I can still ski!!!!!!:D I landed on my butt in town yesterday sliding on ice in front of a StarBucks. Amazingly, not only did I not break my hip, but none of my grande latte landed on my white parka.

I love Breckenridge- so much that dd and I bought a timeshare today. The biggest impulse purchase of my life!

It's really really cold here but THANK YOU CROSSFIT for the endurance, strong quads and aerobic capacity to do this at 12000 feet!

Woohoo Mel! Congrats both on the timeshare as well as on landing so skillfully that you did not spill you latte on yourself. Now THAT is what I an accomplishment!!

Holy cow Mel, you are at 3600 m ????? That is AMAZING, how are you even able to move in such thin air!!! You are NOT anemic!
and :congratulations: on the timeshare!

Alena, Pat, Shannon :wave: hi!

Lydia...are you thhere yet?

Birch - how are the lungs doing?

Cheryl - ??? what are you up to?

No exercise today but another day of editing to do, in preparation for my trip to singapore...it is extra work now, but I always enjoy these trips a lot.

have a great weekend,
rabbit

Mmmphh. Just got a look at Phase 3. We're back to 4 days lifting, 2 cardio, 1 rest. Their schedule is LB, UP, Cardio, LB, UB, Cardio, Rest. I may try combining LB/UB one day or one with cardio so I can have a second day of rest, seemed to work better for me. On the other hand, the workouts are shorter. The longest one - an UB - has 8, the rest 5 or 6.

BUt, now I must go to the gym and finish up this week's workout!

Happy weekend, everyone! :wave:

I had a good morning catching up with an old friend on Facebook, then a great workout at the gym and a trip to the store for healthy foods.

Mel, I forgot about the altitude! Drink TONS of water! I know you will have a great time.

I had a giant light bulb moment today. :idea: Doing the BFL plan not only helped me achieve fitness, it also gave me the tools to make other huge strides in life. So what am I waiting for now? I'm going for it!

Thanks for being here, folks - you are the best! :hug:

Denverchick - can you see whether there's another tin of mackerel in olive oil at the back there, please? And is the table tennis ball there or do you think it's really gone down the back?

Thanks. :rofl:

:wave: From Puerto Rico! I just keep walking around feeling amazingly grateful for such a wonderful opportunity to be here. Really too many details to even post about but all really great even with the kids along. It's a group vacation for the employees and the families of my DH employer.

I have little control over the food choices or the timing of meals so I'm just winging it. There is a fitness center but I'm not really able to do pullup/chinups without my head hitting the ceiling. :lol: I've just decided that this week is a rest/recovery week.

Got some great input about neighborhoods/schools in the DC area at dinner last night. So, its back to researching and contacting my realtor again.

Mel: :woot: on your timeshare. How WONDERFUL! Enjoy! Oh, and good save with the coffee. :lol3: See, see how important balance and stability training is. (take that anyway you like Mel.)

Alena: That house is beautiful! Really! DH thought it was a little far for a Northern VA commute. Loved it anyway. Thanks for the fun!

So I tried to do a little yoga on the beach this am. Not quite as relaxing as you might think. It was early, hardly anyone was out which is good. However I kept sinking into the sand during my poses and the tide got pretty close by the end of the hour during the downward dogs. But, now I can say that I did it.

K. Kids doing homework and I've got some research to do. Enjoy the afternoon everyone!

I think I would gladly trade Lydia's sand for the heat at Bikram yoga. I lost my Bikram virginity today (as fellow-sufferers told me after that congratulated me on survival).

All I can say is: OH-MY-GOD! It was bloody awful, LOL. I have never sweated like that in my entire life. I don't recall EVER having sweat beading up on the backs of my hands. (Not to mention other places). I did not realize, until after I took off my cotton tank top, how much sweat did it soak up - it weighed a ton. I feel like a wet noodle and tired at the same time, and I have a headache, although I am trying to drink as much as I can to make up for the loss of liquids.
The verdict will be in tomorrow morning - I will let you know.

Oscars night or not, I will be going to bed shortly. :wave:

Alena

Hi all,

Lydia - that sounds all so wonderfull!! Glad to hear you are enjoying yourself on the sands of puerto rico. Did the dress come too?

Alena :blush: what ir bikram yoga? Sounds pretty intense!

I'm going in shortly for another working week. The weekend went by in a flash..me working in preparation for my next businesstrip, DS had his entire field hockey team over for party, night out & sleepover, DD had a sleepover elsewhere, and there are the mundane details of laundry and grocery shopping.

