small improvements really do add up - fitness edition

zebasschick

a few years ago, injury and reinjury kept me from most exercise. when i had slight improvements, i'd have pain, swelling and other issues. but over the last few years, i went from walking to riding an exercise bike on low resistance - just a few minutes, then a couple more. my resting heart rate got lower. my legs slowly got stronger. it took a couple of years.

then on cyber monday, i bought a walking pad. it's a tiny treadmill) with a fixed 7% incline. we put caps on the feet to adjust it to 5%, and i could do 10 minutes on it, sometimes only 8 before my ankle or knee would start to hurt and i'd have to stop. but over time, the supporting muscles have gradually grown stronger, and today i did 45 minutes at 5% - not fast, but it got my heart rate up and kept it up, and i sure did sweat.

sometimes you don't notice the tiny improvements from small workouts, but they really do add up!

nossmf

Every little bit absolutely does count. It's the same with weightlifting. Increasing your lift by 1lb/0.5kg per week seems quite pathetic, but keep that up for a year and you're lifting more than 50lb/24kg more than the same time last year. Keep that up for two years...for three...

zebasschick

nossmf wrote: »

Every little bit absolutely does count. It's the same with weightlifting. Increasing your lift by 1lb/0.5kg per week seems quite pathetic, but keep that up for a year and you're lifting more than 50lb/24kg more than the same time last year. Keep that up for two years...for three...

that, too. i've been slowly adding 2 1/2 pounds at a time to my curls, and it's working. i'm about to add a little to my deadlifts, too.