<p>I did a baby workout yesterday. I’ve learned from my previous injury to take the time to start back slowly. I did a shorter version of my core exercises and some of my weight routine, but with lower weight and less reps. I think I’ll do the core stuff again today, then weights tomorrow, and start running on Sunday, but probably just 1 mile.</p>
<p>Good news bad news.</p>
<p>Good news is that I’m still at my target weight.</p>
<p>Bad news is that my thighs are still flabby. I am really thin, so I guess I would have to become skeletal to lose the thighs (that starvation resistant fat.) I suppose that I need to build muscle in them, so at least they’ll be firm, if not small.</p>
<p>Yay for the target weight missypie! You probably just need to tone. Biking is good for that! ;)</p>
<p>Just finished working out. 70 minutes on the bike and 25 doing pushups, coreball swings and weights.Tried to keep heart rate up after the swings so I moved quickly through the weight machines. I am a sweaty mess and very tired.</p>
<p>missypie–every summer when I first put on a bathing suit I mourn the loss of my lovely firm thighs to age. Then I look around and see we’re all in the same boat, some worse than others. All we can do is work on the muscles…not much we can do about the skin covering!</p>
<p>Tennis elbow came back but it’s on the lateral this time. Must have been clearing the roof the other night. I haven’t played tennis in a week. Oh well, we had another storm today. Shoveled the driveway area and pulled off some snow from the roof. Will take the shovels and do it from the top and then use the roof rake again. We’re due for another storm on Tuesday. I really hope that I don’t get used to doing this.</p>
<p>NMINN:</p>
<p>I hear ya on the weight plateaus. I’m going back to daily tracking for a month to see where I’m really at. I slacked off the tracking around Thanksgiving. I’ve still been eating well, but it’s easy to lose focus and overlook a few too many splurges.</p>
<p>Plus, I think winter does some crazy stuff as far as water retention and stuff. I get these wild body fat swings on the body fat scale for no reason at all. I just keep eating well and working out. My clothes are getting loose, even thought the scale doesn’t move much.</p>
<p>I was clearing out a high closet shelf and found a box of jeans and khakis that I must have bought sometime around 1985. 34 inch waist and my all-time favorite black jeans that always fit me perfectly (when I was in my early 30s). Just for kicks, I tried them on. They zipped and buttoned and were actually wearable, although a bit snug in the waist. So, it’s kinda hard to be that upset that the scale isn’t moving very fast anymore. It is an adjustment when you are used to seeing it drop week in and week out. I have a new appreciation for how hard it is for someone 10 pounds overweight to drop that weight. It’s harder than it is when you are starting out with a lot of body fat.</p>
<p>missypie:</p>
<p>Congratulations on hitting your target weight. That’s fantastic.</p>
<p>As for thighs and stuff, I’m the farthest you’ll ever find from a meathead bodybuilder mentality, but I have come to believe that lifting heavy things and putting them back down is not only an essential part of fitness, but probably has to be the cornerstone of a good workout program. Nothing will make your body look leaner, firmer, and more toned than a good strength training program.</p>
<p>I’ve done so many squats and lunges over the past 11 months that I wanted to spit nails at the thought of another one, but I’ve finally started to really get the hang of these big lower body moves that work the butt and the thighs and the results are undeniable, expecially for an ol’ (formerly) fat guy old enough to be an AARP member. Forget the fact that my (formerly) big butt is gone, I can now stand on one leg and put my socks on without having to sit on the edge of the bed or lean against the bureau. If that’s not a real world benefit of a little strength training, I don’t know what is! Knee pain in a balky knee that made me avoid squatting down (like to pump up a tire or rummage on the bottom shelf of the fridge) for years? Gone. I think half the aches and pains we live with are the result of insufficient muscle strength to properly stabilize our joints or allow full mobility. If we can’t hinge at the hips to reach down, then we compensate by bending our lower back, and – voila – back pain.</p>
<p>It should be emphasized for all of us older folk, but especially emphasized for women. Dumbbells should weigh at least as much as your purse!</p>
<p>missypie- Congrats on maintaining the target weight. Sometimes (especially for women) aging and hormones take their toll on body parts even when we do the best we can exercise-wise.</p>
<p>iDad- On the black jeans from the past…Styles change enough to make a difference in how things fit sometimes, so you really have done great even getting back into them! I think this is how manufacturers get you to buy new clothes (not that I ever need any incentive…)</p>
<p>Miserable day today- snowed overnight and VERY cold and windy. I tried to get outside with my YakTraxs but the new snow was covering up chunky frozen snow/ice so it wasn’t OK. Wound up on the treadmill for 6 miles. Going to be a long weekend…</p>
