FRAN! What an amazing change! A virtual high five going out your way...

Mel: It's raining here in CA, which is pretty much unheard of for May. This makes the third visit this year that the weeks preceding and following my visit have been gorgeous, but the week of my visit has been unseasonably cold and rainy. I'm convinced I'm causing it. (Evidently, I also do volcanic eruptions: Mt. Redoubt started spitting about 20 minutes after I purchased tickets for AK this summer.. )

I love the image of a sneeze-induced cramp. I've only had muscle cramps in my abs once or twice, not induced by sneezes. It's such a bizarre feeling....

Be strong,
Kim

I would recommend Banana Boat spray mist or the lotion. Those had the highest ratings on drugstore.com tho I did not use them yet. I went ahead and continued to fumigate myself with the dreaded Nutrigena airbrush tan (don't use) bc I hate to throw anything away. I did a total of 3 applications to go from ghostly to a nice tone. But I'm ready to lather myself up already for challenges 2 and 3. I also suggest spraying yourself outside, or in your garage if you're shy. It's every bit as annoying as the sprayon sunblock stuff now if you've ever been caught in a cloud of that at the pool in the summer.

So cool, I purposely planned my finish day to be in synch with The Biggest Loser last show tonite (not the finale) and I'm really enjoying sitting here watching them do their 'realizations' about where they've come in 17 weeks while I sit here and have the same thoughts about how different I am after my weeks. Pretty cool.

Fran! YOU DID IT!. And look, the photos really prove it! WOW! How are you feeling? Are you surprised at the difference as you look at the two photos? Are you having fun trying on clothes in your closet? Nice. Nice Job! Thanks for sharing.

Tired. And I have an early day tomorrow. I'm helping my son's class plant 25 trees on the school grounds. It's supposed to rain. I'm going to be "channeling" you Cheryl.

Workouts are going well, food is spot on, my white linen summer pants are a little roomy (they just fit last year) oh, and the bag of pretzels hasn't been replaced for two weeks. (whew)

Have a great evening everyone!

Congrats Fran!!

So now I know who to blame that my flight to Boston was cancelled 3 times! I refused to rebook the third time since all the events I was going for had gone by.... It's being quite active again if you've noticed. I'm planning to fly out of here at the end of June, so it had better be done!

BTW, I'm home if you haven't noticed my string of postings. Had a great 4 days off, and now two catching up at home and work (well much of today was spent at the dentist - 2 hours driving to/from Anchorage, 1.5 hours there.

I've got a new PC, and discovered that Vista does not like my printer. Grrrrr. I guess I see a new one in the near future. At least I have an excuse to buy one that prints photos and can skip having to do it at the store.... I totally love my new big flat screen though.

I'd better get making some dinner. DH is at a meeting and will walk through the door hungry I'm sure. I've spent too long messing with the printer while reading/posting here (at least I can multi-task ) so I'll quit now.

to everyone!

Fran, awesome results from the BFL challenge! Big change in the pics, thanks for sharing, and on your success!

Lydia, if you're channeling me tomorrow, can you channel me getting up on time? I've missed my alarm 2 mornings in a row. I hate waking up late, and getting to the gym late. I've borrowed the boy's mega-annoying alarm for tomorrow morning. I'll be jealous of your tree planting tomorrow...I have to pressure wash my sister's roof and clean the gutters...not my favorite job, but only happens about twice a year, thankfully! I'd rather be planting trees!

Nelie, thanks to you and your dh for the nice complements!

Alena, sorry to hear about the spin class being full. Seems like it's always full at the Y, too, though I've yet to try one, and haven't been to the Y much in the past 2 months.

Kim, you are really strong. I love seeing when you post your workout and weights used. Gives me something to work towards and keeps me hopeful of the possibilities!

Pat, Midwife, Mel, and those I missed, , cuz I've got to get some sleep soon!

Today's CF WOD was "Elizabeth", a make-up girl WOD, since yesterday they did a special farewell workout for one of the guys. I'm actually glad I missed that one, since it was a metcon-o-death with lawnmowers and burpees and all kinds of stuff that would have left me crippled up for another week!

Elizabeth is 21-15-9 reps of:
BB Cleans (Power cleans at our gym, unless you "miss" and have to catch it lower)
Ring Dips (Jump to Support on the Rings for me, since I'm still a newb at rings)

My time was 12 mins and something. Accidentally used too light a weight on the cleans, since I didn't have time to look in my journal (was late getting there today) before the workout. I think I could actually go up to 70 lbs or maybe 75 for this rep range on cleans, now that I've got the form down pretty well.

