Dee, how went the training session with your dh? Did he stick with it and work out or bug out that nite? Maybe if you show him all the pix of the police forces on the website and book who have entered the challenges. They have many groups of like 6-7 people who entered as a team, some even with their K9s on the picture, lol.

Thanks for the YouTube of PIC, that was cute. Which brings me to ask our experts, where does the fat go, once the nodules dissolve under my skin.... Is it transformed into energy when I run on the treadmill on an empty stomach (like I did today and felt like I had a hole in my stomach) or do we "process" it out of our bodies (ahem) in one of 2 ways??

I thought the Whoosh Fairy came and took the fat away while we slept?

DH actually did well. He was focused and did exactly what I told him. I've decided to take it easy on the back until Sunday, normal activies but no lifting or full out running. I'll be walking I guess. I just don't dare take a chance on giving myself a real injury, I'd rather lose a couple days. I will be showing DH some lbwo moves, but I'll demonstrate with 3lbs or body weight. Saturday is his birthday so I've told him that this week is "practice" and we'll start him out on Sunday "for real". Gives me time to unload the groceries that I bought last night and make some menus. He unloaded the car but I asked him not to put the food away in the pantry, I have a system and he'd mess it up. (Hello, my name is Dee, and I'm a control freak...)

So I went to look at the WOD for today and it is pullups, which I can't do. I don't really have a way to do assisted pullups either. So what I did was try to hang on my bar, which didn't work well. So I lowered the bar near the floor, sat on the floor and tried to pull myself off the floor. It was actually a bit of effort and I could feel myself rising a little bit but really not much I think I may do that more often though.

Nelie, WTG on the split jerk WOD! Those are such a fun movement! On the pull-ups, since you have a bar you can adjust, you might try hanging it where you can keep your feet flat on the floor to give yourself some assist. ExRx shows how to do it:
http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/...hinupSelf.html
You can use more leg power to make it easier, a little less leg power as your get stronger. For more of a cardio kick, try jumping pull-ups...these are an awesome workout!
http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/jumping-pull-ups.wmv
Set the bar higher for a harder upper body workout, lower to get more use of the jump.

Okay, I've got time for the Crossfit Report now. (as usual, feel free to skip, it's long)
---------

Class #8/Thurs

In attendance today: me and K (the guy in class)

My Pre-Warm-up:
Walked 200 meters, Ran 400 meters (slow and easy), a few experimental squats and stretching at roadside, then back to the gym for a few more squats and stretches sitting on the floor.

The Warm-up:
2x of:
10 squats
10 sit-ups
10 push-ups (got 3 on my toes each set, instead of 3 total, that's an improvement)

then:
10 shoulder dislocations with the pvc

New Skills:
1) The Burgener Warm-Up
This is a warm-up for the olympic lifts.
2) Hang Power Snatch The warm-up we did above was part of the instruction for this move, since at the end of the warm-up you do 3 HP Snatches. We did a few sets of 3 with the pvc, then with a barbell, 30 lbs for me, I think, though I forgot to ask, and some of the girly bars look exactly alike to me. I did good with this one until I got tired at the end. This was a really fun lift. I like anything where I get to jump in the air and make lots of noise with my feet when I land.
3) Medicine Ball Clean The video explains it better than I could! Notice the stitching on the ball should stay facing out, just to demonstrate that the ball does not spin, it floats for a nanosecond and you catch it down in your squat. Also note the hands on the side of the ball...I started with my hands under the ball, which wasn't right. Make sure you're good and loose for squats if you are going to try this. I did good with this one, too, surprisingly. Learning the snatch first really helped, since the steps up to the shrug part are exactly the same.

The WOD:
10 minutes of work, AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) of:
10 Medicine ball cleans
10 Abmat Sit-ups

Our trainer, L, did this one with us. It was a surprisingly brutal leg workout. I was jelly legs after the second round. I got 5 complete rounds, and all the way to 7 situps, so 60 MB Cleans and 57 Abmat sit-ups, in the ten minutes.

Stretching:
First, we did what I like to call "The Crossfit Cooldown", where you collapse on the floor on your back, and lay there till you're able to sit upright. Coach says lying down slows the heartrate more quickly, so that makes this a legit cooldown, in my book. Next we did some leg stretches and chatted about not much of anything useful, then cleaned up our toys and left.

