<p>Phew. That was a tough Friday workout. I cranked up some of the weights. A 30 lb and a 35 lb on the step ups – eight on each leg, four sets. After false starts in the last two outings, I finally stuck wtih a 35 lb dumbbell on the one-arm push press (squat down, push up, lifting the DB from the shoulder to the ceiling). Eight on each arm, four sets. Really tough.</p>
<p>I stuck with the same weight (a 30 lb and a 20 lb) on the front squats for the second workout in a row. That’s about all I’ve got for now. I did cut the assitance on the chin ups down to 60 pounds. Eight reps, two sets. So I guess would now be strong enough to do a chin up … if I were a 115 pound schoolgirl! I guess that’s progress…</p>
<p>My first day off in over a month. Exercise consisted of hoisting a wine glass at Women of the Church Happy Hour. These ladies can put down some serious wine, even with an average age of 70 or so! Gotta love the Episcopalians! This should serve me well (not) for tomorrow’s extremely hilly 10K!</p>
<p>MOfWC, think of it as the pre-race carboloading and light weight training Drink plenty of water tonight, and you will be fine. Good luck with your run!</p>
<p>My goal is to run for an hour this weekend.</p>
<p>I’m sure I’ll bounce off this number for a while, but the scale says that I’ve officially lost 5 pounds as of this morning. That makes the fifteenth time I’ve lost 5 pounds for a grand total of 75 pounds.</p>
<p>This milestone was a long time coming. It’s been over eight weeks since I hit the last one two days after Christmas. This stretch included a week when I actually gained two pounds, something I’m not used to seeing. It’s just been a slow drift downwards over time with bigger day to day swings than I’ve been used to seeing over the last year.</p>
<p>Short of prepping for a colonoscopy, I’m not sure that another 5 pound milestone is in the cards. I’ll just keep eating well and exercising the rest will take care of itself.</p>
<p>Got my new fitness toys yesterday. I plan to play around with them some this afternoon since I’m sitting at work bored… I new the minibands weren’t very big, but they were smaller than I expected! Should make for some good fun both for me and for my athletes. </p>
<p>I’m changing up my workout routine this week and will begin doing my “primary lifts” twice a week instead of just the once. I plan to do bench/squat on Monday and Thursday and Hang Clean/Push Press on Tuesday and Friday. I’m starting to see some good gains in the weight I’m able to lift and plan to increase that over the next several weeks.</p>
<p>Has anyone tried the Paleo diet? Basically eating only foods that a caveman could have eaten. (pre agricultural - no dairy, grains, sugar, processed foods or preservatives) It looks intriguing, but those folks didn’t live too long…</p>
<p>I don’t understand following the This Diet or the That Diet. Seems to me if you just eat less, eat wisely, eat a variety of foods, try to stay with lots of plant food, don’t neglect the protein – and exercise – one’s weight shouldn’t be a problem. Also, IMHO, one shouldn’t be “on” a diet or “off” a diet; one should just have a healthy lifestyle.</p>
<p>iDad- Congrats on the 5 pounds! You are The Man (The Smaller Man)!!!</p>
<p>Well, the 10K went pretty well. I was 4th in the age group, which considering the injury is OK. I out-kicked a woman I was racing (of course, she is 2 age groups up at 66 and a true inspiration), which showed me that I am still competitive. The hills were killer. I was about 30 seconds a mile slower than last year (of course, last year I ran the 5K first which slowed down the 10K) which was better than I expected since I’ve been training almost a minute a mile slower. I had to walk a little bit on some of the huge hills, but, interestingly, that did not cause me to lose much ground on the woman I was racing who did NOT walk. At a certain point on those hills, a “run” is not really a “run”. Did I mention that this race is brutal with huge hills?
