Circuit B today from the 'all dumbbells, all the time' section stumptuous.com... I did the 'dumbbell burpees' described here. Made four rounds of the circuit in just over the 20 minutes that she recommends... and I thought I underestimated the first one... :eek:

day 2 - circuit B

1. dumbbell snatch
2. dumbbell hang clean + push press
3. dumbbell burpee, aka squat thrust
Holding dumbbells, squat down and place dumbbells on the floor. Kick your feet back. Do a pushup with hands still on dumbbell handles (you may need to fiddle a bit to find the proper dumbbell alignment). Kick your feet fowards. Once you have a secure footing, bring your chest up and jump up as high as you can (i.e. don’t try to jump up when curled up and crouched; jump up from a squat position). If this is too tough to start, do regular burpees.

I've never had my HRM tell me I burned 238 calories in 22 minutes before... I'm hoping to get some time in on the treadmill after the AC guy is done, but as it is 4:15 and he isn't here yet I'm not holding a lot of hope... I did get to Play It Again Sports on the way here and got a pair of 12 lb & a pair of 15 lb hex dumbbells, so I know have 5, 8, 12, 15. I might take the 5s and trade them in... Did this workout today with the 12s. Which felt wussy as I was planning the workout, but felt pretty substantial by the time I got to the fourth round of the circuit.

Pat - that does sound like a neat trick! If I could get up and get my workout in when I was mostly asleep it would make the day a lot easier!

Cheryl - everyone needs a break sometime! It was storming here last night, too. Several of my old friends in my hometown lost trees in their yards... The things you learn on facebook...

Alena - thanks for the link! :) And those paving tiles are hella heavy... I worked at Home Depot for a year as the in-store HR Manager, and had a store manager who liked us to be very hands on. I had no idea how much they weighed until he had me out in outside garden during the summer I was there. Wowza!

Mel - I hate coming back from vacation, I almost need more time off at home before having to go back to work! Hope you have a good week!

Ennay - cool coffee pot... I love coffee pots. :)

Pat - I imagine if my cat were to be a tour guide it would go something like "come in, pet me, give me some food, leave me alone for a few hours, pet me some more, now go away again". She was all over me when I first got home, but is glaring at me now as if I'm bothering her nap. :)

Good day everyone!

It's a skill I've spent years developing! :rofl:

I'm doing pretty well with all the exercises in the PN program, except this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRbSXRrw8M8&NR=1 My gym literally has no room to do this, plus of course for me to actually lift the bar and move it into a corner (if there were one with room) is another problem. My sheet suggests goblet squats as an alternative. I've watched a few videos and they don't seem a lot different than regular DB squats except that you're holding only one weight (kettleball in a lot of the videos) at chest level. Is this really working the same muscles?

Hmm... either my hips are two inches bigger than when I measured in January before I really ramped up the weight training, or I can't remember where I measured before and did two different places... The two inches does balance me out better, though - makes my hip measurement come within an inch of my new boobie measurement. I'm now at 37-26-36. I find that pretty exciting. I really didn't want to end up an inverted triangle after the boob job, so the 34 hips were bothering me somewhat.

Woo hoo!

Hi Pat,

I found a nice article about the goblet squat. The author briefly skims over how the goblet squat compares to the back squat. Thought you might enjoy.
http://davedraper.com/blog/2006/11/0...t-instruction/

Does the goblet squat use all the same muscles as the lumberjack squat. In the squatting movement, I'd agree it's similar enough however the overhead movement is missing.

I think the biggest take away from this is that the goblet squat encourages you to squat between your knees which becomes more engrained and hopefully carries over to other squatting techniques.

On a completely different note, I returned from the gym this morning to find DS1 in complete distress. DH told him to get his breakfast before I returned to take him for swim lessons. Not a big deal..'cept the pantry was bare, empty, nothing in it. (we're packing...)

DS1 spent half an hour in the garage looking for a box with the pantry items (DH and DS2 were out riding bikes) When I walked in, the child was near tears. I asked what was wrong and he yelled. "YOU HID ALL THE FOOD!" :mad:

He didn't think to look in the newly installed cabinets. (My mother's idea in prep for showing our house yesterday, and I forgot to mention it to anyone.:doh:) It was so darn funny and I couldn't help to laugh even though the child was in real distress. Eventually, he did see the humor of this. Well, the humor of life with me more likely. Poor kid. :dizzy: This is going to be one of those "When I was growing up..."stories that will come back to haunt me.

Had a great workout. HIIT on the elliptical then upper body and practiced the Turkish getup. Oh, and no one was injured with flying dumb bells from overhead. :s:

Oh Lydia! I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry! How did the house showings go?

Day 1 back at work was exhausting. I came back to about 200 emails and a few fires. One the up side, I did a good cardio session in the morning and legs at lunch, and ATE CLEAN :D

Today will be lots of meetings. Cardio was about 1/2 of the usual- I woke up with a calf cramp and could barely drag myself to the elliptical. Unless it gets worse, I'll try cross fit tonight.

