I chickened out of HIIT today and instead ran for 20 mins on the treadmill and did almost 2 miles. So I probably deserve a for that. Afterwards I did some ab crunches with a twist which leads me on to my husband who made me so this morning.
We go to the gym together because we carpool. He follows me into the weights room and watches as I get situated onto the crunch bench with my 6lb ball. I do an ab crunch with the bench at an incline with the ball above my head bringing it into my chest as I come up into the crunch then do a twist to the left, then the right. It's a hard move but has made me lose 2 inches off my waist since last year. Anyway. I do my first set of 12 and when I get done I ask him if he wants to try do some himself, he answers yes. Well, he couldn't even do 1 full crunch. He tried, he didn't even get halfway so I tease him a little about being weaker than me. I think I p***** him off because when he gets off the machine he makes some smart *** comment about that only reason I can do them is because I use the ball for momentum. I do use the ball but I also use my frikkin stomach muscles which apparently he has lost. I think I hurt his fragile little ego. I'm still mad.
Eating hasn't been the best today. Last night I discovered I was out of regular oatmeal and the only thing remotely looking like breakfast was a package of instant low sugar oatmeal which I brought and added some walnuts. I'm currently snacking on a cup of dry kashi go lean. My bag of salad has gone soggy so I rescued what I could for my ww pita today. I'm having a baked chicken breast with it as a sammich for my lunch. My strawberries have also gone mushy so I'm just left with my blueberries today. Thank god I still have some cottage cheese. I'm supposed to be trying to eat lower carb/higher protein but the mere thought of sliced turkey and/or boiled eggs makes me want to upchuck right now.
I need to go shopping.
At least I checked in today!
Shan - it's funny you mentioned the yoga, yesterday I ordered a yoga for beginners dvd from amazon, looking forward to trying it out. I need something to help me destress!!!!
LynneA – Men's egos, unlike your abs, are fragile. Don't let him get you down, his insecurity is not your problem. Hope you enjoy the yoga!
I was so wiped out last night I only got through a couple sets for most of my UB exercises, but it's been a long time since I've done regular lifting so I guess it was good to just do something to start getting back in the swing of things. Not as sore as I should be today, so I know I didn't push myself too hard.
Gotta hit the store tonight, my FH said he was going to the store on the way home from work last night so I asked him to pick up a couple things for cake, but he said he couldn’t find the flour I wanted. That man has the hardest time finding things in grocery stores, I've mostly given up on ever being able to send him out with a list and getting back what I expected. I'll be spending my evening baking things I plan to not eat. Well, I'll have one small piece of cake this weekend. Wish me luck!
Hoping to squeeze in some mat and ball work while things are in the oven, early morning run planned for tomorrow. Food has been good. Out of town guests arrive tomorrow and birthday festivities to follow, this will test my resolve!
grrr, don't talk to me about men's egos! It's what lead to our litlle "disagreement" on Sunday. I had to do 2 back-to-back phone interviews for a new pastor, and ended up being 1.5 hours later than I had estimated. Meanwhile we had agreed to move the old stove out when I got home. Of course, when I didn't get home at the estimated time, he "had" to go ahead and do the whole project by himself, and was feeling pretty martyred about it when I did get home. Grrrr. Like I could have called in the middle of the interview to let him know? Things are fine now of course, and I will be so glad to have the stove gone on Friday. It is literally right in middle of the floor! (To be fair, we have a very small house and there is nowhere else unless you consider a used stove to be living room furniture. )
So now in addition to my knee problems, I slept wrong, or the moon is in the wrong phase or something, and my shoulder is aching. Sigh. I suspect I curled it in and then laid in one position most of the night, but dang I'm tired of something hurting. . . Ibuprofen here I come.
On that down note, at least it's cool here compared to some of you folks.
It is just to hot and humid to workout this evening and I am online avoiding the food. Grapes are keeping me in check. Yeah.
LYNNEA - Sounds like someone didn't realize how strong you are becoming, or actually are??? DH is strong himself but always has thought of me as dainty (?) until of course, I carry the 8 year old up to bed when she is sounds asleep.
A good week so far for me. Monday - spinning, Tuesday - I ran to work and today I did another spinning and a power class. I think I'm definitely taking tomorrow off...my quads are telling me so!! Food has been okay too but I still wonder if I'll ever see less than 130!
Lynne - yes, the male ego can be very fragile, and sometimes over the craziest things! With most things my husband is very "liberated" but you never know when you'll say the wrong thing...men, can't live with them, blah blah blah!
Pat - shoulder pain...now that I can sympathize with. It's the only thing that ever gives me trouble. I've always had shoulder problems, sometimes I can't even reach around properly to do up my bra! The thing is when someone asks why, it's the silliest answer. I'm fairly certain that it's just the way I sleep...on my front with my arms up holding the pillow. And I sometimes think that I don't move all night long so it can just ache sometimes. Today I felt it during the pushups and chest presses, but not the shoulder presses.
Anyone know any good shoulder exercises? More to loosen it up than for strength.
Lydia - I've never heard of the Dublin Festival but I do know that I'm hoping to go to Dublin (Ireland that is) next summer. I've wanted to go for so long. I'm so fascinated by the people, the accent, the country...I can't wait. Maybe I should have tried the Dublin Festival first...it seems a bit closer!
Morning! All going well here. I've moved onto early mornings at the gymn during the Boy's school hols. I think I'm actually making more progress. It could be that I am virtually stress-free at that time of day.
I'm doing a lot of incidental exercise at the moment as well. We were recruited to a football game with a 6 yr old and his brother in a motorised wheelchair yesterday. I had to have a little sit-down after that. Perhaps I'm not as fit as I kid myself.
