Thursday, March 18, 2010

Spring Break @ Roll 2 Walk: Day 4


Lastly day four was a dousey(sp?). So much so that as I was leaving I fell over and hit my head on the wall, I don't know why I fell over, either I lost my balance or spasmed but this may explain why:

I did the range of motion with muscle stimulation and as I mention before I moved my legs on my own. I couldn't believe it until I actually saw myself bring my knee to my chest and catch Gray off guard. I'm still kind of perplexed, shocked, confused, excited… I don't know what to make of me moving my leg. I don't want to jump to any conclusions or get too excited because I've been disappointed before. I'm kind of in disbelief, also, like maybe it was a spasm and I just didn't know it, yet something tells me it was me connecting to my hip flexors and doing it myself. Hell, crazier things have happened, so why don't I believe what I saw and what I'm hearing? Je ne sais pas!

After the table stuff Chad and I did my core exercises; sit-ups, back extensions and half around the worlds (oblique exercises). I must of done close to 50 sit-ups and back extensions… although on some of the back extensions Chad screwed up and had me doing sit-ups. Next thing after those exercises I did some straight arm kneeling and then I got strapped into the bike. I like the bike, I like it because I can connect to my nerves while I'm doing it and because I get to a point where I'm connecting to it so much that I want to cycle faster but I can't so I keep pushing myself to get my muscles to working on their own.

So, after this week the money that was raised in December at my benefit and that has been donated since will almost be used up. I have enough for a single 2-hour session. I'm going to dip into my savings a little and my mom said she'd help pay for more sessions but that will only go so far. I don't like asking for money and I feel awkward about asking for donations but if you want to continue to reading entries about my legs moving on their own please Donate here. Just click on the donate button on the page, it's the same donate button from my benefit. It's much appreciated.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Spring Break @ Roll 2 Walk: Days 3

Last two days of my Spring Break Roll 2 Walk sessions were AWESOME. Here's why:
   
The first thing I did was the range of motion with muscle stimulation. While Gray was moving my leg I apparently moved my leg on my own. I still don't believe it so it's hard for me to get excited. But anyway, Gray asked me if I was doing the movement with him, I said I was and he said I did it on my own. The movement was either bringing my knee to my chest from a full leg extension or it was just the opposite. I can't remember because I did both movements on my own and they WERE NOT spasms. I know it wasn't a fluke because I did it the next day and because I gave Gray goose bumps and he said he only gets goose bumps when something like me moving my legs on my own, happens. After my muscles in my leg and hip flexors got tired Gray would aggravate the sciatic nerve at the bottom of my foot just to see if he could give those muscles some juice. It worked for a little bit but Gray didn't want to tire my muscles out too much, plus he wanted to try some side-lying hip flexion and see if my muscles would do the work. When we did them my muscles initiated the movement but didn't do it all. Apparently the the position he was in to move my leg and at the same time aggravate my sciatic was like a freaky Karma Sutra position and if anyone had walked into the gym at that moment would question what was going on… I know I would.

The rest of my workout was kind of uneventful compared to what happened at the beginning of my workout. I did the total gym exercises and Gray said he could see that my legs and hips remember walking because as one leg extended the other hip would start to flex. And the problem I had the first week with my knee has somewhat gone away. The only time I start to get a little AD is when I'm sitting up working on my posture and balance. YAY! So, after the total gym I got on the vibrating table for the first time since January. I still don't totally believe or know what it's supposed to do or what I'm supposed to do while I'm on it. I know it's supposed to stimulate the nerves in my legs but I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be feeling or doing other than trying to sit up straight and not lose my balance. That was pretty much it for day 3 other than standing in the standing frame.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Spring Break @ Roll 2 Walk: Day 2


Well today was eventful. I did a new exercise that I can't wait to explain and tell y'all about all the cool stuff that happened when I did the exercise, but I'm going to keep you in suspense and tell y'all what led up to Chad and Gray starting this new exercise on me. But I got to hurry it up because one of my favorite shows will be on in 25 minutes and after that I got to take a shower.


