Busy week on the board!!! Welcome to all the new BFLers! I thought I posted a welcome at the end of the last thread but I didn't submit it or it disappeared. My apologies! We're always glad to have people joing the challenge!
Hi Tamara WELCOME!!! don't worry about asking too many questions! Ask as many as you like as often as you like! Listen to MrsJim about not counting calories (actually listen to her about everything but especially counting calories!)
Again, WELCOME!!!
Mel, I had to experiment with the breakfast squares. You can't get a good balance of carbs/protein with just egg beaters or just protein powder because using just one to mix up with the cooked steel cut oats is yucchy....AND every protein powder, it seems, has a different count. I usually use about 3/4 egg beaters (and I throw in a whole egg as well) and 1/4 protein powder. I measure the steel cuts and figure out the carb grams, then I match the protein grams. When I cook it I try to smooth it out in the baking pan as flat as possible. When it's cooked I figure out how many squares I need and then cut them. If you use a glass pan, you can leave them in there and just use a spatchler to take each one out in the morning (that is what I tend to do.) I've also used round glass dishes and had pie slices.
Well fellow fitness enthusiasts: I realize that one of the things that I've been guilty of is giving up the pictures. I stopped taking pix somewhere along the line (I think when I was struggling with ear infection/vertigo in the summer and fall and then hormone/allergies and kept "waiting" for that to be resolved.) Well, yesterday I took "before" pictures after eading some of Pam's posts. Not a happy ocasion but hopefully one that will keep me motivated. Neither my allergies nor my hormones are totally resolved but I'm hanging in there and just "acting as if" they are. I'm one determined camper.
I have a slight confession to make, although I don't think I goofed up too bad! When I first started BFL 2.5 weeks ago I decided that for my cardio I would use a program on my treadmill that has intervals of 1.5 min. going from 3.3 mph to 4.5 mph. The reason I did this was that my treadmill is still fairly new and I still wasn't quite used to all the buttons - and I didn't want to get too confused (done easily) while trying to work hard. I also wanted to challenge myself to begin a walk/jog program.
Anyway, when I first started this I could hardly breathe at the end and literally felt sick! Well today I am happy to announce that I am getting through these intervals, I believe, without hitting my tens. I am also quite used to the controls now as well. It is time to kick it up a notch. I thought about increasing the incline but I am really enjoying the walk/jog and I think I can still do this with BFL.
Is there anyone on this board that has experience with treadmills that could suggest some kind of starting point? (MrsJim?) I believe my ten might be up around 5mph? maybe higher? I can still walk on the treadmill at 4.1mph if that helps. I was going to pose this question on L&S but as you can see it's quite wordy.
I went through this last year. I remember Steve on L&S telling me not to incline it because it starts to become anarobic at a certain point and you want it to be aerobic. Instead of working heart/lungs you're working your muscles. I think that Bill Philips does a good job of explaining how to hit your tens on cardio in the book when he talks about 20 MAS. For me I like the Shawn Phillips HIIT better, one minute of very intense with one minute not as intense. For the "very" intense you should push it as hard as you can.
However, my advice would be to definitely check out the way Bill talks about it in BFL and then try it that way for a few weeks and then if you need to change up, try HIIT or something else.
I just got back from my Tai Chi class and I am feeling oh so good! Thanks for the info - I didn't know that about the incline stuff so I won't go that way. Might just have to try some trial and error. Is Shawn Phillips related to Bill? Where did you get his HIIT info. from?
I haven't seen MrsJim on this board today so she might have some input as well. Well I have to run because I am so hungry right now and it's time for M6.
Yes, Shawn is Bill's brother. I believe there was a link on L&S under articles. It was a muscle media article about a year ago. I don't know if their site still has it (MuscleMedia) but it did once upon a time. In fact, I think the link on L&S was to the muscle media site. (or maybe not...ack, I'm so confused) I know the folks on L&S would know. I started BFL doing Bills 20MAS and as you may have read, I have horrible shin splints. (I did buy a new shoe today called the Saucony Courageous--it is brand new on the market and is supposed to be for people with flat wide feet who suffer from ailments associated with that such as shin splints--they are like a dream. They are expensive but to me, worth it so far!) Anyway, the shin splints are very painful on a threadmill so I had to switch to an elliptical trainer. I found that 20 MAS is still difficult and I get the shin splints after about 15 minutes of ellipsing So I started doing the HIIT as prescribed by Shawn and I could only do 4 minutes to start and gradually worked up to 15 and my shin splints don't bother me that much with HIIT. I try to go back and forth. I am forever changing my cardio due to the shin splints. Some days just walking bothers me, other days I'm fine running up hill. It's weird.
I know, been a busy day at work today (getting ready for Miami next month...so much to do) plus I've been at L&S posting away...
Now, I saw that posting by Steve some time ago myself, and took it with a grain of salt. I actually tried using the elliptical the way he suggested (no incline, no resistance) and it was impossible to hit a 10. And look at Pam B's favorite machine...the Step Mill. Wouldn't THAT be considered an incline, and thus anerobic? I could use a ton of examples - for instance, when road cycling, going up hills and using wind resistance is considered essential in training. I say, if you need to use the incline on your treadmill to hit a 10 then go for it (and meanwhile, start shopping for another treadmill - or buy a jumprope for $10 - there's a pretty good article on jumprope training in the new Muscle Media!).
Well, I'm now having my Meal #4 on Camp Pam B. Wait till you hear what it is:
I'll be posting my menu for today on Fitday - (Check my link below) so you can see the humongous amounts of food I'm eating...of course I'm sure I'll have those dreaded low-carb days...like tomorrow!
