<p>Dig out those old dumbbells you’ve been meaning to use. Do a shoulder press: Stand with feet about shoulder width apart, chest up, head up. Start with two dumbells at shoulder height, then press them straight up to the ceiling until your arms are straight overhead and fully extended. Then, bring them back down to your shoulders.</p>
<p>Once you’ve got the move, do it this way:</p>
<p>Keep the weight in one arm fully extended towards the ceiling while you do 12 shoulder presses with the weight in the other arm.</p>
<p>Then switch arms, keeping the first arm extended, while you do 12 shoulder presses with the other arm.</p>
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<p>If that doesn’t make you start trembling by the end, get the bigger weights. You probably won’t need very big weights! The second arm is killer.</p>
<p>Well, that one’s in the record books. My third *NROL 4 ABS *workout this week. Counting a 5 minute cooldown on the Airdyne: 59 minutes. Average heart rate 73%. Peak heart rate 100%. I have no idea when that peak was because I didn’t feel **that **gassed. </p>
<p>I suspect it was on the second set of the exercise of the day. I did two sets of 12 on each side with 20 pound dumbbells and the final arm was a real struggle. It’s just crazy how hard it is to do dumbbell presses after you’ve already used that arm to hold a weight outstretched overhead for a while. Plus, the whole thing is just a crazy core workout.</p>
<p>Speaking of which. I did four holds of 30 seconds each of plank – with my feet on a 10 inch step. I thought I was pretty good at plank, but that was painful. Then I did four holds of 30 of side plank (two on each side) with my feet on the same 10 inch step. Dang. Elevated feet is a whole new ball game.</p>
<p>That was five hard workouts this week. I’m thinking two days off this weekend to recover.</p>
<p>Well, my co-workers got tired of my barking cough so I got a dr.appt for yesterday late afternoon. I did a 3 mile treadmill run (with some “speedwork”) before I went, so I was in full coughing glory! I have fluid in my ears and bronchitis. Lungs sounded OK. So-I now have a steroid nose spray, antibiotics and 2 cough meds, one of which is codeine-laced. It is snowing, windy and cold outside, so I think I’ll do the treadmill today even though it was supposed to be an 8 mile day and that is not going to happen on the treadmill. I do feel nicely drugged up, though.</p>
<p>I’ll workout with a cold or even minimal flu symptoms but not with moderate to heavy flu symptoms as it can prolong recovery. That cough that has been going around is pretty strong in my office but there appears to be a phase where the cough is relatively mild (other symptoms aren’t present) so people come in to work. I think that it does get worse though so I’m taking it easy. It might be a separate flu too.</p>
<p>Well, no workout or walking for me today, unless you count watching football. I was down in the basement moving some boxes around and did have to try a couple of tricks on the new suspension trainer straps. So I did try a set of pushups – hands in the straps about 18 inches off the ground, feet on the floor. Wow. That is tough. I think I did 7 of them. U would say that it’s a close contest between those and T-pushups for the hardest pushups</p>
<p>Then, I tried the opposite. Feet in the straps, hands on the ground. That wasn’t too bad.</p>
<p>I work out unless I have a fever or feel too awful to do so. The cough is annoying, but I feel better after the workout. It sort of clears things out.</p>
<p>I did run on the dreadmill yesterday and miraculously managed 8 miles- ties my longest ever on dreadmill and really wins because I’m so much slower with the low HR training. It went well- yielded a faster pace than I’ve been doing and I threw some faster running in (intervals) during the last 2 miles. I was happy with it. My meds are helping and I’m feeling better. I’m glad I stayed inside, though. It was bitter cold out. I may be able to go out today for a shorter run, and then we are supposed to get blasted with cold and snow tonight. Don’t I live in the south?</p>
<p>Nothing like a little snow shoveling to get the lower back in gear. Makes picking up heavy objects (like free weights and dumbbells) all worthwhile.</p>
<p>My thighs are the tightest they’ve ever been. A few miles on the dreadmill yesterday, followed by a few miles on deep snow in the woods with the dogs. Then today, a few miles on the elliptical, followed by a few miles in the snow with the dogs. </p>
<p>I’m afraid to stretch them; I might snap something!!</p>
<p>Now that I think of it, I’m not at all limber and stretched when it comes to my legs. My back, absolutely yes, but my legs – no way. Is that a bad thing? Am I at risk of injury, like tearing a muscle or tendon?? Or is it just, oh well, I’m just not very loose?</p>
<p>Went into Boston and we walked for about three or four miles. I was wearing LL Bean and two pairs of pants. It was in the high-twenties and very windy. I didn’t see very many runners today which is unusual in Boston.</p>
