Weight and Resistance Training - Novembah: the first half!

I didn't have ANY Halloween candy!!! Might be the first time ever :)

Welcome back to reality rabbit. Your holiday must have been wonderful.

I need a sunny holiday- it has rained every weekend here since June! More painting today, cardio and the usual Sunday chores.

How is everyone?

Mel

Food's good.
Cardio's good.

I must lift twice a week! I must!!!

Morning, ladies! :wave:

Mel, WTG with the halloween candy. My food was good yesterday, except for the brownies at the strongman cert, and 2 mini Mounds bars the boy gave me from his trick-or-treating loot bag. NBD, back on plan today, and Halloween was fun.

SusanB, great to hear from you. What type of lifting program are you liking these days? Maybe putting in something new would help with the motivation, or just including one lift or two right in with your cardio days, as a way to get started again? That's definitely one advantage of going to a CF gym, I never have to plan my workout, I just have to go in, and do whatever is on the white board. I do get to plan my warm-up, so that's just enough freedom that I can practice what I like, then my trainer makes sure we're all doing what's good for us, whether we want to or not. :D

Rabbit, your vacation sounds great! I've heard good things about Spain, but have never been, probably never will, so I'll live vicariously through you! :lol: The clown costume was scary, but fun. I think my favorite parts were doing barbell squat cleans and burpees with the huge cartoon hands on. It was entertaining, at least!

For Lydia, the Strongman seminar report from yesterday:
We had a little sit-down/lecture bit for each implement/movement, maybe 5 or 10 minutes, which included a demo of how to use the implement, faults to avoid, etc, then we all got up and spent the rest of about an hour doing hands-on with the implements/movements.

We covered:
Stones: shouldering and then loading onto a platform (the Strongman Mammogram, lol!)
Log: clean and press or jerk to overhead
Yoke: walk with yoke
Farmer's handles: farmer's walk
Tire: tire flip

The gym owners cooked us up a big lunch of chicken or burgers, salad, and brownies for lunch...I had the chicken and it was yummy...so was the brownie...twice! There were about half a dozen strongman competitors there, besides my trainer and his partner who were putting on the seminar, so we all got plenty of pointers and some great coaching. I learned a lot, finally got the smallest tractor tire flipped, twice, without dropping it, though I still can't just flip it repeatedly like the pros do. This seminar was more about how to spice up your CF workouts, using strongman implements and movements, than it was about educating CFers who want to do strongman. This is actually right up my alley, because while I want to do the charity event next year, if I can, that my gym puts on, I don't think I especially want to become a regular strongman competitor. Mostly, I just think the strongman stuff is fun to play with, and I like lifting heavy. I'm not a fan of the speed element of the strongman competitions, though, which is why I will probably never get into it as a competitive sport. At the end of the seminar, we had our choice of three workouts, and I picked this one:
Run 300
Stone (loading) Series 60#/93#/100#/100# (load those 4 stones onto the platform)
Run 300
10 Log Push Press/Jerk (the log is 90#, and I can't do 10 with a good time, so I subbed PP with the fat barbell at 63#)
Run 300
Farmer's Walk 100 ft with 2x75# farmer's handles
My time was 8:13. I was happy with that, since I seemed to be right in there. I always feel like the slowest person in the gym, even though I'm not any more, but this time it was me and a bunch of fire breathing trainers, KWIM? Oh, the CF mainsite guys were there, filming, so maybe in a couple of months, when they get the footage all edited and up on the CF journal, you can see me on a video! No autographs, please! :lol3:

Well, I'd better take my stupid self to the gym. Time to wave my magic gym-fairy wand and spiff the place up for Monday morning. I'm going in early today, since we trashed the gym, and so I can get home at a decent hour. Today is the boy's (my son's) 13th birthday, so we've got a movie date planned for this evening. I told him that from now on, I'm getting him a razor, deodorant and a tie for every birthday and Christmas. :devil: He didn't think that was funny, not even a little! :D

:wave: I'm back too! Feeling a little odd (over-training? no time to myself? not enough protein? not enough training?) but it will pass.

Good to see you, Susan! And congrats on the body-shrinking you've got going on! Yes, lifting is part of what you should be doing.

Hello, everyone else. I'll be back tomorrow. I plan a gym sesh.

Real Quick Fly By:

Cheryl: The Strongman clinic sounds awesome thanks for the details. I find that type of lifting fascinating and a little intimidating. Rocks don't have a specific shape which is the added challenge. I'm kind of fond of the predictable shape of dumb bells and plates. :lol: The meal sounds wonderful. I'm sure you all deserved more than one or two of those brownies. :hungry: Oh and happy birthday to DS! This is a big milestone birthday. Welcome to the teen years!

Susan :wave: Great to see ya! Yes, you must lift at least twice a day oh...wait, week. :lol:

Mel: No candy?! Amazing. I've had more than I care to admit. The stuff lived in my garage for a week, no problem. Kids brought in their spoils and it's right in plain view. I MUST move it somewhere else. I also am getting rid of all the post party stuff. Threw out the rest of the cheesecake, pretzels, cookies, etc. I just can't have it in the house. It's usually not that much of a temptation for me but right now I'm tired with more on my plate than I want and I just can't have anything around me right now that I could mindlessly eat or excuse away.

Excitedly waiting my light box. Got my book and green tea ready for my first session. :sunny:

Hi everybody!

Cheryl ... yup, working something in between cardio. We're in a renovation mess here. I've got all my dumbells and could easily do upper b one day and lower the other. If I shifted a bunch of stuff, I could get at my bench ;)

Food's good.
Cardio's good.

I must lift twice a week! I must!!!

We need to get together Susan. My food's good, my lifting is good. My cardio is not....

Oy, I need a rest day from my rest day! There was a lot of heavy stuff to shuffle around the gym yesterday, just putting things back together for Monday morning. It was like a metcon of strongman and cleaning, that lasted 4 hours. :lol3: I had fun, though, really..I like going down there by myself. It's actually kind of nice...no kids, no dogs, no laundry or dishes, just me, a cup of tea, and a gym full of toys...dirty, chalked up toys, but still! :beach:

The DST has me all messed up. Could not figure out why I was up at 4 and 4:30 this morning, till I was awake enough to realise it was just the time change, so I got up anyway, and enjoyed the 'free' hour with a cup of tea. Time to feed dogs now, and get to the gym for whatever the Monday morning torture is. :D

PS- forgot to do replies...guess I need more caffeine than I thought! (smack the forehead!) I'll catch up when I get back! :wave:

I just can't get my head around personal replies ... forgive me? I read you all ... seriously I do! You impress me much!

Pat ... plunk an elliptical in front of the TV. In this small house, I can't make a move without seeing the thing! ... works for me.

Were is my light box! :tantrum:

Estimated arrival gave a week and that week is almost up. :kickcan:

Cheryl: It sounds like you are really enjoying the CrossFit life. :goodvibes:

No workout here today. Psuedo rest. Spent the morning at the library studying. DS1 doesn't mind. It's one of his favorite haunts.

...that box better show up this afternoon. :snooty:

Hi all,

Susan - so good to see you back! Re: ideas for lifting, I did the first stages of NRWL a while back and that was nice. A lot of unusual moves & lifts. maybe the change will put the fun back into lifting for you. the program alternates A and B workouts, so you could do an A and a B each week.

Mel - :high: on no halloween candy

Cheryl - LOL on the BD presents for DB. I actually did give my son his first razor as a present a coupe of years back. Now if I look at him i cannot believe that giant is my son.

Pat - I have an elliptical in front of the new Tv downstairs, and a rowing machine in the attic in front of the old TV...it works!

I was hungry today...finished my lunch sandwich an hour before lunch.Getting back to reality after my holiday, and still adjusting to the DST time shift.
Exercise today: 1 hour biking to and from work + 1 hour power.

have a great day all,
rabbit

Good morning! Well, good afternoon by now...

No strength training since Thursday am other than some heavy duty yoga here and there. Long run at the park on Sunday and my calves are killing me... I experimented with striking on the balls of my feet instead of my heels. Felt great yesterday, today calves hurt something fierce. Planning some kind of workout when I get home, could be isolated to upper body only... Not sure what to do... Eeek.

