Personal Development Community

Feel better soon.... so far I’ve avoided the superbugs that seem to be invading my home - I’ll keep taking my vitamins and zinc.

I meant to buy zinc today but forgot. I still have the cold and expect it to last over the weekend. My husband still felt sick today and he started two days ahead of me.

I did get to the gym because I stopped sneezing and blowing my nose. Figured I’d better stick to cardio so I could remain upright.

So I did 30 minutes on the bike and 31 minutes on the elliptical (I wanted to finish a fitness boost). According to the HR monitor I burned 341 calories, 55% fat which isn’t bad considering how little I burn on the bike. I’ll see what I can do tomorrow.

I didn’t make my goal of getting back to 143 pounds by January 31st--but I made it this week. Wahoo! In fact, this morning the scale said 142.8. I realize it might jump tomorrow but the trend is definitely down. I haven’t see any form of “142” on the scale in probably 20 years. I keep revising my weight goal downwards. I don’t know what it will take to get me in to size 10 pants comfortably and I don’t know what weight I can maintain for the long haul.

Today 31 minutes on the elliptical and 30 minutes on the treadmill at 2 degrees and at 3.5 mph. Burned 312 calories, 55%. fat. It was a real surprise to learn that I burned more on the bike yesterday. Of course, I still avoided any running on the treadmill.

I’m adjusting my calorie intake upwards today. I never thought I’d have the concern I have today. Today I weighed 141.4. So the scale didn’t go up. Five pounds in six days is too fast a weight loss for me considering that I’m in the normal range to begin with. I NEVER thought I’d ever be concerned about slowing down weight loss. . .  I don’t want to lose any muscle. I’ve worked too hard to get it. Some of the five pounds is probably from restricting sodium but even three pounds would be a lot.

We’ll see what tomorrow brings. It will be a rest day.

OK. My weight seems to have stabilized. Yesterday it was 141.0. Today it was 141.2. Now I’m ready to see it go down again. I’d like to see 140 something by the end of the week. That would be a reasonable loss. I don’t want to go up more either.

Today was a training session day. I left my trainer with a challenge last week and he almost reached it. I told him that my heart rate monitor always has me over 500 calories burned during the hour I’m with him but has never reached 600 calories. Well, today it read 591. I figure it’s reliable to compare one week’s reading with the next. I wouldn’t bet the bank on whether the that’s actually what I burned.

Today I did the first two groups twice with a water break between groups and the last group once.

Group 1

25 boso squats plus press, weight unknown--probably 2.5#
15 bench step ups with each leg with a step back also
10 arm lifts with each arm (alternating) while on the exercise ball with my shins on the ball (I lost my balance at 7)

with my neck/back supported on the exercise ball and in a table position, 10 movements of a 6# weighted ball from behind my head to touching my knee which was lifted off the floor (so I was balancing on the ball and one foot); repeat with other knee

again on the exercise ball, 10 chest presses with 7.5# in each hand while 1 leg was extended off the floor; repeat with other leg off the floor

Repeat; then get a drink.

Group 2

25 squat swings with a kettle bell (I’ll have to weigh it)
10 lateral lunges on each side
in push up position with feet on sliders, 15 movements of alternating legs out to the side (maintaining my weight on my arms)

1.5 minutes of running man with 2.5# in each hand
timed (maybe a minute) of lawnmowers but switching arms/legs each time; first time 12.5#, second time 15#

Repeat; then get a drink.

Group 3--These were for cardio

10 side planks on each side with a small push up movement between each switch
4 steps of running in place and then a jump to the side as if going over a hurdle and 4 more steps of running; go back in the other direction

squat thrusts--walking through them the first time with arms just going up in the air; second half--walk out, jump legs in and jump while throwing arms in to the air

15 pull ups probably at setting 17 which is more help than usual but I was beat at this point
jumping jacks--first half easy; second half full movements
with 5# weights an overhead press followed by a back lunge keeping weights above head; lower weights; press again but switch legs

I am still nursing my right leg. The knee was hurting during the workout a bit (therefore the wimpy squat thrusts). One of the personal trainers stretched me after the workout and I went to the chiropractor as scheduled later in the day. Even though my range of motion is getting larger, the muscles are still pulling on the knee. Ugh.

