Cardio happens!

I bought a new workout DVD on Friday. (I have a bathing suit that fits now, but since I don't know where I'll be working in relation to where classes are geographically speaking, I hesitate to join a gym or pool yet--and walking just plain hurts too much. I haven't found any affordable membership that isn't specific to the workout facility where one joins.) The DVD I got is a Dancing With the Stars thing called "Retro and Latin Mix". (I don't watch the show, but it sounded fun.) There is a lot of hip action with any Latin dancing, and I have bursitis in mine, so it's a challenge--but I really like this workout (despite the perky thin people on it--I've learned to accept that I am of a different species, besides being middle-aged, so who cares?). I did the Latin/Retro warm-up part and the Retro/Disco part and worked up a good sweat--I feel great and so far, my ankle doesn't hurt. (We'll see how it feels tonight! Maybe a carpeted floor makes all the difference.) I've always wanted to learn to salsa dance and really want to try it someday when I lose more weight. (I'm only waiting to lose more weight before I try it because it moves quickly and I'm still not as light on my feet as I'd like to be, even while doing this workout. Besides, I can fit into slinkier dresses if I wait a bit, but I'm still and always wearing flats. The athletes and acrobats can have the heels.)

This is how I feel: if I keep moving, cardio happens. I currently have two complementary mottos: "At least I'm doing something" and "Doing something is better than doing nothing." I think of it as the Good Enough For Me Method of Living a Healthier Life.

Strength training and salsa workout DVD

Today I started at home with the strength training exercises. He gave me a sheet and we went over how to do them all at my last appointment. I bought an exercise ball and some two-pound weights; my exercises consisted of a dumbbell shoulder press where I push up; a two-handed dumbbell row where I get in linebacker position and lean over while rowing backward with both arms (this one was hard because I feel like I'm going to tip over); a couple of hip abduction exercises (basically leg lifts where I lean up against a counter, one with heel in, one with heel out); a standing bicep curl with the weights; and a standing leg curl, which is basically the bicep curl with the legs. He also wants me to do a ball squat with the exercise ball, but that one's really painful for the knees and you feel like you are going to lose your balance at all times, since you are leaning against the wall with most of your weight on the exercise ball and moving down the wall into a squat and back up again. I am supposed to do the strength exercises 2 or 3 times a week with 15 reps of each, 2 sets, and 30 seconds in between sets.

My cats seemed particularly disturbed by the bicep stuff; I think the weights freak them out. (Of course, it takes very little to freak them out.)

Yesterday I did my salsa workout DVD for the first time; it's something like "Sizzlin' Salsa Dance off the Inches". There's a 17-minute section with the steps done slowly and then moving up to tempo--mambo, Latin twist, cha cha, hip roll, etc. Lots of hip movement; I could really feel it there. It was fun, but I was glad no one could see me doing it, and I think it will be a lot easier when I'm lighter. Of course, all physical activity will. Today? I hurt like hell.