|
It's Hammer go Hammer MC Hammer yo Hammer!
My other favorite old school dorky rap songs are Snow's "Informer" and Vanilla Ice's "Ninja Rap" (from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II). Go ninja go ninja go! Go ninja go ninja go! Here's something you might enjoy: http://redfoxwarriors.com/portal/ima...ime%5B6%5D.jpg March 16: stationary bike intervals: - 5 min warmup level 5 - alternating 1 min hard (level 10) 2 min easy (level 4), all >=90rpm for 13 min - 5 min cooldown stretching |
What are you all on about?? :lol:
|
Quote:
Thursday, 17 March: 47 minutes on the arc trainer, intervals, resistance at 9 60 minute Pilates class Utterly wiped out tonight. Worked all day on two fast-breaking pieces that published by 4 PM. Suddenly it's a big emergency to write about Japan & how it's going to affect the industry. This means I had no time for the big report due Monday. There goes my weekend. Shannon, so glad you like Cee Lo Green. You may recognize his wonderful voice. He sang lead in Gnarls Barkley's massive hit, "Crazy," which came out just a few years back. ("Maybe I'm crazy ... Possibly ....") There is a censored version of this song also doing well on the charts, called "Forget You." But I think it loses its bite when it's bleeped. And I love that video very much. Birchie, just for you: Vintage "U Can't Touch This." No one has ever made better use of a stolen riff. (Yes, including Jay Z.) If you can dance through this whole thing & keep up with all the moves it includes, you will done a fairly decent cardio interval. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otCpCn0l4Wo I am always looking for great stuff like this for my gym iPod. |
Quote:
March 17: extra coffee helped me make it to the gym after 9:30 pm! I worked over 13 hours at the book fair today. Thank God tomorrow is the last day. 30 minutes elliptical was all I could muster.... Totals: 15 days 853 minutes |
Thank you very much, saef. I just :love: you people. You are from a different planet and I am an anthropologist. Thanks for letting me sit in.
No exercise or moving for days. I am paralysed (1) with the difficulty of finding data where there, actually, are none and (2) with the desire for things to improve for my uncle when it, actually, might not be possible. A walk, at least, would help. I must do that. |
Michele, you are absolutely right to take care of yourself. If that means sleeping, rather than exercising, then you were right to sleep. To me,you sound apologetic, and you shouldn't. (I say this as someone who seems to ask too much of herself during hard times & keeps forgetting that can be counterproductive. So I admire when someone else who's like me in this way says, "What I need is sleep, and damn it, I'm going to SLEEP.") Is it possible for you to ask a little less of yourself right now? Your cortisol levels must be through the roof under these working conditions. Isn't it comforting to know that this Book Fair will end? I hope you have some downtime right after this, so you can replenish your stores of energy.
As for me, I have too much to do, and went to the gym to work off some tension that's paralyzing me & leaving me thinking, "I have so much to do, I have so much to do" in an hysterical state rather than sitting down, shutting up & actually DOING it, calmly & with focus. Friday, 18 March: 15:10 rowing on the Concept 2 for 2,872 meters at 2:39 for 500 meters, 40 s/m, for a projected total of 5,666 60 minutes weights 45 minutes elliptical, half backward, intervals, resistance at 9 I'm in a blissful state. The gym installed a big flat-screen in one of the weight rooms & put on P90X DVD. This is better than hoping to catch the infomercials during my cardio workouts. I hope they run it in a loop forever. I love the industrial loft look, the black & white aesthetic, like Herb Ritts fashion photographs, and all those male bodies on display. They all look like underwear models doing a side job video shoot. [TMI alert ... TMI coming ... If someone has done a porn version of these, where the guy stops exercising because he's distracted by someone attractive, and things start happening, I would buy it. Really.] |
Quote:
Finally finished with the bookfair... it's packed up.. so happy and tired. I still have to do all of the financials and more but at least the books are put away. Totals: 19 days 913 minutes |
Saturday, 19 March:
45 minute spin class 60 Pilates class How mortifying. When I stood up from the mat in the last five minutes of Pilates class, there was a faint but unmistakable blood stain on it. You better believe I rolled it up fast as soon as we finished stretching. Thank goodness it was my own personal mat. I'm going to try Windexing it. (I confess, I learned that from "My Big Fat Greek Wedding.") No more offbrand tampons for me. |
Saef-- I'm sure no one noticed but you! But I understand your mortification!
