Weight and Resistance Training - October 16 - 31: The Attack of the Halloween Candy!

:badbat:
My goal for the next two weeks is to buy NO candy and eat no candy. I'm sick of walking into grocery stores to be met by mountains of the stuff!

How is everyone doing with food? That seemed to be our common problem at the beginning of the month. I'm UNDER CONTROL and happy about the way I feel ;)

Mel

Well done, Mel! Keep it up.

I have been derailed by the tummy incident. :( I had a few days off and now something (same thing? different thing?) has returned. My weight has shot up and I am drinking lots of weak tea (no milk) and water.

Lovely day here today. It's quite warm in the sunshine.

I'm under control calorie wise (except for the gelato incident), but I'm finding I snack too much during the day so have to cut short at night. Or like today, I'll have to cut my more nutritious yogurt snack because I ate some cinnamon pita chips instead. Working on it. Actually hoping the weekend will help. I don't tend to snack as much at home, it is more at work.

Mel - good luck with the Halloween candy! I've been thinking about how long it has been sitting there every time I see it now.
No exercise last night. Time ran out on me - got out of work late, had to go to the grocery store, cooked dinner, etc. I do have my running clothes in the car so hope to get to the park on the way home. It is cloudy and cool though, so might not. If I don't, I'll definitely elliptical at home.

Birch - sorry you are still under the weather! :(

Good day all!

Sawed up some wood from the old conservatory this afternoon. My right arm is bulging - shame about the left. Lower back niggled a bit even though I tried to keep my abs tight so I iced it and now all's well.

The two pantsometers looked a bit better this morning. Still won't button up but looked better.

:wave: to all. And strength to all!

Hi all,

It's the 2nd half of the month already! 1st half went well, except for te past few days. I was unfit, did not exercise, ended in eating to feel better, felt very sorry for myself, ...not pretty.
I have indentified 4 causes; TOM, builders around, looked into my energy bill & besides I had the sniffles. not a good combo.

Today things look brighter. I will phone the energy company to inquire on the background of the bill, I have started my woodstove again & warned DD and DS that with these prices we'll have to watch our use of heating & hot water, I've reprogrammed my thermostat & took the heater in the garage out, and I'll check on the gas use from now on. Furthermore, I feel better, and I'll start my exercise goal again tomorrow.
Re: builders, I am so happy to have them out of my sight again. i do not know what it is with grown men...they always seem to think that I appreciate their suggestions for what to do with MY house. I honestly have no idea what gives them this idea, and I am always utterly amazed that they think that I want to hear their suggestions. Very annoying. I also feel that it would be rude to say "I worked long and hard to get this place clean & empty so I have less work, and I do not need you halfwitted ideas, but I have a hard time ploitely waiting for them to finish and leave. But...the builders are gone and any further home improvements will be firmly done by myself.

Have a great day all,
Rabbit

Good morning. I actually bought the Halloween crud the other day and started thinking about it before I got to the cash. I put it back and won't buy anything until "the day". I've learned not to ever buy chips or red liquorice.

Hope you don't mind my popping in here. I am new to scheduled exercise, thanks to Mentor Meg, and need some accountability. I started pretty slowly but am building up my stamina. The past few days of working in the garden have proven to me that I am getting stronger. Too bad I had to wait until 70 to see the light!

Ruth!!!! :carrot::carrot::carrot::carrot: Welcome to our world :wave:

Good for you for putting the candy back.

I am taking a rest weekend. I'm just feeling battered by workouts- I don't even rest enough to get sore, which is not good. Yesterday I fell asleep at 4 pm and dh woke me at 6 and I felt dopey the rest of the night. Slept 10 hours.

Today's activities are more painting (which feels SO good on the back :( ) and going to an open house at my ex-SIL's. Kind of weird, but I like her and want to see my nephew.

Mel

Hey Ruth :wave: welcome to the sandbox!
So right about the Halloween candy. So far so good. I think the secret is to keep yourself so busy you forget there is even a holiday approaching...:lol: This becomes easier when the stores rush the holidays together and you automatically think it's weeks before I'll really need any of that THAT stuff. Ill wait till the last minute until the only think left is Bazooka Bubble Gum. Solves all kinds of problems.

Mel: Your bathroom project sounds intense. Painting. You get all the empathy in the world from me. I hate the painting thing. It's having everything torn up around me that makes me buggy

Which leads me to Rabbit: Amen sister. I have no doubt you will do a great job with the rest of the projects. I on the otherhand, I'm struggling to hang pictures straight. :lol: Oh, but I can paint...:lol3:

Busy here on my end. Working out but I think I tweaked something in my anterior delt. Lateral movement and rotational movements are a little painful. For the first time in four years I'm backing off from my upper body workouts for a couple of weeks. I'm hoping that will be enough keep it from becoming chronic. I know when it occurred but I suspect the cause is combination of poor form while benching and not working the posterior delts nearly enough. (I've backed off from them unintentionally during the last six months.)

Fun news in the Lydia household. We have a kitten. :dance: LOVE HER! The boys and I really missed the cat that passed away earlier this month. During our workout yesterday I told DS1 that he and his father could choose a kitten. The choice was all theirs. (I had plans to go shopping on my own) In the back of my mind I was thinking "just don't get an orange cat" Don't know why, just something that popped into my head. I return home just as they were bringing the kitten into the house. DH handed the cage to me and said "Well, here she is..." Yep folks, it was an orange/red American Short hair. :lol: I really need to channel this psychic energy in other ways.

The cat is a pistol. Very smart. I have my hands full. The boys are in heaven.

Hello, Ruth. :wave: Very nice to see you here. I've spotted you recently on the Beck thread too. (I lurk there - sssh.) I'm impressed you're shaking things up as the nights draw in. Or is that a factor? Hope to get to know you better.

:wave: to rabbit, to the kitten, Mel, Lydia, Shannon, silverbirch (oh, that's me!). Cheryl?? Bit hectic here.

Hi everyone,

Wellcome Ruth!

Lydia - good to see you back. An orange kitten...so adorable! We got a kitten last year, she is extremely friendly and very fast at catching stuff and bringing it in for us to admire.

Hi Birch!

Mel - ouch on the back and you have my sympathy on the painting thing.

Cheryl - where are you?

No bunny for me last week and I am starting anew. Biked to work today and did 30 mins elliptical. Food is Ok sofar.

have a great day all,
rabbit

You know what the scariest thing about Halloween is? The cheap candy!! AAAAAHHHHHH! (runs & hides). Great job putting it back, Ruth!!

:wave: Hi everyone!

I'm still struggling with food, as always. I did buy Halloween candy and Halloween pretzels. Funny is I think the pretzels will be a bigger tempter once the jar is open.

I do have tons of fun handing out halloween candy but the funny part is last year, my neighbors and I were all exchanging candy for things we wanted so it didn't matter if you didn't buy your favorite. (Oh you mean the candy is for the kids?)

I'm starting up a regular kettlebell routine again. For the last few weeks, karate has been kicking my butt and even my home practices leave me sore. I'm starting to get to the point where I'm feeling like I can add something else again so kettlebells it is. Although last night, I struggled with my workout and kept thinking 'am I truly this out of shape?'. Then this morning, I woke up with a sore throat, head pounding and feeling like a truck ran over me. Looks like I might've caught something this past week. I was exposed to over 80 people in close contact in the last week, so it is conceivable.

Although last night, I struggled with my workout and kept thinking 'am I truly this out of shape?'. Then this morning, I woke up with a sore throat, head pounding and feeling like a truck ran over me.

MMMHmmm. We become so much more in tune with our bodies when we exercise them everyday. I do the same thing Nelie. Jump all over myself when I have a bad workout and all but convince myself I've become DECONDITIONED :o. Then the next day...bam, some cold virus will hit. I've just come to accept that the first indicator of a cold coming on is usually going to show up during a lifting session.

Just had to jump in there with that. Your post made me smile.

Still studying over here. A little more organized with the material though so that's good. Did my workout at home today. I must say I have a nice little set up for that in case of emergencies. No squat rack but I can work around that once in a while.

Hope anyone logging in from Central Ohio is out enjoying the day. It's one of the few sunny days we've had in a couple of months. (Any suggestions for a SAD light, I think I'm purchasing one this year.)

Have a great afternoon everyone. :sunny:

Hey peeps, :wave:! I took the weekend of from working out and gym cleaning, and spent it getting some projects done around the house, carving pumpkins with the boy, etc. It was a good way to recharge!

Nelie, I feel like that whenever I start something new with exercise...it happened with lifting, then again with starting Crossfit...each took several weeks before I felt like I do my other normal activities, like skating. Coming down sick doesn't help, either, obviously! Hope it doesn't last long!

