Today I had another swimming lesson with my coach. She told me that my backstroke has gotten a lot better than before. It’s cool how far I’ve come.
Tag: exercise
March 16, 2019
Today I had another personal training lesson.
We started off with some high legs, but then it turned into lunges and jump squats. The cardio became too much and I had to rest a lot.
Then, something dreadful happened. Someone said, “Hi.” I looked up and saw my biomedical science teacher.
Our relationship is tense after something I can’t tell you about. It was VERY awkward seeing him at the gym, especially when I’m at my weakest point.
He asked me if I was okay after seeing me out of breath. I said “Yeah,” but I really wanted to say, “I never give up,” but the point was probably mute.
My trainer taught me how to use a pull up machine that took a portion of my weight away. The more weight you add onto the machine, the easier it is for you.
He also taught me how to use some machines to help me stretch. That way I could work on my flexibility.
My core is really bad. I have almost no core strength. We focused on exercising my core today, but I couldn’t do it. Whenever I tried to do a sit up, my back just hurt instead.
My personal trainer thinks I spend too much time sitting down, so he recommended for me to stand every thirty minutes.
I was so sore after the workout. It was a good workout, but it was intense.
March 17, 2019
So today I had a brilliant idea: why don’t I record everything I eat and every time I exercise, and post them here?
Mind? Blown.
I know, I’m a genius. Transparency is always good, so what could go wrong?
March 18, 2019
I had another swimming lesson today.
During swimming, I have to share the lane. Today I shared the lane with another girl that was also having a private lesson.
If I had to guess her age, I’d say she’s ten. Honestly, she’s a better swimmer than me. Maybe I’m insecure, but seeing someone drastically younger than me being better than me makes me self conscious. 😳
March 30, 2019
Today I had another personal training lesson.
I was kinda sick this week so I didn’t do any land exercise, aka I didn’t do any of my homework.
Of course, the exercise was painful. It’s okay though because it wasn’t as bad as March 2, 2019. Plus, pain is required for exercise.
The hardest part of personal training is that they always push you, so you don’t have time to rest. That’s why I feel better exercising on my own, and I get to listen to music.
After jump squats and lunges, I’m sore so I don’t perform well with other stuff. Oh well.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Honestly, I’m trash at push ups. Today we focused on push ups and I was so bad that we had to modify it by putting my knees on the ground. Lol.
The most fun part was doing this kung fu, martial art, butt squat thing. That was a fun exercise.
My Mom picked me up from the gym after my lesson. She’s training for another triathlon, so she couldn’t send me to the gym.
I bought some food from the gym: Toni’s high performance hot protein meal bowl (glorified oatmeal) and a banana muffin. Turns out the banana muffin had walnuts, and I’m allergic to walnuts.
I really shouldn’t call it an allergy, it’s more like a sensitivity. All walnuts do is give me Kylie Jenner lips, which is actually kinda cool.
Maybe it’s a blessing? 🤔 Many girls would kill for this.
Anyways, I shouldn’t have ate that banana muffin because I felt a little bad for the next few hours. I don’t use an EpiPen because I don’t need it.
May 11, 2019 – Personal Training Lesson
Today I had another personal training session. And it was a lot easier than all the others before.
I think it’s because he took it easier on me. We didn’t do as much cario today as we did before. That cardio always gets me.
I know I should be primarily focusing on cardio, but about half of my exercise is cardio. And even that is just TOO much.
He showed me a lot of new exercises to do, even though I know I’ll forget most of them tomorrow.
October 10, 2019 – AHA Walk
Today I went to the American Heart Association’s (AHA) walk at Children’s Fairyland in Oakland. Children’s Fairyland is the name of the park, or at least I’m sure.
I thought of the idea of going to this walk a week ago. I sent an email to the American Heart Association Bay Area a long time ago, but I got now response. So y’know what, I’m going to meet with them in person.
My goal for going to the walk was to connect with people. I had to convince my mom that this walk was worth missing school, but I think she was in a good mood.
My mom dropped me off at the park, and it was pretty confusing. I think I was the only kid there. I wandered around and it seemed there were a lot of corporate employees.
I was too scared to go up to anyone, but my mom was kind of boss. She went up to the volunteer tent and blatantly said “Hi, Justin wants to volunteer for you” and gave me a shove. I then met someone that gave me their business card.
My mom was talking to a guy, and when I got there I saw they were talking about healthy habits. He emphasized that eating healthy is important. He’s a bodybuilder, and he showed me a picture of him when he was 17 (in his prime).
When the rally started, the mayor came up to the podium to speak. She introduced herself as the mayor of Oakland, and she also said she was a Skyline High School alumni. I thought, “Hey, that’s where I took my SAT!” Anyways, she declared October 10 Thrive day in Oakland because of all the support Kaiser Permanente provided to the city.
After the opening speeches, I met the CEO of the American Heart Association Bay Area. I gave her my business card, but I have to say I’m shy of giving away my business card (it makes advocacy seem like a corporation). It was awesome meeting her because I accomplished my goal of the day!
I didn’t plan to participate in all of the walk because I had to return to school, but before I went my mom decided to grab some food from the food trucks. Unfortunately, since the food trucks require a ticket that you received when you registered for the walk, we couldn’t get food. My mom said yesterday, “No, it’s fine, we can register at the walk.” But there was no place to register.
This really nice lady offered us free tickets for the food truck. God, the food was amazing. It was some great eggplant, chicken, and rice concoction.
So I unfortunately had to go back to school. I came back later than expected and wound up in the middle of math. My classmate saw I posted the story on social media and asked me how was it. I said “good.”
October 29, 2019 – Maybe I’ll Start Running
Hi, so this isn’t really a heart transplant thing, but I thought I might share this because it’s fun. Today I met my mom’s running group.
My mom told me that it was important to come because I might join the group. I’m not jumping up and down to start running. I know I was at the beginning of my heart transplant, but I don’t feel the need anymore. I’m already exercising really well.
I’ve never really had a positive connotation towards running. I’ve only ran the miles in PE (while my heart was damaged), and that was a HORRIBLE experience.
But anyways I met them, and as they went around sharing their stories I began to change my mind. Even though I’m not part of their group, I wanted to speak up and say I might be joining them.
The coach seems to really like me. My mom has been communicating with her about my journey, and she said my transition was amazing.
I hope they have a 5k or 10k training, because I don’t know if I can handle a half-marathon training.
March 17, 2023 – I swam 40 laps today
I swam 40 laps today! This is the first time since my infection, actually… that’s not true. I swam 40 laps when I recovered after my infection but then my heart rate didn’t go down. It stayed at like 110 for an hour after I swam and my doctor told me to hold off on vigorous exercise until we did all testing. After my tests cam back good, I swam for 20 laps. And then like 2, maybe 3?, weeks ago I increased to 30 laps. And today I did 40 laps! And honestly – I felt fine! I also did it in 32 minutes, which means I did around 40 seconds for each lap, which is great! I’m finally getting back into my groove. My mental health is also improving.
This might sound weird, but in a way I’m grateful for this health scare. And now I realize it’s not weird, it’s a blessing. What didn’t kill me did make me stronger. I saw how fragile my life was and how grateful I am for my life. I will never take my life for granted again. It also reminded me that I need to focus on my health. No more pushing my health aside for silly pursuits like school or sex. They of course can have a part in my life but my health comes first, as it should!