Zumba, Smartbells and a Massage

This was a good week! Wednesday was my birthday. I am like a kid on my birthday. I want lots of good wishes and of course, I want to be treated special. This year, I decided to get a massage on the anniversary of my birth.

Now I must back up a couple of days. Since the children have been back in school, I have been spending more time at the gym. This week I decided to take two classes that I never have taken before; Zumba and Smartbells.

Monday morning I go to Zumba. The great thing about aging is the perspective I acquire with each passing year. Zumba is very similar to the old fashioned aerobics classes, only with faster more dance-like steps and latin music. Since my next stop that Monday morning, after Zumba was my weekly weigh-in, I gave it all I had. Unfortunately, I did’t have very much and what I ended up doing was aggravating an old injury; tendonitis in my knee.

Tuesday morning I woke up to a swollen and tight knee. I resolve right then and there that I would return to my Orthopedist and get some physical therapy. Of course, I didn’t call.

Wednesday I go to my massage and as a precaution, I tell the masseuse about my knee. Well, this woman had hands of gold. She told me that what I had was simply inflammation of the tendons. If I iced my knee regularly, especially after exertion, and I massaged the tendons around the knee, I would relieve the inflammation and help to restore circulation to the area which would enable the body to re-absorb the fluids. And, I would not have any more pain. She also told me to lay off the crazy classes and be more selective!

Sure enough, Thursday morning my knee felt much better. I went to the gym to take Smartbells Conditioning. This is much more of a strength class with weights, a smartbell (which is also a weight) and lots of planks for core work. I was careful not to do any lunges and after the class, I asked for a bag of ice to ice my knee. So fortunately, the only parts of my body which are sore today are the right parts - my butt and legs!

This is a smartbell.

By the way, if you are wondering, I lost 2.4 pounds this week. I guess Zumba paid off!