I had a birthday this week, which was fun since my husband and I make a big deal out of those days. We happened to watch some random video about camels about a month ago, and I had forgotten all about it, but we had a conversation where I told the story about how in Kindergarten I found out that camels were called “ships of the desert,” which led me on a youthful quest to get my hands on anything I could to learn more about camels.
To this day I have a soft spot for camels. My husband had no idea and he thought it was funny that this never came up after being married for going on 30 years now. So he came up with the idea of a camel-themed birthday. 🐪
Sun, June 5th
Rest Day.
Calories: 2000, Protein: 101 g.
Mon, June 6th
We followed along with The Jack Lalane Show (DVD 5, Episode 1) shortly after waking up. In the evening, I did two hours of wrestling referee training for two hours, and some stretching.
Calories: 1997, Protein: 130 g.
When I opened this card over breakfast, it hadn’t yet dawned on me that this was going to be a camel-themed day but I did get quite a laugh*
Tues, June 7th
(Morning) Leg Day at the Physical Therapy Office: I warmed up on their recumbent bike.
- Rocker Board Balancing (feet together to make it harder): 2 sets x 1 minute
- Calf Stretches (both legs): 2 sets x 30 seconds
- Played toss with a 4 lb. ball for about three minutes while standing on dyna pads.
- (Tri-Set) Monster Walks (blue band, forward and backward): 2 sets x 10 reps +
- Lateral Walks (blue band, each direction): 2 sets x 10 reps
- Squats with Resisted Hip Abduction (blue band): 2 sets x 10 reps
- Step up with Knee Raise and Raise 6 lb. Ball (each leg): 2 sets x 10 reps
- (Super Set) Standing Hip Abduction (green band, ea. leg): 2 sets x 10 reps +
- Standing Hip Extension (green band, ea. leg): 2 sets x 10 reps
- Bird Dips (12″ block when needed for balance, ea. leg): 10 reps
- Seated Leg Press: 335 lbs x 2 sets x 15 reps
- I finished with some stretching, ice, and electric muscle stimulation. The therapist also did some ultrasound therapy on my knee.
(Evening) I went to wrestling referee training for two hours. Got a lot of in-ring time and I think it was a particularly good session for me.
Calories: 2000, Protein: 128 g.
He bought me a couple of nice t-shirts. Some of my old ones were starting to show their age so he asked me what I wanted for my birthday, I said, “Maybe a couple of t-shirts.” I was thinking of something a bit more generic, but I really like his choices! I wore the one on the left when we went out to dinner.
Wed, June 8th
(Wake-up) We followed along to The Jack LaLane Show this morning (DVD 4, Episode 3).
(Morning) Back Day at the Physical Therapy Office. I warmed up by doing some dynamic stretching and light calisthenics. The therapist did some ultrasound therapy and massage before I began exercising.
- (Super Set) Standing Rows (purple band): 2 sets x 15 reps +
- Shoulder Extensions (purple band): 2 sets x 15 reps
- Cheerleaders (pink band): 2 sets x 15 reps
- Bilateral External Shoulder Rotation (green band): 2 sets x 15 reps
- (Super Set) One-Handed Standing Rows (each arm, cables): 2 sets x 17 lbs. x 10 reps +
- One-Handed Pulldowns (each arm, cable): 2 sets x 17 lbs. x 10 reps
- (Super Set) Prone “M’s”: 0 lbs. x 15 reps, 1 lb. x 15 reps +
- Prone “T’s”: 0 lbs. x 15 reps, 1 lb. x 15 reps
- One-Handed Bent Over Row (each side): 12 lbs. x 2 sets x 15 reps
- Serratus Slide/Clock (orange band): 2 sets x 15 reps
- Standing Windmill Stretch: 2 sets x 10 reps
- Zottman Curls: 15 lbs. x 3 sets x 10 reps
- I did these while I was waiting for the therapist to set up for the ice and EMS.
- We ended with some stretching, and ice with electric muscle stimulation. I also did some leg stretches and a set of Single Leg Raises (each leg) while I was icing my back. I learned this exercise yesterday during leg PT.
No idea what I consumed for calories today. Probably around 3000 and lots of protein. We went out to dinner and I had a lovely t-bone steak for the first time in a couple of years. (First steak, not first time going out to eat.) We couldn’t go out to celebrate on my birthday because of our schedules that day.
I ended up having a single piece of chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream at the restaurant, rather than a whole cake. The idea was to celebrate the day and get right back on my food plan the next day rather than having a bunch of high-calorie leftovers lingering or being forced to throw away a bunch of food. My husband said that if I had a cake, he was going to have a bakery make a cake that was in the shape of a camel or at least camel-themed. He really went all out.
