Saturday - Stretching w/ Margaret & Update for FitFIRMIES

[Guest guest]

Hi!Today was my active recovery/stretch day. I did Limber for Life with Margaret . This is part of her Strong and Limber (I think that is the title) DVD. The DVD has 2 strength workouts (30 min each) and one stretch workout (30 min).

This was your basic athletic stretching - some of the stretches use a strap - some don't. Nothing new - but it is a nice thorough stretch, nice music, outdoor beach type setting, voice-over cueing by Margaret. The stretch workout is broken out into six 5 min segments, so you can do as much or as little as you want. Each segment is not a complete total body stretch on its own though. But, it would make a nice add on to do a section every day. She does do a lot of stretching for the back and neck - so that was good for me!

One thing I have noticed since my chiro really started to work on my upper/mid back is that my lower back is so much better AND I really don't "need" to stretch anymore when I first get out of bed. Previously, I needed to do a lot of stretching when I got out of bed, now I'm pretty much good to go when I get up. I guess I really just have the complete office-workers syndrome - messed up lower, mid, and upper back due to sitting in front of a computer all day. My neck isn't too messed up - fortunately! I think it would be a real pain (literally and figuratively) to have a bad neck! One of my co-workers has neck issues and he's always miserable. Actually, a lot of us at work have messed up backs - i guess we're all getting to that "age" and the consant sitting and typing etc is not good.

Anyway, to fill FitFirmies in - for the last month I've been doing Huckabee's 2-a-day rotation using her PowerFIT, PowerFIT Plus and PowerFIT Harmony workouts. I also would typically add on something else to the 2-a-day plan so I'd workout for around 60 mintues. I definately enjoyed the rotation and it was nice to use resistance bands for a change of pace. I found that as the rotation went on I got more out of the workouts b/c I became more proficient with the bands. THe cardio workouts in the series are pretty tame, so I modified up a lot. It is nice to modify up sometimes! I'll be done with this rotation on Monday and then I'm going to do a couple of weeks of "whatever" to get me through "houseguest" season (this weekend and next weekend). Then, my ambitious plan is to start running - run/walking and do the Montenegro Method workouts. I don't know if what I have planned is possible or

not, but I can always make adjustments. And, get this, I'm actually missing Jillian, so I may do some of her workouts soon. My calf issue seems to be completely resolved, although I am careful to stretch, foam roll and mobilize it all the time. My back is on board for the most part, too. Now, what can go wrong? LOL!Take care!Donna