Kyla: Week Two – Routine vs. Regime
This first proper week of living in my new routine has been a Big Adjustment. I tried to prepare myself mentally, and I tried to remind myself that it takes a lot of work to get out of old habits and into new ones but the shock of waking up at 6:00 AM to do yoga is a little more rough than I anticipated. Even when I kind of mime my way though it! You would think that would at least make it easier.
I’ve been trying to work my goals into a weekly routine so I can monitor them more easily, and so far this is what I’ve come up with…
My Weekly Routine/Regime:
The Getting Active & Healthy Stuff!
- Walk the puppies for 20 mins in the morning five days a week
- 40 reps of sit ups with weights & 40 reps of back strengthening seven days a week
- 30 mins of cardio twice a week
- Take a multivitamin every day
Results:
This week I stayed right on top of this!! I busted my butt so I could have at least one week where I did 90% of everything I set out to. I missed a multivitamin one day, but other than than I did everything! I even walked the dogs when it was cold and I had no interest in waking up what so ever. My husband is a little shell shocked, believe me.
The Dealing With Chronic Back Pain Stuff!
- Yoga at 6 AM five days a week
- Take no pain killers so I can actually feel my body
- Take a hot bath/use a heat pack on my back seven days a week
Results
I did everything, and I feel really awful. My pain is definitely worse than it has been in a few months, but I think it’s because I’m actually doing something about it and that stirs things up. How is that for a folksy rationalization? I am trying to push through, but I had to take Tylenol once this week. I’m waking up five or six times a night at a minimum, and I’m getting kind of sleep deprived and cranky.
To answer a couple of questions & suggestions: before now I have tried massage, yoga, chiropractic, physiotherapy and acupuncture. Massage has been wonderful for my pain reduction, but I can’t afford regular treatments & I really want to find something that I can do for myself to help. I’m totally up for using these as interventions….but I do that every year in bursts of expensive treatments that stop helping when I stop paying. I want to know that I’m helping myself in a concrete way, on an ongoing basis. This can’t all be in other people’s hands, can it?
However the up side to my At Home Wellness Plan is that I may or may not be using my back pain as an excuse to have hot therapeutic (bubble!!!) baths before work when I have an extra 10 minutes. I don’t know what it’s doing for my pain levels, but I think I’m really onto something with this.
Me this week…along with my puppies Ash & Mal. They’re a little needy.
I’m not going to sugar coat it, this week has been hard. I have had a tough time getting motivated, and while I built some fun stuff in as incentives (I can read the new Dan Brown book in one sitting….after cardio!) it felt less like I was starting a routine and more like I was starting a regime change. It’s a little exhausting!
Question:
How do you make Those Fitness Items You Have To Do something you look forward to?
Anyone who is intrinsically motivated/addicted to their own endorphins, feel free to speak up, just know it’s like you’re speaking another language. But I really want to believe you about how good it all feels & isn’t at all boring, I swear!
Next week I’ll be finished my final paper of this semester, so I’ll have a lot less stress in my life and I know that I’m hoping that next week feels more manageable. Next week I’ll be talking about how I’m doing cardio & yoga at home, and I’ll be hunting down the Miracle Balls that My Little Becky suggested! I have very high hopes for these!
Did you missed last week? Read Week One.
Want more? Follow Kyla on Twitter or visit her personal blog
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I’m still debating calling the Mayo Clinic back after you told me it’d be $20,000 for mine – David’s all gung ho and “it’s just money!” but I’m not calling them until after Thursday. We should really find out if we have the same thing.
Get an electric heat pack! I keep mine on the back of my chair all through the workday and it’s one of the only things that gets me through it. I’m thinking about buying some tennis balls and just laying on them – the uber shiatsu machine I borrowed is just way too intense.
You must let me know how you’re doing cardio at home, and how the yoga helps – I’m still slightly too intimidated to bust it out of its box at 5:30 am
Emily Jane´s last blog ..Halp?
I think that you are awesome for getting up so early to tackle exercise. As someone who has back pain, I do think that stretching and what not does stir it up but after a few weeks hopefully it will start to feel a bit better.
On a completely unrelated note, I love your dogs! They are so adorable and the last picture where you’re holding one of them — too cute.
I love the part where you said you were going to stop taking painkillers so you could actually FEEL your body. I know that’s tough, but what a smart practice at least for a short time to really feel where things are and if anything is helping. I really hope that something you find through this journey helps alleviate and heal that pain.
YOU are motivating me to stick with things like this. My routine is about to completely change and I’m going to have to build yoga and cardio into it if I expect to stick with it!
Doniree´s last blog ..The World is Your Oyster; The World is My Home
I always feel like this when I start a new exercise program; that it’s a little bit mean and a little bit hard but I always feel better after the fact.
Tell your lovely husband to become a certified massage therapist =) That would help a bit!
It may be worth it to go to a physical therapist a few times to make sure what you are doing is good for you. I know there is some debate about hot v cold and they are definitely awesome at giving great exercises and encouragement. Not to mention it helps me to have some reinforcement one way or the other!
