Silver, the elbow up is for form, but good form means more speed. There is a similar drill where as you bring up your arm you keep your thumb touching the side of your body until your thumb is in your armpit, then reach forward. My limited understanding is that these will help with body rotation and help streamline the motions you are doing to save energy and avoid drag. But then, I'm certainly not anything resembling a competitive swimmer! :lol:

Tuesday, December 11th (1/11/11):

I was thrilled to have the opportunity to wave my arms around occasionally in my morning workout between weight sets. [Teasing you, JessicaClippy. ;-0]

15:07 on the Concept 2, 42 s/m, 2,835 meters, 2:39 500 meter, for a projected total of 5,805. Since correcting my form, I'm slower. It's because I'm **thinking** and don't have a muscular memory yet.
60 minutes weights

45 minute spin class in the evening, and when I walked out, it had begun snowing.

Tue 11 Jan

20min Trekking class (Sprint intervals on the treadmill)
45min Body Combat class - was only my second try at this but enjoyed it much more than last week as now I've got more idea of the moves and what to expect.

Was a REALLY good workout today and I can feel it :lol:

Thanks, Jessica. I find good form so interesting, aesthetically of course but also from the efficiency angle.

TM 15 mins
Yoga and stretching 25 mins

Still quiet at the gymn. I suspect people are struggling financially and have cut back on their membership. Have you noticed it, LM?

January 11: 54 minutes running

Totals: 10 days

582 minutes

And my gym is PACKED!

Wed Jan 12

10mins Warm Up Elliptical
45mins Zumba class

Didn't enjoy the Zumba as much this week as last, but not in a great mood and have a headache, so hoping it's just that.

Wed Jan 12:
- 5 min stationary bike warmup
- downward dog for a few minutes
- failed attempt at girly-style push-ups
- >= 3x10 leg lifts on each side
- bunch of pilates-type stuff, including supermans, swimming, rollovers, rollups, the hundred, mermaid, half-assed planks
- more downward dog
- 5 min stretching

Wednesday, January 12:

60 minutes elliptical, half backward, resistance at 8, just over 6 miles
30 minutes Pilates session with the trainer, who put me on the Reformer machine.
45 minute spin class

This was more cardio than I wanted to do, but I got shut out of spin class, went on the waitlist not expecting to get a bike, and then got a bike. And my friends in the class were beckoning, excited that I'd gotten a bike. Also, I'd had the Pilates session in between, which is concentrated, sweaty stuff, but was a good rest between cardio bouts.

Usually, I do everything I can to reserve a bike ahead of time. But last night, with the snowstorm looming, I thought that attendance would be sparse after it hit. Wrong. The January crowd was undeterred by the snowstorm, or maybe were really happy to get the heck out of the house & into the gym after being shut in all day.

January 12: 60 minutes UJAM

Totals: 11 days
642 minutes

Thur 13 Jan

5min warm up walk then my first ever 10k run followed by 5min cool down walk on treadmill. Managed it all in 100mins, really pleased to have finally worked up to this point after starting to run only 12 months ago.

Thursday 13th January - gymn!

TM 15 mins
Yoga/stretching 20-25 mins

Tomorrow will be a rest day. I am focussing on avoiding injury.

Thursday, January 13:

60 minutes arc trainer, intervals, resistance at 9
60 minutes Pilates class

The Pilates instructor remarked on the lack of New Years' resolution people in class, which was small & mostly composed of die-hards.

Either the big snowfalls are keeping them away, or they're price-conscious because of the recession & still paying for Christmas gifts they charged last month. Or the New Years' resolution people may be joining the gym called Blink that the corporation that owns Equinox just opened up less than two miles away -- it's much cheaper than our little boutique gym, even if it doesn't offer classes & there is no towel service.

January 13: 52 minutes running (little over 5 miles)

Totals: 12 days
694 minutes

It's always good to see you post, Michele, just as I'm starting my day! (Breakfast in bed at 0630, since you ask. :))

Good morning then! Hopefully I motivate you to move....
My brother-in-law and his wife are in London....

