<p>Geezermom! Hello! Congrats on your weight loss, and I hope your back continues to get better. I’ve been having hip flexor pain in my right hip, which running makes worse. Guess I’m going to have to take a little time off and concentrate on stretching. If it’s not one thing, it’s another. I should try yoga - it’s a catch-22 for me. I’m really inflexible, which I know yoga would help, but it’s hard to do yoga because I’m not flexible!</p>
<p>Oh,no missypie! I hope they can figure this out for you! Good Luck!</p>
<p>I am pretty happy (not to be confused with Very Happy) with my weight right now. My commitment to daily racewalking, along with other forms of exercise, is cardiovascular health. My routine of mixing up LSD with tempo walks or speed walks keeps my BP down. There is a huge swing in my BP when I am not walking regularly or vigorously. Eventually, my cardiologist thinks I will require medication - but right now he is happy that my interventions have kept it in a reasonable range.</p>
<p>PS _ good luck, Missypie. The whole thyroid eval can be tricky. Hope you get some answers. Sometimes I think when you are slim people don’t realize you are having problems with your thyroid.</p>
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<p>Flexibility has been one of the biggest surprises of my fitness journey. One of the reasons that I finally got motivated to start the journey was that I couldn’t even squat down to rummage on the bottom shelf of the fridge. My knees wouldn’t do it. I had to actually put a knee on the ground. Some of that was weight, but I started with some serious flexibility issues.</p>
<p>The surprise has been the extent to which building leg strength has improved my flexibility. Slowly, but surely, my comical ol’ fat guy versions of lunges and squats have strengthened my leg muscles and now, all the sudden, my knees are no longer an issue and I can squat down and change a car tire without putting a knee on the ground. I can also squat down and rummage on the bottom shelf of the fridge – impeccable timing, of course, since I do a whole lot less fridge rummaging these days!</p>
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<p>Good you didn’t just go out and buy this:
[29</a> cu. ft. French Door Refrigerator | Samsung Home Appliances](<a href=“http://www.samsung.com/us/appliances/refrigerators/RFG297AARS/XAA]29”>http://www.samsung.com/us/appliances/refrigerators/RFG297AARS/XAA)</p>
<p>you would still be your former self :)</p>
<p>I am making Halloween care packages for D2 and her BF. I need to get them out of the house ASAP!!! Why are those plain m&ms so tempting! Arrggghhh!!! 2 weeks left for my 90 Day Challenge final weigh-in…thanks heavens that is keeping me away from that junk!</p>
<p>missypie- Good luck with the tests. I hope they can figure this out for you!</p>
<p>BC:</p>
<p>I would put Jimmy Connors in the strength category of tennis players. He was maybe the first of the new breed of ripped tennis players. Then, of course, came my favorite – Ivan Lendl.</p>
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<p>So does human growth hormone. I don’t think we should wear blinders when it comes to professional athletes in the modern era.</p>
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<p>That’s what long slow distance cardio does: improve long-term cardiovascualar capacity. Totally aside from weight loss, that’s been a big benefit of my regular walking. As an ex-smoker, it’s been valuable to go out and build up to the point where I can walk hard for an hour and half and just breath normally without huffing and puffing. The fact that I’ve been able to mix in hills and turn my walks into interval cardio with bursts that get my heart pounding alternating with easy recovery walking has been a big bonus. I’ve been able to slowly build up two elements: long duration, easy pace cardiovascular endurance and the ability to recover from intense exersion (i.e. stop panting like a dog quickly) that comes from repeated exertion/recovery cycles. I am, however, realistic enough to understand that, as I get more fit, the walking will become less and less of an effective training exercise. I still enjoy it and I can push myself on the hills enough to make it worthwhile, but there’s not much to be gained from just adding more and more miles. Now, I view it more as an active recovery from the increasing intensity of my workout days. With colder winter days, I expect to cut back on walking and increase the number of days I spend doing the dreaded Airdyne intervals.</p>
