JYM - I applaud your new fitness focus. Keep us updated on your progress. I love success stories.
Thanks, everyone. I will probably be sore tomorrrow!! I shoul probably start with reading the manual that came with the elliptical!
Reasonable sore is ok! I mean, you want to still be able to walk and bend and that kind of thing, but some soreness is generally ok!
Jym, 2 miles in 20 minutes? That’s a good pace!
I am in NYC. Walked 23,600 steps today. 17k+ yesterday. My knees are not happy, but the rest if me is.
. It was a run/walk. But wait… that doesn’t sound right-- I think I only did a mile and a half on the treadmill. I know it was 20 minutes, becuase that was my goal for each machine. But I am pretty sure I didnt make that pace.
I walk decently fast - if I do a mile 14 mins or slightly under (not on a machine, but on pavement) that’s a pretty good clip.
That’s a hefty step count CD! Are you enjoying the city???
CD,
Did you walk from Central Park to Battery Park and back???
Great job, CD! People who live and/or work in cities do walk a lot! I average about 2 miles a day, because I hate to wait for the crowded city buses - it is faster and much more enjoyable to walk up and down the hills, even when it rains (ever sat next to a wet dog on a bus?). 
When we go to Europe, we walk 5-7 or sometimes even 10 miles a day…
Well, my exercise will be a core set that I will do as soon as we get home…
33rd St to 92nd, then 92nd to 76th, 45th to 33rd, plus some crosstown blicks, meandering in central Park, and schlepping through the PATH station.
My usual treadmill pace is 3-3.3 mph, somewhat faster when I’m on the streets. I need new walking sneakers
Tomorrow I am meeting a CCer for brunch at 33rd, and may wind up walking to 116th by the time I’m done. Have a wedding to attend in the evening. Depending on the timing, I may bus about 25 blocks. We’ll see how the knees are doing.
So last night I completed week 11 of the beginner’s parallettes program I’ve been doing. 1 more week to complete which will be a repeat of week 11: linking all of the movements together into a continuous flow routine, repeated 5x. When I started out, I had great trepedation about “abandoning” traditional weight lifting and as a result I did the parallettes program 2x per week instead of 3x and did 1x week weight lifting instead, thereby causing me to take longer than 8 weeks to get through the first 8 weeks of the program. Starting with program week 9, I did the parallettes the full 3x per week. From the outset, after each parallettes workout I’ve been doing 3 sets of chin ups, 3 sets of dips and 3 sets of some other bicep exercise using Dumbbells or a curl bar. I’ve progressed with the chin ups and dips to hanging 20 lbs on me using a dip belt.
The results have being very interesting. First and foremost, for the first time in months, I am not experiencing any shoulder pain that had been caused by heavy bench pressing and cable flys. The spots in my anterior shoulder capsule that were exquisitely sensitive to pressure when palpated are no longer reactive at all. I am working out totally pain free. The impact on my strength has been interesting too. On one hand, I am not as strong on bench presses as I had been. On the other hand, my core is stronger than its been in 30 years because of the emphasis on core work inherent in parallettes movements. In addition, while my bench pressing is “weaker”, last night I ended my workout with a few sets of TRX full body suspension chest presses with both my hands and feet suspended. In the past, that exercise had been challenging. Now, it’s surprisingly easy to the point where 3 sets of 12 reps feels more like a warmup. I also did some sets of 1 arm oblique position TRX bicep curls and felt much stronger doing them than in the past. I then did a couple of sets of push-ups with my hands on the parallette bars and my feet on a stability ball just to see how that felt. Hard but manageable with good core stability control of the ball. Some surprising outcomes here. Cosmetically, the results have been interesting too. My wife tells me that my arms and shoulder musculature look more supple rather than bulky. While I have not added size, the engagement of muscle groups while performing movement is noticeable. All of this has been quite an experience both physically and psychologically as I’ve forced myself to redefine my concepts of muscular fitness away from a traditional weight lifter’s model to one based on compound body movement.
