Food, Pads, Boswellia, and a Foot Pic

Before I get too long and winded, I'm going to show you the pics from a new dim sum restaurant we tried last week. 

Top left - har gow, crystal dumpling, steamed beef ball 

Bottom left - fried mango puff 

Top right - minced pork dumpling (the meat was wrapped in a deep fried chewy dough)

Middle right - fried durian fritters

Bottom right - spinach soup

It felt like being in the middle of HK - around us were tables filled with what looked like super rich businessmen plunging into dishes of seafood that cost upwards of 3-400 dollars a plate. And here we were with our $45 dim sum and spinach. LOL. 

It was an experience, that was. 

Dinner on Friday was at a Thai place we like down by the marina. We'd eaten there multiple times before and always get pretty good service cos the waitress knows us by now.

Top left - fried long beans with olive leaves  👍👍👍

Top right - prawn omelette (there was a promo - get a beer for a dollar with this dish)

Bottom left and right - fried black cod with spicy Thai fish sauce - we decided to just pour the sauce over instead of dipping. It was soooo good. 

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Recently I'd been experimenting with reusable pads and period underwear. 

I got a couple of panties from Amazon but I don't think they're the most practical thing cos it's not like you can just change halfway through the day if you're out and about. I suppose they'll do for wearing at home. Lucky for me I'm home at least half the day once I'm done with work. 

A friend told me about washable pads that you can attach to regular undies, which make a little more sense, cos at least all you'll need to do is switch out the pad and stick it in a ziploc till you get home I suppose. But still, I'm not a fan of carrying this stuff around in my bag all day. 

However, since I am a tampon user, I think the period panties and reusable pads might work on days I'm tamponed-up, so that I don't have to wear (and waste) a liner in case of accidents like I do now. They'll work as a back up rather than as a primary option. 

And as I told BIKSS, the pads have been made with a very cushy comfy fabric - like having a blankie for your pussy! 

If you enlarge the pic you'll see the fuzziness of the fabric. And there are tons of designs to choose from (I picked a flamingo one) and many sizes too. 

I won't be giving up my tampons anytime soon, but I have reduced the number of single-use liners and pads I use during a period. Which is great news for my pocket and the earth! 

If you haven't tried them and would like to, feel free to ask anything about my experience with them. 

If you have, let us know your thoughts on these products. 

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The three wise men brought gold, frankincense and myrhh when they sought out the baby Jesus. They knew what the fuck they were doing, let me tell you. 

That arthritis supplement my boss gave me (Artrex DS) is actually a combination of winter cherry, boswellia serrata (frankincense!), curcumin and ginger. 

MIMS has a rundown of the ingredients HERE.

 

I've looked at the research for boswellia + curcumin and it looks very promising for arthritis, tendonitis and other old-age related aches and pains. It's also preventive and curative for certain types of cancer (altho that research is still in very early stages yet) and has good outcomes in studies involving DM2 patients (diabetes type 2) in terms of insulin resistance and boosting liver and kidney function which could be suffering as a result of DM complications. 

I'd say it's really just an all-round godsend for me, especially, since I'm already dealing with tendonitis in various joints, and anything that prevents cancer is great news for a smoker... plus it can't hurt to have something that's good for DM since my family has crazy DM genes.  

Oh, and if that doesn't convince you, it's been shown to augment HDL levels and diminish LDL levels. What more can I say. 

I found a formula I like but I can't get to the official page. I'll show you the bottle and you can look it up on Amazon or Nowfoods on your own if you're interested. 

Description

• Balanced Immune Response
• Standardized Boswellia Extract
• Plus Turmeric Root Extract
• A Dietary Supplement
• Vegetarian/Vegan
• Kosher
• Botanicals/Herbs
• Family Owned Since 1968
• GMP Quality Assured

NOW® Boswellia Extract is a standardized extract of Boswellia serrata, also known as frankincense, a resinous botanical that has been traditionally used by Ayurvedic herbalists for centuries. The bioactive constituents of boswellia, boswellia acids, have been shown in scientific studies to affect key enzymes involved in the maintenance of healthy tissues. Through these mechanisms, boswellia may help to naturally support the immune system's balanced response to normal internal metabolic stress, as well as to the typical wear and tear of everyday life.

I've decided that after I'm done with the formula that my boss passed to me, I might continue taking this to keep the aches and pains at bay.  Therapeutic dose is given as 300-500mg 2-3x a day (for boswellia) and 150-250mg of curcumin per day, altho some sites suggest 1-2g of curcumin. 

