|
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. |
Originally Posted by traveling michele: 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 |
Originally Posted by traveling michele: 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. |
Originally Posted by traveling michele: 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!!!
|
Originally Posted by traveling michele: 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. |
| All times are GMT -4. The time now is 04:06 PM. |
Copyright © 2026 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.