I have completed SIX workouts as part of the St. Luke’s Thrive medical fitness program with trainer Alex who will be starting his Ph.D. program in physical therapy this summer. I have attended and completed one boot camp workout at Apex Training, the gym where I trained regularly from Summer 2020 to March 2024.

I have tried to start taking my supplements again: multivitamin, calcium + D, iron, and zinc. I have increased my daily step goal AND my dosages of my muscle relaxer.

Hopefully soon I will start using my home gym, see some consistent weight loss, and start taking the dog for a walk regularly.

And now, for the past week, I have struggled to keep my blood pressure UP.

I met Alex at the gym today for a 7 a.m. workout. He had the early shift so he started at 5 a.m. and I had my butt on the treadmill by 6:45 a.m. We did a pull workout today. I didn’t have as much flexibility as I do later in the day but for the first time in a week I am looser and more mobile after the workout. Typically, I am sore and achy and want to sleep for a week.

The push workouts hit me harder than the pull workouts.

Alex thinks we’ve hit the muscle memory plateau– he’s commented during my last couple workouts that I have jumped weights amazingly fast, that he has never seen someone progress that quickly. I tried to warn him, but I guess seeing it with his own eyes still impressed him. But now we’re getting in the neighborhood of my old weights and he’s seeing me struggle more.

It’s a riot that I can do bicep curls with 15 pounds on each arm but I’ll want to cry if I have to walk across the room with a resistance band around my thighs. Ah, the dichotomy of diplegia spastic cerebral palsy.

But I have also noticed that A. There is a lot of people hanging out at the gym early in the morning and B. There are some old ladies lifting HEAVY weights. Good for them! Go, Ladies!

I’m thinking more and more about long-term habits and choices and how I will keep myself engaged.