erikahollister's Journal, 18 Jul 23

Thanks!! I am going to check this out! 

I get a different video at that link Erika, it's an interesting one though with Sal Di Stefano 

Dr. Tyna Moore (sorry Debra) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZtQRU__iC4 Enhance Your Body Health, Strength, and Resiliency with Dr. Tyna Moore  

Thank you Ma'am! I'll watch it in the morning! 

I missed this entry. Will check out the video this afternoon. Timely! 

Hmmmm, interesting Erika! Now I understand better why my body weight exercises seem to make me feel better. My slow controlled squats are the only strength training that I'm giving my lower body, Looks like I need to get more resistance bands for my legs to incorporate more lower body strength training. I am 5 years post menopause and it seems like going from strong and vigorous to impaired mobility happened to me very quickly in the past two years. Great information, now all I have to do is formulate an exercise plan that gets me a whole body strength training. I am seeing and feeling the difference in my upper body with two weeks of those daily ten minute shoulder workouts....but I don't know a whole lot of things I can do with dumbbells for my lower body. I always assumed that my legs were pretty strong just from carrying me around. But that has not been the case for the last two years. Something to think about!  

I'm thinking about it too. I knew I needed some dumb bells, an lo and behold, someone put some out as a roadside freebie. I was driving by on my mower, so I stopped and picked them up. Let's keep in touch on this, I need to learn how to do iit. I've relied on gardening and walking, but I'm hearing loud and clear that I need to be doing some strength training. 

Storms gave me this 10 minute shoulder workout tip when I was talking about my chicken neck, I started out well , not really, first day I started with 10 lb weights, that was bad, then I dropped to 5's OUCH, then I tried the 2's arms were too tired to lift the 2's by that time.....so the next day I started with 2's did them the week before the fast and the whole week of the fast, then I moved to 5's They were much easier. This gal makes 10 lb weights look easy, but don't believe it, start off light. Here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_8OjPno__0 

I'm going to have to do it at home, with as compact equipment as I can. Nearest gym is 20 miles away. I have been doing the body weight exercises, I do the slow controlled squats on my front porch. I hold onto the hand rail with my feet spread shoulder width apart, brace myself with the rail and begin bending my knees and lowering myself down slowly. In the beginning I had a folding chair behind me and I would lower to a count of 10 till my butt hit the seat. Now I don's use the chair because I am trying to drop lower. I raise myself back up slowly to a count of 10. I do 6 down and 6 up. At the end of that my legs are quivering slightly. I plan to increase them as they get easier. I also do pushups that way. I grab the rail and move my feet backward till I am at an angle and my weight is on my arms, then I slowly lower myself till my chest hits the rail and then slowly push myself back up. I do 10 of those to a count of 10. I can do them faster, but they don't seem to have the same effect on my muscles as a slow count does. 

After watching this vid, I went down the rabbit hole and stumbled onto Gabrielle Lyon. She said something that really stuck with me. She said we need protein to build muscle, and focusing on reducing adipose i.e. calorie reduction, is the wrong thing because people are decreasing calories at the same time they need to be building muscle. She also recommends eating 5-6 oz meat or eggs in the first meal of the day for satiety. She works out fasted. I think I will shift my focus from losing weight to getting stronger. Losing weight is passive and easy with fasting. On eating days, I will be sure to get enough protein. Autophagy should be good enough protein on fasting days. 

LOL, sometime strength training happens spontaneously! This morning I headed out into my yard to do my morning walk and what did I see??? Our new puppy and my GS had dug a long trench under the edge of the house. I had to cancel the walk, go find the shovel and rake and proceed to back fill a 6 foot long 1 to 2 feet deep hole. My arms and lower back are screaming at me right at the moment. She is a puppy and a leader and she is causing my well behaved German Shepard boy to misbehave now that he has a partner in crime!! I'm on day 2 fasted right now.....and cussing a little bit!!!  

Oh, they will be so bummed you undid all their hard work 😄 You are right about working the muscles we use in our day to day lives. I'm into a few Lyon podcasts, now. (If only I could get fit sitting and watching TV 🙄) Today's tip from the experts: If you buy only one piece of home exercise equipment, make it a kettlebell (Lacee Lazoff & Melissa Paris). I also like your practice of doing squats and push-ups on your porch. There's a Dr Tom Somebody MD PhD who said, "Do anything more than what you're currently doing."  

Body weight workout are supposed to be really good if you have a substantial amount of body weight...and I do. I guess it's kinda like eating your own fat, using your own fat to create resistance to build your muscle strength. So if I am using my arms to pick my 275 lb body up off the porch.....is that dead lifting???? 😆😆😆 

@LadyD did they give a best weight for the kettlebell? or do they come in different weights, I have never used one. I'm guessing that they would be easier to handle than the cinder blocks I carried and put on top of the trench I backfilled to keep them from digging it out again! 

Did he invent ‘Tylenol’? 😅 

Kettlebells come in different weights. No idea what a good start weight is. Hubby bought a 35# for himself. He said I should start with 12#. I don't know his rationale, except by living with me, he can guage my strength pretty well. 

*gauge 

Yes. While the majority thinks the problem is just obesity, it’s a step beyond that. Under muscled! Muscles is sooo important to health but I think people associate that with pro body building which is all done with steroids so it becomes unhealthy. But muscle mass will save your joints, bones and control blood sugar cuz they the are the storage for blood sugar 

@Super yes indeed! Us old ladies are taking steps to increase our strength with what we have on hand. I have a set of dumbells and some resistance bands I am using. Old fashioned body weight squats and pushups modified to match my mobility issues. Bumping up the reps and time spent each week as they get easier. Increasing my protein, well attempting too, meat is very filling. You can toss in any suggestions you have for at home, no available gym, beginner strength training you have in your tool bucket 😁 

Good stuff in these comments! 🤣 @Deb re: deadlifts!!! I feel ya! You can do modified kettlebell swings using a dumbbell, holding it by one end, to calculate what weight you need. No worries, Super! We are coming for you! 🤣😂😅 Baby steps! 🙂