Pat, yes, it's best not to run over live electrical wires with a lawnmower, very wise!

Alena, WTG on the swimming. Sounds nice, actually. That is the one advantage the Y has over the CF gym: the pool and the hot tub!

Well, I'm still sick, and still haven't done a real workout. Yesterday I made myself run, but was dragging after 10 mins. I pushed on to 30, then called it quits. My wrists were still too pissed off from the weedwacker experience to handle push-ups or pull-ups. I would like to be "all better" now. I hate being sick!

Cheryl,
Hope you feel better soon.

Pat,
I once went over the cable with my lawn mower. That was back in Europe where the voltage is 220 V, not measly 110 V. It was not pretty. I have been more careful since. :-)

The dude from the gym got back to me and we start training together next week. I am so excited! That's the next best thing if I can't train with Lydia, Mel or Meg. :-)

Naw, I'd take the dude over any of the three of us. No offense Meg and Mel. Oh. Wait. Is DH reading this.

Seriously though, is this guy certified or does it matter to you. Just checking. Make sure you run something by us if anything he tells you seems off in left field.

Cheryl, sorry to know you are feeling ill. Get rest. Running yourself down when your body is trying to recover is conterproductive. I know you know that but still. Take a little rest, let it run it's course and you'll be back working out again much sooner. Besides, youve earned this rest right? Sure. I believe that if we fail to schedule breaks to our programs that our bodies force us to at some point.

Pat: What's this about you, a lawnmower, and an electrical line? I'll have to read the previous post that scrolled off. Will you please be careful out there.

Okay. Just read it. Glad you are fine.

Alena: So relaxed you could fall under your desk. I have often wondered how people who workout with a lot of intensity in the morning make it through the rest of the day.

It's a beautiful day here. I hope it holds out. I'm training four clients this afternoon outdoors. Following that is the last week of my workshop. Hello summer.

Ah, you can all relax - the electric line is safely buried in the ground, and I mowed that part of the yard yesterday (as well as the rest). We are stuck in weather, and the lawn is suffering - but not the people, we're loving it! Plus we're over 18 hours of daylight now, so more time to enjoy it. (THere are mosquitos to deal with though)

My sister arrives tonight, so I'm off the next two days (have a training I can't cancel on Fri) and we'll be doing a bunch of running around. She's never been to Alaska before and is only here for 5 days, so we're cramming in as much stuff as we can. Formal exercise may be on hiatus for a few days.

Good job on the swimming Alena. Last winter I took some "improve your stroke" lessons at 8:30 at night - it was all I could do to throw on some sweats and drive home and slide into bed. Don't know why swimming makes one more tired.... I enjoy it though.

Cheryl - hope you feel better soon.

Gosh, Lydia, you are a busy person! At least you're training outdoors so you can enjoy the sun!

That's a long time to swim, Alena! My last similar experience almost killed me.

Good grief, Pat- be careful out there! Have a wonderful time with your sister.

Cheryl- I made you a pot of virtual chicken soup ope you feel better soon.

I had another great cross fit workout this evening. I LOVE it!

warm up
5X5 power cleans
100 medicine ball clean clean and jerk ()
abs, abs, and more abs (kettle bell get ups alternating with kettle bell gladiators)

100 is too many of anything! And I kept losing count

Mel

I wish my gym had some kettle bells. I think there is a medicine ball somewhere but I think it's downstairs in the studio and not to be removed from there. Beats me why there are no kettlebells or medicine balls upstairs in the weight area. Oh well.
I did a bit of cardio on the elliptical and then some abs on a mat and with a Swiss ball. A decent number of side planks, swinging the free arm underneath my chest and then up to the ceiling. I am sure it has a name but I have no clue. I think I am at almost 2 minutes per each side.

Now I need to gather all my will power to peel myself off the container with the cottage cheese.

Alena

Good afternoon (EST)!

Cheryl and Mel inspired me to try a cross-fit WOD today. Only, I had to do the Workout of Yesterday (WOY), because today's WOD was a rest day.

WOY was "Barbara." Even scaled down 50% and trimmed to four rounds (instead of the prescribed 5 rounds), it wiped me out.

My version of "Barbara" looked like this. 4 rounds for time of the following 4 exercises:

* 10 pullups: I can only do 6 pullups from a dead hang unassisted right at the moment, so I used the assisted pullup machine. Obviously, these weren't kipping pullups, which I gather is the cross-fit default.
* 15 pushups: I did these with my feet elevated. They were still easy relative to the rest of the workout, so next time I'll increase to 20 per round.
* 20 situps: I did Roman Chair situps, no weight
* 25 squats: @bodyweight

Times were 3'14"; 3'25"; 4'25"; and 5'15", with 3' rest between. I was dangerously close to losing my breakfast after round 3, so I took some more time to rest between rounds 3 & 4.

It sounded like fun when I read the description.

Oh, and I forgot that they turned off the steam this week in the annual transition from winter to summer. So, I got to enjoy an extremely cold shower afterward...

Be strong,
Kim

Hello? Anybody home?

