<p>interesteddad,</p>
<p>Congratulations. I read your posts once in a while, but don’t contribute because I don’t know anything. You are very informative, though.</p>
<p>I went off-track a little bit today and tried something new. Did a little bit of Pliates this evening. I’m hoping to learn some of it to give me something to do on “days off.”</p>
<p>This should be interesting. Lou Schuler, author of New Rules of Lifting, New Rules of Lifting for Women, and *New Rules of Lifting for Abs *writes today:</p>
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<p>This probably means a complete Alwyn Cosgrove fat loss workout program.</p>
<p>MOfWC, I refuse to buy any “size 0” clothing that fits me. I ROFLed when a size 2 NYDJ pencil skirt fell right off of me! I’m not that skinny! At least the Italians still have it (mostly) right, and I’m back to my pre-marriage size 42 (which is the equivalent of the vintage US size 6 or so).</p>
<p>I ran 6 miles. On my dreadmill. 
The weather was gorgeous, but the traffic was horrid. I got home past 7 pm, and it was getting dark.</p>
<p>hops_scout, great idea! I alternate running and weights.</p>
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<p>Sometimes, the size label is not the true measurement:
[Pants</a> Size Chart - Mens Pant Sizes by Brand - Esquire](<a href=“http://www.esquire.com/blogs/mens-fashion/pants-size-chart-090710]Pants”>Pants Size Chart - Mens Pant Sizes by Brand)</p>
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<p>The problem then becomes that a dress shirt or suit jacket that is the correct size around your chest is too large around the abdomen. The standard cut assumes that your chest is 6" bigger than your waist (and it seems that in the US, they may be more generous with the waist than that, given the obesity found in most middle age to older men who are the main buyers of dress shirts and suits). Yes, alterations can be done, but doing so be larger amounts tends not to look so good. There are athletic cut dress shirts and suits nominally for an 8" difference between chest and waist, but they are rare.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>Yep. I measure 41 inches around the chest. A 40 suit coat buttons fine, but is snug in the shoulders. A 42 fits my shoulders, but is a big around the middle. I’m not too worried about it. There are worse things than 57 year old guy with suit jackets that are a bit loose around the middle! Hell, I’m just tickled pink that I can button the things!</p>
<p>I’m really not that excited. Time for a little “metabolic circuit” today. Another variation of Zuzanna’s Burpee Fusion. Changed it up just a little:</p>
<p>30 sec: 12 dumbbell swings
30 sec: pant like a dog
30 sec: 5 burpees
30 sec: pant like a dog
30 sec: 12 dumbbell swings
30 sec: pant like a dog
30 sec: 5 burpees
30 sec: pant like a dog
30 sec: 12 dumbbell swings
30 sec: pant like a dog
30 sec: 5 burpees
30 sec: pant like a dog </p>
<p>Rest for 2 minutes and repeat for a second set.
Rest for 2 minutes and repeat, for a third set.</p>
<p>108 swings and 45 burpees. Counting the rest, 22 minutes start to finish. Average heart rate 70%. Max heart rate 91%. I’m out of shape, not having done these for two weeks. I’m doing the hard-core Dan Johns swings, firing with the hips on the way up and pulling hard with the lats on the way down. A dozen completely gasses me. All in all, though, these little six minute sets of 30 seconds work and 30 seconds rest are a good arrangement.</p>
<p>Interesteddad - you may leave the locker room for a minute while I discuss something with the women.</p>
<p>I’m not denying the whole vanity sizing thing but a size 0??? Do you two have hips? Any signs of a butt? I am 5’6" and pretty darn slim but no way would a size 2 skirt fit these hips and butt!</p>
<p>My daughter is like that.</p>
<p>Played tennis today, won 6-3, 6-2 but I made a lot of errors. Basically I felt very sluggish - that’s what happens with too little sleep. I managed to win enough games with big serves to compensate for a high error rate.</p>
<p>worknprogress–This is why I question the Texas beauty queen being a size 2…or even a size 6. </p>
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<p>I’m 5’6 and 126 lbs. and I’m a size 8. And a 9 or 11 in “Junior” sizes, which I haven’t worn since I got to be, um, older. How can this girl squeeze into size 2 jeans?</p>
<p>And then to say she was never a 6, like it’s impossibly huge. Hmph.</p>
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<p>Same as Zuzanna. She hopped on a scale in one of her recent workout videos. 5’5" and 126 pounds. Probably the only woman on earth who has weighed herself on YouTube!</p>
