Hey Guys! It’s Karen with Wellness Works NW. Normally I say, Howdy! I can get away with that because I am from North Carolina. Another person who is from the south is Dolly Parton. Some people laugh when they hear her name but she is wonderful. She has written songs for herself and others and she is just a good, kind-hearted person, including one called Look on the Bright Side. A couple of years ago she had got into a wreck and she was seeing a specialist that was helping her. She went to see him at the top of the pandemic, about April, and she said: this thing has got me feeling so bad for others and I tell you what…She opened up her purse and grabs a pen and that wonderful check book and writes a check to the Moderna Pharmaceutical Company, who was working on a vaccine at the time, for COVID-19. She said she wanted to help, it was the least she could do. The doctor asked her if she realized she had written a check for $1Million and she said, she had counted all the zeros. That started the ball rolling.
That money allowed them to begin working on this COVID-19 vaccine and now in December, Moderna is ready with that vaccine. They are applying to the FDA now. Of course Pfizer has been approved in the UK and they will be talking to the FDA on December 10th. I am excited about this!
Dolly is just a wonderful person and she has done all kinds of philanthropic things. We can talk about that later…Today I just wanted to let you know she got the ball rolling. She also wrote another book so you might want to check it out. Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics by Dolly Parton
There are all kinds of reasons to be hopeful. We have got chances here. It is going to be super month. You are thinking about exercising and making things happen and I want to be part of that. Let me write that check…it will be a little rubbery…Ok I wont be writing any $1Million checks…But I know you can reach your wellness goals.
Today I want to give you more hope and let you know we go this. I think we need to move. Let’s make it happen. I am going to grab my ball here. Now this used to be called an S Ball. The gentleman that invented it was Swiss and that is why we called it an S Ball…but now we are trying to be more politically correct so now we are calling it an exercise ball or a Balance Ball.
I want to do a couple of things on the ball. I am going to grab this Large Loop Band to do some Chest Presses. It is just a big loop made so you can hook it onto things and have about 20 lbs of pressure. What you are trying to do is make sure your getting a workout similar to if you were using weights. So I am going to sit on the ball while using the Loop Band. I am going to lie back and roll forward so that my lower body is not on the ball, but just my upper body and I am going to squeeze my glutes. Hold that band like you would a dumbbell, and you can tighten it up by wrapping it around your hands more and then bring them up and down like you would if you were lifting weights but you are using the resistance of the band. Good stuff! So we have more than one thing going because I can feel it in my upper body and also in my lower body because I am still squeezing! Are you still squeezing?
Something else I like to do on the ball are Crunches. Crunches are great to do on the ball, especially if you have a bad back. Again, you want to lean back and make sure your shoulders are on the ball and squeeze your glutes. I like to take my hands and put them in my underarms. I used to put them behind my head but I realized it was causing me pain in my neck when I did that. Then come up just a bit, not quite sitting up. We don’t want to go too far because that is too hard on your lower back. While I crunching I am squeezing in order to get those glutes working too. This exercise is good for both glutes and abs.
When you are on the ball you may want to start out stretching. You can always do an Extended Stretch. Lean back on the ball and roll forward until your lower back is on the ball, then reach back with your arms over your head and lean back into the ball to extend your spine and get a really good stretch. Now when you first start on the ball, be careful. It is sometimes hard to balance yourself but don’t let that stop you. Just stay on the ball. That feels really good.
You go in the store, you get excited. You buy these things and then you don’t use them. You gotta use them. Sometimes just sitting on the ball is really good for your abs. You guys are the best. I want you stay positive because, “Good things are a comin’” as Dolly would say!
Thank you for all you do! I am sending all kinds of prayers and positive vibes! I appreciate you.
One way you can suggest topics to us to go visit the Dear Jamie page on our website where you can email us with ideas that you want to learn more about.
#KeepMoving #WellnessWorks #WootWoot
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Karen G. Clemenson is not a doctor or a scientist. She is a real person that eats too much sometimes and misses her workout on occasion but is mindful of her path toward wellness, all the time. Karen understands that your physical wellness does not begin and end with your membership to a local gym. She knows that weight loss management begins with steps; some small and some large. These steps include diet, physical activity and retraining of the thoughts and habits that keep you from being successful on your path toward wellness.
