More additions to the morning routine

I'm not quite sure when I started doing a morning exercise routine, but it is quite a while ago. I think it started with strength exercises. That was inspired by prusicking up a 50 meter pitch in a Cornish mineshaft, with that pitch being a bit awkward to get off. When I was trying to do that with tired arm muscles I found it difficult. So I decided to boost these muscles! And that resulted in a chin-up bar. It is still in daily use.

If you train your arms and your legs, it makes sense to also make sure that what’s in between is doing okay, so I ended up adding core strength exercises.

I also have to stretch my bum muscles every day, otherwise they seize up, and then first I can’t run, but if it gets worse I even struggle to walk. To be avoided! So that was added to the mix as well. 

When I developed a mild ankle injury, the physiotherapist gave me exercises for that as well. When I stopped these after about a year, the problem came back, so I restarted doing the exercises. More additions! By now I’m up to only some 15 minutes, though. 

When I’m done with the exercises, by the way, I have breakfast, and after that I do my RSI physiotherapy exercises. So many parts of my body that will only function when I train them every day!

I thought my knees were sort of OK, but their performance during the Snowdonia Half Marathon suggested otherwise. I want to be able to run half marathons, so I googled exercises for runners who want to avoid knee injuries, and found a set on the NHS website. I’ve added these now as well! That ballooned my regime, but a woman’s gotta do what a woman’s gotta do. 

ITB stretch

I suppose with age you need to choose: lose your abilities or work harder for them. I’m choosing the latter!