Today is the day after the day after. OUCH! I had to postpone my run til tonight and hope for the best. It is looking like tomorrow might be the day after the day after the day after--unusual even for me, but there it is. So I'm scheduled to lift again, workout B instead of workout A, so hitting the muscles a little differently. What do you ladies think, lift or postpone til Friday? A little sore won't kill me for sure, but I'm still using the rails in the handicapped stall.

Anne

Postpone until you can move during the day w/o pain. Your muscles haven't healed yet and are still in recovery.

Maybe add in extra "other" activity. Tho your legs hurt, a run will actually feel good and help with the healing. Short term pain at the beginning but oh so much better at the end of the run. Maybe a yoga or pilates dvd after the run to really help stretch those warm muscles.

Feel better!!!

Yeah I'd suggest doing something 'light' to warm up and then do some stretching.

Just a quick note - my pink Zumba shoes arrived and they FIT!!!! - on my way out - to a Zumba class (where else?) <VBG>

Anne: I agree with Fran and Nelie. If you still have to hold on to things to sit down, postpone it. We do not develop gains in our muscles through the actual activity we develop them after the activity and through healing. It so hard to adjust to a prewritten routine when we are so excited to do it just right but really. If it hurts, no harm in waiting another day.

Alena: Go Girl. Show them who has the shoes now!

Today was my second attempt at chin ups. So I was able to clear 6 on the first set, three on the second and almost two on the third. These things kill the rest of my lifting routine. I was feeling a little flustered about my workout when I left the gym because I didn't accomplish all that I wanted. It must have been effective though because about two hours later I was so fatigued I could barely keep my head up.

Anne, I hope you are feeling better by now.

Lydia, I thought about your chin ups at the gym this a.m. (I arrived to the gym at 5:35 a.m. - woohoo!), when I was stretching on the stretching station. THere is a bar where you can suspend yourself from and I think one could do chin ups there as well although the bar seemed to be a bit too thin for a comfortable grip. I realized, while I hung there like a wet noodle, how far behind you I am. :-) I drool when I read about your accomplishments.

So Zumba last night and I was in heaven. The shoes are so perfect! Worth every penny (including the shipping and overflated import fee and conversion rate and what not). I promise I won't bother you with the shoes any more. :-)
Legs this morning and there is a Zumba class tonight so I am thinking maybe I will go. I have friends coming for dinner tomorrow though and I have to make dessert and of course tonight is Gray's Anatomy and ER night, so help me God!

Lydia on the pull ups! Don't feel bad about them wiping you out! That's a LOT if they are unassisted or even slightly assisted. You know how many muscles are involved and how hard it is for women to do them. I just went back to doing unassisted on Monday and was also wiped out after what seemed like a non-stellar workout. and SORE the next day!

Alena- woohooo on those shoes! Maybe I'd be more coordinated at zumba if I had a pair

Anne- hope the soreness is abating!

Hi everyone else- have to run and pick up a co-worker at a local mechanic shop

Mel

Hey ladies (and lurker gents)! Flyby this morning to say, I ran last night & it hurt but was doable. I am still Sore this morning as opposed to SORE or SORE!!, Vitamin I is working for me today, and I plan to lift again tomorrow when I'm merely sore.

Thanks for helping to figure this out! I'm out of time for now, but will come back later tonight.

Anne

Hi all!!! Lydia, chin ups?? IMPRESSIVE! When I was about to get out the military they were adding them to the PT test. We had been running for months, sit ups, pushups till we puked and yet most of us couldn't manage more than 2!! You did 6!!!! You girl!!!


Tomato, i'm gonn have to look up Zumba classes. Never heard of them but sounds like you are luvvin 'em.

Last night was my first night back at the gym after attending my alma mater's homecoming last weekend. and it wasn't too bad. I ate very clean the entire trip with the exception of some lemon scallops from PF Chang. It wasn't really discipline that kept me clean, we were just too busy to eat!!!

Stay focused all and finish out the weeek STRONG!!!

Tomato, I'd ZUmba just for the shoes

Anne, reading an above post regarding advise to take another day's rest b/c you still needed to hold onto something to sit down..... wow. 'nuff said and you ran!! rock and roll.

That comment reminds me of a vacation DH and I took just after we got enagaged... we were in St. Lucia and wanted to hike one of their two famous mountains. We chose the smaller one (petit piton as opposed to grand piton) b/c it was steeper and we wanted the challenge. Well, my fitness level had dropped in the months before the vacation and I pushed it hard up the mountain. We were clutching onto tree roots to hoist ourselves up...

For the rest of the vacation I was unable to walk DOWN stairs. up was ok. but DOWN took me 5-6x as long as a very aged person

--sorry for the trip down memory lane.

I did Jillian Michaels and the biggest losers sculpting workout on exercise tv this am. It was pretty cool. She had her losers hold their hand weights doubled and I had only one 5.. Tomorrow I will repeat with double 5s.

have a good night, training chicks!