My exercise today-- so far NONE and I'm ticked! I went to spin with my favorite instructor and couldn't find parking. I realized that wasn't a good sign. It is cold and rainy so all of the outside exercisers that usually take advantage of our beautiful California climate must have come inside. That coupled with a special event the gym was doing and a free bring a guest day brought out the hordes. I finally found parking but the spin class was full (I was still 15 minutes EARLY). I looked for a cardio machine but I hate the crowds and having to wait. I'm going to go back this afternoon after the crowds have hopefully dissipated. On a plus note, I went to Target and Costco and they were both pretty empty as everyone else must have been at the gym or still sleeping! There is something wrong with the picture that I can go to my WW meeting, go to the gym (even briefly), go to Costco and Target, come home and my teenage dd is still in bed! |
Quote:
15 minutes elliptical 15 minutes stair climber (first time doing this since I lost weight. When I tried it before I could barely make 2 minutes! I was dripping sweat like crazy!) 12 more minutes on a different elliptical total of 42 minutes for the day also drove by the bikram yoga place to find it. Now to get up the nerve to try it! Totals: 17 days 955 minutes |
Sunday, 20 March:
15:07 rowing on the Concept 2 doing 2,900 meters exactly at 2:34 for 500/m, a peak of 49 s/m (a new personal record) for a projected total of 5,811 meters 60 minutes weights 45 minute spin class |
Quote:
30 minutes elliptical 15 minutes stairmaster Totals: 18 days 1000 minutes:carrot: |
March 17:
- 40 mins walking (10 min walk + 30 min dog walk) - 15 min UBWO/core (core stuff with swiss ball, push-ups at an angle, band stuff) March 18: - 30 min dog walk March 19: - two 30-min dog walks March 20: - 50 min swim, 2000 yards total (= 1829 meters = 1.14 miles) - broken down into: 6 laps warmup, 6 laps with hand paddles, 20 laps normal, 4 laps with hand paddles, 2 laps cooldown, 1 lap breaststroke, 1 lap backstroke |
Monday, 21 March
45 minutes arc trainer, hill intervals, resistance at 9 60 minutes circuit training class Analysts from three different time zones were IMing & sending me e-mails on five separate writing jobs simultaneously from 2-5 PM. I had no idea if I'd be able to get out the door. I wanted to scream like a diva at the opera. But I finally made it out the door & got to the gym in time. Now I feel like a whole different person after working off all that tension: Optimistic, with my day somehow salvaged. I lived through it. |
Quote:
Totals: 19 days 1065 minutes |
Tuesday, 22 March:
Got up at 5:15 AM, logged onto the laptop at 6:15 AM & hardly left my chair till 5 PM. I could have worked even longer, but I'd had enough. I had a lot of adrenalin & stress to work off. 15:07 rowing on the Concept 2 for 3,033 meters at 2:28 for 500 meters, for a peak of 39 s/m, projected total 6,054 meters 60 minutes weights 45 minute spin class Tried to sign up for 6 AM spin tomorrow & had to be waitlisted. It's suddenly become popular. Who knew? At 6 AM? On Wednesday? |
Quote:
15 minutes stairclimber 5 minutes rowing Saef-- I see you rowing all of the time so I thought I'd try it. Not real sure what I was doing. Do you have any suggestions for a beginner? Totals: 20 days 1108 minutes |
Michele,
Good for you for rowing. I think it does me good & serves me very well as a warm-up for my sessions with weights. One thing I do want to caution you about: Watch your form, as you can mess up your neck, shoulders & back if you are not careful. I don't know what brand of machine you used, but no matter -- the best place to start is the Concept 2 website. The section on training is where you want to go first: http://concept2.com/us/training/default.asp Here's a good video series. I should mention I've found YouTube to be a great source of various form & technique demonstrations. http://www.ehow.com/videos-on_1239_r...exercises.html Finally, nothing helped me as much as a competitive collegiate rower who was using our gym temporarily. This girl kindly took a few minutes from her gym visit on several occasions to watch me & correct my form. She hasn't been in the gym for a while -- I think she used it during a winter break or