Saturday, July 13, 2013

Cardio With No Legs

Recently I had a little work done...cosmetic but necessary as far as I was concerned. Being obese for a long while had ruined the small veins in my legs. After losing the weight I wanted to show off my new self but really got tired of answering the same question: "how did you get those bad bruises on your legs?"

Arrrrgh! They weren't bruises, it just was there were so many spider veins grouped together it's what it looked like. So I went to a local vein center and paid a whopping $250 to have a really nice doc use little needles (didn't hurt) to cut off the blood supply to the spider veins. Had to wear compression stockings for 2 weeks afterward. In the summer! Soooo hot. My own fault for waiting until after my June mud run to get the procedure done. But, hey, when the mud calls I gotta answer.

What was hard was I couldn't run or lift weights with my legs while wearing the compression stockings. I kept lifting with my arms but I still needed some cardio about twice a week. Tried to search on the internet for leg free cardio but most sites suggested swimming (not an option in compression stockings) or using a manual wheelchair outside (not really in my wheelhouse).

What I ended up with was air boxing while sitting and watching TV with my hubby. Ended up working up a sweat and raising my heart rate which was the point anyway. Standing and swinging my arms in circles also worked but didn't seem to raise my heart rate quite as much. Both exercises worked out my upper body with it's own body weight while burning calories.

Anyone who has a doc telling them they can't cavort can use these little time wasters to bust out some cardio until they are on the mend. Or if the arthritis acts up. Or if an ankle is sprained while in a late night battle with supervillians. You know, the usual stuff.

Anyways, the compression stockings are off and the legs are looking much better. Time to get my runner's high on!

-DK

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