Wow. I can't believe how late in the day it is already. Thanks for all the supportive comments regarding those chinups. I googled like crazy yesterday trying to find something to compare the number that I did with some kind of standard and found nothing. Your examples helped a lot. Not knowing how to gauge your efforts is one of the drawbacks of training on your own, right? Oh, and just for the record Mel, they were unassisted. :

Today was legs and I left out the back squats. The weather is wet here today and my left knee was a little achy. Everything else went okay. I tried a new cardio this morning after I completed my real workout. Rowing. Does anyone else do this? I'm a little uncoordinated with it even after watching all the youtube videos on how to do this. I did find a rhythm eventually but I'm not so sure I'll be able to throw it into my rotation until I get better with it.

Pat: I'm a little worried about you. I hope that your tests come out okay. Take care of yourself first. You can get back to your routine when you are feeling your best again.

Alena, that you attempted the chinups during your workout. Keep working on it and you'll get there. Just don't expect to do much else after. Oh, and we like your shoe stories. Glad they are working out well.

Anne: Glad your feeling a little better. The DOMS will lesson over time and then like a you will be concerned that your not working them effectively anymore because you are never quite that sore again. I hope your run was enjoyable.

Tiki: Homecoming! How fun. Too busy to eat. It works for me. So much better than those days when I have cabin fever and I'm looking to see if the food fairy left anything in the pantry. She never does.

KittyCat: I had a similar experience in North Carolina with a group of friends hiking Mount Mitchell. Such a surprising experience isn't it.

Thanks for all the DOMS support. I seem to remember it got bearable after the 3rd workout. I have never stopped being sore, although I did get to the point where it was a good sore. Wonder how much 2 pregnancies have rearranged my cellular structures.

I did postpone and will re-evaluate tomorrow. I'm going to try to get it in, but am also going to try do a fun bike ride, mountain biking, and since fun (and alone) is rare for me, that gets priority.

Lydia, I'm still in awe of the chin ups.

Anne

Evening all.

Lydia, thanks not to worry. I went back for the CT scan this afternoon, and after a number of tries, including by the radiologist using ultrasound, they decided that my veins were all either too small or too deep for an IV for what was essentially an elective test. After 1.5 hours they decided to do the CT without the contrast dye (this was after the radiologist has reviewed the ultrasound from last week again). Anyway, I expect this will be the end of it! Now to just get my other aggravation (the unpleasant but totally benigh hemorrhoids ) and get back to a "normal" workout. I've been doing some arms and upperbody here at home, but cardio is suffering, as well as legs.

Thank goodness tomorrow is Friday. WIth Veteran's Day on Tuesday, it was a week with two Mondays! But we have a full week next week then a 4 day week the week after. And we're going to a neighbors for T'day dinner, so I won't have a fridge full of leftovers to juggle.

Good Morning Everyone

Alena: So how did the dessert turn out. Given all that you wanted to do that evening I would have opted for something from a nice bakery. I used to make everything myself and actually look forward to any excuse to bake for friends, family, school functions...you get the idea. Now I find that the baking as infrequent as the request is gets in the way of my planned workouts. I've really become great at scoping out the better places to buy dessert since becoming fitter. Not that I've eaten any of it.

Anne: How was the bike ride? I'm a little envious that you can get out to do this. It's raining here and there are a ton of leaves on the ground. Oh, and cold. No doubt I'll pass some cyclists out there on my way to the gym today but I'm not one of them. I like to keep myself intact and injury free.

Pat: Glad to know it isn't too serious. Although the feeling that comes from missing workouts is pretty frustrating too. Hang in there. Just consider it a respite for repairing until your next adventure.

Yesterday was a great workout. I dropped my cardio session to 15 minutes and spent the rest of the time just lifting. Great fun. I think I will need to bring back two days a week where I just lift a little more. It was such a great feeling even hours later.

So, does anyone know what Calisthenics means? I just learned this last night and loved it. It's Greek in origin of two words: "Kalos" meaning Beautiful and "Sthenos" meaning Strength. I couldn't agree more. There are seven main Calisthenic Exercises: Situps, crunches, pushups, pullups, squats, calf raises, and dips. Have you done your beautiful strength today?

Good almost afternoon I actually did a mostly calisthenics workout this morning Actually I did a double workout this morning. My regular lifting partner and I did a full body instead of our usual Saturday legs. Then as we were finishing I ran into a trainer who I used to work with at another gym. Trainers are desperate for clients these days and gyms re giving freebies to lure new clients. He punished me through a high paced half hour leg workout and offered me a buddy session next Saturday. So even trainers can use trainers. Funny thing is that he trained me like I would train a client, but I won't necessarily force myself to workout that way when I'm on my own. I train myself like a power lifter...counterproductive for what I want to look like, but more fun, IMO.

Lydia- I am super impressed with your progress! You won't find any "standards" for unassisted pull ups for women because 99.9% can't do any!!!!

Tomato- I did Zumba last Saturday and felt like such a dork! It was fun, tho.

Anne- you will get back to the point where you don't get sooooo sore. Enjoy your alone time!

Pat- glad to hear you can get back to "normal".

Hi Tiki and Kitty

Mel