Week Two of Stretching

So the day I started stretching was also the day I started Duolingo.

Beag is small and snog is nice....the irony.

I chose to learn Gaelic as that was how I discovered the app:  Gaelic Duolingo was referenced on Twitter (as I follow numerous Scottish accounts.). It was quite fun, which was surprising. I’ve failed at all other attempts to learn another language; even dropping out of my Spanish course in college. To be honest, the method of learning bored me...until now. I’m loving my daily 5-10 minute lesson...and wish I had picked Portuguese instead!!  Now two weeks in, I’m pretty invested in continuing studying Gaelic....but it has made me wonder. I’m doing something I never could do before, simple because it’s being presented differently.

Stretching.....wow.

The Buckeye, my partner.

I am two weeks in, and the Buckeye is ten days in.  We are at 7 minutes a day as of this morning; adding a minute or so more each week.

I know it’s only 5 minutes. But it’s freaking everyday for 5 minutes.

Two weeks ago, I figured I could stretch for 5 minutes a day, and drug an old yoga mat into my office. A few days in, I invited my husband to join me.  It was just 5 minutes...and yet I was SORE. Like I’d had a huge workout sore!!!  Hubby quickly found he felt the same...and this is despite the fact he hikes 2 times a week and I hike at least once. How could we be so sore from simply 5 minutes?!?

Plus walking the dog daily...it’s not like we just sit all day!

The fact he was so sore impressed Hubby we were really on to something....and he insisted we do it first thing every morning. Which meant prior to him leaving for work.

At zero dark thirty.

So for several different days now....the two work days after Christmas and this first week after, I’ve dragged myself from my warm bed to my office....where the ever cheerful Buckeye has our two mats out and waiting.

And it’s so hard.

Hard to get out of my warm bed. Hard to even think of stretching...because I dread how I may feel after.

Nauseous, and lately increasingly sore.

After massive googling, I’m learning to keep my head tilted in one direction.  If I don’t, my tummy gets upset for several hours, not unlike prior yoga experiences.  It has nothing to do with food and everything to do with my neck.  Thus far, I’ve had few days ays without nausea...and I’m hopeful. Because I don’t mind the stretches...and very funnily, the Buckeye does!

We get started, he starts to complain...when all of my complaining is beforehand. In this we are a perfect match...his strength gets me going and my strength keeps him going.

It’s a new camaraderie between us...and it’s so good.  As we form this habit together, I mused that perhaps in time we could mix up other things in the proposed thirty minutes we would allot.

This Buckeye is increasingly happy as of late.

He readily agreed...as he sees our future very much entwined. I’m thinking that maybe exercise just needed to be presented to me in a different way for me to see success...even though we are far from the mere habit of it! As I tucked away the fact I now “know” 175 words of Gaelic, I wonder how many improvements my body has seen since I started stretching daily.  My newest accomplishment? I can bend down and stand back up without using my arms to pull/push myself up. In 5 simple minutes a day.  Add to that the fact my upper back pain is gone. This is just two weeks in....what more awaits?

We shall see:)

Week One in the Books: Stretching

It’s Christmas Day.

This was the first (and last!) day we had gifts under the tree!

It also marked the eighth day in a row I’ve done two things: stretch, and practice Scottish Gaelic.

I also found treasure while hiking, likely for the eighth time.

Stretching.  Three days in, I invited the Buckeye to join me.

Because while we clean up well, we both are about equal when it comes to fitness since his accident a year ago.

Join me he did, and I’m so glad for it.  You see, I would have quit three days ago.  I was getting discouraged by it, and frankly, I was sore.

From FIVE MINUTES OF STRETCHING.

No cardio, no Pilates, no yoga....just five minutes of stretches.

Which DOES burn 27 calories, but still.

The past few days, my thighs have protested. My upper back pain, however?

Gone.

I’m ridiculously pleased I exercised my way out of pain....but even more pleased I no longer work at the building behind me....