That is it for the Crossfit Report today!

I was looking in the mirror after a double running workout. When I run I often have a heavy backpack on.
Lately my upper body workouts are limited to occasionally adding light handweights while running. (that and regularly lifting 4 boys ranging 54-35 pounds)

Last night to compensate measly (sp?) deltoids I used my heaviest and tweaked something

Big kudos to all you chicks. Ima gonna git there ona these days.

Kitty, I think things would even out if you had some kind of lifting routine where you were working your whole body (or all of it in parts), but if you're just running, even with hand weights, there's really no reason for your delts to get bigger, since they are probably as big as they need to be to the do the work you're doing. As you found out, too, if you're doing lateral delt raises (I'm just guessing) or some sort of deltoid isolation exercise, start lighter than you think, warm up well, and be careful...it doesn't take much of an overload to get a shoulder injury in the beginning (yeah, I tweaked something in there a few times before I got a clue!). You'll get there, if you get into lifting and find it's what you like to do.

you mean it can't be halfa$$ed?? thx. you are right.

Kitty,

My initial suspicion would be that the prolonged use of the backpack during the long runs has led to a simple postural distortion pattern similar to those common among people who sit in front of a computer all day. The backpack is forcing your head and upper posterior musculature forward. This would explain the tight anterior musculature, rounded shoulders (making them appear) underdeveloped, and weakened rotator cuff muscles making it fairly easy to "tweak" something back there. Of course, a message board assessment is not appropriate so I would recommend you find a physical therapist or personal trainer with a great reputation for the physical assessment aspect of the job and get a first-hand, personal assessment.

This is not an uncommon situation. If you will not or cannot get a professional assessment, there are a few easy tests that you can give yourself. One is simply to have someone take a side picture of you while you are standing up. Stand up tall but relaxed and do not consciously try to correct your posture. Be natural. When viewing this picture the joints of the body should be stacked on on top of the other. The middle of the ear, shoulder, hip, knee, and ankle should be in a straight line. What you are looking for specifically in this case is "forward head". Is the middle of your ear more forward than it should be? How about your shoulders?

Next is the pencil test to see if your shoulders are interiorly or externally rotated. Stand relaxed with two pencils in your firsts with the points facing forward. Stand with your arms by your sides facing a mirror. In your natural posture (again, try to fight the tendency to consciously correct your posture) the pencil points should be facing forward. Are they rotated to one side? Are they internally rotated?

Lastly is the acromion test. Place two fingers at the top of your right shoulder and feel for a bony notch that protrudes from it. That's your acromion. Now take a ruler and lay on your back with your right arm resting alongside your body. With your left hand, measure the distance from your right acromion to the floor. Make sure that you do not raise or lower your right shoulder as you do so. Is the distance more than one inch?

If the results of the in-person or self assessment do not find any evidence of the suspected posutral distortion, then my suspicions are flat out wrong (and prove the hazards of message board assessments) and you can ignore the rest of this post. If the self assessment is consistent with my suspicions, then I would start off with getting rid of the backpack. Do two pulling exercises for every pushing exercise. Do more face-pull variations and seated rows to the neck, do more prehab type exercises such as light rear delt flys, prone trap raises, Y-T-W-L's, and lots of light band or cable internal and external rotations.

Again, this is just a suspicion from a few posts. Situations such as these are where excellent certified trainers are most valuable.

Hey everyone,

Its been a while since I have last posted on here, so busy with school and exams right now. this is my senior year so i am constantly applying to scholarships and visiting universities. The decisions are due anytime soon, so i am always sitting up at the edge of my seat these days.

Well unfortunaly because of the enoumus stress load with school work i stopped working out for a period of 5 months. Now i am just getting back into it because I feel so much better when i do- and prom is comming up at the end of may.

I'm really not looking to lose lose weight persay, maybe 5 at most. But more or less tighten up. as long as i look much better than i did b4 i dont care much for my wieght since i am in an ideal catagory.

Well so far i have been hitting the gym 3 days a week for fb wo. and the at home 3 days for 20 min sessions of HIIT. Hopefully all this work will pay off soon. I now what my perfection is, I managed to achieve that last year. So i am attempting to work towards that goal once more as during these five months of resting- i have lost a good deal of muscle and became pudgy .