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<p>Snowblower today, again. Getting old. Supposed to be minus 11 degrees here this weekend. That’s wicked cold. I probably won’t be going for a walk.</p>
<p>New Rules of Lifting for Abs again today. I’m done. Toast. Finished. No Mas. Sore in muscles I didn’t even know I had. Shoulders. Arms. Hips. Thighs, Butt.</p>
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<p>If any of ya’ll have TRX suspension trainers at your gyms, take my advice and don’t ever, ever, ever, try to do 4 sets of 30 second plank holds and 4 sets of 30 second side plank holds with your feet up in the straps. Yeow.</p>
<p>Exercise of the day:</p>
<p>Take your stretchy resistance bands and anchor one end at about door knob height or a little lower. Go out to the other end of the band(s) and kneel down, facing 90 degrees away from the anchor point – so the band(s) come at you from one side at about shoulder height. </p>
<p>Grab the handle with both hands, brace your core, stretch your arms fully out straight in front of your chest and hold it. The bands will try to turn your torso towards the anchor. The gig here is to resist that turning force with your abs and core muscles. Hold it for, oh I dunno, about 30 seconds and then do the other side. You can vary the resistance by setting up shop closer or farther from the anchor point. It should be very difficult.</p>
<p>New to the thread, but I’ve been lurking for a bit – hi, everyone! I have been in vegetable mode pretty heavily since having wrist surgery right after Thanksgiving, and I’ve really lost any conditioning I had before that – not that it was fabulous to start with. I’m walking again when weather permits – been warned not to use the treadmill since the wrist is still a weak point and they do not want me falling on it. That also constrains the walking in the case of snow, and walking around the mall is unhelpful since I’m drawn to cookies and other goodies whose smell wafts around. So for now it is the exercycle, which I rather thoroughly despise, but that’s life. </p>
<p>But on the weight training front, I’m at a loss. I’ve got specific exercises to do to strengthen the arm that had surgery, but I’m otherwise restricted (and will be for another 6 weeks probably) and not allowed to grip or push with my hand anything more than five pounds. The other arm is fine, but I’m not sure what kinds of core and upper body exercises might be appropriate and helpful given the constraints. Balance balls are out due to the fall risk. Any ideas?</p>
<p>About the carbs – I have been reading the same info, that carbs matter as much if not more than calories. Fortunately it seems that net carbs (carbs minus fiber) is what you should count, which is good because while my morning oatmeal has a fair number of carbs it also has a good amount of fiber. I think I would be miserable on a very low-carb diet (the first phase of Atkins says 20 net carbs, which means basically eating meat, dairy, and iceberg lettuce – I put that book back on the Borders bookshelf).</p>
<p>arabrab:</p>
<p>Sorry about your wrist! My wife had surgery to put a plate in after a fall on the ice and it really wasn’t much fun for her.</p>
<p>Be that as it may, this is your lucky day! Some of the best core exercises in the book involve holding weight in just one hand.</p>
<p>a) You might be able to do regular plank with your elbows on an Airex pad – it’s a 2.5 inch thick memory foam pad and is perfect for cushion the arms in plank and side plank. You might be able to put just your elbows on the pad. If not, do plank with the good arm on the ground and the bad arm sticking up in the air. One arm plank is fantastic for the core.</p>
<p>b) Side plank on the good arm should be no problem.</p>
<p>c) All of the dumbell lifts and swings can be done one-handed. Bench press with one dumbbell is fantastic. Standing shoulder press with one dumbbell is fantastic. Lateral raises with one dumbbell are fantastic. One arm dumbell (or kettleball) swings are fantastic.</p>
<p>d) Now combine those one arm moves with lunges and squats and steps. Stepping up and down while pressing one dumbbell up and down overhead is a great exercise. This book I’m working through is full of lunges and squats while holding one dumbbell. It’s really the premise of the book. My iPod guy had me doing lunge walks and split squats while doing a lateral raise with the opposite arm Terrific stuff.</p>
<p>e) If you want to go hard core. The single arm straight leg deadlift is one of the best exercises in the world. Done properly, it’ makes the butt cheek in the leg you are standing on burn like crazy. You probably want to do this one hanging onto a chair, because it’s a little tricky for balance.</p>
<p>[Single-arm</a>, Single-leg Romanian Dead Lift - Back, Butt/Hips - Get Fit Exercise Library - American Council on Exercise](<a href=“http://www.acefitness.org/exerciselibrary/127/single-arm-single-leg-romanian-dead-lift]Single-arm”>Back Exercises | Single-arm, Single-leg Romanian Dead Lift)
[Mike</a> Boyle Single-Leg, Straight-Leg Deadlift STACK TV](<a href=“http://stacktv.stack.com/video.aspx?videoID=13591899001_430]Mike”>http://stacktv.stack.com/video.aspx?videoID=13591899001_430)</p>
