How fun, Cheryl! You look awesome!

Hello Lifters!

I have been a bit computer shy lately. Mostly lurking and lifting but I thought I'd pop in to say hi and thanks to everyone for being here to inspire.

Took measurements today and it looks like I've lost and inch on my waist and a half an inch on each leg. Arms look like they have grown a half inch (Is this possible or am I a klutz at measuring?). Scale hasn't really changed much but I am cool with that.

I have been doing the NROL fat loss 1 workout slightly adapted to the home gym. I do all the barbell exercises with dumbbells and I found a neat way to improvise a lat pulldown with a band and a broom (and a pull up bar). It works amazingly well. I am feeling a bit whiney and unmotivated lately but I have been on plan and I suppose that is the most important thing. Anyhow hi from lurkdom and happy valentines day everyone.

Cool, Cheryl! That looks like fun. My DH is not a dog lover, so no chance of us ever doing it, but all the same.....

I'm pretty much over feeling puny. Plan to back to the routine tomorrow.

Thanks, ladies! I feel uncomfortable just looking at pics like that, thinking about what it felt like to be that big. I feel much better now!

Had planned to lift tonight, then have a run, but had company drop in just as I was getting warmed up, so ended up just doing a long run. It felt good, and now I should sleep like a rock! :)

Hikerchick, great idea for making a lat pulldown with the band! I've had to get creative myself with the workout equipment, so I can relate.

:wave: Hickerchick! How have you been?

I'm headed to work even tho we are closed today. I went home sick on Friday and don't want to use up my vacation days. Plus there is just s much to do!

Somehow I pulled/inflamed or otherwise did something to a muscle in my back. I think it started with that pushup program and has just gotten steadily worse even though I stopped the pushups. It is incredibly painful at this point. I had to do the elliptical minus the arms, and will be doing a modified lower body workout today at the gym...probably mostly all those machines I tell people to stay away from :lol: I don't think I can lift plates to load a bar, or hold heavy enough dumbbells to make a difference. I see lots of body weight lunges and squats in my future for a while.

Cheryl- I understand completely about the discomfort of looking at "before" pictures. I find that very difficult to do (and there aren't that many, I was camera phobic), and often cringe when family pictures are pulled out.

Off to the closed office- I hope I get the alarm code right!

Mel

hmmm...well I did a new routine at the gym today with the trainer. Lower weight higher rep, but on the other hand I can barely type right now. 8 sets each of 20 seconds on 10 seconds rest on consecutive push exercises. By the last set it was down to about 4 reps. ACK.

Hi guys -
I've been working on the lower body exercises with the swiss ball for the last few days and I have to say I never had an appropriate level of respect for the swiss ball before... I sneezed a few minutes ago and the tensing in my abs was not very comfortable... :o

Only one more week to go before back to the doctor to discuss my post-surgical progress and to talk about running and lifting... Crossing my fingers I can get back to normal next Monday, but prepared to wait two more weeks until I officially reach six weeks...

I can't believe I'm still up. :faint: I got sidetracked at the crossfit website looking at videos. :D

Did shoulders and abs tonight. Tried some new plank variations: two hands on a basketball, one hand on the floor/one hand reaching out in front...those were fun and challenging. Tried OH squats with some weight (have just been using a stick), tried 30 lbs and just could not get down more than a few inches. :?: Frustrating! I just switched to back and front squats, since I couldn't figure out what was wrong with my form.

Mel, it's nice to know I'm not the only one!

Ennay, I've done a few workouts like that and enjoy them for a change of pace.

Shannon, can you share which exercises you were doing? We're always looking for new evil exercises to try!

Okay, I sleep now!

Go to bed Cheryl. By the way, you do look fantastic! Thanks for sharing the pic with your dogs. Maybe one day soon I'll load up some of my before pics too. That would be a maybe. :devil: They are hard to look at for me too. Like you what bothers me the most is how physically uncomfortable I was in that shape.