Remember how I had mention in my Roll2Walk: Day 4 blog entry that Gray (not Greg) said while I'm doing my total gym exercise my legs remember how to walk, yada, yada, yada? (If you don't, refer to that blog entry and you'll know where I'm going) Well, the guys wanted to see what would happen on the recumbent bike. And that's not just the only crazy improvements and "sightings" that the guys have noticed. When I'm doing the rolling exercises there's a variation to it where Gray or Chad bring my legs (while my back is flat) side to side, they're called windshield wipers. Anyway, when I do those Gray has notice that my hip flexors and oblique muscles connect and do some of the work, which is insane and almost incomprehensible to me to the point where I don't believe it. Also, when Gray was working on my range of motion in my shoulders I had mention that on my right side that under my armpit I was feeling a dull pain and he mentioned that it may not be pain and in actuality it could be my Serratus on that side coming back to life, which would be super cool! Yeah, I'm kind of excited but also a little skeptical, but that's kind of in my nature, I don't get too excited about something just in case my expectations dashed.
 

Anyway, so because of the interesting developments when I do the total gym exercises Chad and Gray wanted to see what would happen if got my feet strapped into the recumbent bike. Well something pretty cool happened, with a little bit of help and a start my legs, I did a little bit of the cycling!! I KNOW! Isn't that cool!? I was trying my hardest to keep the movement going and every now and then I did and I'm totally stoked about it. Tomorrow or Thursday I'm going to do more of the bike and I'm really excited about that.



Other than that there wasn't much to talk about (probably because I only had a two hour workout scheduled), I did the ANSR, the total gym exercises and the wall exercises. The wall exercises and my shoulders were not cooperating with each other and I didn't last long on the wall. Sorry this entry's so short and brief; at least it has some incredible news in it.

Spring Break @ Roll 2 Walk: Day 1

My Spring Break started with a more-than-amazing and completely euphoric performance by the RX Bandits on Sunday night! You cannot understand how much fun I had and how liberating it was to do it by myself. I love the RX Bandits and will be a fan for life.


Anyway, let's get down to business, shall we? What did I do yesterday? Well, I did the ANSR stuff with my legs, the total gym exercises, some standing and kneeling, rolling, bridges, some prone exercises and getting my shoulders and rotator cuffs back to normal. Yesterday was pretty low key, except Chad and I kept taking shots at each other but that's for a little later. The only new-ish thing was the rotator cuffs and shoulders and the prone exercises. Gray worked on depressing and retracting my shoulders and rotator cuffs to get them in the right place and to better their range of motion. He did some funky manipulating of my shoulders, especially on the left, that actually worked and made my shoulder feel better. It was as if he had magic hands, I swear. Each time he did a little manipulation I could get just a little bit better range, it was pretty cool and I must say I was impressed. My shoulders weren't aching after my workout and this morning I wasn't sore. I was completely surprised.


The prone exercises I did yesterday concentrated on my triceps and elongating my neck. There was one exercise where with my palms facing down I had to lift my hands off the ground, that's all triceps. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't get my hands off the ground. The other exercises involved me reaching for my heels and keeping my neck neutral with my spine while retracting my shoulder blades. I had a lot to concentrate on but I got it done. After I did those exercises I did kneeling. I got frustrated with the balancing part of it yesterday because I couldn't find my balance at all and because my torso wanted to curve live a backwards C, I was seriously getting pissed. When I did the balancing on the total gym and the table I found my balance right away but when I was kneeling it just wouldn't happen. To make matters worse I was in front of a mirror so it kind of made me madder to see the backwards C in my torso. Once Chad decided I had had enough torture they put the box in front of me, except the box was shorter which meant I wasn't going to be on my elbows, I had to support myself with my arms straight, elbows locked. Now, I didn't support myself without help, Gray helped me keep my elbows locked while also flattening my fingers. After a while my right shoulder would get tired and I would relax it, well, when I did my right triceps would fire/spasm for some reason. Gray thought it was because when my hand was flat on the box the nerves in my palm were getting aggravated and that would trigger my triceps to spasm, I thought it was because my fingers had too much pressure on them which was hurting them and my triceps spasm was a reflex to the pain. Whatever it was, it really perplexed Gray.


I finished my workout with standing and to be perfectly honest I was spent. I was really tired and out of it. Chad said I looked bored, but in reality I was just exhausted. Exhausted from the workout and exhausted from taking shots at Chad. Why you may ask? Well, because he didn't answer any of my text messages Saturday or Sunday concerning going to the RX Bandits show. Turns out he changed his phone number and never told me, so I called him a jerk because it was jerk thing to do. Well, to make a long story short, he got me back quite a few times but I always had a come-back or two (which were way better than his, mind you, Gray would probably agree despite his bromance with Chad).