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1. Finish getting over my knee/leg injury and remember to stretch after exercising no matter what else I have to do.
2. Get back to 143 pounds by January 31st.
3. Get to 140 pounds by May 1st. (The lower the weight, the harder it is for me to achieve the goal).
4. Get a picture from my 40th college reunion in June to replace the horrid one from my 35th reunion that served as motivation for changing.
5. Finally manage to do full body push ups. This has been a goal for about 3 years and I’ve gotten close but haven’t accomplished it.
6. Run a 5K in less than 30 minutes in the spring/summer.
7. Continue to do things outside my comfort zone (things that fit within my values)
Plan:
Work off 2000 calories per week at the gym. Continue to get my husband to stretch my legs once or twice a day. Practice the push ups. Start a food log. Go back to training for running in March. Complete at least one of the various projects that I have partially done so I have a sense of accomplishment.
I’m going on an eastern Mediterranean cruise in May so I need to be in good enough shape by May to allow for the change in routine while on the cruise and still maintain the changes I’ve attained over the past four years especially for the college reunion. The good thing is that the two family members we’re going with are as dedicated to exercise as my husband and I are so I know they’ll support my time in the gym while on the cruise.
Today: 30 minutes on the elliptical and 35 minutes walking at 3.5 mph at one degree on the treadmill. 405 calories, 55% fat. That makes my total for this week so far 899 calories. As long as my leg keeps improving, I should have no trouble reaching 2000 calories by Saturday.
I accidentally forgot my HR monitor so I can’t accurately post my calorie burn but my guess is about 300 calories.
The main thing is that it’s fairly late at night and I’m still moving easily. Today I walked at 3.5 mph and 1 degree for 10 minutes as a warm up and then I did somewhat over half of the workout from two Mondays ago that had my leg so nonfunctional by evening that I had to pull myself up the stairs using the railing to get to bed at night. So that’s definite, huge progress!
So I did the following:
20 squat presses with 7.5# (shallow squats)
20 shallow split lunges
25 sit ups to V ups
20 ball bridges (legs on exercise ball, lift butt off floor)
15 ball bridges lifting each leg off the ball
20 scissors
15 step back lunges
12 lateral lunges
plank with opposite arm/leg lift, 10 on each side
12 bobbing birds with 5# dead lift
20 bent knee deadlifts (again shallow)
20 heels to heaven
20 bridge curls on ball (with both feet on ball bring ball to butt)
10 single leg bridge curls on ball
20 oblique V ups
20 squat presses with 7.5# (shallow squats)
20 shallow split lunges
25 sit ups to V ups
20 ball bridges (legs on exercise ball, lift butt off floor)
15 ball bridges lifting each leg off the ball
My abs and upper arms are still sore from Monday but that’s ok. That’s just because of how long I went without a normal workout.
Good news: no adverse aftereffects from yesterday’s exercise. So I am on the way to normal!
Today: 32 minutes on the treadmill using the weight loss program and 30 minutes on the treadmill mostly at 4.0 and 1 degree. The HR monitor said I burned 450 calories.
I’m thinking about taking tomorrow off as a rest day. I got myself in trouble to begin with by over-training and not stretching enough. I’ve now exercised for 4 days in a row. Even if I still feel good tomorrow, I probably should skip it. I plan on doing last Monday’s workout exercises again on Saturday. I’ll do them each once, not twice.
Does your gym offer a yoga class. I started taking yoga when I found a ‘kinder and gentler’ version. The focus is on listening to your body, staying within your range of motion, and gradually working into the poses. I’ve been going to the classes at least once a week and it has made a real difference in how I feel after workouts. I’ve recovered most of my range of motion that was lost before my hip surgery. We also do some balance poses that have also helped strengthen the stabilizing muscles around my hip and knees. Another way to relax on the off exercise days is to take an easy walk. I did that Wednesday after my upper body session Tuesday, and I could feel the stiffness from the weight workout face away.
You have a great plan, so take care of yourself and don’t over do things.
