Day: June 18, 2010

Gratitude

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Today is the birthday of one of my gracefulfitness inspirations.   My grandfather turns 92 today.  He is an original “health-nut”.  He discovered yoga in the 1950’s or so and has been practicing ever since.  Nearly every morning he walks two miles.  Sundays are golf.  Mondays are water aerobics.  Thursdays are yoga (except for the month in summer when he is at Chautauqua Resort, then it’s yoga everyday).  He loves food and eats out many meals a week but keeps his weight in check with portion control and keeping a handle on desserts (he ADORES dessert so this is not always easy for him).  I think a lot of people see the later stages of life as a time to indulge, thus neglecting their health and weight control as the effects of aging are inevitable.  My grandfather sees this as a time when being diligent about fitness is non-negotiable.

Thanks Zeyda!

And alongside this great man is a great women.  While visiting my grandparents in late April I attended my grandma’s aerobics class.  She uses 3 pound weights for the strength portion of class.  Now, I haven’t been lifting lately but I have been doing lots of push ups and using my band so I thought I could handle 5 pounds.  With my biceps burning I quickly downgraded to 4’s.  3 pounders probably would have been perfect.  It was really high reps!  And she attends class 3 times a week. 

So, thanks Grandma and Zeyda, you are beautiful and inspiring examples of gracefulfitness! ( And thanks for the good genes!)

FRIDAY’S PUSH UP VARIATION CHALLENGE

Side Plank Push Up

  • Complete one push up
  • Shift weight onto right hand and right foot, making your way into a side plank
  • Thread top (left) hand underneath ribcage while keeping your hips lifted
  • Reverse movement back to side plank
  • Slowly and with control move back to push up position

Adding the plank really increases the work for your abs, back, and deltoids and adds obliques into the mix. 

I did 5 sets of 10 repetitions (each push up counting as a rep) and this variation is a workout in itself! Try it!  To make it easier you can always come to you knees for the push up.

Thanks Rachel  for this great recommendation!

My run for the day was about three minutes long and went from the bike rental stand to the hostel.  But it was fast, I was trying to escape the pouring rain…it’s fine, I am still feeling pretty lousy I think today will be an easy activity day.

Wednesday

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Finally, a day with no rain!

Yesterday was great.   And really, I shouldn’t complain about the weather so much because it’s the first time in a 5 month trip that it has deterred us.  It was good timing too, Tate and I have both been less than tip-top condition and we really needed to lay low a few days.

But yesterday we went for it.

First lunch.  Egg and tomato soup with a liberal dose of chilis.

 

Followed by a two and a half hour ride through the countryside around Yangshuo.

It is so GORGEOUS here.  And all the rain made things very lush and green.

I felt a little whipped out from the ride and was worried I may have overdone it a  little.  It’s such a fine line between boosting your immune system with exercise but not putting additional stress on it if it’s already run down.

After a snack, a rest, and some green tea I was feeling great and really wanted to RUN.  Tate and I set out on a path up the river and had a great 40 minute run.  It was so humid that when we arrived back at the hostel a guy asked us where we’d been swimming!  How embarrassing…

I must admit, we were a little nervous about our time in China.  We had heard many stories about how unorganized it was with tons of spitting and no queuing, how it was impossible to find your way around because no one spoke English and everything is written in characters, and, while not expensive, not a great budget travel destination.   Wrong, wrong, and very wrong!

China has been AMAZING!  One of the best places we’ve ever traveled.  So clean and organized.  The people have been really nice.  And traveling has been relatively easy.  As far as budget, things are really cheap.  Those bikes were about $1.30 for all day rental.  Our clean private room with AC is about $14 with internet, tea, hot and cold drinking water, and a dvd-stocked movie room.  Score!  Trains are less than we expected also.  Tonight we take a 12 hour sleeper train and it cost just under $30 each.  And it’s so clean here!  Maybe that’s just our opinion after being in India and Nepal, but whatever-we were ready for it!

Last night we “treated” ourselves to a really nice dinner.  I saw Pure Lotus Vegetarian Restaurant when we first got to town but had been holding off going there because my taste buds were all off from sickness and I wanted to really enjoy this meal.  The restaurant is really lovely and the service was great.  The food was really good, unique and not overly salty, greasy, or cornstarchy like can be the case here. 

We ate

Wheat Gluten and Vegetable Balls

Buddhas Delight (Glass noodles with bean curd skin and loads of mushrooms of different varieties)

Braised Green Beans and Mushrooms

Oh yeah, this “treat” of a leisurely dining experience set us back a whopping $10.  Love China.

My question for you is,

 Do you exercise when you are sick?  What signs tell you you have overdone it?  What signs give you the green light to sweat it?