way to stick to it Cathrine!

Day 43 -Today I had a hard time getting myself out the door to get to the school early to get a morning workout in. Stayed up too late, was woken up too early and just didn’t have a clear head. But once I got in there I hit it hard and got done what I needed to in the hour I had. (was planning on a bit longer). Did my last session of weight training for my program 2 (back body)!!

You must really want it bad, Catherine! Great job on getting your workout completed. I know how hard it can be to get yourself going in the early AM but the way you feel afterwards is so worth it! Have a great weekend!

You are doing awesome, Catherine! How are the knees?

Bree

Thanks for all the encouragement guys.

I realized I forgot to post my second workout yesterday - I did a swim after school - warm up - 1km in in just under 23 min, (I may have swam a few extra lengths, because I got a bit confused around #18) - did some leaping and bounding exercises I’ve seen the Principle do with the track team in the pool. Surprisingly good workout for the legs. My swim partner did not end up showing so when the teacher who had a class before I swam had to leave I couldn’t do much more .... just in case something happens to me I don’t like to swim alone.

Bree - I still have to listen to my knees and take care of them. I have been icing them after sessions where they get stressed, but generally they are better. Tonight they are a feeling sore because I just did my first session with my trainer for my new program. It is a cardiovascular circuit training routine. Lower weights but high reps (30 or 1minute - whichever comes first). I was starting to feel it too much in the knees after doing the squats in the first set and the steps ups in the second set so by the ball squats with DB press in the third set Mike modified it to take it a bit easier on them. I came home and iced them while I ate dinner so they are a bit better. The rest of my body needed a hot bath so I’ve done that and feel relaxed now. But I really need to get into see my chiro early next week for my lower back.

PROGRAM #3—CARDIOVASCULAR CIRCUIT TRAINING........GET READY TO SWEAT!!!

TRI-SET 1
Bodyweight Squats (3) sets 30 reps or 1 min
Bench Press/Push Ups (3) sets 30 reps or 1 min
Lying Leg Curls (3) sets 30 reps or 1 min

TRI-SET 2.
Barbell Rows (3) sets 30 reps or 1 min
Step Ups with Medicine Ball (3) sets 1 minute
Planks (3) sets 45 seconds

TRI-SET 3.
Lat Pulldowns (3) sets 30 reps or 1 min
Ball Squat with DB Press (3) sets 30 reps or 1 min
Bicycles (3) sets 30 seconds

Not really sure he would appreciate me posting his routine for me on-line, but I’m paying him for the info so here you have it. Only I have the benefit of him coaching me through it! The plan is to do this routine 4x/week + 5 x 45min cardio sessions (elliptical, bike, etc.). His hope (and mine) is to burn fat. Maybe a bit at the expense of some of the muscle I have gained, but I am much stronger and can afford it now. So that was Day 44.

It’s wonderful to see how you’re noticing the improvements you’re making. And you’re being flexible and figuring out how to get in the exercise you need as your schedule goes crazy around you. Both are greats helps to getting to your goals.

BTW, my experience has been that as I exercised and my muscles got stronger, I could do much more without my knees bothering me. I don’t have arthritis which is different from the situation of some of the people on the forum, but my right knee in particular used to be an issue (I even had surgery on it) and now I have to really do something outrageous for it to flare up. For example, the 3rd day of skiing doing 5.5 hours of skiing was a bit much.

The point is that you can at least hope that the knees will get stronger.

Good for you!  What a great job!

Way to go Catherine.  You are working so hard.  I better watch out or you will be passing me on the scale.  You are inspiring me to work harder.

Good stuff, circuits are really fun and a great way to burn some extra calories!

Hey all

Just a quick post - still in Kingston at the soccer tournament and the girls are doing amazing!!  They have won all their games so far (4) and are moving on to semi finals this afternoon.  We have had one injury though - a sprained ankle so one girl is out for now. 

I managed to get a short workout in yesterday (1/2 hour on the bike) - bonus of joining a chain gym is that I can find one here too.  Even though I wasn’t feeling my best I still wanted to get some time in.  Finding parking ate into my time though so I didn’t get a longer session in.  Since we have a big break this afternoon I’m going to go again early this afternoon and hopefull get a good hour of cardio in.

I’ll try to update my post later.

Good stuff Cathrine, and good luck to your team.

Soccer Team result: The girls played terrific this weekend especially considering it was their first of the year and they had to adjust to playing indoors on a smaller field with boards and turf vs. outside on a big grass field. They made it to the semi-finals where they lost in sudden death overtime. The looks on their faces showed their disappointment as they left the field, but they know that they had a great start to their season.
I am not one of the coaches - I went along as an extra driver (got a nice rental van). Actually, I know very little about the game and learned a lot this weekend while watching from the team bench. It was good to have that perspective rather than being in the spectator area because I got to watch the team dynamics. I was amazed at the level of fitness and skill required. I never realized that the game went straight trough and they just switch up players when one gets tired one runs off and a fresh player runs out (with a fair bit of co-ordination from the coaches) and the game never stops!

