Sept. 9: 60 minutes Pilates class
60 minutes arc trainer, intervals, resistance upped to 9

One of the personal trainers, Jose, hung out at the arc trainer talking with me during the last 13 minutes or so. Result? I have a free introductory one-hour training session with him tomorrow morning at 7 AM. He promises to concentrate on weights. I'm to warm up beforehand with cardio for about 10 minutes. Since I'll have that training session, and still will need to finish off my cardio for the day, I may get on my laptop for work a bit late, so I hope things are slow in the morning.

I'm a little excited about this. I have never worked one-on-one with a trainer before.

Sept. 9: 65 minutes elliptical

Totals:
9 days
507 minutes

Legs and abs day

Warm-up: TM 8 minutes @ 3.1 mph, 1.0 incline
Squats: 10kg barbell, 1 set of 10
One-legged deadlift: 6kg medicine ball, 1 set of 10 (both legs, friends, both legs)
Weighted sit-up: 5 kg plate, on ball, 1 set of 15
20 minutes yoga and stretching

Keep feeling there was something else but can't remember it.

So that concludes Week 1 of the 6 week programme. Well, apart from two days of active rest. Not sure what that will mean.

Week 2 will be the same but with some increases. Will be thinking about where over the weekend.

Oh! I missed saef's personal training session. You must have finished by now. How did it go?

michele - you're doing well. Consistency pays off.

OK, lunch break over. Back to work now.

Friday, Sept. 10th:

15 minutes on Concept II rower
45 minutes on elliptical, resistance at 8, half of the time backward
60 minutes weight training session with Jose

Jose & I both enjoyed ourselves in this one-off training session. He told me I was "a hard worker." (He's used to women who don't want to do cardio, but I am inclined to do cardio till the cows come home.) I think he was curious to see what I could do.

The weights were low because I am supposed to be concentrating on my form. I was disappointed that I stayed at nine pounds and 10 pounds, but he assures me that I can work up to heavier weights. We did try 20 pounds for the chest flies.

I did:
- Chest flies using a machine where you put one foot forward & pull
- Standing pushups on the Smith machine
- Skullcrushers (this & the next two with weighted bars, no plates on the ends)
- Straight-leg deadlifts
- Sumo deadlifts
- Stepping up and raising a weighted ball in the air in a military press (I have trouble with the right foot, but not the left -- I think it's related to the continuing aftermath of my balance problems brought on by the virus that has ravaged my inner ear*)
- Squat thrusts (had trouble with keeping my back flat on these)
- Tricep dips (he seemed impressed by my being able to do 20 of these straight through)
- That combination dumbbell exercise -- I don't remember what it's called -- where you begin with a bicep curl, then lift the dumbbells upward for a French press. My form deteriorates on the 12.5 pound weights (I point my elbows outward too much) so he said to stick with 10 pounds.

I feel as though we did something else, but that's what I remember.

I'm going to look at videos of these to reinforce what I learned, particularly the form for the deadlifts. I need to practice those squat thrusts. They were particularly a b&^%$*tch.

*I saw the ENT specialist on Weds & the audiologist testing me confirmed that a little more of my hearing has come back in the left ear. I could understand a few one-syllable words. Mostly though, words sounds like buzzes -- to experience what I hear in my damaged left ear, you have to imagine the sounds made by someone who has lost their larnyx & has to hold an electronic device to their throat to talk. Yes, that robotic distortion is what I hear, sometimes just the sound, no distinct articulation, so I can't make out individual words. The ENT wants to see me in two more months. I can't get a hearing aid till my hearing has "settled" at where it's going to be.

Saef-- sounds like your personal training session went well. Do you think you'll do more? I missed what happened to your hearing? What caused your hearing loss?
Michele

I'm always nervous to try a new class at the gym but I had never taken a zumba class! Even though I was exhausted (been up since 4:30) and could barely stay awake, I hauled my butt there at 6 pm. I loved it! I thought I would. Of course I felt like a klutz but it was still fun!

Sept. 10:
60 minutes Zumba class

Totals:
10 days (10 for 10 so far!)
567 minutes

1 hour yoga

wow saef that was quite a lot of learning with the personal trainer!

Plan for the weekend involves the usual cleaning & laundry marathon,
grocery shopping, bbq on saturday & visit to amsterdam on sunday.
i hope I'll be able to squeeze in yoga & a run. I am starting to get slightly less stiff, but unlike silverbirch I'm still with my heels firmly in the air at downward dog.

have a great weekend
Rabbit

Michele, I seem to have caught a virus that just left me with the sniffles for a day or two but really did a number on my inner ear. (That's so far inside your head, it's beyond the reach of any peroxide you could pour in. It's where your balance capabilities are. Imagine a caprenter's level installed inside your skull.)