<p>WIP:</p>
<p>If I had a fridge like that, I might not ever have gotten to the point where I am considering attempting the dumbbell version of the [Men’s</a> Health - Power Training - Uni - Bulgarian Split Squat](<a href=“http://www.menshealth.com/powertraining/cms/publish/knee-dominant-uni/Bulgarian_Split_Squat.php]Men’s”>http://www.menshealth.com/powertraining/cms/publish/knee-dominant-uni/Bulgarian_Split_Squat.php). This is the ultimate leg strength exercise because it is 100% focused on one leg at a time. Come to think of it, after I’m good and warmed up from my workout this afternoon, I may give it a whirl. That should be good for a few yuks.</p>
<p>I’ve got the classic Jennaire side-by-side and rummaging on the bottom shelf is a physical challenge roughly on par with summiting Mt. Everest. Maybe I could put a weight bench in front of the fridge and Bulgarian Split Squat my way down to find the jar of salsa buried in the back of the bottom shelf. Last time I was down there, I found some dried beef jerky left over from the late 1800s!</p>
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<p>Connors playing weight is listed at 150 pounds at 5-9.5. That’s very
light by modern standards. Interestingly enough, McEnroe is listed
at 5-11 165 pounds. McEnroe played pro tournaments as recently as a
few years ago (he got to the Wimbledon finals with Steffi Graf and
she stood him up) so his weight is probably from late in his career.
Older pictures of him show him looking very skinny.</p>
<p>Lendl was a machine but history gives the greatness edge to McEnroe, a
true artist that didn’t play with a lot of power against the strongest
of power players back then.</p>
<p>It is interesting to note that Federer dominated the game for quite
some time with more of a defensive game and less of a power game.
There are a lot of players over 6-2 with a lot of power but they
haven’t dominated the game at the highest levels. Nadal plays a good
power game but even he has added touch and finesse and has lost a lot
of weight to get to the number one slot. He is fortunate to have lefty
shots; I don’t think that he would be as good as a righty.</p>
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<p>There are a lot of arguments and debates on why HGH isn’t that useful
to tennis players.</p>
<p>iDad- What happens on the Airdyne if you did it easy as a walk replacement in bad weather? Can you heartrate get up to your walking/hill level without going TOO high for active recovery? Since you seem to be able to stand the thing and all…:)</p>
<p>Ran six miles as usual. The new running shoes are a lot better than the trail runners which I tried last week. Not sure what I will do with the trail runners - maybe use them as street shoes. The difference is that the trail runners are stiffer, perhaps on the bottom, and they seem to want to turn my foot a certain way which results in stress on my left heel.</p>
<p>The new ones are a bit taller (New Balance seems to be making their shoes with more cushioning) and definitely softer in the heel. They seem to weigh a bit more too. That’s okay because I’m used to tennis shoes which are heavier than running shoes.</p>
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<p>Scale said 201.5 today. That’s a bit odd because last night, we went to the Super 88 supermarket in Brighton and I went to the Kantin in the food court and ordered a pepper steak pan fried noodles. For those unfamiliar, they fill a have styrofoam dinner container with pan fried noodles with black soybean sauce, a ton of sauteed steak, peppers and onions. I had no problem knocking that thing down. You have your carbs, protein, veggies, meat and fat all in one compact package. I really hadn’t eaten much during the day and that was pretty filling. I guess the tennis worked off a fair amount of calories yesterday leaving me with some kind of deficit today.</p>
<p>I originally internet-diagnosed my hypothyroidism…my own doctor poo poo’d it because I am slim…HELLO! I am slim because I am starving myself. I went to an allergist because I was having hives all the time and she diagosed me. (I love that woman! She asked me a ton of questions, nailed the diagnosis, then ordered tests to confirm.) </p>
<p>I have Hashimoto’s and eventually will have no thyroid function. I go to the endocrinoligist every six months. I know that there must be some horrible thing that happens to one if one’s dose of synthroid is too high, but it seems like if they know you’re losing thyroid function by the day, they’d lean toward a higher does than actually needed at that moment.</p>
