Trapped:

My excellent physical therapist has helped me to develop a physical routine that, I hope, is strengthening my worst weaknesses, and slowing the degeneration that comes with age. He started easy with about thirty minutes of exercises, and has gradually built up many challenges that I’m happy to face. I do my exercise routine almost every day.

I’m trapped.

The exercises take an hour. An hour a day! But I understand what every exercise is for, and knowing that, I don’t want to drop any of them. And there’s another little nuisance that I want to complain about.

My exercises do not require expensive machines. I don’t need to go to a fancy gym to perform them, so instead, I can shoehorn them into my daily home life. That’s good. Originally, my exercises required no equipment at all, so I could do them pretty much anywhere at any time. But gradually, equipment has crept into my routines. Some exercises require me to support my head with a pillow. Some require me to pull against resistance. Several require me to use a strap or ball to destabilize my posture.

Most of the equipment I need is inexpensive, but the list is getting awfully long. Here’s what I use:

• Xerdisc
• cane
• pillow
• yoga block
• yellow Theraband
• green Theraband
• blue Theraband
• black Theraband
• Theraband strap handle
• DKSA Stretchout strap
• loop of plastic tubing
• 3.25 lb ankle weight
• 6" ball
• 30" ball
• an engineer's chair (a “high chair” for grownups).

That’s a whole box of junk!