I use kettlebells and boxing as key elements in my workout regime. But since I suffer from very chronic Fibromyalgia I am hampered in my ability to engineer a routine.
Somedays walking will be challenge enough.
That said -- and we're talking not so much 'looking good' but surviving pain and muscle contraction -- I've found that any time I go to the exercise max -- such as in a group exercise class -- I'm stressed over and the worse of my symptoms will kick in.
This has been my experience over New Year when I joined a local circuit class. Despite my ability to keep up and perform the routines, my health suffered. And over Summer, heat is sufferance enough.
I learnt a lesson that I canot afford to be impatient. The price I'll have to pay is too high.
Much as I have tried over the years to push my training up into really intense zones for longer periods, I am thwarted by the consequences -- which always lead to setbacks. The sweet point -- the therapeutic threshold zone -- is always going to variable day to day but sustaining in its own good time.
Recent research indicates something along this line -- albeit for normals. Upping your blood lactic acid for as long and as high as you can manage may not be the best way to do exercise business. There is a false efficiency in pushing so hard -- more pain for less gain.
I've found that while kettlebell lifting is a great tool I need to supplement that discipline not so much with other weight training devices (as I fund a cheap gym) but I get a lot of reward from Gymball/Stability Ball (el cheap again) work -- especially as an option on those days I cannot manage KB lifts.
A good day I'll do both KB (+ boxing) and ball. The challenge is to pick which option suits the body at that moment of somatic time.
The problem over Summer is that unless I am mobile in the early morning -- and I'm more often mobile soon after wakening -- I miss the opportunity to get out on the kickbike and notch up the ks before the day's heat kicks in.
You want to stress out? Then exercise in the Summer sun.
So I can get caught often enough between a rock and a hot place.
This is where the paddling is supposed to kick in -- paddling the paddleski along the coastline. But that, given how inundating and storm prone has been our Summer here in Qld -- has not so often been an option.
But as the weather settles and the days are more comfortable....expect Salty Dog.
