Lydia - got a foam roller tonight, and I have to tell you that at some points on my thighs, pretty much all the way around 3-6 inches above the knee and some on what I guess is the IT band, my legs were cursing you and this whole roller suggestion. My calves, shoulders spine and hip flexors loved you all along. Once i stood up and my legs realized how much easier the walking was they remembered the love. Thanks! :hug:

Now I just have to get the technique down - how do you hold yourself up enough to roll over the thing without killing your arms and shoulders? Do I need a stool to put my hands on, or do I need to sit on something?

And I totally understand that the kids had to be included. They have missed daddy too. Though I do hope that they slept sometimes.... ;)

Alena - I have once lost both of my yoga mats. Bigger, much harder product to lose.... Glad you got some workout in!

Denver - I am the plan administrator for our insurance company and I hate them... Good luck with your filing.

Good night everyone! I'm taking my less sore legs to bed and thinking about getting up at six for the early registration frenzy for next year's marathon. Giving consideration to signing up for the full if I get in at the earliest time - minimally more expensive than the full and I can drop back to the half for a ten dollar difference at any point up until a month before, which would still make it $45-50 cheaper than I paid for this half. if I don't make one of the two early registration tiers I will likely sign up for half... Or I might sleep in and register for the half later in the day at the $49 tag (compared to the $80 I paid this year)... Decisions decisions...

Whoa, my days are long!

XFit totally kicked my butt on a not terribe difficult WOD, I think because I was doing it an hour later after being awake 2 hours longer. Amazing what little changes can wreak such big havoc. Sooner or later I'll get used to this.

Lydia- go for the closets! And I love the air mattress story.

Alena- Good for having a plan B!

Off to the train....

Mel

Mel, good luck with your new job!

Lydia ...OF COURSE you deserve a great house! Go for it and enjoy! OTOH...a smaller house imposes lots less on your time in terms of cleaning, maintenance, money left over after the mortgage is paid...you'll just have to find onde that is just right!

I feel lousy today, did 2x10 mins exercise after 5 weeks of doing nothiung, and it was totally useless, an uphill struggle. I'm still groggy & headachy with jetlag, and I've got stiff and sore shoulders. Jetlag...I'm sure it'll improve in the enxt days. Cannot be opld age can it? I turned 51 today, and I got a gorgeous present from DD and DS: a pair of PJ pants..in DDs size (small) and they fit. I still have to loose the famous 20 pounds, but at leat the PJ pants fit.

I guess I'll feel a lot better after a nap.

Have a great day all,
rabbit

Happy birthday, rabbit!

:carrot::carrot::carrot:

It's not old age at all.

Happy Birthday, rabbit! :hb:

:bday2you: Rabbit!!

I thought I had recovered enough to do some weights yesterday,and made it through a warmup and about 1/3 of a LB workout I'd done before and my stomach decided it didn't like it one bit. I tried one more set, and then nearly moved the nausea to the next level, so I went home. Felt only so-so all day, but much better this morning. About to go do today's UB workout. It's :sunny: out, though the forecast is for snow tomorrow - booo!

Lydia - I watched way too many episodes of House Hunters when I was sick last week - so I know the kind of house you saw. I didn't realize the one you're in is so small - anything will look big to you! :lol: We're at about 1,650SF and I complain about the size all the time. Since we built it, I do have enough storage though.

Mel - Hope the new job is going well. I hear you on the longer commute, but at least part of it is on the train so you're not as stressed with traffic.

:wave: Everyone else

:balloons:Happy Birthday Rabbit:balloons:

Hope you felt better after your nap!

Shannon: Glad the foam roller worked for you! Here's a link to kind of help you get your positioning. There are a lot of them in YouTube that may also help as well. I just happen to favor the stuff coming from Cressey.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8caF1Keg2XU

Now. When doing SMR, self-myofascial release, the idea is that you are smoothing out the knots that occur in your muscle fascia. When you hit a knot, roll back and forth over the knot very slowly for about twenty to thirty seconds. As you found, it hurts like the devil but this is an effective way to smooth out the fascia so that the muscle can lengthen back to it's original state.

