ok so I have got a job (started again as adminstrator) that now pays for a pt and gym mermbership, once a week my spouse and i train together then swim together, recently we’ve been on the big weights in the gym (we lift the same) at the start the romanian deadlifts where just with the bar now we both lift 30kgs. but thwe big new one was I finally took the training wheels off for swimming “whoop”
I grew up in brighton in the sea, during covid we built a pool together in the garage, it was just one of those cheap steel framed garden ones but it gave us swimming while the world stopped… the cost of living crisis and stroke took even that little we shared… so while i was happy to be back, i felt trapped in the children side of the pool. while i have and love kids i wanted/longed to swim with the adults in lanes again…
last night i did just just that… i can just about keep up as we swim lengths its now about 44 seconds her and 50 for me, for near 6 months i just walked the lengths… and my stop start initally took 3 mins a length and in the last 6 months i’m able to keep up with the other adult swimmers.
just feeling incredibly pleased as i was/am so self concious of my issues but it really can be done…
@Mrs5K
thank you it was so scary, the voices in my head where on full volume that I’ll be laughed out of the pool, it was the same when we went in the gym for the first time with all these incredibly athletic people lifting huge weights, and me wonky on one side and an unfriendly bladder we do a full body exercise once a week but swim as much as we can…
That was me just over 3 years ago and needing a bit of ahem padding for the concentration it took lifting my starting weight of 1kg
Happy smiles coming your way
Nicky
brilliant I had goal 1, sit to stand to get home, as I had to sleep on a sofa bed to begin, goal 2 was get off the sofa walk to the toilet with a frame… we forget how much effort even the basics take… so well done
I wanted to share as it was more the fear of being laughed at that holds me back, I’m sure others feel the same, its really hard training in a room full of athletic people and now I fit in not because i am fit but because I know we all deserve to be in the room regardless of what we can or can not do…
Ah, now then, if your sit to stands are “dead easy” then you’re ready for free squats. That’ll get you going deeper and a maybe a little harder coming back up. And if that’s too easy, carry a eeight
@EmeraldEyes
lol we’ve been doing split squats with 5kg weights and praying nothing springs to mind… we are currently upto 12 per leg in sets of 3… the first one was me on the floor laughing… balance on side, no chance
Nicky
Well done you, that’s an amazing achievement and so you should be incredibly pleased with yourself and I’m sure your partner is pleased with you too. It’s lovely to share your achievements with someone who knows how hard you have worked to achieve it.
Thank you for sharing. It’s always good to hear about the good times
I found holding the weight in my good hand helped counter balance. Now I’m even using 18 and 20kg kettle bells for some exercises. But I tend to stick to the machines rather than free weights, for the majority of the heavier stuff. Only because of disk issues, wont run the risk of putting my back out after all the progress I’ve made
the best part is we’ve been doing it together each step of the way, similar weights… and similar times it was the timed swims that got me the courage to go intop the lanes again
very happy but it was only fear of riddicle that held me back…
Nicky
Impressive we tend to stick with the machines, though we do some yoga studio stuff too, squats split squats and planks, we can both hold a plank to the 60 mark we couldnt even do that before… we need the swim after our gym session, its so good to not do it alone. our gym has sauna, steam room and spa pools so we take a lot of pleasure in those…
Nicky
And have you noticed that no one is laughing at you, or even looking, and are always so pleased if you stop and say quiz them on something they are doing or ask for a few tips. Don’t allow your own self-consciousness judge you because no one else will be, we’re not in school anymore
Some of my gym buddies go swimming after the gym and do their own little water aerobics class and then a few lengths. I avoid the water, it’s the getting out, dried and dressed that I don’t like anymore Oh, and my hearing aids aren’t waterproof
spot on yet it feels we are back there in many ways… at least on the same trajectory albeit it speeded up, when i first tried to tie laces i was given an early learning shoe and the physio faced it towards me and i was at a loss for moment then realised im not tying my kids shoes but my own so spun it around to reflerct how i learned to tie mine, at school we could not do sports be it any ball game or run unless we could tie our own laces so I spent time on the sidelines practicing. to relearn I was back there again and the body remebers so yes the same fears are there about leaving the kiddies pool… i think that was why i felt so proud to break that part of the cycle…
Hope the ramble makes sense as you’ve triggered an understanding I’d lost
We are all basically starting over with child re-development. An adult body with a childs functionality. I even had to learn to speak let alone read and write. But I got there…after a fashion
And your ramblings make perfect sense, no need to apologise for your stroke brain. Its why we are all here
exactly i had to learn the talking thing, we’re just slighlty quicker than the first time around I almost felt in competition with grandaughter as to who would get into big pants first, looking back it feel sad the stroke made me feel like that but hey ho we’re both in big pants now and I’ll take that as a win for us both and thats the main thing, my first weight was my, 1ltr (1kg) sippy bottle… good starting weight though. table to sky reps…
Nick
we do a full body exercise once a week but swim as much as we can…
I found holding the weight in my good hand helped counter balance. Now I’m even using 18 and 20kg kettle bells for some exercises. But I tend to stick to the machines rather than free weights, for the majority of the heavier stuff. Only because of disk issues, wont run the risk of putting my back out after all the progress I’ve made 