Susan - welcome! Yes, must lift weights twice per week! For me, it is 'must get in some yoga twice per week' as my current mantra. :)

Cheryl - DST always throws me off, too. I was starving to death this morning by breakfast and again by lunch. My body thought I was well overdue for food by then! The strongman thing sounds pretty cool, by the way! Happy 13th to the boy!

Lydia - I know I remember references to light boxes earlier on in the discussion but can't remember the why's. What do you use it for? SAAD? I cleaned out my candy drawer at home this weekend and threw away candy from last Halloween. I opened some to look at it and it was pretty icky after a year of getting hot and then hardening back up... :eek: Made me less likely to want even the newer stuff today...

Birch - welcome back! Glad you had a good trip.

Mel - we have had a lot of rain here, too, but the weekends have split a few times. It was actually sunny here yesterday...

Rabbit - I almost didn't make it until lunch for my salad...

Good day everyone! :wave:

I'm definitely thinking a split workout today that doesn't really involve my legs.... Stretching up onto my toes is fine, squatting, seems to be fine, I even did some yoga this morning with downward facing dog. All fine. What hurts like heck is when I try to point my toes downward and when walk forward and land down on the balls of my feet. As that is what I overdid it makes sense that would be what hurts... :( I got a workout routine for a 3 day and a 4 day split from stumptuous.com but they both start with legs. Is it okay to start with day 2 and come back and do the leg day later in the week?

Is it okay to start with day 2 and come back and do the leg day later in the week?

Of course - it's really your program, isn't it? :)

You guys have an exagerated idea of the size of my living room. There's not room for a coffee table, never mind an elliptical! Not that I have one..... Really, our house is 24'x28' (each of two stories), with a 200 sq room in between the floors, for a total of 1544 sf. The living room holds a wood stove, a wood box, a TV on a stand of the same width, a couch and an easy chair. If I move the chair back there's enough room for me to lay on the floor (and I'm 5'4") to do yoga, so maybe 6-6.5' of space. We do have an exercise bike in one end of DH's shop downstairs, but (a) I hate it and (b) it's not near a TV.

This week I'm doing my workouts in reverse order, as I missed Day 3 last week, and I have more momentum the beginning of the week. It's a UB workout, so i'm also adding an HIIT session which is scheduled for tomorrow, but I have a budget presentation to do starting at 6pm.

Dynamic warm-up
(1a) Bent-over alternating DB row 3 x 9
(1b) Slight-incline alternating DB press 3 x 9
(2a) Lean away supinated grip cable pulldown 2 x 12
(2b) Standing seesaw press 2 x 12
(3a) Dips 3 x 8
(3b) Seated close-neutral cable row 3 x 8
(3c) Cable push-pull 3 x 8

I was thinking about Pat when I was moving furniture so that I could stretch out on the floor ;)

LBWO this morning. Calf raises, deadlifts, squats and some things I remember from "Buns of Steel". I had two ten pounders but had to ditch one (once in while) to correct my form. I'm a bit rusty. Really had to use that mind-in-the-muscle thing.
I think I used to do one-legged calf raises with a plate in my arm ... not today!

I'll drag an actual barbell in here sooner or later.

Good morning!

Pat - thanks for the reminder that it is my program! I get so set on pattern and structure that I will sometimes follow the prescribed course even when it isn't a good idea. It wreaks havoc with my cooking sometimes... I have a really hard time thinking outside the lines...

Susan - sounds like a good workout this morning!

Mel - I believe I remember reading that you used a bosu? I'm putting one on my Christmas list but can't decide which one to get. There is one that has a frame included with a rail. Do you recommend that or just go for the one that doesn't have that prop?
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41tO7l20IZL._SL500_AA280_.jpg

I did some stretching last night with a pretty generic total body warmup, the calves can handle most activity, it is just the walking motion that is hard. I did some squats and lunges in the warmup, and while they twinged a little they didn't actually hurt. Focused on UB for the workout. Used the stumptuous workout plus a little playing on the new Weider. Started out really light on the exercises on the machine because I wasn't sure of my form yet. The workout called for dips or assisted dips, had to use my parrallettes (feet propped up on a bench for most, can't do them with my knees pulled up or legs unsupported yet...) for this, because I don't have dip handles on the new Weider. I think it is an optional part I can buy. Are the parrallette dips a good substitute for the dip handles or is there a better exercise to sub in there?

_________________________________________
DB Press - 3x10, 15 lb DBs
Standing shoulder press - 3x10, 15 lb DBs
Dip - 3x10
Ab curl - 3x10
Butterfly - 2x10, 20lb + weight of carriage
Lat pulldown - 2x10, 20lb + weight of carriage

5 of an exercise I cant remember the name of - I stood on my knees on the bench facing towards the head of the bench, hooked my feet under the pads, crossed my arms over my chest and lowered myself down to lying flat on my face on the bench and raised back up using my legs to pull. I was trying to stretch my tight quads and hamstrings without killing my calves. I think I got it from one of Pat's workouts. :)

Good day everyone!

So here's a link to my 15 minutes of fame in our small-town paper Library Article (http://frontiersman.com/articles/2009/11/03/valley_life/doc4aefc89216d84323283228.txt)The photographer was threatening (jokingly) that he could change my hair color to anything I wanted. I guess I'm just used to being gray now.....

5 of an exercise I cant remember the name of - I stood on my knees on the bench facing towards the head of the bench, hooked my feet under the pads, crossed my arms over my chest and lowered myself down to lying flat on my face on the bench and raised back up using my legs to pull. I was trying to stretch my tight quads and hamstrings without killing my calves. I think I got it from one of Pat's workouts.

It is in my LBWO for this 4 week session. It's called a glute-ham negative raise. I'm always afraid I'll fall on my face. :lol:

I had a good UBWO myself. I was able to up my weights on some things:
(1a) Bent-over alternating DB row 3 x 9 @ 25 lbs
(1b) Slight-incline alternating DB press 3 x 9 @ 20 lbs
(2a) Lean away supinated grip cable pulldown 2 x 12 @ 65 lbs
(2b) Standing seesaw press 2 x 12 @ 10 lbs
(3a) Dips 3 x 8 (assisted at 120 - better, but still a lot of assistance)
(3b) Seated close-neutral cable row 3 x 8 @70 lbs
(3c) Cable push-pull 3 x 8 @ 30lbs on the low side; 40 lbs on the high

Amazingly I can still lift my arms with only a little pain :) The cardio was poor however, what my DH calls a "place holder." If our city council meeting is short tonight - and it should be - I'll go to the gym and see if I can't get a better cardio workout done.

Susan - I'll tell you it doesn't take long to vacuum a house that small......

Shannon - I've never seen a bosu with a rail. When I've used one at the gym or physical therapy I've just put it close to something I could grab when I lost my balance. I can see good and bad points about the rail. Is it removeable?

:wave: Another person who lives in a tiny house here. I'll measure it to compare, Pat! It may not take long to vacuum but that doesn't mean it happens very often, I'm afraid! Small houses are cheaper to keep warm, of course.

But you do have to move the furniture quite a lot.

How's it going, everyone?

Light box, Lydia?

Nice pic in the paper, Pat.

Shannon - bosu on the Christmas list is a great idea.

Rabbit - have you got terrible winds and rain? It's very bad biking weather here.

Susan - you impress me too, my dear.

Cheryl - you are going great guns.

Mel - are you there or painted into a corner?

Shannon - I've never seen a bosu with a rail. When I've used one at the gym or physical therapy I've just put it close to something I could grab when I lost my balance. I can see good and bad points about the rail. Is it removeable?

Looks like it is removable, is a standard bosu without it.

I like looking at your workouts, Pat. They inspire me. :) I actually printed out days 1 & 2 when you posted the links to those so I could look them up later and try to remember them. Of course then I forgot where I put them...

Pat, that's a nice article, and you look great in the picture! My son and his friends always meet up at our library, too. They practically spend the whole summer there, and weekends in the winter. They meet up there, get on the computers, walk over to buy some fast food lunch nearby, go back, read books, etc. It's definitely a gathering place for a lot of kids around here. I'm glad to hear that your library is getting the support of the city council.

Lydia, I hope you get your lightbox, soon. The darkness doesn't affect me that way in winter, but I know my sister Sue and my BIL both have a hard time with it, as they are newer here, and come from sunnier parts of the world.

