Description of Exercises [For prologue to this section of The Mom & Me Journals dot Net, click here.]
As of 9/04/04:
As of 9/04/04:
- In Side Lift [ISL]: Standing, with weights; Holding arms at sides, weights parallel to floor, lift weights up along sides as high as possible while holding elbows as close to body as possible; lower weights to starting position.
- Kick It [KI]: Sitting, independent alternate leg reps; start with foot flat on floor, kick to touch trainer's hand with toes, return foot flat to floor.
- Lift Up [LU]: Standing, with weights; Holding weights above shoulders, elbows out to sides, weights parallel to floor, extend arms completely above head, return to starting position.
- Knee It [KNI]: Sitting, independent alternate leg reps; start with foot flat on floor, raise knee up to touch trainer's hand, return foot flat to floor.
- Forward Out 1 [FO1]: Standing, with weights; Holding weights to upper chest perpendicular to ground, elbows close to sides, extend arms straight out, return to starting position.
- Separate Demitoe Sitting [SDS]: Sitting, independent alternate leg reps; start with foot flat on floor, raise heel until foot is resting on ball and toes, return to starting position.
- Forward Out 2 [FO2]: Standing, with weights; Holding weights to upper chest parallel to ground, elbows perpendicular to body, extend arms straight out, return to starting position.
- Together Demitoe Sitting [TDS]: Sitting, both feet reps together; start with feet flat on floor, raise heels until feet are resting on balls and toes, return to starting position.
- Forward 2 Side [F2S]: Standing, with weights; Holding weights straight out in front at shoulder height perpendicular to ground, open arms out until they are perpendicular to front of body, return to starting position.
- Side Step Sitting [SSS]: Sitting, independent alternate leg reps; start with foot flat on floor, step smartly to side and back, lifting knee up and down with thigh action.
- Arm Circles [AC]: Sitting, with weights; Holding weights straight out to sides at shoulder height perpendicular to ground, circle arms forward for prescribed reps, then backward.
- Marching In Place [MIP]: Standing, holding on to back of chair with both hands for support; march in place smartly, lifting knees high. On 9/6/04, changed exercise so that she stands between two chair backs facing forward and supports self on either side.
- Forward Curls [FC]: Standing, with weights; Holding weights parallel to ground, arms close to sides, bend arm at elbow and raise weights to shoulders, keeping elbows close to sides.
- Separate Demitoe Standing [SDST]: Standing, holding on to back of chair with both hands for support, independent alternate leg reps; with foot flat on floor lift heel until foot is resting on ball and toes, lower foot flat to floor.
- Independent Arm Circles Right [IACR]: Standing perpendicular to chair back holding onto chair with left hand, without weights; with right arm hanging down at side, circle arm from shoulder and upper arm, forearm hanging loose and elbow slightly bent, around across body and face, up, then out to side and down.
- Together Demitoe Standing [TDST]: Standing, holding on to back of chair with both hands, both feet reps together; start with feet flat on floor, raise heels until feet are resting on balls and toes, return to starting position.
- Independent Arm Circles Left [IACL]: Standing perpendicular to chair back holding onto chair with right hand, without weights; with left arm hanging down at side, circle arm from shoulder and upper arm, forearm hanging loose and elbow slightly bent, around across body and face, up, then out to side and down.
- Side to Side [STS]: Standing, hands on hips, without weights; begin facing forward, twist torso to left, then to right, as far as you can go.
- Side Step Standing [SSST]: Standing, holding on to back of chair with both hands for support, independent alternate leg reps; start with foot flat on floor, step smartly to side and back, lifting knee up and down with thigh action.
- Back Drop [BD]: Standing or sitting, independent alternate arm reps, with weights; Turning arm out so palm faces away from body, grip top of weight between thumb and forefinger, lift a arm straight above head so weight is parallel to ground, keeping upper arm straight, bend elbow and lower weight behind head and neck and lift to starting position.
- Not So Grand Plie [NSGP]: Standing supporting self with arms between two chair backs, toes turned outward, feet about shoulder's length apart, bend just a touch at the knees, keeping back straight and buttocks held in, then rise.
