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Ugh… My body hates me.
Jus tha’ facts… Jus tha’ facts…
I just woke up about an hour ago. That would be 11:30 CST. Ugh. I went to bed last night at 12:30ish so I was probably asleep by 1am. Ok, campers, lets do the math. [drum roll please] That works out to roughly 10 and 1/2 hours of sleep!!!!!!
My body hates me.
Ok, ok, it really doesn’t hate me but it is being VERY demanding:
Me: I’m going to get you into shape. Here’s the work out plan.
Body: Excuse me? Are you serious? You’re nuts
Me: Yes I’m serious about this. We are going to get into shape.
Body: Fine. But have you heard about this thing called “payback?” heh heh heh
Me: Payback?
Body: Yes! Go ahead, do something like dance for four and a half hours of practice and classes, and then drive a standard truck for another 2 hours commuting and then haul groceries up stairs and stretch and lift, go ahead and just try it boyo! ‘Cause if you do, I’m going to make you SLEEP! I’m gonna make you REST! But not until I make you ache and your muscles burn. I’ve got friends ya know… My buddies, who you know as the arches in your feet, are a nice set of twins who will make you regret all that dancing!
Me: Do your worst…Ssssnnnnnnzzzzzzzzzz
*SIGH*
All kidding aside, it is horrible how much “recovery” time my body demands at this stage of the game. And it is horrible how
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Day Three… and itty bitty steps which feel like hiking Mount Rainier
Doing Better – Not perfect but better
The photo to the right is one that I took on a trip to Seattle Washington, where I attended the Emerald City Hoedown, which was this year’s IAGLCWDC Annual Convention and where I taught a workshop at the event.
We stayed an extra day so we could go on a bus tour of Mount Rainer National Park which I really enjoyed. On the tour, we stopped at several points, got out of the bus and was able to enjoy a bit of the scenery. One of those stops took the tour group down into a ravine created by a glacial melt river full of rounded rocks washed down the mountainside by the water.
The park service had used some of these rocks to create “stairs” on the path down into the ravine for visitors to the park to use to get closer to the water and to a log “bridge” which allowed you to cross the river. I was toward the back of the group and was doing pretty good, until I saw the steps in the photo.
That’s where I bailed and said “There’s no way!”
Two years ago, I would have happily gone on down with the rest of the group but when I saw these rocks, my self-preservation instincts kicked into high gear and did some fast calculations involving the lack of a hand rail, the roundness of the rocks, the wetness of the rocks, my physical condition, and memories of a fall on stairs during a vacation last year and the result was visions of my dance career flashing before my eyes.
I went back up and watched from the ledge.
It was just one more realization of just how out of shape I am. And how badly I need to get back into shape. And just how much my physical condition (or lack of it) is affecting just about everything in my life.
Today is Wed, Day 3 on the path to a new healthier me…
Things I did good yesterday:
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Day Two… Small Steps and Overdoing it on Day 1…
Another short post…
Stuff I did good yesterday.
![Tape Measure on a Cat [CC]](https://txcowboydancer.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/tape-measure-on-a-cat.jpg)
Does this thing make me look fat?
- One complete day without Diet Coke. Yay!
. - Breakfast was two eggs, two slices of toast and orange juice and coffee (we won’t discuss that breakfast was around 11am since I slept til 10:30ish)
.. - Lunch (which was actually around 5:30pm was grilled chicken sandwich (mustard and extra veggies) and ice tea at Sonic. (I didn’t know Sonic sold Ice Tea… LOL — Note to self and to the six people actually reading this “no fast food” means that if I do have to do something on the run, I do something from the few “good” choices and there are some, a few, at just about every fast food joint.)
.. - Dinner (around 11pm-ish) was a sandwich and potato salad and ice tea. (I was EXHAUSTED when I got home so we went the easy route)
Let the applause commence!
On the “over did it” front:
I used my body WAY too much. I had dance practice with my partner but before we started dancing we did some cycling and some lifting and stretching for about half an hour.
Then we danced for an hour.
Then I had 3 hours of West Cost Class and social dancing in between. When I got home, around 10:30ish, after going by Kroger, I was so sore.
I couldn’t get to sleep until almost 2am. Then I kept waking up all night because my legs hurt; I finally got up around 6 am, so I’ll probably need a nap sometime today. I definitely overused my legs; they are literally aching right now, even as I type this, especially the big muscles in the back of the legs and the ankles and the arches of my feet.
