<p>No workout for me today…so far. I have a fever, the barky cough is killing me and I seem to be sneezing and dripping all over the place. TMI…I know. My darn chest hurts so much that I may be forced to go to the dr’s for a chest xray…ick! Now it is snowing again. I think I just may go take a hot shower and then a nap. Good luck to everyone else with their workouts today, especially you MOWC! I think it is the fever that has me wiped out.</p>
<p>Here’s the weekly flu map from the CDC. I guess it’s in our states.</p>
<p>[CDC</a> - Influenza (Flu) | Weekly Report: Influenza Activity Interactive Map](<a href=“http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/WeeklyFluActivityMap.htm]CDC”>CDC - Influenza (Flu) | Weekly Report: Influenza Activity Interactive Map)</p>
<p>I know what you mean about the barky cough.</p>
<p>Strong abs can decrease chest pain due to a prolonged cough as you can do a better job of holding everything together during the violent explosion of a cough. I don’t think that I had a high fever though I do tend to get a ton of rest on the weekends.</p>
<p>^^^^So before getting the flu, one should make sure to get one’s abs in order.</p>
<p>You should always have your abs in order. Strong abs can help in preventing injuries in general.</p>
<p>I didn’t have a fever with this, but I do have a little dizziness/logginess. Not sure what that is all about- I thought it was the meds but I’m not taking them anymore.</p>
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<p>My abs are going to be in order. Second day of* New Rules of Lifting for Abs *workouts coming up. First walk-through on Workout B (which alternates with Workout A for a month).</p>
<p>You would like this one. Lat pull-downs, but kneeling on the floor and pulling the bar down to your chest. Also overhead squats, with a bar held above the head, arms about double shoulder width apart. I’m guessing this is going to be a real bear as they recommend that men and women start with just a bar – no weight at all. In fact, they say that most men won’t even be able to do with an empty olympic bar. Yeow.</p>
<p>Geez- all the “Januaries” were at the gym tonight. It was crawling. I hope some of them make it to February!</p>
<p>Well, MOfWC, if they don’t - there will be more treadmill time for US!! :)</p>
<p>I’m so glad we got the treadmill last year. My neighborhood is a frozen tundra, and running on that ice just doesn’t sound too good to me. I was really grouchy yesterday. One look at he bathroom scale was all it took to ruin my festive mood. It was the darn Napoleon cake DH picked up at the local Euro deli! I did two regular sets of weight exercises and ran about 4 miles on my treadmill at about 7 mph. By the end of the day, I felt much less bloated and was much happier! I’m becoming an exercise endorphin and salad junkie :)</p>
<p>I didn’t see anymore at the YMCA than usual on Sunday morning. I think that many aren’t even bothering with resolutions anymore.</p>
<p>The office gym is packed at lunchtime but is deserted in the mid-afternoon. I get the place to myself between 2 and 4. It gets really busy in the evening though. Son doesn’t want to go to the Y which is fine with me. He worked out with the weights at home and his workout is fairly intense. He has bigger muscles than I do and they are somewhat bulging.</p>
<p>The January Resolution folk all bought new workout ensembles and joined Latitude Sports Club. Gotta have a juice bar, doncha know!</p>
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<p>Well, I did my first walkthrough of Alwyn Cosgrove’s Workout B. Wow, these are “big boy” workouts. I’m just kind of dong them half speed trying to figure out what I’m doing and they are working junk I didn’t know I even had in my trunk. I can’t even find the words to describe the dynamic warmup. This is stuff like real athletes would do. Pretty challenging for an ol’ (formerly) fat guy. Kinda sad to have to stop and rest during the warmup!</p>
<p>Today’s core segment was fun. </p>
<p>**a) Anti-rotation static hold. **Set a cable pull or stretchy band rig at about waist high. Kneel with both knees on the floor, facing 90 degrees away from the wall so the pulley is coming from the side. Hold the handle in both hands with your arms stretched out straight in front of you - so the resistance is trying to turn your body and pull you over. Hold it for 30 seconds. Then, flip and hold it from the other side for 30 seconds. Wow. Makes the love handles burn, burn, burn.</p>
<p>**b) Elevated Plank. **Wiith feet elevated on a weight bench (or an old milk crate or the sofa). 100 seconds total.</p>
<p>**b) Elevated Side Plank. **Wiith feet elevated on a weight bench (or an old milk crate or the sofa). 50 seconds total on each side. </p>
<p>You can either do two or three sets. I did two and then on to the weight lifting segment. The most fun was a one-arm dumbell shoulder press – while holding a dumbell in the other arm fully extended. So you stand tall, push dumbells in both hands all the way overhead towards the ceiling. Then, hold one of them up, while you do 12 reps of presses with the other arm down to the shoulder and back up. Then, reverse it and do 12 reps with the other arm while holding the other side up. Ouch. Don’t get greedy on the weight because the second 12 is brutal.</p>