<p>Missypie -</p>
<p>It isn’t great finding out something is wrong - but it is better than knowing something is wrong and not having anyone believe you. I have several gal friends with Hashimoto’s and they have done well with synthroid.</p>
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<p>Funny you should ask. I actually was looking at that the other day. Mind you, the longest I’ve ever spent on the thing without doing a burst at higher speed is five minutes – I just don’t see the point of sitting on it pedaling at slow speed for minutes on end. But, during a 55 rpm warm up, my heart rate got up to 74%, or about the same as a fast walk. I was breathing a little heavy, but it was a good solid warmup pace. 55 rpm is more than I can do indefinitely. My legs would tire.</p>
<p>45 to 50 rpms I could do indefinitely (up until the point of utter boredom). Basically, I could dial in a speed that would give me pretty much any heart rate I wanted. </p>
<p>I haven’t done one lately, but I think a set of intervals with 60 seconds work and 120 seconds recovery at 60 rpm 40 rpms respectively would probably give me a heart rate profile similar to my steep hill walking. I’ve been doing those long intervals at the end of a this 32 minute mixed martial arts pyramid interval workout (very gassed) and only seeing heart rates in the 85% range. I think that if I started out with those intervals, I would probably see heart rates in the 80% range or what I might see walking on steep hills now.</p>
<p>I did a five minute cool down after the 32 minute intervals the other day, pedalling at 50 rpms and my heart rate had stabilized in the 75% to 80% range – that what I would like to see from a worthwhile, but not panting-like-a-dog workout.</p>
<p>The thing I like about the machine is that it is infintely and automatically variable. You can dial in a very precise level of exertion simply by pedalling faster or slower and then at any given level, you have infinitely variable ability to apportion the load between arms and legs.</p>
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<p>Yeah, if your parents have to pass down a disease or condition, Hashimoto’s is a pretty decent one to receive. Just have to tweak the Synthroid a few times a year.</p>
<p>missypie - good to hear that you got a diagnosis. Hopefully, you’ll feel better with medication. Interesting that you mentioned that you’re cold. Well, I’m HOT almost all the time, nothing surprising at my age…but it’s starting to interfere with my sleep. I’m also feeling more tired than usual and my weight is going the wrong way (up 3 pounds) - ack - and after losing all that weight over the last few months. Might be worth a visit to the doc…</p>
<p>Idad…I have the ipod nazi free mp3 and video. Will try it this weekend. Lots of lunges and squats with weights. Not my favorite thing but I’ll give it a try and hope that my knee (and elbow) holds out. </p>
<p>WIP…I tried some limited version of race walking today based on the tips you posted and it felt good. The walk has lots of hills, and the faster pace really got my heart rate up beyond where it normally is.</p>
<p>VeryHappy - basically non-processed and non-white stuff.<br>
Clean foods would be lean meats, nuts, veggies, low-fat cheeses, eggs, whole grains, and some fruits.</p>
<p>Spartacus. Two sets. With a bonus. Fifty minutes, counting a five minute warm up and five minute cool down on the Airdyne. What a work out. I averaged 80% heart rate, with a max of 99% (during the last exercise, 9 reps of squat presses with two 20 pound dumb bells).</p>
<p>After Spartacus, I rested for two minutes, got my heart rate back down to 72% and then did the bonus: trying the Bulgarian Split Squat for the first time. Just little baby ones, holding a pair of ten pound dumbbells. Managed to do eight on each leg, not going very deep (it’s a balance challenge). My heart rate shot up to 97% and my thighs were on fire. No wonder it’s Mike Boyle’s favorite exercise. Hey, it’s a start. I figure if the ladies in Rachel Cosgroves gym can do this exercise, then an ol’ fat guy like me oughtta give it a whirl.</p>
<p>missypie–hope your doc can get your dosage right. And thank goodness for your allergist.</p>
<p>Sounds like people are really stepping up the exercise. My trainer is having me meet him outside tomorrow for something he calls Man Camp. Apparently there are large tires involved…</p>