<p>idad - we do those leg raises the same way you described. I find them tough due to my tight hamstrings. Some days are better than others.</p>
<p>Back to the basement:</p>
<p>Warm up (1 x 6)
Rear foot elevated hip flexor
Quadruped hip extension
Single leg hip lift
Quadruped thoracic rotation
Squat to Stand
Ankle mobility
Band assisted leg lowering
Big X walk
Walking lunges w knee hug
Carioca
Lateral shuffle</p>
<p>Core
TRX plank & side plank
Stability ball birddog
Stability ball toe touch</p>
<p>Power
Med ball slam
Box jumps</p>
<p>Strength 1 (3 x 8)
DB front squat
3 pt row</p>
<p>Strength 2 (3 x 8)
Single leg deadlift
TRX pushup with hold</p>
<p>Finisher (3 x 12)
Squat jumps</p>
<p>Felt like a pretty good workout to finish off a good week of fitness/exercise. Good to get back in the saddle, although it was tempting to take a second day off. I also did some crawling around folding and packing tents and stuff after airing out in the sun this afternoon. It is just impossible to get camping stuff put away properly in the middle of a campsite when it’s all damp from the morning dew.</p>
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<p>Yeah. I have gained several degrees of extra leg raise at the top, so it is paying off. The random workout program I found on the internet had them as a warmup without the band assistance on the up leg. That was an ab killer.</p>
<p>I have come to realize that doing fewer reps of exercises like that is actually better because I can do really 6 good slow solid rep instead trying to grit my teeth and gut out 12 reps that get progressively worse.</p>
<p>Sushi… good. Running 5 miles after eating sushi… bad. Pretty stupid, actually. :)</p>
<p>hey bunsen, at least you didn’t run after eating cake. There’s a lot worse things to run after than sushi!</p>
<p>Rock climbing today. I feel like I’m getting stronger, less sore, and a little more adventurous. Funny, I was thinking it was spelled “adventuress”, but when I googled that it said, " A woman who seeks social and financial advancement by unscrupulous means."</p>
<p>No, that’s not what I meant! I seem to be doing physical chores that I would have just left for my husband to do. Willing to try more difficult things. Interesting that doing something a little scary and challenging physically can change your life in other ways.</p>
<p>Going to the gym this morning after 3 days off. Diet was under control.</p>
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<p>That’s an interesting observation! I think it’s very true. You sort of feel like maybe you can handle things you might not have been able to before. I think that’s part of why I do some of these crazy marathons.</p>
<p>I know it sounds soooooo trite and i hate this word but I felt really empowered when I ran my first 5k. Because it told me that the box I had put myself in (not athletic, not capable) was of my own making.</p>
<p>…these types of insights are I think one of the best “gains” from “losing.”</p>
<p>And hey, never mind the google-spin on being an adventuress…scruples are highly overrated :)</p>
<p>Cooker, I haven’t been to Montreal for far too many years, but I must say during my brief months of living there this (with a lot of wine added) pretty much sums up my recollection of Montreal:
</p>
<p>Sigh. I loved that city.</p>
<p>Pizzagirl, cheers to short sleeves and shorts! My goal for 2014 is to not look like a complete idiot in a bikini. It’s still a pretty ambitious goal, and lately I’ve been having some arthritic-related setbacks. The latest one was from in retrospect an idiotic attempt to do flys in the pool with underwater weights. I now suspect that it is not a stable motion to do so with vigor when wearing a floatation belt in deep water.</p>
<p>Somehow I popped a rib, which made breathing exceptionally painful, and which also led to my first trip to a Chiro in 12 years. Fortunately, said Chiro is a friend whose up to speed on my issues and who, after some careful massage at his clinic, was able to get it back in without too much facet joint tinkering. It has made me a bit skittish with my plans to kick up my exercise routine. I am beginning to feel that my “safest” options involve the airdyne, the hill with ski poles etc. and basically things with built-in stability. For the pool, I think I need to stick with straight aquajogging and my diving board chin ups, which again, are stable. </p>
<p>Pizzagirl, if you’re looking for a hike that’s also a nice, if long drive, check out Ise Royale – I’m in western Michigan and some of my friends go there for hike/campouts.</p>
<p>Here’s a link to trail guides…they do the five-day trail but you need to be pretty organized to manage such rustic backpacking:
[Isle</a> Royale National Park - Hiking and Backpacking Trails - Michigan Trail Maps](<a href=“http://michigantrailmaps.com/IsleRoyale/IsleRoyaleIntro.html]Isle”>http://michigantrailmaps.com/IsleRoyale/IsleRoyaleIntro.html)</p>
<p>I think the moment for me was when I started thinking of myself as a “fit” guy. That’s certainly different from thinking of yourself as “unfit” – like when I was overweight and huffing and puffin’ from the cigarettes. But, it’s also different from not thinking about it, either way. It changes/reinforces decisions in the grocery store: “Fit guys don’t eat that crap…” And, it changes thinking about physical activity: “Why can’t I go snowshoeing?”</p>
<p>“That’s an interesting observation! I think it’s very true. You sort of feel like maybe you can handle things you might not have been able to before. I think that’s part of why I do some of these crazy marathons.”</p>
<p>If one could run a marathon, and in a decent time (not crawling on hands and knees the last five miles), I think that person might be able to try anything.</p>
<p>"I think the moment for me was when I started thinking of myself as a “fit” guy. That’s certainly different from thinking of yourself as “unfit”</p>
<p>I’ll bet that totally changes your life. I imagine there an entire psychology behind this.</p>
<p>Trying not to let this derail me (so very easy for me to let happen)
My incredibly cheap, employer subsidized, 2miles from home health club is closing end of August. Other gym options are either too far to get me to actually go and/or three times the cost. Looking for solution for Sept when my summer lap swims end.</p>
<p>Thinking of finding a craigslist elliptical for home. It’s the main thing I use at gym.
