Hey- That's something to brag about, Hickerchick! That little old lady had good eyes ;)

Mel

Hiker - You are shrinking :)

HikerChick: Congrats on the measurements! I really wish mine would change soon but wishing isn't going to get me there. :lol: ~sigh~ it just takes time. :yes: So cool about the NSV from the older lady who watches you run. :high:

Rabbit: I'm with you. I always feel better with a little nap after my workout. ;)

Neli: :Bravo: on all of your accomplishments this month! Walking lunges, I really struggle with those. I remember the first time I ever did them. It was about ten years ago in an aerobics class. I felt fine as I did them but that evening I had serious DOMS for the first time ever. I seriously thought the instructor had injured us all. :lol3:

Cindy: I am SO glad to know that your knee is doing better. Mine is too but not quite 100%. Grrrr. Leg extensions and curls are a challenge but it does feel better when I do them. :dunno: No problem with squats though.

Shananagans: SNOW! :yikes: I'm so over this weather too. Where's spring?!
At least you did get your run in before it hit. :cool:

Mel: Feeling better today? Thanks for the tip with the squat bar. It might be something to try later. I want to see if I can get used to using the bar without one first. It actually did not hurt as much this morning as it did Monday. (I'm probably not doing it right...:lol:)

I had a decent workout yesterday and today. Yesterday was 60 minutes of cardio combined from three different pieces of equipment and core work. I was still too sore to do any kind of lifting yesterday. Today I went in and did a fifteen minute warmup on the treadmill, 4.6 walking and 5.6 running followed by 2 sets of 10 squats, deadlifts, and them mostly upper body work with free weights, more core work but not a lot.

I'm in the middle of preparing for a bake sale this week. The house smells great but the temptation while there is not too bad. Maybe because I have my "skinny" jeans on this afternoon. ;) Lots of gum and ice water helps too.

Hope you all are having a great afternoon! :wave:

Popping to say ... I'm glad you're OK Pat.

Hi LWL,

Just dropped in after work to say that I biked again! That is 4.5 hour for this week, and I count this as cardio. Yoga tomorrow, and then i'm all set for the weekend! the weather is great, 20 C, and 25 c expected for the weekend. very unusual for around these parts.

HIkerchick: You are seriously shrinking! Did you put yourself in the dryer ?

Have a great day all,
rabbit

Hiker – Congrats on the shrinking! I’m just starting to take monthly measurements; hope to see some results soon.

Anyone here use resistance bands? Last night I was doing a strength training workout that I had recorded on FitTV (ballet strength with Jennifer Galardi – my glutes are feeling all those plies this morning!) they used bands for some of the exercises. I found I could more or less simulate the same exercises with my lights weights, is there really a difference? Just curious.

Hoping I can go for a jog this afternoon. The roads aren’t too bad as of this morning, hopefully the bike path is cleared. Have I mentioned that I am so over this winter thing?

I got a resistance band at the store. An impulse buy really. I like weights better because then I know how hard I'm working but sometimes I will throw the band in for variety.

My favorite thing to do with the bands is stretch. It works so well if you lie on your back and loop it around your foot and use the band to assist the hamstring stretch.

Baby is grabbing my hands so just a quick hi to everyone.

I'm always looking for new exercises. I ran across about.com's exercise section and I was surprised how many exercises they have listed, especially those including the ball. Don't know if anyone has seen these before:
http://exercise.about.com/library/blworkoutcenter2.htm

Morning :coffee: Boy, it's slow in here!

I'm trying to get myself perked up to head to the gym for a full morning of clients, then cardio and back. We've hung all sorts or different sized ropes all over the gym, and I'm experimenting with a whole new approach towards my back workout. Less iron, more rope and body weight work. As long as my neck isn't involved, this should work ;) It has the advantage that I get a lot more bi and tri work in the process. I was one of those kids cowering under the rope in phys ed classes from elementary school through high school, so it's pretty cool to be able to do this now at the tender age of 52 :eek:

Yesterday was cardio only and I did a triathalon a la Mel: 20 minute jog, 20 minute bike and 20 minute elliptical.

Clean eats have rewarded me with another .5 drop towards my summer goal- 2 to go!

Happy Friday :)

Mel

Oh, I hated the sight of that rope in junior high! I remember once I got about 1/2 way up it, and then my arms gave out, but when I fell, I missed the mat thing (it was this giant net bag filled with squares of carpet padding), and I fell right onto the gym floor! I didn't break anything, just got bruise/banged up. And, our gym teacher was a real witch - bleached blonde long hair, her name was BobbyJoe, and she had little use for those of us who were pudgy. I remember that I weighed 140 when I was in 8th grade (I'm extremely muscular), and she actually laughed at me with the rest of the girls as she announced it to the class. Talk about a traumatic experience. Truth of the matter is that I was almost my full height, had already developed, if you know what I mean, and if I'd just grown into that weight, it would have been fine.