All I can say is with these types of supplements, taking a low dose at the beginning to test for negative reactions is prudent, then slowly increase it until you reach a level that seems to work for you. Once the pain is gone then it is advisable to step down for a maintenance dose. No need to overdo it eh? 

When I took my collagen supplement at the recommended dose my shoulder pain went away and all was good with the world. My boss suggested that I might be experiencing pains in other areas because I haven't been taking the "full" dose for a while. So I think I shall increase my collagen intake too while my tendons and ligaments repair themselves. 

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Since I've had a chance to breathe I've started baking my lapis cakes again. 

And I've also had time to paint my toenails. :)

KD this one's for you!

The Medical Update

So the day after I got my foot pain answers I woke up with the worst neck ache on the planet. These were some sharp pains, not the usual stiff neck or muscle aches. 

The doc said let's do an X-Ray. So I went downtown to the main clinic to sort that out. Turns out I have begun showing signs of ageing-related wear and tear. The official term is cervical spondylosis. Which is just a description / umbrella term for "pain and spine degeneration" regardless of the cause. 

More accurately, I've got spondylolysis - but before I send you to a link, have a look at this picture - 

So in a nutshell - facet joints are like protrusions that connect one vertebra to the next. Got that? 

Right.  Now, "spondylolysis is a weakness or stress fracture in the facet joint area. This weakness can cause the bones to slip forward out of normal position, called spondylolisthesis, and kink the spinal nerves." 

You can read more about it HERE. 

Thankfully it hasn't reached the spondylolisthesis stage yet. (And do they HAVE to use the same word and just keep adding syllables to it the worse it gets?)

Note.... X-Ray of my neck coming up next!

Quit this page now if you don't want to see it..... 

So a good looking spine will have all the vertebrae lined up one above the other - see the green and turquoise lines, where the bottom of the upper bone will match up with the top of the lower bone, but mine don't all form a nice clean stack - shown in pink. C4 and C5 seem to be misbehavin' quite badly!

The answer to this - physiotherapy. I shall have to get an appointment made at some point. But at least there are no major issues. Just good ol' pain from wear and tear. 

While we were at it, the boss man noticed that my bones weren't as white as he'd like so he sent me off to do a bone mineral density test. 

Results - all good. I'm well within the standard deviation so he's satisfied with that. 

And since the same machine can do a full body fat analysis (FBFA), he said just do that too. So we'll be able to see what's the difference between the scan I did 4 years ago and now.

Turns out I'm 2kg heavier now, 1kg more lean mass, and 1kg more fat. My total body fat percentage is 27.6% (age 48), up from 26.5% 4 years ago (at age 44). I'm pretty happy about those numbers tho.

Based on this chart, I've been right between Slim and Fit (or Healthy and Fair) both times I checked. I'll take it! 

I did all this during the clinic's lunch break so after I got my printouts I left so that they could finish lunch! 

The next day the boss came in and said "Your FBFA is very good. No visceral fat to worry about. It really IS very good." And that's all the reassurance I'm gonna get cos he's not one to be dramatic about anything. 

So, HURRAY!

I suppose all that walking is good for SOMETHING. At least my fat increments seem to be in line with the expected values based on age. That's all I can ask for. 

My mood pic today ~ 

Savoury Granola Anyone?

I prefer savoury snacks to sweet snacks. If you know anything about my addiction to chips, this will come as no surprise to you. 

So I thought, why do granola bars (which ranks quite high in my books for the yummy nutty chewy munchy-ness of it all) have to be so sweet? 

Now I've recently tried making my own, and that has helped some. At least it's not SICKENINGLY sweet. And I can put the stuff I like, and leave out the stuff I don't. I also don't bother with cranberries or raisins or anything that ADDS to the sweet factor. Sometimes I'll have dark chocolate but that's a different food group right? 

So one day last week as I was sitting around with my home made granola bar and chewing through an episode of Supergirl I thought, I wish these were salty, like chips, but healthy-ish, like granola. That would be perfect. 

Oh. Hm.. I wonder. 

A couple of clicks later I had some tabs open showing recipes of savoury granola. Perfect! 

Now where I live there aren't a whole lot of people who actually LIKE this stuff. We're Asian. Granola is more, well, Western. 

So if you HAVE heard of savoury granola, I do apologise for sounding like I've been living under a cave all this while. But I hadn't. I didn't know it was a real thing. And now I did. And I had a new mission!

