Yeah, I know but it's a pride thing. At one point before I die, I'd like to be able to say I can take one step forward without falling over sideways. :lol3:

LOL. I don't usually post in this thread, but this cracked me up. I do the stationary lunges also--the dynamic ones hurt my knees. :(

My accomplishment of the week: I finally got around to trying the Crown Prince Deadlifts instead of the SLDLs. The trainer-who-helps-me showed me how to do them properly and I feel rather proud. :) (I'm easily impressed by my own minor accomplishments!) My butt hurts, too. He had me use this weird cage-bar thing that you add weights to. You stand in the middle of it so that you don't have to yank the barbell around your knees. It felt a bit silly, but I guess it's the same principle.

*Back to lurking*

Hi LWL,

Baddled - Why lurk ?? You can come out and say what is on your wmind the same as all the others hanging around here!

Nothing much from here. I still have sore arms..must be the painting cardio from yesterday.

Have a nice day,
rabbit

I finally got around to reading up a bit on HIIT and think I'm going to try adding it to my workouts. M-W-F are my distance/speed days on the treadmill and I'm going to keep those. T-Th-F are my FBWO with weights, including abs -- I think I'll add a HIIT to those days to replace the slower incline treadmill I was doing on those days last month. We'll see how I do with it...

I only have time for a quick post...I just got back into town and need to get to my laundry etc. ;) but I wanted to respond to Kaw who asked about changing your username. As I said, I've been thinking about it as well and I understand that you can do that one time.

This is addressed in the forum announcements and help and I think all you have to do is send a PM to Suzanne or use the "contact us" at the bottom of each screen.

Hope this helps.

:D

Morning:wave: A new week.
So much for fall, it's about 95 degrees here and humid. I was completely drenched during my elliptical session this morning and can't cool off.

Back on the clean eats wagon after a weekend of birthday ;)

Chest and balance stuff today at the gym. I'm doing a set of different kinds of pushups between each weight set, then a yoga pose. Got keep it changing....

Mel

I do pike ups on the ball starting in the same position, I think I'll mix it up by adding these in to the mix. I don't know how I ever did ab exercises without my ball, plain ol floor crunches seem so boring to me now.

Just popping in to say I still haven't lifted in too long, but I did get a run in on Saturday. I'll get another one in tonight since it's blessedly cool out now (sorry 'bout the heat in your parts Mel!), back to strength training tomorrow. Getting out of a routine really throws me every time, I don't know why it's always so hard to go back to the same things you were doing just a couple weeks ago. :?:

Hi everyone else. Hope your week's off to a good start!

:wave: I'm back. We had a great trip, mostly nice weather. Did lots of driving and a lot of relaxing and reading. Got back Thurs night, and had 3 days to do stuff at home before coming back to the madness of work. :lol:

Here's a few photos:

The small boat harbor at Skagway, with 2 of the 4 cruise ships that were in town on Labor Day. You couldn't move on the streets there were so many people.
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h5...h_100_2146.jpg

DH enjoying a Wisconsin beverage :) in a campsite.

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h5...h_100_2165.jpg

A mama grizzly and her baby grazing by the side of the road.
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h5...h_100_2140.jpg

A strange thing happened when I got home though - I had this overwhelming urge that I NEEDED to get to the gym. :lol: This was a feeling rather than a thought, and one of the few times that's happened to me. I followed it up though and it felt good to be back after a week and a half away. I will be there again after work.

Someone mentioned HIIT, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. It keeps me sane. :rofl: (something needs to!) I was soooo bored with long steady cardio that I'd do anything to avoid it. HIIT gets me in and out in 30-35 minutes (with warm-up/cool-down) and keeps me engaged while I'm doing it. I use an elliptical since my knees don't like the impact of the treadmill.

Oh, a funny story. I had a final appt with the ortho for my knees scheduled for 9/20. When we got back I had a voicemail asking me to call. Seems they needed to reschedule me since he had what the gal called an "incident" which required shoulder surgery and being off work for some weeks. :lol: Wonder if he'd like the name of a good physical therapist.....

Welcome back, Pat- the trip sounds great! Beautiful pictures :)

I agree about HIIT, but it's hard on the body to do every day. For those of us who do dail (or almost daily) cardio, I think alternating or at least not going all every time is a good idea. I know if I do HIIT 4 days in a row, I'm dead by Friday.

