I've mentioned the YouTube videos that I used for workouts maybe only a couple of times, which is, in the whole scheme of things, a massive oversight considering the extraordinary effect it's had in helping me in my struggle to lose weight.
I can't remember any more when it was exactly that I first turned to the internet for help, but I know it was after I started with the 5:2 intermittent fasting, so it has to be after the Summer of 2014.
I don't mean to make it sound like it was an awfully long time ago for something so recent, after all, it's only really a year since I started using these videos, but because I can't really admit to enjoying making myself feel sore, tired, and sweaty on a daily basis, the time hasn't really flown by. So yes, it feels like longer than it really has been. Yah, boo, sucks to be me.
But I am in danger of rambling off onto different subject paths, (as is my wont in real life; I can follow my own stream of logic aloud and not realise I'm doing it until I see peoples' faces glaze over in confusion. It is a thing.) so I'll bring myself back to the subject at hand, and that subject is Jessica Smith TV.
I first asked (although I suspect, given the context, 'begged' is more the verb we're looking for) the internet for help after a particularly gruelling Wii session that included lunges and squats, both of which I couldn't do (and I still can't lunge) because my knees were screaming at me to stop after the merest suggestion of bending and bearing weight. Every tendon, every ligament, every muscle connected with this joint were in cacophonous harmony; shouting out together that this movement would only end in tears. And possibly tears. (Ah, English. I love you.)
I searched for exercises to help bad knees, and this is one of the first examples that was listed: "The Best Lower Body Workout for Bad Knees" by Jessica Smith:
*Get on with it, you large person, or you will always be a real disappointment to yourself.
** Oh, don't do what I do, do what I say, you well-padded idiot.
*** Yes, bend down like a crippled old lady, and pull up your hand-weights above your ears.
But I am in danger of rambling off onto different subject paths, (as is my wont in real life; I can follow my own stream of logic aloud and not realise I'm doing it until I see peoples' faces glaze over in confusion. It is a thing.) so I'll bring myself back to the subject at hand, and that subject is Jessica Smith TV.
I first asked (although I suspect, given the context, 'begged' is more the verb we're looking for) the internet for help after a particularly gruelling Wii session that included lunges and squats, both of which I couldn't do (and I still can't lunge) because my knees were screaming at me to stop after the merest suggestion of bending and bearing weight. Every tendon, every ligament, every muscle connected with this joint were in cacophonous harmony; shouting out together that this movement would only end in tears. And possibly tears. (Ah, English. I love you.)
I searched for exercises to help bad knees, and this is one of the first examples that was listed: "The Best Lower Body Workout for Bad Knees" by Jessica Smith:
Yes, perhaps not quite the answer to my not-really-concise question, but there was something in this video, perhaps the tone of her voice, perhaps the feeling that she knew we were hurting yet didn't make us feel useless, perhaps the presence of her cute little doggy, that hit a chord with me. She works in a tiny space, yet doesn't let that stop her pushing you hard. She gives a great commentary without sounding too peppy and American. (Sorry, Americans. I love you and your up-beatèdness, but it does jar rather against my Scottish pragmatism for certain things. Having someone shout "git on wi' it, ya big lump o' lard, or yi'll aye be a fair disappyntmint tae yirsel'!*" instead of "Yes, keep going, that's right, only a few more, don't you feel GREAT?" is not a comparison I've been able to make as of yet, but don't think I won't try it out to see if I can prove myself right if I do ever find a hardened Scots workout instructor online. You know, this might be the niche in the market I've been looking for... "Och, dinnae dae whit ah dae, dae whit ah sae, ye bowsie numpty!"** "Aye, bend doon like yon bauchelt wifie, an' howk up yir haund-wechts ower yir lugs!"***)
** Oh, don't do what I do, do what I say, you well-padded idiot.
*** Yes, bend down like a crippled old lady, and pull up your hand-weights above your ears.
Once I'd managed to grunt my way through this first video, I decided, instead of limping for the hills, to see what else this not-too-peppy dog-lover had on offer, and I was immediately (read: the next day, once I had control over my leg muscles again) taken with her wide range of walking exercises. 'Walking exercises' sounds a wee bit you're playing at exercise, but in reality they can be exhausting, and range from simple routines (this is the first one I tried):
to mashups of walking and yoga, walking and weights, walking and dance, walking and intervals, walking and step aerobics... More than enough for me to be getting on with. Over the months I've managed to progress onto more intense workouts, including strength training:
barre/strength mixes:
cruel and unusual blends like kick-boxing ballet:
to delightfully comprehensive (read: I'm not sure I'm supposed to bend like that) stretching routines:
and I've found Ms Smith to be quite the agreeable online workout taskmistress. (In a 'I wish I didn't have to workout at all, but this'll do until I've miraculously lost fifty pounds and am promised life-long perfect weight-maintenance by a now-contrite, formerly weight-bestowing guardian spirit' way.) I guess I should be glad that there's over three hundred free workouts to choose from so far, plus a new workout added to the list pretty much every week, because I think I may be waiting a wee while yet for that guardian spirit to make an appearance.
No comments:
Post a Comment