Re: Jean and the personal trainer

[Guest guest]

Hi Donna,

It's the end of week 4 and I can't beleive the changes that have

happened. In fact my trainer can't beleive it either. I actually

gained 5 pounds in muscle and part of that was in my thighs. I'm

totally stoked!!! I can hardly wait to see what happens in the next

4 weeks. I get to the gym 5 days a week (3 days weights and 2 days

cardio)

WOW! A triathlon!! I'm impressed!!! How's the running part? Go

get em girl!

I'm with you on the carbs. I've changed my diet around so I eat more carbs

(banana, oatmeal) an hour before a workout. It gives me the sugar/energy I need

for the harder workout. And I get it out of my system as to craving it the

remainder of the day.

Jean

[Guest guest]

Hi

I totally agree with you - we just need to get off the couch and do things. It

may be hard, it may be painful, but we do need to try. The less active we are

the more the muscles will go away...

It is so tiring at first - I could barely do 15 minutes on a bike without

feeling like I was going to die or swim about 200 meters without dying - but now

I can do over an hour with a good RPM and tension, and I just started going for

1500 meters (a mile!) swimming and feel good with it. Sure, I can overdo it and

feel tired, and I am never sure if I am more tired because of the added CMT

challenges, but I strangely have a lot more energy too.

My favourite is to workout before dinner. I find that I am hungry but not

eating everything in site just what I need. And I know that the metabolism is a

bit higher after working out so I feel like I process the food a bit better too.

As for the triathlon, I don't run the run - I walk it. I found out when I was

doing it that a lot of people also walk it! On the bottom of this email is my

link to my personal fundraising site. I am actually supposed to walk a marathon

(did this in 2004 as well) on Saturday, but am nervous as I have done no

training on my feet (just biking which also works the weak leg muscles probably

better than walking)... Wish me luck!

You know - I am not sure if the future is inevitable when it comes to what you

said about eventually winding up in a wheelchair. We are all so different, and

we are all able to help ourselves out by making good choices about our health

and nutrition and exercise regimes.

The one thing I would add into your routine is stretching - especially your hips

and hamstrings. I do this and it is so necessary, it really helps me with my

feeling of fluid moving and mobility. I actually go now to a therapist trained

in active isolated stretching and other deep muscle and tendon therapies. We do

things like myofacial release (aka Rolfing) on my feet, to release and relax the

tight tendons in my feet and toes, which then

once a bit looser the exercises I do work on the strength of my feet - trust me

this is super painful (not bad pain but unpleasant stuff) and this is really

great. I feel like with the stretching I am able to get more benefits from the

muscle work.

I really need to focus on my quads - does your trainer do any good quad

exercises? I have bad knees and hypermobility (so many of us seem to have this)

so I am always looking for tips to build my quads...

Donna from London

--------------------------------

Please consider supporting my 2007 fundraising activities - click through to

learn more - http://home.earthlink.net/~sponsordonna