HI Joan, Until I read your entry I had forgotten to write my goals for 2010 down on paper/computer. I hope your feeling better physically with the leg issue. What happened with the picture from the 35 year reunion to motivate you? Was it posted somewhere or ??? As always, thanks for the list of exercises you are doing and stay warm.
Unfortunately my gym doesn’t have any classes. That’s one of the reasons I’ve enjoyed my workouts at other gyms when we’ve been on vacation. I could look around for a yoga class at another facility. I do like yoga. The problem is that my schedule varies so much it’s hard to get somewhere at a regular time.
Friday I did take the day off but I didn’t get much stretching in and I could feel my leg tighten up again. Then yesterday I did 10 minutes at 3.5 on the treadmill to warm up and then did Jan 6th leg workout again--but only once. I didn’t want to push it and I ran out of time anyway.
Today was another day of rest but I did it again: this time I just almost fell and I definitely did wrench my whole body, especially my right leg/arm and neck. I went to an unfamiliar church to hear a friend preach. I left immediately after the service. The church has two sets of doors about 5 feet apart. I opened the first set of doors and stepped out into the somewhat dark vestibule. To my shock, there’s an immediate step down on the other side of the door! I guess the regular church members are used to it. My leg held even though it had to go 5 or more inches than I expected to reach the ground but that threw me forward jerking the rest of my body. What’s going on that I keep having these ridiculous experiences????
At least my leg feels ok and I have a chiropractic appointment tomorrow after I exercise anyway so I’ll be fine.
LJ, in the picture from my 35th reunion, I’m standing next to my roommate from college. She had been heavy for a long time but I hadn’t realized what I looked like. Scott mentioned this phenomena not that long ago. The dress I had on was particularly unflattering but the truth is that it was just about all I owned that I could get in to.
If you go to “Inspire yourself” and then “Real Results from MTM Members” and then “Then and Now Full Body Photo Challenge” on page 3 you will find the picture of me from my 35th reunion. I posted just the part of the picture that’s me. Actually, that posting is from May 2007. I should get another picture taken and post it because I’ve lost about 15 pounds more since the third picture was taken. So I’m the only person who posted the picture but it is ingrained into my brain.
My chiropractic appointment isn’t until tomorrow. I wrote it on the wrong date on the calendar.
My trainer went easy on my legs because of the bruise on the back of my knee from Sunday’s escapade but I still burned 500 calories.
The first three groups I did twice. The fourth group was just sort of filling up the rest of the time.
5 minutes on the treadmill to warm up
Group 1
20 bench step ups with each leg and with 2.5# in each hand
15 deep swimmer presses with 7.5# in each hand
20 X crunches on each side
16 in and out curls with 10# in each hand
1 minute of “running man” with 2.5# in each hand.
Repeat. Get a drink.
Group 2
30 squats on the bozo
20 bench dips
15 contra crunch (in plank position touch opposite elbow to knee) repeat with other pair
15 full curls with 10# in each hand
10 alternate shoulder presses on each side with 10# in each hand first time; 7.5# on the repeat
Repeat. Get a drink.
Group 3
15 push ups on the bar
15 pull ups on the bar (feet on floor)
15 leg climbers on each leg (do one leg; then the other)
10 curls while standing on one leg using 7.5#; repeat with other leg
15 lawnmowers with 12.5# in each hand
Repeat. Get a drink.
in push up position 10 extensions of arm and leg on one side; repeat on other side
15 sit ups and 15 V ups (alternating)
in push up position, small push up, then switch to lateral with arm and leg lift (I could do only 3; my arms were ready to collapse)
My chiropractic appointment isn’t until tomorrow. I wrote it on the wrong date on the calendar.
My trainer went easy on my legs because of the bruise on the back of my knee from Sunday’s escapade but I still burned 500 calories.
The first three groups I did twice. The fourth group was just sort of filling up the rest of the time.