Mel: Oh no, back pain for you too?! :hug: Is yours more thoracic? Mine is lumbar. For the first time I took two Alleves yesterday and made a point not to do heavy back squats or 1 legged sldl. I think that and lots of knee to chest stretches yesterday helped. I am feeling better than I have for days with this. Thank goodness. See...I'm learning. When injured put pride away and back off. Rest is a good thing. Pain is a signal that something is misaligned or needs to be rested.

One thing I am really concerned about right now is my blood pressure. I was weaned off my meds maybe a month ago. Maybe a little more. :dunno: During my assessment with a trainer Saturday he took my blood pressure as a baseline. It was 160/89. OMG. I freaked. I have been an anxious mess since then. I checked it again on Sunday and it was 158/89. Damn. So much for diet and exercise. Hypertension may just be genetic for me. ~sigh~ I have an appointment with my doc next Monday. I know he will just advice me to begin taking the meds again. What a disappointment though. I've worked really hard at this, I was ready for my assessment and it was a no go because they won't even touch you if you are reading that high. (can't say I blame them) But I really wanted to find and measure my imbalances.

Okay. It's crunch time and I need to study like :devil: for the next couple of weeks. I've already prepped my kids, "Mom's not trying to be mean...she's just going to need a few days to focus and then things will be back to our kind of normal :crazy: again." :lol: I might just need to go into lurk mode for a little bit, but I'm here. Just so you all know. :s:

Oh no Lydia!! I'm so sad to hear about the bp coming back to haunt you. Well, if it's meds, it's meds, right? Do you have any symptoms - no pounding, no headaches from lifting? I know it's a silent problem, but thought you might notice a difference since it kind of turned on a dime for you.

Will miss you over the next couple of weeks but look forward to sharing the joy of your great test scores in about a month!!

Lydia - so sorry to hear about your BP. My mom has freakishly high BP so it is something I worry about myself. Hope you get it under control. And, good luck in your studying!

Cheryl - I'll be glad to post the links to the exercises when I get home tonight. I did more last night and am totally feeling it. Don't know if they will be as tough to anyone else, but they are beating me down. :-) I'm not the most coordinated individual and balancing on the ball is harder than I thought!

I'm at the hospital all day today with my MIL - she had surgery for uterine cancer this morning.

I'm thinking of you and your MIL today, Shannon.

Sorry to hear about your BP Lydia. I really think there is a genetic component as well as a lifestyle one. You've done a lot to try to alleviate the problem and I think you don't need to feel you're a failure at all! Think where it would be if you hadn't lost weight and gotten in shape..... My DH who has never been overweight, and is in terrific shape has high BP - kills him to take meds, but hey, I'd like him around longer. :) He also has an acid reflux problem he takes meds for and tries to go without every so often - it comes right back. :shrug:

Man a contentious meeting this morning with lots of talk, no action except to form a "working group" to continue the discussion ..... Sigh.

I'll be here tomorrow than gone til Sunday! YAY! I'm going to a quilt retreat where as the name says, I get to retreat from work and home, and to quilt with 29 of my friends :) It's held at a camp and they feed us lunch and dinner. I have healthy breakfasts and defined snacks packed (yup, even some dark chocolate) and am resolved to stay away from the junk food table that always exists at these events. It's a pain to pack up everything for 3 days, but I get so much more done than at home. A friend will come in to feed the kitties, and I'm off guilt-free. :)

Have fun, Pat. Used to do a lot of machine quilting, but hand quilting drove me nuts. Now I can't see well enough to even try :(

My should/back/neck is finally healing. I haven't done any upper body since last week- just lots of legs and cardio. Did a treadmill run this morning with no pain, but will miss lunch time lift due to meetings. My boss is trying to talk me into joining a Wed. night yoaga class with her- I may do it. Maybe venture a light upper body workout tomorrow if nothing fires up again :carrot:

Shannon- I hope all went well for your MIL yesterday.

Lydia- There's such a huge genetic component to BP. You've worked so hard and literally done everything you could. Happy studying ;)

Off to meetings in Philadelphia today- and it's supposed to snow :p The drive is dreadful at the best of times!