As far as moving and rotating yourself on the foam roller, it does take some upper body strength. I place myself on my forearms similar to the video link. Think of it as a little extra bonus for your upper body as well. It does become a more natural movement with practice. It's also why I prefer to do this at home.

In honesty, you don't have to run a half marathon in order to benefit from this tool. I really think everyone should be rolling themselves out twice a day. It just makes a huge difference in the healing process post workout and is a great addition to the warm up as well. I always run so much better when I remember to roll first. Everything just "works" better. :D

Back from Pilates class.

Nelie, thanks for the link you left in the groceries thread in WL Support.

I have to go back a few days and reread Lydia's instructions re the roller. ANd I will watch the video, but later, The Biggest Loser starts right now.

Otherwise, I am super excited. My new laptop arrived today (I settled for Intel i5 with 4 GB RAM DDR3), but I have to set up McAfee before I can let it loose on the Internet.
But, mainly, I am going to see a performance of Jesus Christ Superstar (with Ted Neeley!) end of April and I already have tickets. Woohoo!!!!!

Alena

Happy birthday, Rabbit!!!!!!!!!

I am going to have to check out the foam rollers. For me, my arsenal against muscle knots includes Traumeel arnica cream, Kiehl's muscle soak, ice, and of course....

:yoga:

Namaste! Hope you are having a great week! Denver is getting DUMPED upon at the moment and I might just have to work from home tomorrow.

:coolsnow:

Cardio done. But I have to admit it was only only what I would call a half-@$$ cardio, I went to bed late and got up early to get the exercise done (I have physio today and she doesn't want me to do anything else than walking on the treadmill the same day - but treadmill is now out of question).

Pat, Mel, I think I need to raid that surplus store your parts came from and get myself some new body parts - the existing ones are not working that well any more.

Lydia - thanks for that link, and the SMR info. I feel fantastic today, and I'm sure a lot of that is from the roller on Monday. :)

Mel - hope the job is going well, even with the longer commute.

Pat & Rabbit - I hope you guys are feeling better today!

Alena - I love Jesus Christ Superstar. I've seen it several times, once with the original Judas. I had tix for Sebastian Bach as Jesus once, but he got sick at the last minute and we got the understudy... Enjoy it!

No exercise for me yet today, can't guarantee I'll get it in tonight as I now have to go downtown for a bit so might be later getting DSS than I would like. I really need to get back into the habit of exercising in the AM at least on days we have him...

Good day everyone!

Afternoon all. After a forecast of cloudy and maybe snow, we have a lovely :sunny: afternoon. I love it, and we're gaining daylight like crazy!

Did my UB workout great yesterday, and a sweaty zumba class this morning. I don't know if all of the zumba classes have as many squats and lunges, but I'm going to swap my Th/Fri workouts to UB/LB so I have another day for my legs to recover. :) We're getting a new - certified - instructor in 2 weeks, so the class may change somewhat. I like the gal we have now, but she's not certified. But she'll be taking the class with us still. (She also teaches 2 other classes at the gym, so I might pick up one of those).

And DH is coming home tomorrow night!! :D Of course, it's at midnight+ so I'll be up late to go and get him. He doesn't leave CO until 4 pm, and of course there's a 2 hour time difference.

Ahhhhhhh, one of the effects of the long commute is I have no computer time! That will be solved soon with a mobile card, but I'm going to be scarce for a week or so.

The job is going well...I like it so far and the train ride is actually nice for reading and listening to music ( and reading/posting on 3fc once I get that mobile card!).

Rabbit- Happy belated birthday :balloons: You still haven't caught up with me!

Xfit tonight would have been a fairly easy recovery workout if I'd paid attention to the number of reps of each exercise I was supposed to do! I made it a lot harder for the first 2 rounds!

Where is Cheryl???????

Off to get ready for bed- my "awake time" at home is pretty brief!

Mel

Hi all,

Slowly getting back into the groove: this morning I did 15 mins treadmill & 15 mins yoga.
I am still stiff & creaky in the joints, especially my neck & shoulders. might look into the foam rolling for that.