Good luck next week!
Nora´s last blog ..Giving Thanks: Eye Candy
I feel like that when I first start out with a new workout regimen too. UGH — I did pilates yesterday for the first time in weeks and I hurt everywhere. :p
I get the WORST case of boredom when I do cardio… so I have to really bust it out to make sure I’m having fun. I found things like riding a bike more fun if I sat there thinking zombies were chasing me (true story), and that the longer and faster I could go, the less chance I’d have of getting eaten. With Hula Hooping, I found it was great because a) if I did it in front of the boy, it’d hypnotize him and he’d encourage me to keep doing it because he found it sexy b) it’s fun to try and hoop in rhythm to things like the Aqua Teen Hunger Force theme.
So in reality, yeah, I TOTALLY have those same problems. I always try to find alternatives to working out to make things feel mentally better….
Ashe´s last blog ..Indie Designers: Highway to the Danger Zone
UGH I AM WITH YOU. I get so bored- yoga is the worst, I have a 20 min. threshold until I go from Seeking Inner Peace to Checking My Email Because Anything Is Better Than This.
I need to slow down a little I think =)
Kyla Roma´s last blog ..Getting Healthy: Week Two
I definitely find that the MORE I do something the more I look forward to it.
For instance, I used to really dislike yoga – not the way it made me feel just the practice of it – but now I’m *making* myself do it 3-4 times a week and find that the more I do it, the more I WANT to do it!
I hope you find something that will help your back pain soon, my dear!
That’s an awesome tip Amber, thank you! I do remember that about when I got into running last spring, so I’m trying to just push through and ‘get out there’ until I want to =)
Kyla Roma´s last blog ..Getting Healthy: Week Two
Good for you chicka, I love that this week you were committed, and pushed through. What a rock star! Hope the back pain comes down to manageable levels soon! x
Elly´s last blog ..How Time Does Not Make Things Easier
Isn’t it better to ease into back strengthening exercises than to start with 40 reps?
And motivation follows action, not the other way around. Getting started with an exercise routine is HARD, but it will get easier, and you will start to enjoy it. Seriously, starting with exercising (either getting out of the door or after you haven’t done anything for the summer) is by far the hardest part of exercise!
Have you ever tried pilates? I finally learned there how to a lot of exercises I regularly do without getting pain in my back.
Thanks for your concern, I’m not finding that to be a deterrent actually- it’s only 20 in the morning and 20 at night. It’s the cardio & the yoga that I’m having trouble with- mostly because the cardio seems to make my back a lot more painful & the yoga brings me back to where I was before.
And I get so bored of it! Cardio or Yoga for more than 20 minutes and I’m just bored out of my mind. lol
I’m going to see how it goes for the first couple of weeks- but doing core strengthening is really crucial to how I’ve ramped down my back pain in the past. Pilates is a great idea- and I have a pilates ball too that I use for my strengthening.
The bottom line is my back hurts in general- if I’m sitting, standing, just breathing, or doing sit ups. The stretching I’m doing should help to ease the pain off, and the strengthening should help to keep it away.
If I don’t get bored! lol
Thanks for reading!
Kyla Roma´s last blog ..Getting Healthy: Week Two
Do you do anything else while doing your cardio? I watch series/tv when I’m on a cross trainer (otherwise I would die of boredom) or I listen to audiobooks. I’ve heard of people reading magazines while doing cardio, but I have never tried that myself.
I have tried yoga at home, and it really, really bored me (I cannot sit still for five minutes doing nothing!). Now I take lessons, and I love it and have no problems at all, even though it is an hour as opposed to the 20 minutes I did when I tried it at home…
hello…. i do not see ice mentioned anywhere here… have you tried that on your lower back? Ice reduces swelling, while heat expands muscles and increases swelling. Try an ice pack after a hot pack, or at night when you’re trying to sleep. This helps me a lot… another little magical tool I’ve found is a foam roller – google and purchase! They’re not very expensive but also help ease the muscles so they can heal better and become stronger. You’ll get more out of your cardio if you hurt less! Good luck!!
Erin´s last blog ..the future alludes me!
I’m so sorry to hear about your back pain! I had a herniated disc a few years ago and was down for the count for almost a full year. It’s hard too – to manage that kind of pain when it’s not immediately apparent to people around you that you might have an issue with pain – no crutches or outward signs. For me, once I got over the fear of making things worse, back strengthening was key and things have been much better since I got stronger. But everyone is different. I think you’re so awesome for doing this challenge and taking control of the pain.
I had an issue with a bulged disc a few years ago. I had no reflex in one of my feet, but an MRI didn’t show anything major, so my doctor sent me to a chiropractor. He had me doing a lot of exercises in the office, and mentioned something that I haven’t forgotten – “If everyone did Pilates, I wouldn’t have a job.”
Something else you might keep in mind is your bed. My husband and I had a regular spring mattress, and I realized that it was making my back hurt. My husband compressed the mattress more, so my body was having to tense up to keep from rolling toward him. A memory foam mattress helped the back pain a lot.