Mel

Philadelphia? How exciting!! I know you are going there to work, but have you ever run up those stairs like Rocky? Yes, I am a huge dork, but someday I want to do that. And everyone around will think: TOURIST!

Lydia, you deserve great props for controlling what you can control. Certainly your BP would be even higher if you weren't so fit and focused on exercise and nutrition.

Pat, have fun at your quilting retreat. I've had (yes HAD!) to make a couple of quilt squares lately for some pregnant ladies and the whole time I just prayed my bobbin wouldn't run out of thread cause I don't remember how to reload it. Pretty sad, huh?

Mel: Careful during your drive today. Hope the meeting is productive to warrant the trip. Oh. And please take the yoga class. It's such a beautiful way to meet the flexibility component of fitness. At least I think so. Just don't let the instructor sit on your back. :lol: No serious here. They get all excited when they work with me and think I should be able to bend all the way. Not. Go gentle. :yes:

Shannon: :goodluck: to your MIL. I hope you are doing well too.

Pat: You so deserve a nice retreat such as this. Glad you found a cat sitter and can go free of mind. Enjoy the surroundings of your friends. I don't quilt but do have morning "retreats" with my girlfriends as well. Actually, there are several circles I get looped into and I always feel so "nurtured" after leaving. It's good to surround ourselves with friends. 'Specially after the types of meetings you just described. ~sigh~ :hug:

Yep. I'm at peace with the BP thing. I'm going back on the meds and know that its not just something that I totally within my control. It really is okay. I also know the difference between being on them and not. It's subtle, but there is a difference. I feel so much calmer when taking them too. I think it may be why I've been feeling this low level of anxiety. It must be my body's response to the higher bp. And all this while I've been blaming it on the uncertainty of the economy. :s:

Okay. Another marathon day of studying. DS2 is in preschool this morning so it will be much easier today. :lol:

Mel - I'm glad your back is starting to feel better. Hope the drive today doesn't make it worse again, and be careful in the snow!

Pat - your retreat sounds like fun. You have been running pretty hard it seems lately, so relax and unwind!

Lydia - hmm... wonder if I can find a medication to take to help my low level anxiety from the economy... hmm.... I'm glad that the meds are helping. Good studying!

Cheryl - your pic with your dogs looks great! You looked like you were having a great time!

My MIL came through her surgery fine - they did a full hysterectomy with lymph nodes and also removed her appendix because the doctor found a mass on it. We have to wait until we get everything back to see if that mass was cancer as well. She was in a room and settled by noon yesterday, should be walking around this morning. I'm worn out - getting up at 3am yesterday to get her to the hospital by 5, then staying at the hospital until almost 9pm wore me right out...

Cheryl - those swiss ball exercises I was talking about - I've been doing these three for legs that I got from Lydia in another thread...
And, the ones that have been killing my abs are these -
Side crunch - the balance on this one is still really hard for me, I'm not moving fully in the correct plane yet...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODSOE...eature=related

I can't do very many of the reverse crunch yet...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEUou...eature=related

I can do the regular version of this bridge pretty well, the one legged version is harder.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6VT4q_lJZ0&feature=related

I've also been doing the basic swiss ball crunch and some of the twists - they are really helping my balance on the ball. I don't think mine has enough air in it, though...

I'm really liking the Ridgeline Fitness videos for the ball - downloaded them onto my iPod. There are several that I haven't gotten up to yet.

Thanks, gals. I'm getting excited to go. I packed up my projects to work on last night. And my non-refrigerated food. Clothes are easy - jeans and a couple t-shirts, underwear, pj's..... I have to bring my own bedding and towels as well. I'm just getting a sleeping bag out of the camping stuff.

Mel - I absolutely do not do hand-quilting! :) I love my sewing machine.... It's ready to go too. Oh, and have to remember the light....

So unless it snows a whole bunch, my exercise will be walks around the camp (I've never been there, so no idea what's available).

Today I'm hitting it hard at work and trying to get some things finished up. I have a number of things with March/April deadlines which are coming up fast (and one with a 2/27 deadline - that's on the top of the list).