Speaking of shorter daylight hours, though, I'd better get on the road. Have to put up a shelter for my sister's dog today, since it's probably going to be raining after tomorrow, and the DST stole and hour of daylight off my afternoon, dangit!

Today at the CF gym was a focus/skills practice day. Our assignment was to do max (baccar) ladders, max handstand holds, and max L-sits, 3 tries each. I'm not that good at any of those, so I just practiced them. Big news: I got to the top of the baccar ladder and back down, for the first time ever...twice! Still no luck on the handstand kick-up to the wall, but I did some walk-ups so I could do the handstand holds. L-sits are still pretty short, but improving a little each time.

On my own, I practiced double unders with the jumprope. I can get 2 in a row now, pretty consistently. I seem to start jumping at a faster pace when I start spinning the rope faster, so I need to focus on getting my feet to quit trying to keep up with my hands! I'm planning to practice these every day till I get them.

I also practiced some ring dips with a blue band, to see if I could do them. I can do 2 or 3 before I fall off, but that's an improvement. I also tried the "iron cross" on the rings, with a cheat I saw on the Crossfit Journal recently: you put your arms through the straps that support the rings, then grip the rings like you do for a dip...going through the straps gives some extra support. Then you jump to support, rings close to your hips/sides, then with straight arms, try to lower yourself...the iron cross is like a T with the arms straight out to the side. I couldn't do that, but did about 1/3 of that a few times, then could get almost to halfway and back to support...not too shabby for a first try, I think. :D

Okay, off to work. :wave: to everybody! and one of these :grouphug:!

Shannon, the one above is actually Day 3. I decided to do them in reverse order this week as I missed Day 3 last week and wanted to be sure I got it done. Besides I like UB the best - doesn't bother my knees at all. :)

Cheryl - you are one :crazy: woman! :lol: Doing iron crosses on the rings?! Yikes.

I'm here, just totally swamped with construction disaster after disaster. We woke up to a flooded kitchen (and an entire ceiling that needs to be replaced) on Saturday morning and that was kind of the high point of the last 4 days :p Luckily we found the offending screw through the pipe and the contractor is taking full responsibility. I was captive in an offsite company meeting from Sunday evening until 5 pm Monday- just enough time to race out of the city to get to CF. I did manage my 45 elliptical session at the hotel. Gotta love hotel gyms- at least they had really good precor ellipticals.

Cheryl- I never thought of using a band to assist on ring dips! That's brilliant. I can do 2 before I fail totally.

Lydia- did the light box arrive? I know mine helps.

Pat- You look great in the picture :) Nice article.

Shannon- The parallete dips are a good sub. If you have 2 medicine balls the same size, you can use them for dips and it introduces a little bit of instability for which you have to compensate. And get the plain BOSU!!! You will love it :devil::devil:

Welcome back, Susan!

I wasn't sure I'd be able to finish tonight's CF workout. I had to modify.

10 handstand pushups (I did 4 shakey ones before I switched to feet on a box, pike position pushups. Thought I would break my neck on #5 if I attempted it.)
20 yard lunges holding a 10 pound plate over head with locked arms
30 kettlebell Russian swings (high) with 35 pd bell
40 double unders or 160 jump ropes.

5 rounds for time.

I can't do double unders, so did a total of 800 jumps rope jumps :p:p:p:p:p
I also modified the handstand pushups (only 2 people could do them). One high school girl did ALL of hers. The other guy had to switch to a box midway through.

I can consistently get the handstands now, but the flexing my elbows part is terrifying!

Of to bed for me.

Mel

Nope. No box yet and it was supposed to be delivered by today. Eh. So I learn patience once again. I want it more for increased energy in the afternoon. Although I'm beginning to consider that we are supposed to slow down a pace in the fall in winter. :chin: Perhaps I shouldn't be messing with the natural rhythm of things. :dunno: I'll let you know how it goes...

PAT! LOVE THE PHOTO and INTERVIEW. Thank you so much for sharing this with us. It's so much fun to catch a glimpse of who we are in our other lives. :lol: You look great and HAPPY! It must be all those great workouts from PN right?

So the studying continues. I stayed home today and I feel pretty solid about the material I've covered so far. Only oh, I don't know, fifteen more chapters to go. :lol3:

It amazes me the difference in material that is covered between the two certs. (I probably should go into too much detail here) but I'm glad that I'm getting both.

One is much more detailed with respect to how the different systems work in the body. I was just one step away from sitting for the MCAT. For real. But programming...not so much.

The other cert just kind of gives you the very broad scope of how the heart/lungs/ muscle structure etc but does a better job with programming for the type of clients I want to work with.

My notes are crazy. I have two different definitions/stats for things each cert covers in common followed by their acronym. Otherwise I would make a mistake during the exam. Things like average bpm for one is considered 60 to 80 bpm, the other is 70 to 80. Another example is that one includes the larynx as part of the upper respiratory system, the other does not. :crazy: What am i doing....:rofl:

Have a great evening everyone!

Ack! Mel, your projects sound stressful. And yet, she eats no Halloween Candy. Amazing. Isn't she just amazing folks? :hug:

Pat! That's a smile that makes me smile! Nice article.

My food was sooo good today! I'll have to examine it in the morning to see how I can tweak my macro's just a wee little bit.

Thanks, all. I'm very happy with the way it came out. Of course there was a camera a foot from my face, and my deputy director and admin asst doing silly things to make me laugh.... I'm standing at a counter in our work room. The books behind me are actually duplicate books we store, and not our circulating books.

Lydia, hope the light helps you. My DH swears by his. ANd what's funny is that he'll sit there during/after breakfast with the light on, and one cat comes, sits on his lap and looks at it with him. :shrug:

Finished my budget presentation okay, but now I have a list of informational stuff the city council wants... sigh. Plus I'm supposed to be finishing up two grant applications and providing our phone company with information for their part of a federal grant we get for discounted phone service. I did at least get to look at book reviews and pre-order a books for a couple hours this afternoon. :) The very best part of my job.

Good morning!

My workout last night was mostly cardio, 10 mins of random warm up, 20 mins of kickboxing, 30 mins on the elliptical. Today may or may not be an off day depending on time, have to get DSS from daycare after work so might not get a good workout in. At the very least I'm doing some yoga after the boys go to bed. I gave in and wore tennis shoes instead of dress shoes to work today because I'm tired of not being able to walk every time I stand up. :mad: I'm stretching my feet and calves as I sit, so I'm hoping that plus the shoes will help. Of course, now I find I may have to go to the DOL for an appeal interview this afternoon in my casual tennis shoes and polo instead of what I normally wear to their offices. Blah.

Pat - glad the budget presentation went well, sorry about all the extra work it seems to have brought you! :dizzy:

Lydia - hope your light comes soon. Let me know how it works for you, I've considered ordering one myself.

Mel - that workout looks like fun. :devil: I still can't effectively do a handstand, much less a handstand pushup. Good for you for the four you did!

Cheryl - I second the 'wow' on the iron cross on the rings.

Silver - feeling better today? I think I read in another thread that you were wiped out in the last few days?

Good day everyone! :wave:

Mel, sorry to hear about the flood. That's no fun.

I have been fighting a really nasty cold since last week's Wednesday. A week later, I am only little better - it finally culminated on Monday and I am making only baby steps of improvement but I will take that. The colds are getting nastier and nastier. I never had problem with my sinuses but this time, my left sinus felt totally cemented up. I am still in the sniffly stage and I don't even remember how to get to the gym. That's terrible. The worse part is that I am feeling too miserable to care. Hopefully it will change for the better soon. Weather is supposed to be nice on the weekend - I still need to do some garden clean up - leaves are mostly gone now, so at least I don't have to worry about that any more.

How come we are now doing a thread for 2 weeks only?

Hi all,

Mel - ouch on the flooding and construction disasters. I hope stuff is going OK now. Great work on the handstand pushups!

Cheryl - sounds like a superman wo!

Pat - great picture & great article.

Birch-lots of storm & rain today..I whimped out and did not bike. Luckily, because an afternoon meeting planned for 1 hour went on for much longer, and I was pretty tired when I finally could go home.