5 minutes on the treadmill to warm up
Group 1
20 bench step ups with each leg and with 2.5# in each hand
15 deep swimmer presses with 7.5# in each hand
20 X crunches on each side
16 in and out curls with 10# in each hand
1 minute of “running man” with 2.5# in each hand.
Repeat. Get a drink.
Group 2
30 squats on the bozo
20 bench dips
15 contra crunch (in plank position touch opposite elbow to knee) repeat with other pair
15 full curls with 10# in each hand
10 alternate shoulder presses on each side with 10# in each hand first time; 7.5# on the repeat
Repeat. Get a drink.
Group 3
15 push ups on the bar
15 pull ups on the bar (feet on floor)
15 leg climbers on each leg (do one leg; then the other)
10 curls while standing on one leg using 7.5#; repeat with other leg
15 lawnmowers with 12.5# in each hand
Repeat. Get a drink.
in push up position 10 extensions of arm and leg on one side; repeat on other side
15 sit ups and 15 V ups (alternating)
in push up position, small push up, then switch to lateral with arm and leg lift (I could do only 3; my arms were ready to collapse)
Well, I got to the chiropractor today and as expected I was a mess. Before I went, I spent an hour on the treadmill and that might have been a mistake. I was just walking. . . mostly at 3.5 and maybe half of the hour at one degree but my knee hurt when I was done and my left leg was bothering me too. To tell you how little push I put into the exercise, I burned only 220 calories in the hour. Chiro says to ice it and spend some time on the bike at the gym to retrain my knee muscles.
Tomorrow I’m subbing in the same job I was in today and Monday morning and then I’m driving to Jersey to get my mother. My sister’s cast came off today and she can drive again. It’s a good thing I have cruise so I can take some of the pressure off the leg. I’ll come back Thursday. I hope more ice and an anti-inflamatory make a difference over night. . . . I’ll be ok.
It’s so easy to give advice, so hard to take it....
The best way to treat that type of injury is RICE - Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation. Elevation is almost impossible unless you are lying on your back with your leg up in the air (I know, I spent most of the summer of 2005 in that position). Be careful with the ice, it should feel cold, but not enough to cause damage to the skin. Never put the ice in direct contact - either use a cold pack designed to be put directly on the skin or put a light towel between you and the ice. Rest is good and rest could mean doing a different workout that uses different muscles and takes the pressure off the joint. Low or non impact workouts such as the bike may be better for a while. Rowing machines also give a great whole body workout and you can set them so that you don’t over flex the knees and hips.
So listen to the doctors, and even more important, listen to your body. Take care of yourself and learn when to back off or change the workouts.
Last night was difficult with lots of pain in my knee/leg. HOWEVER, I very grateful to report that the ice and the icy hot gel that I put on it seem to have made quite a difference. I didn’t put the ice directly on my skin. I did get some ice in school today and made sure I walked around every hour or so. The swelling seems to have gone down a lot. The drive to here in Jersey was uneventful and didn’t seem to stress my leg. I got my niece to stretch me and I’ll stretch myself some more tonight. We’ll see how tonight goes but I think it will be a very different story from last night. If I get home in time tomorrow to exercise, I’ll do one of the mostly upper body exercise routines and baby my legs.
Whew! I slept well last night and the drive home was no problem. No pain in my knee. . . . At the gym, I managed to burn 300 calories and did work the knee muscles. I did 20 minutes on the bike and 30 minutes on the elliptical. I don’t think there’s been any return of the swelling but my husband just stretched me and I’ll ice again tonight.
Tomorrow after work I’ll try to get in the upper body resistance routine from last Monday--but everything just once, not twice.
Thanks for asking, Candy. My knee is still acting up. I was just icing it. I’m hoping it’s normal soon. I’m sick of this.
I saw 144.8 yesterday on the scale; today 145.4. Not where I want to be but still down a bit from my high after the trip plus Christmas.
Friday I did 30 minutes on the bike and 30 minutes on the elliptical.
Saturday I did a previous workout--but just once.
