Over the last several weeks, my weights have gathered dust. First, I was deathly ill for several days, mostly from an adverse effect of one of the anti-biotics that I was put on, then, immediately upon recovery we were gone on a 17 day road trip. I did exercise during that period, less than I do at home, using some videos and the resistance bands. Let’s not discount the fact that I push myself in my wheelchair very long distances, and much more frequently, than I do at home. So, it’s been a while without weight lifting.
This morning I woke up early and the bus was coming 20 minutes later than it normally does, so I had time. I got to the computer, checked emails and stuff and very nearly decided that it would be nice to have another day ‘off’ from lifting but, then, I turned my resolve on, and got set up to do my routine. It’s only 35 minutes of 3 reps of 10 lifts of 8 different lifts, I’m sure there’s a right way to say that, but I don’t know it.
OUCH!
They’re heavy.
Really freaking heavy.
In that short time off I found myself really struggling to do what I used to do rather easily. I had to drop down weight for two of the exercises because I simply had lost strength. It was clear which exercises were related to wheelchair pushing and which were not. But, I made it through and then finished up with 45 minutes focusing on the core and on flexibility.
It felt disappointing that I had to step back.
But it felt good to get back on the road to establishing a routine for myself. The biggest achievement of this little episode was not lifting the weights but pushing aside the desire to just not do it.
