<p>So you freak out (I don’t know anyone who’s done that recently, ahem… 
), and then you get over it and enjoy. :)</p>
<p>I think that is generally correct about the elliptical settings. When I am using the elliptical it is because I am too injured to run. Therefore, I stay flat and with low enough resistance that I can maintain a cadence like my running. This is what makes me feel like I am running. Actually, I suspect I am not quite hitting my running cadence. I am picky about which ellipticals I like, too. I don’t want to feel like I am climbing stairs. I’m not big on the arm part and pretty much let my arms go along for the rice.</p>
<p>Pres. Bush just had his physical at Cooper’s and they found a blockage. He had a stent procedure this morning and is fine. I miss Cooper’s. Used to see George W there all the time. Dr. Cooper is still his personal physician.</p>
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<p>Do you know what the ones you like are called, MOWC, or can you describe more about what they look like? This is why I don’t use an elliptical very often. In order to make it feel like a natural step on the type I’ve tried, I lift my heel for part of the step so I don’t have that going uphill feeling (yes, even on the flat setting). I think there is another type of two available there that I haven’t tried yet. You’re saying some ellipticals are better than others?</p>
<p>I was afraid you would ask me that! I think the ones I like are LifeFitness and the ones I don’t like are Precor. It’s not that Precor isn’t good- it’s just that the others feel more like running to me. I also like the AMT by Precor (I think it’s called) which is similar to the ARC trainer by Cybex. The ARC is really well-liked but it seemed to bother my injury more than the AMT. I like spin class better than any of them, but it didn’t always work out for me. </p>
<p>If I were retired, here is what I would do. 30-35 miles of running (maybe more leading up to a marathon), hot yoga once or twice a week and weights 2-3 times a week. Maybe substitute a swim once a week in summer for one of the yogas. </p>
<p>One of the former Vanderbilt basketball players- a really big young man (well, duh) from Cameroon who I adore replied to a tweet I wrote about my marathon on Sunday and asked “Did you really run for almost 5 hours?” I thought that was nice and goes to show we all have out “thing”. I’m in all of his strength and skill on the court, and he can’t imagine running for a long time!</p>
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<p>I’m fine with not keeping score. I just don’t even know the basics! I am ashamed to admit that the last time I tried to do this, I was around 20 or so, and my boyfriend (now husband) decided to teach me tennis, and when I couldn’t hit the ball effortlessly (or at all), I stomped around, threw a temper tantrum, stormed off the court, and decided tennis was stupid. This is the same reason I didn’t learn to ride a bike as a kid – my parents tried to teach me, I threw a temper tantrum, and they gave up. Not my finest moments, that’s for sure.</p>
<p>I think that’s one reason I am pushing myself to do this burlesque dance class – because there is a life lesson in it for me that it’s ok not to be good at something, but just enjoy trying it and having some fun. Let’s hear it for maturity!!</p>
<p>3.5 mile run, 3.3 of it running. Planks and some glute stuff. My cat is becoming a nuisance. Lucky for him he’s cute.</p>
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<p>Hah. Hah. The nickname is my fault. CJANE bought a workout book from a personal trainer named Brett Contreras who is making a name for himself on the internet by promoting himself as “The Glute Guy”. Specifically, he is staking a claim to fame on an exercise that involves hoisting a heavy barbell up with your hips:</p>
<p>[Hip</a> Thrust Instructional Video - YouTube](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCm-70-9_XE&list=TLjdQPXj1-jjI]Hip”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCm-70-9_XE&list=TLjdQPXj1-jjI)</p>
<p>I coined the moniker “well-meaning idiot” because his heart’s in the right place, he means well, but he just happens to be an incorrigible meathead. 90% of what he preaches is pretty good and then he completely undoes it all when his inner meathead pops up with crazy exercises like jerking a heavy barbell up with your hips or an article about how it’s really OK to do rounded back deadlifts and spin guru Stuart McGill must be wrong about spine injuries… He’s mostly just trying to promote himself by being controversial.</p>
<p>Just back from vacation in gorgeous Sleeping Bear Dunes area. Truly one of the most beautiful places! Great fun, exercised like crazy and ate too much. Good thing I worked out. </p>
<p>I am the least athletic person I know and my family would back me up. A couple of years ago my H, my D and a co worker of my H’s and his wife and I took group golf lessons. They weren’t too expensive and it was an easy way to have confidence in playing golf. You can ask around at driving ranges or a public golf course, we have found that many places will have group lessons. I’m not great at golf but my H and I will go out. </p>
<p>This is how it goes. I wait and my H tees off. I tee off and then I hit and hit and hit and then H hits. Repeat. I chip when I want and putt sometimes and instead of keeping score I decide if it’s a good hole or a bad one. H is happy to share something with me. I do play with others sometimes but I feel bad when I play in an outing. Frankly women can only help with chirping and putting and I can’t do either, the men just hit it so much further. Buts it’s fun and it’s social. My SIL does the same with tennis.</p>
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<p>Deb, I’m with you! My dad offered me to play with his group a couple weeks ago. Dad’s not a great golfer, but he’s good enough to go out and play a handful of times a month. </p>
<p>We’ve played twice now. But I do the same thing. I don’t worry about the score so much (because it’d be high!) but instead try to think about the good hits.</p>
<p>Idad </p>
<p>I’m thinking of backing off the running the next month or two and want to focus more on strength, building muscle. I want to continue with the track circuit. The gold medalist in my recent race that beat me lets say had more muscle mass than I did/do . (My son said he was jacked and that’s why I lost!)</p>
