More exercise feel-good moments!

I’ve mentioned in other blog posts about how aerobic exercise using the elliptical machine increases your heart rate and your use of oxygen. These are very important benefits. It’s the first exercise I do each day (see ‘My daily exercise routine’ post). The aerobic exercise also produces my main ‘feel-good moment.’ There are other exercises on my list that produce similar feel-good moments.

One of them is when I use the exercise ball. I sit on the ball, put my hands behind my head and do twenty sit-ups. Then I stretch back so my body and head are about level. I drop my head down a bit and rotate my head and hands, and my entire upper body, from side to side. When I do that several clear and distinct things happen that I can feel and they happen at the same time.

My spine may make a couple of pops or clicks as if the vertebrae are getting themselves back in line or something. That feels good. The other thing that happens is that my face, ears, and head feel like they’re being flooded and there’s a mild tingling all over my face and head. I don’t know what that’s called technically but It really does feel good. I look forward to doing this exercise with these two little feel-good moments.

I also like doing the twenty-five pushups -- sometimes up to thirty. I especially like the fact that I can actually do them! It’s not really a lot but it is compared to about three years ago when I hurt my shoulder and arm because I didn’t warm up properly and couldn’t do any at all. Then when I started back I could do only three. It took me about six months to get back up to fifteen or so.

About ten years ago I used to do two sets of thirty pushups. The first thirty were with hands flat on the floor like I do now. The second set of thirty I did almost right after the first set using handles on a swivel base (they’re called ‘pushup handles with swivel base’). I still use these from time to time.

Pushups increase my heart rate to a high level, similar to using the elliptical. There is also huge heavy breathing (use of oxygen). I’ve always thought that’s a good thing. It’s as if I’m giving my heart a second good workout as well as developing upper body strength.

Another thing I like about doing pushups now is they act as a sort of gauge as to how well I’m doing overall. If I can do twenty-five straight pushups with a strong finish, I know I’m okay -- I must have slept well, I’m not too tired today, I must be strong this morning! These are thoughts that I like!