I’m tired tonight. A lot of running around. . .

30 minutes on the bike and 30 on the elliptical = 400 calories burned

Only 300 calories burned today but it was my third day of exercising in a row. I’m still sore from Monday!

12 minutes on the bike and then I did Monday’s routine except that I did everything just once. One of the ball exercises I did just three times instead of 10 because I discovered that that’s what has a muscle in my upper leg rather sore. There’s always another day for working that muscle.

The snow finally hit here last night and schools were closed. Driving wasn’t that bad during the day but I’m talking about just around town. It’s windy and cold tonight.

I did something today that I haven’t done in a long time when I was in town. I took a rest day. I subbed in the afternoon and afterwards decided that what I really wanted was a nap. So I took one.

My plan is to exercise again tomorrow and on Saturday. Since my hamstring has been acting up, I just don’t want to risk trying to exercise six days a week.

Resting is so important and part of balance. I’m glad to see people here actually work their rest days in to there routines.

I sort of zoned out over the past four days. That is SO unlike me. I don’t know what the cause is--but I’m really not concerned about it. I just got back to Vitabot and although my meals today are a bit strange, I did record them.

I exercised on Friday and Saturday but both were half-hearted wimpy work outs. I burned 200 something and 100 something calories. So I guess my “rest” lasted longer than I expected. I will be back at the gym tomorrow with my normal Monday training session so I expect a normal week ahead. I am still bothered by my right hamstring and now my left groin muscles is acting up too.

I had another fitness evaluation on Saturday with mixed results although mostly I’m happy.

My cardiovascular fitness dropped significantly from the high to the average range. However, two factors skewed the results. The one is that I did the test on the treadmill without holding on for the first time ever. Usually I’ve held on especially as the incline got to 15 degrees. I found in harder balancing myself without holding on. Secondly, I haven’t done any interval training in the past 3 to 4 months because of the hamstring. So who knows which contributed more to the decline?

The second thing I didn’t like was that I lost another 1.3 pounds of muscle and when I tried working out on the machines, I discovered that I have gone backwards since 2008 when I was last lifting heavier weights. That’s something I will have to address now. And when I pushed with the upper body, my right shoulder (very old injury) reminded me it was there so I’m going to have to go back to the red band exercises for my shoulders to build them back up.

Now all of that sounds like gloom and doom but some positives happened too. I got credit for one full push up. My goal has been to do at least two but this is the first time I got credit for even one. In the past 4 months I lost three and a half pounds and two pounds of that was fat. And I dropped a full percentage point in body fat, so I’m now down to 21.5% To put that in perspective, I was at 31.5% when I started exercising 4 years ago. That’s a huge difference. And at this point, any more change is REALLY hard to get. The range for women is 17 to 26% and at one time my trainer told me he’d be happy if I got to 25%. So there. . . . 

Today’s training session was tough. The ironic part is that again I burned exactly 591 calories. What is the chance of that happening two weeks in a row? (I realize that the calorie count isn’t actual but it should be reliable comparing on time to another.)

My listing is going to be a bit sketchy. My trainer was working from an already written plan and he didn’t add how much weight or how many reps and by time I’ve done a few of the exercises, I’m brain dead. I did get to have water more often than usual. And I went through all the exercises before going back to the beginning of the whole list and repeating them. I expect sore arms by tomorrow night.