something -- but nothing beat that personal coaching. My form is still not really good but it's better than it was. But if you get tips from someone at the gym, make sure the person knows what he or she is doing. I see some really bad things going on sometimes when people row. Not to bash men -- we have some hard-working serious & thoughtful athletes at my gym, even though it's really not targeting that market -- but I see them set the resistance on the damper as high as it can go & then rock back & forth wildly. I'm always re-setting it at a more reasonable workout level. Also, they don't store the handle correctly when they're done. They keep it stretched out, rather than loose & up in the cage. Anyway, for today: Wednesday, 23 March 45 minute spin class 45 minute Pilates mat session on my own I'd been waitlisted for spin, and was second, so I hung out on the stationary bike upstairs, hoping some people didn't make it for 6 AM spin on a cold & rainy March morning. Sure enough, I got a bike. But missed nearly 10 minutes of class. The gym has had trouble with oversubscribed spin classes. People sometimes reserve on the answering machine & the workers don't check the machine for messages. (Personally, I never leave a message -- I call till I get a live voice on the line.) Last night, they overbooked by four. This morning, there were three of us waiting, and two of us got bikes. I hate starting the class late. I hate missing any cardio. I'm weird about getting in my full time. Down to the last damn minute. |
Saef, I can't believe your gym's spin classes are so crowded!
March 21: 30 min dog walk March 22: about 10 mins core workout at PT March 23: - 10 mins stationary bike - 15 mins of crazy random exercises (included push-ups, bicep curls, arm circles, tricep kickbacks, arm raises, lunges, squats, karate kicks, and punches, like I was doing my own little kickboxing class) - 5 mins stretching |
Quote:
Today I tried Bikram Yoga for the first time. I was so nervous. I hate trying new things. I loved it! It was amazing. I think I'm going to go tomorrow! I've never sweat so much in my life. I couldn't do everything but I kept up pretty well and felt pretty coordinated and balanced. March 23: 90 minutes Bikram Yoga Totals: 21 days 1198 minutes |
Thursday, 24 March
60 minutes elliptical, resistance at 8, half the time backward 60 minutes Pilates class The Pilates instructor told me that I am "melting away." The scales do not agree with her. But the size 10 white jeans that arrived in the mail today are a bit loose in the waist & lower stomach while being slightly tight in the thighs. The Pilates instructor said that I've built up my thighs too much with too high resistance on the machines. I'd always thought that women couldn't bulk up & that my thighs would get smaller after getting larger. (My arms seemed to do this.) But the Pilates instructor also claims Pilates makes your muscles longer, and I don't believe that. I don't know what I believe. But I am skeptical of anything that promises radical reshaping. One thing that recovering from an eating disorder has taught me is humility & that there are limits to what one can achieve through steely will alone. Sometimes I think there's a cult for every form of exercise, and that almost all specific exercises are always held out by devotees as universal panaceas that will cure all that ills you & shape you better than any other. Kind of like the cult-like atmosphere surrounding many diets. Sometimes it sounds like every diet is the best one ever & all the others are wrong. This, Michele, is why I've never tried Bikram, though there's plenty of it going on down here in NY. I am sure it is extremely effective, but oh boy, in my experience, when some people are into it, they're really into it. In a scary way. Like they've been inducted into something. Promise me you'll stay the same old Michele, no matter how sweaty you get. |
Quote:
March 24: 90 minutes Bikram Yoga Totals: 22 days 1288 minutes |
Saef - if you get an answer to that thigh business, please let me know. Mine are ridiculous compared with the rest of me (though there's a fair bit of fat there still). Do you remember the osteopath who said I should lose some of the muscle?!? For us pears, thighs feel like the exception.
