Saef, I don't usually push myself to that point, but I really wanted to just see if I could do it. Honestly, I didn't do half as much as the instructor...ok, maybe half. She must be some sort of a super athlete. I'm one of these people that does whatever a trainer tells me, which is why I never hire a personal trainer anymore because I always end up getting injured. Every trainer has always assured me that I wouldn't get injured, but I did. So, I've avoided certain classes because I know I'll do whatever it is that they say to do. But, I pay such high fees at my gym, I just couldn't justify them anymore....so I've incorporated a lot more classes. They push me beyond my comfort zone and I've seen some good outcomes from making this change. I do think this class is a bit overkill....but I thought that perhaps I could become more athletic...although now I'm not sure if that's even possible. Sorry for the ramble!

Luckymommy, you need to pay attention to your body. If you feel like vomiting, something is wrong and you need to stop. If you feel you're at the edge of an injury, you need to stop. You also need to share that information with those trainers and talk with them about modifications or changes. There has to be a dialogue. They are working for you and with you. They are not authority figures whom you must blindly obey.

Actually, there is no one in life we ought to show that much obedience to. Particularly if they hurt us. I do hope this is not something that happens in other parts of your life as well!

As for me ....

Friday, August 5:

10 minutes warmup on the Stairmaster, aerobic setting, resistance at 10, and this setting pushed me pretty good.
60 minutes arm and shoulders routine
45 minutes arc trainer, interval setting, resistance at nine

An elderly man sat on the weight bench for a long time, unmoving, with the weights down at his side. His face was hard to read. I wanted to use that bench but felt that I did not want to interrupt his reverie. I went downstairs to use the ladies room, came back upstairs. Still sitting there, not moving. I got water. He was still there.
Finally heaved himself up with a sigh and went to a machine. I asked if he was done and he told me yes, yes, yes he was. This man was unhappy or just tired.

Getting old is not for sissies.

Saef, point well taken. I do need to stop this little insane game I play. I kind of feel like if I do everything they tell me, then I'll be where I want to be (even though I'm kind of there? go figure). As for it being this way in other parts of my life....no, not really. I tend to be nice to a fault so I tend to attract people in desperate need of friendship or support...but I've been working on that part of my life as well. Anyway, I will take the time to talk to the instructor before the class. I kind of feel silly doing that because this class seems to be aimed at the super athletic type, so I'm afraid they'll suggest I do a different class, but I think it's worth a shot.

By the way, when you mentioned that elderly man, I was kind of worried that perhaps he had passed on? I'm so glad he didn't! Whew! Once I was at my gym and right when I got there, a small crowd had gathered around a very heavy man who was on the floor, having a heart attack. One of the employees had attached a defib. unit to him until the ambulance got there (btw, they didn't seem to be in any rush to come and get him!). I was absolutely stunned to see that many of the people at the gym (well, just about everyone! continued working out!!!). I felt repulsed by their attitude and I went home and cried. Later in the week, I inquired about that man and he actually survived and even later, I found out that he and his wife took the employee who saved him out to lunch.

Today, August 5, I walked the dog for 30 minutes.
30 minutes elliptical
5 minutes rowing machine

No, Luckymommy, the man hadn't passed on. He was upright, his eyes were open, but his head was down. He just seemed to be thinking deeply about something that made him unhappy. Perhaps his health. When I see men his age in the gym, and they're new, I always wonder if they have had a health scare or if they are there under a doctor's or a physical therapist's orders.

I am glad you are listening to your body and taking care of it.

My question to you -- and also for myself -- is this: Do we really want to look like fitness professionals, only we have not articulated that goal clearly to ourselves? What is the goal these days?

Saturday, August 6:

60 minute spin class, with weights
60 minute Pilates class

Very early this morning, around 7 am, I managed to get to one of the small grocery stores whose produce is good quality and priced well for this area. So today I brought one of my friends at the gym a small container of coconut water, which she likes to drink as a recovery drink after working out. She is extolling its virtues. When I hear such things, I always wonder, "Fad or fact?" I liked the potassium content on the container but the grams of sugar seemed high. I wish sometimes I weren't so worried about sugar, but I am.

Thanks Saef.

Saturday Aug. 6:
40 minutes of cardio (elliptical, step mill, jogging)
15 min. weights.

Going out of town so wish me luck!!!!

