Knee and belly fitness observations

There were some uneasy moments with my cranky left knee on the last two hikes. I felt things moving around that shouldn't and the occasional painful twinge. But aside from a smidgen of ache and stiffness the next day, which worked itself out moving around and didn't affect mobility or strength, the knee is doing great. I'm convinced that my doctor's advice to use bicycling to strengthen it was spot on. I am pleased. My quads and calf muscles are also lots stronger.

Now some interesting gut-related changes have caught my attention. The biking has strengthened my lower abdominal muscles, especially the indoor exercise bike that works the upper body as well, putting a twist into it. Hiking, I notice that when I'm moving uphill and straining, I work those muscles more than before, and their contribution really helps get up a hill. I can now pull in my sagging belly at will, into a shape resembling a normal body (but it's not easy). I can't walk around like that, but if I keep working it, maybe that will happen.

After the Kachina Trail hike, which was a strain, the next morning my gut was extremely "productive." I delivered, at intervals, three hefty pythons -- before breakfast, after breakfast, and an emergency evacuation at the entrance to Red Mountain trail (fastidiously buried). I can only conclude that all the lower belly work had something to do with it. If you think about it, those of us with a sagging belly not only have lots of that nasty brown fat packed around our intestines, but also there must be some intestinal loops sidelined into the overhang. This surely slows down the movement of things through the tube.

I also came home about a pound and a half lighter. Hmmmm.