The recipe I saw was for granola. Like the crumbly clumps. Not a bar exactly. But I figured why not just set it into bar form? 

So I did. But I made a mistake with the nuts. Thinking that my immersion blender could chop (it said it could, the liar...) evenly... I stuck it into my 1 cup of nuts and what I got was a VERY uneven mix of almost-nut-butter and whole un-cut nuts. Ah well. That'll have to do I guess. Any attempts to get at the whole nuts just made the already mushy portions, um, MORE mushed up. 

The other thing I didn't do that I was supposed to was add an egg white. I was just plain ol' lazy. There was oil in there, there was honey in there... I figured those were enough as far as binding agents went. I was wrong. 

bendy breakable bars

My granola bars were soft and bendy. It was still awesome tho. Taste-wise - the best snack ever (especially since it's SO guilt free!) but it was going to be difficult to transport. In the past I would just grab a couple of bars (I portioned and stored them up in zip bags) and chuck the packet into my tote on my way out to work. These would not travel well in the same manner. I ended up putting some in a container and managed to courier them to work with me anyway. But I needed them to get into travel-able condition! 

So today I did it all right. Didn't blend the nuts. Chopped them up by hand instead. OK. Crushed. I crushed them lol. And I made sure to add an egg white. 

Ta da! Success. Crunchy nutty savoury granola bars that are strong enough to travel in a bag. And now I'm tempted to try some without the honey altogether to see if the egg white and oil mixture is enough to hold everything together. Then it'll have NO sugar in it at all (save the carbs that are naturally found in the oats and nuts). 

I'll update :)

Recipes for both sweet and savoury versions available upon request :) They really ARE very easy to make. And if you don't want to make bars, just clump them up on a baking sheet and dump it in the oven willy nilly like, and toss them around a couple of times thru the process so the top tips don't burn. I just prefer the bars so I know how much I'm eating!

And it might just be a fun project to get the kids involved too. They can decide what to throw into the mix. (And help stir everything up!)

It's All About the Numbers and My Skin Needs Help

No, not the Covid numbers.

The number on the scale.

I'm still battling with weight gain. Recently I've found that with the pills I'm on to regulate my period (14 days of bleeding was madness ok?) it has been REALLY easy to put on the kilos (I'm metric over her... just go with it). 

So I re-downloaded one of those calorie counting apps and started monitoring my numbers again today.

I think that with the quarantine (and slow down in general activity), aside from scheduled walks, sitting at home on me arse in front of the lappy (watching tv) has been detrimental to my body's metabolism. It's probably slower now with the lack of activity, plus the reduction in calories burned from NOT moving as much, and the ease of weight gain helped by the hormones. And ta da - I'm 3kg heavier today than my usual weight.

IT'S DISGUSTING. Try as I might over the last week (ok, well, some days of the week) I haven't been able to keep it down... it'll drop then go back up the minute I have a Kit Kat ... or pop corn... or some chips... 

Yes yes, it doesn't take a genius to see where all the extra weight is coming from - but in my defence, I haven't been snacking more than usual (ie. pre-quarantine), so I suspect it's all the factors (mentioned above) put together that have changed the way my body's dealing with the calories, even tho I may not exactly be eating more nor differently than before.

Which means... it's time to shock the system back into some semblance of efficiency. 

And becase I love numbers, I took a look at some of the stats from my walk last night - 

Every 10 mins I manage about 1100 steps. For my weight and height that works out to 35-40 calories burned. This means a 40 min walk takes care of about 150 cals. And an hour's walk is about 225 cals. That's a handful of nuts, or a bowl of chips. Or a 1.5oz / 42g KitKat bar. Or 3 cups of oil popped popcorn with minimal butter and salt. 

Speaking of which - I popped my own corn yesterday (heh.. fine fine... don't judge) for the first time in my life. I thought it was rather an accomplishment that I didn't burn any of it. Hurrah!

And no, I didn't eat all of that. I had slightly less than half. Mum and the helper had the rest. 

The other thing I've taken to doing is sticking a facial mask on every other day. For some reason when I'm home a lot I don't put as much stuff on my face as when I am out and about. Serums, sunblock, moisturizers etc all take a back seat... and after last week's sick leave where I basically just slothed in PJs all day for 3 days (and nights), my face took a hit from the eat - shower - bed - eat - shower - bed routine. No creams, no lotions, no nothing.