Sept. 11: A somber day down here, on which I feel strange carrying on as though it's like any other day. And gorgeous & clear & cool, just as it was back in 2001.

60 minutes circuit training class
60 minutes Pilates class

My shoulders & back are sore from working with Jose yesterday, but in that good, worked-muscle way, not in the debilitating "sore back" way.

Saef-- our bodies sure are strange. I have almost completely lost my sense of smell. The ENT said that I most likely contracted a virus that killed my "smell nerve". I figure if I have to lose one sense, the smell is the one to lose. Yes, I miss some wonderful smells but the nasty ones don't bother me. I do smell a little but that is because you smell through taste as well.

Yes, I feel strangely somber today too. I have been weepy already. My dh is flying home internationally today and I will be relieved when he is back tonight. I wish he wasn't flying on 9/11.

Yes, sombre and thought-provoking.

Saef - I am glad your hearing has improved, however little. I am telling you the following for info. Had a chat with our builder today. He told me he's just out of hospital and on steroids for the results of a suspected virus which has left him with tinnitus and partial deafness. Very rare to happen so quickly, not known how it's caused and, in his case, symptoms like an ear needing to be syringed. He's miserable especially as his wife's voice and his dogs' barking hurt his ear.

Rest day today. I can certainly feel yesterday's leg day.

Sept. 11:
60 minutes elliptical

Totals:
11 days
627 minutes

Saef, I'm glad to hear some more hearing has come back!

I'm behind here, because . . . I haven't done much exercise. I have a good reason though -- I caught a cold, and I typically can't bring myself to work out when I'm sick (although to be fair, if I was sick for more than a week I'd probably go work out).

Thursday Sept 9: two 15-min dog walks

Friday Sept 10: nothing, sick

Saturday Sept 11: 20 mile bike ride, slow. I probably shouldn't have done it but it was an official event we signed up for weeks ago. It wasn't hard at the time (except for having to blow my nose constantly) but after we got back I felt so wiped out I ended up falling asleep for about 3 hours. Lesson to self: don't do 20 mile bike rides when you're sick.

Sunday Sept 12: Planning to take the dog for a nice long walk in a few minutes. Hopefully I can get back to my regular workout schedule this coming week.

My DH has tinnitus (from firing a gun without wearing hearing protection) and age-related deafness. He has hearing aids which he only wears when he's going somewhere, insisting that he hears me fine. He doesn't and it's so annoying. I can't call him for dinner, I have to go find him and tell him. He often doesn't hear the phone or the door bell. Grrrr. I think our life is "important" enough for him to wear the hearing aids. Rant over. Sorry.

Sept. 12: 15 minutes rowing on Concept II
45 minutes weights
45 minutes spin class

Back still sore. I tried getting down on the floor & rolling with a foam roller, which I'd viewed on some YouTube video demonstrations. Damn, that felt good. I'm thinking maybe I need one of those things at home. YouTube is such a goldmine of exercise information.

WaterRat, I may or may not need a hearing aid in a few months, after my hearing settles. I'd be inclined to wear it all the time, for music & TV at home & for general safety reasons. My right ear is fine; I only got an infection on one side. What this means is, I'm not deaf, but I have trouble with ambient sounds. I don't have stereophonic hearing anymore, and have difficulty sometimes filtering out sounds. (If music is playing in the background & someone's talking, they had better be on my "good" right side. I always choose one of the spin bikes near the instructor, since hearing in that class is hard for me.)

Silverbirch, my ENT told me to get earplugs to cope with what your builder is dealing with. For the last few days, I've been wearing a soft green foamy material plug inside my left ear, so I don't get those weird electronic-sounding echoes when I hear someone talking or even myself talking. I sympathize with the man when I hear of his hospitalization. He sounds as though he is in a very bad way. Was he afflicted in both ears? That is unusual; it's generally just on one side. Like him, I was treated with steroids, in the form of prednisone pills for two weeks. I was a little afraid of this medication, knowing about the weight gain it causes, but apparently that only occurs with long-term use.

Paperclippy, I'm used to thinking of you as pretty indomitable physically, and I'm just wondering what triathlon or long bike ride you'll train for next, once you recover from that cold. You're one person whom I imagine getting back in the saddle again pretty quickly after an exercise hiatus.

Saef-- question about your back roller thingy? My back has been sore and needs to crack but I'm having trouble cracking it. Sometimes if I can bend back just right, it cracks. I'm wondering if a back roller would help me.... what kind of sore is your back?