Shannon - hoping your MIL is doing okay, and they don't find more than they knew about. I had a hysterectomy (uterus only) in 1980 and they took my appendix as a matter of "you don't need, we're here, let's take it out." My sister on the other hand had first her appendix out, then an ovarian cyst, then gall bladder....

Mel - have fun in Philly. Like Midwife, it's a place on my wishlist to visit.

The weather report was wrong, just slush :D

Midwife- I have run up those stairs! Many times as a kid...but a few years ago DD and I were going to a special exhibit and ended up in a mob scene at the base of the stairs. Some guy came along with a clip board and asked if we wanted to be extras in a video that was being filmed by...ta da... Will Smith! We signed the releases and sprinted up the stairs to meet him! We eventually saw the video and dd was fleetingly visible in it and I, mercifully, was not :)

Mel

That's cool, Mel!

Ha! I have 2 Will Smith's on my iPod!

Summer, summer, summer-tiiiiiime! (Makes me happy to listen to when it's cold outside)

Shannon, thanks for the links. Wow, that reverse crunch looks, well, impossible! I might need a helmet to try that one! Like you, I don't think I've been giving the swiss ball it's proper respect!

Lydia, my friend sent me a pic from a scooter run that we did on Valentine's day (last Sat). Not on the scooter, but me and my dog Grace at the rest stop. Of course, with my big orange "so you can see me a mile away" coat on, it's hard to tell the diff, lol. (I'll have to attach it, since I haven't gotten as far as using photobucket or another photo hosting site yet.)

Pat, enjoy your retreat!

Fran and Midwife, :wave:!

Yesterday the boy (ds 12) and I spent some time working on the mushing cart, which we're taking for a run tomorrow. We've putzed around with it in the neighborhood, but this will be our first "real" run with the cart. Today we're going to do some gardening, and hope to rig up a climbing rope...the boy can climb it, and I can try to do the baby version of pulling myself to standing from the ground. I'd better quit putzing on the computer and do something useful now!

Cheryl - funny that you mention the helmet and the reverse crunch today - I rolled off backwards last night and bumped the top of my head into the wall when my cat came in and rubbed against my leg scaring me... :)

Seeing the giant spiders and worms that sometimes show up in my basement, I totally understand freaking out when something fuzzy touches your leg unexpectedly (and you don't have sight of it!) Too funny!

Gosh, today for the first time in a long time, I'm not hungry. I ate some fat! :lol3: I had a "real" (ie, not natural!) PB sandwich for lunch today and even though I used a very small amount of pb (2 tbsp) it was such a difference to eat enough food of substance. Got rid of the, "wow, I just ate and I'm still hungry" feeling. Has also stayed with me for longer than 3 hours too.

I'm struggling to find good abs work that I can feel results from. I've tried crunches, ball v-ups, reverse crunches, etc. Next I think I have to move on to decline crunces. I've tried everything in both books and the website. Except the ball raises, which hurt my back and cause my hip flexors to feel like they're going to spasm for some reason. :dizzy:

So that's the latest here. Snow again this weekend, sigh. Did ya'll know that we switch time (spring forward) on March 7?? longer days only 2 more weeks away! That's a reason to celebrate!!

Snow? Are you sure? I just checked the weather report for my area and no rain/snow expected. Saturday should be beautiful :)

I banged my arm good this morning and it hurts to hold anything or even make a fist... I'm guessing no weights today... Its alright I already had my physical therapy session this morning although it was fairly light. The physical therapist is doing a lot of manual work on me which means lots of pain and wanting to punch him. Oh well maybe I'll be 'fixed' somehow.

Fran- what is it that is missing for you in your ab/core workouts? It sounds like you are doing plenty of different exercises. The only thing else I'd suggest which doesn't put a lot of stress on your back/neck is using hanging ab straps. But I know you workout at home, so that may not be an option.
Try all those same exercises using some weigh held either in your hands or a small db between your feet, It's amazing how different 5 pounds more feels. Or you can use a band to increase the resistance.