Shawn Phillips is Bill's kid brother (at least I think he's the baby bro'). The man has the most amazing abs I have ever seen! He's in just about every issue of Muscle Media. All I can say is their Mom must be very proud of her two sons and probably nagging them to death about grandchildren (I can so relate!).
Speaking of being proud, I'm attaching a cute pic of Sparky here...Jim snapped this while he was snoozing...our little guy...
MrsJim: I liked your explanation of the anerobic v. aerobic. I know that I do go a faster for HIIT when I am not using the incline as much....but I don't know if that is "better". I used to go up a notch in speed and incline until I hit my 9's then back down, then back up for a 10....not a great incline but some. I might work that back in there!
Does this all mean that my favorite HIIT of running up the hills near my house then jogging or walking down is not such a good idea? Now I'm really confused! My neighbors will miss their morning laugh if I stop doing this....
I alternate between the treadmill and recumbent bike. My legs are so sore the day after my LBWO that I walk on the treadmill to loosen them up. I walk on my toes a little to loosen the calves and hams while leaning slightly forward, usually during warmup level 5. Then I get down to business.
And I've been using the step mill as part of my lower body routine. I walk up it backwards for a few to work my butt. I got the idea (I believe) from a thread on L&S and it works!
My week 4 photos have been taken. Biggest change has been in my back and shoulders. They've "popped" even being as overfat as I am. My legs have tightened some, too.
Mel -- I wouldn't laugh at you. You're doing something good for yourself.
Mrs. Jim not quite sure why you suggested looking for a new treadmill? Oh, and cute kitty by the way!
Had a killer UBWO this morning. Quick question - is it OK to have unbalanced weights on your dumbells? My weights for biceps and triceps are still quite low (by some veteran standards) and I have raised them twice but I find I can only do it with my 2.5 lb plates and that sometimes makes the dumbell uneven.
I find that the UBWO is the toughest for me. I definitely can't complete it in the 46 minutes because I find that it just takes time to change those plates. I use this time as my rest time. I am sweatin like 10 throughout and when I am done my routines. Hitting lots of failures to lift at the end of each.
Thunderheart - I think I was suffering from temporary dyslexia last night...thought you said your treadmill only goes up to 4.5 mph which is a bit on the slow side (for me anyway). Duh...it's been that kind of a week what can I say???
I too have had a tough time in the past making the 46 minute time because of changing plates, waiting for DB's etc. at the gym. If the gym is empty I will spend my time between sets getting the DBs or BBs I need together so I can just blast through. Our gym has a set of those 'fixed' BB's starting at 20# and going up in 10-pound increments to around 100# or so (haven't gotten up that far yet in weight!) so that makes it easy to grab and go! Unfortunately during the busy times they are usually being used anyway. So what I do is get a couple of the E-Z bars (there's at least 10 of them on the floor) and set up the weights on them. Makes it a bit easier.
Triceps are my weak point too! But I must say they are finally getting stronger - I was doing skullcrushers this morning and was able to do 10 with the 40# fixed BBs. So I'm upping my weight on those. I remember back when I started BFL, I couldn't even do skullcrushers with the 20# BB for more than a few reps, so I was doing two-arm lying tri extensions using a 2.5# plate in each hand (since our DB's only go as low as 5#). So cool to think back because it hasn't even been a year yet!
Thanks for all the great comments on Sparky. I'm still trying to talk Jim into going to the pound to get him a little girlfriend. We will be gone for a week and he is going to be soooooo lonely... even though my sister will be visiting him every day. Nights are not going to be so nice for him since he is used to spending at least part of the night sleeping in our bed with us!
I was just photographing my mom's cats for her last night! Sparky is obviously a "cover cat" who enhances whatever he's photographed with (or on.)
I've tried looking at your FitDay site but all I see is a blank form. Is there a trick to this?
On the treadmill, I just keep cranking the speed. But on the recumbent bike, I use the resistance setting to bring up the intensity. I alternate these for cardio. Susanje I also started shin splints on BFL and I have narrow feet with high arches. Now I stretch before and after using the treadmill.
Thanks for sharing your early weight stories. That's exactly where I am at with my triceps. WOW!!! I am so impressed how far you have built them up - there is hope for me. By the way my treadmill goes up to 10mph, so I have alot of room to work with.
Lisa - you're just getting a blank form? I gotta tell ya, for some reason I can't complete the FitDay stuff at work (must be the firewall or something - won't let me enter stuff) so I do it at night at home. I just tried bringing up via my signature link and it worked okay...just go back to the day before...and you'll see my menu there...
Unfortunately Sparky isn't a lap cat, but he does love to be held when we get home from work (especially if I'm wearing something dark that he can shed on!). He also enjoys sitting in our desk chair - probably because one of us is usually sitting there on the PC.
Kitty companionship....Walter and Charlotte, my cats, were both stray kittens that came to us one week apart. They co-exist but have never been pals. William and Abigail, my mom's cats, are brother and sister. They love to play together and sometimes sleep curled up together.
Sparky may or may not hit it off with another cat. It sounds to me like he's really "people oriented." But they are all different, and it may be a comfort for him to have another cat there, even if they aren't best buds.
Body for Life #39
I thought I posted a welcome at the end of the last thread but I didn't submit it or it disappeared. 
My apologies! We're always glad to have people joing the challenge!
I think I'm ready to increase cardio!
My bad!
