A literal pain in the ass

My workout plans were derailed for the last couple of weeks.  I had a pretty bad flare up in my left sacroiliac joint.  The results in the muscles in the area become so tense that I feel like I have a charley horse in my butt.  In the past these flares have only lasted a couple of days, but this time it lasted almost two weeks. Ugh.  It sucks because it's pretty painful and the muscles are weak.  My physiotherapist worked on the area, I had a massage, and did several types of stretching to get the area to loosen up, but it just took its sweet time.  I'm super thankful that you can get muscle relaxers over the counter up here.  

So I lost two weeks of proper workouts.  I did some modified stuff, but for the most part I'm super disappointed.  I'm trying to make you healthy body, stop rebelling against me!

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Physiotherapy

Or as it's known in the States, physical therapy.  I'm not sure why it's called something slightly different up here.  Anyway, I had my second visit today and it's been very helpful.  The biggest concern I have at the moment is making sure that my spine remains flexible and that I avoid developing the "hump" as I get older.  My physiotherapist has shown my some really great exercises and stretches, but probably the most important thing I've learned so far is how to be aware of my posture.  I didn't even realize that when I was standing I would lock my knees.  Almost 30 years old and I have to relearn how to stand up properly.  I am making an effort to "soften" my knees whenever I'm standing still and I think it's starting to work.

I also have the get the sides of my hips strengthened. The physiotherapist told me that when you see women walking down the street doing the "sexy sashay", letting one hip dip really low when taking a step, it's actually putting a large strain on all those muscles. It makes me laugh, the things we women do to look sexy.

If anyone is in Vancouver and looking for a physiotherapist, I highly recommend Gastown Physio and Pilates. They are amazing!

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Xbox One Fitness Review

We lucked out and my fiance received an Xbox One a couple of months ago.  One of their apps is "Xbox Fitness" and I've been working out with it the last week or so.

The workouts themselves are not unique to the Xbox.  They are videos that are available other places such as the 10 Minute Solutions workouts, P90X, and Jillian Michaels. Most of the workouts are free with an Xbox Live Gold subscription.  The interesting thing is the way that the workouts are set up with Kinect. You make sure the camera is pointed where you are going to be working out and it tracks your movements as you workout along with the video.  It can tell how intensely you are performing the the workout and offers suggestions such as "work those legs" if you aren't going as deep into your lunges as you could.  You are awarded points and bonuses based on how well you follow along and compares your points to the average of your age group.

All in all, I'm enjoying using this quite a bit.  The workouts are very good at getting your heart rate up and I'm dripping sweat after 10 minutes.  It's nice getting the immediate feedback that you need to move your arms more or that your leg work is good.  I'm also a fairly competitive person and like the game aspect of it where you earn points and have challenges to complete during the workout.

There are a couple of negatives so far. I had some issues with the Xbox One where when I would try to play a workout, it would crash back to the home screen.  I ended up unplugging everything and plugging it back in again so it would work. Today it crashed back to the home screen when I was in the middle of a workout, which was frustrating.  I'm hoping that this is not a hardware issue and is fixed in the next update.  You also need a lot of room to perform the workouts, which I don't have in our tiny apartment.  I'm making it work, but it's a little cramped.  Once you hit play, the first few seconds of the video are cut off so the trainer is already in the middle of the warm up exercise when the video starts.  It's not a huge deal, but it's a little jarring.

Even with its quirks, I think that Xbox One Fitness is an excellent non-gym alternative for the traditional workout.  The time flies by pretty quick and the competitiveness of point earning is good motivation to do just one more workout.

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New Year's Resolutions

One of my New Year's resolutions was to ramp up my workout routine.  I've been exercising pretty consistently since the beginning of November (except the week I was sick and a couple of days around Christmas) for about 40ish minutes a day.  The usually consisted of about 10-15 warm up cardio, about 20 minutes of body weight exercises, and about 10 minutes of strength training. The past week and a half I've added 10-20 minutes of high intensity cardio depending on how I'm feeling.  I have to be careful that nothing is high impact and even with that my right hip was very tender last night.  This is in addition to the walking I do everyday just to get around town.

