<p>Didn’t do much Friday - Sunday. It turned out that I was pretty sore from the 90 minutes of table tennis Thursday night but I thought that I had the flu because I had aches in so many places, particularly the left abductor. I took my son to the YMCA on Friday and Saturday but I just slept in a chair while he worked out. I’m pretty sure that it was the table tennis because the aches weren’t symmetrical. I was focusing on my backhand so I stood way over to the forehand side (most players favor their backhand side as it is weaker). This meant I had to move very quickly to my left on wide backhand shots. There is more movement to the left for right-handers because you have to move a farther distance to get the paddle over to the ball (across the body).</p>
<p>I did buy two 2.5 pound weight plates at Sears. Roughly a dollar a pound. The best prices are for the cheaper weights. The plate area on my barbell and dumbell sets are very long so that they can take a lot of plates so 2.5 pound plates are the cheapest way to go. I added 5 pounds to the barbell and am doing military presses and squats at a slightly higher level. I think that I will buy a 10 pound weight next. I have an unmatched 10 pound weight at home that I bought for some reason (probably unrelated to weight-lifting) that would go well with the barbell when I’m ready to bump it up a lot.</p>
<p>Back at it hard this morning. Seems my deadline is looming!!! :eek: Did my usual biking, then my pushups, weights, core ball swings and finally 25 minutes on the dreadmill. I am red in the face and soaking wet…not a good look for me! I am determined to reach my next five pound goal within the next 2 weeks!!! I am going back on my clean eating routine. (Darn vacation!!!) May add another weight or cardio session in the evenings. It may also be time to up my resistance on the bike if my knee can hold out. </p>
<p>Chintzy/idad…any words of wisdom to lose those last 10 pounds that are so hard to lose???</p>
<p>BC: Both Dick’s Sporting Goods and WalMart have 2.5, 5, and 10 pound standard weight plates for under 90 cents a pound. WalMart changes their brand all the time. Right now they have a Gold’s Gym brand with big hand-holds so you could swing them. Dick’s sells the standard CAP plates.</p>
<p>I’m starting a new workout this afternoon. This phase calls for just 8 reps per set (and heavier weights to match the fewer reps), so I’ll be totally guessing at weights for most of the excercises the first time through.</p>
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<p>NMINN: </p>
<p>I wish I knew. The more I learn the less I know about this whole weight loss thing. I hit a new low two weeks ago and then gained weight, which then all came off in one feel swoop this weekend. Why? Beats me. I’ve been in a calorie deficit so I shouldn’t have been gaining weight. I have been snacking on clementine/tangerines so it’s possible that the higher sugar/carbs in my diet caused water gain? Who knows?</p>
<p>I figure that, if I keep a reasonable calorie deficit and keep working out, the odds of dropping a few more pounds, slowly, are pretty good. Generally speaking, doing more and more cardio does not seem to really work because the body just adapts to the longer distances. You’ll probably see continued losses doing what you’ve been doing. They just won’t come as fast. It’s also easy to start letting calories creep back up – bigger portions, a few splurges here and there. I think that’s OK when you’ve been in a deficit for an extended period of time, but it probably does pay to be strict with it from time to time.</p>
<p>My wife was grocery shopping and there was a Sears/KMart in the same shopping center so I just walked over and picked up a few plates. It was just a convenience thing. We don’t have a Dick’s Sporting Goods nearby and only go to WalMart once or twice a month. All of my weights are Weider brand too (except for the 1 1/4s) and that’s what Sears/KMart had.</p>
<p>BTW, I thought that the barbell was 70 pounds. I found out that it was only 60 so it is 65 now. I do 70 on the Smith machine. I think that 70 pounds on the Smith Machine is about 65 pounds on a barbell as you don’t have to stabilize with the Smith Machine. I have no time for a workout at the office today. Will probably go back to the weight machines at the YMCA.</p>
<p>I’ve got 77 on my barbell now, which is pretty lame for deadlifts, but it’s enough to work on the proper move and strengthen my back without breaking anything. I go down to 32 pounds for the overhead squats – which is plenty. That’s not really an exercise I want to do for weight. The arms overhead on a bar make it an intense core stability excercise.</p>
<p>I didn’t realize how tall your fixed weight rack is - looks very nice. Also noticed two sets of dumbbells - very nice for not having to move plates around all the time.</p>
I had a look at the deadlift - not something that I usually do (actually I can’t remember ever doing it) and was surprised to see how close the exercise is to the rowing machine at the YMCA.
