In Which I Try to Be More Like Jenny

 By running? Like, at all, at any speed, for any distance? Hahahahahahahaha hahahahaha.

No.

I did try to start running a few years ago. Wait, no, many many years ago. I didn't hate it. I mean, not as much as I thought I would. But my knee started complaining hard early on. My friend told me to go to  The Running Room because they would do whatever they could to help you keep running. They didn't, really, just listened to what I was feeling and said "yeah, that's probably not great." My knee clicked audibly while I was walking up stairs for years, and is the first one to start showing signs of arthritis now, so along with the whole problem of my boobs threatening to give me a concussion, that means running isn't going to happen.

But I did finally look up Caroline Girvan's Dead Bug workout (which I'm pretty sure I saw mentioned on Jenny's blog first, although I can't find the reference now).

What a great name, right? It's not a Skinny Girl anything, it's not a Beach Body thing, it's literally what I feel like while working out. And I've been really looking for a good core strength workout because I always feel so crooked and it feels like any improvement in my core would help. 

Can I do it with weights yet? Nope. Can I even finish it every time (it is very short)? Uh-uh. I do it until my sciatica starts pinging and then I stop. But it feels like a really good combination of effective and difficult-but-not-punishingly-so. Sweat drips off me while I do it. I usually do yoga first and then put it in at the end, or do it after my walk. 

I've read multiple articles lately about how important strength training is as we age, for maintaining metabolic rate and muscle mass, increasing mitochondrial function and stimulating the creation of new, healthy mitochondria ("For fuck's sake, now I have to worry about my mitochondria?" my friend Nat said, and yeah, relatable). I was in a good gym routine including weights before Covid, but I haven't been able to get back to working out off-site. Fortunately there were some things that I was already doing, and I'm trying to add in more. The Dead Bug workout I can do on my back, so it doesn't hurt my bad knee or my bad hands.

Thank-you Jenny! I guess I would slightly rather be reminded of you while running on a seaside path with the wind in my hair rather than wiggling on the floor like an overturned cockroach, but we work with the tools we are given!