do my physical therapy habitually for a year

is physically the most difficult, although it probably would not seem so from the description.

This is a real exercise, rather than just some propriaception retraining routine. I was given this one because I have no right glute max to speak of, and this should help build it up.

This one is called left side-lying right glute max something or other. For this one I lie on my left side with my feet against the wall, my knees bent and a bolster under my feet and a thera-band around my knees. As I inhale I rotate my top (right) leg out but keep my toes on the wall. Then I hold it for a cycle of five breaths, lower my leg and then do the whole thing four more cycles. After I am all done I can really feel my right butt and outer hip.

is the right side-lying left adductor pullback.

This one I don’t like as well, but it has some obvious benefits that I can feel over time. I lie on my right side with my feet against the wall and my legs at right angles (i.e., knees bent). I put a bolster or a couple of pillows between my feet and a thinner cushion between my knees. First I exhale and push my right foot into the wall and make sure that my knees are lined up. Then I inhale (with the tongue against the roof of mouth) while I shift my left leg back while keeping my feet against the wall. As I exhale I press my left knee down against the cushion between my knees. I repeat this for four more breath cycles, relax, and then do the whole process four more times.

I’m not sure why, but I find this one the most tedious.

maybe I’ll write a little bit about what is involved. Right now I want to get back in the habit of doing three important things most days (if not every day). First, there is the exercise with balloons. In that one I lie on my back with my feet against the wall and my legs forming right angles with a medium-sized ball between my knees. I have my right arm out at 90 degrees from my trunk and am holding a balloon in my left hand. I inhale with my tongue against the roof of my mouth and then inflate the balloon, taking care to initiate the action from my ribcage. I do this about five times, until the balloon is fully inflated. Then I let the air out and do it again four more times. That I find the easiest one to do.

That’s the first one. I’ll write about the other two later.