My daughter was amazing. Ran the 5K with almost a PR (personal record) even on the hills and got 2nd in her age group. (It wasn’t a huge race, but still this is great and she was thrilled.) THEN-she started off with me in the 10K. Our first mile was too fast and she looked over at me when our Garmins gave us our splits and I said, “oops”. She pulled away from me on the first giant, long hill which led to 2 miles and stayed about a minute ahead of me for the rest of the race. She had to walk a little, too. She got 4th in her age group in the 10K (no award). Doing this double is a huge confidence builder and I told her now she knows she can handle her April half-marathon hills without any problem. Yay,us!!! It was a beautiful day. 30 when I got up (and I was whining about being cold) but up to 50 by post-race. I over-dressed a little but I didn’t care. I didn’t want to be cold.</p>
<p>VeryHappy I agree that avoiding diets is key. I think for me the hardest thing is to figure out a way to lose weight (and eventually reach some happy equilibrium) where I can eat some fun stuff. Every time I go to Starbucks I look at the calorie counts on their snacks - around 400 calories for every single one! - and think if I eat taht it’s almost a third of my daily allotment. As a result I drink more coffee at home since I feel deprived every time I walk in there.</p>
<p>Idad, I wish my chart looked like that. I was fine till July and then we went on vacation and had so much hot weather I gave up walks. My boys also went on a BBQ restaurant orgy. Mistake! Anyway, happy to report I’m back on track.</p>
<p>This has been the key thing for me. I probably could be losing weight more quickly if I were “on a diet” but then once I was “off the diet” I would likely gain it back (I say this from experience). The important thing I think is to make changes that you can stick with. So no “diet foods.” I really don’t like lettuce, for example. I could make myself eat salads for a few months but not forever. I need replacements for my unhealthy foods that I actually like.</p>
<p>As for the caveman diet, I have read a lot lately that makes me think there might be two good things about this diet: more protein and less sugar and refined grains. But you can incorporate those aspects into your eating without “being on” the diet.</p>
<p>That Yamuna rolling probably does provide a benefit. *Foam rolling *is a big part of the warmup for the coaches and trainers I’ve been folowing, including Boyle and Cosgrove.</p>
<p>It’s basically self-massage done on a styrofoam roller, giving deep massage to most of the major muscle groups in the body. I’ve been doing it a little bit, I can’t claim any great miracles, but it does feel like it loosens up muscles and reduces soreness. It is actually kind of a workout to support yourself and roll around into the various positions. For that reason, it’s a part of every workout for every client at Boyle’s, except for obese weight loss guys where it would just be ridiculously hard to roll around on the floor like that.</p>
<p>It’s more for use in pre-workout warm up or post-workout cool down/stretching than it would be for an actual intense workout. I don’t think it would qualify as a big-time fat burning, calorie burn workout!</p>
<p>Most of the [insert name of famous diet here] diet plans work because, by eliminating a food group, they reduce the calorie intake. For example, a “low carb” diet works because, when most of us reduce carbs, we are also reducing a major source of excess calories. Same thing with a diet that cuts dairy (cheese and butter being big calorie foods). Or with diets that restrict grains (again, big calories) or meat (calorie dense).</p>
<p>In a sense, they are using some fancy diet “theory” to get you to embrace reducing your calorie intake. You lose weight because you are eating fewer calories than you are burning. The rest of it is mostly “bro’ science”, especially in the Crossfit/Paleo community where being like a caveman is the ultimate expression of fitness!</p>
<p>Will it work? Sure. I mean, any diet that consists mostly of raw unprocessed veggies and protein in the form of meat and seafood, without the calories of dairy, sugar, and grains will tend to be a low calorie diet. The high protein consumption is generally a good idea, especially if you are working out (a major problem for vegan dieters).</p>
<p>Here are Michael Boyle’s nutrition rules, which distill it down about as simply as possible:</p>
<p>Congratulations to you and your daughter on your successful races today! Now, you can enjoy a glass of red wine tonight! And, hopefully, you won’t be nursing too much soreness.</p>
<p>hops-scout:</p>
<p>Cleans are on my to-do list at some point, probably starting with dumbbells. iPod nazi is big on DB cleans. Boyle is a big barbell hang-clean fan as a an athletic power exercise. *New Rules of Lifting for Abs *sticks with jump shrugs, jump squats, and med ball slams for power.</p>
<p>My condolences on the push presses. I’ve been forced to do those ever since the early days of iPod nazi workouts, continuing through Spartacus workouts, and now in NROL4A. They wear me out. I’m up to 35 pounds on a one-arm push press. I think that is as metabolically taxing as any exercise in the book. My heart rate goes through the roof. Great for fat loss and burning calories.</p>
Drink plenty of water tonight, and you will be fine. Good luck with your run!</p>
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