Well-Tuned Strength - Back Update

I have a whole new set of PT exercises from LOGAN, and they are so much HARDER, but they are making me so much stronger. He could tell the ones that I had been doing were way to easy for me, but that is the whole point of me going to the PT. The whole building block analogy is so true for me (Did I blog about it in the last "Well-Tuned Strength" entry?)! I have a very basic core strength (probably more than your average 53 year old who doesn't have structural abnormalities), but I keep skipping the intermediate step of strength (and the two trainers I have gone to at the club have too) because the rest of my body can handle heavier weight, but my trunk/back/core cannot. That is why I am concentrating on the intermediate core strength building block now (that I had before I injured my toe and got weak and uneven in the immobilizing boot).  Logan is the person to "add on" as he sees I am able to handle it. 

So, I am doing . . .  

Alternate Arm/Leg Extensions on All-Fours: 



I do three sets of twenty of these one time per day. He is really having me concentrate on keeping my back and hips totally level. It is harder than it looks. 

Bilateral Leg Lowering:



I lower and hover at one inch from the ground and raise it back up. I alternate hovering with letting legs reach the table eight times, one time per day.

Bridging with Straight Leg Raise:



He has modified this one to where I extend my leg first and then raise. It makes it a little more difficult, and I am ready for it after two weeks of doing the other one. I do this twelve time, two times per day.

Side Lunges with Theraband:

I stand with my knees slightly bent, stomach tight. Then, I step to the side with a Theraband around my ankles. I continue sidestepping to a distance of 20 feet (and my hallway is exactly that long!). I repeat it on both sides, two sets, two times a day. 

Then, he has me doing straight leg hamstring stretches, two times on each leg, three times a day for thirty seconds a leg. 

The actual therapy sessions have become KILLERS. He has me doing these stability things on a moving board, Supermans off the end of a table for sixty seconds, two times, Bosu push-up and raising the leg, sidestepping like the Theraband only lifting a 15 pound weight and doing it five times on each side. PLUS the exercises above. Killed me yesterday, but it is what I need to do those intermediate steps back to pain-free living ALL the time (not just when I am not challenging myself). 

I cannot believe how much better I feel!