[Meg]

Up and at 'em, ladies! Another week of lifting awaits!

Yesterday was bi's and tri's for me. Did 'em with two Very Large Guys, which inspired me to go much heavier. Which, in turn, made them go heavier - my one buddy always likes to be at about twice what I can lift, so if I go heavy, it makes him move up in weight for the sake of his masculine ego.

Cardio stunk this morning - literally! I was on the cross-trainer, trapped between two smelly guys who insisted on yelling to each other across me about getting root canals!! Ugh!

How's everyone surviving the holidays so far?

[tikanique]

hahahahahahahahaha


Poor Meg.

Tiki.

[artmaker]

A little holiday color here. Meg and Mel, thanks for the advice and info. Maybe what I need to do is reward myself for good workout/weight weeks by paying myself towards an ipod...think I will do that. $10 for every pound I drop or week I stay on schedule. Good incentive.

Well, the heavy duty cardio plus weights started to work last week...by friday I had dropped two pounds...but then there was the holiday party Friday...another on Saturday...and a pot luck luncheon yesterday. I wasn't terrible, but I wasn't perfect. I had increased my cardio, and it wouldn't have been so bad if I had gotten more sleep...when I don't sleep my resistence goes down, and I ended up with an allergy attack last night, which, combined with lack of sleep, brought lack of control and I ate and ate. Too bad. I was doing so well.

But now the parties are over, and other than one birthday dinner coming up...I'm going to be 62 tomorrow, hard to believe...I can get back under control and on schedule.

Meg, Phewy...couldn't you have asked one of the guys to switch with you, to spare yourself the misery?

Saw an interesting exercise on the treadmill the other day. A trainer was having a young girl walk sideways on the treadmill at a slow speed, first one side, then the other. Bet that would be good for the outter thighs and hips.

Waterrat, what kind of crafts would you see at your craft shows? As a former weaver, I'm curious as to whether the crafts are different where you are, or similar to those from craft shows around here, a mix of pottery, jewelry, weaving, etc. Are there more crafts special to Alaska, using fibers from musk ox, and eskimo carvings, or...???

Have a great day everyone!


.

[WaterRat]

Morning all. It's a warmish (30 F), overcast gray day here in the far north. No sunrise til nearly 10 as it is, and it won't be much. They're predicting snow for later too!!

Susan, lots of pottery, several booths selling handmade soaps and other smelly things , plus the usual junk! There was not much Alaskan specific stuff, though if you go to one of the big craft fairs in Anchorage you will see them. We have a BIA hospital in Anchorage, and the Natives always sell their crafts there. Wonderful baskets and ivory caravings. We had were some nice fleece items, and some evergreen arrangements. Oh, and several jewelry places, plus photograhs and homemade jellies/jams, etc. Pretty good mix. I bought two pottery spoonrests (one for me!), an evergreen arrangement, some soaps for gifts, and had a henna tatoo put on my right wrist (just a viney type "bracelet") Happy Birthday, btw. I have a 60th b'day on Jan 7.

Today is a legs day - which I'm enjoying more than the arms/shoulders/chest, don't ask me why. Maybe because I'm naturally stronger there and can increase my weight regularly. I have poor knees though, and am reluctant to do things like lunges (and running) until I've got my weight down again. The poor babies do enough just holding me up and walking.

[Ilene]

Good Evening LWL

I've had a very good day... First, I went to the gym for a good leg workout those strong legs ... WaterRat, just keep increasing your weights very gradually and eventually you will shock yourself like I did today and leg pressed 410#, highest I've ever gone, before today I always stopped at 360... BUT it does take time and patience... I also did leg extensions, leg curls, lunges and squats on a core thingy at the gym... It was all good

Secondly, I visisted my parents, they are doing good, today anyways, I was happy to hear that because they are getting up there and I get worried at times...

Then, I went to Walmart and shopped some more ... When I got home I didn't even take my coat off and just proceeded to shovel for 1.5 hours alone! I think I've had enough exercise for the day Did you know that our drive way has 50 paces or steps from one end to the other and I have a house on one side and a 6 foot fence on the other? I don't know how many times I went up and down that drive but it sure felt like 100s...


Meg -- EWWWW... Men have no class sometimes!

Artmaker -- Don't be so hard on yourself! Out of 7 days you had 1 only 1 bad day, in the grand scheme of things, I think that's pretty darn good... Just keep on keeping on.... girl!!

[srmb60]

Most of my fitness stuff is under dust covers but I was soooo sick of knitting yesterday that I fished some out. I used a stool to do back flyes. I find shoulders and upper back very difficult and weak but this morning I feel nice and square and stronger. Makes you wonder why you put some of that stuff off.

[tikanique]

Hi all,

Ilene, your day sounds GREAT!

SusanB, I feel the same way the first time I go back into the gym - why I ever leave amazes me, when I feel so great when I go.

This morning - 5:30 AM in the gym for legs and back - weird combo, but I missed legs last week and want to hit them twice this week. I skipped cardio to get in both body groups but will ride my stationary bike tonight while watching Law & Order.

Tiki.

[mox]

It's been almost a year since I've last posted, but I've lurked on/off during the past year. Hello to everyone who's been so persistent and consistent!!! You're all an inspiration!

It's been a very chaotic year for me, both in my personal life and at work. Most disappointingly, I've done NOTHING to work on my health and weight. I've been thinking about it a lot -- indeed, I sometimes feel like wanting to lose weight almost consumes me (a bad pun ) -- but I've done next to nothing to actually do something about it.