Furthermore I'm kind of recovering of a run in with DS, who accuses me of negatively influencing him and DD towards his father in the past year. Not nice. I think I can guess where this is coming from, but not nice notherless, and I feel that this eats away at my relationship with him. OTOH, if all goes as planned, he will be leaving home to go to university next august, so maybe this is part of the separation process. I certainly think he is ready to leave the house, especially if he radiates this attitude. Then again, I think I can also see this as some kind of compliment: apparently he thinks there has been undue influence. In a way that is a compliment. For me it was about the difficult task of providing him and DD with a stable home base, in the midst of burnout, depression, continuing job issues, and divorce. DS apparently never realised that it was not a given that his mother would be able to provide for him and DD. Still, it looks like a whitewashing job to me and I resent that.

Mel - get that card! The train ride will be much more fun if you can 3FC on the way. Pity that they do not provide a gym on the train.

And yes, where did Cheryl go to?

have a great day all,
rabbit

Good morning! Well, afternoon by now I guess...

Got in a short but effective workout last night - used the '3 Day Intermediate Full Body' workout from stumptuous.com, yesterday was my Day 1 Light Day. Feel pretty good, think I might have gone too light. When a workout lists light, medium & heavy days what does that mean exactly?

Mel - definitely get a wireless card! Glad you are enjoying the new job so far.

Pat - glad you got your workout in and had better weather! And, that DH is coming home! Will be totally worth the late night. :)

Rabbit - :hug: I know that you are in a tough situation. It sounds to me like you have done a great job providing for your kids in what was, and still is, a difficult situation. Do you think some of his resentment is coming from his age and feeling like he doesn't have the relationship he wants with his dad? You have mentioned before that dad is sometimes absent more often than present. Hang in there honey.

Yes, where is Cheryl?

__________________________________________________ ______________

Yesterday's workout, the light day of my 3 Day FB workout:
-1 min jumprope
-WH Belly Off warmup (10 y squat, 10 pushup, 10 'stickup', 10 per side mountain climber, 5 per side lunge, 10 'waiter bow', 5 per side spiderman crawl)
- squat 3x15x45
- power shrug 35x45
- shoulder press 1x15x45, 2x15x30
- calf raise 2x15x45
- ab crunch 2x15

Shannon, thanks. I don't know about DS. He is very much not communicating with me, and I cannot make out if it is because he is an almost 18 yr old boy or from other causes. I have of course *****ed about his dad, because imo his dad has repeatedly put DS and DD last on his list. I had not thought about the possibility that DS blames me for maybe not having the relation with his dad that he wants, but it is possible. I also think there is a lot of whitewashing going on from XH. I am trying very much to see positive sides here, and not let it get to me, but I do resent it of course.

Rabbit

:hug: Rabbit - 18 is such a hard age. You think you're an adult, but really you're still dependent on your parent(s). And more than males in general, teenaged males seem to have black and white thinking. I think once he is at University, your relationship will improve. And now that he's older, he can try to have more of a relationship with his dad by arranging it himself. He'll then see where your XH's priorities lie.

Shannon - that's a light workout?? :)

I'm taking a rest day today. 6 days working out is hard for me and leads to burnout. I'm not saying I'm doing less exercising, only that I'm moving my UB workout to Sat so I'll do it and cardio that day. TOmorrow will be LB. Sunday is another rest. So I may keep it this way. Starting with Sunday: Rest/LB/UB/Cardio/Rest/LB/UB+Cardio. Of course, flexibility is the key!

Yay, the :sunny: has come out - and of course, the cats think that means it's warm out. They are always disappointed to find the snow is still there.

Rabbit. :hug: :hug: You have done so very, very well over the last few years. Things will smooth out. It's just a phase. You still have two lovely children. I expect DS missed you when you were in America & Singapore & is lashing out a bit now. :hug: again.

Rabbit - I was going to say the same thing that Pat said about DS seeing XH's true priorities when he gets out of the house. Harder for XH to white wash when he can see more clearly. :hug: and good for you for making such a good house for your kids.

Pat - I erased day 4 of your current workout cycle somehow and can't find it in the thread. Would you be willing to post it again? Sounds like a good pattern to put UB & cardio together, too. 6 days in a week is hard.

Silver - feeling better?

I had a lovely swim, just 4 people in the entire pool, very groovy ....
Pilates tonight.