Ruth, welcome! :hug:

Lydia, congrats on the new kitten! My son's cat has gotten himself bitten, yet again, by a tomcat, I presume. It was pretty swollen over the weekend, when the vet was closed, but seems to have gone down today, so I'm keeping an eye on the cat, in case I don't have to spend another $100 at the vet. :crossed:

Everybody else, I've been reading, but will just send one of these :grouphug:

Today's CF WOD was "Helen", 3 rounds of:
Run 400 meters
21 Kettlebell swings (54# men/36# women)
12 Pull-ups

My time was 15:05, 1 second slower than my time in April, but back then I was using the black assistance band, which is the largest one, this time I used the purple one, which is the smallest, so I guess that's still an improvement! :lol3: (I have to say that, so I don't feel guilty about talking the whole weekend off from exercise.)

Lydia!! I'm going to a Level 1 CF Cert!!! I had to tell you first, since you said I HAD to go to one, and I said, truthfully, that it would not be in my budget, but my trainer told me on the phone (just now!) that they have 5 comp spots for the cert in Feb that our gym is hosting, and he said I'd earned a spot. :carrot: I'm going to bounce around the room now. :dance:

Lydia!! I'm going to a Level 1 CF Cert!!! I had to tell you first, since you said I HAD to go to one, and I said, truthfully, that it would not be in my budget, but my trainer told me on the phone (just now!) that they have 5 comp spots for the cert in Feb that our gym is hosting, and he said I'd earned a spot. :carrot: I'm going to bounce around the room now. :dance:

Cheryl- that is sooo exciting! I'm sure you'll love it!

I'm back from my lovely 4 day weekend of no TV, no internet, no housework/cooking, no men :rofl: at the quilting retreat. I had such a good time.

TOday is back to more exercise than long walks around the lake. We're starting a new phase. It has 3 cardio/3 weight sessions, and rest on Sundays. I think I'll have less switching around this way. Here is today:
Day 1 (http://www.precisionnutrition.com/members/resources/lefw-phase7-week-1-day-1.jpg)

Hard to believe we have only 6 weeks left in this 6 month program! I'm seriously considering signing up again in January. I've made a lot of progress, but I've got a long way to go. There are very few actual trainers around here, so this is an okay substitute for now. Maybe when I get a little further, I'll wander into Anchorage to the CF gym there......

Happy studying, Lydia. And a new kitten, how fun. :)

Welcome Ruth - at last someone older than me. :lol: (65 in Jan)

:wave: Silver and Rabbit, and Shannon, Mel, Nelie and Midwife, anyone else hanging around!

We're down to 9 hrs 45 min daylight, and yet it's still above freezing in the daytime! It was 20 this morning which felt pretty darn cold. I somehow damaged one snow tire last winter, and DH is busy looking for a used one so I'll have 4 matching ones, and not have to buy 2 new ones (or 4!).

No Halloween candy will come into my house. If we get any kids - which we usually don't - they'll get handfuls of pennies. Now if everyone else would not bring their leftovers to work............

Lydia!! I'm going to a Level 1 CF Cert!!!I'm going to bounce around the room now. :dance:

:yay:YOU ROCK CHERYL! You have EARNED THIS ONE! I'm so excited for you. Share, share, share! You are going to be awesome at this and I know you are going to walk away just floating from this experience. :hug:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwntBdoynxk

Pat, I got tired just reading that workout! I can't believe it's been so long since you started this...time's been flying this year, I think. We're losing the daylight, as well. The boy and I figure the winter is a good time to catch up on reading and movie watching!

Lydia, how do you find these things? lol..thanks for the theme song! :lol3:

I'm off to bed. Focus day tomorrow...I'm hoping for a heavy lifting day, as always!

Oh Cheryl! How exciting! I'd say you'd earned a spot too!

Cheryl,
CONGRATULATIONS!

I'm thrilled for you! You will be awesome!

(and I'm jealous...just a bit)


I'm feeling really beat up. We did OH squats yesterday and for the first time in a long time I couldn't do proscribed weight :( Everything hurts. I only did 15 minutes of bike cardio this morning and may skip CF or lifting today. Sore knees are a real problem with CF!

Enough of my grumping.

Mel

Ewwwh Sore Knees? I know what that feels like. Hope the knees are flexing without pain soon.


Oh, and the music thing...it's my first obsession since I was oh, about three :chin:

Taking kitty cat in for her last round of vaccinations. I've discovered she likes oatmeal in the morning followed by hot showers. Giver her access to flat resistance bands and she thinks she's one of us...

OMG. DS2 just walked in here in is sweats...I told him to wear his pants to school. No mom, I have gym today and this is my workitout clothes. :rofl:

Enjoy the morning everyone:coffee:

Cheryl, Congrats!!! I'm also jealous! Oh my, so this means that you will go to the training and get the certification? Or do you have to do the certification another time or ?

That is pretty amazing :)

Pat - that workout wore me out reading, too! I don't even know what all of those exercises are! Wow!

Cheryl - congratulations! You rock!

Mel - sorry about the knees, hope you feel better soon!

Lydia - :lol: on the workitout clothes. Cute.

Welcome Ruth!

I've got some weird stomach crud going on the last few days, so ended up not exercising yesterday. Did about an hour of yoga on Sunday, ran at the park on Saturday, but no strength training since last Wednesday, actually. Trying to decide if I'm feeling up to it today or not... Will depend on if I can keep any food down, probably. Don't want to be sick in my garage, or work out too hard on an empty stomach that will likely stay empty... Blah...

I swear, my boss is going to think I've got the plague or something. I've been sick more this year than in the last ten years, and I am in better shape than I have been in my entire life. What gives? :mad:

Good day everyone! :wave: to birch, rabbit, nelie, anyone else I missed!

Pat, I got tired just reading that workout! I can't believe it's been so long since you started this...time's been flying this year, I think. We're losing the daylight, as well. The boy and I figure the winter is a good time to catch up on reading and movie watching!

It was a workout to make you tired! I was dragging at the end. My last squat jump was pretty pathetic! Barely got off the ground.... Shannon, the lumberjack one and the BB in the corner require moving a 45# bar into a corner then lifting it or do rows. The exercises are posted on YouTube

BB Corner Toss (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBf96hdXewo)

BB Corner Press (ww.youtube.com/watch?v=mj7XnT9RMwA)

BB Corner Row (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USW0z5SvivY)

And for you especially Shannon! If you thought the lunges with contralateral raises made you feel uncoordinated.... Bulgarian Split Squats with Contralateral Shoulder Raises (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpthKqJGjXU)

I've got sore thighs this morning, but amazingly my upper body is fine.....

Gotta run to a meeting.

Pat - oh yeah, no way I could do that BSS w/ contralateral raise. I can barely do a Bulgarian Split Squat as it is! And I've already proven my lunges with contralateral raise almost kill me every time!

hi all,

Cgeryl - CONGRATULATIONS!!! you sure have earned that spot! Please do keep us posted!

No long post from me today. I had a long & tyrin day at work & I'll go to bed early.

Shannon- I hope you alre feeling better
Lydia- how is the new cat?

Biked to work today, and had 1 snack to many. Will bike again tomorrow. No lifting for a week now because of the virus of last week.

Have a great day all,
Rabbit

Pat- Your balance must be improving a lot with those routines :)

I decided to drag myself to CF after work and was rewarded with 5 rounds of box jumps, alternating arm medicine ball push ups, and single arm KB swings. REALLY good for sore knees :lol: But I do feel better for having done a workout :crazy: We have a bunch of high school female lacrosse player who come at the urging of their coach (who does CF in the early mornings). So I was doing box jumps with 3 16 year old girls, and one 34 year old who was an Olympic cross country skier for the Ukraine. The all did about 3 jumps for every one that I did. Way to feel OLD. The other grownups were starting at a different station and I felt very, um...OLD.

Mel

Mel - doing your workout with three teenagers and an Olympic athlete? Wow! I can see where that might be intimidating! :)

Rabbit - glad you are feeling better!

Assembling the rack part of my new home gym was my exercise last night... DH had to work late and I found myself at home stressed out and frustrated, went into the garage to take trash and boxes out, ended up unpacking this and getting started on assembly. This point is about halfway finished, hope to get the rest maybe Thursday night.
http://i429.photobucket.com/albums/qq12/ShannoninATL/th_IMG_0059.jpg

Shannon - that looks pretty cool, do you have bigger pictures or pictures of what it is ? Is it a squat rack or is there more?

I know I talked about it when I was looking for a squat rack but I couldn't find any squat racks in the stores, even gym stores. They all had half squat racks if anything. The only places I saw squat racks were online and I was a bit nervous about buying something I had never seen in person.

Anyway, I was happy with what we did end up purchasing but I thought it would've been nice to see more squat racks in the store.