:wave: susan, shannon, alena & all the others
No good today: did not bike to work yesterday, and also not today, had a very long day at the office wo my afternoon snack, so when I finally came home I overate and had wine to unwind before dinner. Tomorrow is another day to make up for this...I'll have to work a bit at home, but before that I'm planning on a lifting session.

Have a great day all,
Rabbit

Alena- the threads were getting really long for the whole month. I just like to break them up if they go over 5 or 6 pages. Over the years, we've done weekly threads, monthly thread, bi-monthly threads. It really depends on the level of participation and chattiness at any given time.
Sorry you are so sick and for so long. It's going around here too. Have some chicken soup with lots of garlic. Actually the most sinus clearing experience I ever had was at an Indian restaurant in Toronto where an Indian co-worker took me when I was stuffed up for a week or so as you have described.

Every inch of me is sore from overhead squats. That was our entire workout :dizzy:

Cheryl- I tried the band for rings dips and was scolded :rofl: Trainer's reasoning was that if you fail doing it that way, you can rip your shoulder to shreds. His alternative is toes on a box, with knees bent and progressively put less and less weight on your toes. My problem is that if there is a cheat, I use it. Bad Mel.

Sore, tired Mel is going to bed.

Got in a short UB workout after the boys went to bed, day 3 from the 3 day split I found on stumptuous. Day 2 was first, day 1 is planned for Friday. Legs are feeling a lot better so planning on trying the park tomorrow, where I'll be back to running on my heels I believe. :dizzy:

Mel - ouch! Get some rest tonight!

Alena - I feel like I've been fighting congestion all summer, too. Hope you feel better.

Rabbit - tomorrow is a new day. :hug:




tonight's workout
______________________________________

deadlift - 3x10, 65lb
pullup (assisted by my foot on the bench, have to get some bands) - 3 x amrp, in my case 4,4,6. The last two on that 6 were weak...
Db row - 3x10 per side, 15 lb
back extension - 3x 10
25 crunches to round it off, not on list.

Arghhh. I ran out of steam at the end of the work day. I argued long with myself and went to the gym on one of those try-it-for-15-minutes. Well I lasted a little longer than that. Did a short elliptical warm-up, some squats in the machine (can't say on the machine as you almost climb in and lay down), and started my Day 2 workout. Got to the parts that need the ball, and - poof - the two smaller ones were gone! Their resting stands were there, but no balls in sight. I looked everywhere, and then took it for a sign and came home. I hope I'm just having a blah day. We have one sick employee, and I don't want to be the next. I'm going to cook a reasonably healthy pasta dinner (2 oz only!) with some turkey and greens and relax for the evening.

hi all,

Feeling a bit better today. I'm working from home today, so i can plan things as I like. Put in 1 hr wo this morning ( 15 mins threadmill & 45 mins lifting) and I'm still walking around in my wo clothes. Also, I'm planning a luxurious nap this afternoon, planning another 30 mins or 1 hr workout & some more work in the evening.

DD is home too, feeling a bit sick from the flushot. I had mine at work 2 weeks ago, and i also was unfit for a couple of days. I hope she'll be OK soon.

Mel, Cheryl - I looked at a crossfit webpage to see what's up. OMG. You guys are like superwomen to even go there. WOW!

Hi to everyone :wave:

Birch - is this your rain and storm we are having right now???

Have a great day all,
rabbit

Pat: Your workouts are very challenging and you've been mostly consistent. Please don't be too down upon yourself that your motivation is waning a bit. You did the right thing, went in, gave it your best for that day and moved on. A little rest, a good meal and you can hit it again another day.

Sometimes I have sessions like these too. It's either one of a few things. Sometimes its a precursor to a cold/virus. Other times it's a signal that I've been working out without a plan/goal for too long and I need to get my act together. Or, when I am working really hard toward a goal and forget to back off, it's an early sign of burnout for me. Just wanted you know, it's okay to have an off day...just not an off year.

Busy week here. Still studying, playdates, sleep overs volunteering, dr appointments for kids/cat etc. All those things that somehow find a spot on my calendar. No workout this week so far and I'm feeling frayed. I'm :devil: bent on forging through with my study materials. When this is behind me I'll have so much more time to catch up on all the projects around me. :goodvibes:

No light box yet... just in case you all are wondering.

Mel, sorry to hear he wouldn't let you use the band. At our gym, you start with jump-to-support, just jump up and hold, then negatives. When you can do that and be stable, then you can use a band, to start beefing up your ring dips. You loop one end of the band over the bottom of one of the rings, just like you'd hook it to a pull-up bar, then put a hand on that ring, just twist the ring so you can grip the bottom of it, the band is just behind that. Other hand threads through the loose end of the band, so the band lays over the back of the wrist, grab the second ring, and stick ONE knee into the band, other stays free, rings are low so you can step down with the free leg easily if you start to lose balance, otherwise you can bend the free leg, pinch the knees together, and do your dips. Sometimes folks leave the free leg straight at first, if they're nervous about the balance thing. Another pre-step to this one is to do band assisted dips on the dip bars, same set-up with the band, but it's a little more stable, to build up the strength for dips. If your dip bars are stable, you can put both knees into the band, otherwise leave one free, but maybe with that set-up, your trainer wouldn't have a cow? It seems pretty safe to me, and I'm not a gymnast by any means. I'm with you on the box/bent knees trick...I have a hard time not using too much leg assist.

I'd better go. The WOD today is supposed to be running. I was expecting heavy lifting, but our trainer is gone today, and the fill-in doesn't have the skill to run a max lifting day. :( I just ran long yesterday, long for what I'm used to lately, so I might just skip the workout today. I still have to go in, though, since we're all meeting up to unload a moving truck today. I'm actually thinking of taking a week off from the gym. I know! :eek: But, the housework and projects at home are piling up, so I may need to take the gym out of the picture, just long enough to get things organized again and get that stuff back on track/scheduled. I really don't want to go into the holiday seasonal madness with my yard overgrown and the house a wreck. I'm not sure if I'd take a rest week from working out, or just workout at home. On the one hand, I have not had a rest week at all since I started in March, except one time I was sick, but not a planned rest, on the other hand, I'm afraid of getting out of the habit of daily workouts, KWIM?

Shannon, meant to say that I haven't had luck with the pose running, either, but really, I don't care so much about my run times. It's fun to PR, and I work on speed just so I can get the runs done faster in my workouts/get it over with, but for myself, I prefer a long, slow run, just for recharging the old batteries, and enjoying myself...sprinting is just not my idea of fun.

Mel,
Thanks for the tip - I may get a spicy takeout from an Indian place tonight, it would be worth it. I have a feeling it's getting worse instead of getting better - I can hardly breathe and nothing is coming out (Sorry, that's TMI) and I am getting worried.

I envy you all for being able to get some exercise. I am getting rounder by the minute.

Have a good day everybody. It's cold here and rain mixed with a bit of snow but it won't last. Tomorrow should be better and the weekend should be unseasonally warm - I have promised my dogs long walks (if I am still alive on the weekend). :p

Morning. I'm still feeling very tired this morning. I don't know if I'm getting sick (though no other symptoms) or if it's the time change. It's hard for me to fathom that I was getting up at 5:15 in the summer, when now it's all I can do to get up at 6:45 (after the alarm goes off a 6:30). I'm going to try again tonight to finish the LBWO. Hopefully the balls have come home. :) I have a quilt guild meeting at 6:30, so I'm thinking I'll leave work about 1/2 hour early and I should be fine.

Alena - hope the Indian food helps. How about a sauna or steam bath? Any access to either? Not to work about not getting the exercise when you're sick.

Cheryl - a week off will be helpful mentally. I know how it is to feel that your life is out-of-control. Taking time to do the home stuff will let you go back to daily exercise feeling much better.

Lydia - I'm sure that being a single mom is a job in itself. Have you taken your house off the market?

Rabbit - take care of yourself. Working at home is a good option for scheduling your time the way that works best for you. I take it the weather is still nasty?

We are having temperatures in the 30's (zero-ish for you centigrade folks). It's cloudy and windy, but no snow yet. Good thing, as I couldn't get an appt to have my snow tires installed until Nov 16. :lol:

Quick hello from the BB.