<p>I’m not wanting to look like “Arnold” but definitely think that I need to build more lean muscle. I do some strength and weight routines now. I’m just looking for your idea on a 2-3 week routine to build upper/lower lean muscle. Kettle balls, weight are good no TRX. Thanks</p>
<p>Yeah. 200 meter sprinters definitely don’t look like marathoners:</p>
<p>[Usain</a> Bolt](<a href=“http://june12post.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/usain-bolt.jpg]Usain”>http://june12post.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/usain-bolt.jpg)</p>
![http://june12post.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/usain-bolt.jpg]Usain](http://june12post.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/usain-bolt.jpg%5DUsain){kind=link}
<p>The only thing I know about sprinting is that is all about delivering maximum power to the ground. Complete opposite of distance running which is all about efficiency. So strength and power training is definitely the way to go. At Mike Boyle’s and Athletes Performance and other gyms that train players for the NFL draft combine, where they are timed in a 30 yard dash, they do a lot of “sled work”:</p>
<p>[Sled</a> March - YouTube](<a href=“Sled March - YouTube”>Sled March - YouTube)
[SLED</a> MBSC - YouTube](<a href=“SLED MBSC - YouTube”>SLED MBSC - YouTube)</p>
<p>All kinds of explosive power exercises would be good, but especially kettlebell swings where you are using the hips and glutes to accelerate a heavy weight. Box jumps – jumping up on top of a box and then stepping down is also good. Olympic lifting (as opposed to powerlifting) is all about power, too. Unfortunately, those lifts all require a lot of skill and probably aren’t good for geezers to learn.</p>
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<p>I use a very simple template for workouts:</p>
<p>**Warm up exercises: **
all the stuff that makes my creaky ol’ joints work better. Stretches, agility, bodyweight lunges, rotation, etc.</p>
<p>**Core exercises: **
A couple of exercises specificially targeting core stabilty. This week is plank/side plank, ab wheel rollouts, and pallof press), but it could be anything.</p>
<p>**Power exercises: **
A couple of exercises specifically to work on power and explosiveness. Yesterday was medicine ball overhead slams and box jumps.</p>
<p>Strength
Four strenth exercises: one upper body pull (chinup), one squat, one upper body push (DB bench press), one dead lift (glutes/hip hinge). I usually do them on as two supersets consisting of one upper body and one lower body. So I’ll do three sets of one pair and then three sets of the second pair.</p>
<p>Once you have the template, you can plug in whatever exercises you like. And then try to vary the reps per set. Do a couple of weeks of 12 to 15 rep sets (requiring a lighter weight) and then a couple weeks of 6 to 8 rep sets (requiring a heavier weight). Never lift a weight that you can’t manage for 6 reps (to prevent injury).</p>
<p>I’d probably recommend getting a copy of New Rules of Lifting for Life. This gives three month-long workout programs based on this template with a Chinese menu of options for each exercise slot, so you can pick your own exercises from a list – from basic to advanced versions.</p>
<p>It’s really easy if you download the free workout spreadsheets. One page spreadsheet for each workout, with all the options listed, so you can just print it out and fill in the exercises you’ve chosen.</p>
<p>[Werkit</a> Workout Logs: New Rules of Lifting for Life](<a href=“http://werkit.com/programs/nrol4life]Werkit”>http://werkit.com/programs/nrol4life)</p>
<p>Score! Found my next pair of Mizuno Wave Creation running shoes for $75 today. They even look okay, bonus. ;)</p>
<p>Stretch/strength/core on the docket for sometime in the next few hours.</p>
<p>Neighborhood 5K walk/jog on a glorious cool, dry summer afternoon. Warmed up on the first half (mostly uphill) and then did some longer 2 minute and 3 minute running intervals.</p>
<p>Sleeping Bear Dunes is a great vacation spot! Climbing those dunes definitely gets the heart rate up!</p>
<p>Time was short, but squeezed in 2ish mile run tonight - felt kind of huffy and puffy afterwards - have had better runs for sure!!!</p>
<p>Sleeping Bear Dunes looks beautiful! Walking up sand dunes would definitely kick my butt.</p>
<p>[Diet</a> Companies Get Savvier to Draw More Men - WSJ.com](<a href=“http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323420604578650320108482876.html]Diet”>http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323420604578650320108482876.html)</p>
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<p>Given that Mr. Samuel started at 290 pounds (and presumably not as a large-size athlete like a sumo wrestler or football player), that seems to indicate that he basically didn’t care that he was fat until one day he decided that he did not want to be fat and committed to reducing or eliminating the problem.</p>
<p>I think that men definitely have an easier time losing weight than women do. Part of it is not having the hormonal hill to climb. And, an easier time preserving lean muscle. And, being larger to start with, we can get into a bigger caloric deficit without trashing our metabolisms. And, probably less hammered by the low-fat dogma that can get in the way of easy dieting. I know, for me, just cutting the junk food produced motivating diet results.</p>
<p>Hey, Ohio, what about throwing in some airdyne intervals?
I suspect they’d be awesome for a sprinter and would help with that “explosive power” plus resistance thing.</p>
<p>I have not sprinted since high school, but I have “sprinter” legs (its genetic…my mom was a figure skater who had me instead of going pro…lots of leg muscle in our family). I know muscle memory is involved but even ten minutes of intervals a few times a week notably restores definition to my leg muscles.</p>
<p>Even when 40 lbs fatter, sedentary, and with a beer in hand, as a joke I drafted for my iron marathon athletic trainer friend on her 20th mile which happened to be in front of my house…for about a 100 yards 
She was actually surprised…and possibly alarmed that I would need immediate medical attention! (It cheered her up enough to get her moving to make first in her age group Thanks for the legs, mom!</p>
<p>Up early and did three sets of bicep/tricep, shoulder, chest exercises with light DBs. Walk later today.</p>
<p>Idad - i have the new rules for lifting abs. Will that work?</p>