HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!

Welcome to "back on plan" January!!!! The last two weeks have been way too sporadic, unplanned, and I've been just plain lazy. Spontaneous just doesn't work for me...so it's back to my tried and true food and workout rut

I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday and are looking forward to a year of health and happiness in whatever you do.

Mel

Happy New Year!!

I have to share something cool that happened at the gym last night.

I was doing this crazy set of incline dumbbell presses where I started with a lighter weight/more reps and then increased the weight as I reduced the number of reps. When I got to the least number of reps, my trainer encouraged me to go for the next size dumbbell rather than what I had planned. Anyway, I did it! I needed spotting to get them up at first, but then I banged out 6 reps for a couple of sets with that weight. My trainer said I was the first "girl" he had trained who could do incline dumbbell presses at that weight! Woohoo! It's such a great feeling to know that I really am getting stronger and stronger. I remember when I started incline dumbbell presses back in February and struggled so much with what I consider now to be light weights. I love this stuff!!!

I know you didn't just write all that, and not even tell what size DBs you were hefting! Congrats on the PR!

No lifting for me, yesterday. I've been doing upper/lower like I did before, Mon/tues, thurs/fri, which seems to work well for me, and separates legs day from skating just enough that I can walk semi-normal in between. Today is LB at home. I'll be back to the Y next week, when I'm ready for some real weight.

Mel, I know what you mean. I've been working at it since day after Xmas, and have been fighting the laziness myself. I've been doing it, but I think yesterday was the first day I was really looking forward to my workout. It's so much easier to stay OP in the first place.

Alena, how did the treadmill go...is the pain gone?

Nice new avatar, Cheryl!

Yeah, I didn't write the weight cause, what if you guys thought---
1) wow that's a pathetic weight----midwife needs some serious help
2) That trainer must not be very good if that's the heaviest he's ever gotten a woman to lift....

But! I am not going to listen to those negative inner thoughts any more!!

They were 25 pound dumbbells.

I hope everyone had a wonderful New Years, whatever they did. We had a very low key evening but managed to stay awake until just after midnight!

midwife - congrats but I wanna know the # too! you don't have to share, if you don't want to but if you want to brag, shout it out. This is the place to do it.

I hope everyone has a "back on plan January", like Mel suggested. I think I met my December "no weight gain" goal. I know I went up and down a few pounds a few times but that's okay. I think I might be up a pound or two now (due to a little indulgence yesterday) but now I'm back. I know that I need a good plan for my workouts for the next while. I tend to struggle during this time of year, when it's just so cold out and all I want to do is sit on the couch.


eta: Midwife - we were posting at the same time but I had a hunch why you didn't want to say the weight because I sometimes feel the same way here but the truth is, we should all be proud of our accomplishments because they're accomplishments for us so good for you!!

Here's to a healthy, happy and strong new year!

So not a pathetic weight - especially after you'd worked your way up through the lighter weights! Congrats!!

Oh, and Happy New Year to you all. Love the new picture Cheryl!

The problem with cookie cutter programs is they are not individualized for you. This is especially true with rest periods. They are guidelines and are not written in stone. Basically, rest as long as you need for the type of program that you are doing. For a program aimed at strength, that means rest as long as you need to feel almost fully recovered for the next set. That is why they have long rest periods.

You can get hints from the prescribed rest periods as to what level of recovery should have to determine what "rest as long as needed" means to you.

For example for the following prescribed rest periods, they are generally looking for the following recoveries and effects.

Short rest (15 or 30s) about 25% or less recovered. They want your heart rate still elevated a bit as they are probably looking for a strong metabolic effect. Common in high rep "resistance cardio" routines.

Fairly short rest (45s) about 50% recovered. Common in higher rep routines aimed at general fitness where they want a metabolic effect but want you able to lift moderate weight.

Moderate rest (60-90s) about 75%. Common in hypertrophy routines where the desired effect is often some prefatigue but with enough recovery to lift higher weights for moderate reps.

Fairly long rest (2-3 min) as close to 100% recovered as possible. Common in 5x5 or 4x6 programs where the goal is to have the CNS as fresh as possible.

Long rest (more than 3 minutes) again as close to 100% as possible. Common in max singles or doubles of 8x3 programs where the extra time is generally needed due to the increased intensity.

Also, along with only resting as long as needed, rest does not have to (and should not mean) sitting around. Use active rest. Myself, I like to do corrective, prehab, or core work between sets of main exercises (you can also do stretching).

Something like:
1A Close grip bench press (5x5)
1B Bird Dogs (after sets 1 and 2) / Hip Extensions (after sets 3 and 4) [both 2x10]

2A Deadlift (5x5)
2B Quadruped Extension/Rotation and scap pushups (each for 2 sets of 10)

Is it over? I mean really, is it safe to crawl out from under the kitchen table? Like all the cookies from the freezer, they're gone right?

~sigh~

Okay. Honestly. I did much better than I did last year. Marginal gain and it didn't begin until the very last two weeks of December. But marginal is still visible on a 5' 2'' frame. I think most of it is water weight. We wined and dined the sons last night at a Chinese restaurant. They had great fun and well, so did we. Today was a squeaky clean day with a great workout in the late afternoon. That scale better be kind tomorrow morning. And the next and the next....

Cheryl: I your new avatar. My goodness girl you've changed! You look fantastic. Look at how lean your face appears in the photo. How long have you been sporting this look and haven't told us? The lifting is working for you! And my goodness I just recalled you are coming back from an injury too. You look great.