I love the ball reverse crunch! I didn't know it had a name- it's what I was doing when I kept falling on my head a few weeks ago and entertaining the entire cardio machine section of the gym :dizzy: I cheat and hold onto a dance barr behind my head. I'll have to try the wall press like in the video, I'm sure that is harder.

I did a full body workout with some weird balance stuff today. No overhead anything, tho. Cut my weights by about half...the heaviest thing I picked up were 25 pound dbs for chest presses, so I was very restrained and was a good girl. No pain!:carrot::carrot: In fact, I feel better :) Yay for exercise...tho my dh is attributing my recovery to actually having rested and not done any upper body lifting for 5 days. Husbands! What do they know?

Nelie- what is wrong with your arm? I can't remember why you are going to PT :(

Good day for me...patting myself on the back :)

Mel

I don't know Nelie, that was dh telling me that. And then the soccer coach emails to say he'll be canceling practice due to the rain and cold weather on Sunday. They must both get their forecasts from the Spike channel! lol
Mine says 42 Sat with snow after midnite possible and 40 Sunday. Not that great. But if the wind just stops, I"ll be happy. It keeps me up at nite.

Mel - I banged my arm hard into the car door when trying to wrangle my pups. I am going to physical therapy because I've had knee problems and I wanted to run and well I had issues so I started seeing the physical therapist to work out some of those issues. Of course this morning I woke up with an aching back. I swear I'm breaking down!

Fran - I hate the wind too, it gets bad but hasn't been too bad at nite here. Yesterday it was beautiful in the morning and then the clouds moved in and wind picked up.

Hi! Where is everyone??

I'm here sick - blech, bad cold, sneezy, congested, body aches, but fever is holding right around 100.5, so that's pretty low as far as fevers go. I won't complain as this is my first time being sick so far this winter with only one month to go until spring.

Nelie, did you get the snow this morning? Nothing stuck, just pretty to look at. It snowed from about 8-noon here. Now it's the wind again. Of course, at bedtime!

I got my HIIT workout in yesterday before I got to feeling too badly, so that was some luck. After suffering with stiff/swollen backs of the knees sensation the last 2 times I ran, I decided to take it down to a walk again and throw in some inclines. Thought i was gonna die! You can get every bit of as hard a workout in on walking on inclines as you can running. I had tried to walk on the highest incline at 10 but quickly learned I needed to take it down a notch.

Tomorrow's the end of wk 4 for those of us doing BFL. I'll be posting some results tomorrow once I feel like standing up long enough to do measurements. :dizzy:

Fran,
Funny, forecast didn't have any snow but yup this morning it snowed and then the sun came out. We went for a 2.5 mile walk with the pups afterwards. The wind is something fierce.

Good news is my arm feels better, better news is I'm starting to feel the SAD fog lifting from my head. Which means I hope full motivation comes back soon.

Good news, nelie!

It slushed here- little bit of snow, then nothing.

Both my arms and shoulders are now in pain. I did a leg workout entirely on machines- the pin driven ones, because I can't even pick up a weight to rack it.
I have to admit that the injury to my right side is self-inflicted: I played Wii tennis endlessly on the weekend :dizzy:

Sorry I disappeared for days everyone! My MIL took a pretty strong downturn on Thursday, couldn't keep any food down, and we were only on clear liquids at that point, and was pretty sick through Saturday morning. Finally held down solid food Saturday afternoon and improved pretty quickly after that. I stayed with her at the hospital overnight Saturday night and took her home Sunday afternoon. She is sore but better - didn't walk as much as they wanted at the hospital so is only now clearing fluid from her lungs, which seems to hurt like heck coughing with the incision... :(

I had my one month follow-up yesterday and am cleared for anything and everything. I'm going to start getting back into the lifting slowly, and will likely increase my ball exercises. I've discovered I really like those even when I'm rolling off the ball onto the floor! :) Didn't get any exercise in yesterday, went to visit MIL after work. Slept late this morning, but am planning a run after work and some ball work after the presidential address. Woo hoo!

Hope everyone is doing well!

I'm here too! I have been popping by often, to read what everyone else is up to but I haven't felt like I had much to say!!

