Rest

                 Sorry for the long absence from posting. It has been hard for me to juggle going to school and work a few days a week, actually getting the work done, work outs, doctor appointments, and trying to stay in touch with friends. Being done with midterms and knowing that means finals aren’t too far away causes me to start stressing. When I do get a chance to rest the last thing I’m usually thinking about is writing something on my blog or wanting to work out at all. A few years ago this would have been no problem to juggle everything, but with all the medications and stiffness I’ve slowed down. In my psychology class this past week we’ve learned a lot about our body’s need for rest and just how important it is to take time for ourselves. Also, how being an introvert or extrovert tells a lot about just how much stress we can handle. Introverts, like me, don’t handle pressure very well unlike my very outgoing extroverted father who strives off chaos.  With the holidays coming up and all the amazing eating and running around for the perfect gift we do it is so important for us to take time for ourselves and slow down.          One of the best things that you can do, to keep yourself fit and stay relaxed without going to the gym, is to go for a walk. Walking can help you maintain a healthy weight as well as improve your mood. The mayo clinic says that taking brisk walks can help you “prevent or manage various diseases”, and it helps to improve your balance and coordination. As someone who struggles with balance, walking is one of the best things I can do to help me improvethis. Whenever I am feeling stressed I’m going to remind myself to take a break and go outside. I’ve also found that guided meditation has helped me to deal with stressful situations and not take life so seriously. You can meditate with a recording or self meditate. Meditating has been shown to reduce stress, improve concentration, encourage a healthy lifestyle, and even help to keep a healthy immune system. With the holidays approaching I encourage everyone to slow down and enjoy it with your family and friends. Enjoy the moments and create memories with the ones you love. Try not to get wrapped up in the commercialism and pressure to please. I hope that everyone has a great Thanksgiving and Christmas! I will be back with exercises and classes as soon as I can! 

Check out my logo that my super talented cousin designed!

                 

Glutes and Arms

    The exercises I did this week mainly focused on toning my glutes and arms. Using a 25 or 45 pound bar and dumbbells are great tools to achieve toning both of these areas. A good movement to tone your butt are glute bridges. This exercise targets your hamstrings and all the muscles in your glutes. By working these muscles it leaves you with a fitter and firmer butt.

    Start by lying on your back, placing you feet flat on the floor about shoulder with apart, and your arms flat by your side. Push your hips upward, at full extension, while keeping your feet flat to form a straight line. Hold at the top of the movement for a few seconds, while tightening your glutes, before you slowly lower back to starting. Repeat this movement 10 times for 3 sets.

This next exercise you can preform when you want to make glute bridges more difficult. Start by getting a small box sturdy enough to apply pressure to. Place your feet flat at the top of the edge of the box. Do the same thing that you would do with normal glute bridges. These are so beneficial in tightening/ toning the hamstrings, butt, and activating the core..

Overhead press is something that you are going to want to make sure someone is around for before you start your reps. Place you hands about shoulder with apart on the bar, get a loose rip, and step in  getting under the bar while squeezing your elbows in. Lift the bar clearing the rack before you start your reps. Press straight up over head with full extension in the arms.

 Start by repeating this movement 5 times for 3 set. As you get more comfortable you can build up the reps and the weight. I started with a 25 pound bar and added 5 pounds by the second set. Overhead press is a fantastic strength/ muscle builder for the whole upper body and core.

The last exercise I have is dumbbell bench press. This is a another great workout for toning your upper body. Lying down on a flat surface, startingwith a comfortable weight,  take one weight in each hand. Press straight up over your sternum keeping your arms even with a grip that creates a 90- degree angle between the forearm and the upper arm in the middle of the movement. Repeat this 15 times for 3 sets.

Those are all the exercises I have hope that you get a chance to try them. If you are looking for a gym and trainer in the Moorpark/Thousand Oaks area I recommend OSC (Olsen strength and conditioning). He is a great personal trainer and I can provide you with more information. Hope that you stay persistent with your workouts.

