On the 11th March i went to see the Exercise Physiologist, Leeah Ebbeck, and she asked me what achievable goal I would like to set, saying that goals are something that I should want to achieve over a period of time, something depending on my interests, needs and wants.
She said goal setting is important because it helps in motivating an individual to succeed in what they want to achieve and it gives you an individual set of steps to follow to help achieve what you want.
She said that smart goal setting is:…
S SPECIFIC
M MEASURABLE
A ACHIEVABLE
R REALISTIC
T TIME / TIME FRAME
I told her that I would love to be able to walk at least 15 minutes non stop without getting puffed out or get heart palpitations. She replied that it was a very good goal to start off with so set out a short term goal for me to be able to walk non stop for 15 minutes in 12 weeks.
To do this she wants me to firstly record everything, steps, time, distance, feelings, pain etc.
She also said to use my pedometer.
I have to walk from the back of my house to the letterbox at the front of the house, which is about 50 metres, and then walk back, then I have to sit and rest for twice the time it took me to do that walk then do the walk again. I have to repeat this 3 -5 times a day. She also said that while I’m walking to think of something I would like to reward myself with when I succeed.
Then she gave me other exercise to do at home.
- Bicep curls - 12 x 3 times a day
- Shoulder blade squeezes - 10 x 3 times a day
- Sit to standing using arms to lift body - 5-10 repetitions x 2 times a day
- Leg extensions (sitting on lounge with a rolled towel under my crook knee) - 10 repetitions x 3 times a day
- Calf stretches - 3-4 times a day