Day 12

Who invented push-ups, anyway?

For my training I did exercises today. I started out by doing 45 push-ups - from the knees. My arms are shaking and wobbly. I feel it in my core muscles, too. Push-ups are a killer exercise.

My physical therapist told me that our Gluteus Maximus muscles are the ones that determine how strong our gait is. The stronger my butt, the stronger my gait. The stronger my gait, the easier it will be to go on a 2 mile hike. After a lot of trial and error, my physical therapist and I found a way for me to do my butt exercises without tweaking other body parts. I stand up,lean on the kitchen counter and move one leg at a time in circles, off to the side, that kind of thing. I haven't seen my therapist for a few months and it's been that long since I've done the exercises. I was definitely the kind of patient, this go around, that wanted my physical therapist to do most of the work for me. Physical therapy doesn't work that way. I know that. I just didn't have the motivation to do the exercises. Every time I went in there, we evaluated my pain, I rated my pain. The exercises caused new little pains, so we talked about that pain. In essence we were focusing on the pain.

Now I'm focusing on what I want: a strong, healthy body that will take me into the 2nd half of my life. I don't need to focus on the pain and I don't need to try and get rid of it altogether. What I'm focusing on is changing my relationship to the pain.

Even the pain caused by those push-ups!