<p>Yeah, the first stage of Atkins is crazy. I think it does people a disservice to make them think they shouldn’t eat carrots and peas.</p>
<p>On the other hand, the guys who are getting serious fat loss in their programs are consistently recommending low-ish carbs, high protein, and moderate fat. The low carbs works better than low fat and getting plenty of protein seems make a real difference. There’s starting to be a lot of evidence that the whole low-fat, anti-dairy, anti-meat jihad of the last few decades was bad dietary advice.</p>
<p>It seems to be pretty clear that the first step in fat loss is getting rid of the junk carbs: the candy, the snacks, the processed sugar stuff, the extra bread and grains. Limit cereals and breads to a couple servings a day, limit pasta to an occasional meal. Eat your calories in veggies, fruits, and proteins. Part of the reason this works is that cutting out the junk carbs automatically cuts your calories. But, even in research with controlled calorie intakes, high protein and moderate fat diets are resulting in more fat loss than the same calories with carb-heavy diets.</p>
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<p>I’ve always thought this must be true because I’ve never been able to lose the 5-10 extra pounds I’ve carried around since I quit regular swimming. Or maybe this is just my new life. Even exercising every day now for 21 days hasn’t made a dent.</p>
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<p>You’ll get there. Committing to a regular exercise program is the glue that holds it all together, IMO. So, you’ve set the ball rolling - although 21 days in a row is more than even N MINN would do! That’s MOWC territory. I think my record is nine days in a row and I finally realized that it was not doing me any good in the long run to go without recovery days.</p>
<p>The fat loss comes from reducing calories. Figure that you’ve got to find 250 calories a day to lose a half pound a week. That’s two slices of cheese and four Saltines or almost any serving of junk food. Any calories you burn exercising is gravy. If you can exercise in a way that builds lean body mass, that’s huge because muscle burns more calories, raises your metabolism, and makes it easier to burn fat. We lose muscle as we get older, which means we burn fewer calores, which means we are going to steadily put on fat if we don’t make adjustments. The best adjustment is exercise that builds muscle. Otherwise, we’ve got to eat less.</p>
<p>Got my workout in: shovelling 8 inches of snow off the deck. Fortunately, it’s really cold so it was light fluffy snow. Much easier to pick up and throw over the walls. I’ll do a set of my pull up - chin up practice and call it a day. I was sore all over yesterday. The deadlifts and squats are working on my hips and butt in a way I’ve never felt before and the pull-ups and inverse rows are working the “lats” down my sides under my arms with a whole new soreness.</p>
<p>A few of the die hards are out walking in the neighborhood, but the street is a mix of ice, salt, and sand, fenced in by 6 foot snowbanks. Not much allure to me.</p>
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<p>This eat less/move more stuff must be starting to take hold. I opted for a splurge meal last night. One of my all-time favorites that I hadn’t cooked in a year: fresh haddock filets, dipped in beer batter and deep fried, served with a side of beer-batter Vidalia onion rings. I didn’t really like it that much! I prefer my haddock poached in white wine and butter sauce. Go figure. I hope I didn’t lose my taste for fried chicken. That would be a tragedy!</p>
<p>Slept for about 14 hours last night. I think that I had a cold or Flu or was just very tired from a stressful week. This morning we had a leak in the kitchen from the ice on the roof. Spent about 15 minutes pounding away at a small spot. It stopped afterwards but I think that it didn’t have anything to do with me. I’ll be worry about it for the rest of the week. We have to place containers under the leaks or we’ll have a nasty mess. I need to get someone to get up on the roof to clear the ice off.</p>
<p>We have another snowstorm coming on Tuesday or Wednesday. Wonderful stuff.</p>
<p>This morning it was 3 or 5 degrees below zero (depending on whose thermometer you believed) and there were RUNNERS out there on our street! Several packs of hardcore runners. </p>
<p>:rolleyes:</p>
<p>The cold felt bitter today. I managed 4.3 miles (goal) and have a 22 day streak (all year so far). I just couldn’t face the dreadmill today.</p>
<p>Running was fun when I ate a liberal amount of carbohydrates but because of my busy lifestyle now, I switched to low-carbing instead and doing a moderate amount of exercise to go along with it. I’ve lost more body fat than ever. My six-pack now shows and my thighs are smaller, yay! My body doesn’t process carbs well so when I eat a high amount of carbs, I get cravings like no other and it makes it very difficult for me to control my weight.</p>
<p>H and I decided not to waste a perfectly sunny afternoon and walked the Beer Trail. :)</p>