And so I went and got a box of Double Moisturizing Power!! facial masks (that's what it claims) and stuck them on. I must say, it has helped. My skin feels somewhat normal again. =)

Ah this Covid is sure bringing with it a lot of changes, besides the obvious ones... have you been affected in a way that you didn't expect? Let me know in the comments! It'll be interesting to hear about any challenges you might be unexpectedly facing as well!

Dr Mike's Plandemic Fact Check Video and My Back and More Exercises

Last week I mentioned the horrid conspiracy theory documentary Plandemic in this post. 

A couple days later I saw that Dr Mike had put out his response to the claims made in that video. I'm glad we have responsible social media personalities who can use their following for the good of society. If you're interested to see what he says, click the link or watch the video I've included below.

Doctor Fact-Checks PLANDEMIC Conspiracy

In other news, my back feels better where the disc was probably pinching a  nerve or seven. But the muscles that surround the area are still stiff from having spasmed during the event. 

Isn't the human body a fabulous thing? Part A gets injured, parts B C D E F go into a pain response to protect part A. And now that part A has gotten better, one has to slowly undo the pain from parts B to F. I suppose that's ONE way (or 5) of ensuring you don't go injuring the same part again too soon. 

I did manage some Releve Pliés on day 2 of sick leave. 

And I'm finding barre workouts more enjoyable than Pilates proper. Also, having to get into "rounded back" stretches during almost every Pilates video is probably not the greatest thing for my back. 

As one dude pointed out - these are probably the two WORST postures for people with a history of herniated disc. Aka, me (and probably BIKSS).

Here's the video if you'd like to see what other postures he recommends staying away from if you're a herniated / prolapsed / slipped disc sufferer. I've linked it in the title as well.

Exercises To Avoid for Herniated Discs and Sciatica

If you would also like to try a barre workout, have a look at this video - meant for seniors and beginners. Of course there are tons more by POPSUGAR Fitness if you're interested in something a little more energetic. Personally I enjoy their videos more than some of the others available out there. 

Beginners Ballet 1 Exercises - for Seniors & Beginners

A lot of the time I feel that people don't know what's available out there that they could be doing IN HERE (at home, I mean) so they compromise on exercise or feel that they don't have enough room / space / equipment etc to follow along to a step aerobics glass or crossfit routine. 

But really, all you have to do is look. As I've said in earlier posts, there is probably a workout suitable for you - you just have to find it. 

My frequently searched keywords often include  - small space, barefoot, no equipment, seniors, beginners, low impact, bad knees, bad back, recovering from joint pain and well, you get the idea. 

If I know what I'm looking for specifically like lower body, upper body, barre, aerobics, fusion, I'll add that in as well. But most of the time I just let youtube's search algorithm surprise me. 

That's how I discovered senior Pilates and fusion low impact cardio barre workouts that you can do barefoot in a small space! LOL.

Have fun and stay safe everyone!

If You're A Senior...

If you've got aches and pains and don't want to do a strenuous workout, try this. It's meant for 60+ but I did this routine after my Oz Style session today and it was really good for toning the muscles and stretching out the back and shoulders, even for a 40+ year old. 

Since Pilates is supposed to be great for building core strength, I sent some shorter videos to BIKSS as well to see if it'll help with his lower back pain. And no, it's not an Italian dish. (PREFECTDT - this cartoon is for you! LOL)

It's a great way to stay flexible and keep moving during quarantine, and this particular video requires no special equipment, and can be done barefoot too!

Let me know if you enjoyed this, or if you're already a Pilates practitioner and how it's helped (if it has).

Here's the link and the video : 

Standing Pilates for Seniors- 30 minutes of exercise to Improve Strength & Build Confidence

There Are 2 Kinds of People

The ones who are going to eat themselves silly during quarantine...

And the other ones who are going insane with boredom and choose to work off all that excess stored up energy by exercising 3 times a day. 

I have recently found myself in the second camp. 

On average I'm working out about 60-90 mins a day, depending on whether I manage to get my hour's walk in the evenings or not. I've begun doing a 20-25 min light cardio / aerobic routine before work in the mornings, and either a dance or more high energy one when I get home at 1-ish. 

Brunch is at 10ish so my workouts don't get in the way of my meals. 

Then it's TV time (or blogging) in the afternoons after a shower. 

I tend to have a quick (or sometimes longer than I expected) nap at around 4 in the evening, and then I'm up again before 7pm to fix mum's dinner. 