10 step back lunges on each leg with an overhead press
timed sideways barrier jump: 4 quick steps in place and then jump to the side; repeat the 4 quick steps and jump back
in plank position: opposite arm and leg lift, 10 for each pair

timed squat with a chest pass of a weighted ball
10 or 12 lateral lunges alternating sides while holding a weight
20 oblique V ups on each side

20 deadlift presses
forward barrier jump (but I don’t know if I did this or what it was. Will have to ask)
inch worms: with feet on sliders bend down and put hands on floor, walk body into a plank with hands, then pull feet towards hands making my butt go back up. I did about six down and four back each time.

10 woodchoppers on each side with a 10# ball (the most I’ve done this with)
squat jumps holding a weight
20 scissors on an incline (the incline was lowered for the second set)

timed squat thrusts--walking through them the first half, jumping including arms in the air when standing up the second half
groucho walks timed (I have difficulty with these. I keep rounding my back and coming up out of the squat)
15 kneeling fly push ups with my hands on the sliders (I can’t get that far out to the sides)

jumping jacks . . . . and some other things that weren’t on the list but I don’t remember now.

Oops. When I logged my food tonight, I realized I went over my limit today. For some reason I was really hungry. . . .

It’s a good thing my exercise was ok. I did 33 minutes on the treadmill and 27 minutes on the treadmill for 420 calories which isn’t bad for me for essentially a “break” day. The other good thing was that I did 3 short running intervals at 4.5 mph, 5 mph and 5.9 mph all at 2 degrees. That’s the first time I felt good enough to try running in over three months.

Definitely a good thing and shows progress!  Yesterday, I was starving and just couldn’t get enough food.  Some days are worse than others on that—but they usually come when I have done more exercise!  I really have to get to logging my food consistently.  That’s been a battle for me.

Joan, I think I am going to try those step back lunges with overhead presses this week.  Sounds like a good one!

Hi Candi. Lock your elbows when the bar is overhead while you step back and then up again. I didn’t have any extra weight on the bar for that one. The bar was enough!

Today I kept my calories in the bottom half of my range so yesterday and today should average out ok. My weight is still static. I am trying to eat well.

My HR monitor lost contact today while I was on the bike so I’m using the bike’s calorie estimate. Between that and the free weights, today was about 300 calories. Not a lot but not bad considering it was the third day in a row and I ran even just a little bit yesterday. . . .So far no bad effects.

Today: 30 minutes on the bike, 25 kettle bell swings, 20 bozo squats with curls, 20 dips with leg raise for each leg, 1 minute of running man with 2.5# in each hand, 12 leg climbers on each leg, 15 bozo lunges each leg, 15 low-high lifts each side with 15#, 15 slides of leg out to side with each leg while in push up position, 15 assisted pull ups, 20 knees to chest on an incline, 1 minute of 4 squats and then a jump, 10 bobbing birds on each leg with 7.5#, 15 rows with 15#, 1 minute military march, and lots and lots of reps on the ADD ABD machine. The ADD/ABD was to work on my inner and outer leg muscles.

One of the things that struck me today was how hard the leg climbers were to begin with. I can remember grabbing my leg in two or three places before I could get my hands up to my extended foot. For quite a while now, I’m able to lift my torso up so I can touch my foot directly without having to grab my leg at all. . . . . Functional fitness!!

Today ended up being a rest day. I don’t know how I thought I’d find time to exercise today. I worked, we had an important appointment, and Mom invited us to dinner. It’s probably a good thing because I’m probably better off with a rest day after exercising for three days in a row. Now I can exercise on Friday and Saturday and then take Sunday off.

Today ended up being a rest day. I don’t know how I thought I’d find time to exercise today. I worked, we had an important appointment, and Mom invited us to dinner. It’s probably a good thing because I’m probably better off with a rest day after exercising for three days in a row. Now I can exercise on Friday and Saturday and then take Sunday off.

I did exercise on Friday. I did 10 minutes on the bike and then did 1 time through Monday’s session plus the first group a second time. Unfortunately, I forgot to stretch afterwards and I felt that today.