Shannon: Nice job with the squat rack. Have you tested it out yet. :devil:

Pat: Your workouts are fantastic. I love the split squat video you posted. I'll write this one down for Fridays workout. Actually, I'm inspired to write a new program. :chin:

Mel: Hmmm. Were your knees more of a factor than your chronological age? I tend to drawback and slow down just a little bit when my knees flare up. You had to land very carefully when coming back down to the ground to minimize the impact. I'm certain that if you could just jump and land without thinking about it you would be cranking those out at the same rate. Besides, were they REALLY doing them correctly. ;)

No workout for me today. :p Only clean eating and studying. I chose to spend the morning at a pumpkin farm with my DS2's kindergarten class. Beautiful day for scoping out the perfect jack o'lantern. May do some cycling later in the afternoon.

Rabbit: Kitty met the vet yesterday. My little rescue is underweight, no surprise, and has conjunctivitis. I'm feeding her wet kitten food and giving her an antibiotic in her eye twice a day. She's also taking an amino acid in her kitten food twice a day to build her immunity. So, it's official, she is one of us! Even my kitten is on protein powder. :lol:

'k. Lots to do. Hope everyone is having a great afternoon. :sunny:

Nelie - there is more, I just haven't finished putting that part together yet. :) There is a butterfly station, some kind of leg something and a bench left to put on there. It looks like this when it is done, the bench is free moving, so comes out. I bought this one online, but remember being annoyed by not seeing more in the stores, too. It also came with a barbell and weight plates that aren't pictured.

http://www.weiderfitness.com/wcsstore/Weider/images/catalog/WEBE3777.jpg

Lydia - haven't tried it out yet, but was thinking about playing with it a little tonight while the boys are in the tub. Don't have to have the rest of the stuff assembled for the squat part to work! :)

Very spiffy Shannon, looks like you are a weider girl!! :) I'm a GoFit girl myself.

Very nice Shannon!

This 4 week rotation has us doing 3 days of lifting and 3 of cardio each week, resting on Sundays. Today is a lower body workout. Day 2: Lower Body (http://www.precisionnutrition.com/members/resources/lefw-phase7-week-1-day-3.jpg)

I'm still having trouble getting back into my eating routine - not really overeating, but eating more carbs than the program calls for, and at times other than post-workout. Overall I've been doing well - lost about 8-9 lbs, and moved down a size, but I know I could do better if I didn't have these lapses in "eating clean." Sigh.

It's a strange year weatherwise. It's dark like winter, but we're still having reasonably warm weather - frost overnight, but 40's or more in the daytime. We've had NO snow which is very unusual. We may have a non-white Halloween. DH has gone back to ice skating though, so winter can't be far away! :lol:

Pat, can you post a new link to the webcam? I really enjoyed that!

Knees are even more sore! we did a workout with power cleans, jumping rope and a run. I may take tomorrow off CF and go to the standard gym :lol:

I'm so excited- I booked my ski trip for next winter (spring). My dd and I are going to Breckenridge for 5 days :carrot: I need to keep my knees functional.

Food is on track, but I'm beginning to fight urges. Just need to keep fighting.

Mel

Mel, I could, but it's down at the moment. :( I will when it's back up. It takes both our IT guy and the maintenance guy to get on the library roof to fix it. I'm hoping it gets fixed before we get snow....

Had a good workout tonight, and since DH is out with his buddies, some time alone as well. It's still unseasonably warm here (40's) and the cats are enjoying a last bit of outdoor time. All too soon they'll be sleeping under the woodstove....

Hey ladies, :wave:

Thanks, all, for the happy thoughts on the CF cert! I am not looking forward to the workouts (I hear there are 3 over the weekend?), but I'm sure it will be a great learning experience. Plus, my trainers will be there, it's at my gym, and I get to come home every night...doesn't get any better than that! (aw crap, except for the part where I'll have to clean up after sixty or so people trashing the gym! :lol3: )

No workout for me today, and food was okay, but more carby than normal, since a grocery run is needed. Must get to sleep...way past my bedtime, and I need an early start tomorrow.

Hi all,

Lydia - thanks for the cat news! Our new cat "noodles" spent some weeks in a foster situation to nurse her back to health. We got her special cat food as well when she came to live here. She is now supplementing her diet with healthy exercise hunting mice and birds.

Mel - I bet you did the workout in a much better form than the young 'uns. And you are totally right to take care of your joints...they heal much much slower.

Shannon - that gym looks awesome!

Pat, Cheryl, Mel - I hear you on the unplanned eating. I'm definitely off track since my virus of last week. I got a flu shot last tuesday and are not feeling to great today either. And the elbows do not cooperate, I still cannot lift with my left arm..even picking up a wood block for the stove with that arm hurts. I guess there is a flare up in one of the ligaments. Evenso, I'm trying to get the food on track and I biked to work for the past 3 days. Tonight is cardio at the gym, so I'm still on track to earn my bunny.

Nelie - Hi :wave:

Birch- where are you?

have a great day all,

Rabbit

Hello, rabbit and everyone! I am here but out of all routine. I am painting the new outside windows and door. It's making me ache in all kinds of places and I don't like it. Although it's not cold (12 C, 54 F), the wind is in the SE and my back and legs have got cold. I'm having a hot chocolate with my dinner and I was thinking about an Eccles cake* but then I saw your post (and I have put them in a bag in the bedroom, ready for our half-term journey on Saturday). I shan't have one, I promise. :)

* a small, round cake filled with currants and made from puff pastry with butter and topped with demerara sugar (Wikipedia). Dangerous, as you can see. :devil: 285 -365 kcals, by a quick search. Yep, to be avoided. Thank you, rabbit, for getting me off that path!

The other thing I'm doing today, in between bits of painting and completely OT, is another exploration of LinkedIn. I'm not sure how useful it is but that might be because it's only just reaching critical mass in the UK. I'd be interested to hear your comments (PM if you like).

Not a lot of weights going on but a fair bit of resistance. :rofl:

Well, last night's exercise was not the killer that Monday's was, but still plenty of squats - leaving me with sore thighs once again. :) Today I'm having some minor surgery to have a mole removed so I'm taking a rest day. I expect to be back exercising tomorrow. It may be sore but it's not a location that's affected by lifting (on the inside of my left breast over the sternum).

Birch - I'll bet you're sore with all that bending and stretching. Our windows desperately need repainting, and it's on next summer's schedule. Whether we have someone do it or do it ourselves is up in the air...... Where are you going on your trip?

Hope that Rabbit and Shannon are feeling better.

Hi Birch, good work on the eccles cake!

Nice to hear from you! Re linked in: I'm onit and I find it fairly usefull to keep track of all kind of business acquintances. In this economy you never know when you need a network contact....and you never know when they might need you!

I did my hour cardio today, but it was not vigorous. still hoping to get out of this flunk.

Have a great day all,
rabbit

No exercise for me again last night... DH worked late and had to run an errand after work, after DSS & I finished bath time I just let time get away from me. Then, it took me an hour to fall asleep once I went to bed. I should have gotten up and done some yoga... :( Acid blockers are keeping the tummy under control, I need to take advantage of it!

Rabbit - I got a flu shot this morning and my arm hurts all the way down into the back of my hand... :eek: I've been told that the more muscle you have in the area of the shot the more it hurts? Don't know if that is true or not....

Silver - step away from the cake! They do look fabulous, though... :devil:

Pat - hope your procedure goes well. ETA - I just looked up Pistol youtube... Oh my gosh...

Cheryl - you aren't in my time zone I don't think, so not up quite as late as it looked to me! Hope you survived the carby day unscathed!

Mel - definitely need to keep the knees in shape for skiing! I hear it is beautiful out there.

Nelie - I am definitely a Weider girl. They love it when I call, pretty much every fitness item I own is from them. Or rather, from one of the Icon Fitness companies which are all under the same umbrella.

Going to the park today after work no matter what... DH went home sick from work today, hope he doesn't have my stomach crud...

Good day everyone! :wave:

Hey ladies, :wave: to all!

Well, I missed a doozy of a WOD yesterday, by not making it to the gym. Haven't tried it yet, but might make it up tonight if I'm not dead after work:

15 Double Unders
50 Squats (air/bodyweight)
15 Pull-ups
---wait for it---5 Rounds! :faint:

I did make it into CF today, and it was a short one:
Run 400 meters
30 seconds (accumulated) L-Sit
20 Push-ups
- 3 Rounds -

My time was 13:22, which is pretty good for me. I did about 5 real push-ups each round, then went to knee push-ups. I did about 10 seconds of a real L-sit the first round, then just did the bent knees version the rest of the time.

Gotta run. Putting up fencing today, so digging post holes, hauling bags of sand, cursing at fence staples...that kind of thing. :dizzy:

Cheryl - how do they modify the workout if you can't do the double under? Enjoy the fence building!

If we can't do double unders, we have to do 3 times as many regular jumps.
DBs were in yesterday's workout. 15 for those who could, 45 jumps for those who couldn't. I can't :p

I volunteered to be the kettlebell demo dummy for a class that my newly KB certified trainer friend was teaching at the gym at lunch time. That and cardio were it for today. Yesterday's CF was so brutal, I needed a break from cf.