Pool Fun

Last week was so hot it made it hard for me to want to go outside and exercise. This was the perfect time for me to do some pool exercises that I found in a magazine titled, What Doctors Don’t Tell You. In the magazine there was an article, "Making Waves" written by Charlotte Watts, that explains why and how working out in the water is a fantastic way to get fit. Many of the exercises were simple, but you could feel them working when you got out. Doing exercises in the pool is great for people with bad joints, since it has low impact, there is no equipment required, it is stress relaxing, and people of all ages can enjoy . Water exercise builds stamina, strength, and flexibility. This was such a great way for me to exercise, not being able to walk well or run; since I could run in the pool without fear of falling and it gave me a chance to work on my balance. The poses I  performed I usually have a hard time with on land. When I got out of the pool I could feel the difference in myself, and the muscles I used were soar. If you don’t have a pool you can go to your community pool (like I did) or local YMCA. Water is great because, it supports our weight and gives us rest from gravity; making these normally strenuous exercises a way to destress.

The first exercise I show you are lunges, which works the glutes, hamstrings, inner thighs and shoulders. This is a natural bipedal movement. Doing this in the pool is much easier than on land since it has little wear to the knees by getting rid of the hard impact of the ground, and the water supports you while you balance.

          Other exercises that work on the glutes and hamstrings are Squats and Outer leg lifts. For the leg lifts I hung on to the side of the pool to help keep my balance, while drawing my leg up to its full range and back down to center. If you want to make this movement more challenging trying doing the motion without holding on to the wall. Do reps of 10 to 15 repeating 3 times. 

        When squatting place your feet wide, a little further than shoulder width apart, squat down into the water exhaling, as you come back above the surface inhale. Do as many rounds of 10 to 15 squats as long as you feel good. 

       Hamstring curls are another good exercise to focus on your glutes and hamstrings. While standing on one leg alternately lift the other leg towards your glutes. To make this exercise a little more difficult, to work on your balance, you can alternate lifting one leg while curling your opposite arm at the same time. Do the same amount of reps on both legs repeating as many times as you can.

        If you want to focus more on your arms, push-ups and triceps dip are a must. For the push- ups place your hands comfortably on the edge on the pool, keeping your chest up and elbows in, pushing your body straight up as if you were getting out. Start with 5 push-ups building up to as many as you'd  like.

         When performing triceps- dip, turn around placing your hands behind you, just about the same distance as the push- ups. Engage your abs as you push down on the heels on your hands, lifting yourself out of the water and back down again. Keep your chest lifted through the sets. Do as many as you’d like, build up the repetition the same as the push- ups.

 The last exercise I show you mostly targets the areas around the stomach. In this exercise we will be focusing on contracting your abdominal muscles, to keep yourself afloat. You will be making a V- shape with your body, pointing your toes up out of the water and curving your lower back. Circulate your hands underneither you as you try to keep your head above the water. This move involves the whole body by shifting your body weight in the attempt to keep yourself afloat (I had a hard time with this, as you can see by the picture). My grandpa does this all the time!

I hope that you find these workouts helpful, and can try some before it gets too cold to go in the pool. Hopefully you can see what I'm doing in the pictures and use them as a reference. Thanks for reading and remember to be patient with yourselves and that persistence is all.

Golfing

 My family and I recently went to Rustic Canyon Golf Course to get in a couple swings for some exercise . I went thinking I wouldn't be able to hit that many golf balls, and would end up just sitting and watching. To my excitement I was able to get lots of hits in and participate with the family. I found out what a beneficial and difficult activity it is. Most people think, my self included, that golf isn't that hard and its not much of a workout. Surprisingly, I was feeling soar the next day. This lead me to do some research on the sport. I found that it is a game of hand eye coordination, endurance, a mental exercise, core work out, and stress relieving. Also, if you choose to play a full game of 18 holes, and walk the course carrying your heavy bags, it is good for cardiovascular function as well as stimulating the brains memory pathways. It is a 90% mental and 10% physical sport. Making it a great way to get outside and be with nature. The twisting motion through the waist is a great aerobic exercise that aids in weight loss.  For me this was such a great sport because, it helped my balance. Trying to keep myself up right, while swinging through my torso, and trying to hit a small golf ball was a really good way to work on my balance. Having good balance allows you to have control of the club offering consistent and further shots. Golf  is a game that doesn't require any vigorous activity which makes it great for people of all ages to enjoy. Golf is definitely an activity I would do again to get in some exercise and help rebuild pathways. Remember to get outside and stay active that persistence is all.