Geez, sorry for that ramble, but I often feel like that if I'd grown up in a different time (like now maybe), where people were more educated about body fat%, and more supportive of different body types, that I wouldn't have had the weight issues that I did down the road. I grew up in the time of designer jeans that I could never even think about pulling on up over my curves and that led to a lot of stress and issues for me....

Ok, really, I'm done with that now! :lol:

Eating has been bad for me this week - Easter started it off - actually, that's not true - it started last Friday night. I had a really stressful week at work last week, and I think the relief of it being over drove me to "reward" myself with a little treat. That then led to sloppy eating over the weekend, and it's been a struggle all week to get it back under control - at this point it still isn't. And now all that junk is still in the house. And, I need to get DF back under control, and that's what makes it an even bigger challenge.

So, wish me luck for this weekend- the house will be purged, I will sit down and plan out the week's meals, and stop this before it gets worse.

The good news is that I've kept working out - my knee is feeling stronger each day. Today I did bodyweight squats - regular and sumo for the first time in ages, and they felt good. Leg extensions as well, and leg press yesterday. I am ridiculously sore because of this, but am thrilled that I can do these things again!

Rabbit - I wanted to say that I am so impressed that you are riding your bike that much each day - good for you!

Hikerchick - congrats on the measurments!

Lydia - hope your knee gets better soon for you as well.

Everyone have a great weekend - hopefully the weather will be better in most places and we can all get outside to do stuff!
Cindy

Thanks Cindy! I'm very flattered by your response. I am still dead tired every day that I have biked to work, I keep telling myself that I'll be used to it next month.

Morning all!

Rabbit - I had to laugh about your comment that a Ford Focus would be a great family car there. Over here, bigger is still better! :) And I would not be able to get this car out of my driveway in any more than 3" of snow! I'm sure you'll be used to biking in a few days. The first rides of each spring are killers for me.

Ah the ropes in gym class. Hated them! My sister, who did gymnastics all through JH and HS was like a monkey on them. Me, more like Cindy, about 1/2 way and down I went. I was very small though - in 8th grade I was not yet 5' or 100 lbs! I didn't reach my full adult height (or weight) til I was in college, and I stayed that weight until I was in my 30's. After that it crept up gradually, mostly because I got less active and continued to eat the same. :)

Did a great HIIT on the elliiptical last night. First time in a week or more that I felt cardio went well (other times it's just done). Tomorrow we have a 3 hour training session with the team - starting at 8 am! :eek: It's still in the 20's here in the mornings, so dressing for it should be interesting. I did 2 hours last weekend (indoors on a rubberized track) with no problem so I suspect 3 hours will be fine, and maybe not as boring?

Pat glad you had such good cardio. Me too. This morning it went very well. Kind of funny about how some days are just great and others not so much. Did my version of HIIT. I sprint on the hill part of the runs and boy I am getting better at it so I feel good and strong. Lifted some weights but when I got to the squats I was just tired. I will go back and finish later.

Designer jeans! Oh dear the memories. For me it was the horror that I had gotten to an "obese" weight of something like 130. Not sure if was the time or the "teens". I wish someone would have told me that instead of trying to starve myself to skin and bones I needed to get my but in the gym. Oh well. Live and learn I suppose.

What is all this rope business?

OK confessions...I don't know how to ride a bike. I am kind of coordinationally challenged. Its one of those things I always wished I could do and its kind of embarassing that I can't.

I am thinking happy knee thoughts for you guys.

I never had those rope things in school. I wouldn't have been able to pull it off. I remember when I had the football coach as my gym teacher. He told me to run. I looked at him like he was crazy. Then he told me I could run then walk then run. I don't remember much other than I still thought he was crazy and I hated running :) Although we did get to do weights in that class so it was kind of fun. God I hated running though.

Hiker - Something funny is I'm a scaredy cat. I can't ride a bike because I have visions of myself falling and cracking my head open. I even bought a used bike and a helmet a while back but I couldn't get very far. I am very clumsy so I'm sure it'd happen.

Hi all, oh my, it was workout day!! Did a fbwo and 1/2 hr intense cardio on my incline walking. OH MY SHOULDERS HURT. I did the pushups again. Truth be told, I've been away from the gym a little too long. It was exactly 4 weeks ago that I injured myself with the deadlift thingee. And while I have kept up with cardio and even started the C25K program, I am now a case study for how much strength you can lose in a short period of time. I had to go down on weights on about 3 exercises (mostly those that I had increased right before injury). I'm waiting to see if anything else will hurt too, or, if it's just from the pushups that my shoulders hurt.

Reminder to Self: Never leave the weights for 4 weeks again. The payback just ain't worth it. :( I will be back on Tuesday to work thru the pain, and doing cardio every day til then to keep the muscles loose. Oh, and some extra pilates and other tapes over the weekend. Yeah, that sounds like a plan!