Monday, August 1: 1 hour walk with almost-elderly mom
Tuesday, August 2: 40 minute jog, 1 hour walk, 1 hour Zumba class, 50 pushups, 100 crunches
Wednesday, August 3: 1 hour walk, 50 pushups
Thursday, August 4: 1 hour walk, dancing at a club that sort of resembled squats (heehee)
Friday, August 5: 1 hour walk, miserably slow 20 minute jog
Saturday, August 6: 1 hour walk, thinking about doing the "100 Workout" but sleep deprived + hungry at the moment

This question needs some serious consideration. Is this level of exercise and the time commitment it involves what you want to keep doing the rest of your life? Do you want to endlessly increase the pounds you can bench press? The speed at which you can turn the pedals or run on the treadmill? Why is that?

I scaled back my exercise awhile ago because it was hurting me. I'm not sorry I did. My goal was to become fit, not become an athlete, not to become a masochist, and especially not to have yet another area of my life in which I could become an "overachiever."

I see older people at the gym a lot. Some of the men do sit around like that in various places, especially where the weights are--because they can pretend they are resting between sets. I suspect the reason is that their wives are trying to enforce an exercise regimen on them, having gotten the doctor's report. Sometimes their wives are there with them--off in an area far away, where they can't keep an eye on the husbands. You can lead a horse to water...

Jay

My entire day at work is a workout (with many different facets). But if I ever feel ill I stop, take the dogs into the shade and wait a couple of minutes. Ditto in the winter. If my fingers go numb (or the dog's noses start to bleed from the cold) we go to where it's warm.

Same goes for weights, yoga, paddling, etc. If it makes me I slow it down. Much as I admire some very fit women's bodies I'm too old/tired/lazy to go to ridiculous lengths to try to look like them.

I work out until I'm pleasantly tired and maybe have some small twinges of muscle pain the next day if I'm doing something out of the usual. I finally stopped sessions with my personal trainer because she was 26 and treated me like I was her age (I was 52 at the time). She couldn't get that I didn't want to become better and better and stronger and stronger and push, push, push until I hurt myself. I was happy being toned and being able to lift my boat down from the rack into the water - those were my goals that I reached and am maintaining to this day.

I had to stop watching "Biggest Loser" because I couldn't stand Jillian's approach. I'm definitely on Bob's team - coached along rather than hectored and bullied. Most of the time I wanted to give Jillian a good clout on the ear!

Dagmar (fitness should be fun!)

Sunday, August 7:

10:07 minute warmup rowing on the Concept 2, which took me to 2,014 meters
60 minutes back & biceps routine
45 minute spin class, definitely high-intensity as it was a series of sprints, ladder sprints, hill sprints, standing sprints

Now off downtown to see a four-and-a-half-hour movie. Thank goodness there's an intermission in the middle to let the audience move around.

30 min. interval training (walking/sprinting)...impressive since I'm out of town and hardly slept.

And I imagine most of the audience (if they're anything like me) will have to run to the rest room.

What movie did you see?

Dagmar

Dagmar, we did line up for the restroom, but thankfully, the intermission was 20 minutes long.

"Mysteries of Lisbon" was the name of the movie. Its director, Ruiz, is pretty wonderful. It ran as a six-hour series on TV in Europe. There is a four-and-a-half-hour movie version out now. It's a period film. It's so very 19th century. There's a duel. There are ballroom scenes. There is conniving going on underneath painted Italian murals. There are countesses and marquises and duchesses. There are notes exchanged. There are white horses pulling coaches through green, green fields. The silk gowns are gorgeous. The hair is piled up, the earrings glitter. The men look so very handsome with their chins resting on top of white cravats, wearing their knee-high shiny polished boots. People faint from excessive emotion. They retire to convents. Or they die in their beds from no visible sickness but unhappiness. I love this stuff. I cannot get enough. Four and a half hours of it is fine by me. (As long as there's an intermission in the middle.

I'm behind apparently.

August 4: none

August 5: pilates
- inner thigh insanity
- uh oh obliques

August 6:
36 min, 8.57 mile bike ride (14.1mph)

August 7:
15 mins scrubbing the shower

August 8: pilates
- legs & thighs
- muffin top exterminator
- back attack

Jessica, your workouts sound more fun than mine, dammit, or else they've been named by someone with a sense of humor who's great at marketing. Are these the Pop Pilates videos? I watched one & liked what I saw but have not had time to click through the series. How many are there?

As for me:

Monday, August 8:

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


I turned the TV on my cardio station from financial market news -- which I'd been glancing at all day long while at the office -- to the Millionaire Matchmaker on Bravo (who boasts a great success rate but whose show mostly shows Things That Can Go Wrong on a First Date). I need to live in the present & focus on what is immediately in front of me & stop my mind from endless speculating about what all this will lead to. Because I can't affect the financial markets no matter how much I worry.

Saef, yes, those are Pop Pilates. She has a whole lot of them, I'm not sure how many.