Rabbit - there could be more on the way! It has been Torrential here. Such a delight to have the new garden room rather than the 10-bucket conservatory!

Cheryl - go on, have a week off from working out. Head off BurnOut at the Pass. Dear, oh dear, imagine burnout in the middle of holiday frenzy!!

I can talk. I have DOMS in my neck & shoulders after a v mild weights session on Wed. Always happens after I've had more than a week off (it was probably 10 days).

Hi to all. Have to go and run a bath for the DB (complicated trade-off involved ... keeps the wheels turning).

Chin chin (or should that be chin up chin up?) :rofl:

UBWO went something like this shoulder press, hammer curls, bench press, bent over rows, shrugs and finished out my timer with after-a-fashion push-ups ;)
Still just using 5 and 10 pounders but form feels good.
I know it's not good to walk away from weights for long but this is fun! It's new and exciting again.

Hey ladies. I've had a productive day today. Unloading the moving truck went well, and took maybe and hour and a half...we stayed on for about 30 minutes after, since our hostess had laid out some healthy snacks, and so we could chat, then we got out of there to let them have some peace. Great folks.

I got home about 12:30, and wasn't worn out, since I'd finally decided to take today as a rest day (except for the moving truck wod, lol). I ran errands to pay the electric bill and got a slightly overdue haircut, then splurged on a vivanno at the starbucks (fruit smoothie thing). :beach: Came home and got a bunch done on rescuing the house, with more to follow tomorrow, along with some outside chores that are due.

Still haven't decided about the rest week. I think I will wait and ask my (main) trainer, since he'll be back on Saturday. I'm a bit nervous about taking a week off CF, because it just doesn't take long at all to lose ground, although full recovery is sounding good, too, and I'm sure that mentally, it would help. :chin: In the meantime, I'll keep working out. Tomorrow is going to be Cindy, which is 20 mins of squats, pull-ups and push-ups. That actually sounds good, though I'm sure the 20 minutes will feel like forEVER about ten minutes in, lol.

Susan, glad to hear that you are enjoying the weights again! I am constantly trying to find new and interesting stuff to work into my warm-ups, to keep the enthusiasm high.

Birch, :wave: I'll see what my trainer thinks about the week off. He might have some sort of middle of the road solution I'm not thinking of...working out at home or maybe a backing off phase, so I don't lose too much ground with my fitness.

Alena, let us know if the Indian food works. Hopefully you'll be cleared up and back to the workouts soon. Usually, I just keep working out, since running actually seems to help loosen things up for me, but it could be I'm making connections when it's just a coincidence.

Okay, I'd better roust the boy and get him started on his bedtime routine, vacuum the floors quickly, and get myself ready for bed. I'm pretty tired, from the time change I think, since my sleep pattern has been a bit off.

:wave: Still here!

I just finished cardio and am having weird out of body experiences :o

Can't decide if it's sort of fun or I should go to the ER.

OH Mel! Come back and tell us how that turned out will ya?

Mel, are you Ok???

Also wondering if Mel is okay...

Good LB workout(from stumptuous.com) for me this morning, actually used my new squat rack. Of course, I keep banging into things, so now I need to see if there is a YouTube video on how to use a squat rack. :dizzy:

Random warm ups, including lots of jump rope
Squats - 3x10, 30# (DBs), 45#, 55#
Split squats - 3x10, 15# DB per hand
Stiff legged deadlift - 3x10, 55#, 65#, 75#
Calf raise - 3x10, 45# all three

By the time I got to the calf raise I was having a hard time getting the bar up and over my head, so it stayed the same all three. :)

Good weekend everyone! :wave:

Good workout Shannon. :strong:

As I mentioned over in maintainers, I fell yesterday and twisted my knee (and wounded my dignity :lol: ) so I took yesterday and most likely today off. It's feeling better so I'm aiming for tomorrow to be back at it. :)

Hope Mel hasn't sloped off to a parallel universe somewhere....

A parallel universe has GOT to be better than the one I'm currently in! I continued feeling really weird most of the day. It was like a little brain tingle-pass out type feeling that only last a second or two. Kind of like if you have low blood pressure and stand up too quickly. Maybe that's what it was, but it was happening when I was waling around, driving, sitting at my desk. The only time it didn't happen was when I was on the elliptical and when I lifted at lunch time. OK, so some people may think that wasn't such a hot idea, but I finally NAILED the form on a power clean and a hang clean squat. :) :strong:

At some point in the late afternoon I realized it wasn't happening anymore. But by that time I was brain fried from having a month's worth of work to do each day, so the net result is the same.

Pat- I hope your knees are feeling OK. Bruised pride heals fairly quickly, from my experience. Joints take longer.

I am soooo glad that it's the weekend. I'll probably go into work for a bit and do leaves, but I need a break! DH is headed to Ontario tomorrow to visit family and I wish I could go, but I couldn't get the time off work. So I get the leaves :p

Mel

Mel - glad you made your lifts! Some say crazy where others say dedicated. :) Seriously though, be careful with the disoriented feeling. Especially when barbells are involved.

Cheryl - I finally got to look up Pose Running, that looks exactly like what I was doing. I haven't seen it called that though. Hm. My calves were better by yesterday so I did some running on the treadmill last night, where I realized that I land in the center of my feet on the treadmill. I don't do that running on the road, it is flat on the heels every time. I'm going to try the middle of the foot thing at the park next. How are you doing? Still considering a recovery week? I'll tell you, I think I was better for mine, it let things unwind that I didn't realize were tense. I still did some yoga durin the rest, and some other light stretches scattered around so I didn't get stiff. Unfortunately, I ended up with another unplanned one when I got sick a few weeks later.... Could have done without the second one... :lol:

Pat - hope you are doing okay with your knee, and have a great weekend at your fair!

The boys are in the bath, well, the boy is in the bath and dad is supervising. I hear a lot of banging and sliding. Sounds like they are having a great time. For some reason, DSS's toys are always in trouble and in need of rescue. Boys...

Good weekend everyone!

Hi all,

Mel - glad to hear you are OK! You might consider consulting a doctor about this twingy pass out feeling- it does not sound all that great!-maybe you have low bloodpressure or something.

Pat - Ouch about the knee!

Birch - thnx for the weather, it looks nice right now!

Shannon, Cheryl & all the others, lurking Lydia :wave:

Very full day yesterday, I had class all day and that was a long long sit from 9 - 17.30 with only short breaks in between. I had difficulty to stay focussed especially since there was a lot of acronyms and block diagrams involved. difficult to wrap the old brain around the marketing talk. But an interesting perspective on how the other half of the world thinks, I'll be having class on friday all month and it's a great opportunity to get some education from the company in this economy.

I'm behind with my exercise for this week...so I'll have to make up for it this weekend. And clean the house, do the laundry etc etc. I did do 40 minutes yesterday before leaving for the course, some running, some rowing and 10 minutes yoga. Plan for the weekend is lifting and cardio, seeing that I have to catch up there is a lot of elliptical & rowing machine and watching miss marple in my future.

I'm also seeing a man in the village about some builders scaffolding stuff this afternoon. I'm trying to get some tubes & stuff to put op a bar in my house: for DS to hang a punching bag & do pull-ups, and for his old frail mother to use likewise. Should be interesting.

have a great day all,
Rabbit

Rabbit, you are the coolest mom on the planet, putting a pull-up bar pipe in the house. Put in a little extra so you can hang some rings, and maybe make some upside-down "L"s on the wall for dip bars, since you're going there! :D If we had any freaking LUMBER in the walls of this stupid house, I'd put some up, too. I swear this house is made of plasterboard, shims and aluminum strap on the corners, since that's all I can find in the walls!

Shannon, let me know how the running experiments are coming along. I definitely have been a habitual heel-striker in the past, and am trying to correct that also. I think I am doing better, because my times are getting faster, but it's hard for me to tell for sure...it helps to take some video or have someone else watch and give feedback, I'm sure. I think the POSE running is for people with a lot more spring left in their step than I have, lol. I'm just trying to run without wrecking my knees and ankles, lol.

