Aches and Pains

Today is an achy day.  Partly because I've been out weeding in the garden.  Partly because I hurt my back in Pilates when my husband was away, and it's taking its sweet time to recover.  And of course, I've changed back to Weight Lifting after a few sessions of Fit for Life.  This cartoon is a good example of how I generally deal with discomfort.  First I ignore it, then I visit my chiropractor, then I hop into a warm bubbly Epsom salts bath, and then I take a Tylenol.  Today I can hardly wait for my bath, and I may take the Tylenol first.


The last thing I want to do is stop exercising and going to classes.  I didn't seriously hurt anything, it was just a warning to make me a little more cautious.  I may stay on progression 1 instead of bopping into progression 2, or attempting progression 3, until everything relaxes.  This summer after the formal sign up classes are over I'm planning to continue going to the gym to weight lift three times a week, and to go to a combination class twice a week.  I really enjoy feeling more fit and energetic when I am working out, and don't want to stop and then go through weeks of misery when Pilates starts again in September.  Because Pilates is non-negotiable in my life.  I have finally found something that I really enjoy doing, that is making a difference how I look and feel, and I don't want to stop.

I just finished reading a book called "Between a Rock and a Hot Place:  Why Fifty is Not the New Thirty" by Tracey Jackson.  It is a very informative book, laugh-out-loud funny in places, and I really enjoyed it.  She dwelt a little too long on the sections about botox and plastic surgery, as well as on her neurotic fear of breast cancer and tumours, but on the whole I would recommend this book.  One of the first point she makes is that as we age it is very important to find some form of exercise and stick to it, no matter what.  As we lose flexibility and muscle mass, we leave ourselves open to a variety of problems which will result in our body ageing faster than necessary.  


I have no intention of living forever.  And I agree with Tracey that I will never recover the body I neglected and ignored at thirty now that I'm over fifty.  But heading into the next few decades, I intend to be sure that my body is as resilient and flexible as possible.