Next up will be 3 months of the intermediate level parallettes program which, if I’m successful, will end with me doing flows from various types of L-Sit and straddle positions into shoulder stands. Along the way, I’ll experiment with more difticult body weight training for my post parallettes routine workout. Then come spring time, I’ll move to outdoors rings training and my back yard obstacle course. This is all so much fun! :).
So I downloaded the app that is supposed to go with the elliptical and it seem to expect that I have their brand of wrist tracker. Um, nope.
@jym626, what brand of elliptical is it? Is there any reason you can’t just use a Polar heart rate strap or are you looking for a way to sync heart rate transmission done by grips on the elliptical with a device that you wear so that you can record and log your workout?
Michael- you are really nailing this training.
6K race on a really hilly course. I thought I would die- or quit. It’s 3.72 miles. It was 31 degrees and I overdressed a little. I struggled to see ok since I have to wear my glasses for now. I didn’t want to fall. A minute faster than last year at least.
Glad you didn’t fall. Always better to be cautious than fall!
MK, so impressive! I love how you evaluate not just the exercise but everything around it. So interesting to read your analysis.
Its this, michaelnkat http://www.ellipticalreviewguru.com/proform-elliptical-reviews/proform-endurance-720e-elliptical-review/ We were going to buy a higher end elliptical (the brand escapes me at the moment) but this was a gift. They do have a trainer so I will look into that. There are lots of options for courses and such on the screen.
I love it MOWC, a year older and a minute faster! Makes ya want to grin, doesn’t it? Read an interesting commentary last night written by a very hardcore power lifter. The commentary was addressed to other power lifters and the topic was how power lifters and other weight lifters often look down their noses at endurance athletes. The upshot was “if you power lifters think you are badass tough guys because you can exert maximum effort for 10 repetitions, then you don’t have a clue; the real badasses are the endurance athletes who will exert maximum effort for 10 miles. Serious endurance athletes are mentally and physically the toughest athletes around.”
@jym626, it seems that the Proform is Bluetooth compatible but promotes using IFit products. If you can find out if the Proform is Bluetooth 4.0 compatible, then a world of options opens up to you for heart rate monitoring and logging of your workouts. As I mentioned before, the Wahoo TickRx is one of the coolest hr straps out there. Is both Bluetooth 4.0 and ANT+ compatible so it links with a ton of devices. There are free apps available for smart phones and Wahoo’s is very good. Plus it has a built in memory so that you don’t have to carry your device while exercising. Just wear the strap, it records the session and you sync the strap later with your phone or other device. Or you can just use the programs built into the Proform but you won’t get hr monitoring without a strap if I understand the Proform website correctly. If you need to buy a strap to get hr monitoring, then the TickRx is well worth considering.
I played around with settings and it of course kept restarting with each one, but ultimately my pace on the elliptical today was an 11 minute mile. Last time I was only on it for 10 minutes. Today, so far, 15 minutes. Its a start.
MOWC, glad you didn’t quit and am very glad you didn’t die! I think - no I know - that you are your own worst critic.
Michael, I love your training descriptions and self-assessment. You are rockin’ this training!
Jym, keep at it. I’m very impressed! Having a goal to work towards is a powerful motivator.
I had a personally miserable 6.1 miles this morning. I don’t like making up routes as we go - and today was far too hilly after the week I had. We ran in my neck of the woods but no one wanted to listen to my recommendations, so at 5 miles I said - I’m going back and a few other women came with me. That was the best part of the run! I did try out my new pouf and was a little too warm - it was 28 degrees when we started but no wind. About 2 miles in I unzipped the vents and that was a significant improvement. Pup walk followed and now Sabapup is tormenting me and Sabadog with her “Wubba Kong”. Don’t ever buy one of these. Ever.
Don’t you wish there was some way you could walk out the door and be warm enough but not be sweating in the same clothes 15 minutes later!!?
Jym, hats off for trying to figure your machine out! 11 minute mile - so you were running??? That’s still quite good for someone just getting back on the exercise bandwagon!