After that it's more TV... then a low intensity steady state fat burning walk for an hour or more.

Today I took a day off walking cos my lunchtime pilates turned into a crazy cardio routine by accident. See, I was supposed to do a 20 minute core strengthening video... but the very next one that popped up on the playlist was a barefoot "quiet" cardio I had saved but hadn't tried. So I thought, hey, I've got time... and I'm already nice and warm with the last routine, a bit of cardio can't hurt. 

I was wrong. It hurt. It hurt bad. It hurt SO bad that I couldn't finish the workout. After 25 mins I hit the STOP button and abandoned the last 5 minutes of it. 

This was part of my floor 15 mins into it. And the neck of my shirt. Mind you, at the end of the first workout I was warm - but not sweating. The AC was on, and the ceiling fan above was doing a great job at moving the cool air all around the room. And those are just the drops I couldn't catch in time with the towel / shirt hem / anything else I could wipe my face / head with. There was more. Much much more. 

I spent the afternoon looking for and downloading my favourite Aerobics Oz Style videos which I remember from my youth - when I was in college I worked out to VHS recordings of their routines!

Also, I didn't manage a nap, but that's OK cos I don't have to be up early for work tomorrow - it's a public holiday over here so I'm going to sleep in!

Since I wasn't planning on walking tonight I went looking for something less sweaty to do. Found a couple of barre workouts on Youtube but I saved this one (below) because it looks a bit more doable than the two I did earlier in place of my walk. I'll try it tomorrow, maybe.

What about you? Are you exercising? And are you doing so multiple times a day? It's not that rare in my part of the world, apparently. I know at least 5 others who are working out multiple times a day.

Let me know if YOU have a favourite workout video or, if you happen to try this one, what you think of it! 

#FITIN15 #Workout 10: "Barre for Beginners" 

Full Length 15-Minute Fat Burning Cardio Fitness Program

Have a good week everyone. The weekend's almost here!!

I Know It's Not Friday But

I just wanted to add this as a follow up to yesterday's fitness post. Thanks to Covid-19 I think I'm going to be a lot fitter by the end of this quarantine!

The first time I heard about HIIT ages and ages ago, it mostly involved equipment and being out at a gym. This is why I never bothered with it till Ms Sporty mentioned it again recently as we were discussing home workouts. 

When I went searching for some beginner workouts, I came across this video which I tried out last night - 

HIIT Workout for Beginners: 10 Min. Total Body (Collab with SarahFit)

It was pretty doable, since you can adjust the difficulty level based on where you are in your fitness journey right now. The moves are easy to follow, and added jumps or just using steps are a great way to turn up or down the intensity. I wore shoes for this one. 

When I was done Youtube automatically showed me another video : 

10 min NO JUMPING CARDIO FAT BURN (Apartment Friendly, Low Impact, No Equipment)

And since I live in an apartment, and want to burn fat, and didn't like jumping, I thought, hey why not. So I kicked off my shoes and got into it. 

Let me tell you, by the end of both of these videos (total time - 20 mins) I felt completely knackered. 

I didn't even do that last exercise on the second video. 

As Betty said to me - You never thought a minute could be so long, right? 

The worst part is that the exercises weren't even a minute long! They were 45 seconds with 15 seconds of rest between them. LOL

(BTW, I was so worn out after that 20 min HIIT session that I slept till noon today!)

So I went looking on the net to see what all the hype was about - especially since I had had a discussion with one of our practice's doctors earlier that same day about menopausal weight gain and she, too, recommended HIIT. 

Here are some articles if you want to find out more:

7 Benefits of High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)

The most convincing point for me was this :

Due to the intensity of the workout, HIIT can elevate your metabolism for hours after exercise. This results in additional calories being burned even after you have finished exercising.

This sounds perfect for boosting metabolism slow-down caused be peri-menopause. 

We also talked about fat burn vs carb burn... so I looked it up - 

Fat Burning Vs. Carbohydrate Burning

Turns out they're both good for losing weight, so I'm not going to give up on my daily walks just yet. Perhaps I could do a mix, either long walks with bouts of hi-intensity curb jumps and sprints in between, or a 10 min HIIT session at home before heading out for a long fat-burn walk, or if I'm stuck indoors due to the rain that seems to be coming down more frequently these few days, a HIIT plus dance/ aerobics workout. 