<p>The theme here is that everything in these workouts makes your core to work to keep from bending or turning or rotating against an unbalanced force. Every workout does that while also giving you one arm pulling exercise, one arm pushing exercise, one hip-dominant leg exercise, and one knee-dominant leg exercise. Diabolical.</p>
<p>I did my second workout today. I’ve designed a 12 week program where I have 6 days on and one day off each week. But I have a couple of days that are pretty easy like tomorrow I have 20 minutes on the elliptical. </p>
<p>I did bench press and parallel squat today as well as box jumps 3 sets of 8 for each. I’ll probably be sore tomorrow… I was last week when I did squat and I did more weight and more reps this week.</p>
<p>Sore is good. Well, at least that kind of sore!</p>
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<p>Well, you are in luck. My favorite fitness lady, Zuzana, kicked off the new year with a Burpee Fusion workout, so you could just do her New Year’s workout. This girl is insane. She alternated burpess with a sandbag swing. These are the two exercises Alywn Cosgrove has in store for me coming up – but he at least has me do them on separate days. </p>
<p>Here’s Zuzana’s workout:</p>
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<p>I can’t even fathom doing this workout non-stop. My heartrate monitor would meltdown. Gotta give props to Zuzana for doing this and, I must say, it does look like she probably fits in her thermometer jeans as a result! Even if she doesn’t fit in her thermometer jeans, she certainly fits in these white workout pants. If anyone wants to try it at home, you could use your kids’ old middle school backpack filled with books.</p>
<p>[BODYROCK.tv</a> | Fitness Advice, Workout Videos, Health & Fitness | Bodyrock.tv](<a href=“http://www.bodyrock.tv/2011/01/03/burpee-fusion-workout/]BODYROCK.tv”>http://www.bodyrock.tv/2011/01/03/burpee-fusion-workout/)</p>
<p>I extended my strolling around the block to a new yoga studio. Trial for two months of any class for $115.Thought I couldnt pass it up ( & I need yoga).
I was the only one there so I got a private lesson! good workout but let’s see if I can move tomorrow.</p>
<p>So, oh exercise experts. Exercise bikes and my, er, posterior. How the heck does one get comfortable.? I finally went and tried a spin class today. After the first 5 minutes all I could think of was my poor behind. After 15 minutes I gave up. The teacher says you get used to it. Really? I don’t see how I would. My posterior is naturally quite well padded so I was surprised just how much extreme discomfort I was in. The class seems like it would be fun, good teacher, motivating music etc. But (or perhaps I should say butt), I can find a solution I can’t see it working out. Guess it is back to the treadmill and the reclining bikes with the nice wide seats for now.</p>
<p>Swimcatsmom, the secret is in finding well-made bike shorts with lots of padding in strategic locations. It makes a HUGE difference. 
Go to a bike shop that also sells clothing and try a few styles in action to find the one that works for you.</p>
<p>I may have to try that. Perhaps I will try and get a bit fitter first before I retry it though. </p>
<p>I never expected to intentionally *add * padding in that (or any other) area of my body though. HUGE is what I am worried about!!</p>
<p>I’m going to try it with my BF this coming semester, but I just can’t see myself sticking with a strength regimen (or cardio either… I hate running). It’s so boring. My alternate goal is to attend the informal Yoga Club sessions regularly, since the official class doesn’t fit in my schedule. Both are hellish workouts at the time, but the former leaves me exhausted and the latter leaves me with a floating-joints bounce. Maybe I just haven’t figured out how to coax my endorphins via “reps,” because I find repetition to be deadly boring. Yoga’s appeal to me is the striving for every pose to be better than last time–but you only have to do each pose once per workout, not 10 times.</p>
<p>swimcatsmom- My co-worker is a large woman (obese) and has a good exercise routine. She does go to spin class and did find that the bike shorts made all the difference for her. It is also important to have the bike set up right for you. Your legs should be just about fully extended (but no wobbling side to side on the seat) when your pedal is in the down position (well, the down leg is almost fully extended- slight bend in knee). You shouldn’t have too much of a reach out on the handlebars but you do want some extension so your back isn’t all bowed up.</p>
<p>OK, idad – I watched the video and surely the secret is the belly button piercing! So, all we have to do is get a piercing, right? Then, bring on the sandbag swings and burpees!</p>
<p>I tried dragging D with me to the gym this morning, but she was having none of it. She can’t believe I go as early as I do (7 AM; not outrageous, IMO). As I’ve said before, the “carrot” for me is knowing I can have another cup of coffee when I get home. That, and the fact that if I go early, I’m done early. Works for me.</p>