20 “X” squats
in plank position with feet on sliders go 4 “steps” back and forth 6 times
15 step back lunges with each leg
in plank position, pull back an elastic cord with a handle 15X on each side (a type of row)
20 scissors with a pause between each one
12 lateral lunges on each side but switching from one side to the other
30 kneeling push ups
1 minute wall sit
15 movements from banana to a ball
10 woodchoppers on each side with 4# ball
10 ball walkouts
10 bobbing birds on each side with 7.5# weight
15 bent rows with 10# in each hand
walking lunges up and back the length of the gym twice. Also with leg extended 10 curls to presses of some weight for each leg.
I definitely have my fingers crossed. I had a chiro appointment yesterday morning and then my Monday workout with my trainer. Last week at this time I felt ok but by night I was in awful shape with my knee. Last night and today I actually feel BETTER AND STRONGER than I have in a while. I will NOT go on the treadmill this afternoon as I did last Tuesday!
Yesterday’s routine was modified again to protect my leg and everything was timed so I didn’t write it down. But my trainer is amazing. Without using my legs that much, I still burned 558 calories according to my HR monitor. I don’t burn much more than that, if at all, even using the big leg muscles. Go figure. I did keep the intensity up with what I did.
So I did bench dips, kneeling push ups with the handles, lawnmowers, leg climbers, ski poles, two legged hops facing in one direction and then the other, squats with press on the bosu, 10 ball walk outs, hops on each foot in the shape of a plus sign, knee to elbow standing crunches, knee to elbow crunches with arm and leg extensions from plank position, woodchoppers, mini squats, etc.
I’m not doing particularly well with the plan I outlined at the beginning of this challenge, but first things first. So far today I am still feeling great. Maybe my leg IS finally headed towards normal (assuming I don’t do something weird AGAIN). I can even put some pressure on my knee laterally without having any pain. I do want to ski!!!
So I did 30 minutes on the bike and 30 minutes on the elliptical for a total of 370 calories according to my HR monitor. It says 55% fat but that’s because I wasn’t pushing. I will continue to control the intensity. For right now healing is the most important thing. I can’t burn the calories but I’ll just have to live with that.
In the last week one friend’s husband died and another friend had a house fire that has them out of the house for an extended period of time. These events put my knee injury into perspective. . . . (Never mind Haiti)
Thanks, Suzanne. Mostly because of this website, I did go to the gym today. It was hard to motivate myself to go at 5:40 tonight but I didn’t want to post that I hadn’t done anything.
So I did 10 minutes on the bike to warm up and then my routine from Jan. 11th. I did everything once except the lateral bridge and the sit ups to V sit ups. I skipped them. I just didn’t feel like doing more sit ups and I didn’t want to stress my knee with the lateral bridge. My knee is a bit sore from yesterday but not bad.
I exercised for 38 minutes and the HR monitor says I burned 213 calories, 55% fat.
Today it took me 80 minutes to burn 387 calories. I spent 30 minutes on the bike and then went back to the routine from January 11th. Today I did the first two groups twice and the third group just once. I did up a couple of the weights.
Group 1
20 bench step ups with each leg and with 2.5# in each hand
15 deep swimmer presses with 7.5# in each hand
20 X crunches on each side with 2.5# in each hand
16 in and out curls with 12.5# in each hand the first time and 10# the second
1 minute of “running man” with 2.5# in each hand.
Repeat. Get a drink.
Group 2
30 squats on the bozo
20 bench dips with legs straight out
15 contra crunch (in plank position touch opposite elbow to knee) repeat with other pair
15 full curls with 15# in each hand
10 alternate shoulder presses on each side with 10# in each hand first time; 7.5# on the repeat
Repeat. Get a drink.
Group 3
15 push ups on the bar
15 pull ups on the bar (feet on floor)
15 leg climbers on each leg (do one leg; then the other)
10 curls while standing on one leg using 7.5#; repeat with other leg
15 lawnmowers with 12.5# in each hand
