water?
My dear friend Jessica is a lap swimmer. She loves swimming lap after lap with her long arms and legs propelling her through the water for miles at a time. I kid you not, it is a work of beauty. Jenn and I watched her lithe body glide gracefully back and forth, back and forth, and were awestruck by how well her body works in the pool. She has been searching for a pool to do her workouts in and we thought water might be really good for me, so I have been tagging along on her pool experiments to see what I think.
And the verdict? I think I love it. I can’t swim with actual swim strokes because my joints are so loose they will get sprained, subluxed, or dislocated by the lever action of strokes and kicks, but I can walk around the pool, do squats, balancing exercises, marching, and slow water jogging. It is awfully boring to walk around the pool by myself and I don’t know if I will be able to keep that level of boredom up long term. I think I need a friend to do it with me so we can talk the whole time. I LOVE the way my body feels afterwards. It feels worked. All the muscles feel soft and heavy and exercised. I haven’t felt that wonderful head to toe sensation of being strengthened for a long time – I’m sure it is better than drugs.
So, now I need to decide if I want to spend the pennies to buy a pool membership, buy the gas to drive in 3-5 times a week, and spend the time away from my family.
The pros: It feels amazing. The warm water relaxes my muscles and simultaneously gives them a workout. My body is much safer in water than on land – the buoyancy helps protect me from injury because it is harder for my joints to go to far.
Cons: Cost. Time.
I have quite a bit of exercise equipment here…Elliptigo, treadmill, balance pad, ball, bands, etc. So, now that I can exercise again, I could just use what I have and see how that goes. Hmmm. I don’t know what to do!
I'm Tracy, a mama with big dreams, crazy ideas, loads of laughter, an insatiable desire to learn, and enormous piles of laundry.
A work of beauty? I just choked on my little midnight snack. Ha ha! You are nice.
I am really thinking a waterproof mp3 is going to be lovely! I think you would like listening to audiobooks, no?
Yes, a thing of beauty. Jenn and I were both awestruck by how beautiful your body is at it glides through the water. So graceful. Not forced or struggling in any way.
Well you’re both nice. I’m all elbows and knees and bonking into stuff on dry land so it’s a pretty awesome feeling to feel coordinated in the water. Maybe that’s why I love it so much. It’s such a great feeling to concentrate on moving in a certain way and actually have it work like it’s supposed to.
Cheers and credit to Coach Swim. He deserves a medal or a trophy or both for being so patient with me when I started. It was the farthest thing from beauty back then. :o)
I think it would be so fun for you to do that with your friends. But, yah, also thinking [since you DID ask for opinions] that spending time with your family, your children trumps it by a ways. Course, getting healthy and working your body is right up there, too. Hmmmm.
Yes, the time away from them and quite frankly, the time at all, is my main quandary. I don’t know how to fit another thing in my life. I am thinking I could go at 9:30 at night after scriptures, prayer, and read-aloud time and be home by 11:30, but boy, howdy that makes for lots of late nights.
What about once a week!!!
It is way too expensive to go once a week. I have to pay for a month at a time.
I like the early morning or late at night plan for a good family balance. And if it helps their mom be stronger and heal faster (building muscle like you so badly need) I think the kids would appreciate a stronger / healthier mama.
Though, I know your schedule is kind of nuts. What about a trade off? Is there something else you can let go of in exchange for work out time?