[Lydia227]

Rhonda: I think you are correct. Yes. Absolutely. It does make total sense. It's also important to deload for the very reason of healing all the microtears. I kind of had a moment when I realized that connective tissue has to heal microtears just like our muscles do. Now! I finally get it. Learning these things and applying the to our workouts is always an ongoing process.

By the way, congrats on your deadlift. 12 reps! K....I'm only doing sets of 8 at 135...you go girl! You are doing a wonderful job and I wanted to add earlier how impressed I am with your trainer.

Weather update: We keep going back and forth with rain and these puffy clouds with sunshine. Weird as anything. And WINDY! I've decided to go with it and am wearing my scarlet red "Enjoy this beautiful day" tshirt.

http://www.wireandtwine.com/store/products/enjoy.html

[Tejas]

Thank you, Lydia. It was a discussion today with my trainer that prompted my note back to you. He told me that many of the younger men who come to the gym and lift heavy weights don't want to believe him when he tells them that they need to insert times of rest and some time of lifting lower weights into their routines. I like him a great deal; he seems knowledgeable and is very attentive to his clients.

I love the shirt! I might have to get one of those. :

[Tomato]

Hola, ladies!

I am sorry, I have so busy lately that I barely got to 3FC at all. And often, because I start with the Weight Loss Support forum and work my way down, I am out of time till I make it here.

I can report some progress. I did have a nice lifting workout on Saturday; of course I got completely confused and it ended up being a misch-masch of everything because I could not remember what I am supposed to be doing!
But it was fun nevertheless. I just have to go back to my books and mags and put together a nice routine for different body parts. I am still avoiding squats and lunges and such because the right knee is still an issue but I think the glucosamine and fish oil are starting to help (at least I hope so).

Yesterday, I spent 50 minutes of quality time with my treadmill (our yoga class was cancelled, blech). Today, I had a terrific swim. I was alone in my lane for about 2 minutes and then a chick half my age got in. She was a faster swimmer and because I did not want to slow her down, I tried to keep pace with her. It was hard! After about 15 minutes, the adjacent lane freed up so she moved there but I still kept the same pace. I usually stay only 30-35 minutes (the rest is spent on driving, showering, drying my hair, etc.) but today, I had enough after 30 minutes flat. Even after I showered I was still out of breath and when I was leaving the swimplex, my heart was still pounding.

I had a pretty substantial arms workout planned for tonight, I am not sure if I should change it or just finish myself off. I do feel my shoulders from the swim.

Rhonda, I kept thinking about you yesterday. I watched a few episodes of "Come Dine With Me" - if you are not familiar with it, it was a British show where they put together a group of 5 strangers and each person hosts a dinner for the group each day. The remaining four rate the host (who does not know the score) and after 5 days, the person with the highest score wins a 1,000 pounds. The show was extremely funny - the narrator had very sarcastic comments and it was just ROFL.
Of course, Canadian TV always to come up with a Canadian version of everything the Yankees or the Brits produced, so now we have a Canadian version of the show. Recently, they featured about 3 different ladies, originally from Texas, now living in Canada. So that made me think of you.
The show is really amusing and entertaining, also from the culinary point of view.

Alena

[Shannon in ATL]

Lydia - I love that shirt!

I'm reading the comments on dropping down weight and microtears and that has me thinking again that I need a few rest days. I've been hitting my CF-style circuit workout pretty hard for the last six weeks, and have gotten up to 6900 pounds total per workout in about 22:00 mins for 9 rounds of db swing/squat+press/horzontal pullup for circuit a, and 5700 pounds total in about 24:00 mins for five rounds of db snatch/clean+press/burpee for circuit b - it is the 'low tech a*s busting workout off of stumptuous.com. I've been doing it faithfully three days per week now, alternating a & b. So, I'm pretty worn after six weeks and wonder if I need a few days break. Coincidentally, it is also TOM for me this week (TOQ actually - I'm on Seasonale) so I could just be looking for an excuse not to workout this week. Either way, time to change my program I think. Maybe.