Finished off the bottoms of the cereal boxes this morning, that always makes me feel virtuous, the Sam's flax, the Kashi 7 grain and the Aramath flakes, topped with blueberries. I was going to have it w/ FF plain yogurt but wanted to finish up the FF milk before leaving town. For some reason, DH is still scared to clear anything out of the fridge when I am gone. I think he likes asking me about it first.
Mostly packed for vacation, did some UBWO. As for shoulder work, I really like the arm stretch out front and the hunch over, or the spine roll up, don't like the arm swinging, too much "noise" still. I know what you mean about sleeping on your stomach, that is my problem too, I am trying to train myself to sleep on my side. One advantage I had with a bigger belly was that sleeping on my stomach was uncomfortable.
Leg workout when I get to my mom's, I have packed my yoga mat so I am prepared and probably will through in my exercise bands as well, they don't take any space.
Hope the weather is sunny for all. Is Nelie still moving?
DH is still scared to clear anything out of the fridge when I am gone. I think he likes asking me about it first.
You reminded me of something my DH told me when we were first married. I found him gazing in the fridge and scouring the cupboards for food close to dinner time. I had just walked in from work and hadn't planned anything for dinner. Feeling guilty I begin to suggest things that he could put together for himself...he looks at me over the top of the fridge door and says "I am a Man, I have a Thumb,...I can do this myself." I never forgot this and remind him of his thumb frequently.
Elisa: There is still time to make plans to attend the Dublin Festival in Ohio! It is closer than Ireland and won't cost nearly as much...come check it out!
Silverbirch: AM workouts are really wonderful! It just sets the tone for the rest of the day for me. :When I have to do it later in the day I find myself just pining to race out as soon as possible. I don't think I could have any energy to do it in the evenings but maybe if I got used to it I could.
Just finished my workout this morning. I got in 45 minutes of HIIT on the elliptical, 45 minutes of UBWO, and 20 minutes of core work and stetching. Great fun but I ran out of time for a shower at the gym.
It's shaping up to be a nice day here. Always nice when the forecast is showers.
Real progress seen at physical therapy this morning. The kneecap is happier about moving around and is not catching/dragging nearly so badly. I was happily doing deep squats/leg presses. Stepping up is still painful though.
On shoulder exercises: see here for several, from Mistress Krista.
Also, I do a lying rotator cuff exercise when my shoulders are feeling ouchie. Lie on a bench on your side, the "underneath" arm out and hand touching the floor for stability or helping to support your head -- whichever you find more comfie.
Upside arm is bent 90 degrees, with upper arm parallel to the body and lower arm in front of you. Hold a very light weight in the hand of the upside arm. Rotate your arm at the shoulder, so that the weight goes up and into the same plane as your body. Repeat. It's a very small range of motion, and it's meant to strengthen the connective tissue more than build muscle.
You could probably search the web for "rotator cuff exercises" and find a picture of this, as well as other similar exercises.
Cardio today, I made it a longer session than usual did 45 minutes on the elliptical and felt pretty good afterwards.
I like doing reverse fly aka bent over raises for the shoulders, you have to be very careful you don't go too heavy though.
I got my Yoga dvd yesterday, I'm disappointed to see it's done by a "celebrity" trainer (clients include Madonna, Gwyneth yadda yadda), only reason being I'm not sure if what's good for them is good for me and I'm not one for gimmicks. Still, I'm going to give it a try Sunday morning.
I'm back from camping in germany, but I fell off the wagon. No exercise, and I am really having trouble to keep the eating even vaguely clean. Still, I'm looking in to get back into the mindset to get myself back on track. I feel so lousy from the lack of good food & excercise that I think this will take me some days.
Heading to the green tea now, and I know I'll probabely feel better after a couple of litres of green tea has cleared the bad stuff from my system.
Not sure what equipment you have access to, but I'll throw out a few glute/ham ideas.
Romanian Deadlifts
Good mornings
Pull throughs
Bulgarian split squats and step ups, but this may involve the quads more than you'd like since you are trying to bring the hams/glutes back into balance.
And one exercise that I've really come to like that I underestimated in the past is the Supine Hip Extension with Leg Curl on a swiss ball. These are much harder than they appear. If it is too easy for you, you can do them one legged. If they are too hard you can work up to them. A decent progression for them would probably:
Supine Hip Extension with feet on floor
Supine Hip Extension with feet elevated on bench
Supine hip Extension with feet elevated on ball
Supine hip extension with leg curl on ball
One-legged SHELC on ball
Thanks Depalma. The split squats look cool. I'm going to start with dumbells and then work up to the freebar. I forgot about the hip extensions guess I should add those in again too.
for that. Afterwards I did some ab crunches with a twist which leads me on to my husband who made me so 
this morning. 
Don't let him get you down, his insecurity is not your problem. Hope you enjoy the yoga!
) 
You reminded me of something my DH told me when we were first married. I found him gazing in the fridge and scouring the cupboards for food close to dinner time. I had just walked in from work and hadn't planned anything for dinner. Feeling guilty I begin to suggest things that he could put together for himself...he looks at me over the top of the fridge door and says "I am a Man, I have a Thumb,...I can do this myself." I never forgot this and remind him of his thumb frequently. 
It just sets the tone for the rest of the day for me. 
:When I have to do it later in the day I find myself just pining to race out as soon as possible. I don't think I could have any energy to do it in the evenings but maybe if I got used to it I could. 
Thanks Depalma. The split squats look cool. I'm going to start with dumbells and then work up to the freebar. I forgot about the hip extensions guess I should add those in again too.