Yes, dance... have you seen the dance workouts? Here's a video Betty's enjoying - 

DANCING QUEEN (ABBA)

and one for Bollywood dance fans... 

Bollywood Dance Workout to Have a Blast While Burning Calories

Then there are dance abs / dance arms videos like the ones from Katia Pryce whom I think is totally cute so I definitely get lots of motivation watching her videos. 

Want dancer abs? Try this 6-minute workout from DanceBody’s Katia Pryce | Sweat Series | Well+Good

DanceBody Arms

And if that looks a little too intimidating (like it did for me) try this one - I did it sitting down. 4 mins, no fuss, lots of toning. Enjoy!

4-Minute No-Weight, Arm Toning Workout | Class FitSugar

And we're done! The point I'm trying to make, I suppose, is that there's a workout for everyone. 

And they don't have to be SO challenging that you'll want to quit after one day. Stick to a few that you enjoy... or just let youtube throw you a different one every day. 

Ok, one more. Last one. I promise. He's hilarious. "Like yoga, but sexier!"

Don't Cha - The Pussycat Dolls | Caleb Marshall x Whitney Thore | Dance Workout

Have a happy, and healthy, weekend everyone!

Fitness and Health - Indoor Workouts

I have a chat group with some gal pals - friends from ages and ages ago. My nearest and dearest. 

This lockdown has us all chatting about a lot of different things but the most impact probably came from our discussions on exercise and workouts. 

First - who we are and what we are.

One of us is Betty who used to be cranky about exercise but since she has recently hooked up with someone she's been in a much better mood. I guess I'm less pissed at her now too because she doesn't have as much free time on her hands as she did when she was single so she doesn't get on my case too much no more. 

Another one of us is an alcoholic. I don't mean to use this word lightly or disregard the real struggles of people who have difficulty with alcoholism. But I really DO think she has a substance abuse problem. Or at least she's right at the precipice and might tip(ple) over anytime. 

We've told her to maybe get help or think about cutting back but of course she thinks she's fine... so all we can do is keep an eye on her and hope that she doesn't go too far. She NEEDS her two beers every night. I know that's not much in itself, but the fact that she can't do anything UNTIL she gets those beers in her is worrying. Or that she will plan her day around getting to the shops to pick up said beers.  "Can't meet you guys for dinner cos I finished work late and I have to go to the shop before 10." Or she'll be eating with us and then announce that she has to leave by a particular time (depending on where we are) so that she can get to the shop for beers. (We have a cut off time for sale of liquor in the shops.) 

That's the alkie-to-be.  Then there's the middle aged sportswoman. She's a lovely person, and totally has my back. Her point of view is always very objective and I've benefitted greatly from hearing her opinions. The sport was a hobby at first, then they formed a club, then they got funding, then at the most recent SEA games they represented the country and came back with a gold medal. Since her hobby became an official sport she has needed to up her training game and is now dealing with the inconvenience of not being able to train with her team during this lockdown. 

Then there's me. I've put on some weight in the last 3 weeks! And I'm not pleased about it. Some of it is from dealing with bloat (2 weeks!) cos of the peri-menopausal disruption in my cycle... and the rest of it is tv-snacking. Plus I've been trying to get mum to eat so I've looked up recipes, tried out new dishes... gotten inventive with my cooking. The result of that is mum's eating better, but SO AM I!

(The period has finally come so I'm hoping I'll lose the water weight soon enough!)

Ok. As I was saying, now that you know the players... We've been chatting about working out. Betty refuses to jog / walk cos she's too lazy to get out of the house. That she's even THINKING about some form of exercise is already surprising. Miss sporty has resorted to jogging and at home HIIT workouts with her team mates. But is finding it very monotonous and was thinking about other types of workouts. 

Me - I'm a walker. Recently I've also added some jogging in my walks.. and I do like a bit of step up step downs at the curb - using all my old knowledge of step aerobics to make walking as exciting as I can. This is challenging, as you can imagine. 

The alkie only does beer bicep curls. And encourages us when we talk about it. LOL. Let's leave her out of this discussion. 

Recently we started talking about aerobics - low impact, to be specific - videos that we can follow from the comfort of our rooms. Which got me researching the pros and cons of barefoot workouts. 

And all that preamble just comes down to this - my findings on the topic of exercising at home:

1) If you're going to be doing a regular aerobics workout (whether high or low impact) - put on some clean shoes and jump around on the carpet if you can. 