I got good at the JTS with the rings low, so my trainer raised them halfway through the workout. Now I'm jumping up about a foot, which is a lot harder, but I didn't do too bad. Could NOT feel whether I was locked out at the top or not, so more practice will be needed to get a feel for it.

Okay, off to bed for me. Tomorrow is workout in the morning, then home to pick up tools, pack food and such for my day, a few errands on the way there, then roof cleaning and some more tree trimming if there's time. I may check in here in the evening if I get home at a decent hour. Weather has been flukey here, but I'm hoping for sun, despite my chances being slim to "whatever".

I had one of my "wake up in the middle of the night" sleeps. Actually, it was less bad than other days when I wake up at 3 am. Today, I woke at 4:50, made myself some hot chocolate and checked some emails. Then I loaded Jackie Warner's DVD and did 45 minutes of exercise (abs and upper body). I love the feeling of starting the day with my exercise already done.

I am thinking I need to collect my courage and get my picture taken (a la Fran) so that I have some comparison later. :-)

Now I need to tank up some coffee. Lydia, enjoy the tree planting - I hope you get done before it starts raining. The rain should be here tomorrow. Woohoo!

peeps! Just posting the CF report, for those interested:

Today's WOD was Back Squats, 3-3-3 Across (same weight for all 3 sets)

I warmed up with single sets of 5, starting light since I'm still working on my form for this one:
45 lbs
55 lbs
65 lbs
75 lbs

Then the working sets. For some reason, my trainer wanted me to stick with sets of 5 today for the work set, instead of 3, so we only went to 85 for the working sets. Still, since my back squat was so pitiful before, this was a new personal record weight for my back squat:
85 (PR)-85-85

I could have gone heavier, but I guess my trainer wants me to take it slow. He switched me to a monkey grip for the back squat today. Took some time to get used to it, but it turned out to be better, since I could get my elbows a lot higher in back with that grip.

During my warm-up this morning, since I got there on time for once, lol, I worked on running sprints: first a 100 meter sprint like I'd been doing, then I did some stretching and walking, then I just tried to sprint as far as I could, and made it about 200 meters. It's progress!

I tried some ring dips with the assistance band, but that was more complicated to coordinate than expected, so I wouldn't call it a success. I did practice more "jump to support" and am getting better with the rings being higher now than before.

I also practiced overhead squats and front squats, just with the pvc, then the 15 lb bar, as the "squat" portion of my warm-up. My pull-ups are still sucking worse than ever, but I did get through my 2 sets of 10 doing singles, even though I couldn't string them together.

I got 5 push-ups on my toes in a row today, chest to floor. These are still killing me, but I keep on trying, and will eventually get through a set of 10 in a row!

Cheryl,
You rock! Great job on the push ups.

Awesome, Cheryl!!!!

Kim- Please stay away from southeastern PA...we once had a minor earthquake which I thought was my washing machine off balance, shaking the house.. Then I remembered I wasn't doing laundry..... If you can cause volcanic eruptions, just think what you could do with tectonic movement! I think Kim now get the World's Strongest Woman title

I had a good run this morning, and lifted shoulders at lunch time. I learned a cool new front delt, squat, plyo exercise which scares the out of anyone nearby

Grab a dumbbell slightly lighter than what you'd use for a front raise. Hold it in your right hand, hanging down and go into a squat. Come up out of the squat and bring your arm up slightly above shoulder level. At the apex, give the dumbbell a spin towards yourself and let go of it. Grab the handle with your left hand which now should be in front raise position, and as you bring your left hand down, go into a squat. Repeat, alternating hands. I practiced it a few times without switching hands...squat-raise-release and spin-catch with same hand, squat.... I was getting pretty good at it and only had to make one or two wild grabs for the db. When I reached for the BOSU ball, people started fleeing the weight area I heard muttering about helmets. Really, I think a mouth guard would be adequate

I can't find a youtube video of this. If I could, I certainly wouldn't have typed it all!

Lydia- Congrats on the loose pants!

Welcome back, Pat

Mel

THanks Lydia. Here's what I wrote in my journal:


This has, in some ways, been the hardest thing and most meaningful thing I’ve done. Harder than finishing college. Harder than getting my master’s degree. In both of those situations or most of life’s major challenges, you have someone guiding you, telling you what to do, plotting out the steps for you. This was just me. Just me, a book, and a coupe of really good online forums. But no one to report in to each day or week, no one holding me accountable, except me. No check-in’s, no personal trainers, not even a gym. Just me in my basement and my equipment. It was all me. Just me. My determination. My commitment. My success.

