<p>“I guess being told that our bare bellies were going to be exposed to hundreds of people would motivate most of us!”</p>
<p>missypie: I guess a vacation package to Rio de Janeiro should do the trick. 
Since everyone one in Brazil wears bikinis, and tourists generally like to blend in with the locals, that will be very motivational, LOL! Summer Olympics, perhaps?</p>
<p>ROFL about Elvis doc, run through weddings, etc. </p>
<p>I’m a morning gym/exercise person – if it doesn’t happen in the morning, it just doesn’t happen. Recently I’ve been trying to get out the door earlier – about 7:15, after feeding the dog. I like it – the sooner I start, the sooner I’m done!</p>
<p>Oh yes, lets’ DO talk about the Pats!!! :)</p>
<p>Well, I haven’t missed a Wednesday workout since I has the flu back in June, but I’ve allowed discretion to be the better part of valor and am taking an injury day off. I’ve had a stiff neck/shoulders all day. Nothing terribly serious or unusual, but it never really “loosened” up as the day wore on. I learned the hard way a few years ago not to ignore tightness in upper spine, shoulders, and neck and, somehow, I don’t think an hour of lifting dumbbells and burpees and one-legged pushups on a stabiity ball would be likely to improve my stiff neck. Trying to exercise through pain is just not that smart, especially for us ol’ geezers.</p>
<p>So, I’m officially on injured reserve for the day.</p>
<p>I got stuck in an elevator yesterday. I didn’t panic–my H was able to get help to get me out, but it took almost 2 hours. Don’t know what it was about the experience, but it wiped me out. I went to bed at 8 pm (I’m a late night person and usually don’t go to bed until after midnight most nights–I do go to bed earlier when I go to meet with my trainer at 7 am). I felt tired today despite going to be so early and the best I could do for working out was 35 minutes on the new elliptical machines at my gym. These new machines were much better than the old ones–I was able to get my heart rate up right away.</p>
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<p>This is another yoga move. It’s great for your entire back, but be sure to keep your shoulders down. I do this during my work day if I’ve been sitting too long.</p>
<p>Who are the Pats? When I hear “Pat”, all I thin of is that character on SNL years ago, the one of indeterminate gender. Hilarious.</p>
<p>These Christmas parties are killing me! I am back to my regular routine in the gym but attending these dinners is hard! I am staying away from the bread/rolls but the salads usually already have dressing on them and the food is very rich with sauces. I have been just picking at everything and limiting myself to no more than 2 glasses of wine for the evening. Thankfully my weight is staying the same but I really want it to inch down before Christmas. Need to change my routine I think!</p>
<p>[stickK</a> − Change Starts Now](<a href=“http://www.stickk.com/]stickK”>http://www.stickk.com/)</p>
<p>Great start to my day. Drug myself out of bed for spin class. Backed the car right into the closed garage door. Turned out I had hit the wrong button and opened the OTHER door. After ten years as a lawyer for a garage door company (previous job) one would think I might have learned that you can’t drive THROUGH the things. Door would not open. Could have gone inside, where I doubt H would spring from bed to fix door. Took his car instead. It lives outside because of all his crap in the garage and it was 15 degrees with a frosty windshield. I made it to spin class alive. Came home and H came down and put door back on rollers. It has a dent, but since they are made of tinfoil these days it isn’t too bad. Not a disgrace to the neighborhood or anything. Spin class was hard and I hated the music. BUT- good workout. My first since the Elvis run!</p>
<p>Gotta admire that you don’t let anything stand in your way of fitness MOWC! ;)</p>
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<p>I was kinda thinking more along the lines of the “exercise” Tom Brady does everytime he throws a touchdown pass. You have to scream “TOUCHDOWN” when you do it.</p>
<p>Come to think of it, I might have done too many reps Monday night and that’s why my neck is stiff and sore. :)</p>
<p>Sugar is only 14 cal a tsp. I see no reason to replace it with fakes in the quantities I use it. I put enough fruit in my oatmeal that the brown sugar is more for flavor than sweetness.</p>
<p>The garage door story is great. </p>