Any ideas, warnings from you folks in the know here?
Have room in former DS bedroom, not interested or able in purchasing new high end machine.</p>
<p>idad- did you give up cigarettes and begin weight loss and fitness at the same time?</p>
<p>Musicmom, some more possibilities for your home gym: a stability ball, resistance bands, and dbs.</p>
<p>31 min run w/a break in between.</p>
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<p>No. Quit smoking Feb 2008. Started exercising and losing weight on Feb 2010.</p>
<p>The two were connected in that I knew many of the tricks I learned in breaking my nicotine junkie drug addiction would probably work for fat loss. The most important trick is to stay focused on short-term victories (one day without a cigarette, losing five pounds) and not letting the enormity of the challenge (never taking another puff, losing 50+ pounds) become a psychological barrier. To quit smoking, you have start by not smoking today. To lose 90 pounds, you have to lose the first five… Celebrating regular wins (time quit, pounds lost, etc.) is hugely motivating. I still have a “quit counter” app running on my computer, although I haven’t checked it in a couple of years. Let’s see…it’s here somewhere. Oh… here it is. Hah – it says that I’m celebrating 2000 days without smoking today… good day to check! :)</p>
<p>I also knew that I needed to dive into it in an active way – learning, staying focused daily (through participating in a forum like this one), reinforcing the mental changes (thiking like a non-smoker or a fit person). That’s huge in not letting it all lapse along the way. That’s why I bought the initial iPod workout program and got into a routine of Mon/Wed/Fri workouts and why I was happy to spend some money on the Airdyne (and later, home gym stuff).</p>
<p>And, of course, it would have been impossible to start exercising while still smoking. I could barely walk to the mailbox without huffin’ and puffin’. I never planned to actually get fit or athletic. I just wanted to lose 12 pounds to get started and eventually walk a mile without getting winded. The fit thing came about a year later when I had lost 70 pounds and the workouts I was doing were starting to have an effect.</p>
<p>mommusic:</p>
<p>Have you got a Planet Fitness around? They run sales a couple times a year when you can sign up for $10 a month, no commitment, quit at any time. Not the greatest gym in the world, but they have plenty of Cybex ellipticals and enough other stuff to get a good workout. I’m sure the ambience varies from location to location… The one I used was fine.</p>
<p>mommusic, you might ask the gym if they are interested in selling one of those ellipticals you have been using. I got a screaming deal on a high quality spin bike when my former gym was upgrading their stuff. (Now actually using it is another topic entirely…)</p>
<p>Mom music, is there a park district option? Where I live, all the park districts have gyms and they are reasonable cost to people who live in their villages. They aren’t glamorous gyms, but they do the trick.</p>
<p>You might also want to check w your health insurer - they sometimes have deals or arrangements with chains.</p>
<p>LSD today 6-7 miles. Going to concentrate on building a mileage base for the remainder if the year.</p>
<p>Sprint Intervals/Track Work question</p>
<p>I am planning to incorporate more sprints into my workouts/ become more structured in my approach to them.
I’d like to track my progress as to speed over distance. What should my initial distances look like? I have no idea, since I have been just going by time 30 seconds to 1 minute.</p>
<p>I will be having some one hold a stop watch and give me general advice as to form. Any feedback on how to get the most of this is appreciated. I am not planning to give ohio or the other racers here a run for their money, but would like to make getting faster over short distance one of my goals.</p>