Okay, let's try..the weather here is so-so. Most of the snow melted a week or so ago but then we've had a few little bits here and there. But it's cold!! It's almost March and I'm about ready for some consistently above freezing temperatures. I don't think that's too much to ask, is it? ;)

I can't wait until I can get out for a run outside but I've been slacking in my running lately. Hate the treadmill so I've been doing HIIT to stop the treadmill boredom and to see if it will boost some calorie burning. It's definitely helped the boredom but I'm not doing it often enough and I need some SS cardio so I can get right back to my 5k runs when it's a bit nicer out.

I'm still loving my once a week yoga and I've been trying some BFL workouts too, for something different. The scales not really moving but that's mostly because I tend to treat every weekend like a free for all!

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, there's not enough days in the week (or maybe it's still too much TV time ;)) to get it all done but I'll just keep fighting the fight.

shannon - it's great to hear that your MIL is doing better and that you are back to full exercising! :carrot:

Fran - hope you're feeling better and congrats on the BFL successes so far!!

:D

Yep, those inclines are killers. I'm training for a 5k on March 14, and after I do my 20 min HITT for BFL, I do the rest of the 3 miles on inclines. I read in some fitness magazine that using inclines will help "tone" you. Isn't it amazing what they will print. I hate that word!

Hey ladies. :wave:

I did it. I signed up for a beginner's class at the local Crossfit affiliate. It's 3 times a week for 4 weeks. I'd rather have signed up just for the membership, but now they have this new thing where you have to take this beginner's class and pass a test first. I'm okay with it, though. Hopefully the class will be good and cover the oly lift basics, which is what I hope to learn. You can only do so much on your own with books and videos before you figure out a coach would be mighty helpful, lol. So, it looks like I'll be heftin' the old pvc again for a while. :strong: I'm excited about it. I know I can't afford to keep the membership up for the long haul, as it's just too expensive, but I'm hoping I can do at least 2 or maybe 3 months, then I will hopefully have the basics down enough to continue on my own with the oly lifts. At least, that's the plan.

Nelie, glad you're feeling better. :)

Mel, sorry to hear about your injury. :( Hope you're back to normal soon!

Shannon, congrats on getting the all-clear for lifting! :carrot:

Fran, can't wait to hear about your progress! My results haven't been stunning, but I'm getting the slow and steady weight loss, so I'm happy with that.

Elisa, glad to hear you're getting some variety in the workouts. I've been running dogs more, and all the running from that has left me a bit wiped out when it comes time to workout. I'm still doing my workouts, but it's a slog at times. I'm gonna try moving the workouts to earlier in the day and see if that helps.

Dixie, :wave: I cringe when I hear that word, as well, or when I see these mags at the checkout promising miracle weight loss and all this other garbage.

Hi Cheryl,

GFY about the crossfit membership. What is oly lifting ?

Rabbit

Olympic Lifts = oly

Cheryl, you're right. Some things you just can't learn from books and videos. That's where I really needed a live person teaching me so I wouldn't knock my teeth out of give myself a concussion. Have fun with the crossfit!

I NEED to lift! It's making me crazy just to do cardio and machine legs. My neck/shoulders and back still hurt most of the day and at night. I'm sure being at a computer 16 hours/day doesn't help. I may try another light upper body today.

I've been playing with our new wii fit balance board. The first time I did the body test it told me "balance is not your strong suit, is it? Do you find yourself tripping over your feet?" and "You can improve your balance by becoming stronger. I think you are a little weak." After giving it the finger, I practiced their balance test. :dizzy: I don't need to be dissed by a video game!

Of to the wars....

Mel

Yes, but can you give it the finger while you're doing the balance test, Mel? :lol: When you can, you will know you have mastered the Wii balance challenge, my little grasshopper!

Cheryl,
Crossfit sounds fun! I'd love to do it, there are supposedly a couple gyms near me but I never looked into them.

The wii balance stuff just takes practice. Once you get used to it, you can master it. Its unlike balancing on a bosu which gives you immediate feedback (ie falling).