So far i am in 2 weeks into my program and boy am i sore. Its a good feeling though because that means I know that my body is working.

jamsk8ter- I think your crossfit report are amazing and quite detailed. I wish i can try that here. but I have no locations located close to me and the prices do seem a bit steep. So you have a package deal or do you do pay as you go.

Depalma - I read your post for kittycat and tried your tests... I sit in front of a computer all day in a bad chair, and have for years... I think I have "forward head". My ankle, knee and hip line up pretty well, my shoulders are close to in line but rolled forward a little, the middle of my ear is well in front of the center of my shoulder. I haven't measured the distance between my shoulder and the floor, but I'm going to. My pencil points are internally rotated. I'm trying to vision how to do seated rows to the neck and 'face pull' exercises, and having a hard time getting the motion in my head. I'm going to research and see if I can find some pics! The back of my neck is stiff and sore a lot - right now, even - is it because my head leans forward?

Here's a video of seated rows to the neck:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfcSAXuD0Bg

Here's two photos of Mike Robertson doing two face pull variations. The regular face pull and the face pull with external rotation. (taken from the T-Nation Article "Pushups, Face-Pulls and shrugs.")





And a link to the full article which also contains some video and more some excellent funtional anatomy information, particularly on the scapula.

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_...lls_and_shrugs

And for those who do not like to visit T-Nation due to some of the images they display, here's a video of Tony Gentilcore demoing the face pull with external rotation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yQDurDSMKw

Also, I read in an article once (actually, I think I learned the acromion test from the same article), that the average human head weighs about 8 pounds and that if you move the chin forward just 3 inches (like you often do when on the computer) that the muscles of the neck, shoulders, and upper back must now support the equivalent of 11 pounds or an increase of more than 37%, so yes, this MAY be causing some of your neck stiffness.

I know without the tests that this is my case as well. I sit at a computer or in a chair in a meeting at least 6 out of 8 hours I'm at work. I consciously try to keep my body in line when I'm standing or walking, but I'll research some of the exercises as well.

Kitty - I was always told that it was not good to run with hand weights, but darned if my old brain can remember why. I wouldn't think that they add much of an upper body component though as you're not lifting them under tension.

I've tweaked something in my left thigh/groin (which I don't remember doing) and am having trouble lifting it in certain positions. Mostly I have problems putting on my socks and lifting it high enough when putting on my pants. Weird. It's not improved with rest and gentle stretching. I hate the thought of paying for PT but it may come to that for a few sessions. So annoying. I can still do cardio, and anything lower body that doesn't require me to lift it, and that doesn't seem to irritate it. Grrrrr. No one told me that my body would abandon me in my 60's!

ETA: Thanks for the photos and links, Depalma.

Sportsfreak, prices seem to vary somewhat on the crossfit, but the one I go to costs $99 for the foundations type class (the one I'm taking now), then unlimited workouts membership (which I could do after this class, assuming I can scrape the money, lol) is $110 (plus tax, so actually about $120/mo). That is just month to month. I don't think they do packages/contracts at the one I've been going to. I think they also sell a punch card, but it ends up being way more expensive if you work out regularly. It's a fair price, because it includes constant training/coaching every time you go in, but it's a bit steep for my budget, so I'm still not sure if I'll be able to keep on with it.

Shannon, I'm sure Depalma will come back with something brilliant, but in the meantime, there's this on exrx:
http://www.exrx.net/Kinesiology/Posture.html

Nevermind, D posted while I was, but hey, the more info the merrier, right?

Depalma - thanks for those links to the seated rows! I believe I can do those on my Weider, might have to use the upper hooks instead of the middle to get the right height but doable! I've been looking for more exercises like that as they don't pull my pecs as much as the pulldowns, so if I can help with my forward head problem at the same time that would be more the better!

Cheryl - Thanks for your link, too! The pics help a lot! Of course as I read it looks like my posture is much worse than I thought!

In addition to the 'forward head' I also roll my shoulders forward somewhat. I'm discovering as I try to add more resistance to my squats I have a harder time getting my posture right and I'm wondering if it is from the shoulders.. I really need to go to a gym and have a few sessions with a trainer just for posture...