Mel

Just popping in quickly to answer Pat that we're going to my mother's in Dorset (south coast of England). A long drive but it will be lovely to see her and to be somewhere else. It's one of DB's few opportunities to eat off piste!

See you next week. :wave:

Shannon, I think 3x is the standard sub for DUs, but 5x is more common at our gym. It makes the singles suck enough that you're really, really motivated to master the DU! I can do one DU at a time, if I really concentrate and the stars align, so I just go by the reps. If it's 15 DUs per round, I will try to do them, even one at a time. If it's 50, that would take me forever, so it's just faster to do the singles, even at 5x reps.

Well, yesterday got all messed up, could not find the gate hardware I needed for the fence job, so had to put it off a day. Still didn't find what I was looking for, but found something I am hoping will work well enough, so I can do the job today. :dizzy:

Gym this morning: Push Jerks, trying for a 3RM PR was our assignment
warmed up with sets of 3 at 45-65-75-85*
(*= my old PR)
then did 95-100(F/2)-100(PR)

I have been doing the split jerk, but was not getting the footwork right. So, today, I tried using a regular squat jump style for the 95# (got it, but it felt weird), and the 100# (got 2, but wasn't getting under the bar low enough). Took myself to the other side of the gym, no weight or anything, figured out that if I jump faster and harder, my feet will do the right thing on the split. When I felt like I could jump and land in the split without worrying about my feet, I went back, and got the 100# overhead, and it felt pretty good. It was much harder to move fast with the heavy (for me) bar, but I found that I COULD do it, so I felt like that was a good place to stop for today. :carrot:

I'd meant to try and get on the baccar ladder today, but didn't have time after the lifting session, so will probably do that tomorrow, if I'm not killed by the WOD. I really need to learn to be the boss of that stupid upside-down ladder! ;)

Oh, have a good time Silver! Off piste = eating meat? :)

Well, I'm plenty black and blue from my little surgery yesterday. Not too sore though, but if I pull near it I have a little pain, more like a bad cut. The stitches are annoying.... Think I'll take another rest day and do both my UB and cardio tomorrow. The UB workout is a good one, but does involve some stretching/pulling of the incision area.

Dynamic warm-up
(1a) Bent-over alternating DB row 3x9
(1b) Slight-incline alternating DB press 3x9
(2a) Lean away supinated grip cable pulldown 2x12
(2b) Standing seesaw press 2x12
(3a) Dips 3x8
(3b) Seated close-neutral cable row 3x8
(3c) Cable push-pull 3x8

Double unders sound positively dangerous to me! :lol: I'm not sure my little brain could concentrate on staying high enough while turning the rope fast enough.... My knees keep me from jumping rope much anyway. My DH does use jumping rope for his cardio sometimes, but being a guy he didn't grow up doing it so he sometimes stumbles just doing basic stuff. :lol:

After being gone the last two weekends, it'll be good to be home this weekend. There are plenty of things to be done that I've put off or couldn't get to during the week. Other than that we have no plans beyond working out and church. :)

Gagh! i'm sick :p:p I left CF in the middle of the workout yesterday, with stomach cramps , a collapsing leg, and chills. Ugh...this is not going to be fun.

Silver-have a great time!

Pat- heal quickly :hug:

Shannon- how is your stomach doing?

Mel - sorry to hear you are sick! I think there really is something going around... My stomach is still not at its best, but I think getting better. I actually think all of my off symptoms the last 6-8 weeks (headaches, nausea, constipation, rash on my face and upper arms, bloating, stomach cramps, gas, etc) are caused by Splenda... I realized last summer that I had a sensitivity to it when I started getting headaches all the time and was nauseated after every cup of tea or coffee, had most of the symptoms I have now, actually. (Hadn't broken the sweet tooth yet, so was using 6-8 packs of Splenda per cup...) I cut it out, or so I thought. I found it in now 38 products I was using regularly yesterday, plus several I was feeding to DH & DSS but not using myself. DH has been consuming a lot more of it lately, and he has been sick in the last few weeks, too. I had no idea it would be in my bread, bagels, English muffins, graham crackers, pickles, oatmeal... I swear a year ago those didn't have it... Some of the other products I just slipped on, I would check one flavor of a coffee creamer, but not the others... So we are going to a sucralose free house and I'm going to see if that fixes it. Called my doctor and she said that was a good experiment to try before committing to ultrasounds and GI scopes. :dizzy:

Cheryl - I think I like Mel's gym with 3 regular more than 5! :lol: I can occasionally do one DU, that is it. I have yet to make two in a row. :high: on the split jerk!

Pat - Don't do too much too fast on that incision! There will be plenty of time for UB work after you get better.

Birch - enjoy your visit with your family!

I tried to exercise yesterday, I swear. :p I set everything up, did a few squats with the barbell and the new squat rack, did the warmup for my workout, wandered around, did a few pushups, wandered around, did a few random DB exercises and quit. I just wasn't feeling it. Every time I did anything my heart started racing, my head was killing me, it was just bad bad bad. Going to try for some cardio today, or at least some chasing DSS around the house. Planning to get back on schedule Monday. The stomach mess has really thrown me off this week, I ate about 1600 calories yesterday and it was my highest day all week. Most were around 1300-1400. I just don't think that is enough food for the exercise I was trying to do this week... Have to get both food and exercise back in sync next week...

Good weekend everyone!

Hey all,

Mel, hope everything is okay...hopefully some rest will cure whatever that is! :hug:

Shannon, yes 3x would be nice! :lol3: Weird about the splenda, but that's good you discovered it. Hopefully eradicating it will fix everybody's symptoms!

Pat, enjoy your weekend at home! I hope that incision will heal quickly. :)

Birch, enjoy your trip!

Rabbit, Lydia, and anybody I missed, :wave:!

Today is my day to clean the gym. I've been gone from home a lot this past week, so not sure if I will go in early to do the workout, or just go in for the cleaning. I don't want to miss the workout, but then again, I don't want to be at the gym from 9:30 to 3 or 4 pm...both my cleaning partners are gone this week, again, so the cleaning will probably take me till 4. I need a stunt double to cook good food for me, and maybe be the mom on Saturdays, so I can workout. :dizzy:

Cheryl: You do need a mom or assistant for your days. Seriously. I admire you. So many people explain away why they can't make time for regular exercise and here you are just plain doing it. Good for you.

Mel!: This sounds like the flu. I hope you are getting the rest you need.

Shannon: Splenda?! Really? :chin: Wow. I hope your feeling better soon too. With that new squat cage and all...:hug: That must be frustrating to mentally want to but physically feeling too worn out to do anything.

Today was a recovery day. Cardio, abs, a birthday party, and studying. Looking forward to moving on here.

Enjoy the fall weekend everyone. :wave:

Made it to the gym about 5 pm, but I did my whole UB workout, but no cardio beyond a warmup. It was gorgeous here today, and DH and I spent part of the morning picking through tires at the auto junkyard - that should count for some exercise, :lol: Hopefully it'll be the same tomorrow and I can do something outdoors. Maybe I'll haul the bike out of the barn.

Hi all,

Pat - just out of curiosity...WHY were you picking out used tires???
Good work on the UB workout!

Cheryl - I second Lydia, it amazes me what you find time for!

Lydia - enjoy your day off!

Shannon, Mel - I hope you guys feel better.

Birch- enjoy the trip!

I've just finished my last hour of exercise this week, so I earned my bunny again. That is 7 hours of non-stellar exercise in a week that was far from POP. No movement on the scale, actually it has crept back up. The BF number seems slightly down. The pantsometer buttons but gives me a big muffin top. OTOH, there is no alternative but to continue on this plan, so I'll just continue as planned.

I'm very nervous today because we are flying to spain for a couple of days holiday tomorrow. not even at the crack of dawn... more like the middle of the night. The B&B has wifi and I'm taking thhe netbook but I'll have to share with DD and DS so I'm not sure I will have much time in.

Have a great day all,
Rabbit

Rabbit: Enjoy your holiday! It sounds wonderful! Your workouts are sounding a little like mine in the sense that I'm just winging it when I go in. Too many balls in the air right now.

Mel: Feeling any better I hope?

Pat: I'm assuming the old tires are for a strongwoman workout your putting together right? I KNEW IT!

No workout today. Pumpkin carving and lots of studying today. Beautiful day here though.

Pat - off piste for my DB means a land where puddings with cream or custard are regular occurences, there are biscuits in a tin and cake puts in a frequent appearance. For a big Sunday dinner, trifle is not unknown.

Compared with here we live a wholefood & hair-shirt life. We knit our own yoghourt kind of thing. And he's fine with that. Knows the perils of the E number, etc. But it's very nice to be spoiled by your granny for a few days. Who's also got a television.

Mum's very far from being a food-pusher, though, and the activity level is high. Swimming & biking most days. Some tennis & loads of walking. So it all evens out.

I know, tho', that sugar rots my belly & destroys my tastebuds so I steer clear & eat even more veg. Unless I get very tired or wound up (families can do that, you know) in which case all bets are off.