Mel, what they said...if that happens again, I hope you'll see a doctor...don't want you passing out behind the wheel or clobbering yourself with a loaded barbell. WTG with the cleans, though...woot! :carrot:

Pat, sorry to hear about the knee...ouch! Luckily you have two of them, so be sure to report on all the one-legged squats and such that you'll be doing. :rofl:

My report:
Last night the boy and I went in for the afternoon/eve CF wod. It was Cindy (5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, 15 BW squats, AMRAP in 20 mins), and the boy was missing doing CFKids, so we went in, and the trainer let him do a 1/2 Cindy (AMRAP in 10 mins). It was fun doing a workout with my boy at the gym!

Today is my gym cleaning day. I'm actually looking forward to it. I enjoyed it last week when I was by myself most of the time, so I could just do the cleaning, enjoy the quietude, drink some tea...it was nice. It's always easier to clean somebody else's space than my own!

I have no idea what they'll do for a workout today. I have maybe some sit-ups in me, and/or cleans. I had bad dreams all night that it was wallball again, lol, probably because my shoulders and arms are trashed.

I haven't asked about a rest week yet...chickened out last night. My dad passed away the Sunday before halloween, and we weren't that close but between the family/sibling drama and this possibly being a PMS week according to the calendar (which is frustrating because I don't really know I'm tweaking until it's over), I just don't want to make any big decisions, in case they're just based on stress or crazy hormone imbalances, KWIM? When I look at the stats in my workout journal, it seems like I'm still making gains and progress in my workouts and my lifts, so I think this feeling of "overtraining" might just be hormones or stress, and not actually a physical reality. I might get brave and just ask my trainer if it's a good idea to take scheduled breaks, or how a person knows they need a break, something like that, and see what he says. I've been making some progress on the home front, catching up chores and housework, so maybe I can get things in shape here without having to take time off the gym. Holding that thought for now.

Cheryl - I'm sorry to hear about your father. Even if you aren't close the loss is jarring. That combined with the PMS could absolutely be causing the overtraining symptoms. :hug:

rabbit - you are cool! Though I know you will enjoy the bars as much as DS. :)

I did 5 miles at the park tonight, ran all of it. I'm getting pretty good at the long runs, but am still slow. I'm going for length over speed at this point. :) I tried striking with the center of the foot his time, I know I hit the heels some. My shins are a little more twingy than last week, but calves feel significantly better. Hmm. My dad's birthday lunch is tomorrow, so rest day from exercise and a lunch at Red Lobster. Woohoo.

Good night everyone!

Just running through. I got to the gym this morning and did Day 2 which is a LBWO with no knee problems. Did a short elliptical, and then this afternoon I had a haircut and wanted to end up at the grocery store after, so I parked there, walked 4-5 blocks to a craft fair (bought nothing) and then back to the salon, and from there back to the grocery store. Every little bit helps. :)

Hi all,

Cheryl - sorry to hear about yout father. Cool to do a wo with DS.

Pat, Shannon - how are the knees and heels doing?

Thanks for the thoughts on the pull-up bar. i have not seen the guy yet because i missed the appointment & we'll have to re-scedule. But I definitely like the idea.

Not much to tell here: good weather, sun actually! but cold. i've been very busy catching up on my cardio 7 i guess I'll be sore from rowing tomorrow. i took in some old BBC episodes: miss marple & the first 3 episodes of pride & prejudice, there seems to be something about BBC period TV that is strangely conducting to the rowing machine.

Food again is not stellar, but I'm done for the week!

have a great weekend all,
rabbit

Cheryl: :hug: So sorry to hear about your dad. Even when we are not close to a family member, their passing can stir up some surprising feelings. I hope you are doing okay.

Mel: Feeling better?

Rabbit: We are having some nice sunny days too. It's been great for prepping the yard for winter. This has been my active recovery for the past two weeks.

I did step into the gym yesterday for an hour. I think I spent more time working with DS1 than for myself. The rest of the weekend is spent reading, highlighting, note taking. :rolleyes:

Have a great afternoon everyone. :sunny:

Hi everyone, still here, and have picked up a new habit with yoga. I really like it, which is new for me since I've tried it before and didn't catch the bug. I think the difference is getting quality dvd's. The Gaiam ones are produced so beautifully with great gorgeous surroundings/scenery that I feel absolutely transported when doing those. I'm sure a live class would be great too, which is a goal for the future.

Other than that, just trying to DO more and TALK about doing it less ;).

Fran, great to hear from you! :hug: Have fun with the yoga!

Everyone else, thanks for the well-wishes. Mostly, I'm just trying to avoid the drama my sisters are throwing around. Is there a headache smiley? ;)

I thought about it over the weekend, and decided I'll take a full week off going to the gym this week. My trainer said half workouts would be fine, but I know myself...if I go in, I'll stay and chat and watch the workouts for 2 hours, even if my workout and warm-up are done in 20 minutes. I've decided a better use of my time is to stay home, I can do some light workouts here if he thinks it's best, but I could really use the extra hours at home to play catch-up on the house and yard work, get things a little more organized going into the holiday season. I'm going in this morning just to drop the cleaning rags off, since I brought them home Saturday for washing, and to let him know I won't be in this week. I'm actually looking forward to the time at home, and that will save me some money on gas, as well. Won't have to go in until friday night, to clean the gym, since there's another cert this weekend.

I had already done legs when I got my new Oxygen mag :love: I'm not sure I can wait until tomorrow to try something new ;)

Morning - We had 6" of snow last night. :( It's way overdue, and I know we need it, yada yada, but I DON'T LIKE IT! :) Besides I can't get my snow tires on until next Monday....

Cheryl - I think the week off will be good for you. I have Wed off from work, and really wish I could put at least one more day with it, but too many people are already off. A couple scheduled, and then another who has to go to CA for a funeral..... My house would certainly appreciate a little more attention than it's been getting. :)

Fran - nice to see you! Glad to hear that you're enjoying the yoga. I got a new Fitness mag (after reading part of it at the hairdressers) that has some interesting yoga moves.

I think I'm back on a more normal exercise pattern this week. Today is a full-body day. My knee is completely fine - even after a jillion squats on Sat. :lol:

Fran -good to hear from you! I find I'm liking yoga, too. They had some of the Gaiam videos on Comcast On Demand but they took them away. They are awesome, very peaceful.

Cheryl - enjoy your rest week, though it doesn't sound like you are actually going to be resting all that much. :)

Susan - new is always good. :)

Lydia - hope the study weekend went well!

Rabbit - calves feel much better today, thanks. Even got in some treadmill time on Thursday & park time on Saturday and they are still good.

Pat - glad the knee is better! 6" of snow... wow...

Today I'm planning a run at the park, unless time gets away from me. If I get out too late it will be LB when I get home instead.

Good day everyone!

Hi all,

Lydia, Fran, Susan - good to hear from you again!
pat, Shannon - glad to hear the legs are OK

Pat - 6 inch snow - Yikes!

Cheryl - enjoy your week off

I've started at another week of 7 hour exercise. Today was 1 hour bike to work and back and 1 hour power class. Tomorrow I will not be biking, so I'll have to think of something else...maybe get in 30 mins treadmill before going to work.

Have a great day all,
Rabbit

Dear All

Please excuse silverbirch lifting as she and her son have a virus. Between them they have had sudden fever, vomiting, aching joints, stiff neck, sore throat, cough, sneezing and bad temper.

SO is well. ??

Love to you all. Resist!

Ah, Birch, hope you and the boy don't have H1N1, though it sounds suspicious.... Feel better soon! And SO/DHs are so inconsiderate as to not get sick eh? Though they'd likely expect you to wait on them even if you are sick, so probably better they stay well.

Rabbit - good job getting right back to exercise!

Lydia - hope the study weekend went well!


:book2: mmhmm huh?! The weekend is OVER?! What day is it?
Just kidding. Kind of. :^: The studying is coming. Took another day off today from the gym to dig into another chapter. I'm doing my best to go underground and make this my first priority this month. Somehow today was spent putting out fires all day long. I'm not answering my phone, mail, or email till evening for the rest of the month. :rofl:


Silverbirch: You are absolutely excused. Hope you and your son are feeling much better soon. :hug:

Fran: Great to hear from you too. :dance: Love it that you are enjoying the yoga. A good instructor/video can make all the difference. Check out Yoga Journal.com as well. Great site for downloading yoga podcasts. I use them now that I can't get to a studio on the weekends or evenings. (kid duty) My cat loves the sticky mat more than her scratching post. Makes for a rather unnerving Savasana. :lol:

Okay. :wave: To all else, hope you can dig yourself out Pat. I'm with you, six inches is a little less than inspiring when you have drive around in it.