2) If you're going to be working out barefoot - LOOK FOR A VIDEO THAT IS MADE SPECIFICALLY FOR BAREFOOT WORKOUTS. This is important as the movements are suited to having your bare feet on the floor. 

3) Workouts meant to be done shoes-ON that are done shoes-off could cause ankle injury, or, as in the case of Ms sporty - knee pain, and she's also complaining that the balls of her feet are hurting. 

I looked this up specifically and found that when landing on your feet, without shoes to take the entire impact of the step, we usually naturally land on the balls of our feet as that is where the most cushioning is found. And the manner in which we land is also different - using different foot posture, engaging different muscles - from when we have shoes on. So a workout meant to be done in shoes will NOT be so great when done barefoot. Spare a thought for your soles.

However, because of the difference in how we land without shoes, a barefoot workout can therefore  be beneficial too as it will exercise the little-used muscles in the foot, ankle, and yes, toes. Plus it helps strengthen one's sense of balance and could encourage better overall posture and prevent knee and ankle pain as we get older. 

On the other hand, shoe-on workouts provide a whole bunch of benefits too as they involve different movements / steps,  thereby activating and engaging the muscles in different ways; and are also likely to involve more cardio (since you can jump and bounce and skip and hop more now that you've got shoes on!) which is obviously very beneficial to overall heart health.

And so I went searching. And tried some videos. And I'm sharing them with you. 

Here's a great half hour workout I enjoyed. It takes up minimal space, has lots of stretching, consists of some barre / yoga moves and stretching, and is done entirely standing up (which is important to me cos my lappy is on the table and I won't be able to see it if there is any floor work). And it can be done barefoot. I still got a very good sweat out of it.. so don't think it's not hard! 

(I've included a link to youtube in addition to embedding the videos on this page... do whichever works for you! A quick "barefoot aerobics" search on youtube will throw up many many more videos!)

30-Minute Feel Good Fusion Workout - Barefoot Cardio, Pilates, Barre, Yoga Mix

This next one is a preferably-shoes-ON 20-min low impact workout that you can add hops to or just do with steps and taps on the ground for a lower intensity version. Again, it says for beginners and seniors but it can definitely get challenging in a hurry if you add some lifts off the floor. 

GREAT 20 minute exercise workout for Beginners and Seniors!!

For more information exercising barefoot have a look at these links: 

Does Walking Barefoot Have Health Benefits?

DISCLAIMER - I don't recommend going OUTDOORS without shoes or some sort of foot covering... but if you really want to, please do so safely. The article I've linked above also talks about the benefits which is why I've linked it. But I personally do not encourage walking or running or hiking barefoot. 

Is Barefoot Training Ever a Good Idea?

"When you’re wearing shoes, the muscles and connective tissues don’t have to work very hard to stabilize your body," Gennady Kolodenker, D.P.M., a podiatrist with Hoag Orthopedic Institute in California, tells SELF. The shoes do much of the work for your feet, which more or less just chill out in your shoes.

The Benefits of Working Out Barefoot

“Developing the strength of your feet and ankles will improve their overall dexterity and reactivity. Your balance, proprioception and quality of movement are also enhanced, and this benefits real-world activities, as well as training in the gym and for sports performance,” Steve Maxwell, a strength specialist with MaxwellSC.com, told Livestrong.

AND FINALLY - This Livestrong article - if you don't have time to read anything else, read this one.

Is It OK to Exercise Barefoot?

The benefits, impact of barefoot running on the joints, and when you should or shouldn't go barefoot. 

"While going barefoot is the standard for certain exercises such as water sports, dance, yoga, barre and Pilates, other activities, including weight lifting and cross-training in a group fitness setting, are better suited to the protection and stability offered by wearing a sneaker."

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Now that I've shared all of this with the group, we've made some adjustments to our routines. 

Betty has passed this info to her other half too and they're now alternating between shoe on and shoe off workouts for maximum benefit.  Ms Sporty has washed her shoes and will continue all her HIIT and other high impact grit workouts with shoes from now on... while yoga and rolling will be done shoes off. Her jogs are unaffected. 

And I have decided that besides walking and curb-side stepping, I might stay in on some days with a barefoot workout or pull on some light weight high cushioned walking shoes (I have a clean pair that's unused) when I want to hop around to an Aerobics Oz Style video. I loved them in my 20s, and am so glad that there are full episodes on Youtube!

So here's wishing you happy exercising! Stay home, and stay safe.