PS. We eat meat & fish, you know. DB is talking about curing our own bacon. I'l keep you posted on that.

Pat - just out of curiosity...WHY were you picking out used tires???

Pat: I'm assuming the old tires are for a strongwoman workout your putting together right? I KNEW IT!

:lol: Sorry Lydia, though it felt like a CF workout shifting piles of tires, I don't want them for home... Rabbit, I have 3 perfectly good - though used on my car last winter - snow tires. The 4th had a defect in the side wall and is not safe to drive on. As tires need to match in size with the others, I'm looking for another used one of the same size and usage. Otherwise, I have to buy two so they'll be the same on the front (or back). My next-door neighbor used to own a tire sales/repair shop so he keeps us informed on all of this....

Oh, Silver, I get it, a holiday where the grandchild is spoiled! Grannies are good for that. At least he's old enough to understand that it's not going to continue when he gets home. We raised a pig a couple of times, and cured the bacon - good luck!

Today is cold and overcast, not nice to be outdoors. DH is doing UB exercise by turning and screening the compost. So nice to see lovely rich soil coming from all that garden/kitchen waste. Me, I'm putting financial stuff in order as we meet with our advisor next week.

Good morning :sunny:

I don't have the flu :carrot: Not sure what ailed me Friday, but two nights of good sleep and no workouts did wonders.

I did the elliptical this morning and can still walk, but I think I'll be going back to "regular" gym workouts for most of this week and avoiding Cross Fit mania. My hamstring really needs healing time. I hate to do it...but I'd like to get this healed before ski season! DD and I booked our 2nd annual Colorado ski week for next March so I CANNOT fall apart now!

My baby kitty is not such a baby any more. I have to run to take her to the vet for spaying. Poor baby...no babies!

Hoping Rabbit and Silver are having wonderful holidays!

Pat, I too had vision of you picking up workout toys and the scrapyard! lol, reality was a let down! But I hope your car have four matching shoes now :)

Lydia :wave: Study on! When is your test date?

Cheryl, Shannon, lurkers :wave:

Mel: So glad you are feeling better. Good idea to rest the hamstring before skiing. Tough to do, I know, but a couple of weeks rest is so much better than a few months of nagging pain.

I purchased an extension for my test date. It was originally last week. I know have until January. I'd like to have this behind me in four weeks before the holidays hit.

Good luck capturing your kitten for her vet visit. Fortunately, mine came already spayed. She's happily batting a toy mouse around my kitchen right now. The same one she discovered around 12:30am...I woke up to find feathers all over the house from another cat toy. Must have been some kind of fight. :devil: Silly cat.

Pat: How lucky to have access to so many tires to choose from! Any luck?

In the Lydia news for the week...I'm excitedly awaiting the box light I ordered last night. Mostly looking forward to the excuse it will give me to carve out some quiet time for myself each morning. I really hate grey winter days. Hopefully I can trigger something that will make me react as if it's really the middle of July. :lol:

Mel - glad you are feeling better and that it wasn't the flu. Definitely rest the hamstring.

Lydia - I find stray cat toy parts around my house a lot, too. And lately, pieces of grasshoppers - a family lives under my stove and sometimes the pop out to visit. My cat spends most of her time now on the rug in front of the stove waiting to greet them... :eek: Can you take your exam at any time or is it on a specific date?

Pat - financial meeting... fun...

I hope Rabbit & Birch are having great holidays! :)

I've been Splenda free since Wednesday afternoon. I've been headache free since Saturday and have had no stomach medicine so far today. DH has also been free of stomach symptoms, stopped his Splenda Friday afternoon. I'm hopeful. :)

Good day everyone!

So glad everyone is feeling better. :)

We have no heat at work this morning. So far it's not awful as obviously it was still on most of the weekend. The heating guys are here working on it, but I see a lot of head scratching. :lol: Good thing I'm about to go to a meeting in another building.....

I don't yet have another snow tire. My neighbor found a pair for me, but they're the wrong size.... I'll be perusing Craig's List over my lunch hour.

On the other project list, our new carpet for our bedroom was delivered over the weekend. This is DH's DIY project, but I'll be quite involved at least in moving furniture - groan. We have a 1600 SF house, so there's not a lot of extra room to put the furniture, never mind that we need to move in the rest of the house and have somewhere to sleep.

Full body workout today

Dynamic warm-up
(1a) Bulgarian split squat + contralateral shoulder press 3 x 9
(1b) BB corner toss into lumberjack squat with calf raise and press 3 x 9
(1c) Bodyweight jump squat with tuck 3 x 7
(1d) Alternating lateral squat with push-out 3 x 6
(2a) BB corner press 3 x 10
(2b) BB corner row 3 x 10
(2c) T push-up 3 x 4

Shannon: I can schedule the test any time I'm ready so long as it's by a specific ending date. I can purchase extensions for extra 90 days but after a full year it must be done or I forfeit the whole investment.

It's coming. I know most of it from my previous cert I'm just fine tuning the stuff that's new and trying to do more than just memorize but really know it more for application purposes.

Pat I love your workouts. Thanks for posting them. You keep reminding me to check out the PN site for info and direction. Thanks! I'm still doing my split squats with a free bar. I forget about the contralateral press when I'm there. Better write that one down.

I forget about the contralateral press when I'm there. Better write that one down.

You bet! Come on and be as uncoordinated as me and Shannon! :rofl: I did pretty good with this last week, we'll see how this week goes. It's the pistol that's got me crying now.....

Pat - I haven't tried the pistol yet. Watched the video, but figured I'd see how you did with it first before I tried it. :lol:

Got my workout in when I got home. Took 15 minutes longer than normal after my week off, but I finished it! Woo hoo! :)

Hi there from rain drenched PA. Lydia, I've been using the lightbox every morning since daylight savings time ended. I don't do the proscribed mount of time, but for a few minutes in the morning, I can imagine I'm bathing in the mid-day light in the Caribbean :rofl:

Yesterday I ended up doing cardio , a back and chest workout a lunch, then CF. A bit much! But I didn't think I could make it to CF after work and it just turned out that way. Good thing too, because today I have a good by lunch for 2 co-workers, then pick up a sad kitty after work, so unless I workout at home tonight, there will be no weights. Cardio is done, though!

Pat- sorry you couldn't find tires. How long before it snows?

I have to come up with a Halloween costume before Friday night. Groan. This is so NOT me. I asked my dd for ideas, and she said that she and her bf are going to a party as Kate and Jon and 8- they went to Walmart and bought really trashy looking clothes, a lot of hair gel and 8 cheap dolls to velro to their shirts. I'm not sure dd's shirt has enough space to velcro more than 2 strategic dolls, but it sound funny.

Any ideas?

Mel

Pat: Are you standing on a platform when doing the pistol squat? I do a version of this but I "gently" touch bottom with a bench behind me. I haven't been able to do it without the bench. Probably psychological at this point.

Crazy busy today but I'm going in to do some cardio and core work. Did legs yesterday and hit the squats just right. It's weird. I can do squats for weeks and not feel it. Then there is a workout were I hit it just right and I'm crippled the next day. I think I have a date with a foam roller tonight.

Mel: I must have posted at the same time as you. Ideas for Halloween? I'll think about it. This is the last year that I get to host the neighborhood pre trick or treat party on Thursday. Most of the adults dress up. I never have. Maybe this year I will. I'll try to head over to the costume shop for a great witch hat and wear my black "cat suit" with a skirt.

Oh. Wait. Mel. Go as a crossfit zombie!

Lydia, LOL on the CF zombie! A little "dead" make-up, shredded up workout clothes or sleeveless flannel with some strategic holes so you don't cook, t-shirt that says, "3-2-1...BRAINS!" Yeah, we can work with that idea!

I'm off to the gym early. Trying out a new schedule, so I can hopefully squeeze in running my dog a few days a week, and also get an earlier start on the yard work job days, since it's getting dark about 6 now, and that will zap to 5, then creep down to 4:30 pm when we set the clocks back...ugh!

Today is a focus day at the gym. (aka probably heavy lifting, so lots of time for skills practice or a longer warm-up) I revamped my CF warm-up, to try and shake things up a bit, since the scale has been creeping up, and will also endeavor to get the food cleaned up. Hasn't been bad, but too much time on the road, so too much pre-cooked nuker food (aka too much sodium) in my lunch bag. Have some turkey pre-cooked now, and both yard jobs this week are ones where I could use the stove to cook up my salmon, so my goal for this week is to keep the eats super clean, shake up the warm-ups/workout routine, just keep it POP and kick some butt in the gym. (mine, of course)

Hi all!

I've been in lurker mode since I got sick. I am better now and I've been doing my kettlebell workouts. I am having trouble with turkish getups and I think I need to youtube to help me out. On one of my sides, I can't even get off the floor.

Tonight I'll be going to karate and will be evaluated to see if I can test for my next belt :) I think I'm doing good but a bit nervous.