NOTE to self. On a big “dance day” I shouldn’t also do “aerobics” and lifting. I should do those on non-dance-practice days.
Stuff for today:
I’m glad that today is a “computer” day where I update my Squidoo articles and add more products to my Zazzle store, etc.
I am going to TRY to get to the 24 hour fitness near me for an hour today to work on learning the new Smooth Advanced dance for ACDA/UCWDC.
Today, however, is also “laundry day” which for me, at my current fitness level counts as “exercise”. *sigh* I really need to take photos or better yet, a short video of the trek up and down the stairs to the laundry room. You fine folks reading this really do need visuals to truly appreciate the ordeal involved in the simple statement “Today is Laundry Day.” Ugh.
All in all, day one went well. Day two is underway and I basically have no choice any longer. I have to get healthy or else. We don’t want to think about the “or else.”
There you have it. Stay tuned. And wish me success.
See ya on the dance floor.
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Looking for “Cruisin” Song Recommendations
There’s a Whole Lot of Dancin’ Goin’ On!
I posted a request to the World Line Dance Newsletter for people to send me the names of the songs that they use in their area to dance the “Cruisin” line dance.
If you have come here to my blog in response to the notice in Carol’s Newsletter, just put the name and artist of the song down below in the comments section. Or you can use my “Contact Form” if you like. Either way will get the name of the song to my email inbox.
If you’re a follower of my blog or follow me on Twitter, then I extend the same invitation to you. Send me your favorite “Cruisin” song! Woot!
After all the recommendations stop flooding in, I’ll compile the list and create a new article over on Squidoo and post the link to the article so that everyone can see all the songs that people use to dance this awesome dance!
Until then, enjoy this video of some folks dancing “Cruisin”
See ya on the dance floor!
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I broke into Tier 1 with ‘What is the Best Song to use for the Tush Push Line Dance?’
Note (added on 07.01.2015) — This blog post was written when I was writing on a website called “Squiddo.” The stats all refer to the article as it appeared over on that site. The website no longer exists. I’m leaving this here because, well I’m proud of those stats.
The good news is that I’m in the process of re-creating the articles I had on Squidoo here on my blog. So here are three Tush Push articles for you to enjoy:
or if you want to read the old blog post keep scrolling… 🙂
I Finally Have a Tier 1 Article!
I would never have thought that THIS article would be the one that shot up into Teir 1.
But it has. Who knew!
That is thanks in part mainly to the readers of Carol’s World Line Dance Newsletter.
She was kind enough to post a link to the article in the Newsletter and her readers have pushed my article up to the very top of the charts on Squidoo.
Today’s Stats / Rankings:
Ranked #1,045 overall
Ranked #50 in Entertainment
Ranked #2 in Entertainment >> Dance
Ranked #1 in Entertainment >> Dance >> Other Dance Topics
There have been 430 visits to the page since I first published it on May 3rd. Wow! If every one of the people who follow my blog, my facebook page, twitter, etc, would go and visit the the article then hit all the social “share” and “like” buttons, I think I would swoon with excitement.
If you’ve never seen a 299 lb hairy man swoon, believe me it is quite a sight. Then I would need, of course to fortify myself with a Mint Julip! LOL
CHALLENGE!!!! — IF the total number of hits goes from 430 to 700 by 10pm CST on Friday, I will upload a video to Youtube of me SWOONING! That means that 270 of my 800 friends and followers want to see me make a clown of myself in public to go to the article and do the whole “clicky-clicky” thing (and maybe take some polls and leave comments? [inserting pitiful hopeful look]
Excerpt from the introduction of my “Tush Push” article:
Among line dancers, there is one dance that reigns supreme: The Tush Push. This dance has been around since the very earliest days of the period where “line dances” became formally recognized as a separate and distinct dance genre.
Learning the Tush Push is a rite of passage for new line dancers. Having learned it, you are no longer a person who does a line dance on occasion at parties or weddings, you have become a “line dancer.” 🙂
Because the Tush Push has been around for, literally, decades, and because of the way the dance is structured, the dance can be danced to hundreds, if not thousands of songs.
Below you will see some fun polls, some cool photos, a bit-o-drama, and a list some music to which the Tush Push can be danced. VOTE for your favorite and if you don’t see your favorite, don’t be shy, let me know about it and…
[Read the rest of the article ]
See ya on the dance floor!
5-6-7-8 Dancing My Way to a Healthy Me! 