<p>I guess I confused bent over rows with the three point rows. Those are the ones that I’m talking about. They have the advantage of only loading the body with the weight for one shoulder.</p>
<p>On the weekend PF issue, one other thing that I’d suggest is stretching the fascia before getting out of bed in the morning. Just slowly move your foot to a right angle (or an acute angle if possible) and hold it there for fifteen seconds.</p>
<p>^^Thanks, BC. I used an arch support in the problem foot at the gym last night and today I have no pain. We’ll see how this goes.</p>
<p>wip, my trainer has given me butt focused exercises (haha, I can’t believe I just wrote that). I apparently had an underachieving butt, and she said it was very important for runners to have strong gluts.</p>
<p>teriwtt, H & I did that Haleakala Volcano bike ride when we were there on our honeymoon. It was so much fun. Even the part where H crashed off the side of the road. Ah, good times.</p>
<p>ID - What is this ipod nazi you keep talking about?</p>
<p>Also, a question in general–where am I less likely to encounter high altitudes, Yellowstone or Hawai’i? My aunt is reasonably fit, walks an hour every day, but is extremely susceptible to high-altitude sickness (she was immediately hospitalized in Lhasa).</p>
<p>I can avoid the highest places, but would like to have a reasonable selection at reasonable altitude. If Yellowstone, I definitely want to stop by the Canyon.</p>
<p>You are all awesome. Congrats on the wedding day weight, Missypie!</p>
<p>Did my home 6 mile hilly course this morning. HR a little too high, but ave 134. 13:00 pace but got some nice downhill running. Quite a bit if walking for HR and the hills are so steep HR still got over 135 a bunch. Enjoyed the effort.
Now heading for snow and altitude!</p>
<p>Hmmmm…I always thought I had an underachieving butt as everyone always comments on how flat and narrow my hips and butt are. ;)</p>
<p>Hit the gym hard this morning. Had dinner out last night and scale reflected it! :o
Did an hour on the bike, half hour weights and then half hour on treadmill. Am exhausted and sweaty. Will work hard tomorrow in anticipation of Christmas celebrations.</p>
<p>Lhasa is the highest city in the world with an elevation over 11,000 feet. Wiki says Yellowstone averages 8000 feet. Hawaai has a 13,000 foot peak, but most of the population is at, or near, sea level.</p>
<p>iPod nazi is Yuri Elkaim. I have his series of iPod workouts that I have been doing as a big part of my fitness program. You just hit play on the iPod and follow along and do what he says, starting with warmup (exercise bike, treadmill, jogging in place, whatever), then through the workout, intervals (depending on the he workout), and cooldown. There’s a fixed schedule of workouts each week (although I’ve changed it up). And a PDF file with the schedules, a detail of each workout, photos of the exercises for each workout, and so forth. It’s basically an iPod personal trainer/coach.</p>
<p>He played a bit of professional soccer, he’s the strength and conditioning coach for the U of Toronto mens soccer team, and he hawks iPod and online fitness training programs. Big advocate of circuit training, core training, and high intensity interval training. No weight machines. Long, slow distance cardio only as an easy recovery fun day between workout days.</p>
<p>The program I’ve been using (I’ve pretty much completed it) has been good because the early stages were scalable to an ol’ fat guy with a long way to go. The later phases, however, are very demanding. I’ll be doing the final Phase III workout for a while before I can do all of the exercises strongly and without extra breaks.</p>
<p>Played 90 minutes of tennis today. My regular tennis partner was playing quite a bit better today and had me running. I won 6-4, 6-2. Last week it was 6-0, 6-2. Basically he was moving better and making me work harder to get points. In tennis, a small amount of additional effort can make a big difference in the game score. We’ll see how long it takes for my knees to recover.</p>
<p>BC:</p>
<p>You need to let that boy win a set. He must get awfully discouraged, although 6-4 is at least a moral victory, I guess.</p>
<p>He won most of the sets for several years when I weighed a lot more.</p>
<p>We used to go back and forth. Basically we’d improve our games to win.</p>
<p>One thing about that pullup row exercise on the Smith Machine - in case you’re thinking of joining a gym to do that one exercise.</p>
<p>In general, gym floors aren’t all that clean with people sweating on the floor or tracking stuff in from outside. I’d guess that most people would use a mat for floor work. There are mats in the office gym and some people bring their own. If you use the mats in the office gym, then you are expected to wipe it down after use. Wiping down a mat may be fine for a class where you use it a lot but it’s seems a bit of a waste for one exercise.</p>
<p>We also normally store a bench under the Smith Machine. I guess that the vast majority of users use it for the chest press. When I want to use it, I have to move it somewhere else and then move it back when I’m done. That can be another bit of work just to do that one exercise.</p>
<p>Well, I am NOT discussing my butt until iDad leaves the room :)</p>
