It wasn’t a great walking week because it suddenly got really cold. Freckles flat out refused to go for a walk with me yesterday.

I did go to the gym on Sunday. I walked two miles and interspersed lunges and Bulgarian split squats every 1/4 mile. I usually go to the gym at least twice a week but some changes in my work hours means that for right now I only have Sundays off.

I am doing a better job of warming up before lower body work since I found a routine that is working for me. Before when I was doing a lot of squats and lunges I was having problems the next day with pain in the front of the hip. I knew I needed to stretch more but it took a while to find a routine that helped. Now I incorporate this into my warm up at the gym.

  • Walk 1/4 mile
  • 3 sets of low lunges – I start with left leg forward and right knee on ground.  Reach forward to put hands on ground on right side of left leg. At this point I am usually super stiff.  I don’t hold this long, only a couple of seconds, because you don’t want to hold a static stretch on cold muscles.  I switch legs quickly.
  • Walk 1/4 mile
  • 3 sets of lunges – I do the same stretch but this time I can get considerably lower.  Try to go to forearms on the ground if possible.  Sometimes at this point, I’m still too tight for that.  Again, I don’t push this stretch much.  Move smoothly and quickly from leg to leg.
  • Walk 1/4 mile
  • More lunges.  I also start adding in pigeon pose if I feel warmed up now.  From the lunge with your left foot forward, move your left foot to the right and lay your left shin down on the mat perpendicular to your body.  Fold your body over the leg.  I do this a few times on each leg.  I also hold a low squat for a few seconds two or three times.
  • Walk 1/4 mile
  • Overhead squats.  My gym has a few 15 lb bars laying around.  I hold those overhead and squat.  When I was doing cross fit we used PVC pipes and I’ve used a broom at home.

Now I’m ready to either walk longer or to start doing squats without hurting myself and I have a mile of cardio done.