Hope everyone is doing good. Good luck with those Halloween costumes :)

Crimeny, I hate it when I lose a post. :rolleyes:

In short...Nelie: Good luck tonight! COLLECT THOSE BELTS! How fun, it could be something to get all geeky over and find a special way to display them. :goodvibes:

Cheryl: You know, analyzing and reevaluating our routines/schedules, it's all part of making it work. :high: You are such an awesome example of how to make this fit into your lifestyle. Hope the new routine works for you.

Mel: How about...Yoda?

Mel: So I'm sitting here thinking about your costume. While at the gym I also thought you could go as Mother Nature. Wrap yourself up in a white sheet, toga style, make a wreath of flowers/leaves you get the idea. Or...wait ...

How about :devil: 'K don't be mad at me but I think this would really be fun...


A very young

http://drruth.com/

Shoot, maybe I'll do this myself. Considering Mr. Lydia is three states away I'm like the last person on earth who should be a "relationship" therapist. :rofl:

Lydia, thanks! I'm working on the schedule, in a desperate attempt to reclaim my Sundays as a rest day (instead of a catch-up day for housework, cooking, and projects at home). :crossed:

Nelie, good luck with your belt evaluation. I think it's great that you're enjoying the karate so much!

The CF Report:
No heavy lifting today...we did gymnastics stuff instead. The dreaded handstands, then skin the cats and front and back levers practice.

My new warm-up was fun, and the first part seemed to work better for getting me warmed up and keeping me warmed up to the end. What I did was to do shorter runs, mixed in with other exercises, metcon style, but not killing myself. After the WOD, I practiced OH squats, snatches, and pull-ups. (and, I still got home by 9 am! woot!)

Got to get changed. The weather is good, I've had my PWO meal, so I'm going to get out early for my yard work job, see if I can get home before dark, for once!

Wait. Wait. Skip all those Mel, this is it!

http://iwantigot.geekigirl.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/20070517_ameliaearhart2.jpg

Lydia, that last link didn't work. :( I too am looking for a costume for Friday night. Last year I went as a cowgirl - suede skirt and jacket, boots and a hat - and could do that again (though I'd need to get a hat from the thrift store) but it's a lot of the same people. DH has decided to go as a piano mover! He wants me to make him chest muscles out of stuffing. I'm thinking of putting him in one of my lycra camisoles to hold it on. He has a t-shirt from a place called "Deathwish Piano Movers" You need to understand that he is a 5'3" 140 lb scrawny little guy - I'll take photos if we pull it off. :rofl:

Cheryl, good job at getting all that done by 9 am! I keep telling myself that when I retire I'll have time to go to the gym in the am and then have the rest of the day. We'll see how well that works!

Pat: Are you standing on a platform when doing the pistol squat? I do a version of this but I "gently" touch bottom with a bench behind me. I haven't been able to do it without the bench. Probably psychological at this point.

Yes, I have a bench behind me. You're right it really helps. Yesterday's WO went really well - i.e. I was soaked when I was done. :lol: And a guy even commented on how hard I was working! One of the few times there's even been anyone in that part of the gym with me. Of course, he was doing only bench-presses while I was doing the WO I posted yesterday. Today is supposed to be cardio, which may go by the board. It's raining/snowing and my plan was to walk for a bit between my 5 pm end of the day and my 6pm meeting. Not time to go home or the gym. I could drive over to the ice arena and walk on their rubberized track - no iPod with me though. :shrug:

Okay, lunch is nearly over and I still need to run an errand and make it to a meeting. Have a great day everyone. :wave:

Lydia, the last link didn't work for me either, but some of Dr. R's advertisements sure looked interesting!!!! :o

No weights today :( Crappy day at work- 22 people I know were displaced. I picked up kitty at the vet and am in cuddle mode.

Mel

Sorry the link didn't work for all of you. It is a pic of Amelia Earhart.

Mel: How awful for your coworkers. It's a challenging environment for the coworkers who remain as well with regard to workload and morale. Hope you are doing okay. How's the kitten doing?

Ugh, I woke up with a splitting headache and sore throat. Kitten is pathetic and left a bloody paw print on my very light colored comforter :(

I just can't face going to work today. Haven't done cardio either. Or eaten. I need to pull myself together, do a short cardio w/o, then go to work and hit CF tonight.

This is when habit has to trump motivation.

Mel

Mel - :hug: to you, your coworkers and your kitten. That is a tough situation to be in for all of you. I know your day isn't going to be a good one, I'm sorry. I hope you aren't getting sick on top of the rest.

Pat - I had to exercise Monday night without my iPod, I had left it at work. Not fun. I'm such a slave to the tunes.

Cheryl - good job getting all of that done by 9 yesterday!

Lydia - I'm loving the costume ideas! :)

I finished assembly on my home gym last night. Woo hoo! I can see why the directions said it needs two persons to assemble, but I think I did just fine solo. Sure, it took me a few hours longer than the directions say it will take, but who cares. :) I am seriously sore this morning - strength training Monday afternoon + yoga Tuesday morning + moving large pieces of heavy equipment Tuesday evening = Ouch! I moved this morning's planned strength training to tomorrow to rest a little, am still planning to run at the park today after work. The sun is out and it is starting to dry out there a little.

Good day everyone!

I just can't face going to work today. Haven't done cardio either. Or eaten. I need to pull myself together, do a short cardio w/o, then go to work and hit CF tonight. This is when habit has to trump motivation. Mel :hug: Hope your day is going better than you anticipated.:hug:

Hallo chickies, I'm baaaaaaaaack!

OK. That was your Halloween scare. I hope to have scared the bejesus out of you all!!!!

I find it hard to believe that it has been a month since I posted the nudge to Mel to start a new thread. At that time, I had full intentions to be a regular visitor in this nice little corner of paradise again - I don't know what happened.
Anyway. I will try to catch up on reading what I have missed (a LOT!!), I have only scanned quickly a few of the last pages. So for now, Cheryl, YOU ROCK MORE THAN EVER - congrats on the CF cert! Shannon - nice contraption in your garage! (Do you have any space left for cars? :) ) Mel - get well soon and peroxyde will get the bloody paw prints out of your bed linens.

I was on vacation (a staycation) for 3 weeks in September, when I did some gardening and other home related stuff, mostly boring home maintenance. I thiink I had mentioned at some point in the past that was going to have my floors refinished and I am happy to report that got done. Actually, it really pretty much killed my vacation because it was a huge job to move everything from the house into the basement and into the garage. Basically, the house looked exactly like the day when I arrived there on the moving day - all rooms completely empty including the closets. Let me just say it was an adventure that I am not planning to repeat any time soon.
I had a marvelous plan to go through my stuff (as I am packing it and moving it into the basement) and get rid of everything that is redundant - but of course that proved to be such a lengthy process that if I kept it up, I would not be finished by Christmas. So then I reconsidered, and started to pile stuff in the basement with the a "revised" plan to declutter later. Let me say that I am still working on the basement.

It was a huge pain in the butt, but the floors were done, I spent a weekend with a friend, the dogs were in a kennel and after that, we still had to live in the basement for another week because I had the give the floors (or, rather, the polyurethane) sufficient time to cure and harden. The smell was horrible - unimaginable to do it in winter.

Of course, I didn't exercise because I quickly found out that i would not be able to combine with the stuff that got to get done at home. More importantly though, I still continued to have issue with my right forearm and the moving of furniture did not help one bit. My foot and my back are doing much better but I am still seeing a chiro for the arm and it's just isn't going anywhere, so I am really depressed about that as I want to get back to weight lifting again. My muscles feel like jello, but at least I am back to doing Zumba 3 time a week, I even did an hour long step class the other day. Foot not entirely cured of plantar fasciitis but it is much much better.
Of course I ate a lot of crap food but I am back to normal eating again and the few pounds that I gained are gone again. But, I am still some 5 lbs above the weight I was at at the end of January or when the PF struck.
I am not making a big deal out of it but it does suck to have to lose the same weight twice (or more times).
Anyway, that was a little update and now I ready to get public spanking from all of you (which I fully deserve).:D

Alena

Alena :hug: no spankings! Welcome back. Your floor experience reminds me of mine: when we had new ones laid in this house, I kenneled the cats and dogs. Then the guy doing the polyurethane postponed for a day and the kennel couldn't keep the animals. I kept the cats in the basement, and the dog in the garage. Somehow the feline escape artists found a way upstairs- we still don't know how- and jumped from floors to counter tops leaving little paw prints. luckily very little, light paw prints. The dog, on the other hand, followed dh from the garage around to the front door and shoot through like she'd been launched from a cannon. The poly was still slightly tacky and we had laid boards across the sill to the bottom step so that WE could get upstairs. The dog had no intention of using our bridge. Dh tackled her (very large black standard poodle in need of grooming) and they wrestled just inside the front door. Although the dog departed several years ago, if we move the rug in front of the door, we have a permanent reminder of the joy and hilarity she brought us.