Pat,
I have done Zumba with 3 different instructors and lunges were never on the table. Various forms of squats (more like sumo squats), or perhaps I should say variations of squats perhaps, but never lunges. I cannot picture what a lunge has to do with Zumba?

Rabbit,
Good for you for getting into exercise routine again. It is so hard after a long break. I don't have kids so I cannot comment but I pretty sure it's just a phase as Birchie said. When I think of my teenage years (I think I had a major crisis when I was 16) and huge arguments and fights with my parents were happening on daily basis. Hang in there! It will get better.

Mel and Pat -
So can you tell me what made start with the CrossFit-mania? And Shannon too, actually. Do you go to a different gym for that? My gym does not have anything of that kind (as far as I know). You are putting me to shame that I am not following suit.:(

Alena

Shannon - I am lying on the chesterfield in front of the fire whilst SO & DB play Chinese chess. Not rushing anywhere & going to bed early, I think (20:20 here now). The question is: do I get up early to race to the gymn & back before SO goes to work (I'm i/c DB tomorrow) OR do I take it easy?

Thank you, Shannon. You stepped between me and a bowl of muesli. Most kind of you.

And of course I have to go to the gymn. Otherwise it's the beginning of that slippery, school holidays slope.

Weights at dawn, friends.

Here you go Shannon. This is actually Day 5, since they count the cardio day, so hmmm, maybe it's the actual day 4, so I'll post that too.

Upper Body 2, Day5
Perform a dynamic warm-up, choosing 3-5 upper body exercises 1-2 per exercise
(1a) Bent-over pronated barbell row 4 7 :40
(1b) Close-grip barbell bench press 4 7 :40
(2a) Dips 4 AMRAP :10
(2b) Seated cable row (close-neutral grip) 4 7 1:30
(3a) Barbell corner press 3 12/12 :10

Lower Body 2Day 4, Week 3
Sets Reps Rest
Perform a dynamic warm-up, choosing 3-5 lower body exercises 1-2 per exercise
(1) Barbell front squat (treat as a quasi warm-up) 3-4 4-6 1:00
(2a) Bodyweight jump squat into tuck 5 3 :15
(2b) Barbell back squat 5 6 :15
(2c) Lumberjack squat 5 12 3:00
(3a) Alternating back-forward lunge 3 5 :30
(3b) Alternating lateral squat 3 5 1:30

(3b) Barbell corner row 3 12/12 1:45

Pilates done.
Today, I have reached my goal of 1215 minutes of exercise in March. I came up with the total of taking all the days in March except for Sundays and multiplying by 45 (aka 45 minutes each day except for Sunday). It's nothing spectacular but I am proud of myself for sticking to my guns and going with it. Unfortunately, some of the exercises are not as taxing as I would like them to be (like Pilates) but that's because of the lower back & foot issues.

I will strive for more in April.

Alena

Cheryl was the one who started the CrossFit mania and I was in a lifting rut and thought it sounded fascinating. It's done in CrossFit affiliate "boxes"- minimal equipment: kettlebells, olympic bars and rubber "bumper" plates, pull up bars, medicine balls, and plywood boxes for jumps. Oh, and rowing machines.

You can find affiliates almost everywhere around the world:
www.crossfit.com

I'm hooked, and have to remember to take a rest day.

Tomorrow is a gruesome workout being done nationwide. It is a "hero" workout, to honor a fallen soldier. Unfortunately, on Fridays they don't have a 6:15 session and I get ON the train at 5:15. I may do it at home, but that is never the same experience.

You are challenged to complete the entire workout in the shortest amount of time possible for you:

* 400 meter run
* 50 pull ups (alternate form for women)
* 100 meter fireman's carry or 200 meter farmer's walk with 50 pound dumbbells (25 for women)
* 50 dips
* 100 push ups (50 for women)
* 50 knees to elbows
* 100 situps
* 400 meter run


The knees to elbows would have me there until midnight :p I will do a version of it after work at home.

Alena- Good for you for meeting your goal. So now you have a baseline and know what you can do and what to do differently or NOT do. At this point, I, and I suspect you as well, also have a goal of minimizing injuries so we can keep doing this. I'm gradually learning that doesn't mean I'm a wimp. Good job for meeting goals and having a plan B for working around an injury :)

Rabbit- 18 yr old boy/men are horrid for the most part. So is 19, but I see glimmers of a nice person every once in a while as my ds heads toward 20. I think SB may have hit on something that he may be lashing out at you because you were gone. You've done an amazing job at holding everything together and providing a wonderful home for your children.