Back to the books...still waiting for my light. something about a thunderstorm in one of the distribution hubs enroute to Columbus is causing a delay. :rolleyes:

Coming up briefly for air.... I am SWAMPED!

Cheryl- I'm sorry to hear about your father and the family drama. If we had a headache smiley it would be the most frequently used.

Birch- Hope you and the boy feel better soon and keep your germs on YOUR side of the Pond! Yes, you are excused from lifting :hug:

Fran :wave:

Hello to everyone else, it's late for me, and morning comes too early!

Mel

Good morning!

Six miles at the park last night, good LB workout this morning, actually did day one first this time instead of last. Random drug screens downtown this afternoon. Pouring down rain outside. Good times.

Mel - hope things settle down for you soon!

Birch - hope you guys feel better soon! Don't overdo it, just recover!

Lydia - it always seems like a hundred little things come up when you are trying to focus on something. Good luck on the email & phone avoidance! I try that sometimes, but they follow me everywhere...

Rabbit - good start on the exercise week! :high:

Good day everyone!

My version of the headache smiley is the :rolleyes: Kind of works since most of my headaches are the result of really silly things.

Went in for my workout this morning. Totally sucked. (can I say that here?) I was up too late last night and I'm feelin' the effects of too many lack luster workouts in the last few months. GRRRR.

Pushups, killed my right shoulder. Glute activation during warm up and my squats still were less than stellar. Only 3 consecutive pullups in each set. And a pitiful little run around the coffee table track a few times.

Okay. breathe. breathe.

I took a few moments at the end of the workout to "channel" my fitter/stronger self while sitting on the mats. I made a promise to myself to get some more sleep and do less of the things that tick me off and go back to doing what fulfills me. Get through this certification thing and then get back to programming. My plan is to be solid by May. :strong:

Update on the light...it's on the delivery truck. Oh Thank God! I'm all about it tomorrow morning. :sunny:

:headache:

There is a headache smiley. It is the word 'headache' in colons. I've never noticed it before, and I'm not sure if it looks like a headache to me. But there it is.

Just got done with my drug screens, all good this time. I ate lunch super early planning on being busy all afternoon and now I am back at my office early and want to snack... And, I really do have a :headache: left over from dental work yesterday. And it is raining harder than before. Very blah kind of day.

I didn't say this earlier, but I was very excited that I used a little more weight than last time on my LB workout.

Squat - 3x10, 45#, 55#, 65# (up from 30, 45, 55)
Split Squat - 3x10, 15 lb DB per hand, held them up at my shoulders this time which was a lot easier than holding them by my sides
Stiff legged deadlift - 3x10, 65#, 75#, 75# (up from 55, 65, 75)
Calf raise - 3x10, 45#, 55#, 65# (up from 45, 45, 45)

Still learning how to use the squat rack without breaking my neck. :dizzy:

Good day everyone!

Hi all,

Birch - You are definitely excused. I hope you and DS get well soon! Strange that SO/the man did not get ill....surely men cannot have evolved into the stronger species all of a sudden ?

Mel - sending oxigen your way. I hope you are doing well by now.

cheryl - sorry about the family drama, enjoy the week of rest!

Lydia - sounds like life getting in the way of things. Good for you to keep focussing. How long till you can take the test again? I hope you have seen the light by now, sounds like you could use some serenity with regular 24/7 kid duty!

Shannon - good to hear things are working out.

Today I did 25 minutes treadmill & went in for a full day at work, plus a reunion with of a project that I worked at sometime at the end of the eighties. Met with the crew again, at the location of another firm that has continued with the product.

I was the only female in a technical capacity in that project at the time, and I remember preferring the athmosphere at my current workplace. Tonight I counted about 5 inappropriate sexually tinted "jokes" and hints in the space of this 4 hour reunion alone. A remarkable experience, and one showing that the active management commitment at my present workplace works, and I like it a LOT better that way. I'm quite over the frat house humor that some of the all-male groups have. I remember asking a co-workers 10 and 15 years ago to remove pictures and screen savers of nude females from my immediate working environment, and these guys thought it no big deal and overreaction from my side. I'm glad to work now in surroundings where my management would respond to this without me having to take action myself. And I am amazed that this type of frathouse atmosphere still exists in this day and age.

Food was not good again, but at least I did put in the 25 mins run before my real day started. Tomorrow I'm biking to work again.

have a great day all,
rabbit

Rabbit- I'm surprised that the frat house atmosphere still exists, too. I was a techy in my first career, too, and the only female 99% of the time. I remember being mortified just to walk across the building in some places. I really thought that had changed.

Shannon- :carrot: for getting stronger!!! and please don't break your neck. Here's hoping your dental work didn't affect your drug screen! :dizzy:

Lydia- You are juggling sooo may things. It's no wonder you feel off kilter and out of sorts. And don't forget that you are a semi-single mom these days. :hugs:

My house is still a wreck, though I do have a newly drywalled and spackled kitchen ceiling. The messy part (sanding) is scheduled for tomorrow. They did a good job upstairs of "quarantining" the area so that there wasn't too much dust all over, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Still do not have plumbing in the bathroom :(:(:(:( I'm getting angry now, but it doesn't do much good.

CF workout yesterday was HEAVY 1 rep max front squats. I had a pr for front squats of 155 pounds! And it was the first time that my forearms weren't sore, so I'm getting more flexible as well. I must still be doing something wrong, tho, because I have a bruise on my collarbone. Not terrible, but I can feel it.

Today was a lot of jumping around- my least favorite kind of workout.
In sets of 21,18,15,12,9,6,and 3:
burpees
kettlebell high pulls (I like these)
box jumps

We started and ended with a 400 meter run. My ending run was more like a power walk and I did an extra lap so that another woman whom I'm friendly with would not be out finishing up along in the dark. Kind of creepy.

Food is back on track- dh is home and I do much better with him around.

Have a good one!

Mel

Hey ladies, I was just popping in to catch up on reading, so I don't get behind. I'm enjoying the rest week, and getting the house back in shape, starting to do some planning for Christmas. Haven't done any workouts yet, but have been staying active with house cleaning and projects around here.

Birch, hope you and the DS will recover quickly.

Shannon and Mel, congrats on the PRs this week!

I need to do some research into DOMS and fluid retention. I don't really like two pounds for some abs I did in front of the TV!
Is there a sticky? I should check stumptuous.

Susan, I would look at the diet within in the last few days, sodium intake as well as a drop in water/fluid intake more than the crunches. Just a thought. M weight can fluctuate two to three pounds just on hormones alone. Seriously, and if I ate a meal heavy with carbs at dinner or just had something to eat after 8pm in the evening. Alll of these things will show a slight gain or non loss. Combine that with a heavy leg day and one could get really discouraged if they didn't know better. :dizzy:

Bottom line, keep moving, drink the water, keep it clean. It's all good.

Mel, oh the joys of updating a home. Well, when it's all done it will be wonderful. Just hang in there. Major impressive front squats by the way! Wow. And how nice to run that extra lap so the other CFitter wasn't alone. Not surprised that you did it though. :goodvibes:

SO! The light arrived last night. Plugged it in this am for half an hour while I was studying and now I can't see anything. :cool: The cat did her best to block it from me and the kids all had to have a turn with it during breakfast. I like it though. I'll let you all know what I think of it after a few weeks. Wish it produced a little warmth too. Kind of chilly sitting in the kitchen with the jammies and my books...

Decided to do the workouts every other day and set the rest of the time to ,,,wait for it...studying. It seems like a more realistic balance for right now. My goal is to test Dec. 5th. I also have a mj holiday party for that evening to blow off some steam. Great incentive.

Enjoy everyone. :coffee:

Lydia, glad the light finally arrived! Funny about not being able to see, lol. I can just see you there, blinking and staring at the white spots on your eyes, feeling your way around the kitchen. :lol3:

Today is Veteran's Day, and the wod at my gym is 11-11-11, 11 wall ball, 11 pull-ups, 11 rounds. :faint: So thankful that I'm missing that one, I confess! Instead, I'll be doing the water heater shuffle, which probably won't be any more fun...I hate plumbing!