<p>Well, I can tell you that my butt was on the ground in the middle of my iPod nazi workout today. I’m cranking it up and getting stronger on some of the exercises, but that means that I’m also getting more gassed. I did rear-foot elevated split squats with two 10 pound dumbbells. I just started doing those with weights this week and they are seriously taxing. Six reps on each side is massive burn. Those were super-setted with plank on the stability ball, alternately lifting one leg off the ground, then the other. I actually did the exercise today, all three sets, but – wow – that is hard.</p>
<p>I did the one arm stability ball bench presses with two 24 pound dumbells, alternately pressing one, then the other. That’s my “glute” workout because that’s all that keeps on on the ball. Those are supersetted with squats w/ dumbell curl and press. 15 pounders. That superset finishes off with burpees. I did seven good strong burpess and thought I would die.</p>
<p>The third superset is lunge walks with lateral raises (10 pound dumbells). I’m getting stronger on this one, which is nice. That alternates with pushups with the feet on the stability ball. Well, actually, I have to take one foot off the stability ball for each pushup and do them one-legged. I actually did it today. No style points, but I managed to do one-legged pushups on the stability ball. It might be the most physically demanding exercise I’ve ever done. Not only does it take every muscle in your body to stay on the ball, but the load on your arms is much higher than a regular pushup. I collapsed in the middle set and could do nothing but lie there panting. Third set was better. Finished off with a minute of juimping jacks. </p>
<p>Fourth super set was reverse flys on the stability ball (10 pound dumbbells), which I alternated with Mike Boyle’s favorite – the ab wheel rollouts (I’ll be sore tomorrow). Finished off with mountain climbers, or (more accurately) the mountain climbers finished me off.</p>
<p>I’m toast.</p>
<p>Workinprogress- We are anonymous people on the internet (well, some of us are a little less anonymous) and we can discuss our butts freely! :)</p>
<p>Well, my butt is draggin’. I’ve definitely got a dead butt.</p>
<p>I’ve got a sore butt 
Some sort of high hamstring/glute pain. Had to walk a bunch on my run Monday, worked out w/trainer Tuesday and felt fine. Couldn’t run today so went to the gym and tried various pieces of equipment–bike, stair climber, elliptical, rowing machine… Couldn’t lift because I lifted yesterday. Like NorthMinn, I want to get my pre-Christmas exercise in!</p>
<p>missypie, congrats on hitting your wedding day weight!</p>
<p>I have not exercised in days, yet my butt is dragging! I just returned from the lovely island of Oahu where I’ve met Teri IRL (I confirm - she has serious arm muscles!). I was so hoping to hit the gym with her, but my schedule was so packed with all sorts of brain exercising activities that I had no time to exercise my body! I just caught up with what everyone had been doing - I’m impressed. Teri was so brave to do the hike alone; it is always easier to do so with a buddy or a group. I’m total awe that she is doing the bike down the Haleakala tour. I’m way to chicken to ride a bike down that windy road! Teri, we are looking forward to your accounts of this adventure!</p>
<p>My house is a mess, the pile of laundry is ceiling high, the tree is still in the backyard, there is very little food in the fridge, and I have not bought gifts for yD! I think I’m going to prioritize everything to get things moving in the right direction, which means I will start with a little run on my dreadmill 
(my advanced apologies for my iPhonese - or is it iPhonics?)</p>
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<p>That’s pretty amazing. </p>
<p>That weight would be an unrealistic goal for me. I filled out in my 30s – broader shoulders and so forth, even before I started gaining fat. I have the coat I got married in. I have no prayer of fitting in it. </p>
<p>One size up from that I can button. Perfect in the waist, but a little snug across the shoulders. </p>
<p>Two sizes up is good across the shoulders and not quite trim enough in the waist now. I don’t see my shoulders and chest getting much smaller. The things I am doing to continue burning fat are also building muscle in my arms and shoulders.</p>
<p>I’m wearing one pants size bigger than my wedding pants. I expect I’ll lose a bit more in the waist and hips, but not enough to go down another pants size – 2 more inches.</p>
<p>missypie…how did I miss that news!! I know you have been doctoring for your thyroid so things must be working for you! Hopefully it is your hard work and meds and not from stress.</p>
<p>Back from my early morning workout. Everything seems so hard when I first start out but really get in the groove once I hit that 30 minute mark. Upped my resistance on the bike and upped my speed on the dreadmill. No knee pain! Yay! Will drop back down tomorrow and then rotate hard and easier workouts for a week or so to see if I have any knee pain from that. No weights today but did my pushups. Have been downing water like crazy lately. Everything is just so dry! The only thing tempting me is having Special K bars in the house. I LOVE them and D2 made them. Pure torture!</p>