Have a great day all,
Rabbit

Morning, everyone!

While Mel is skiing today at breckenridge at 13,000 FT, DH, The Boy, and I will be powering down slopes of our local "mountain" ... at, um, 2100 FT. It's been in the low 40s for the past three days, so I'm not expecting much in the way of snow. The last ski day of the year, most likely, and thus bittersweet.

I've still been playing around with a mix of crossfit and traditional strength training. Saturday's workout involved 49 pullups, which meant that yesterday's 30 pullups (interspersed with rowing and DB swings, 2 other upper-body intensive exercises) stunk to high heaven. Oh well, if I have to check my ego at the door and shuffle back to the Gravitron, so be it ...

have to run to meeting #1. I'll be running around like a chicken with my head cut off until the ski trip. Ah, Mondays...

b. strong,
Kim
Kim

Hi Rabbit,

Bikram is yoga performed in a hot room (40.5 C) with some humidity.
Here is a link to full explanation in Wiki.

Alena

Shannon (and anyone else), here is the first lower body exercise of phase III,

Lower Body 1Day 1, Week 1 Sets Reps Rest
Perform a dynamic warm-up, choosing 3-5 lower body exercises 1-2 per exercise
(1a) Explosive dumbbell or kettlebell swing 4 8-10 :10
(1b) Sumo deadlift 4 5 :10
(1c) Swissball hip bridge into curl 4 AMRAP 3:00
(2a) Single-leg Romanian deadlift 3 9 :15
(2b) Donkey kickback 3 12 :15
Numbers are sets/ reps/ rest

Alena, thnx! Yoga in a hot room.. I never knew that even existed!

Rabbit

Edging back into the game..

1 set of FB workout yesterday. :cool:

There are all sorts of torture out there, Cross Fit included. :D;)

Pat - thanks for the workout! :) So back to 4 weight/2 cardio/1 rest on this one, huh?

Alena - I did Hot Yoga once and was pretty sure I was going to die before the end... Wow.

No exercise for me yesterday. Legs were still sore from the 13.2 miles on Sunday and I was an emotional mess for some reason. So I took the night off. Planning a run at the park today, unless the predicted rain moves in early.

Glad all the vacationers are having fun! :)

:wave: to all!

Hi everybody :wave:,

I sneaked out for a quick :swim: today - only 30 minutes but I really enjoy every single one. Water was balmy and hardly anyone in the pool. The lifeguard was yawning desperately.

Shannon, I took a rest yesterday, too. I originally planned some cardio but I had a mild headache and my nose started to run (although that passed) and I just didn't feel like doing anything. I figured after 8 days of exercising I deserve one day off. Tell me what "13/2 miles". The numbers still confuse me but it wwas very kind of Pat to include explanation.

I am thinking of going to the torture chamber again tonight - what can I say - sanity has never been my strong point - I have 2 weeks of unlimited sesssions for $30 so I have to milk it while I can (and before TOM starts next week).

Later, gators!

Alena

Yes, and I don't like it! Yesterday we had a snowstorm, resulting in about 12" and we weren't plowed out until after 5pm, so I had an unscheduled rest day. Okay, I could have done a few of my upper body workouts with the DBs I have at home, but I didn't. :) This morning I'm going to Zumba and then will do the whole UB. Tomorrow is the second LB, and then I'm taking another rest day on Friday to go to Anchorage with my GFs (was supposed to be yesterday, but, um, we weren't driving in 12" of snow). So that will leave me with both cardio and UB2 on Saturday. Hopefully next week will play out a little better...

Okay, here's UB1

Sets Reps Rest
Perform a dynamic warm-up, choosing 3-5 upper body exercises 1-2 per exercise
(1a) Chin-up 3 9 1:00
(1b) Push-press 3 9 1:00
(2a) Seated single-arm cable pulldown 3 12 :30
(2b) Standing single-arm dumbbell shoulder press 3 12:30
(3a) Vertical thrust 2 8 :15
(3b) Iron cross 2 8 :15
(3c) Kneeling cable rope pulldown 2 8 :15
(3b) Straight-arm cable pressdown 2 8 :15

Alena - 13/2 was a typo. Was supposed to be 13.2 Oops. :) Hope you are feeling better today!