<p>I picked up the dumbbell rack on the clearance shelf at WalMart. I’ve now got it loaded up with 10s, 15s, 20s, and 25s which covers most of the circut type stuff. I’ve got the four singles configured right now as a pair of 30s (actually 28.5, I think), a 35, and a 40. Ive got another 65 pounds that is on a barbell right now, but can be redeployed to dumbbells, depending. The offset loading in NROL for ABS has convinced me that you really don’t need pairs of matched dumbells as you go up in size. Using mismatched pairs is actually a better workout for a lot of stuff.</p>
<p>The black shirt is one of those Marmot polartech baselayer underwear shirts. The sleeves on all these fancy tech shirts are way long – I guess they think you’ll keep your hands warm in base camp on Everest or something. I’m short anyway. C’est la vie!</p>
<p>The deadlift is important for learning a specific hip hinge move. It works the butt (glutes) and back of the thighs (hamstrings) like nothing else. The rowing action, properly done, would be very, very similar.</p>
<p>The squat is picking stuff up by bending at the knees and not the hip. The deadlift is picking stuff up by bending at the hip (and firing the hips forward to supply the power) while not bending much at the knees. The hip motion of the deadlift is what basketball players use to drive up for a dunk or a football tackler uses when he crushes a wide receiver coming across the middle. It goes to hell sitting at a computer, driving around in the car, etc. Kettlebell swings work the same motion. The big problem is that, if you lose the hip mobility, then you compensate by bending your lower back and screwing up your knees. So exercising the hip hinge move protects against low back pain and the general pain in the front of the knee that so many of us feel walking up steps and stuff.</p>
<p>Goodness idad! That is amazing! You should be in a commercial for weight loss and getting fit!!! Have you shown that picture to your family?!?!?! I am so very impressed!!! You must feel so much better!!! Congratulations again!</p>
<p>I wasn’t kidding about the ol’ fat guy part. You should have seen me that first day on the exercise bike or the first time I walked up that steep hill. Good grief. It’s really hard to imagine that I wore those jeans just a year ago.</p>
<p>I did a bench press for the first time today. I was able to do 80 pounds. My trainer was surprised. We started at 60 pounds. I’m psyched. </p>
<p>Cof2015: I’m not an early morning person, but for the last 13 months, I’ve been getting up twice a week at 5 am to go and meet my trainer at 6 am. For me, that was the key–knowing someone else was waiting and I couldn’t blow it off. Could you meet a workout partner in the morning? Knowing that someone is expecting you might make it easier to get out of bed. Getting up that early is especially heinous in the winter–it’s still dark when I get to the gym,but that will change soon. Good luck!</p>
<p>Wow. That was a hard workout. New Rules of Lifting for Abs Phase II. 13 warmup exercises. Three core exercises. Four sets of two strength exercises. Four sets of two more strength exercises. Then 10 minutes of burpees (no pushup), five burpees on the minute every minute for 10 minutes. It took an hour and twenty minutes – too long. I’m going to move the “metabolic” part (burpees) to separate days.</p>
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<p>The core was brutal. First exercise was ValSlides pushups. ValSlides are like furniture movers. You put your hands on them and they slide across carpet like ice. So, you get in the pushup position with your hands on these things and slide one hand forward about 15 inches and back. Then, the other hand. It burns the abs like crazy.</p>
<p>Second up was mountain climbers with hands on the stability ball. Ouch. Talk about burning the abs. Yeow.</p>
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<p>Strength was dumbell split squat (with 40 pounds) and a single arm dumbell row (with a 40 pounder). Next pair was side grip deadlift (77 pounds) and alternating dumbbell press with just the head and shoulders on a stability ball (two 30 lb dumbbells).</p>
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<p>At least I know what I’m up against. For the most part, I had about the right weights, but the metabolic intervals at the end just about killed me.</p>
<p>Thanks for sharing the photo. Amazing.
I wish I was progressing in my exercise routine. My back is feeling much better, I am assuming the stress fracture is healing. The pain is not quite gone but has become just a dull pain. The PT feels we still can make more progress. The bummer is that while the back is better the hips are acting up again. The PT suspects bursitis. I go back to the Dr on Wed. I am really over all of this. I want to be able to walk and move pain free.</p>
<p>Went to the YMCA with son tonight and did weights. Felt very good doing them and afterwards. I’m tired now with a few hours of work ahead of me so I have a cup of coffee with me. The three days of aches and pains were either the flu or aches from sports that I haven’t done in a while. I’m hoping to get a run in tomorrow.</p>
<p>Weather was great today but it is windy and it will be quite cold tonight and tomorrow. The water off the roof was already freezing on the driveway when we came in.</p>
May add another weight or cardio session in the evenings. It may also be time to up my resistance on the bike if my knee can hold out. </p>![http://i218.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/albums/cc14/hwc_1000/oneyearanniversaryhappyface.jpg?t=1297716347]this](http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc14/hwc_1000/oneyearanniversaryhappyface.jpg?t=1297716347%5Dthis){kind=link}