I did manage to get to a gym both days while I was away. Yesterday I did 10 min easy on the treadmill, then 30 min on the elliptical and finished up with 20 min on the bike. It felt good to get in the longer session finally. I could have kept going, but wanted to get back for the games.

Today - Day 47 - Cardio Circuit Training - and boy did it whip my butt!! This is going to be good!! This was my second time through the new routine (first time on my own) and it is certainly a change of pace from my previous program. By the end I was soaking and was very happy to finish on the floor (last exercise is bicycles - for abs). I just stayed were I was for a good 10 - 15 minutes and did some stretching. I had no desire to get up for a while. I am still feeling quite tired tonight. Not sure if it is more because of my trip this weekend or if it is purely from the challenging routine. Wanted to double up and do another cardio session tonight, but that might not be a good idea for two reasons. 1 - don’t want to over do it. 2 - chiropractor told me today to stay off the treadmill (which is what I have at home) and there is no way I’m going out to the gym tonight to use other machines!!

About my knees: I told my chiropractor about them today and he did a quick assessment. He says it is my quadriceps tendon which is an uncommon problem, but fits with his initial assessment he did way back in November where he determined that I had tight quads. He has recommend that I modify or avoid squats and lunges for a while to give my knees a rest. I’m going to talk to my trainer about doing something different for a few weeks in place of the squats in the first and last set of my program.

… Just got off the phone with my trainer and we have agreed that for the next little while I will do the leg press instead of squats and a wall sit instead of a ball squat with the shoulder press. He stressed the importance of still using my quads, so long as it isn’t a real injury, because they are one of the largest muscles in the body and working them plays a very important role in my weight loss efforts.  The good news is that it is not actually my “knees” that are feeling it - it is the quad muscle and this is a normal part of what I am now making my body do.

Sorry to hear about your team, hope your knees feel better soon!

Nothing to be sorry about - they had a great weekend and they did make it much farther than they really expected to - of course they were dissappointed when they lost a game, but it was a great bonding experience for them.  It was a good warm-up for when the our school board starts its season and the games actually count towards this years standings.

Catherine,
Good job at keeping up with your workouts while you were away.

That is interesting that it is your quads that are causing your knee pain.  Hopefully your trainer can help you strengthen them so to help your knees.

Great job!

Sounds like you have a good team going there between your trainer, your chiro, and yourself. You’re sure to do well!

My chiro has told me that he’s glad to put me back together so the trainer can keep pushing my limits.

Day 48 - 1hr LSB (40 min elliptical - on personal trainer mode - included short reverse mode sessions plus 20 min on the bike). Today was a bit of a struggle and didn’t get my HR much above 135 throughout the workout. I was listening to a Quirks and Quarks podcast so I didn’t have a good beat going, but didn’t feel I wanted to push either. I could feel a bit of discomfort in my knees during the elliptical and on the odd step a slight burning sensation around the platella (sp?) (both knees) Burning my not the best way to describe it, but I can’t come up with another word right now. The bike didn’t bother them and I did it after the ellipt. I had a good stretch of my legs after- my left ham and quads need attention after workouts. I have noticed a difference in my stretching - I have always been fairly flexible (except low back) and now that I have more muscle it feels really good to stretch after a workout. I iced my knees while I ate dinner again and now they feel fine - good sign - but for the rest of the week I am going to modify my routine for my cardio circuit traing and stick to the bike or swimming for cardio to see if the quad tendon can heal a bit, then try things out again on Sunday with my trainer.

Thanks Joan… it was starting to get to the point that I was afraid that it was going to be chronic. I want to be smart about taking care of my body and when my knees hurt after every workout that stresses them I need to pay attention and try to find out what the cause is. I’m glad my chiro was able to pinpoint the problem right away.

I took a look at my anatomy text last night to see how the structures around the knee worked , but I had an even better opportunity to see exactly how the knee worked on a real human cadaver today… yes you read that right! I went on another field trip!! Today the Gr. 12 Exercise Science class went to the University of Guelph’s Human Cadaver Lab and again I went along as a driver (no nice van this time though - just my car). When I took anatomy during my undergrad we only got to dissect cats (believe me that was tough for me to do - cat lover that I am) so I was really interesting to see and manipulate real human specimens. I got to see exactly how the quad tendon attached to the platella and where my problem is. Got to see lots of other stuff too. It was an extremely valuable learning experience for the students. They saw exactly what is under our skin - bones and ligaments, major organs, muscles and tendons, nerves, blood vessels etc.

I am still tired from all my traveling so I am headed to bed early tonight.

Cathrine you take the students to the nicest places!!!

In the past, I have handled problematic muscles with massage therapy.  Just make sure to limber the muscle up prior to the massage.  Get it moving and nicely warmed up, but don’t work it too hard.  Blood clots in the muscle tissue can lead to spasms and will show up as problems elsewhere too.  The massage will help get rid of these quickly.

That field trip sounds fascinating! I would love to see everything that goes on under the skin. Cool!