<p>I also skipped exercise yesterday. I had an odd pain in my knee, on the lower inside. The whole exercise thing is pretty foreign to me so I have no idea what could be the trouble. I have been doing some intervals on the treadmill (for me, up to 4 mph for three minutes and then 3.5 and 3.0, alternating for half an hour). No big deal in the overall world of what people do for exercise but still more than I am used to doing. I also a few weeks ago raised the incline ever so slightly. I wish I could find some good information about whether the treadmill should be flat or inclined, to avoid back and knee strain.</p>
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<p>That’s the way I feel about it, too.</p>
<p>BTW, thanks to (I think) NMINN who pointed out that Wendy’s chili is relatively lo cal. I’ve got the ingredients lined up to make a massive kettle of Paul Prudhomme’s chili. I’ve ground up the ancho chilis and the cumin seed and the mustard seed and all the rest for about a cup of seasoning. Five pounds of top round beef, cubed. Six cups of onions. Six cups of green peppers, and on and on and on. I’m going to freeze myself a whole bunch of good moderate calorie chili meals for this cold weather. Tonight is chili cookin!</p>
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The New England Patriots, football team.</p>
<p>Amesie:</p>
<p>Mike Boyle says to crank up the incline on the treadmill so it’s more challenging without having to go as fast. On the flip side, you don’t want to go really steep or it will be hard on the knees. Probably 5% grade would be as much as you would want to go and walking up a 5% grade will definitely get you huffin’ and puffing.</p>
<p>About halfway done with my diet chili. Been chopping since dinner. Five pounds of top round beef cut into a half inch dice. A pound of bacon, diced and browned. Six cups of onions. Six cups of bell peppers. Three cups of celery. Two cans of tomatoes. Two cans of kidney beans. Hope it all fits in the pot. Got it brewing in a monster 8 quart Le Creuset that I could probably use for one-arm dumbbell swings.</p>
<p>Day two of injured reserve for me. My stiff neck feels a lot better, but is still giving me a little twinge here and there. I learned the hard way - don’t mess around with that stuff. Let whatever inflamation is causing the stiffness settle down.</p>
<p>Idad; Definitely, a steeper incline requires a more intense effort. But too much of an incline is as you say bad for the knees, and the back too from what I have read. Right now the incline is at 2%. It has been at 2% for about a week now; I think I’ll keep it there for another few weeks and see what happens. I was back on the treadmill tonight and the knee is the same–no better really but no worse. H and I are having a disagreement about what I should be doing. He says elevate and ice–which seem at odds with each other to me–it would seem that elevating means less blood flow and ice means more. So right now I am not doing either.</p>
<p>That chili sounds good. I wonder how my oldest likes it. He’s Mr. Picky Eater. We had roast chicken tonight which is easy and tasty. (I stuff it with herbs, baste with a little butter, pour some white wine in the pan and strew it with garlic, shallots and/or onions.)</p>
<p>My legs were really sore from walking around Manhattan yesterday (a little over six miles some of it with shopping bags), luckily I’m back to normal today.</p>
<p>Idad, Glad to hear you are taking it easy concerning your neck. </p>
<p>My aqua jogging shoes came in and while I’ve only used them once I give them a review of “awesome!” What a difference. Not only did they nicely cushion my feet in the pool, I felt so much more stable on the pool deck.</p>
<p>My shoes inspired me to try the jogging belt and “run” in the deep end of a pool lane. Wow, I thought I was slow on land!</p>
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<p>I keep a bottle of cheap dry Marsala on the shelf. It’s fantastic for making a quick pan sauce for roast chicken, saute’d veal, etc.</p>
<p>Done with my chili at 2:00 am. I ended up with an 8 quart pot and a 4.5 quart pot going at the same time. It’s all containered up, outside where it’s 15 degrees, getting a quick start on the freeze.</p>
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<p>I learned my lesson. At the first sign of stiffness, stop and let it recover. I think I probably aggravated it doing dumbbell rows (bent at the waist, lifting dumbells from the knees up to the shoulders. I may have to find a substitute for that one. Or, maybe I just slept on it crooked. Who knows?</p>