Shannon - my bet is that you are measuring in different places, but those measurements sound pretty great anyway! I've got the inverted triangle thing going- but all back and not boobs. :p Your workouts sound fantastic ;)

Pat- Wow- you are turning into a morning workout person! kudos to you!

:wave: to all-

Mel

All you people with 10" difference between the hips and the waist - HRRRMPH at you all!!! I don't know how you do it. :?::tantrum::headache:

My usual Tuesday morning bootcamp done. I told her about my Blond Ambition butt and I begged for repetition of the lunges. So we did them but in lesser quantity than the last time. I think the big mistake last week was that I gave in and didn't try to 'exercise the soreness' out the next day.

Well. So I weighed the patio tiles. 75 lbs each. Who knew?!? I will have to step up my deadlifts BIG TIME! If I can lift the tiles, I can do the same with a barbell.:dancer:

Lydia, I laughed, too, but poor kid. I felt sorry for him the same time. Any bites on the house yet?

Alena

Good morning, everyone!

I'm back from my travels, at least temporarily. We had a fantastic time in Alaska, with good weather for hiking, kayaking, and picture-taking. I was SO proud of The Boy -- he did a couple of 9-milers, with 1500+ feet net elevation gain and loss. Not too shabby for a 7-year old. (My trick: giving him my old press-here-dummy digital camera. So, now we have approximately 200 blurry photographs of flowers and ground squirrels, all taken from about 20 yards away. :) )

My highlight of the trip was coming nose to nose with a brown bear on one of these hikes. (OK, so there were really 25-35 feet between us, but it sure seemed like nose-to-nose at the time.) The Boy and I peered over a little finger of the ridge we were climbing. Lo and behold, there was the top side of a grizzly. It was either a male or a sow without cubs, and s/he didn't show any sign of making a move toward us. We backed up and went into Bear Response mode, which with grizzlies pretty much means gathering all your hiking partners together and acting like a large human amoeba. 99 times out of 100, the bear will go on its merry way, and that's what happened this time. After growing up in Alaska, I'm not particularly bear-phobic, but I have to admit this "encounter" got my heart racing!

More on topic. My eating kept pace with the hiking and kayaking, and I didn't have the facilities to do much upper body stuff. So, no change in weight and a slight loss in upper body strength. I do think my various aches and pains in elbows and wrists are better for the weeks' rest, though, so it's all good. But, time to hit the gym -- and, more importantly, eat clean -- to get back below red line.

Not going to try to catch up with all the posts, so I'll just wish y'all a blanket "good day!". And, of course....

be strong,
Kim

Hello everyone!

Wow, today was my third day of Krista's circuit, I did part A on Saturday, took off Sunday, part B yesterday, part A again today. Got in six rounds on the circuit in 22 minutes, used the 15 lb dumbbells I bought yesterday for almost all of it. Only had to switch to 12 for the last three reps on the squat to shoulder press in set 5, used them for all of that exercise in set 6. My legs were actually shaky on the last few reps of the squat to press - is that what it means when it says lift to exhaustion? And, it occurred to me today, after I'd already done the circuit, am I supposed to take a day off between day 1 and day 2 as the exercises are kind of similar? This is all it says on the website You can do this workout 3 or 4 times per week, alternating day 1 and day 2. Another option if you’re after fat loss is to do this 2 times weekly then add 2 or 3 other days of interval cardio. Either way, definitely an off day from weight training tomorrow I think. :) ETA: okay, answered my own question I think... should have taken a day off in between. :)

Lydia - poor baby! He had to have been so upset! Though, it is somewhat funny looking at it from the outside, like a sitcom moment. And definitely is a story to pull out for the rest of his life! :)

Mel - I'm figuring measured in two different places, too, but I like this place better so it is the one I'm writing down! And, I'm really enjoying the dumbbell workouts.

Alena - I don't feel like there is that much difference between my hips and waist, and am always a little surprised at the measurement, actually. 75 pound tiles! Wow! Definitely up the deadlift if the tiles were no problem!

Kaw - welcome back! Your trip sounds like fun!

:wave: to everyone else! :)

Shannon, I might have missed it, but how many reps do you do of each movement, each round? Looks like a good circuit!

Mel, WTG on keeping it on plan and eating clean! I've finally gotten clean with my eating again, after a bad post-4th of July week.

All the rest of you, :wave:!

Here's the workout report from me:

Monday (at home, gym closed):

I wanted to create a ten minute (or so) workout, since I figured Tuesday, first day back at the gym after a long weekend, would be some type of metcon of doom. I felt like my made-up workout was okay, and it worked out timewise, but it was a little less brutal than I hoped for:

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 reps of:
20# DB Snatch (either hand, I just tried to keep it even work for both sides)
Push-ups
Knees to elbows/Straight leg sit-ups (alternating between exercises every other set)

I finished some place under 11 minutes. I couldn't find my wristwatch, so couldn't time it exactly. My shoulders were pretty sore today, so at least the snatches and push-ups did their job.