But, because there's little I can do right now to control a lot of other things, I decided I was going to get a jumpstart on 2005 by watching my calories and doing some moderate exercising. I'm sooo out of shape that I can barely do what I did a year ago in the gym. I hope that by starting out now, I'll be a little warmed up to hit the gym hard in January.


I can't always post every day, but I hope to stop in frequently to see how everyone is doing.

Keep up the good work.

Mox
SW: 240 (12/13/04)
GW: less than SW

[Ilene]

Welcome back Mox !

[WaterRat]

Went to the gym last night and as planned did legs and cardio. I started on the elliptical and I knew by the time I was about 5 minutes into it that I'd better stay with cardio for the full 30 minutes because if I stopped to do legs in the middled (as I did last week with good results) I'd not come back to the cardio. . . So I did a mile on the elliptical and another mile on the treadmill (with DH on the one beside me, and added treat ). Then I went to do legs. I'm now pressing 115# Ilene, and probably can go up next time as I wasn't to failure after 2 sets of 12 reps. Also did leg extensions, curls, abduction and adductions - all at increased weights from last week! However when I laid down on whatever that machine is called that puts your butt in the air and you curl your legs up (like doing butt kicks lying down ) my lower back screamed in agony. I have no idea what happened, and I was so glad I was done exercising anyway. Went home, took a nice hot shower (the gym showers are kinda like a spring rain - more of a mist!), took some advil, fixed a quick dinner, and sat on the couch with a hot herbal pad reading for the evening. It's better but not gone. I was planning to arms and cardio tonight, but I think I'll just do exercises that don't affect my lower back, and skip the cardio. Plus, I have to sit through a long city council meeting tonight. It's the budget adoption, and all dept heads (that's me) have to be available for questions and to defend some items. Boring, but necessary.

I think I'll use the heat again tonight, and keep tomorrow as my rest day and hope things will be better by Thursday. Ack, just remembered I have a 2 days class on Th/Fri so more just sitting all day. I'll need the gym by the time I'm out of there.

[Ilene]

WaterRatPat ~~ I hope you're back is ok soon ....

Today I had a funny sort of day... I had all intentions of going to the gym at 9AM... Then the power went out! I called the gym and they were out too... ... So I drove around town till I found a grocery store that had a generator and that was open, so I did some groceries... Came home had lunch, the electricity cam on around 11:30... My intentions were to sit, take a break, go to the gym... Well I sat alright and fell asleep!! Afterwards I was sooooooo LAZY!!! But I dragged myself to the gym anyways!! Worked slowly on my back then TRIED to jog, to no avail ... I hopped on a bike , I think I did 20 mins and burned 30 calories or something ridiculous like that ... then came home.... still dragging my butt! Oh well, momma said there'd be days like these...

So now I'm off to beddy bye...

[Mel]

I'm stealing Ilene's cardio crown this week. Nothing but cardio and legs here My bicep tendon is still so sore that holding a cup of coffee is an effort first thing in the morning. It loosens up, but not enought to actually lift. I tried to do chest yesterday, but 1 rep convinced me that was NOT a good idea! One of my neighbors and gym friends is from Hong Kong and brought me a bottle of weird smelling "Chinese medicine". She has no idea what's init, but whenever she has a muscle pull or bruise, rubs it on and seems to heal faster. I'm game to try anything . As long as I don't break out in a weird rash, I figure it can't hurt!

You snow bunnies are already into shovel cardio! Thank heavens it's held off here so far. I don't think I could shovel one-armed

Welcome back, Mox! Babysteps!
Pat, I hope your back is feeling better. I hate those machines.
Tiki- Back and Legs together sounds grueling! Hope you are walking today

Hello to everyone else Cardio #1 done, time to shower and head to the gym.

Mel

[srmb60]

Anybody got any triceps tips? I don't seem to be making much progress there.

[mette]

Sounds to me like you gals are burning calories both inside and outside the gym these days!

Arms and chest for me today; I’ve increased biceps and triceps curls a bit – but the weight on the bench press is not moving, I have been stuck on 66lbs for weeks.

Do you all have weightlifting goals for 2005?
I’m such a newbie still – and I want to be able to squat and bench press my own weight!
It’s probably not realistic to increase the weight I’m bench pressing from 66 to 180 in 2005 – but that can be my goal for 2006. But by the end of 2005 I want to squat my own weight! Increasing from 110lbs to 180 should be doable.

Anyway. Have a nice day everybody! I’m buying Christmas presents today – this year I’m giving everybody music CDs.

[mox]

...for the welcome back, everyone. I'm trying to practice persistence...

Here're my goals for the rest of the year --
Food: Keep calories under 1500 with 25% fat except for 2 planned special events.
Exercise: Increase my walking by at least 1 mile (I already walk about 2 miles a day).
Planning: Get an exercise plan in place for 2005 (i.e., lifting splits, times, etc.)

WaterRat: I'll be visiting your part of the country for Christmas -- I have family that lives in Eagle River, AK. I was there in Sept., and we had a blast hiking, going on glacier tours, etc. Only bad thing -- I seriously sprained my ankle, which limited my mobility for about 1 month. But I'm looking forward to some serious snow fun. For my own selfish reasons, I hope you've been getting a lot of snow.

How is everyone else doing? Hang in there!!!

Mox
SW: 240.5 (12/13/05)
CW: 238