Diet/Exercise/Health/Wellness Support Thread

Parent Cafe
20741

<p>I’m trying to keep myself focused sufficiently on my fitness and nutrition to keep on keeping on!</p>

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<p>New Rules of Lifting for Life for me tonight. Back to the basement, and a little warmup outside. I’ve been doing these same workouts for a couple months now and it’s interesting to see how they change. I did the best chin ups I’ve ever done tonight. Not the most – three sets of 4 – but good solid chin ups from full extension all the way up to the bar, with no flailing around to get the last rep. Still plugging away at the single leg squats. Maybe it’s easier for some folk, but that one is still crazy hard for me.</p>

20742

<p>interesteddad, single leg squats are a lot about technique and core stabilization. I can leg press 5x my body weight in a set of 12-15 reps and yet single leg squats are my nemesis. Keep persevering, you’ll get it. Also, be careful about full extensions on pull ups. Real easy to hyper extend and tear up soft tissue where the inside of your elbow and forearm meet. Always end your range of motion with a very slight bend in your arm to avoid injury.</p>

20743

<p>Finally made it back to the gym after a four-day hiatus, and it was wonderful. Then I came home and packed seven boxes. The movers come on Wednesday and I’m freaking. There is still stuff to pack. There is always more stuff to pack.</p>

20744

<p>^ If and when I ever move, I plan to start by first packing up a 40 cu. yd. dumpster. Or two.</p>

20745

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<p>Especially because I’m doing them on an unstable surface – the 4-inch padded top of my weight bench, so the free leg can just dangle. It’s a crazy stability challenge because the hip has to stabilize my entire body weight in three dimensions. It’s a terrific exercise.</p>

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<p>I had nightmares about packing! It does eventually end, though. Just a few more days!</p>

20746

<p>Run/walk tonight. 3 intervals 4:1 and a 10 minute walk home…</p>

20747

<p>notrichenough, we did that. Multiple trips to the dump. Gazillion trips to Goodwill. But 25 years in a house . . . </p>

<p>I mean, really – “participation” trophies from my 27-year-old’s soccer team in 3rd grade – what does one do with this stuff?? Oh, don’t worry, I know what to do with it – but it never ends!!</p>

<p>Back to your regularly scheduled programming: It’s been very good exercise. :)</p>

20748

<p>^We have boxes of D’s trophies/ribons/medals. We will never throw it away. But they go to her house whenever she is in her own house. Her team records are still stnading, all 15 of them and they are 15 years old, amazing! She is not in sport in any capacity at all. Maybe she will have time at some point of her life.<br>
We cannot move at all because of amount of junk. Basically, it is like in electorinc store, lots of everything, including big screen TV’s, computers, printers,…etc. If we ever buy another house, I do not think we will sell this one.<br>
I have done my share of trashing stuff for my in-laws. I was in between jobs. It was a full time job, at least 8 hours every day for many many days. I love to throw things away though. It is physically exhausting and mentally rewarding to get rid of stuff, very satisfying.
VeryHappy, congrats on being done!</p>

20749

<p>I had my first private swim lesson yesterday to refine my strokes and perhaps join the masters swimmers at our club. They get up too early for me though. Pondering it.</p>

20750

<p>sewhappy, I am considering joining my gym’s masters swim team, as well. They meet in the evening, though, which I don’t like. Wanna trade?</p>

20751

<p>^I am swimming for 1.5 hrs every day, not a swimmer though, no team, I would not be able to keep up. But I love it. We belong to 2 places, so I swim outside in a summer and inside in other seasons.</p>

20752

<p>Didn’t workout Friday and Saturday - I think that I came down with a cold on Friday. Unfortunately I had a ton of chores to do and am still getting caught up with routine maintenance stuff. Works is very busy too.</p>

<p>Sunday - stretching and weights
Monday - 3 miles
Tuesday (today) 1 3/4 hours of tennis. Split sets 6-7 (8), 6-2. I had a lot of trouble serving and served two double faults in the first game which I lost. This is against the good player that I play against. In general, I felt pretty good but haven’t played in about five weeks so I had some technique and timing issues. The stamina is still there and that’s why I won the second set so easily. One thing about Rafael Nadal, it can be three hours into the match and he still running around on the court jumping about as if he could go on for several more hours.</p>

<p>It’s beautiful just driving around in Southern NH this week. I think that the colors are not quite as bright as they could be but that’s usually related to the amount of water.</p>

<p>I’m at 485 miles for the year and just need an easy 15 by the end of the year. That should be pretty easy to do.</p>

20753

<p>I am still so sore and tired. </p>

<p>There are two rowing machines placed closely side by side at the gym I work out these days. While I was about 8 minutes into my rowing, a young lady got on the other one. My EGO took over and wrote a check my arms could not cash. The rest, as they said, is the history.</p>

20754

<p>TRX and kettle bell workout today (45 minutes) and then did 45 minutes on the elliptical. Felt strong and happy that I didn’t have any neck pain. </p>

<p>I’m one of those people who gets bored quickly. I need to do different types of exercise to stay motivated. Noticed a small group boxing class today at my gym–all women. They were running up and down the gym stairs, jumping rope, hitting boxing bags, and a bunch of other stuff. Looked hard–but I thought it might be something I’d like to try. It’s not a drop-in class, which means it costs extra and you have to commit to 8 weeks. </p>