- Standing Up/Sitting Down [SUSD]: That's right, standing up and sitting down, with coaching and support. Not surprisingly, she is currently having difficulty standing up and sitting down, so I decided we should practice this. She scoots to the edge of the chair, readies her muscles, braces herself with her hands on my very steady arms, I coach her to "lean forward from the hips" and she stands up, then sits down, while I coach her to "sit with control, don't plop yourself in the chair."
- Belly Grip [BG]: This is simply tightening the abdominal muscles, holding for a count of five and relaxing for a count of five. Performed standing up. It occurred to me that this might help strengthen her lower back and help her body "remember" how to stand correctly when using her walker so that she stands closer to it and pushes it with the momentum of her legs instead of with her arms.
Saturday, September 04, 2004
Today's Exercise Session:
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Time Session Began: 1320 Duration of Session: 60 min |
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| Exercise | Reps | Sets | Comments |
| ISL | 15 | 1 | First time standing; reps up from 10 yesterday; has trouble holding elbows back. |
| KI | 15 | 1 | Trouble on right with taking foot all the way back to the floor. |
| LU | 15 | 1 | First time standing; trouble holding elbows properly and returning weights to shoulders. |
| KNI | 15 | 1 | Better with right leg, surprisingly, since this was the side affecting by the mini-stroking. |
| FO1 | 10 | 1 | First time standing. |
| SDS | 15 | 1 | |
| FO2 | 15 | 1 | Up from 10 reps yesterday. |
| TDS | 15 | 1 | |
| F2S | 15 | 1 | Up from 10 reps yesterday. |
| SSS | 15 | 1 | A little shy on lifting leg up on return; when this happens, I have her repeat that rep. |
| AC | 10 | 1 | This one is hard for her. Let her slip a bit toward the end then gave her a short, easy lecture on proper technique and the reasoning behind proper technique. |
| MIP | 15 | 1 | Has been having trouble lifting knees because back of chair is in the way. Finally figured out that if she balances herself between two chair backs, with one arm on each chair, she should have no trouble lifting knees. We'll try that next time. |
| FC | 15 | 1 | Up from 10 reps yesterday; has trouble holding arms to sides, especially in the elbow area, but she did much better today with repeated reminding and a short, easy lecture on why this technique is important. |
| SDST | 15 | 1 | |
| IACR | 10 | 1 | |
| TDST | 15 | 1 | Although this is hard for her, she's game and does a good job. Tends to lean forward into chair for balance. I'm not bent on correcting this, right now. She's got good arches, so as her calves get stronger, I think she'll correct herself. |
| IACL | 10 | 1 | |
| STS | 5 | 1 | This was the first time for this exercise. It throws her balance off, so we stopped at 5. Haven't decided whether to continue it. We'll see. |
| SSST | 15 | 1 | Somewhat the same problem as with MIP above. I'm not sure that doing this supporting herself between two chair backs would work, but we'll try it. Too bad we don't have a ballet barre. Maybe, as we do renovations, we'll have one installed. |
| BD | 10 | 1 | Her lack of shoulder flexibility causes her to have a problem straightening her arm above her head and keeping her upper arm still when she drops the weight, but I believe this will improve without pointing it out as her shoulder flexibility and arm strength improve. |
Overall, I have to say this is one of the best sessions we've had. Her improvement was obvious, today, and I mentioned this several times. She beamed and beamed and beamed.
Today, for the first time, I checked with her on where she is "feeling" the effort of some of the exercises. She was very responsive about this and is, for the most part, "feeling the burn" where she should, although I'm trying to keep what she's feeling from actually being a burn, at the moment. So far, I think I'm successful in this.
Normally, afterward, we bat a balloon back and forth as she sits, but we didn't do this today, she was pretty tired and I didn't have the heart to include this. She actually performs the balloon batting really well, sometimes better than me and I'm standing and can move around. I'm thinking, the next time we do this, we'll try a few bats standing, just to see how her balance is doing, but, until her balance improves we'll probably do most of the batting sitting.
No walkering today, but she moved around quite a bit on her own here at home. Maybe tomorrow.
