Core Strength- Who Knew?
I just keep getting shocked. When considering my body, I just can’t believe what a slacker I have been my whole life! It’s funny to think how little priority I’ve given to my stomach muscles, in particular. I thought having a flat stomach was the only reason one would bother to work their abs. It never occurred to me that it could actually improve my life.
My ab work, as I have said before, is the abs workout from the app ‘workouts’ that plays movies to go along with a timed workout. By the end of it my abs huuuurrt! And it’s only five minutes long so far! I also use the Wii balance games, yoga and hula hoop game. I know, it seems stupid, but I’m telling you! The wii Fit stuff works! My core is getting really stable and I’m getting flexible and I’m beginning to notice some surprising changes.
*I tied my shoe while standing on one foot recently without losing my balance, leaning on anything OR even thinking about what I was doing.
*I find myself reaching for things that before would have been out of my reach (in other words, I trust that I won’t fall over from a lack of balance).
*I just sit up now. I don’t grab a nearby surface to help pull me up. I just sit up.
*I can sit on the floor now, criss cross applesauce style, and it doesn’t hurt. I don’t have to shift all the time or feel like I’m crunching my abs to hold myself upright the whole time. I sat on the floor for 20 minutes the other night before I realized I wasn’t uncomfortable. At all.
*I can get up from chairs without having to push myself up and lean on the nearest table.
*Intimacy is more… intimate and creative with a fit and active body. “I’m very bendy.” (*Name that quote!)
I know it doesn’t seem like a huge deal, but I feel it all the time. The awareness that I have about my balance and my ab strength all day long that is resulting from the little bit of work that I have done on my belly is mind blowing. I have not done a lot of work (like, I hit the abs app hard only twice a week, tops) yet I feel like I already have abs of steel. I can’t imagine what I’ll feel like come summer!
***
Other changes that I’m noticing that are not necessarily having to do with abs…
* I can run without getting winded. Two days in a row I’ve run with my students at school. They’re just bursts or sprints, but at the end of it I’m not winded at all. But my students are. (That’s not meant to be smug, rather reflective that I need to get them outside and moving more often… But also, my fitness surprises me.)
*Without considering what I’m doing, I find myself sitting on the couch and hooking my heel on the edge with my knees curled up under my chin.
* I can get up off the ground without leaning on surfaces, needing a hand from someone or leaning on my own knees. I just pop up now. That feels nice. I always wondered how much people noticed I had to make accommodations for my body’s size and movements.
*I don’t care if I get sweaty anymore.
* I LOVE the feeling of exercising and working out. I love how I feel. I can’t believe I’m that into it. I have ALWAYS just hated working out and exercise but hated the fact that I hated being physical. It feels good to enjoy it this much.
*I just feel so friggin’ GOOD!
But mostly, I feel like I have endurance. I stepped right back into exercising after taking the week off and haven’t had a problem. I feel really good.
Oh, and I’m no longer 250.
That was short lived. I’m not sad about that at all.
🙂
* The quote was from one Ms. Phoebe Buffay from the show Friends during the episode where they ‘don’t know that we know that they know we know” (phoebe tries to seduce chandler). Yes I know my Friends, people. I know them embarrassingly well.