Friday 14 Jan

60min PT session - although really about half of that was taking new measurements and explaining to him how screwed up my head is right now and him giving me advice of where I could go from here...

Thurs Jan 13: none

Friday Jan 14:
- 3 min warmup on stationary bike
- 3 sets of bench press @30# (10 reps, 7 reps, 4 reps)
- 3x10 YTWL w/2x3#
- 3x10 combo bicep curl and overhead press w/2x8#
- 3x10 tricep dips (hands on bench, feet on floor, knees bent)
- 2x10 seated row at about 48#

Friday, January 14:

15:05 rowing on the Concept 2, and the little scrap of paper that I wrote my stats on & the ballpoint that I wrote it with is still lying in the tray thingy on the arc trainer, so it will forever go unrecorded. I think I did 500 meters in 2:30 or so, as I'm still slow.
60 minutes weights
45 minutes arc trainer, hill intervals, resistance at 8

Gym humming with activity again this morning.

Saturday, January 15:

45 minute spin class
60 minute Pilates class

All the coat hooks in the locker room were taken & nearly all the lockers had padlocks on them. I managed to find an empty one to stash my coat & "snowpants" in. (By "snow pants" I mean long windbreaker pants which I wear over my bike shorts while walking to the gym.)

The gym has added additional spin classes on Monday nights & a second class later in the morning on Sundays. It also extended its hours on Sunday night.

I'm taking these signs as good things & indication of financial health. So the New Year's resolution people really are out there after all.

Sunday, January 16:

15:06 rowing on the Concept 2, 2:35 for 500 meters, total of 2,771 meters, projected 5,664, at 41 s/m
60 minutes weights
45 minutes spin class, with a lot of new people, so we did sprints, with everyone adjusting resistance as they would. One older woman wore bright red lipstick to class. (And it stayed on throughout!) She gamely kept peddling through the whole thing, though she didn't try the different moves or mess much with the resistance. She just kept peddling. She said her goal was to make it though the whole 45 minutes, and she did. Good for her. It made me want to take her out for a coffee afterward, or something. This was important: Setting a goal, & achieving it.

By the time I got out of class at nearly 10 AM, the gym was busy. They've added a second, 10 AM Sunday spin class, and a lot of the regulars showed up for that one.

NSV: I wore a sleeveless top today to the gym, with a built-in shelf bra, because all my sports bras are in the laundry (which I really, really need to do). I never wear this top because it makes me self-conscious about my flabby upper arms with their bat wings. Well, those arms are looking much better these days, with just vestigial wings. Because the spin instructor said how good my upper body looks. And I kept looking in the gym mirrors like a 13-year-old boy who's just discovered his arm muscles.

Friday - chiro
Saturday - TM & yoga/stretching at gymn
Sunday - rest day
Monday - gymn visit planned

Saturday 15 Jan
60min Advanced Step Class

Sun 16 Jan
Rest Day

January 14: none :mad:

January 15: 70 minutes boot camp

January 16: 53 minutes running (5.06 miles)

Totals: 14 days
817 minutes

Mon 17 Jan

60min Bodytone Class
45min Step Class

Saturday Jan 15: none

Sunday Jan 16: swam 2200 yards in 57:23 split up as follows:
- 40 laps freestyle, avg lap 1:18, first 11 in 13:15, 22 in 27:05, 33 in 41:14, 36 in 45:08, 40 in 50:20 (PRs for the distances!)
- 2 laps cooldown freestyle
- 1 lap backstroke
- 1 lap elementary backstroke

Monday Jan 17: UBWO
- 2 minutes random warmup stuff (inchworms, arm circles, etc)
- 3x12 bench press @30# alternating with
- 3x10 reverse crunch
- 3x12 one arm bent over row, first set 15#, other two 20#
- 3 sets overhead press w/2x10#, first set 12 reps, second 10, third 8
- 3x12 lat pull-down, first set 45#, other two 50#

Monday: TM & yoga/stretching.
Tues is a rest day and Wed I'll be back at the gymn

I've just checked my blood pressure and it's in the ideal range. That's pleasing.

