Getting ready for Turkey Day?

I'm beginning to panic.

New elliptical did NOT arrive yesterday as promised and today's workout was and "exercise" in overcoming disappointment. Fingers crossed (and a blistering phone call!) today

Have a good one,

Mel

No Thanksgiving planning here....we took care of that in October.

Well, it's Friday and that means I'm heading into my usual weekend of "trying not to splurge too much". I have two functions this weekend and am hoping to stay strong and not be up the usual 2-3 lbs. come Monday.

It was a good workout week for me and I'm off to an amazing abs class today. If I have some extra time, I'll throw in a bit of high intensity cardio to top things off.

Happy Friday everyone!

Boy, I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of that phone call.

3FC Moderator Extraordinaire, (known in her own gym as) That Woman who uses two benches at the same time to do legs and unbelievable things on a bosu, our very own Goddess of Grunt who hasn't had a decent cardio fix in too long with Thanksgiving just a few days away.... I'm glad I'm safe over here Go Get 'Em Mel! Maybe it will arrive just in time today.

Had a decent cardio workout this morning. 30 minutes of HIIT on the Elliptical and 20 minutes on the AMT. My lifting was a mixed bag today.

I also had my knee checked out...finally. G*D I hate being a patient...Turns out I have a torn meniscus in the right and I also suspect in the left as well. The MRI for that one is Monday evening. Needless to say, I'm a little wigged about squatting right now so I've avoided it. I am do more machine/body weight leg exercises but even those are challenging. I just don't want to lose any quad strength between now and surgery. Anyway, thats my happy news from this part of the universe.

Oh ick Lydia! At least a torn meniscus can be repaired. You should read some of the older entries in Skwigg's blog about her torn ACL and the subsequent rehab - she was not a happy camper to be kept from exercising.

Nothing much happening around here. I woke up between 3:30 and 4:00 and didn't get back to sleep til about 5:30, which of course is much too close to 6 am (when the alarm goes off) to be going to sleep. After a few swipes at the snooze button, I turned the nasty thing off and got up late and called in late to work. I still feel fuzzy-brained.

So I just checked out the New rules of Lifting for Women on Amazon. It's due out 12/27, and the discounted cost is ~ $17. And I soooo want shoulders like the woman on the cover

Oh Lydia My dh had a torn meniscus from a bad fall playing ice hockey several years ago. His actually healed on it's own. Any chance of that?

The elliptical arrived! It's harder than my old one--I'm going to feel really out of shape when I try my first workout on it.

...sneaking over to Amazon to look at the cover of The New Rules of Lifting....

ok, I'm back. Nice shoulders, not much definition IMO. Do lots of laterals with a slightly bent forward position, slightly bent armed, starting from in front of your stomach rather than at your sides.

Mel

Oh, thanks for the tip! As we've discussed before, it's so hard to make progress on shoulders as fast as elsewhere.

Mel: I'll have to ask him at my next visit if there is any chance that this thing could heal on it's own. He did say it was small but set me up to meet the surgeon anyway. I'm thinking that since it took me forever and a day to heal from a stress fracture and with all of it's "it's healing, wait no it's not..." he would just rather save me the waiting game. Don't worry, I will get more than their opinions though.

So glad to know you have your fix now. How many times have you been on it this evening? Just think, it came just in time for THE GAME! Lucky you!!! I just know how I would be if I had a new toy. That is after I had chased the kids and DH away from it.

Pat: I remember when Skwigg posted about her surgery in the blog. I'm really going to try to stay away from anything that reminds me of being out of commission for a while. ~sigh~ I've done this before...I can do it again. Just use the time to grow and learn in other ways as I give myself the time and respect that it needs to heal. Remind me this when I begin to grouse in January.

Mel: Which brings me to a question. I hesitate to even post this because I don't want to scare any new lifters out there to think that this is the norm. This is my second possibly third injury since beginning two and half years ago. That's four MRI's if your counting... Considering my age, 39, and the fact that I was previously about seventy pounds overweight for about ten to twelve years, is encountering an injury typical? It could be a lot of things really, maybe it's form, maybe overuse, or just the way my parts are put together. Probably a little of everything. There were signs with the first injury that I just chose to ignore. I was so new I didn't recognize it could be serious. I also lacked the self discipline to just stop. I feel very responsible for these injuries and at times find myself thinking that I should not even be doing these things in the first place. But then, I think of all of you, remember how I felt before I lost this weight and realize how much I have accomplished. I have never felt more centered and alive. At the end of the day I still believe that I should be able to lift and run and that it really is the right thing to do. It is much more than a stress release for me. It has become an integral and natural part of who I am. That said, I really feel like an idiot returning to the clinic with injuries. . Or is it normal for us to have physicians who already know who we are when they read the chart on the door before they walk in.

On a lighter note, I'm getting excited about the release of the New Rules book as well. I saw the cover too. I wouldn't complain if my back looked as lean as that. Something to aim for while the lower half gets itself back together.

Hi Lydia, I don't know the answer to your questions, but I do hope this turns out to be small.