Pat - 12 feet of snow? Wow! Yes, no driving in it. Good luck with the workout schedule this week - sounds tough.

I am somewhat furious. I survived the second visit to the torture chamber (in fact, I think it was worse than the 1st time, I think I sweated even more [it that's humanly possible]).
But, it looks like it did aggravate my plantar fasciitis and my heel hurt a lot last night and still does today. The first portion (the standing poses) take almost an hour and because sometimes all the weight is on one foot only, it may be too much.

Oh well. At least that resolves the issue whether I should continue with the hot yoga or not. I have to admit that once I recover from the initial shock (I mean after the class is over, I shower, get some food into yourself and stop sweating, I actually feel pretty good. I tried to bend back a bit more last night and it did not hurt my lower back (fingers crossed) but the resurfaced plantar fasciitis would definitely be a big deal. It's a year since I got it and I am not completely recovered yet so I cannot afford to start all over again.

A crazy day at work today. I think I am close to losing my voice - I was on the phone the whole day non-stop. I just had lunch (at 4:25 pm) and there is still my smoothie in the fridge, untouched.

I think arms and shoulders tonite.

:wave:

Alena

No, Shannon, 12 inches of snow. :)

Today went well, though as usual I felt like a total klutz in zumba. :shrug: At least I'm moving and it's way less boring than the treadmill. Then I did the UB1 workout. Took about 45 minutes and Ithink I'm going to have trouble lifting my arms tomorrow.... Good thing it's a LB day, eh?

Alena - :crossed: that your PF isn't back full force. Also that you still have a voice.

:wave: Home again, home again!
Too many posts to reply but hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and week so far.

All my parts are intact, and I was really pleased with how "fit" I felt and how well I skied- all due to staying strong and fit :)

Back to the daily routine! Sigh....

Mel

Wellcome back Mel!

Alena, I hope the planar fascitis did not resurface!

quiet day ahead today, work at home. Sun should be out shortly.

Have a great day all,
Rabbit

Hehe. Obviously I needed a break yesterday myself! :dizzy: Glad it wasn't 12 feet of snow. :) My SIL loves Zumba, is trying to get my mom to take it. She keeps saying no because she worries she will look silly... i told her to try it anyway, no one will pay attention to her because they will all be concentrating on their own silly feelings!

Alena - hope it isn't PF back... Ick. The standing poses held for a long time like that are tough on the feet, I've noticed the same thing. Good luck.


Mel - glad you had a good trip and suffered no damage during the skiing!

Rabbit - sunny day working at home. Nice. I'm in my office with grey, rainy skies outside my window.

I did one of Pat's older PN workouts last night, still trying to get back into the strength training. Felt good to workout yesterday, lowered my weight down since I haven't done much serious weight work in about a month. Don't want to reinjure the shoulder, which appears to be fully healed at this point. I am seeing that my left side is weaker on UB work than my right side on most exercises. My curls are about equal (and I don't do many of those anyway), everything else is a pretty noticeable difference. It was weaker before I injured my left shoulder, I might just be noticing it more now. It did seem to lose more than the right during the monthish out, which makes sense with the injury I guess. I'll just let it set the pace for all and see what happens.

3/10 Exercise:
Warm up -
1 min jumprope
10 ROM pass through with PVC
-WH Belly Off Workout warmup (10 y squat, 10 pushup, 10 'stickup', 10 mountain climber per side, 10 forward lunge per side, 10 'waiter bow', 10 spiderman crawl per side)
PN Day 1 Workout:
1a) Bulgarian Split Squat + contra-lateral shoulder press: 3x8x12lb per hand
1b) BB corner toss into lumberack squat with calf raise & press: 3x8x60lb
1c) Bodyweight jump squat with tuck: 3x5
1d) Alternating lateral squat with push-out: 3x5x15lb
2a) BB corner press: 1x9x60lb/2x9x55lb
2b) BB corner row: 1x9x60lb/2x9x55lb
2c) T push-up: 3x3
During 1st 180 second break: 25 calf raises
During 2nd 180 second break: 25 side bend, 25 torso twist
After workout: 50 crunches, 25 back extensions

Welcome home Mel! Glad you enjoyed the skiing without mishap! When do you start your new job.

