What with the situation with Joe and the care that's been needed to look after him and this is not just the physical stuff, but the fact that it could be all to easy to sit him in front of the tele or a series of DVD's and let him get on with it, we've been tied up keeping him busy and optimistic about his long term recovery prospects. As a result it's mean that along with the bad weather I've not had that many opportunities to maintain a fitness regime and as a result I'm pretty unfit in comparison with the expected fitness levels expected at this time of year.
So yesterday I made a concerted start to get back on track. In addition, thinking long term, I don't want to be part of the reason the rest of society has to dig deep into their pockets to pay for the treatment of more than 50% of the UK's population who are over-weight and therefore susceptible to an array of illnesses and conditions. Increasingly this topic appears on the news and again it appeared recently (Here) supported by Steven Gerrard and Jamie Oliver who are pushing for food awareness/benefits to be taught in schools. The more you talk to people who are involved in the health and education around this subject, the more you realise it's another massive nightmare scenario that could come crashing into everyone's lives in a dramatic way. So being of the type that sees that each individual has a responsibility to the rest of the collective society, I'm looking to keep myself out of hospital and doctors surgerys as much as possible by keeping fit.
So, I do a few things on a regular basis that don't involve having to buy expensive kit or joining some gym where you're surrounded by a bunch of posers and other types with weird agendas...
1. Pull-Ups; I have a pull up bar in the doorway of one of our rooms and I kind of commit myself to doing a few each time I walk past it. I do the basic pull up and one where, once I'm up there I bring my knees up to my chin and hold, as that works on the stomach muscles (Core).
2. Rotational Press-Ups: Again similarly I do these in batches of ten during the day whenever I can, some days when it goes well I'll get 60-80 done in a day, but more often 20-40 a day.
3. Plank type 1. This one I try and get done at least once a day and hold for 30 seconds. The Woman in this does a variation where she brings her leg across underneath her which I may adopt. But normally after 30 seconds I maintain the static position and raise my left leg off the ground for 30 seconds and put it back down and repeat with th right leg for another.
4. Plank type 2: Then I continue from there using the sideways variations shown in this video for 15 seconds each side
To be continued