Last night at Christmas Eve service I noticed I stood taller, since my shoulders weren’t pulling forward. I noticed my hips went into position better, too, and my overall posture had improved.  With just five minutes of stretching a day.

Eight days in, my body was doing better.  All because I didn’t quit, and that was due to my partner, the Buckeye.

At the Symphony. I remembered to say slàinte at dinner instead of cheers!!!

We decided to stretch everyday together, and add one minute a week to our routine until we get to 30. He’s just as inflexible as I am, and it’s a joy to start at the same point.  Lately we’ve hiked at least once a week together, and often I join him on his evening dog walk.

Constellation hike.

A few weeks ago, he had an unexpected call. He received an order on a product, and we decided to deliver it ourselves. The twelve hour road trip had an unexpected benefit; an hour from home he had an epiphany.  He was done seeking crumbs.

Everyday since has been amazing.

In a blink, the man I thought I had lost was back. 

This man: last seen in March 2018, seen here on 12/31/17.

My husband joined me in stretching daily (although he left Gaelic to me....oh!!! I love it! We hiked Ham and Cheese trail and I was all “Hama agus Cìas!”) and rejoined me in a life of walking by faith, not by sight.  2019 has been a rough year, and yet....

Manchild & Princess, laughing this morning at breakfast.

Joy has return to our home.

True joy, that is our strength and stronghold.  Just as I feel changes with just one week of stretching behind me, and I’m translating a word or four out of my week of studying Gaelic, so too is life in our family changing for the better.

Never has this been more true than this year.

Little steps. Little reminders. Partnership.

Already, 2020 will be better than I ever thought it could be :)

Praying it continues to be.

Stretching. Literally.

So my first thought is “will the . in the title be a . or a ridiculous mix of symbols when posted?!”

We’ll all know soon.

So this was the start to my morning.

I’m telling all of you out of hopes of actually continuing this...not that after FIVE YEARS of blogging I feel there’s any success in utilizing accountability as a factor in my fitness quest.

Actually, the only thing that keeps me returning to exercise is the thought of my grandmother in a wheelchair for 20+ years...and more recently, my mother’s health issues.  While both indulged in habits I have not indulged in (smoking by Nana, overweight by my Mom) I cannot help but see correlations. Neither looked after their health, and I admit I really don’t want to. I fully subscribe to being part of the 80% designed to survive war and famine.

Lol, she’s not really old. But good lord I’m wearing my hair like this when I’m gray!

The Buckeye and I watched the first season of Vikings over Thanksgiving, and I admit it reminded me of a different season in my life. When I tried to convince the King I was worthy of his love, by exercising and getting fit. Over the years I’ve struggled, knowing full well I need to get back to where I was when my hand broke. Between 150-155, and fit.

I’m definitely not there now!!!! 😂😂

It’s not a huge amount of weight to shift: 25lbs. I also have a genuine desire to move it.

Just no desire to exercise or diet.

So I’m trying things...like removing the clothing I love that doesn’t fit from my closet...and telling myself I have to give it away if it doesn’t fit in X number of months.

Problem is....I’m not certain that will work. 

What I do know will work? 

Getting rid of every size 12 pair of jeans...and the 10’s when they get too big.  

I have a double chin I’d like to get rid of, too.

So.

5-2.

But with a twist...hubby needs to go pescatarian.  Keto pescatarian. For actual legit health reasons; so more impetus to do it right.

Hence the yoga mat in my office.

Starting now, before the new year. With stretches.

Quite honestly, it’s a stretch.

I don’t want to do it. At all.  I’m perfectly content to stay exactly the weight I am. 

But, fitness quest.

Begin again.

I don’t want hindsight to be 20/20...I want 2020 to be the year I am proud of. For the first time in quite awhile.

5 minutes down.  1820 minutes to go!

I’ll be curious to see what next Christmas brings!