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8 SOLERA DIAMOND VALLEY | AUGUST 2024 By Jona Jetter, Resident Monica, a Solera Resident, leads a fun and challenging water workout three days a week. This fun group gets together every Monday, Thursday, and Saturday from 11 am to noon in our beautiful indoor pool. Pool noodles and weights are available for residents to use. Monica is constantly changing things up to help us build strength, balance, and endurance. All fitness levels are welcome. She encourages us to go at our own pace and take a break when needed while pushing ourselves a bit more as we get stronger and more comfortable. Monica's worksouts are free of charge and a great way to keep active and they help you with being able to complete everyday tasks more easily. I recommend you wear water shoes as the pool floor can be rough on tender feet. There are always laughs to be had, so I encourage you to come give it a try and make it part of your workout schedule. By Suzette Strauss, Resident Have you ever had a pain in your knee? Degeneration is one thing, but an injury is quite another. Back in July of 2017, my husband Ric and I went camping with some friends in the eastern Sierra Nevada mountains. We had been there before many years prior… when we were younger. Ric always enjoyed hiking to one of the lakes, so we told our friends to prepare for the hike a month or so ahead of time. I couldn't remember how far it was, so I read an article that turned out to be either a typo or just plain wrong information stating it was five miles to go up and down the mountain. Of course, we were all very encouraged by this. There were four adults, a 12-year-old, a 10-year- old and a Weimaraner. We started off early in the morning, hoping to have lunch at the lake and Ric could do some fishing there. When we reached the halfway point on the way up, which is at Lon Chaney's cabin, we began to feel like the altitude change must be getting to us. By the time we reached the lake we were all ready for much more than the simple lunch we packed. I was ready to take a helicopter ride back to camp, if such an option existed. We rested as much as we thought we could and still get back to camp before dark. Can you see that something in this plan was desperately wrong? The way down the mountain was excruciating on my knees and on my friend's husband's knees and back. We reached camp and it was Ric and my turn to cook dinner, but we all said, "Bring out all the leftovers and let's chow down!" Then at the picnic table the facts became painfully known. One of the boys asked me how many steps I logged for the day. To my chagrin, I began with, "Oh my goodness! I am so sorry!" They all looked at me with bewilderment. We had hiked 20 miles that day! My friend's husband said, "Well at least I don't feel like a wimp in all my pain." He nicknamed me 20KO – 20-mile knock-out. Unfortunately, my right knee did not recover for many months until I learned a few helpful things. First, stretch the kneecap by pulling the leg up behind and holding the foot to your rear end while in the standing position. Second, homemade bone broth. This was prior to seeing it everywhere in stores. I put beef bones with the marrow in purified water and slow cooked them for about 10 hours in the Crock-Pot, then made rice with the broth; I call it Power Rice. There was a dramatic improvement in one week. This is good for all tendon health. If ever my knee wants to remind me of 20KO, I immediately stretch it out and I'm good to go. What a relief! What a Relief! Water Workouts with Monica

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