Cheryl - jeesh, that wod sounds completely unpleasant. :)

Lydia - glad you got your light box!

Mel - I wasn't taking a drug screen, I was administering them to my employees. Much better that way. :) :high: on the 155!

Susan - second to what Lydia said about the water retention. Ab work doesn't usually make me retain water, but just about everything else does, and usually with a two day delay before I see it on the scale.
Spent the first half of my day moving boxes and assembling shelves at our storage unit... 2.5 hours only got one set of shelves done. Ick. Hopefully the rest will go faster as I know the height for each shelf now. I'm trying to decide if lifting and moving and stacking and lifting again somewhere in the range of 75 boxes at or varying 50-75 pounds apiece qualifies as my UB workout for the day or if I still have to do it when I get home. Today is the 'push' day of my split... Hmm...

Good day everyone!

I'm off today. The gym is closed so I may do something here, or just take an extra rest day. :) I slept late (7:45 :lol: ) and have been doing not much of anything around the house. Weather is nasty and I'm happy not to be going out.

Cheryl - I'd be happy to skip that workout too, and also the water heater one - btdt!

Flyby for Note to self... Moving lots of boxes and lifting shelves in the morning + heavy for me UB workout in the evening = jelly arms.

Feels good though. :)

Lydia- I don't think you are supposed to stare at the light :o I just put mine about 12-15 inches from my face while I eat breakfast and do a quick read through the morning paper.

CF was brutal tonight:

1 minute of as many dead lifts as you can do at 75% 1 rep max
rest 1 minute
1 minute of wall balls
rest 1 minute
repeat five times

Doesn't look too bad, but this was one where I was just EXHAUSTED and dripping.

Mel

Hi all,

Just dropping in to report I biked to work yesterday, so another hour of exercise in the bag. food is awfull. I have not weight for the past couiple of days, I'm afraid of what I would see. I'm swamped with work and I eat from that. OTOH I feel that the exercise regime is agreeing with me, and even if I have gained back my entire 3 pd loss of the last months, I do imagine that I look a bit better and my pants have a better fit. I might even be developming some muscle.

Lydia - I second Mel: I do not think you are supposed to stare into the bright light for the entire 15 - 20 minutes. Pleas google this, as it might eeven be bad for your eyes to do so. I also just put min close to me & read & breakfasted in front of it.

Hi :wave: to everyone,
have a great day all,
rabbit

Good morning!

Two or three days would have been legs, yup. About half of it is gone this morning.

I definitely could clean up my foods. A few things I'm eating are convenient, from a calorie point of view, but not clean.

You guys! I'm not staring into it, :lol: It's about arms length away and I sit with my shoulder turned a little away from it so it's in my line of vision indirectly as I read. Every once in a while the instructions suggest looking up and glancing at it.

It's pretty cool though. I did find that I had a little more energy yesterday but there wasn't a workout so that may be why. I studied pretty much all day and began to rake the 1/2 acre backyard with the remaining hour of daylight left. My goal is to get the yard winterized before turkey day.

Cheryl, so who won? You or the water heater? It is great to get caught up around the house every once in a while. I find I need to take that kind of a break about once every season. Holidays, yardwork, and general upkeep/repairs are great "recovery days."

Mel: That workout looks easy enough to remember. But wall balls are tough. Three rounds, doable. Five, glutton for exhaustion.

Susan: Glad the scale is sliding back down again. Apples and lowfat cheese sticks are pretty convenient. So are hard boiled eggs... just being a :devil: over here. I sometimes get trapped into the protein bar habit but I feel a lot better if I remind myself there are other options and go for those first.

Silverbirch, How are you feeling today? Hopefully you and your son are recovering. :hug:

Okay. Off to plan my Level 3 cardio session today. :faint: ...let's just say it's been a while. :fr:

I'm going in for some cardio and light lifting. Light. Lifting. Need to remind myself of this. Hopefully I'll be able to get another chapter in between the workout, a shower, picking up kids, dr. appointments, homework, and dinner. :chin:

Thank you for the hug, Lydia. We are soldiering on. I am not right but no longer fully ill. I'm doing a bit of gentle rebounding (gets the lymph moving, don't you know) and stretching each morning. So I'm not feeling that terrible gymn withdrawal niggle. The DB may be OK for school tomorrow but his stamina is still pretty shot. Could be a whole week off (should have just packed our bags & gone to stay with Cheryl!). BUT ... We have cracked the winter socks & fleeces challenge, got the long-case (grandmother) clock to go and checked there are enough Christmas cards. All great achievements in my book.

My weight is plummeting but I don't feel much like eating. Help me out here - a connection?? Or is it just a coincidence?? Each meal, though small, seems perfectly formed. Macronutrients, Susan, are looking good. This is something to take forward into my Well Future. Not that I was too far off before but prob too many carbs.

Love to all. Give yourself due credit when something goes right. It's a tricky time of year whichever way you look at it.

Hi Birch! Hope you et well soon!

I did my 1 hour exercise for today. Tomorrow I'm in a course for the entire day, so I'll have to think of something. maybe treadmill in the morning before I leave, as I will be to tired for anything tomorrow evening.

Have a great day all,
Rabbit


Rabbit

... hiatus ...

Feeling a bit better here, thank you, rabbit. We both fall soundly asleep in the day, though, so that makes me think we're not quite right.

I've been draughtproofing today.

Oh, rabbit! My first present challenge is also 6th Dec as it's DB's name day. How are you doing with yours?

:wave: to all. Good to be back.

Hey look! the site is back :)

Mel

WOW! Glad that the site is back! I managed to get in once, but I could not post.
I wonder how everyone is doing? It was strange not to be able to post, but I managed, although I missed reading about you all.

Busy weekend here..it's raining of course, and I have a ton of things to do. however I did finish my exercise for the week to the last 3 episodes that I still had on my "pride & predjudice" DVD, and I can report that the romance between Elizabeth & mr Darcy ended satisfactory.

Birch - your DS nameday is december 6th? What a coincidence. Very glad to hear you and DS are on the mend.

We will not be celebrating on the day itself as XHs family usually has something going then, and the kids will be overthere. XH loves to play happy family on those occasions, so I'm not too crazy about that. DS and DD want to go because they have not seen that part of the family for a long time. Anyway, we'll have our own evening one week later, which also gives me more time to prepare.

I'm swamped with work at the moment because I'm also doing a work related course. I am allowed into the class of the lab that hires me, so all the others do get time under working hours but I do not, so I have to catch up at home, which makes for a busy weekend.

But I did get the scaffolding tubes for the pull-up bar.I took a bit extra so I'll be able to extend if I want to. It is rather a lot of galvanised steel, so I think I'll paint it when I have put it up. I feel rather strange that I actually am going to put this up, as I know everyone will think this very eccentric. OTOH, it will be where casual visitors will not see it, I have a huge house, and I now feel I am past the age that I should care. Besides, this is also very much for DS and it would not hurt DD to get interested.

I'm going to work.
How is everybody??

enjoy the rest of the weekend,
Rabbit

:wave: I'm already at work, rabbit, trying to catch up a bit after last week's debacle. Good going on the galvanised steel!!

:wave: to everyone else.

hi Birch!

Good to see you are up and about. Are you draughtproofing again ?
I take it you have fully recovered from the flu like symptoms? According to this weeks new scientist, you could actually have gotten some protection for H1N1 from this cold, not a bad thing IMO.

I'm through with my work & going for some much needed R&R.

cheers,
Rabbit

Nice to see everyone. :wave:
Silver: Glad to see you are doing better and back at work?! so soon. Playing catch up is a wonderful game.

Rabbit: It sounds like you do have a busy weekend! And a pullup bar to enjoy as well. Nice going.

I'm here to report some rather satisfying workouts on Thursday and Friday. Saturday was more of a rest day. I did go into the gym but had the offspring with me. I spent most of my time helping DS1 with his form than on my own workout. It's okay though. It will make for great stories for him to embarrass me in my old age. :rofl:

Still studying. Well worth it. I'm totally loving the information I'm getting from this cert about common incorrect movement patterns that occur from specific muscle imbalances.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend everyone!