=>Moving =>Mom

Time Session Began:  1753 Duration of Session:  1hr 5min
Exercise	Reps	Sets	Comments
ISL	15 + 4	1	dropped wrists so repeated for reps.
KI	15 + 5	2	Doing good.
LU	15	1	Needs to work on keeping elbows back and holding the weights, not dangling them.
KNI	15 + 5	2	Lifting knee from thigh very well.
FO1	20	1	The extra 5 were for practice in keeping wrists locked and returning weights to shoulder height.
SDS	20	1	Alternated feet one after the other for first time; seemed to work well; no apparent confusion.
FO2	15	1	Still breaking wrists but getting better; is "feeling" the exercise in the right places; I gave her a little coaching on working through "the burn".
TDS	20	1	Good.
F2S	15	1	Drops arms at end, but not as bad as yesterday; I brought this to her attention and mentioned that we will be practicing this in better form from now on.
SSS	15	1	Still problems with lifting coming back; aimed for 20 reps, stopped at 15.
AC	11	1	Upped reps by one repetition; still funky form; breaks wrists and elbows, but was up for trying one more than 10, both forward and back.
MIP	20	1	Mom's comment; "That's hard." Did it, again, with her balancing and supporting herself between two chair backs at her sides. Considered doing 25 reps, but didn't.
FC	15	1	Still doing each side separately. I think this works best for her. Still concentrating on form, which is still hard for her. She has special trouble understanding that her must keep her hands and wrists sturdy, gripping hard and locked, in order to engage her arm muscles for the work of the exercise.
SDST	20	1	Dropped heel towards end; corrected this.
IACR	10	1	Doing better; getting the idea.
IACL	10	1	Decided to do both sides without a break of a different exercise between the two, in order to keep the idea in her mind.
TDST	20	1	Very, very good; first time for 20 reps, which she chose on her own. In some ways, it's easier for her to do this one than me!
STS			Didn't do this one, knees too iffy.
SSST			Didn't do this one, knees too iffy.
BD	15	1	Can't hold arm straight up, so we worked with form, mostly; I held her arm in place and held her arm so she could relax it as she lowered the weight. We did this a few times, then I let her do it at her own height.

    Her legs got tired of standing early today. I don't think we did walkering on this day earlier, but we might have. At any rate, I continue to see improvement with each session. I know we won't be doing exercises tomorrow, and possibly not again for a couple more days, depending on what I have to do. But, I'm not worried. She's doing very well.

Time Session Began:  1406 Duration of Session:  1hr 10min
Exercise	Reps	Sets	Comments
ISL	15	1	With coaching, very good form, today. Kept it pretty steadily throughout reps.
KI	15	1	For the first time, kicked the same height on all kicks. Amazing! Maybe to time to up reps, or try to get in 2 sets a day.
LU	15	1	Still has trouble holding elbows out, tends to allow them to fold forward, but is getting it.
KNI	15	1	Considered doing 20, she was doing so good, but we stopped at 15, as her knee was feeling iffy. Very good strength and height.
FO1	15	1	Toward end, didn't straighten arm completely.
SDS	20	1	Reps up from 15. Getting better at locking on demitoe, except toward end of exercise.
FO2	15	1	Noticed today that she was dropping her wrists. Corrected this toward the end of the exercise.
TDS	20	1	Reps up from 15. Doing very well with this. Left foot still lags a bit; good form, though. She put hands on hips, today, when doing it, in unconscious imitation of me; I do this as I do the exercise with her while I stand without support.
F2S	15	1	Reps up from 10. Tired toward end, dropping arms and not going all the way out. Reminded her that the work really happens when one tries to keep ones form as one tires.
SSS	15	1	Considered doing 20 but didn't go that far. Left not as good as right on stepping back.
AC	10	1	Very hard. No improvement but is holding her own.
MIP	20	1	Today I placed her between two chairs and had her hold onto both for balance. This worked well. I stepped up the pace a bit. This confused her at first but by number 5 she was keeping up. She still needs practice lifting legs. Says it hurts her knees, so it might be her technique that needs work.
FC	15	1	Decided to do sides separately, today, in order to work on form. Noticed that, on this exercise, too, she drops her wrists, so I coached her on holding one's wrists static and gripping the weight, demonstrating to her she could feel (and she did) the tensing of the forearm and upper arm when she does this, and this what provides the benefit of the exercise. She's getting better at keeping her arms close to her body.
SDST	20	1	Reps up from 15. Had her do this one supporting herself between two chairs on the chair backs. Noticed that she cocks her hip when she does this. Corrected her form, explained that the slack should be taken up by the angle of the knee. Slowed down toward the end so she could feel the result of correct form.
IACR	10	1	She's still working on form, still having difficulty with the idea of circling across the front of the body, rolling from the shoulder and using the power of her upper arm. I came up with the phrase "brush your arm cross your body", and that seemed to connect with her.
TDST	15	1	Very hard. No improvement but holding her own.
IACL	10	1	She's getting it. I noticed she's even imitating the balletic arm stance I naturally use from having been dance trained; this pleased me.
STS			By this time her knee was "giving her some trouble". She even asked to sit down. She wasn't faking it. We tried one swing to one side, but she can't seem to do these without bringing her knee into play, so we scrapped this exercise for today.
SSST			Although we did the next exercise before this one, and sitting, in order to rest her knee, I noticed when she rose it was really shaking, so I dropped this one, too.
BD	15	1	Reps up from 10. Did sitting, today, to rest her knee. Did as well as could be expected. Arm not straight above her, yet, but better than last time. This one may take some time to master...her shoulder and upper back flexibility leave a lot to be desired.

    Because we dropped two exercises, we did balloon batting. Today, she pulled herself forward on the chair in order to sit up straight during the sitting exercises on her own. I was very pleased to see this. She also began holding onto the seat of the chair when doing sitting kicks and knee lifts...good! She's beginning to read her body for what it needs to do during movement, and good form is leading to even better form on its own. I stopped her tendency to lean on the chairs for support instead of holding onto them, today.
    I mentioned, after our session, that, once again, I can see noticeable improvement since our last session day before yesterday.
    "Really?!?"
    "Mom, you know me. I wouldn't complement you if it wasn't true. In fact, if you were simply holding your own or beginning to slip, I'd not only tell you, I'd be all over you!"
    "How well I know," she exclaimed, laughing.
    "Trust me. I don't consider what I'm telling you complimenting you, but giving you feedback. If you're improving, you need that feedback just as much as you need feedback if you're slipping or simply not improving."
    So, I think we have an understanding on this point.
    I'm glad I noticed the dropping of the wrists. It has seemed to me, when she uses the weights, that she is simply flinging them around, but I couldn't figure out what the problem was. Today, I saw it. It's that she's not holding them in her hands and supporting them with her wrists, but letting them hang from her hands. I don't think she'll be doing this much longer, now that I've figured out the problem and started correcting it.
    Explaining why correct form is important, in detail, and with reference to specific exercises and the benefits that can be gained by using correct form in each exercise is very important to my mother. It allows her to understand the seriousness of what we're doing with these therapeutic exercises. When she gets this, she participates with enthusiasm, and was even disappointed, today, when I scratched two of the exercises because of her knee.