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 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! 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.

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

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!

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

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.

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. 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!

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, 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. 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? 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).