Tuesday at the CF gym:

3 Rounds for Time of:
25 Wall Ball (14# women)
20 DB Push Press (no Rx'd weight, I used 2x 20# DBs today)
2 Rope Climbs (14 feet, I think)
Run 400 meters

The wallball was the suck, as usual. The rope climb was hard and a little scary, since the wallball just fries the arms and legs before you get there. I got one full rope climb, then kept losing the grip with my shoes after that, so had to do half rope climbs x4 each round. Still, anything beats having to do the rope lowers, and I still can't do the ladder for a sub (upside down on a ladder, I just can't seem to master). The running was like heaven after all that crap in the gym, lol. My time was 29:49, probably the slowest time of the day. I used the 14# medicine ball for the wall ball, and my form was such crap, I think I have to admit that I'm just not ready for the rx'd weight yet. I'm going to put myself back on the 10 or 12 pound ball for the wallball in workouts, till I can do the 14# ball with good form for more than the first 10 reps. It was just too heavy for me for 75 reps, but I did get it done today, so that counts for something! I will keep practicing with the 14# ball, and just put it into my warm-up at least once or twice a week, till I'm the boss of it.

I had hoped to work on my kipping swing pull-ups again today, but some bridge repairs clogged up the end of the freeway, which cost me an extra 45 mins on the way to the gym. Tomorrow, I'm taking the side streets and leaving extra early, just in case everybody else has the same idea.

Only two things to say today. Morning cardio + dead iPod = :faint: (We need a little thingy for borreeed. :) )

Cheryl - I didn't say how many reps actually, now that I think about it!when I did circuit A on Saturday with the lighter weight (8) I did 20 reps pers on the swing and squat/press, 15 on the rows, 4 rounds with one set of 10 hanging pullups. Yesterday's circuit B was 10 reps per exercise with the 12 pound, 4 rounds. The circuit A today was with 15 pound, 6 rounds of 15 reps on DB swing, 10 reps on the others. I did the hanging pullups all six rounds this time.

Pat - dead iPod is bad... I've cancelled entire workouts over no iPod...

Welcome back, Kim :wave: Your trip sounds great. It reminded me of a similar encounter I had in Quetico canoeing. I was with my much younger brothers on a small lake beach when mama bear and two cubs came wandering out of the woods. I threw the boys into the canoe, threw the cookies we were eating at the bears, and paddled out into the middle of the lake for a while. It felt like a LOOOONG while.

Nothing so exciting today. Did a good cross fit workout, ate clean.

Cheryl- I love wall balls and hate the runs (I head for the rowers), but for me, burpees are the sucky-est cf exercise!

Alena- soooooo, how's the derriere? Good job on those tile lifts!

Shannon- you have a classic hourglass figure! I really envy women with waists, also.

OK, only about 8 1/2 hours before I do cardio :faint:

Mel

Mel, I have to agree with you on the burpees! I loved wallball when I was using the 8# ball, but since moving up to heavier medballs, it's not so much fun. I did about 65 singles today on the wallball: squat, throw, catch (oof!), fumble and drop the ball, curse at the ball, pick the ball up, squat, throw, repeat... :faint:

Shannon, that is a good circuit! I'm jealous of the pull-ups. I can't get even one from a deadhang, or one with a kip for that matter. I can get about 3 now if I jump from the ground to the bar each time. Oh well, it's progress, even if it's too slow for my liking!

Pat, ditto...I have to have some tunes to get through anything longer than a mile, unless it's in a CF workout, then I'm too busy just trying not to fall on my face or pass out from lack of oxygen to worry about getting bored, lol.

Good morning! I'm pretty sore in the arm and shoulder today, so I guess yesterday's circuit was effective.... My neck is a little sore - I think that is from the way I was holding my head during the hanging pullup. Have to work on that.

Cheryl - hope traffic was better today! And, what is a "10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 rep"? I imagine it is something simple that just isn't clicking with me...

Mel - I do believe that I have burpees, too... :dizzy:

Well, I have been fighting with the AC company all morning, as they apparently never had my repair job for today on the books and no one bothered to tell me that. I swear, the company gets great reviews, everyone loves them, people I know have used them in the past with exceptional service. I don't know why my experience has been so terrible. I understand that July is the busy time of the year for AC people, but you know that going into summer so be prepared for it. Jeez.

Good day everyone! Hopefully I'll be back later and not in a police station for going off on the computers at my AC company with a baseball bat.

Kim - that sounds like a good vacation! Nice to have you back.

Shannon - you are way to patient. I would have to yell at them and tell them, very openly, what I think of such service. With a lot of four-letter words.

Derriere is fine, thanks for asking, Mel. Hams and quads not sohappy but only when I squat. Otherwise, I almost feel as if nothing happened. But like I said, we did probably only half the amount we did the week before. Therefore: I am good to work on my legs some more this p.m.

Just wanted to say hi, running to a search meeting now.

Alena