Allison - hope the knee feels better soon.

Legs today. First I need to push away from computer and brave the cold! It was below zero last night and this is this morning...

The temperature


The view when I open the front door (still in my PJs )

Goodness, Pat, that makes me cold just looking at it.

Pat, I find it somewhat frightening that you have an outdoor thermometer that goes down to 60 below... I'm so glad I live in the south.

March 11: 60 minutes hip hop exercise class

Totals:
8 days
475 minutes

I had a great work out. Was at the gym for just under 90 minutes. And I did my last set of back squats in the cage using the 45# bar! Yay!! I was so excited I did 2x the specified amount. Fortunately I was able to subtract that number from the next exercise which was also a squat variation.

And yes, Shannon, it's just as cold tonight....

Ah, Farenheit. Now I get it. We have shifted to Celsius up here. I can do temp. and distance in metric but measuring for cooking is still cups and tablespoons to me!

And since I used to work in printing I can still do points and picas.

As you can tell I am doing the same workouts every week and just hanging out here blabbing . My weights workouts last 30 minutes twice a week and I do a third session for an hour on Sunday.

And I do the whole body, not just arms one day, legs the next, etc. Everyone's different, yes?

Dagmar

Here's another full body workout, Dagmar.

rowing warm-up: 15 mins
full body: 2 x 9 except DB chest press on ball 3 x 5, core 3 x 15
yoga: 20 mins

Starting to feel more like me. On round 3 of antibiotics ...

Got complimented on my balance, core strength & stamina today. Crikey! Must be beaming out message: "will accept compliment gracefully if offered. Try and see!"

I've often said if I lived in the north again, let alone Alaska, I would need a home gym, b/c I just wouldn't want to go outside! Of course besides warm weather helping to promote activity living in a place where a bikini is a perfectly acceptable "outfit" also motivates one to work out more. Stay warm Pat!

Silver, I'm glad to hear you're mending. You had something very nasty! Allison I hope your knee is mending as well.

Midwife, thanks for the step-up tip. I will definitely have to try that!

Yesterday afternoon I went for moderate steady-state cardio, since Wed. was high intensity.

55 minutes elliptical
Abs/Core 30 minute:
V-up 3x15
Plank pose 3x90 seconds
Back extension 3x15
Hip extension 2x15 (1 set on each side)
Lying side bend 3x15 per side

I did something last week (and presumably have continued to do) that strained my neck. At first I thought the culprit was those shoulder things we talked about last week as being bad for the shoulder and spine, but the pain has persisted even though I haven't done them again. I'm trying to pay attention and see if I've started tensing my neck oddly during any exercise... I did this with my jaw once and was convinced I had some jaw disease until I realized I clenched my teeth when I did YTWL's. It's always something.

Nothing today as I usually save the workout to Saturday and I think I'm well enough healed that I can do it pain free tomorrow (as long as I don't push too hard).

March 12: 45 minutes crosstrainer

Totals:
9 days
520 minutes

65 min of cardio on the incline trainer, 70 min (hard won!) full body strength. Was tired today, and shoulder hurt, so it was NOT an easy workout, but I did it!

This morning, I:
- walked to the corner
- jogged to the playground in the middle of my subdivision
- 3x10 bulgarian split squats (using the benches, no weight) alternating with
- 3x5 hanging from monkey bars for 5 seconds each (no weight)
- 3x10 single leg romanian deadlifts w/2 2# arm weights alternating with
- 3x10 YTWL w/2 2# arm weights
- jogged back to the corner
- walked back to the house
- 10 crunches where you start from sitting and lean backward partway
- 10 of the things where you start with your legs straight up laying on your back and tap your heels to the ground, then bring them back up
- 10 each side oblique sit-ups
- stretched

DH came across this idea of using a neighborhood playground as a weight room a while back and I thought it was a great idea, so it worked out well! If I can get him running again, he may start adding in some time working out on the jungle gym to his runs. Right now he's back to the gardening, but I think he needs to go back to strength training like he used to do.

Friday:
Warm-up and cool-down - 5 minutes walkin @ 4mph on treadmill
HIIT for 20 minutes: 7.2 mph, 40 second HI with 5.2 mph, 2 minute recovery periods. Finally felt like I found a good pace - it was really tough and I don't think I could go much faster, but could get through the entire 20 minutes.

Barbell bent-over rows: 45/15, 65/12, 65/15, 65/15
Deadlifts (seeing if I've still got it to enter the deadlift portion of the April benchpress competition) 65/15, 115/10, 115/10, 135/6, 155/4, 185/1, 185/1
Underhand grip lat pulldown 60/15, 65/12, 65/12

Saturday:
Benchpress training with trainer Tim
Benchpress using a 3-board 120/5, 130/5, 130/5, 120/5, 120/5... I think
Lat pulldown machine 110/6, 120/5, 120/5
Standing side delt raise 2x15/8, 2x12.5/8, 2x12.5/8
"Tricep death" using close-grip benchpress 85/5, 85/5 w/ 1-board, 85/5 w/ 2bd, 85/5 w/ 3 bd 85/4 w/ 4bd

50 minutes elliptical

The "boards" are pieces of 2x4 that someone holds on your chest, so a 1 board has one 2x4 that keeps the barbell 2" off your chest when you lower it, a 2-board will keep the barbell 4" off your chest, and so on. Since you're not doing the full motion of the press this way you can lift heavier than when doing a full benchpress... some crazy training technique. I personally think they look like fraternity paddles or some other torture device.