I pulled myself slightly out of my funk and went to a noon CF strength class We did squat thrusts, squat cleans, and Zotts presses, which apparently no one else has every heard of since I can't find a video on Youtube!

Picture doing a regular back squat, then an overhead press with the bar 3 times while in the squat position, then coming back up out of the squat. It was hard just with PVC. I managed an astounding 25 pounds and barely made it. :rofl: Actually, I did roll on the floor and laugh during one set when I lost it.

Then I practiced handstands for a while and came home and ate horribly :p

Mel

Hey Alena, good to see you back! I was thinking about you the other day as I finally uploaded my vacation pictures from early Sept. Here are a couple of some greyhounds I encountered in Maine. The first is one that friends of my BIL rescued. The other two were at a park and I didn't actually meet them, just stalked them for their photo (I have a friend who collects photos of dogs - :shrug: - so all her friends feed her habit. :lol:

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h59/pkilmain/th_100_3844.jpg (http://s61.photobucket.com/albums/h59/pkilmain/?action=view&current=100_3844.jpg)

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h59/pkilmain/th_100_3903.jpg (http://s61.photobucket.com/albums/h59/pkilmain/?action=view&current=100_3903.jpg)

And for all of you, check out these pumpkin carvings - extreme carvings (http://www.methodshop.com/picts/pumpkins/index.shtml)

Here is a Sotts press video (but with a kettlebell instead of an olympic bar)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jAfYKGzI9g

Mel, sorry to hear about the bad stuff happening at your job. Hope you're feeling better today. :hug:

Everybody else, :wave:!

I thought of the perfect costume for my CF gym's halloween workout this friday....Pukie the Clown. :D I couldn't find all the stuff I needed to pull off dressing up as my trainer, so I needed a back-up plan. Finding the clown stuff was easy, and at least pukie wears workout clothes, so I won't be burning up too bad, except from the wig.

Today's workout was a ridiculous amount of rowing, DB push presses, and push-ups, with 30 pound DBs being the Rx'd women's weight for the push press. I suck really bad at push-ups, but I wanted that "Rx" under my time on the board, so I went for it. I'll probably be sorry tomorrow, when I can't lift my arms, but I got it...woot! My butt is so sore today from those lateral weighted lunges we did on Monday. I need handicap rails installed in my bathroom this week, lol.

Morning, peeps. Just chiming in with the CF report, feel free to skip. :wave:
-------

Back Squats
5-5-5

In my warm-up, I got 2 double-unders (jumprope) in a row, for the first time, then did the same a few more times...kept tripping by the third rep, but it's progress!

Back squats:
warm-up sets: lots of pvc during my general warm-up, then 45/8 and 65/5 reps.
work sets: 95-115-130(PR)
Last month, when we did these, I got 125/3 reps, so I was happy with the 5#/2 rep PR today. :carrot:

Mel,
here is a clicky (http://lifestyle.msn.com/your-look/celebrity-style/staticslideshowmod.aspx?cp-documentid=22331912) for you to Heidi Klum's best Halloween's costumes. I'd say that you better start cracking if you decide to spring for one of those as they are rather elaborate. But with your body, you should pick the Flapper. It should be also really easy to make.

Pat,
That was so nice of you to post the gh pictures for me! I always love to see them. The white one appears pretty chubby to me though (sorry that I am saying that). But sometimes it is hard to determine from from that particular position. I loved the spotted tummy. The brindle one is just like Enta.

Alena

I was perusing CF gyms again the other day... I keep hoping one will open up a little closer.

Last night at karate was killer! They worked us hard. I was sweating like crazy! Today I am sore. Tonight is a kettlebell workout.

Alena! We've missed you! :hug: Wow. I can totally empathize with what you have been through in packing up your home and putting it in the basement. You were wise to give yourself a break from working out during that time. So. Much. Work.

Mel: Loved your floor story. :rofl: Thanks for the description to the presses. I'm going to try it with a body bar first at the gym tomorrow. Can't wait!

Delpalma: Nice to see you too! Great video. Got it bookmarked into my favorites. Seriously need to begin investing in kettlebells. I'm missin' out.

Cheryl: :lol3: Pukie the Clown is awesome. Pics please if you can!

:wave: to everyone else. Hope you are having an awesome day!

Had a decent workout this morning. Picked DS2 up from kindergarten and took him out to lunch with some other mommies. DH called me on the cell to just touch base. We haven't been able to video chat for several days. He asked where I was and how the plans for our neighborhood party were coming. (I host the pre-trick or treat party every year) Ten minutes later, DH walks into the restaurant and stands next to me. (Total surprise! The man had to get up before the sun in order to be here.) I thought the other moms were going to cry. :love: So, DH is here to celebrate the holiday with us tonight. :dance:

Lydia - That is too sweet!

Good afternoon all.

Got in a great run at the park last night and a short but good workout this morning. Some DB exercises, some body weight exercises, some boxing and kicking on the bag... Planning some yoga tonight for some of the stiffness. Sunny and 71 here in Atlanta and I have windows in my office. Feeling pretty good today. No stomach issues since I stopped the Splenda and I'm happy about that, too. Woo hoo!

Lydia - That was very sweet of DH! I'm glad he will be here for your party!

Nelie - I keep perusing CF gyms, too... Sounds like you had a great workout last night, and another great one planned for tonight.

Cheryl - Pukie the Clown... :rofl: absolutely need pics. :high: on the 5#/2 increase!

Pat - Pretty puppies!

Mel - those squats sound terrifying. :) I tried a couple this morning with my PVC and that was hard enough. Didn't move up to any actual weight. :eek: How are you feeling today?

Alena - missed you! Good to see you! No spanking, just glad you got your stuff taken care of and are back. Sounds like your PF is doing better, I'm glad. And, right now we have no room for cars in the garage. The old Weider is over on the other side. When we find someone to take it, or have the oversized trash truck come get it, we will have the second side clear for someone to park in. Probably DH most of the time, as I was the one who wanted to put everything in the garage and I have lived mostly places without them my whole life anyway.

:wave: to Depalma and anyone else I missed. Good day all!

Ah, Alena, I'm not going to be the one to tell them their dog is overweight! :lol: She is a very sweet gentle dog, so nice.

Lydia - your DH is a real keeper! Have a fun weekend. We lived apart for a year while I went to graduate school, and I know it's not an easy thing to do.

We're about to replace the carpet in our bedroom - which is also DH's office. He will be doing it himself as it's carpet tiles. The furniture moving is going to be a bear however, and finding where to put it in our ~1650 SF house is going to be interesting. At least we don't have to empty closets as well.

Missed the gym the last two days, so I'm playing catch-up today. THese LB exercises, plus some HIIT cardio.

(1) Walking DB lunge 5x5
(2) Pistol 4 AMRAP
(3a) Trap bar / DB deadlift 3 x 9
(3b) Glute-ham raise negative 3 X 3-5
(3c) Swissball hip bridge into curl 3 x AMRAP
(4) BB back squat 2 x 20

Interestingly, I can do lots of the hip bridges since I did them for part of my knee physical therapy (strengthing the hamstring to balance the quads, which helps keep the patella from shifting...) I'm also getting much better at walking lunges balancewise. I still cannot go all the way to floor but at least I don't fall over anymore. :lol:

Mel - sorry to hear that so may people got laid off. Another friend of mine in Ohio worked at a good sized law firm that laid off about 25 people - including her (she worked in IT) - last week. I'm surprised to hear about so many layoffs now when "they" say things are starting to turn around. Our City Manager pledged some time ago that no one would be laid off. We might not fill vacant positions, but everyone would keep their job. It really helped morale.

Lydia, Shannon - :wave:
Lydia, so I take it your DH is already in Virginia and commuting to Ohio (on weekends)? Any news on the house front? I am so out of touch.

Pat,
No, don't tell them anything. I didn't mean to indicate that you should. I glad to hear that she is happy. Most greyhounds are very friendly and docile. When my dogs were kenneled for the weekend (each in a separate pen but I requested adjacent ones as cuddle together most of the time and I wanted to be sure Enta could see that Beetle Bug was nearby) the kennel owner (himself a dog breeder) commented how sweet and gentle they were - when he was letting the dogs out for potty/exercise, my dogs would always wait for each other and would not go unless the other one was there as well. Funny monkies.

Here is some last minute inspiration for you all:

Hi all,
A quick post from sunny spain. I am habing quite a lovely holiday. Exercise has been 2 x 30 mins of "random yoga" on the nds, Ithat is 2 x in the past dys total, not per day) and walking around as in walking to the beacj. And DD and I swam in the mediterrenean. Not very warm, but doable and the thought alone is so glorious: to be swimming in the meditarrenean at the end of october!
Food is horrible, We switched to daylight savings time plus the spanish have way different eating hours. I'll sse the damage when I''m back home next week.

Hi to everyone :wave:
Lydia: re dh: I second that he is a keeper.