<p>IDad–definitely take one of the less-traveled trails up Monadnock. Even on weekdays there are tons of school groups going up the mountain. I’ve gone up some of the less-traveled trails and they’re much more enjoyable.</p>

20755

<p>Interesteddad, thanks for the info on LDL-P. Will have to ask about that when I see my primary. My last cholesterol panel was LDL 46, HDL 33, trigylcerides 149 (which still falls in the normal range, barely) and overall cholesterol 109. </p>

<p>Have broken through my long weight plateau and am losing again, despite indulging in the amazing BBQ my dad made last weekend for a family reunion. Saw the cardiologist last week and she is thrilled with my progress, but no echo until the beginning of December, so don’t know if my ejection fraction has improved to the point where I can take on more exercise. </p>

<p>Have to say I do like the rowing machine I’m on at cardio rehab – it is paring inches away! Will be staying with the cardio rehab courses and doing the graduate program after I finish the 12-week course in November. Would also like to learn contradancing, but will need dr. clearance for that. Will also need functioning shoulders – suspect I am headed to PT for that, as they have not improved despite targeted work in cardio rehab.</p>

20756

<p>Michael…</p>

<p>I have some questions for you.</p>

<p>When you are riding your 70 miles and burning 3900 calories, how many calories per hour are you buring, or how many mph per hour are you biking? What is your rpm?</p>

20757

<p>DadII, I learned long time ago to race my own race (comes from too much hanging out around some very athletic kiddos). Hope your arms recover quickly.</p>

<p>I feel like a total slug - I have not done anything exercisewise in 3 days, not counting my weights/pushups. Argh. I have a really strong urge to put my running shoes on and sprint out of the front door, but Mr B asked me to join him in the exercise room for another debate watching session.</p>

20758

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<p>The White Cross trail going up is one of the popular ones, but I’m hoping on a weekday morning, it won’t be too bad. The trail coming down should be OK.</p>

<p>Since I’m always the slowest one on the mountain, the crowds don’t bother me. Just a good excuse to stop, let people pass, and catch my breath!</p>

<p>I was finally faster than somebody last weekend. Two middle aged women had read the guidebooks about Welch Dickey being an “easy family hike” and discovered, as I did a few months ago, that even “easy family hikes” in the White Mountains will kick your ass if it’s the first time you’ve hiked in a couple of decades.</p>

<p>There’s a lot of that in the Monadnock trip reports. I’m expecting a pretty steep, rocky climb. I follow Bunsen Burner’s advice. I’ll race my own race!</p>

20759

<p>Ok, slugfest is over. I ran 4.1 miles. I feel so much better, my BP is 90/65 after the run (despite watching the presidential candidates bash each other during the run). :)</p>

20760

<p>“When you are riding your 70 miles and burning 3900 calories, how many calories per hour are you buring, or how many mph per hour are you biking? What is your rpm?”</p>

<p>dstark, the answers to your questions can vary dependent on the mixture of flats and hills on the ride and who I am riding with. There are formulas out there that base the caloric calculation on weight, time and pace. I have a Garmin cycling GPS/bike computer on one of my bikes and I programmed it with my body weight. It measures heart rate, wattage, distance, speed, cadence, riding time and % grade of the road but frankly, I’m not sure exactly how it factors in all of those measures to come up with the calories burned. I was using that bike on the ride in question that I posted about and took the calories from the Garmin.</p>

<p>Depending on who I am riding with, my speed on the flats can range from a sustained 18-24 mph with periods higher at times. I try to keep my cadence on flats at between 92-105. On hills, depending on how steep and long the hill and how beat up I am, my speed can range from 10-20 mph and my cadence from the high 60’s to low 90’s. There’s a world of difference for me between a half mile 18-20% grade that I might ride at 10-12 mph and a 1 1/2 mile 5% grade that I might ride at 16-20 mph. In general, my average speeds on my rides range from upper 15’s to low 19’s.</p>

<p>On the ride I posted about, there were a load of challenging hills including steep long climbs and rollers for about half the ride. I was riding with some slower riders so our average pace was low 15’s. According to the Garmin, I burned an average of 840+ calories an hour. </p>

<p>I think, however, that the most important metrics in determining calories burned on a bike are body weight, speed and duration. It’s all about the amount of work being done. Body weight is a constant. The variables are speed and duration. If distance and route are held as constants, I don’t think that you burn off more calories doing a 20 mile ride in an hour than if you do it in 2 hours. You have still moved the same weight over the same distance under the same conditions. The intensity i.e. speed (other than differences in the training effect) just impacts on the efficiency of time utilization. Throw in hills and you change the conditions, requiring more energy consumption to move the same distance, but other than that, a ride is a ride over a given distance and will burn the same calories regardless of speed, I think, all other things being equal.</p>

<p>P.S. Just found an interesting link discussing how various Garmin devices calculate calories burned. <a href=“http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2010/11/how-calorie-measurement-works-on-garmin.html[/url]”>http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2010/11/how-calorie-measurement-works-on-garmin.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;