Mel

Hi everyone! Okay, I have a question about HITT. I set the machine (whether it's an Arc trainer, cross ramp or treadmill) to intervals, so the resistance/incline increases every other minute, or so. Is that considered HITT? I do my cardio that way and, yes, am dead after doing it 5 days in a row. So should I throw in a couple of days of longer, more steady cardio? If so, what would that be?

Thanks,
Pam

Oh right, Mel. I don't do it every day, usually 3-4x week. I would totally be worn out too. :)

Pam - everything I 've read suggests alternating periods of going full out (or nearly so) with periods of less intensity. There was an article in the Sept (I think) issue of Oprah's mag, but it's not on the website. Also, if you read Skwigg's blog, she has some links about it too.

I don't do HIIT cadrio per se, but I usually run outside and there are hills, so that's like built-in HIIT, no? The few times I've run inside in a treadmill going a steady pace with little or no incline I find I can go faster and farther than trail or road running.

Did a little UBWO yesterday, just enough to dust off the cobwebs ;) Running tonight. It's so cool out this week, it makes running so much nicer :)

:wave: Hi! Just had my last PT session for my knees. I realized the other day - when reviewing my insurance stuff - that I've been going almost 6 months. Where does the time go???? But, it's so much better, and should continue to improve as long as I do the exercises I need. Many of them are things I need to incorporate anyway, so I should be okay.

Shan - I always found running inside to be much easier than outdoors. Much of it has to do with the even surface/speed of the treadmill vs the uneveness of the terrain outdoors, plus the fact that if you slow down you don't get thrown off. :lol: But outdoor running, to me, was much nicer. It didn't get as boring, and you engage a lot more muscles. Now of course, my knees would fail me if I tried to run more than about 10 steps....

DH had an ortho appt Mon for his back, and an MRI yesterday. However, it feels much better, and likely was only bruised (he was afraid he'd injured a disk). He was able to go to - and enjoy - his yoga class for the first time in several weeks. The doc is cautious though since he feels that the x-rays show more deterioration than those from a few years ago. DH has stopped taking - on the advice of his oncologist - the monthly IV bone-building meds, and is now using one that comes as a nasal spray :shrug: The ortho is not convinced - I say, let the docs argue and see what they decide. :lol:

Definitely fall here now. It's quite blustery and showery today, though the temps are still in the high 50's/low 60's. The leaves are coming off the trees, and the wind is accelerating the process. At least I can pick them up with the riding mower, and not have to rake them.

Hi Everyone:wave: I dropped into lurker mode for a while. It's just been so crazy busy here the last few weeks. The good news is I am getting my workouts in like clockwork. I've scaled back to 4 to 5 times a week and it seems to be doing me some good. I have a little more energy to get some projects completed at home since I'm not beating myself six days a week at the gym.:s: I think the lesson to learn this year for me is ~BALANCE~ How to combine this rather healthy obsession of intense cardio and focused weight training with the rest of my life so that it doesn't take over. Staying home with DS2 on Tuesdays and Thursdays to engage him in preschool projects is the first step. And Mel, you are right, I can get those workouts in here at home if necessary. I can certainly get my tail up before DH leaves for work for a quick cardio run around the neighborhood and then lift upper body.

Speaking of running, I am having some success in returning to the treadmill for some nice three mile runs. Its been hit or miss last month with my hip but so far this month it seems to be doing fine. I just need to be really careful when I'm running outside not to run too quickly. I think that's when my hip will flare up and put me back on the elliptical for a while.

I'm also enjoying the discussion regarding the New Rules for Lifting book. I have this book from the library as well. Depalma I agree with you that the book should be read more than once. In fact, I need to return it soon and will actually purchase the book for my own reference. That's saying something because I'm usually too cheap to buy books and then need to find a place to store them. :rofl:

Okay, well, sorry for the boring post. Just wanted to quickly say hi and I'm still working my tail feathers off but too busy to add my thoughts of the day. Ahh, maybe next week will be better.:dizzy:

I'm still here too, just been having a very rough month. Nothing life threatening, but just very yuck, but I'll save the story for some time when it has the happy ending that I'm hoping for - maybe in a few weeks. Until then, I'm trying not to focus on it. The good news is that the situation has majorly suppressed my appetite or desire to go out or shop. The adrenalin it's created in my body is only relieved by exercise, so there we have it. I'm off to write a diet book about how to lose 10 lbs in 2 weeks. Trying to make sure I get some lifting in as well, so that it's not just cardio and I can make sure I'm not losing mass. Good to see everyone!