exercise post II: upper body workout

[anotheranon]

Did the upper body workout (scroll down) with some modifications:

Rows: ended up doing the Yates row (scroll down) as I have no bench. Results: deceptively easy, but produced enough strain that pushups were hell 15 minutes later! I could feel more pinching around my shoulders than with pushups though, and as I need back strength this is a good thing.

Standing shoulder press: another pinch between shoulders and I could really feel the unevenness I've developed from fencing. Will keep this up.

Dumbell bench presses - my elbows jut out painfully when I lower my arms, possibly because I'm lying on the ground and not a bench. Not sure I will continue these as I don't want to tear my joints up.

Other: my legs still have not recovered - ow ow ow! In particular my calves are burning. However, I'll enjoy it as it means I did something yesterday :)

Comments

[jlsjlsjls.livejournal.com]

Sometimes my brain clicks in with bright ideas at the strangest times ... dunno WHY this came to me as I was driving to work this morning. However ...

Re your lack of bench ... how sturdy is your ironing board? And is it the type that can adjust to any height? If so, you could try setting it up so that it's only about a foot high (or whatever height you need for elbow room doing presses) and lie on it during presses to spare your elbow joints (probably a good idea to have D. spotting you, just in case of wobbles, although they're unlikely to happen at this height, especially if you keep your feet planted on the floor on each side). This idea doesn't come completely from left field ... when I was little, my parents used to set up the ironing board at bathtub rim level and have us lie on our backs on it, with our heads hanging off the end, to have our hair washed (worked perfectly too ... we tykes never got shampoo or water in our eyes).

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

My ironing board seems pretty flimsy, but at a foot off the ground I can afford to try and see if I'm wrong ;) Thanks for the tip!

[jlsjlsjls.livejournal.com]

You're welcome. Hope it works for you. :-)