Shannon - I'm glad it wasn't 12 feet! :lol: I'm really ready to be done with winter. As you saw over on Maintainers it was zero this morning, and supposed to stay cold til the weekend at least. :brr:

TOday is lower body:


(1) Barbell front squat (treat as a quasi warm-up) 3-4 4-6 1:00*
(2a) Bodyweight jump squat into tuck 4 3 :15
(2b) Barbell back squat 4 6 :15
(2c) Lumberjack squat 4 12 3:00
(3a) Alternating back-forward lunge 3 4 :30
(3b) Alternating lateral squat 3 6 1:30

*sets, reps, rest time

I hate front squats - I cannot find the right balance place for the bar. The rest are okay, but overall this is not my favorite routine - though it is guaranteed to leave me sore! :)

ETA: I called it right, sore already, and tomorrow the toilet-sitting will involve holding on to something to get down. :rofl: But.... drum roll please .... I was able to do the last set of back squats in the cage using the 45# bar!! So excited, I cranked out double the required number. :lol: I feel :strong:

Woo hoo Pat! Here's to feeling strong! :)

Pat - that is so awesome! you are really making progress!

shannon - good that the shoulder is healed!

:wave: mel, birch, denver, lydia, midwife

haven't heard from cheryl for a while! Cheryl, how are you doing?

I'll be mia for the next week: off to singapore on a business trip & I plan to do a lot of looking around outside the business hours.

have a great day all,
rabbit

:wave:


Just popped in to say that I am loving Mark Sisson! The Primal Blueprint is fantastic! Thank you!

Real quick pop in to say I'm still between here and there. Home tomorrow. Can't wait to sleep in my own bed, but had an amazing time! I'm also going to be kind to myself and get a full week of workouts and clean eating before I hop on the scale. :dizzy:

I'll give a brief summary of my adventures after I'm home.

Hello everyone!

Mel & Lydia - glad you had fun on your journeys! Rabbit - wow, Singapore! I hope you have a marvelous time!

Yes, Cheryl, where are you? Hope you are well!

:wave: Shannon, Birch, Depalma, Midwife, Pat, Alena!

I'm going to the doc next week for this back problem. I had hoped that some chiro could take care of it but it just isn't improving. It's hard to keep your weight loss resolve when dealing with an injury. I did get 5 workouts in last week, though, so at least I'm holding some kind of pattern!

Have a great Sunday, everyone!

Denver,
I was thinking of you earlier today when I was in my yoga class (not the hot torture chamber, just the ordinary kind). I really do like our instructor, I think he is very good (and not doing bad in the looks department either, LOL).
My lower back is doing better (after some $600 in physio and the yoga classes) but it does not mean it is completely healed. But, compared to 3 weeks ago, a big progress. I am being careful and I go into all the cobra and other backwards bending poses very cautiously and don't push myself too much.

I am pretty much keeping up with the exercise schedule as I can. I am hoping to go back for one more yoga class - I would like to go tomorrow morning as I was told the instructor doing that class is extremely good - but it will depend on how I sleep. (Getting up at 5am-ish is hard after an insomnia attack).

Lydia,
I thought of you many times, too. You were absolutely right when you said that the yoga would nicely balance out the weight lifting and other adventures, I am feeling it myself. Unfortunately, the new bout of plantar fasciitis is definitely a big hurdle, we will see how it goes.

I had a workout last night (chest, shoulders) and a regular yoga this morning. Even a regular yoga makes me sweat. But I feel much better having stretched myself in all possible directions.

I have to start cracking - there is a mountain of veggies to cut up and throw into a crockpot with some meat and an Everest of laundry. Dog nails need to be clipped and the living room could use some vacuuming.

WHere is everybody? we have been very quiet these few days.
I am anxious to hear about Lydia's and Mel's vacations. I live vicariously through you.

Everybody, :wave:!

Alena

Oh no, Alena, you really don't want to live vicariously through me! I worked all day yesterday, went to CrossFit this morning, and have spent the rest of the day grocery shopping and prepping TONS of food; all the while cajoling my 19 yr od son to GET OUT OF BED (he's home on spring break). It is 4:30 pm and he's still there :?:

So after much mental thrashing, buyer's remorse got the better of me (or maybe good sense) and I rescinded the timeshare contract before the 5 day time limit expired. Sigh. I realy did love the place, but it just wasn't the right combination of time/space/money. I'm going to keep looking.

Healing vibes to all who are injured! Be careful out there!

Lydia- How was the trip and house hunting? I thought of you in a WARM place :sunny: while I was freezing my cheeks off ;)

One more week at the old job....

