CHAPTER 206 IMPRESSIONS OF MY LIFE: AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A RECHERCHE POET THE WORKOUT 2014-2015

 CHAPTER 206 THE WORKOUT 2014-2015

 

For many years I went out at sunrise and took a long walk, 5 to 10 miles, through our varied parks.  This had been somewhat modified during 2012 when my parents were dying.  In 2014 and 2015 I got back to my regular walking and in weighing myself discovered I was pushing 190 pounds.  I decided I didn’t want to be that heavy and came up with a workout. 

First, though, I cut down on my sugar intake. No more
putting it in my coffee or sprinkling it over my cereal.  I cut out all the candy and cakes  on which I had been  habitually snacking and then I boosted my exercise program.

I did not add onto the miles I walked, but I changed some of what I did on them.  Bellevue had a mile and eighth distance track. It had originally  been a horse track because William du Pont, Jr

(right). who had an estate there at one time raised racing thorough bred  horses. Now that he was gone and the Delaware owned the grounds,
this track generally saw a number of joggers and bicyclist.

 

I usually avoid the track, enjoying more the natural trails about the place, but the track now had something that attracted me, 20 exercise stations alongside it as you went.  I decided to walk that track three times a week and do these stations as I went, then I would do my other four miles up through the bordering woods.  

Here are photos of me attempting some of the 20 stations, some with more success Han others.

I had more success doing pull-ups at the park at 74 years old than I had as a teenagers 

I can say the same about various exercises on these rings as well.

 I was always good at sit-ups. In gym during my senior year in high school I did all my contemporaries in these. My son, 

Darryl has the same ability. He won a setup contest in scouts. 

My legs use to be all muscle, bait that is not the case anymore.  

This was one I enjoyed, step ups. They had different heights to the posts. You step up with one leg, then down, then up again for several  reps.

Then you switch legs.

Then move up to a higher post and repeat. 

Hard to make out this one, but the object is to raise your body off the ground by pressing down on the  wooden planks.

Now here was a series of logs of varied sizes, each heavier than the last.  I would do 10 raises on each. 

All but the heaviest I could push up with one  hand, but on the last I had to use two hands to do.

 

 

This was one of the easier exercises. Hold the post with one hand and swing out a leg as far as I could so

many reps, then switch hand and leg snd do the  other.

I always did the balance beam last since it came up at the end of a full circle around the track.  It Took  me a while to stop falling off, but by the

end of summer I could go all the way to the end of the final beam, turn around and walk all the way back. 

Of course these were only a few of the stations. On this one you ran up and down the length of a log, startling it with your feet.

 

Here was one I never conquered. You would jump off a log and grab the first bar, then swing from bar to bar to the end. I never made it. One day some little lid came along, got up there and just zoomed down the bars.  Show off!

I did my daily walks all year around. I seldom missed a day. Since I wore very little in the summer, I could go out in the  same dress come the cold snows of winter, so could not manage the exercise stations in bulky cold-weather gear, like  here two days after Christmas in 2015.

I needed an alternative too Bellevue and I found it at the
Senior Center. They had a gym with a full array of machines donated from places when they upgraded their equipment. 

I would start at one end and do a bunch of raps, then switch machine and so forth. 

This worked out quite well during bad weather.

They also had a doctor-type scale in the gym, which allowed me to track my weight.

By the end of 2015 I had dropped  over 25 pounds and was down to 160, and I felt very good indeed.

I also had additional exercises I did daily that I had pickedup at a  rehab center one season. I had been sent for physical therapy on my neck. This

helped and so did the massage the young  lady gave at the end of each session. After my time was

up the I refitted my basement sort like their gym and added the exercise to

my  regimen, all except the massage. I couldn’t replicate that. I got some resistance bands and small dumbbell. and I was in  business. I did these  exercises every other evening.

I would finish up with an hour or so on my rowing machine