Last year I tripped on my way to a ball game and broke my shoulder in two places. I struggled with everything while in the cast and for months afterwards I underwent painful physical therapy. Those folks can really hurt you with a smile!
I started working out with weights while in therapy and when I got tired of them pulling and pushing on me, I decided to work out on my own. I found that doing the physical therapy at home was easy enough, but after a while I wanted to sluff off and skip sets or even days of exercising.
My doctor suggested that I go to the YMCA in the neighboring town. I tried it and it was great. They offered water exercise groups for people my age with arthritis that were easy and fun. The machines for cardio workouts were easy to use and kept track of milage and minutes. I found this motivating and worth the 15 mile journey three times a week.
Then they started a program called FitLinx that kept track of the number of pounds I was lifting in the circuit training sessions. I started out not being able to lift even 5 pounds with my recovering arm, but I kept trying.
Before I knew it I was getting in shape. Today while at the YMCA I spent an hour on the recumbent stepper and then lifted over 68,000 pounds on the weight machines. Now that's amazing for a gal my age who was not even able to walk up the driveway without getting out of breath a couple years ago.!
I'll share my secret motivation with you..... after doing all that working out, I stop at McDonalds on the way home and get a cup of coffee and a small ice cream cone. Makes me feel like a kid again!
