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Hello dear fitness enthusiast! I’m finally feeling a bit stronger post-shingles. One more step towards health. I can’t believe my little exercise bouts here and there added up to so much. When I was younger, I played hours of street hockey and basketball regularly. But life happened and I don’t have those groups to play with anymore.
An odd thing I noticed during this shingles recovery time is that a previous nerve injury that affects my thumb has felt better. I have more feeling in my thumb, and less swelling since shingles began several weeks ago. A nice bonus for me. My thumb has felt like rubber since a rogue vaccine shot caused me problems in 2021, which was never EVER addressed by my doctor or anyone in the medical community at the time or since. I can feel (sortof) what I’m reaching for in my backpack now!
On to my fitness saga, my activity has been in spurts this past week. I’ve done more activity using my Ninjaline than ever before. I enjoy the fresh air after being cooped up at work all day. I’ve had a few very sleepy days too – maybe a gluten reaction, not shingles related.
Exciting music hobby moments this week
I’ve also had some excitement in my music hobby. I consider myself an advanced enthusiast in music and I make EDM (electronic dance music) mainly, using synthesizers and iPad apps. Recently I traded in a bunch of gear that didn’t combine well for me, and brought home a brand new ‘brain’ for making music: an MPC One+ which is a song making device that also has pads, sampling, and on-board sythesizer and effects (and many more that you can buy). So I’m happy in the evenings to learn it and enjoying the single-device non-computer method for music making. I still have a few synthesizers that are amazing, and all the iPad apps, so my options are wide open.
Also on the music front, I ordered and quickly received some scratch vinyl and slipmat/slipsheets for my scratch turntable. This means I’m now fully operational for my learning how to scratch. If you need a definition, scratching is that back and forth motion that is done with a record player to get a groovy swoosh sound. Expect that to start showing up in my music from now on!
Let’s have a look at how many minutes of excercise I achieved in the past week.
Saturday: 40 minutes walking
This was just snippets of walking while on a shopping trip to Hillside Mall with my family. It was a lot of stop and go but a LOT of it. I’m being conservative with my 40 minute estimate.
Sunday: 40 minutes walking
This was another intense day of walking! I attended Metchosin Day which was unexpected. I was merely headed to the village for the regular market but found a flurry of activity next door. I walked among vendor stalls, food sellers, and the usual market stalls all afternoon. Again in bits and pieces. I was a little weak from shingles but the crowd’s energy fueled me to some degree.
I even ran into an old school chum, so that was worth a lot! She moved out of town years ago but still visits family in the area regularly.
Monday: 10 minutes yard work and 10 minutes Ninjaline
I did a little of this and a little of that, then rested on my big round swing to listen to a Daily Yoga meditation. I was very hungry after that little workout.
Tuesday: 30 minutes Ninjaline and 20 minute walk
I carried myself across my gymnast rings and monkey bars area mainly a few times, and spent a little time doing pull ups on the two knotted rope things. There’s not much else I can do with those big knots. My hands fit nice around them but I’m not strong enough to allow my legs to go completely dead under me; I do this one more like an assisted lunge then pull myself up.
However, I also have a ladder (the 8’ one from Slackers/b4adventure) and it’s way too long so I have it set higher by doubling over some of the knots, so that it doesn’t drag on the ground. With some concentration, I can grasp the two knotted hand grasps, and get my feet up on the bottom rung, then I swing around slightly. It’s tremendously invigorating but my strength doesn’t last long – but I am getting stronger for that exciting move!
Later in the evening, my dad and I walked around the neighbourhood and had a great time. We walked to a store from where we parked the truck, and brought back some unexpected grocery store stuff. Tomatoes were on sale. Dad always likes that.
Wednesday: 60 minutes footbag and Ninjaline
I am getting stronger. I lasted for quite a few back and forth’s along my 36’ Ninjaline. The obstacles only span about 20’ at most. It’s a great workout – mostly involving hanging. Or in my case, dangling with my legs loose underneath me because I’m too afraid to climb and set the line any higher on the trees.
I should’ve mentioned at some point: a Ninjaline is a strong webbing that you mount between two trees. It has several spots where you can hang accessories like swings and rings to climb and exercise with.
With my line only about 6’ in the air, I have gotten good at letting my legs go limp, and it provides a great workout with the security of knowing I can activate my feet if I need to for balance or giving up. LOL.
I was particularly motivated by setting up my Osmo action-tracking handle to record my Ninjaline activity for the first time. It worked flawlessly! I have a summary of hand gestures to use with it, and some best practices figured out already, so the footage required no fixing. That’s worth a lot to me.
In this hour, I also swept up some branches that I was constantly tripping over. I also (tried to) play footbag for the first time since shingles started; I’ll need some more practice. And I caught my awkward movements perfectly with the Osmo Moble 7P for my cell phone. FYI, I mounted it to a cheap ($40 CAD at the time) Neewer ‘tabletop’ sized tripod and the whole setup worked fine. Just be sure to plant the tripod legs firmly in the ground if your tripod is a lightweight type like this.
I drank a bunch of water, got bit by a mosquito four times, and had a relaxing rest on the big round Adventure Sky swing which is just about the right size for my body to drape on, if I bring my knees to my chest. Or I let them dangle and keep me swinging to and fro.
Awesome fun.
How many minutes did you get this week?
Any stellar exercise accomplishments? Any happy crafts or arts projects underway? Tell me below!
Credits:
The embedded video contains audio by musician jiglr, called Whisper, obtained from InShot video editing app.