Here is my current workout routine:

Monday, Wednesday, Friday-

• 10 minutes warmup boxing (WiiFit)
• 20 minutes bodyweight and yoga mix (WiiFit)
• 10 minutes arm strength training 
• 10-20 minutes higher intensity cardio (Xbox One video-review to come)

Tuesday, Thursday- 

• 10 minutes warmup boxing (WiiFit)
• 20 minutes bodyweight and yoga mix (WiiFit)
• 10 minutes leg strength training 
• 10-20 minutes higher intensity cardio (Xbox One video)

Saturday- 

• 10 minutes warmup boxing (WiiFit)
• 20 minutes bodyweight and yoga mix (WiiFit)
• 10-20 minutes higher intensity cardio (Xbox One video)

Sunday

• Rest day, but still active like taking a brisk walk

With my visit to the physical therapist I'm also adding in the exercises she has recommended and I think that one of those days is going to be replaced with an hour of pilates with her. 

I know that I've been building muscle since November, so I'm hoping that soon some weight will come off to make it easier on my hip joints.  I'm not obese, but I carry a lot of weight on my thighs so I look weirdly disproportionate since I'm short. 

So far I'm proud of myself for sticking to this!  

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Capilano Suspension Bridge and Stanley Park

Last weekend one of my close friends from Seattle came up to visit for a few days.  We spent most of the time exploring by foot and by the time she left I had acquired a couple of blisters.  The first day we walked around the False Creek Seawall from David Lam Park to Granville Island and then took the ferry back across False Creek. 

The second day we took a shuttle up to Capilano Suspension Bridge. My sister and I went here back in March and I thought it was pretty cool. Unfortunately I forgot that this was a weekend in summer rather than a weekday in early spring.   It was jam packed with people and I felt bad for bringing everyone up there.  It was still pretty though. 

The shuttle dropped us off near Stanley Park on the way back into Vancouver so we hiked around there for a bit before heading to Second Beach and taking the Seawall back home. 

I forgot to take any pictures during both of those walks except for when we saw an owl in Stanley Park.

 

On Sunday we were dead on our feet, so we drove up the Sea to Sky highway towards Squamish again. This is the view from this cute little coffee shop along the highway. 

We then went to Shannon Falls Park. Again, super busy but gorgeous. 

Monday before she left we went and walked around Gastown and Chinatown. Once again, I didn't take any pictures except for this funny sign.  By this time, I think a combo of dehydration and eating super bad over the weekend made things very uncomfortable for me and I was running to the bathroom every hour or so. Lesson not learned, of course. I'm not sure why I keep doing this to myself.  

Here are a couple of pictures of my cat in our rooftop garden :)

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Alice Lake Park

My fiance and I have decided that each weekend we are going to pick someplace awesome looking and go hiking. Last Saturday was the first hike and I picked the Four Lakes Trail at Alice Lake Park.  The trail is about 6 km and took about 2 hours.  The hike itself was pretty easy, except we started from the wrong direction so the very first part of the hike was very steep.  I guess it's for the best as it got my heart rate up pretty good.

It was my first time driving up the Sea to Sky highway and it was gorgeous.  The water was this beautiful greenish blue and the view of the mountains was amazing. I'm glad we got there nice and early because there was plenty of parking and it was full when we left.

Enjoying our picnic lunch at Alice Lake. 

Right at the beginning of the trail we saw a ghost plant. I've only ever seen one once before.  They are cool plants that get their energy via parasitic action on certain types of fungi that are symbiotic with trees. 

Edith Lake which is the second lake on the Four Lakes trail. For some reason I didn't take any pictures at either Fawn Lake or Stump Lake. 

 The north part of the trail runs along the Cheekye River before it turns down to Stump Lake. 

It was a great day and I'm looking forward to many more hikes.

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Rough Week

The past week or so has been a giant pit of suckiness.  I haven't been feeling well digestive wise and then the muscle spasm problems I have been having flared up again. The combo of having to go to the bathroom forty thousand times a day plus having your muscles freak out and spasm when you try to move is just the worst.  Luckily I think I'm coming out of it.

I went and got a massage yesterday.  Getting therapeutic massage for me is more like an hour long torture session. Pretty much all my muscles are tense and tender to the touch.  I usually feel better afterwards so the pain is worth it I suppose. The massage therapist thinks that most of my issues stem from my weak postural muscles.  So, gotta strength train those back and shoulder muscles along with my core. A few years ago I took a hard fall on my right hip and every since then my hips and back have been out of whack.  I wish I had gone to the chiropractor right away, I probably could have prevented these problems by not walking weird for three years.

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Setting some realistic goals

Anytime I have set goals in the past, they have always been pretty vague.  Goals like "get in shape" or "eat healthy" don't really give me any concrete to work with. In my first step to personal wellness, I'm going to set a goal.  The first goal I will set is actually setting specific and obtainable goals that I can expand on as I can complete them and track them here.

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