My Full Story

 I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder at 15, although my symptoms probably started a year before that. I was an athletic child my whole life and had no physical or dietary restrictions. I grew up with an older brother, who I was always trying to keep up with, along with athletic friends.  I played for the school basketball, cheer leading, and volleyball teams. I fell in love with volleyball at 10 and tried out for a club team at 14. I was about to start high school and came from a private school where no one was going to the same high school, so I wanted to have a sport where I would meet people and make friends over the summer. I made the high school volleyball team, made friends, and was the Co- Captain. I finished the season as Co-MVP along with the other captain of the team. That summer I started to develop migraines, that came every month, wheezing when doing physical activities, and other abnormal problems. I went to my pediatrician who prescribed me with a migraine medication, and an Albuterol inhaler to take before heavy activity diagnosing me with exercise endued asthma. I went back to school that fall a Sophomore, and a returning player to the volleyball team, running drills and Moorpark Miles. My mom could see my form and stamina declining. I started playing less going from the top to the bottom.
At the end of the season, going into conditioning, I was off balance and walking was difficult. I would trip at school and need to hold on to friends to get around.  The day before Christmas vacation my last class was volleyball conditioning. We started to warm up with a run on the track. I could barely even remember how or what running was supposed to feel like. As I started to go around, looking like a baby horse just discovering her legs, I tripped multiple times falling, skinning my knees, while friends laughed at me and my coach told me to keep going. I went home that day crying to my mom that it felt like I had never ran before. She took me to our local chiropractor, who ordered an MRI to be done that day. He got the results later that evening, calling my mom and telling her I needed to go to the hospital.
I had white matter on my brain, was put on IV prednisone, and spent Christmas in the hospital. I was able to walk again after and was released with the diagnoses of ADEM, a Transversmeylitis. Sent home on a 5 week tapper of prednisone and told I’d be back to normal after it was finished. It was just a onetime event, although cautioned relapse was possible. Doctors called it a miraculous healing. Shortly after I was off the prednisone other symptoms emerged. I couldn’t void my bladder or bowls (sorry TMI). We had started seeing a neurologist at Children’s Hospital for a second opinion. She was under the impression that it was not ADEM but NMO and put on Imuran.  In spring I went back to the hospital, this time Childrens Hospital, with similar symptoms and inability to void my bladder quickly put on the same treatment of IV prednisone.
 I spent Easter in the hospital and was released a few days after. Again another miraculous healing. I returned to school my junior year, unable to handle the stress, I started independent study. In the fall I was admitted to the hospital to coordinate with all the doctors to look at my case, and released a few days later. Leaving the hospital I was overly tired and had a bladder infection, but was sent home with an antibiotic. A few days later I woke up unable to catch my breath. My mom drove me to our local internist, also a pulmonologist, he put me on oxygen and took an X-ray of my lungs seeing that there was granuloma all over. He sent me to Children’s along with an oxygen tank.
When we got there they would have sent me home, not thinking that I was that bad and not being able to open the imaging, if it weren’t for the picture my mom took on her phone. I had had an allergic reaction to the Imuran which caused my lungs to shut down. I was admitted and at some point intubated and put in a medically induced coma. I don’t remember much after that except, what I’ve been told. I spent 45+ days in the hospital, was put in the ICU, had a chest tube inserted, PIC line and was given the drug IVIG (intravenous immunoglobulin) . At some point my mom had received an email saying that I had a positive test for lyme. They put me on routine treatment of IV Rifampin and Doxcycline. I got better and was soon released.
I still receive IVIG once a month, in home, and take prednisone along with medication to help relax my muscles. We have been to UCLA and the Mayoclinic to find answers, but haven’t been able to get a clear one. Lyme is the only thing that I have tested positive for, which we treat, along with the Meylitis.  I started training which has allowed me to stay in shape and moving. Movement is the only thing that continues to help the stiffness in my legs. I try my best to eat healthy, but I’m human, and stay in motion. I finished my senior year at Moorpark High in 2016 and was able to walk in the graduation ceremony. I took a year off of school, not starting college, and getting myself back to a good place physically. About 6 months ago I broke my arm and started using a cane to get around, which I am still using, but it is my goal to get to a point that I am strong enough to not need it. I will be posting simple exercises and stretches that have helped me to feel good, in hope that this will help someone else.

Hope you enjoy