Exercise, Lifestyle and Me

 

I am a person who has good intentions with everything in life including exercise. I have great ideas in my head and believe that they can be put into practice. My problem being is that I can think them but, normally, cannot execute them. I find this happens a lot with the things I think of and when I do execute them, as such, they never turn out like the thought in my head. Bit like this Blog sometimes!

If you have read any of my previous posts you will have noticed that I bought a Fitbit a while ago. I can since say I have become obsessed with it. I input everything into the app; water consumed, food, everything. It becomes my task throughout the day. I have seen good outcomes from using it and have lost over 1 1/2 stone. This is of course not just by using the Fitbit, but getting more exercise.

I have a cross trainer, and have for many years, and did start using it more frequently, but as all best laid plans I have, it wavered and I didn't use it as much as I probably should have. I then caught the dreaded COVID in October of last year. I wasn't too bad when I had it, but afterwards noticed that the strength in my legs were horrendous. I was struggling to keep up with myself and I did try to go back on the cross trainer, but could not go on for long. My legs ached so much and I was really tired.

I didn't really do anything for about a month after that and then thought to myself that I was getting lazy and I didn't like the way I was heading. I had a look online and looked at treadmills as I always enjoy walking and thought that this would be a good way to get back into doing exercise each day. I didn't want to pay too much as I thought if I don't like it or it doesn't work out I didn't want to waste my money. I kept looking but a lot were like £400 and above and then I found one at The Range; a foldable one, no fancy trims and pieces and doesn't go on an incline, but for £199 I thought 'why not'? I ordered and it came within a week.

I was so excited when it arrived!!! I unboxed it the same night I got in from work and it was really easy to put together. The only thing I found a bit tricky was aligning the belt. It took me a few goes, but eventually I got the hang of it. It is a simple foldable treadmill with a bar to hold onto, a holder for your phone or tablet and easy to use and understandable controls. You can fold down the handle to store under a bed, but I never store it as I use it every day.

It did take me a while to get used to walking on it as I hadn't used a treadmill in years. I held onto the bar for the first few times and walked at a slower pace, but after about a week managed to not hold onto the bar and increase my speed. I started to do about 15-20 minutes a day and have slowly increased to walking around 3km per day on it which can take me between 30-40 minutes each day.

I was apprehensive about using it at first as I have had a bad knee for many years and didn't want to aggravate it in any way. It was very painful at times and at night would feel like toothache, you know what pain I mean. The one that is always there and is just a dull throbbing pain. Annoying!! After a couple of weeks of using the treadmill I noticed that the pain was easing and I was walking better, especially up and down stairs. My partner noticed as well and encouraged me to use the treadmill to try and help.

I have been using the treadmill now for about 3 months and can honestly say that it is the best thing I have ever bought. I look forward to using it and try to push myself a little each time by varying the speed or the length of time I use it for. One thing that has helped me is watching videos while using it. I have found some brilliant walking videos on YouTube, but one guy in particular is fabulous. His channel is Dave's Walks (@DavesWalks). I can honestly say that I have loved all of the videos that I have watched by him and it just takes your mind away from all the daily grind that you may be going through, so a massive thank you to @DavesWalks!!!

For anyone thinking of getting a treadmill for home I would say go for it. It has really helped me and I look forward to using it each day, whereas before I thought exercise was a bit of a chore and I never really could get into it as I do now.

I have had a look to see if the treadmill was still available and it is, but the price has increased to £223.99. For anyone who would like to have a look at it as a starter to treadmill walking at home it is on The Range website (for the UK - not sure about further afield).

I will keep on my journey and see where it takes me, but I can honestly say that I feel physically so much better and the time I spend each day on the treadmill is my own little world and has helped me emotionally so much. This is one of the ideas that I had that has certainly worked out and exactly as I wanted!