:

Fran: You totally own all of your success with this challenge! Taking ownership of the responsibility to hold yourself accountable entitles you to complete ownership of your success. Congratulations girl. Doesn't feel like you kind of crossed a new threshold for yourself (in a good way) I'm so excited for you.

Mel: You crack me up. There is a back room at my gym that is usually not used. I could try your move in there. But if I walked out of there bleeding from an injury, I'm pretty sure the kid behind the desk wouldn't have any sympathy for me and tell me to go home to get my own band aids.

Cheryl, good job with the pushups. I so love pushups. Well, at least until I can't do anymore and then I get ticked. My workouts are doing much better. I'm focusing more upon strength this month. I've found that with all the different things I've been doing since Feb. I have acquired more strength despite my worries. I'm using much heavier dumb bells for my favorite upper body routine. Although the sets are a little shorter.

I'm tired. Another late night. Have a great morning everyone.
Have a great

Hey all ,

Thanks for the kudos on the push-ups. The chest-to-floor takes it to a whole other level, unfortunately, but I'm making progress!

Here's the CF Report for today (feel free to skip, as always):
-------
Warmed up with a 500 meter row, 200 meter run, shoulder mobility, overhead squats, push-ups, stretching. There was a big group doing the workout at that time, so I couldn't get to the pull-up bars or GHD, so I skipped the sit-ups, back extensions and pull-ups today.

The WOD:
Run 400 meters
50 (air/BW) squats
25 pull-ups (green band for me)
Run 800 meters
25 pull-ups
50 squats
Run 400 meters

Today I tried running fast every round, and sprinting the last 400 meters on the last round of running. I ran out of gas a couple of times, but just jogged or walked, got my breathing slowed to something manageable, then went for it again. I think my run time was a lot faster than normal today, even with the walking. Mainly, my trainer wanted me to go for it on the runs, and walk if needed, so that's what I did. Today, I was able to sprint about 300 of the last 400 meters, which is a new record for my sprint distance. I was out of gas the last 100 meters, so not really "sprinting" anymore, but I didn't stop or have to walk, and was able to do something resembling a run till I got in the door. I called "time!" and had to collapse in a heap till my heart rate and breathing slowed down, but I was proud of the effort. 21 minutes, 37 seconds today.

On the squats, I went for broken sets right from the start, 5 squats at a fast pace, rest at the top for 3 breaths, 5 squats fast, rest 3 breaths, etc. This seemed to work way better than going for a steady pace and gassing out after 20, so I will do this again, and may try it with the wallballs, too. Feel like it was a better metcon workout this way, since I wasn't standing around, unable to work at all, during the workout.

Pull-ups were the definite limiting factor today. The green band is a bit strong for me, so hard to kip with, but I'm still not good enough to use the blue band in the workouts. Need to get the kip nailed with the blue band, then I think my pull-up times will improve, plus the blue band would be closer to the real thing/less help, which would be good. I'll have to wait a day or so, then I will spend one of my warm-ups focusing on getting better with the blue band.

Today I brought my CF workout logbook home, to do a little organizing, since just writing down the WODs by date makes it hard to find what weight to use for which exercise, or to know if I've improved my time or weight on anything. I made a page in the back for each of the main exercises we do often, like the olympic lifts and running, then a page to just take note of what weight to use for kettlebells, wallball, etc, and for what rep range. I also made a separate page for tracking the named WODs, so I'll be able to see if I'm progressing.

Since I was looking at that, I thought I'd jot down my bodyweight and waist measurement for the first of each month. Since I started CF, I've lost 2" from my waist measurement, and lost 9.8 lbs. Not bad for 2 months, at this stage of the game. I'm going to take a pic next week (bloated up with TOM this week), to compare to the one I took at the beginning of March for the beginner CF class. If there's a visible difference, I'll post the pics here, if you guys are interested.

Two words: breast. implants.

Please do! And, 10 lbs in 2 months and 2" from your waist is FANTASTIC, especially since 10 lbs is a net change (and you probably gained a bit of muscle). Way to go!

Be strong,
Kim

lol, Kim. I thought the same thing. I have a friend who went from concave to double D and after healing, chest to floor push ups because a lot easier for her!

An on track week I'm determined to stay that way, although we have a fundraiser party tonight for a neighbor who is BICYCLING across the entire US (including the Rockies AND Kansas) to raise money for the Arthritis Foundation. Several other neighbors are meeting him at various points to ride with him. One brave sole is just doing the Rockies with him! We'll write a check

I'm doing mother's day for extended family, so I'm in control. Everyone in my family except the kids are watching calories and cholesterol, so egg white omelets and fruit salad will be appreciated. No junk!

Have a good one!

Mel