Mel

Birch - glad I could get between you and the Meusli. :) Did you make it to the gym this morning?

Alena - I don't do any formal CF workouts, mostly piece mine together. I use the PN workouts from Pat, some I downloaded from Stumptuous, sometimes throw together exercises I've gotten from Mel or Cheryl's posts in the past. Cheryl started it for me, too. :high: on the exercise in March!

__________________________________________________ _______________
Yesterday's workout:
-1 min jumprope
-WH Belly Off warmup (10 y squat, 10 pushup, 10 'stickup', 10 per side mountain climber, 5 per side lunge, 10 'waiter bow', 5 per side spiderman crawl)
-25 mins kickboxing
-30 mins elliptical, somewhat HIIT-ish

Thanks, Shannon. Yes, I was there. It was harder at 0630 than 0830! For one thing, I had no breakfast or coffee inside me. I met my sometime trainer who told me I didn't want to be relying on caffeine (!) Will consider cutting back as part of training myself to be more alert at that time.

Good info about your good work, Alena! You did it and didn't let things slide. That's good.

Rest day tomorrow. Except I'm working so that won't be restful.

SB - big difference between rest and restful, eh? :)

We didn't get to bed til 2:30 am after I picked up DH from the airport, so any thought of a morning workout was gone. I finally went about 3 pm, and did a good LB workout. Did I tell you I can now squat with the 45# bar (in the cage - woo, hoo :lol: )? And today I added 10# worth of plates. So after a workout composed mainly of various squats and lunges, I walked out with noodle legs, but it feels great. Tomorrow is a light cardio plus UB, and Sunday I get to rest.

DH took a nap this afternoon and was in bed before 10. It's 10:20 now and I think I'll join him.....

Thanks guys.

I am drinking my gallon of coffee (sorry, Birchie - but in the old good days when I was able to exercise early a.m. I always did on an empty stomach. I always felt that even a bite out of a banana sat in my stomach like a concrete rock weighing me down. I guess it's very personal.) trying to decide what exercise I am going to do today.

At the risk of having you all think I live in a pig sty, I am still looking for the tubing. I cannot figure out what the F happened to it. Pardon my French but my frustration level is rising. I went through the ENTIRE house last night and I did not find it. I have to remind you that I seriously decluttered last fall when I had to camp out in the basement for 2 weeks when I was refinishing the floors. That makes it even more puzzling. Although I did find (last night) a piggy bank that I could not find since the above-mentioned vacation in the basement.

I am also decicing between two pairs of new sneakers (both Merrells). My old Reeboks are basically falling apart, after 1 year of living in them non-stop (becaus of the orthotics, I wear them to work, to walk the down, anywhere I go and of course I exercise in them). I got them at a discount store (a Canadian version of Target) for about $50 and I think they paid for themselves more than 3 times.
I am torn between the new Merrells. One pair has to go back today. It is odd how each pair, inspite of both being same brand, feels differently. One feels better on my heels and seems to provide better arch support so that's so far the winning pair although I would have preferred to keep the other (has more mesh on the outside so it would be better for summer). I still have to test both with the custom orthotics. I am glad I brought both pairs home (each is from a different store) so that I can have a good comparison alternating between each pair.

I took a break from exercise last night. I find that on Friday nights I feel like a squeezed out lemon. Must be old age (No comments from the peanut gallery, Mel). :D

I also want to pick up a wireless router today.

WIshing you all a nice weekend. :wave:

Alena

P.S. Pat, congrats on the 45 lbs squat!!!

You cannot figure out what the French happened to it? :?:

:rofl:

Ah, Alena, I have things like that too - I swear every house has a black hole into which things disappear. Sometimes they get thrown out - sometimes not! I had a small neck pouch (like people get for passports, etc. except it was handmade) that I wanted to give my sister when she was here in June last year. I found it 2 weeks ago..... And yes I sent it to her! :)

DId a lot of running around this morning: coffee shop, bank, post office, library, gas station, grocery store, pet food store, gym. Did a good UB workout, then home to put away all the stuff from the grocery. Now I have a few hours before we meet our friends to drive to Anchorage (~ 1 hour) to square dance for the evening.