Elana: Was that you who had the shopping trip to die for? Nice job with the boots and coat. I went out for the day after sales as well. Eh. Nada. The sales weren't that great and I basically spent the day just walking through the stores with Mom. Nice visit though. I still can't believe I didn't purchase anything My winter wardrobe is really lacking too. Summer I've got covered. It's more fun to dress for that season but winter...black. That's all I feel like wearing. I kept hearing Stacy and Clinton in the back of my head "step away from the black long sleeved t-shirts."

Midwife: WOW! Decent. Very Decent. It's just amazing how our bodies adapt. Can I just say I am so glad that you shared this with us. Every once in a while I go through this phase of negative self talk. It happened today. I think I felt a little vulnerable because it was a different time of day and a different crowd of members. Anyway I just felt unusual today. It really helps me to know that all of you are out there doing this too and that somehow helps to validate why I do it too.

Elisa: We made it to New Years Eve too. After dinner we took the boys home to watch School of Rock. They picked out the movie. DS2 begged for his bed at 11:30 but DS1 was up and all excited to watch Times Square. We did the champagne toast and then decided to finish the bottle. Ick. Four tums later I went to bed. That stuff is way to sweet.

Hey Mel, Pat, and Depalma Happy New Years to you all. Oh and you too Fran, I know your out there somewhere driving between Point A and B.

Happy new year everyone!

We all made it to 2009!!!

Fran, Cheryl...WOW you guys look great!!!

Like everyone else I definitely need to get back on track in this new year. I have gained 4 very persistent pounds in 2008 that need to be removed, together with some of their even more persisting cousins of before 2008.
And I vow to take it more easy at work this year, and put in more me"-time".

All said, I am having the best holidays I can remember. The secres tis that I did NOT make plans for social comittments, I'm just at home spending my time like i want to, with DS and DD doing the exact same, and I find it extremely relaxing. next week it is back to the grindstone for us, and back to more structured life.

Have a great day all,
rabbit

Lydia - Just wanted to say that I love your family holiday picture....it's just beautiful!!

Happy New Year, everybody!

Cheryl - GET OUT OF TOWN! You look hot, hot, hot!!!!!

Lydia - lovely pic although I think should have worn something with spaghetti straps so that we can see those nice shoulders.

Midwife - I will wash your feet and drink the water every night! 25 pounds? You are one Schwarzenlady!!

My back seems to be marginally better today. I can't say if the treadmill is helping or not, but I am keeping up with it because I haven't been at the gym since Sunday and the frustration is growing. Besides, I need to report my results in Gary's 5K thread. Tomorrow, I am going to my Zumba class even I have to brought in on a gurney!

Thanks for the kind words, everyone!

You have a lovely family, Lydia!

Tomato,

Midwife, you GO with your bad self!

Depalma, you're the coach in my head, cuz I did that last night, before I even read your post! Between sets, I did crossfit style sit-ups, push-ups (knees, cuz I'm working on chest to floor), supermans, and planks (30s each, which didn't kill me, so maybe it's time for something more evil).
Thanks for the breakdown on rest periods. That makes it easier to understand! Coming off this injury, so far, I'm finding that while the arm seems to be "healed" as far as bones go, it's definitely weaker and tweaking with heavier loads, especially on pushing chest exercises like push-ups from the toes and bench press, and any overhead pressing moves where I'm working directly against gravity. That makes me wonder if I should move to some gripless machine work for heavy legs, like leg press, just for a while, and stick with single-leg stuff and things like back squats where I don't have to support the whole weight with my arms/grip. I just do NOT want to reinjure that arm, so I'm going to keep working it up slow and find alternatives for heavy legs and chest, where I can. I'm thinking I'll save the 5x5 for the big exercises, and stick with higher reps where I need to keep the weight lighter...5x5 just isn't enough when I can't push the weight up heavy enough.

Lydia, love the family Christmas photo! How cute are those boys?!

Thanks, everybody, for the kind words on the new avatar picture.

I know I missed some names, but I've got to get off here for a bit. I'll check in later. For now, ! Today is UB lifting at home. Monday is back to the gym for me, since I've maxed out the possibilities for legs at home, plus I'm missing the assisted pull-up machine.

I hear that DH is up off the couch, so I think that means we're off to the gym, so just a quick note to tell Lydia and Cheryl how great they look (and your DH and kids too, Lydia )

Ewwwww. Please be careful during your Zumba class. I can imagine you are just about dying to get back though. I can totally empathize with taking an unwanted rest. Hate those.

Hey Thanks for the compliments ladies! I posted it kind of late last night and then worried OMG what have I done. Fortunately, DH has a sense of humor and wasn't in the least concerned about being posted. About the spaghetti straps Elena, I would rather save that for New Years Eve. The funny thing is I felt like a "Mom poser" in that outfit. Isn't that silly?! It's a beautiful sweater, and the necklace was a gift from a few years ago but I never dress this way. When I walked into my parents house both my mom and sister complimented my outfit but I felt kind of weird. I just don't dress this way anymore. I'm out of practice.

Woohoo Awesome workout this afternoon. I'm telling you the best time for me is from noon through two for my workouts. I'm so much stronger and flexible and just wow. I had a great time. Got in all my leg work and decent core workout a little yoga and plenty of cardio. :

Speaking of cardio, while I was working away I noticed a group of four young boys about the ages of ten through twelve who were learning Olympic lifts. OMG they were adorable. I just could not help but giggle out loud watching these little guys learning all the "reindeer games"

One thing I did see that worried me was a young one doing pushups with a 45 pound bumper plate on this back. He did have quite a bit of strength but ehhh, that might be pushin' a limit. I'm not so certain that I would encourage my young one to do that. It would be awfully embarrassing to have to explain to the pediatrician...

Dinner out with parents tonight. I think we are going to Longhorn steak house. Moooo. Hey, I did legs today. Have a great evening everyone.