<p>Also picked up two long-sleeve tech shirts at New Balance: $7 each. They must be getting ready to put out the spring gear.</p>
<p>VeryHappy- When I’m that stiff I just do very gentle stretching. You don’t want to over-stretch. I don’t think it’s important to be extremely limber- most people I know are NOT, but what you don’t want is for things to be so out of balance that too much of the load is taken on by specific muscles. </p>
<p>Got outside today for only the 3rd time this week and did 4.6 miles. My pace is coming down at the same heart rate, so that’s good. Injury is doing a lot better. Hamstrings are sore from the curls.</p>
<p>^^^
I’m trying to get the hang of using a foam roller. It’s a hard styrofoam roller, 3 feet long and about 6 inches across. You sit/lie on it and roll back and forth, thus massaging your calf, thigh, butt, or back. Supposed to be just the ticket for working out that kind of tightness.</p>
<p>A big section of the workouts I just started are a dozen “mobility” exercises designed to stretch and increase flexibiity. There are some that are going to turn my legs into spaghetti, I think. It’s pretty funny to see the ol’ (formerly) fat guy trying to do flexibility/mobility exericises, but I’m just gonna keep pluggin’ away at it. Most of them are insanely good exercises.</p>
<p>Got up extra early to get my workout in today and still had to leave before I finished everything. Contractor meeting for our remodel project took priority. Did an hour on the bike and pushups and a few weights for another 15 minutes. The snow is coming down so I doubt I get back to the gym today for more weight work. Wish I had a kettlebell here at home! Guess I will have to do a core session to make up for lack of gym time! ;)</p>
<p>Major snow here. I used the YakTrax for the first time in TN. It didn’t go well. The snow is heavier (not as bad as it sometimes get because it is pretty cold) than in Colorado and seemed to lump up under my feet/YakTrax. It felt like running in sand when I was in the 4 inches of powder, and I was still cautious about my footing when I was on the icy packed parts in the street. It was hard and slow. IT was beautiful out, so I’m not sorry I did it, but I had done well for a few days and was actually thinking running was going well again.
I am “working from home”. Trying to drive around in this stuff with all our hills isn’t worth it.</p>
<p>Try the birddog. In fact, that could be the exercise of the day! I’m going to give it another go in my workout this afternoon. It kicked my butt last week.</p>
<hr>
<p>This is one of Stuart McGill’s famous back exercises:</p>
<p>1) Do a basic plank. Pushup position, feet on floor, arms bent in front so you are supporting your weight on your forearms from your elbows to your wrist on the floor. Tight abs, don’t let your back arch down.</p>
<p>2) Now lift the right leg and the left arm off the floor, stretching them straight out in front and back. Now you are supporting the plank with your right forearm and left leg only. Hold as long as you can (a few seconds, probably).</p>
<p>3) Go back to the full plank and then lift the other arm and leg (right arm and left leg). Hold that side for the same amount of time.</p>
<p>Hi Everyone! I fell off this thread last winter after an unsuccessful attempt to get healthy and lose weight. I have since gained even more weight and am very out of shape. I am going to start slowly to get back on track as I am turning 50 next month and don’t want to face it in this state. I signed up for a website called Sparkpeople.com and I wondered if any of you know of it or have tried it. It is free and seems to help me track my food intake and calorie burn. In the past I have done Weight Watchers several time with varying degrees of success. With the old WW you are given points to use and you use them in whatever way you wish as long as you don’t go over your allotment. The last time I tried WW it didn’t really work very well and I gave up. On Sparkpeople, you are encouraged to eat a balance of carbs, fats and proteins. I am having a hard time meeting these percentages (I mean, I do okay but not perfect). Today i was under for cabs and protein and over for fat.
Here is my question. How important is it to balance these perfectly? If I stay under the recommended calorie intake to lose weight, I SHOULD lose weight…right?</p>
<p>I know a lot of people who have been very happy with sparkpeople. The negative is that you will be flooded with emails. I will let iDad weigh in on your nutrition questions. I don’t think you need a perfect balance, but you WILL find that by having enough good protein you will be less hungry and better able to control your eating. It’s a matter of re-training yourself to enjoy different foods so that you don’t feel deprived. Nothing is totally off limits, but portion control is very important.</p>