Enjoy the dance, Pat.

I am just about to take off for all the 'running around'. Return one pair of sneakers, get groceries, a few other things.
My yoga instructor is doing a special 2 hour class tonight - not at the gym but at a yoga studio where he teaches - there is always one "special" 2 hr class the last Sunday of the month - today's will focus on the immune system. I am tempted but I don't think I will have the time.
It would be cool though - 3 hours of yoga in one day?

Question for Lydia and Mel (is Depalma still reading this forum?):
I wonder, when I am doing dips on the Gravitron, where my elbows should be pointing? Basically it's a dip on parallel bars. Should my elbows be close to my body and point behind me, or should they flare to the sides?

ALena

keep your elbows close to your body:)

My workouts this weekend have been cardio and endless shoveling, pushing, dumping and spreading wheel barrows of mulch. I'm sooooo ready for a move to a townhouse! And the deer already ate the center out of my lilies. They are maybe 1 inch out of the ground:(

Off to take a hot bath,

Mel

You and my MIL (who died in 2006) would have had a good time venting about the deer! They got her tulips every single year! :lol: Moose on the other hand, don't eat flowers (though they do step on them - grrr) but wait until veggies are just about ready for people to eat, then come through and eat them all. Not unlike raccoons and sweet corn.

Mel, you are gardening already?
I thought about you yesterday when I was looking at the sad area that in other people's homes is called the lawn. That is in those people's homes that do not have female dogs that like to pee on the same spot the other already had peed. We had a nice rain yesterday and I thought it would have been wise to rake the old deach patches out .... I also need to figure out what to do with the mulch on the beds that were freshly done end of summer last year but trampled and pounced on by the dogs the entire winter.

Who knew yoga can make one's butt hurt so badly?!?

Alena - I knew yoga could make ones butt hurt badly, but have to admit I was surprised when I discovered it the hard way. How went the shoe decisions? And no worries on us judging you for losing the bands - I still can't find the basket that goes on the shelf on my coat and key rack. Can't hang it on the wall at the new house until I find the darn basket... Been in the new house three+ years now, so I should just give up and move on. :)

Mel - sorry about the flowers!

Pat - hope you had fun at the dance! :high: on the squat!

Got in some pretty good exercise this weekend. DH & I went to the park for a run on Friday, then DSS wanted to watch DH workout on Saturday. So, he and I spent about 45 minutes doing resistance band curls with the tubing on the bosu, jumping up and down on the bosu, walking on the elliptical (his legs were a little short for that, so it didn't last long), walking on the treadmill, doing some situps, some curls with the 5 lb DBs and beating on the punching bag. He actually has decent form on his little kicks. We are going to look at signing him up for a karate class I think. He kept losing his balance on his kick, so I stopped him and showed him how to stand and hold his hips, then how to turn his foot for the roundhouse kick. He did great after that, and followed my directions every time. Even stopped and looked at his feet for proper position before kicking every time after that. He wasn't entertained by the We then rode his bike up and down in front of the house and played on the playground while DH finished up his workout. I managed to bang the heck out of my arm somewhere, must have been when he talked me into going through the playground tube after him and I had to push myself through with my toes... :dizzy:

Rest day yesterday, I pretty much crashed. No real recovery from the half-marathon last week caught up to me...

__________________________________________________ _______________
Official workout from Saturday:

Warmup:
-1 min jumprope
-WH Belly Off warmup (10 y squat, 10 pushup, 10 'stickup', 10 per side mountain climber, 5 per side lunge, 10 'waiter bow', 5 per side spiderman crawl) (I do the same warmup all the time... guess I need to mix it up a little...)
Workout:
3 Day Intermediate FB Workout, stumptuous.com, Day #2 Heavy (though I use heavy loosely... :) )
- squat: 3x5x90
- bench press: 1x75, 1x65, 3x5x45 - just couldn't make those heavier ones stick
- lateral pulldown: 3x5x50 - could have gone heavier, but was a little awkward after the bench press mess
- 7 miles on the stationary bike, 22 minutes