I tried the crossfit WOD again today: 7 single-rep max "thrusters" (an explosive front squat to an overhead press). Can't say that this experiment was as much of a success in terms of a good workout. It took me a lot of fuddling to come up with my one-rep max, and I also never felt like my technique was right. I've been doing front squats for years, but with crossed arms instead of the bent wrist, high elbows hold required for thrusters. And coordinating the squat into the press part was hard for me -- I pretty much felt like I was doing a (lightl) front squat, then an overhead press versus one motion. I guess the good news is that I got a new PR on my OH press out of the deal!

I didn't feel like I got a great workout, so I did some technique work and ab work afterward. In the end, then, it wasn't a terribly efficient use of my gym time. Wish there was a crossfit trainer nearby ... or even someone to show me the Oly lifts. Darn small towns.

Be strong,
Kim

Hi there! I spent an 1:40 last night with my swiss ball, Weider & kickboxing bag. First time non-cardio I've done since last Tues - running all over the place really threw the schedule off track!

I'm thinking about looking up the crossfit info, but don't know if I have the space or the right equipment. Hmm.

Hope everyone has a good day!

Hi ladies!

Pat, enjoy your time with dear sis!
Kim, I will pretend that I understand what you are talking about. :-)

I didn't anything yesterday. Bad Tomato! I was very frustrated at work and although I try hard not to bring work frustrations home with me, this one was a bit too big to just leave behind.
Spent lovely 50 minutes in the pool - God bless the person who invented swimming pools! I don't have time, after the swim, to work on my appearance so I just comb my hair and jump in the car and drive back to work. Today, it didn't look suspicious that I look like a drowned rat - it has been rained for 2 days (heavy at times). Yay!!!

I am thinking I will go to a Zumba class tonight - on Thursdays it's only 45 minutes so my foot shouldn't complain too loudly (and there is always ice pack).

Alena

Kim- I've been discovering all sorts of form glitches and the difference they make. I learned most of my oly lifts from videos or from another trainer who was a pure body builder. Not the best way to learn. I'm having a blast with this, but wondering about my overall strength and muscle definition. For now, it's just plain fun.. Sometimes that painful kind of fin, but fun. It's not the kind of workout that I would willingly do on my own for some reason.

Today's wo:

5 sets of kettle bell Turkish get ups, 10 each side. (yikes- I was drenched already!)

for time: (3 rounds)

15 single arm KB swings, each arm
15 KB high pulls each arm
15 KB cleans each arm (I HATE these. No matter how good my form, I get bruises. I'm buying "gauntlets" this weekend!)

My time was 6:08. Middle of the pack. But I've probably got 15 years on the next oldest person there We have one female baseball coach in her late twenties who is amazingly strong and fast, and one 22 yr old guy who is prepping for Marine boot camp- leaving in a month. I think he is in better shape now than most of the Marines at the end of boot camp! Then a bunch of sort-of in shape and sort of out of shape folks. And me.

Have a good one!

Mel

Mel, that sounds like an awesome time to me...nice work! I was sympathizing on the med-ball cleans...those are killer deep squats. I love the variety, and never knowing what the workout will be, though sometimes I did get frustrated when there wasn't enough lifting. I'm planning to use this time at home to work out a new warm-up routine that includes more heavy lifting.

Kim, the max rep days are just recovery days, and not meant to be killer workouts. It usually means there will be a killer metcon the next day, and you will need your rest, lol. It's always assumed, too, that you are doing a CF style warm-up, as well as some specific warm-up sets for the lift you're doing, before starting your working sets. In all, it's still a good workout, it just doesn't leave you on the floor like the metcons do. Congrats on the overhead PR!

Everybody else,

Well, I'm still coughing like a sick racehorse, which is annoying, but today the boy and I did an easy workout together: there were push-ups, some running, and sit-ups involved, and I could still breathe, mostly, so it was just right for me today. Afterward, we played with handstands and pull-ups, and big surprise today, I got a real chin-up! unassisted! Woot! Still have to work on the kipping and deadhang pull-up goals, but this is a big milestone for me, all the same!

Tomorrow, I'm going to be optimistic and do a real workout. I figure, if I have a coughing fit, it will just take longer to get through the workout, but it probably won't kill me. I'm still too contageous with the crud to hit the gym, so I'll have to make do with what I've got at home.

Hi!

I'm new to this thread: is this primarily to post about weight lifting or are people posting their cardio routines in addition to weight lifting?

thanks!

~ tea

Hi tea

This thread is everything weights, chat, cardio, gardens, travel, lawn mowing over electric lines, food, pets, what ever is going on in your life!

Welcome

Morning, all!

No workout to post yet, but I just wanted to crow about The Boy (age 7). He finished his Marathon Miles yesterday (26.2 miles, but spread over 2 months) with a 1-mile family run as part of our local "thank god the college students are gone" parade and festival.

The Boy *crushed* the miler. It wasn't a timed event, which would require way too much organization. (It was more like an extremely cute mob of kids and assorted parents running down the street together, all with bibs that said "#1".) But, when The Boy passed where I was standing to take pictures, he was easily 30 seconds ahead of DH, who had lagged behind to run with another family we know. DH said that he sprinted for the last 1/4 mile and still couldn't catch The Boy.

Not bad, for a kid who managed to be born into a speed-challenged family!

Have a great day, all.

Be strong,
Kim