I sat outside this morning in the front yard to write. F was in an animated discussion in the back yard, by the time I finished my morning exercises. S was up, too, but dozing on the sofa with KKJZ, the local jazz station, playing in the background.
The front yard is so green! The crepe myrtle trees are blooming. The spider lilies are also still blooming, and the grapefruit tree has fruits slightly larger than golf balls hanging on lower branches. Jessica’s succulents look healthy, too.
Exercises: I did them this morning: sixty “tricep” push-ups (fists on the floor and on my toes), and forty “chest” push-ups on the mat, including about twenty still on my toes for those ones. Squats with alternating punches on the even sets of ten, and sit-ups, all done with clean Japanese counts. Evenings are always harder, but I did get in the sixty “chest” push-ups on my knuckles on the floor, with forty “tricep” ones on the mat, though most of that last forty was on my knees. I also did squats with alternating punches, and 100 lower-ab exercises, so mostly dutchmen and leg-lifts, with some toe-touches and diagonals sprinkled in there. What’s even better: no weird pains in the backs of my thighs or shoulders. Yay me!
I should write up a page on how to start a home exercise regimen like this. I have been doing exercises like this since I started taking karate classes. My plan to test for a shodan, however, inspired the regular daily home regimen.
Starting out, however, someone who isn’t training regularly may have no idea of how many repetitions he or she can do, so that’s where to start: figure that out first. How? Set a timer for two minutes, and do as many of the exercises as one can for that time span. Count the number of push-ups and write it down. Then reset the timer, and see how many squats one can do in two minutes, and how many sit-ups one can do. That’s basically six minutes total of exercises–not an intimidating number at all. Take those numbers, and do that many every day, for 5 days. Do it once in the morning, and once in the evening. Now we’re at a twelve minute commitment total, but broken up over the day.
Of course, taking at least a minute or two to stretch between those two minute sets is smart. Realistically speaking, those six minutes will take closer to ten or fifteen, depending on how much stretching or rest a person needs between sets. Not letting the total time exceed fifteen minutes is important, however. The less time total one spends–say twelve minutes–the more likely a person will be able to stick to the regimen.
For push-ups, I may need to take a photo or sketch a diagram of what a tricep push-up is like as opposed to a chest push-up. Also, Sensei says it is very important not to go too deep and end up with a rotator cuff injury. So I should have pictures showing what’s fine and what’s too deep.
You do the regimen two times a day, five days a week, for three weeks. On day 5 of the third week, in the morning, time yourself for the exercises only. See if you are completing your original number faster. Hopefully what took you two minutes to do starting out will take less time. Even if it is 5 seconds less, that’s still good.
Finally, after you has been able to stick to the work out for 5 days a week, for three weeks, you meditate for that twelve minutes during the fourth week, twice a day. Meditation, besides being good for you, will “hold” that spot in your day.
Depending on your health and ambition, for the next 3 weeks, you add repetitions. If you could only do 5 comfortably, maybe add 2 to 5. If you’re dong 20 comfortably, try adding 10.