He found these two camels at a local silver shop. They were being sold to be attached to a charm bracelet but he had the clerk turn them into earrings instead. Pretty fancy!
Thur, June 9th
I needed a rest day from all the festivities yesterday. I spent quite a bit of the day working on the next anthology that I’m planning to publish in October.
Calories: 1995, Protein: 129 g.
The final piece in this birthday tour de force is the interesting item to the right. Hubby didn’t know what it was other than he thought it was cool and had a camel on it.
In fact, at least according to the lady at a local shop I like to go to that sells mystical stuff, it is a ward against the evil eye. I found a nice place in our dining/game room that I thought could use such a talisman. When one of us loses a particularly hard-fought game of chess or I’m “cheating” at Parcheesi again because of my preternaturally timely lucky die rolls, there are occasionally some hard looks that it might not hurt to have some protection against!
Well, it was awfully sweet of my husband to make my birthday such a fun day. I am planning to make his birthday fun too, though I didn’t go with a theme. Maybe I will next year though it probably won’t be camels.
Fri, June 10th
(Wake-up) We followed along with The Jack Lalane Show (DVD 5, Episode 4).
Still didn’t have too much energy (Wednesday as it turns out was quite the party, lol) but I did do a little much-needed yard work in the morning before it turned hot outside.
Calories: 1997, Protein: 105 g.
Sat, June 11th
We went for an afternoon walk in the forest that lasted about 90 minutes.
Calories: 2000, Protein: 122 g.
I was the same weight this as last week. My total loss is 21.5 lbs. over seventeen weeks for an average of 1.26 lbs/week. My calorie intake for the week was probably between 16,000 and 17,000 calories.
* The card was funny, but what made me really chuckle (inwardly at the time) was the fact I purchased exactly the same card for his birthday, which is a few weeks after mine. I’m looking forward to seeing the look on my husband’s face when he opens his card a few days for now.
Ann's Immaterium 
7 responses to “Work Outs: June 5 – 11, 2022 (A Camel-Themed Birthday)”
Sorry Ann missed your birthday, i’ll blame it on the COVID thing that struck all the family and put me in particular of course, i was coming good only to fall into a very lethargic state, just coming out now after three weeks.
A little known fact is that Australia is the largest exporter of camels and they even have a famous camel race up in the northern territory!!!
Be careful mentioning your liking for camels as one of my aunts started a tiny collection of birds but ended up with a few hundred as word got out,I even purchased one for her when visiting Scotland.
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Happy birthday, Ann! Perhaps a camel ride is in your future 😀 I’m not sure how easy it is take those anymore but they used to be very common at zoos for whatever reason.
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Thank you, it was a fun day.
Oh, I’d love that! One of my friends tells me they have camel rides every year at the county fair in August/September. I have never been but this year I think I’m going to go and drag my husband/picture taker along with me just in case they have the camel there this year.
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Happy Birthday to you and your husband Ann, your husband obviously went all out on the Camel theme for you, and will be interesting to see his reaction to the same card ! LOL Great progress on the workouts and referee training
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Thanks, Dave. Yes, he really did go all out but that is his way. He likes to say if you are going to do something then do it right and go all in. 🙂
I’m hoping to reach about halfway to my goal of losing 60 lbs. by the end of August. As for the referee stuff it is a lot of work and a lot more to learn than I originally thought when I got into it. When I was wrestling I tended (as many of us did) to not really think about the referees too much and take them for granted. Now that I’m on the other side I’m learning there are so many little things that are pretty important.
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A belated Happy Birthday to you, Ann! 🙂 Sounds like you enjoyed celebrating it! That’s a nice haul of camel-related items as well, particularly the talisman. On our journeys to and from our caravan we pass a farm shop and they have various animals grazing in the fields around it, including three, pretty large, Bactrian camels – always seems strange to see them in the English countryside!
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Thank you, John. I did have a fun time and we had fun celebrating my husband’s birthday too at the end of the month. Yes, I was particularly pleased with the haul of camel-related material, lol. I’ve seen quite a few of these sorts of talismans in various shops over the years and I do have to say I particularly favor this one. I guess my husband knows my taste for things pretty well by now.
Huh, that does sound a bit strange seeing Bactrian camels in rural England, lol. I remember years ago when we took a vacation and visited Hearst Castle, the guide said that William Randolph Hearst, when he was alive, stocked a full zoo on his estate/ranch/palace grounds and when he died a lot of the animals ended up just being released and went wild and roamed around. So apparently for many years people were seeing all sorts of animals from Africa in the area such as zebras. I forget what the guide said when I asked the obvious question, “So, did they release any African lions?” 🙂
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