Mel

Friday I spent shopping (mostly for quilting fabric :) ) in Anchorage, so my credit card was the only thing that got a lot of exercise.

Yesterday I did Friday's upper body workout, some ss cardio, and 2.5 hours of square dancing last night before I put my DH on a plane to AZ. He's hiking in Marble Canyon (NE end of Grand Canyon) and in Grand Canyon itself. Very quiet around here today and since I have the only lap, I get both cats! :)

:wave: to you all. Here's to a good week coming up!

Hi peeps,

Here 's rabbit from a different time zone again...tired after a day working. My feet are killing me from practically non stop standing from 9 - 18.00, and at that I left early by work standards! It is very hot & humid around here, can feel the humidity in my joints. Is that even possible? My shoulders/fingers/knees and hips hurt! I think I'll take a hot bath and then go find something to eat.

And I swear i'm getting back into the workout rroutine once I'm back!!!

Have a great day all,
rabbit

Good Monday morning everyone,

I can officially say that there is not a piece of me that is not hurting. I went to my third and final (at least for the time being) hot yoga session and I am relieved it's over. My foot hurts, my lower back feels funny, my shoulders are still screaming from Saturday's workout (they didnt really start being sore until Sunday evening) and having had to get up at 5:00 a.m. I am ready to finish my coffee and roll back in bed. Somehow, though, I am at work (arrived really late as I had to return home from the yoga class before going to work, because of the pooches).
I did really poorly today - I kept falling out of each pose - it must the early Monday morning syndrome.

But, at least my exercise is over for today and I can veg out after work.

Mel,
You made me laugh. No wonder your son is spending the day in bed - you know that one's own bed is the best. And he must have sweet dreams knowing that after he gets up mom will serve him a nice din-din. :D
Sorry to hear about the timeshare but I am sure you made the best decision.

Rabbit,
Ouch! Don't they have A/C in Singapore? I would have been dead. Humidity makes me want to not even breathe. Hope the rest of your trip goes better. Any chance that it's going to cool down in Singapore?

Pat,
Are you officially a Zumba addict now?

Birchie, Denver, Lydia, Cheryl, Shannon, Kim - where is Kim? - it's time to check in!

Have a happy Monday,
Alena

:wave:

Good morning everyone!

Mel, I'm sorry to hear about the time share. Maybe you'll find one that is a better fit for you and your family. Glad you had fun skiing, though!

Alena, thanks for thinking of me. I love yoga. I haven't tried hot yoga, though. I admire you for getting an AM workout in with plantar fasciitis looming over your heel. How do you get up at 5AM?!? Take good care & don't let PF flare up again!

Rabbit, are you in Singapore already?

Silver, how are you doing? I hope you are feeling better.

:wave: Cheryl, Midwife, Depalma, Kim, everyone!

Hope you all have a groovy week! Happy spring!

I am still scratching my head at how far some of the people in the hot yoga class can bend. This morning, I was amazed by a young lady who stood to the left of me so I had a nice view of her in the mirror.
The class begins with a breathing exercise where you start with fingers of both hands interlaced under your chin and as you inhale, you keep lifting your arms up (fingers remain interlaced under the chin). See the first pose from the left). She was able to make her folded arms completely perpendicular to the floor (even more so than the girl in the picture here).
So please everybody do me a favour, try it in front of a mirror and let me know how far you get yours. I think my elbows were (at best) somewhere a bit higher than 45 degrees, but that was about it.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_9_Xqd5Ef2W...gBreathing.jpg

That's your exercise for today. :D


P.S.
Denver, it is not that hard for me to get up early - I used to get at 5:25 a.m. once a week for years to go swimming. Easy in summer, not so easy in winter but still doable. I am a morning person. Also I did have to talk myself into it this morning as I slept poorly and I was up around 3 a.m. for a while.

Alena - I can't even vision how to get from step one to step two of that pose, but will definitely work on it when I get home.

I have had a big flat no workout four days - nothing since Wednesday. Going to shoot for an easy run today, as it is I guess my taper week for th half marathon coming up this Sunday... Unless I bail out because I'm totally intimidated by the process of getting down there at 6:00 am on Sunday...

Good day everyone! I'll be back to chat more later!

Shannon,
Don't worry about going to Step 2 - I am only asking how far everybody can get their arms in Step 1.
Nice to know you are alive. I was worried that perhaps there was a problem with your DH's surgery and that's why you didn't post.