add to my feeling of busy-ness, it will amplify my agitation.
In those cases, social media feels like an easy way to take a moment for myself but it’s not really taking a break, it’s just kind of checking out. It would be better for me to take just a minute and breathe deeply or to do a few neck stretches and then make a decision about how to proceed through the rest of my list, rather than numbly scrolling through Facebook and losing track of time.
Now, I am speaking from my own experience, I am not criticizing you and I am not condemning social media. Social media is a great tool in many ways. And you know yourself best, you can tell if you are taking a break or just checking out. And I hope you can do things in the way that serves you best.
If you have decided that movement or meditation would be good for you right now, here are your videos for today.
Remember, you can do just part of them if that makes sense for you. Please be kind to yourself about this and about everything else. (Your gold star is below the videos.)
I really enjoyed this back stretch routine. It’s straightforward and clear and made my back feel quite relaxed.
Here’s a lower back stretch video from physiotherapist Michelle Kenway’s YouTube channel. The still image shows the instructor in exercise clothes lying on a purple yoga mat. The camera angle shows the top of her head and her raised knees and her left arm extended out to the side. The words ‘Back Stretch Routine’ are visible on the upper right.
And here’s our meditation. This one felt really short to me today, I hope that’s a good sign for my subconscious state of mind.
A 5 minute meditation from the Goodful YouTube channel. The still image is a cartoon drawing of a person with long hair, wearing a link shirt and black shorts sitting crossed legged in a classic meditation posture. In the background are drawings of leaves, branches and shapes in shades of blue and white. The background colour is light green.
Whether you try these videos, do your own making space thing, or just take a view deep breaths while you drive, you type, or you cook, I hope you have a little room for yourself today.
