Day 11:- Thursday 18th June 2020
Walk without ‘Doris’.
Unfortunately, I went for a walk on my own today as ‘Doris’ had a little trip on Tuesday and has bruised her ribs and has sore legs. I still went for a brisk walk around our little park as I wasn’t sure if I would get to play tennis this evening as rain was forecast.
1:1 Pilates with Victoria
Oh no……. There were supposed to be four of us… but now there is only me.. Initial reactions are:- I am totally exposed… She will know if I am doing right or not. Do I say ‘Shall we cancel the session?’… No, come on Gregory, remember you have just watched Penny from YouCanCoaching this morning about Feel The Fear and Do it Anyway. So what are you waiting for?
I placed my mat down and moved the weights slightly out of the way whilst Victoria gets me a band. Oh exciting…. I haven’t used weights in a Pilates class before.
I start off with my eyes closed and focusing on my breath, with one hand on my stomach and one on the chest… Oh how I have changed. Normally I would have felt so self-conscious about having my eyes closed… more so that I am doing the class 1:1 but I just go with it. In through the nose and out through the mouth…. Lateral breathing and drawing the stomach towards the spine on the out breath. Making sure my weight are over toes and heals. Imagining a balloon pulling myself out. Then lifting arms up and reach, making sure in the neutral position. Turning head side to side and centre and head tilt the other side.
Rolling shoulders up and forward…. oh no… I went up and backwards…. did she notice? Of course she did! You are the only person she is checking on! It’s Ok…. I haven’t giggled so I am able to quickly change direction. Then up and over reaching over the other side of the body for the side stretch.
Wahooo roll-downs….. I love these. Lowering the head and chin towards my chest and then gradually walking the hands down and hanging… little shake of the head and wiggle of the shoulders and then peeling back up one vertebrae at a time.
I cannot remember the order of today’s session but oh no….. Into the dumb waiter. I always feel as though I struggle with this movement….. But I have no idea why I think I struggle. I also do this move with weights.
I was also a mermaid….. I only like being a mermaid on one side…. There is such a difference between my left and right for this move.
Within the session, I was on my back and had to roll up and look through my legs whilst my legs were bent, progression to straight and off the floor. The sliding one leg out, pointing the toes and back in and then the other leg, arms are introduced and legs off the floor.
Bench press whilst lying on the floor…. not sure if they are called that as there is no bench but I know the move that I mean. Then fly-presses.
Oh at some point I did squats with the weight and bicep curls and then taking the weight behind and squeezing my shoulder blades in.
Stretches for the hamstrings with the band and taking in an extra inhale and on the out seeing if I can get the leg higher and closer to me.
I am so noticing the benefits of pilates…. I am more flexible, my posture is improving and I am losing weight.
It was definitely worth feeling the fear and participating in this 1:1 class. So thanks Penny for your post this morning.
Tennis Doubles with Mel versus Sue and Leon
It is another prefect day for tennis… Wow what an awesome match and it was so close. Mel and I were losing tonight but we managed to pull it back and win the tie-break 7-3. I am playing soooo much better than last night but that’s not saying much really!! Poor Mel is doing loads of running around… it reminds me of playing squash with Keeley when she used to cover about 3/4 of the court!!
Singles v Mel.
Wow both of us are serving really well… and to be fair we are also hitting some really great returns when they are needed. I hit so many dodgy and lucky shots this evening but they all count at the end of the day. Wahoo I won 6-4. We decide to play another set…. which probably wasn’t the best idea as my knee is a bit sore this evening… I think it was from running more than normal!! Wahooo I won again 6-4. I am surprised I beat Mel as she has the most amazing low, fast shot across the court…. mind you it is pretty low and fast straight as well!
In all a good 2 hours 50 minutes worth of tennis!!
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