You make think I'm nuts, but I think I've settled on a form of motionless exercise to do until the weather and my foot get good enough for walking again. I want to feel proactive against the diabetes even if I am not at 100% yet.
For those of you new to my blog, I had my left big toe amputated last
August due to a rapid moving staph infection complicated by the
diabetes which was diagnosed at the same time. I've been recovering
slowly, but surely from that.
I know how important exercise is for my health, but I'm also very
worried about my feet and I've probably become super sensitive about
injuring them in the future. Shoes have been a big issue for me as
well as choosing just the right form of exercise.
On a night when I couldn't sleep, I watched an infomercial with Greer Childers. She was promoting her latest product called Shapely Secrets. She said she had perfected "motionless" exercise. This is a quote from her official website describing the motionless exercise program.
The 7 Minute Workout is based upon Diametric Resistance exercises. In traditional strength training exercises they teach you to lift weights, in essence you are working your “muscles against weight”. So if you are lifting 20 pounds of weight, then your muscle is creating a 20 pound force to lift that weight. But what if instead of exerting that force against a weight, you instead pushed against another muscle in your body? Obviously if you can create a force to lift 20 pounds of weight, then you can focus that same 20 pounds of muscle force against another muscle. The result is that now you are working two muscles at the same time. You’re working “muscle against muscle”, and that’s what I mean by Diametric Resistance exercises. The beauty of Diametric Resistance exercises is that you are working multiple muscles at the same time. So you can target your entire body much quicker with just a few exercises. That's only 7 minutes. Best of all, there's no running, jumping or any impact. You just stand still and sculpt your entire body. It's what I call Motionless Exercise™.
When I first watched the infomercial I thought it sounded too good to be true. But, the more I thought about it I convinced myself there would be no harm in trying it. So I ordered it. It came in while my foot was was still in bandages and I put it to the side where I promptly forgot about it.
Last night I got it out and did the Shapely Secrets motionless exercise routine for the first time and I must say that it impressed me. I felt the affect it had on all my major muscle groups immediately. Even today I still feel it in my abs. I'm going to keep up with it and see what it does.
It makes me feel like I am doing something. I tried doing some toe touches and exercises like that, but I found that with my big toe gone my balance is off just enough that I wanted to tumble forward. You wouldn't think something so simple as a toe touch would do that, but I swear it did. It was very discouraging especially since I loathe exercise on a good day anyway.
There is a nearby lake that I enjoy walking at during the non-winter months. Last year I was walking two miles about four or five days a week. It didn't feel like exercising because I enjoyed being by the water.
During one of those walks is when I got the dreaded blister that eventually got the staph infection that caused me to lose my toe. I didn't wear socks with a new pair of tennis shoes one day. It makes me want to cry when I think about it. Now I have this terrible fear about shoes, walking and my feet. I hope to get over it soon. I'm telling myself that I will feel the fear and go walking anyway when the nicer weather gets here.
In the meantime, I'm going to do the Shapely Secrets workout. I will keep you updated to let you know if it actually works. If how my muscles felt after the first time are any indication, I believe it will.