Michele - Bikram yoga? Let me pass you this jug of water. Little to no formal exercise here. I am away, helping out in a crisis with my uncle (84). Have been weeding his garden every day and walking a bit. I find it difficult to disperse the adrenaline at the end of the day without exhausting myself. I still need a bit in the tank to deal with tricky life, death and money questions which have to be discussed with the extended fam. |
Friday, 25 March 2011
15:06 rowing on the Concept 2 for 2,988 meters at 2:30 for 500 meters, 38 s/m, for projected totalof 5,973 meters 60 minutes weights 45 minutes on arc trainer, set at intervals, resistance dropped to six Thank goodness for the haven of the gym, where picking up heavy objects & running hard in metal stirrups helps me work off some of my frustration with my job. |
Women can't bulk up like men can, but we can certainly increase muscle size. The extent of it is just less. Also, I totally don't buy the concept that if you do a million reps at a lighter weight you will magically get stronger without your muscles getting bigger. You might get more endurance, but doing 100 reps with a 5lb weight doesn't mean next time you can pick up the 50lb weight for 1 rep. I got really annoyed with a fitness instructor once for claiming that you have to do pilates type exercises or else you'll bulk up like a man. When the class (it was a 6-week class) was over, she asked what I was going to do for the next session and I said I was going to do some weight lifting on my own. She gave me this look like I was nuts and asked why. I said, "Because I want bigger muscles." That shut her up! :lol:
March 24: - 5 min warmup on bike 90rpm level 4 - 20 min 1:2 intervals, hard level 10 >= 90rpm (got over 100 for some of it), easy level 3 about 90rpm - 5 min cooldown 75rpm level 1 - 5 min stretching |
Quote:
My back is sore now so I'll see what I do tomorrow. I suspect it isn't used to some of the movements but it is quite twingy (I guess that isn't a word?)... March 25: 90 minutes Bikram Yoga Totals: 23 days 1378 minutes |
Saturday, 26 March:
45 minute spin class 60 minute Pilates class Another person commenting that my body looks different & asking if I've lost weight. Honestly, based on my scale, I haven't. Maybe five pounds since last fall. (Which is why I was on the five-to-10-lb. thread for fall & much of this winter.) So I have to attribute this to my gym-going, in particular, to three sessions a week with weights, two Pilates classes, and also one night doing a Pilates routine on my own. I think I'm going to ignore what the Pilates instructor told me about high resistance on the arc trainer & elliptical, and figure that my thighs are eventually going to end up more proportionate, at least based on my pants-o-meter. I suspect I may have crossed over to single-digit pants sizes & am now a size 8 even without weight loss. I'll be in the city today so maybe I should pop into a dressing room when I have a minute & see what I turn up. Though I really, really don't need more clothes. My guest bedroom is becoming one gigantic extra closet. I can't see the twin bed under the folded sweaters & jeans. |
saef For me spending money (within my budget of course) on clothes I don't wear is healthier than spending money on junk food. :p
I never post in here because my exercise is my job (plus weights, yoga, biking, kayaking, etc). Interesting to read what you all are doing though. I've been to two types of yoga classes and had one class taught by someone when our regular instructor was away. "Fire yoga" he called it. That involved a lot of heavy breathing and huffing and puffing. Most yoga class devotees seem to consider it akin to a religion. I do it on my own in my basement and go to a restorative yoga class now and then (mainly to be able to lie around on the floor for 90 minutes while someone gently stretches me and puts a blankie on me now and then). I am super flexy for my age as a result and find it totally worthwhile as a form of exercise. Can't get into the chanting, little pillows, and herbal tea however. How many people have I offended now? Aack - just dodging the rotten fruit they're throwing at me :p. And I found both Pilates instructors and the one dance class instructor to all be humourless puritans. Just my experience. If I could find someone who would instruct me on the Pilates machine without killing me (my thighs hurt for 4 days after a particular session) and making me feel like an idiot I would definitely go to a regular class. Anyone swing dance? DH is expressing an interest and I'd like to check it out in the summer. Dagmar (ohmm. . .zzz) :p |
