Making Do

Good Morning, Gym Rats! It's a beautiful day here in Portland so I got up nice and early and hit up the gym for a solid morning workout before heading downtown for the Old Port Fest this afternoon. First things first, the "system shocker" I was planning out in my head last weekend has been somewhat postponed. While my knee and shins appear to be back to normal, this is a direct result of a serious lack of cardio this week due to my SPRAINED ANKLE! I mean, really, can I not just have a few solid weeks sans injury before bikini season really kicks in?! I think the yoga I did last Saturday aggravated whatever damage those unsupportive sandals did because starting Saturday night, I was limping around like a serious cripple. Trying to avoid paying an unnecessary doctor's office co-pay I decided to wait a couple of days in hopes that it would go away on its own. On Monday, I was hobbling uncomfortably around the office so I took the recommendation of several coworkers and purchased an ACE bandage to wrap it up with. I have to say, the pharmacist at CVS was completely unhelpful in my purchasing decision but I ended up buying one that seemed to do the trick. I had it wrapped all week long and by Thursday I was walking somewhat more normally although the pain was still there. Luckily is was Employee Appreciation Week at work so we were allowed to wear sneakers and jeans everyday. I don't know what I would have done had I had to wear dress shoes since I don't own a single pair of flats! Since I was walking better I didn't bother to make a visit to the doctor. However, while walking my pup around my neighborhood on Thursday morning I happened to run into my doctor so I explained what was going on and she said I most likely sprained it so that's what I'm going with.

Anyway, enough about my latest injury. After a few days of no cardio and Employee Appreciation Week unhealthy treats in the office everyday, I was feeling like a major slob so I decided to try out the stationary bike which I haven't used in at least a couple of years. I used the one where your feet are out in front of you so there's not much pressure on your foot. The first day I tried this out I think was Wednesday and I did only 10 mins and used mostly my right foot to peddle. Yesterday I was up to 40 mins and while I don't feel this is a very effective form of cardio, I did at least break a sweat so it's better than nothing!

Today was a legs day so after 25 minutes on the bike, I embarked on a circuit of exercises using the various leg machines. All week I've been altering my normal workouts by doing only things that require little or no use of my ankle. For legs, this means no squats, lunges, dead lifts, or really anything that I find gives the best burn. However, I have to make do with what I can for now so at least there are some other options available! Here's a breakdown of my leg routine (all on machines):
1. Bent-over leg lifts, 2 sets of 8 each side of both bent and straight leg lifts
2. Inner and Outer thigh presses, 3 sets of 12 each
3. Hamstring curl and Quad press, 3 sets of 12 each

For abs I first did 3 sets of 12 stability ball leg lifts. I've been doing these without weights this week because I don't think it would be a good idea to introduce them just yet. Maybe I'll start out small with a 5-lb weight if my ankle continues to improve in a couple of days. Then, I finished up my workout with one set of 6 pull-ups (real ones) and 3 sets of 8 push-ups with my hands on a bosu ball. I was extremely happy that after not doing pull-ups for probably a couple of weeks I was able to do 6 of them. Must be the rest from my traditional routine that gave me the extra strength...or the pre-workout Celsius I downed haha. Anyway, that was all for today's workout other than my usual post-routine stretching. It's off to the festival in an hour so I plan to wrap my ankle up real good so I don't hurt it more by walking around on the cobblestone!