Have a great day all,
Rabbit

Depalma- I should have known it was spelled wrong on the Cross Fit board. There is hardly anything that can't be found on Youtube! Doing it with a kettle bell actually looks easier, though not at that weight for me! The barbell requires an incredible amount of shoulder flexibility, and we were bringing it back down behind our heads...not one of my favorite moves! I fall over backwards during one set and was worried that I would appear on Youtube!

Shannon- If you can do it with the pvc pipe, that's pretty good. There were 2 out of 4 in the class who didn't have the flexibility to do the pvc. I'm more sore from the deadlifts still, thanks for asking :)

Today I did an all kettle bell w/o with one of the trainers at my regular gym who just got her cert in kettle bell training and wanted a w/o partner at lunch time. We had a lot of fun and a great workout, but as I was driving back to work, my left shoulder started hurting. Bad hurting. I didn't do anything new or even heavier, so I'm hoping it will be gone tomorrow.

Dh and I are going out for his much delayed birthday dinner. I have a feeling the next couple of days are not going to be on plan, BUT NO HALLOWEEN CANDY!!!!

Alena=- Thanks for the vote of confidence, but I don't think I could pull off ANYTHING that Heidi Klum wears! Dh and I are donning Canadian Tuxedos and our silly Maple Leaf hats. Does anybody else know what that is? :)

Mel

Mel, for added difficulty you could always try the "spinning" Sots press

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZMVYoXVvDY

I don't know how that would work with a barbell though. I also don't think Steve Cotter is from this planet.

:yikes:
Holy Batman!

Mel

I'll try it tomorrow....

Oh my gosh. Steve Cotter is absolutely insane. I would break my neck.

Here is a picture of some (healthy) pumpkin fiber muffins I made for the office for Halloween.
Originally, I wanted to make enough muffins for everybody but last night, I had to give in a cold that I have been fighting for a while. So I stopped at Tim Horton's on the way to work to supplement the healthy muffins with not so healthy donuts (but most guys at work prefer the donuts anyways).

Happy Halloween!

Alena

That looks like so much fun!!

I just had a great workout! There were 4 of us ladies with one trainer (2 of the ladies are good friends of mine). We flipped a tractor tire and swung a sledge hammer and did sled-push suicides among other fun and exciting things!

Yeehaw!!

Tomato, those muffins loook good!!! Recipe? Please!!!!

Happy Halloween guys! Just say NOOOOOO to Halloweeeeennnn Cannndddyy!!! (I said that in a spooky voice!)

Lydia, that is so sweet!

Rabbit, I am jealous! The Mediterranean?? Le sigh....

Hello everyone!

Hey peeps, sorry I didn't get to replies the last few days, I was just either short on time or sleep when I was posting.

Lydia, I agree, that was so sweet! I would have cried.

Rabbit, enjoy your trip! Cool about swimming, even though it was cold! :beach:

Alena, those muffins do look yummy! too bad I'm off the grains and such...grumble!

Depalma and Mel, that spinning one would just knock me on my keester, for sure. Mel can do it, I bet!

Pat, Birch, Shannon, anybody I'm forgetting. :wave:

The Halloween WOD Report:

When I walked in this morning, in my Pukie the Clown get-up, I was a little worried, because nobody else was there in costume. (gulp!) Thankfully, they started trickling in shortly after that. We had a lady pirate in a leather dress, a guy who dressed as Richard Simmons, his wife who dressed as a Rugby player, complete with missing teeth and a black eye, a cheerleader, and one guy was a creepy football coach, with polyester shorts on. Everybody worked out in their costume, if they wore one. I made it through most of my workout with the big cartoon hands on, except I had to take them off for the OH squats and knees-to-elbows. The clown nose wouldn't stay on for the workout, but stayed in place the rest of the time. I should have taken my own camera, but I forgot it this morning. My trainer did get some pics, though, so I'm sure there will be something on the website tomorrow. I skipped the clown make-up today, since I wasn't sure it would hold up to all the sweating, but I'm taking the boy TOTing tomorrow night, and will probably dress up again for that. We will get some pics for sure, to share. It was fun!

The WOD was a little of everything today, too much to list. It was a 21-15-9/3 rounds scheme, except just once through each exercise. There were wallballs, burpees, double unders, thrusters, squat cleans, tire slams (sledgehammer), um...well, there were nine exercises in all. Was more confusing than difficult, since it was hard to remember what was next on the list. 12:04 was my time, or something like that.

This is a copy of the email I posted on the mailing list I got the recipe from. That way I don’t have retype the comments. You can modify as you like. Cranberries are not on the ingredients list but I love them. I also added some raisins. I didn’t have ground so I used whole flax seed. Also, I don’t know if there is special Splenda for baking, I have the regular Splenda. In a pinch, I think they would also turn great with finely grated apple in place of muffin.

*******************

PUMPKIN PROTEIN FIBER MUFFINS

Ingredients:
3/4 c. all purpose brown rice flour (or flour of your choosing)
½ c. vanilla whey protein powder
5 Tbsp Splenda for Baking
2 Tbsp ground flaxseed
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
6 grams glucomannan
2 egg whites plus one medium egg
1 (15oz) can pumpkin puree
3/4 c. unsweetened applesauce
1/2 c. canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 c. chopped walnuts

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare a 12 cup muffin tin.
-In a large bowl, combine flour, whey, Splenda, flax, cinnamon, nutmeg, powder, soda, salt and glucomannan.
-Whisk well to combine and set aside.
-In medium bowl, combine egg whites, egg, pumpkin, applesauce, canola oil, vanilla and whisk to combine well.
-Add wet ingredients and walnuts to dry ingredients.
-Stir only until ingredients are barely combined.
-Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, dividing equally.
-Place in oven and bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.
-Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes in tins.
-Place on wire rack and let cool completely.

****************

I have never heard of glucomannan so I skipped that. I used only 1/4 cup of flour but I added some wheat germ. Also, I didn't have ground flax seed so I used whole, and I used slighly less Splenda because I hate when things are too sweet (but I used a bit more protein powder). My friends laugh at me because I modify recipes as I see fit even at the first try but this is probably the least modification I ever did. I use less sugar than what the recipe calls for in every recipe (North America has a huge sugar addiction, IMHO!) and it is just fine.

Enjoy
Alena


P.S. Rabbit - enjoy your vacation! I would love to swim in the Mediterranean even if it was cold.

I wonder how ground up oats would work, Tomato. What do you think?

I'm sure ground oatmeal would work- I use for almost everything.

I finally found a costume in the last 10 minutes. I'm dressed as "Dolly Parton who never made it off the farm cause she couldn't sing". Bib overalls, a plaid shirt, and a 38GGGGGGGGG neck roll pillow stuffed under my shirt and a blond curly wig.

Pictures someday :rofl:

:lol3: Have a great time Mel!

Great one, Mel! :rofl: Hope you had fun!

Strongman seminar is today. Should be fun, and tiring. I've got a couple of meals precooked, and I'm taking my tea making supplies, just in case I get a chance to make a cup of tea later. The seminar goes 8-4, then I have to get home and throw the boy in the van, take him out for TOT tonight. I'm tired just thinking about it, lol!

Just stopped in to say that the "Pukie" pics are up on my gym's website this morning:
http://www.rainiercrossfit.com/

OK, I did that spinning Stotts press with a FIVE pound weight. It was hard. Really hard. Changing the direction of rotation almost toppled me over. I may try a ten pounder when my shoulders recover :) :p

Mel's new stupid gym trick! Wonder if I can do it on a bosu????

So I do as I said, got out of the house to go to the gym this morning, and the freakin' wind had knocked their power out! Grrrr. DH wanted to go later, so he'll call and maybe if they have power we'll both go. :) I can do some stuff at home and hopefully they'll be open tomorrow. They open at 10 on Sundays, and I have to leave a little after one to go to a play... it'll be close.

Hi all,
I'm baaaaack!
Still a bit disoriented..that's what you get for getting up early to drive to the airport. Actually, the transit wasn't that bad...1 hr drive to the airport, 2.5 hour flight, 1 hour drive home. Idon't know what it is but travelling with the kids always makes mw nervous while traveling alone on a business trip does not.

I had a great holiday, I had not been to the coast of spain before and it was nicee: sunny, warm, there were palmtrees and cacti, we saw flamingos in the salt flat at calpe, and we went to the beach and swam in the mediterrenean.

Food and exercise wise of course iwas no good. I;m not even going to think about it. New week is starting tomorrow. I;m going to weigh in and I'm back on track as of tomorrow. Today I have to get my house in order, and also go to a birthday event of a good friend who is turning 50. Cacke and meal are included, so I'll have to watch myself.

Also, to get me into the recommitting mmood again, I'm thinking about getting rachel cosgroves book when it come s out in a couple of days. Anybody has an idea if it's good??

Good luck with the halloween challenges everyone.
cheryl- I did not recognise you in your clown outfit!

have a great halloween all,
Rabbit