Indiblue: I find the lats difficult to feel also, except after the exercises. I do lat pulldown at 75 pounds, 3 sets of 12-15 reps. I also find that if I use a wider grip, the pull down is harder.

So, I saw the physical therapist today and she was very positive. She massaged the patellar area for quite a while and showed me how to do it. She checked all the angles and said I had really good flexion. She gave me a few stretches to do, asked me to show her my squats. My trainer developed his own rehab program for me and she checked it, giving her approval. I'm optimistic that time and care will take care of this. It's a minor setback.

I'm going to have some real dietary challenges this week because I'm going to Toronto for a visit. But, I'll get in some exercising, going to spinning and meeting some women friends in the local park for some workouts.

Rhonda: Enjoy your trip to Toronto. Is this the first time you have gone back since you moved? Best of luck with your eating challenges during the visit!

Today I did the three hour "Getting Started" class at Crossfit. It was a lot of material to cover and by the time we got to the last half hour of the class I had faded both physically and mentally. I found that the more narrow stance on the push press and push jerk really triggered my matchstick knees. I'm hoping that with some guidance this won't be a problem in the actual workous. We'll see. I'm going to give this a try for at least three months and then evaluate further. My plan is to do at least three days a week with two days of yoga and then one day of just going into my other gym to practice lifts and do extra cardio.

This is certainly going to be a challenge and I have a lot of room for growth. (trying to put a positive spin on my inadequacies) But I can do one of two things....I can continue to workout on my own in a regular gym with incorrect movements and compensations or I can learn how to do this correctly and save myself some real physical pain and mental frustration. Better to do it the right way for a while. :chin: Oh boy....here we go.:^:

Okay. I do have one other thing to add to this about my experience. Let me just say how freakin' refreshing it was to meet two women (they were running the workshop) who know how to lift and truly enjoy what they do. OMG. No seriously. I loved how one of them repeatedly kept saying that we had to be aggressive with these lifts. There needs to be intensity! Loved that. So true. Its always been a fine line for me at the gyms that I worked out in how to manage that. It's so nice to find a place where I can do this and not worry if I'm going to bother/frighten or freak someone out. Not like I'm this total crazed woman or anything but to be able to do this comes from a place somewhere deep inside and if you don't tap into it, your just going through the motions.

That said, I totally s@cked at so much today. :lol3: I'm not sure if the flexibility in my yoga classes this year hurt or helped. I liked hanging out at the bottom of my squat and it took me the first whole hour of the class to unlearn that. At the end of the the second hour I was beginning to think that maybe I should throw my bar in and head for the nearest yoga studio. But, I'm not going to kid myself. Both have their challenges and I'm here to learn. But yes, it was a very refreshing experience to be somewhere without mirrors, without the isolation of my iPod, or the rows and rows of gleaming chrome machines I rarely ever used or feeling like I was on display. Nice.

Now I have lots of reading to do....

Thanks, Lydia, for your very interesting post. Please keep telling us about it.

Lydia - sounds like you had a great experience! I'm so glad. :)

Back from Toronto. I think I'll just skip stepping on the scales, and head for the gym in the morning!! :lol:

I enjoyed your post, Lydia. I could use some flexibility after being squished in the plane for hours. It's my 3rd trip back in 1 1/2 years: once for a funeral, once for a wedding, and this time for a birthday party and other events. I have to stay home for a while now!

Good Plan! ;)

Food choices aside, I think we all show a little gain after flying anyway right? Seem to recall hearing this somewhere...maybe I'm just perpetuating some type of myth here. I'd wait a few days.

I've learned today that 1000 meters of rowing can feel like :devil: when there is a clock running. Didn't think it would be that big of a deal but after only 200 the "Hey this is kind of a hard" began to sink in. Totally did fine but I was really worried that I would have to do that more than once in my workout and I knew there wasn't enough gas in the tank for more than one round at that speed. I really need to work on endurance. :o

Lydia-- don't we all need to work on endurance. That is, except for Cheryl, who is, no doubt, still running. :lol:

Since late April-early May I've been babying my right knee and reducing the weight I was lifting in LB work. I have not compensated for that reduction, and I've decided to try doing at least 20 minutes of either the ebike or the elliptical for 6 days a week. I'm going to do this for 2 months and see if there is any impact on weight/body fat.