Jessica - what, in heaven's name, is an inchworm? It must (cannot?) be related to a tapeworm. The mind boggles. How can a parasite be thought of as a warm-up? I mean a worm-up. I await your reply with interest.

Sorry, just happened to pop in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFJG4GW5JJk

Inchworm.

Jay

Monday, January 17th:

60 minutes arc trainer, hill intervals, resistance at 9
60 minutes circuit training class

I've concluded tonight that the weird attendance patterns at my gym -- overcrowded for a few days, then nearly deserted -- may have to do with the weather. With icy rain predicted tomorrow, I think people are at the grocery store or running errands tonight, and either skipped their evening workouts, or got them done early, on the Martin Luther King holiday.

January 17: 60 minute body pump class. Left, had dinner and returned.
45 minute boot camp class (an hour class but I had to leave to get dd).
My arms (biceps) are yelling at me. Hopefully I didn't overdo it tonight.

Totals:
15 days
922 minutes

Tuesday, January 18:

15:06 minutes rowing on the Concept 2, 2:32 500/m, 2,836 meters, 42 s/m, for a projected 5,785 meters
60 minutes weights, bumping up to 15 pounds on some, 17.5 pounds on one, and I tried bench-pressing a 50-pound barbell & managed it, to some degree, though it made me shakier than usual while doing a 40-pound barbell right afterward.
45 minute spin class in the evening

Tue Jan 18

20min Trekking Class (incline intervals)
45min Bodycombat Class

I LOVED my workout today, really felt to have worked hard and was sweating and red in the face more than I have been in a while. Think Tue is my new favourite workout day.

Tues Jan 18:
- 5 min warmup stationary bike
- 3x30s elbow planks, about 30-60s rest in between
- 3x20 leg lifts each side (left, right, top, bottom)
- 3x30s cobra
- swimming
- 60 bicycles immediately followed by the hundred
- 5 min stretching

Thanks for the inchworm video Jay, that is the warmup exercise I was doing. I did them in both directions (moving forward and backward).

January 18: 51 minute run (5 miles)

Totals:
16 days
973 minutes

Thank you, Jay. Hmm - inchworm. I do that a bit during my stretching period. I'll think of you then, Jessica!

Today: TM and yoga/stretching.
Tomorrow: rest day
Friday: gymn

Wed 19 Jan

5min Warm up on Cross Trainer
45min Zumba Class - loved it today so really pleased as wasn't sure if it was my thing or not

Wed Jan 19:
- 3 min run, to see how my feet were doing. They felt okay.
- 3 sets bench press @35#, 7 reps, 6 reps, 5 reps
- 2x10 reverse crunch
- 3x10 bicep curls with resistance band alternating with
- 3x10 tricep dip on bench, feet on floor
- 25 each upper back exercises (snow angel, rotate, push back)
- 30s downward dog
- few min stretching

I was feeling extremely un-motivated today. Oh well.

Wednesday, January 19:

30 minutes Pilates routine on my own
45 minute spin class

This is just a reminder to myself that, after a tense day at the office -- in my manager's absence, trying to round up someone in my dept. to fly to San Jose with less than 24 hours' notice for a writing assignment -- nothing feels better than the gym. I went in full of angst, hating the weather, depressed by a phone call from a friend whose mother died of cancer a few days ago, my shoulders still hunched up around my ears from my job. I came out laughing & talking & walking with one of the instructors & his partner. Anything that has this effect is something that I need to hang onto.

January 19: 60 minutes UJAM class

Totals:
17 days
1033 minutes

Thursday, January 20:

60 minutes elliptical, resistance at 8, random intervals, half of it backward, a little over 6 miles
60 minute Pilates class, with someone subbing for the usual instructor, someone more merciful, so I think I won't hurt as much as usualtomorrow