Today another trainer stretched me and I did the rest of the second time through Monday’s session. That really wasn’t much exercise but I ran out of time because the gym closes at noon on Saturday.

Well--my life has been somewhat crazy--hence the lack of posting--at least a lack for me.

By Sunday night my discomfort in my right leg had escalated into full blown pain. It doesn’t seem possible that just not stretching once could cause so much difficulty. I had to take meds to be able to sleep. I couldn’t get to the chiro in the morning so I went to my training session with definite limitations. (I was limping.) When I got to the chiro later in the day, my knee was out of alignment again. He realigned it and stretched me and I began to feel some improvement immediately. I’ve been stretching ever sense. Tuesday I subbed and then had two meetings so I didn’t get in any exercise. Tomorrow I’m supposed to sub for the morning but there’s supposed to be a huge snow storm. I was going to exercise in the early afternoon and then get a massage. I wouldn’t bet on any of it happening. At least my leg is still ok. Oh, but my triceps were really sore--but that’s a good thing.

Monday’s exercises: The first three groups were done twice. And I burned in the low 400s as far as calories went.

Group 1
10 walkouts on exercise ball
with neck on exercise ball in bridge position lift 8# ball overhead to touch knee, alternating knees; total 20 touches
30 scissors (counting each foot movement)
20 oblique raises on each side
25 kneeling push ups (20 second time)

Water

Group 2
20 bent rows with 35#
10 alternating shoulder presses with 10#
15 assisted pull ups with the setting at 16
8 in and out flies with 5# in each hand
20 heels to heaven

Water

Group 3
15 clean presses with 25#
10 push ups from the bar on the smith machine
15 pull ups from the same bar
20 wide leg sit ups (counting each touch of a foot)
10 leg climbers on each leg

Water

Group 4
15 lawnmowers with 15#
15 full supination curls with 10# (I forget what this is)
15 Y presses with 5#

Today: 1 hour 15 minutes total. About 10 minutes on the bike, 33 minutes on the elliptical, 30 minutes on the treadmill at 2 degrees and at 3.5 m.p.h. Calorie burn was in the 300s. Also 20 of each of the 4 red stretch band exercises for my shoulders. I can feel the right shoulder again as I do more with my upper body again.

Sorry to hear about your pain, Joan, and hoping you are well on your way to feeling 100% again.  I was never a stretcher, but have been incorporating it in after my cardio workouts in the morning this past week.  It just feels soooooo good.  I guess the older I get, the more important stretching is going to be.  Of course, it’s equally as important when we are younger—it’s just that the body can take so much more of the abuse we heap on it in our younger years until .... it doesn’t one time! 

Feel better, lady.  BTW, you’re still doing an admirable workout!

Judy, I never was a stretcher either--and look where it got me eventually! So I’m glad you’ve started.

I didn’t get in any “real” exercise today but I did expend energy “manhandling” the snow blower around on the driveway. Now my shoulder is flared a bit more. In between I sat around a lot today so my knee felt better this morning than it does tonight but I have stretched.

Today was a bit ironic. We’re in the middle of the nor’easter. The weather channel kept giving reports from Binghamton, NY which is the small city just east of here. I ended up canceling my massage. I’ve gotten either afraid or smart or a bit of both in the past year or two. I just couldn’t imagine driving down off our hill for a massage. Meanwhile, I was nervous about my husband getting home from work tonight. He got out at 8 and did make it home at 8:30. I had just gotten enough of the driveway cleared for him for the third time today. (Now it’s blown in again.) I can’t count how many times over the past 40 years I’d be home in bad weather because school would close, but he’d head out to the pharmacy. Today I was supposed to sub, but school was canceled. Meanwhile today was his last regular day of work. He’s working on Saturday as a favor to the scheduler, but he’s officially retiring as of Feb 28th. We haven’t had a major storm in the past year so who would expect one on his next to last day????