Author: Grace

The temperature has reached record highs in Vancouver and everyone is talking about the heat.  To people who live in places where humidity and temperatures in the mid to high 30s are expected during the summer months, Vancouverites must seem like big whiners.  In our defense, many places don’t have air conditioning.  I’ve spoken to so many people who are sleep deprived because it’s just too uncomfortable to fall asleep at night.  Luckily for me, I have air conditioning at home.  But there is no air conditioning at work so it’s been unbearably hot and the fans don’t help much in this weather.  I’ve been feeling lethargic and I hate to admit it but I’ve avoided working out this week.  After a day at the office, I just want to go home and enjoy the air conditioning.

That is my biggest problem trying to maintain a regular workout schedule – I always find an excuse to avoid it.

Perhaps I should incorporate fitness into my daily life.  Instead of driving, I should walk more or ride my bike.  Yes, that’s what I’ll do.  After the heat wave.

I’ve been going to the gym on and off for about 6 weeks now.  I’m trying to go about 3 times a week but it’s been hard to keep motivated because I haven’t been exercising regularly for years.  When I do go to the gym, I’ve been doing light cardio and it’s embarrassing how quickly I get tired.  But each time I go to the gym, it gets easier.  Last night I added strength training to my routine and alternated between light and heavy cardio workouts.  I am very sore today but for the first time since I started going to the gym, I feel like I actually had a good workout.  I know that keeping this up will be the hardest part for me.

Unfortunately, my workouts haven’t helped to relieve my back and shoulder pain.  So far.  My acupuncturist gave me some exercises to do to strengthen my back muscles.  I saw a chiropractor for the first time this week.  It was not as scary as I thought it would be.  He told me my muscles are tight pretty much everywhere, including my JAW.  I wasn’t expecting a chiropractor to talk about my jaw but he told me the same thing that my orthodontist once told me – that I have a clicking jaw which is caused by teeth grinding or clenching when I sleep.  I never thought this could be related to my headaches or neck pain but apparently it is.  Solution?  Wear a mouth guard when I sleep.  Ugh!  I thought dental appliances were behind me when I had my braces removed.

I’ve been using WorkSafe Sam for over a week now.  For those of you who didn’t read my post last week, WorkSafe Sam is a “stretch prompter” that you can download to your computer. 

(Sam just popped up as I am typing this so I’ll continue my post after I stretch.)

Here are my thoughts on Sam:

Pros:

-I’m stretching more frequently now instead of waiting until I feel sore.
-It’s FREE.
-It’s easy to install.  (Thanks, V!)
-Sam’s kind of cute.

Cons:

-The program doesn’t start when I turn on my computer so I must open it manually, which I forget to do sometimes.
-I wish Sam would pop up more frequently.  I think it would be beneficial for some people to stretch more than once per hour.
-Sam only pops up for a few seconds then he disappears.  If I step away from my computer while he pops up, he’ll be gone by the time I get back and I would forget to stretch that hour.
-Sam offers very limited stretching tips.  Some tips are not even stretches but tips on how to avoid eye strain or lift heavy boxes.

Has anyone else been using Sam?  What are your thoughts?

As I said, Sam doesn’t offer many stretching tips so you can find more stretches on the Health, Safety and Environment website:
Office Stretch Break: http://www.hse.ubc.ca/__shared/assets/Office_Stretch_Break5276.pdf
Lower Body Stretches: http://www.hse.ubc.ca/__shared/assets/Lower_Body_Stretches5267.pdf
Upper Body Stretches: http://www.hse.ubc.ca/__shared/assets/Upper_Body_Stretches5304.pdf