Sunday, 27 March:
15:05 rowing on the Concept 2 for 3,076 meters, at 2:23 for 500 meters, 38 s/m, for a projected total of 6,200 60 minutes weights 45 minutes spin class Dagmar, the two Pilates instructors who come to our gym to give mat classes & private sessions with the gym's Tower & Reformer are smart, funny women -- I like them both personally. One is in pre-med program; the other one is a stay-at-home mother with a bachelor's in phys ed. The problem is more with me. I get tired of hearing the various factions in the fitness industry, particularly when what they say is diametrically opposed. I have to decide what I believe. I don't want to be a zealot for anyone's cause. But apparently I do have to take a stand, if only for my body's sake & to have a clear vision of what I'm doing this for. In the short term, what I'd doing it for is to look good at another wedding. A male friend at work is getting married in two weekends. I want my sleeveless, very simple little black dress to look great on me. |
Quote:
March 27: 90 minutes Bikram Yoga Totals: 24 days 1468 minutes |
Monday, 28 March:
60 minutes arc trainer, resistance at 9, hill intervals 35 minutes Pilates routine on my own 17 minutes P90X abs routine A tall, tanned, good-natured gum-chewing blonde who has one of the best bodies in the gym said to me, "Hey, you wanna do the P90X abs routine with me?" One of the cool girls at our gym spoke to me! To me! Me! Who was really fat back in 2007, only she doesn't know that. She thinks I'm like her. I'm telling you, this was like a teen movie, like "Mean Girls" or something, with me accepted by the Plastics or the Heathers. I almost said no -- P90X intimidates me -- but I thought, ****, I've been doing Pilates every week. Okay, so it kicked my butt. And I was nowhere near as adept as blondie. (Who's actually a very nice, cheerful person.) But I got through it. Whew. |
Saef-- that is so cool! I am jealous!!!
|
Quote:
Totals: 25 days 1558 minutes |
March 25: core stuff at PT
March 26: about half hour walking with the dog March 27: same, about half hour walking March 28: strength stuff! - 3 min warmup on bike - 3x15 squats @20# alternating with - 3x15 push-ups with bar at 6th notch on smith machine (first set at 5th notch) - 3x15 lat pull-downs @55#, first set at 60#, alternating with - 3x15 rear deltoid extension @10# - 5 min stretching - core stuff at PT Saef, that is awesome! DH has been doing those p90x ab routines and they're kicking his butt too (or his abs, as the case may be!). |
Tuesday, 29 March:
15:05 rowing on the Concept 2 for 3,106 meters at 2:27 for 500 meters and 37 s/m, for a projected total of 6,151 meters 60 minutes weights 45 minute spin class A new face at spin tonight: A woman who said that in three months, she wanted to lift her butt. We told the gym's director -- who teaches this spin class -- that we all want an @ss Class. The gym already has a class called Abs Express; we want @ss Express. Now I'm wondering about P90X. I'm curious about the arm & free-weight sequence. I need to change up my routine. I think I'm going to look around fora second-hand copy. They have to be out there. Like second-hand exercise equipment, when peoples' resolutions run out. |
Wednesday, 30 March:
45 minute spin class 45 minute Pilates mat routine, on my own The 6 AM spin class was full -- in fact, the instructor gave up her bike to accommodate someone who'd been waitlisted, and just walked around the room. I was safe this time. (Saef was safe. Heh, heh, heh [Beavis giggle].) I'd registered the day before, at 5 PM. |
Quote:
March 30: 90 minutes Bikram Yoga Totals: 26 days 1648 minutes |
Thursday, 31 March:
60 minutes elliptical, random intervals, resistance at eight, half backward. Today this was killing me. The resistance was either at 11 & 12 or four. 60 minutes Pilates class |
Quote:
Totals: 27 days 1738 minutes |
| All times are GMT -4. The time now is 02:29 AM. |
Copyright © 2026 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.