Did my fbwo today plus cardio. Felt really good! Feeling very happy today as a result. Taking a 13 hour drive to the southland for Turkey week, but aim to keep it clean and if I must submit to drive thru for the sake of our travel schedule, it will be a grilled chicken sandwich sans f/f. Promise!

Hey, to all our pros here, what's the thought of training kids in w/l? I've heard different things about bone development, not doing it until puberty when growth slows, etc. I just think dd could really benefit from some upper arm work and back work during swimming season, and since they like to hang out with me when I lift, would it damage her to teach her some shoulder presses with 2 lb weights? I am so very cautious with the amount of time she's in the pool to not create any shoulder injuries with overuse issues. What do you guys think? It's funny bc with the other things she does, it's mostly cardio/running skills (lax & soccer), but while swimming is def cardio, I also see that her strength increasing would help her move thru the water faster. They do train with weighted fins and bungees on some days, so I think that's along the same lines of training with resistance.

Oh Lydia! You're still YOUNG!!! I was 65-79 pounds overweight for at least as long and didn't discovery HEAVY lifting until my early-mid forties. I really would point the finger at all the running and high impact cardio rather than the weight training. I know you like to run, but even on a treadmill it takes a heavy toll on hips, knees, and backs. There's a reason that I'm using an elliptical almost everyday instead of the treadmill I also own Chose you exercises wisely- you've lost the weight to be healthy and look good, you need your body to last and you probably look better without the crutches. Even power walking rather than running makes my hip joints and knees ache.

Speaking of ellipticals, my new one was broken by the morons who put it together. They compounded their ineptitude with dishonesty and put the covering shrouds on so that I wouldn't see the two broken bolts and the washer that was ready to slide down into the flywheel. I got on it during THE GAME and it was wobbly- this machine is heavy and shouldn't wobble at all! I don't think I've ever been so angry with a store manager in my life. To his credit he was appalled when I told him what was wrong, but I couldn't get him to get the head installer out here any faster than Monday evening with new parts. The store where I got it is a small specialty fitness place, not a chain and I did a lot of research. I know I should just let it go and they will fix it with new parts, but I'm so angry that I don't even want it in my house at this point.

THE GAME was ugly- but the outcome was fine

Fran- There are so many conflicting opinions on training kids. How old is she again? If she is swimming with weighted fins or even just plain swimming, I bet that the resistance of the water is more than the equivalent of 2 pound weights. I've never trained anyone younger than 14. When I have trained teens, they are usually athletes and we train movements, not specific isolation exercises. I do a lot of body weight training...pushups, pullups, lunging against a resistance band, etc. For swimming, pullups, pushups and jump squats should be a good start.

Mel

Thanks Mel. She's 8. She's a monkey bar fiend with alot of upper body strength, so pullups are easy for her, I'll keep her working on those. It's so hard to teach proper form on pushups at this age - they do them on the pool deck and it's just a riot to see all the different variations, esp. the ones doing it with the tushy like a northern star. I'll get her going on the jump squats - she loves to jump and jump rope.

By the way, LOVE the new thread name!!

OK, so I guess I got the best tricep workout I've ever had in my life yesterday! Translated to mean, boy, I really let my triceps slide. I guess it's true they don't get much work day to day unless you are specifically training them, unlike biceps and shoulders. I actually FEEL them this morning!

Oh, and I broke the mold today by weighing LESS after legs day. Hmmm......

Fran: DS is a year older. In his tae kwon do class they do knuckle pushups on hardwood floors . DS is the northern star variety. It's so funny to watch and I keep thinking, "I really need to show that boy how to do this, he would be humiliated if he knew how funny it is." He's only had three classes so there's a lot more to work on than just push ups at this point.

Mel: Young?! Well, thanks. And yeah, the crutches kind of ruin my style. Running really is the culprit here. It can be traced to both injuries. Even though the elliptical is non impact, it is what I do about 85% of the time and I think maybe that too could invite trouble. More biking, rowing, and eeek maybe even swimming should be in the rotation.

Oh Geez, about YOUR elliptical. I CANT BELIEVE IT! Okay, I'm not going to but incompetent and dishonest would best describe those morons. OMG what if you had gotten injured from a broken part flying out from the flywheel. I just don't even want to go there...

Have a great afternoon everyone

Crunch time! Trying to cook, work and workout....

Just popping in to say thanks to Mel for my delicious breakfast this morning! I tried another batch of your baked pancakes. I adjusted the recipe a bit and added some frozen blueberries for a little sweetness. Yum! It's such an easy thing to do on a Sunday afternoon and a great start to the day....Thanks!

Hello all,

I am making a commitment for exercising and lifting for an entire month. I've been so lax lately, it really does suck.

Last night, I did 35 minutes on the elliptical then did back, biceps, shoulders and abs. I'm also trying to incorporate resistance bands which are interesting but I didn't do any last night. Possibly tonight

I also have a confession. Last week, I had a stint with a jar of peanut butter. I didn't take the jar out but I did make a pretty good dent. I wish peanut butter was a zero calorie food (or low calorie), then I'd be a happy woman.