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<p>If all goes well, tomorrow will be my final workout of Phase II of New Rules of Lifting for Abs. I haven’t even looked at Phase III to see what surprises are in store, except I know that each superset is “do as many reps as you can in 10 minutes”.</p>
<p>I have a few questions about jogging. I have to confess that in general I have always hated exercise. I was exceedingly happy that I could stop taking PE after the 6th grade. Since then, I have joined gyms a few times but never stuck with it very long. Last fall, H and I bought a treadmill, which I have been using pretty faithfully for walking 30-60 minutes most days. I have been doing a few intervals of faster (or more accurately, less slow) walking, which in the past few weeks I have been jogging. And the surprising thing is that I actually am liking the jogging intervals. This scares me, because truly I have not jogged since 6th grade, except maybe to catch a bus or plane. </p>
<p>My concern is to avoid injuries (and having had a herniated disc some years ago, I am especially wanting to avoid a back injury). Assuming that I don’t wake up back to my normal jogging-hating self tomorrow, if I want to increase amount of time I am jogging, or the speed, how should I do that? I realize that many, many people jog and even run long distances without problems, but they probably did not start when they were 45 years old.</p>
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<p>The Italians think that I got both hips and a butt, no ifs or buts about it! 
Wnp, you probably have not shopped for clothes in a loooong time. I decided to replace my size 8 NYDJ jeans that became a bit too loose after a year of exercising. Naturally, I tried a size smaller, and to my huge surprise, they fell right off. Size 4 was too big as well, and they did not have a 2, but the nice sales lady brought me a size 2 skirt. That beautiful denim pencil skirt literally fell right off of me! I was in tears from laughing so hard! Yup, these guys and Lafayette 148 seem to be the biggest offenders when it comes to vanity sizing. In contrast, I just bought a Burberry dress at NR which states “US size 8” on the label. For the record, I’m about 5’6" and currently weigh 125, give or take a couple of pounds (size 27 jeans fit me well). I agree that there is no way I could be a size 0 or even 2, but apparently some manufacturers want me to believe this nonsense!</p>
<p>Amesie, that is great! Listen to your body and do not overextend yourself. Back pain is horrible (been there myself). I was a pretty hard core runner in my HS and college days, so for me return to running was a bit different. Even though I have not done any running in more than 20 years, I just put on my Brooks and told myself to run a 5K under 30 min (or bust :)). I doubt this startegy would work for someone without prior cross-country running experience, so I would wait for Chintzy or someone else who was not a HS jock to weigh in on the walker-to-jogger transition.</p>
<p>I opened the sock drawer last night and made an unpleasant discovery: my PhD socks disappeared with my kid. Grrrrr… I had to stop by the REI store to get a few more pairs, and I also picked up a pair of funky toe socks made of Coolmax material: [Injinji</a> Performance Toesocks - Performance Series / Mini-Crew Midweight Toesock](<a href=“http://www.injinji.com/tetratsok/p_midweight.htm]Injinji”>Shop Toesocks & Accessories | Injinji®) I wore them tonight while running my 4 miles. BTW, that was a very, very late run. By the time I was done with the shopping, got home, fed the pets, cleaned the mess that they created in my absence, and so on, it was already 9 pm! :eek: The funky socks passed the initial comfyness test, and so did my new Salomon running capris. I will wear the socks on the trail and report on their usefulness for longer runs.</p>
<p>^^^^ LOL BB – here I was just yesterday being jealous of you finding PhD socks at TJ Maxx! I tried both TJ and Marshalls – no luck. I was hoping to try a pair at less than full price. (It was you who found them at TJ, right?)</p>
<p>For the record – and I’m not bragging; just reporting – I wear a size 2 Petite. (And I do have hips. Oh boy, do I have hips. Thighs, too, in abundance.) BUT – I’m five feet tall and weight 104. I can’t fathom how someone 5’ 6" and 125 is also supposed to wear a size 2.</p>
<p>Ok, I’ll admit to having no hips. But I’m also kind of missing the top half of the female anatomy. It’s hard to find grown up clothes when you don’t have a grown up body. </p>
<p>VeryHappy, a 2 Petite is usually closer to a 0 regular in sizing. I am about 5’4" which puts me on the border between petite and regular sizes. I usually have to try on both the petite and regular size of everything before I buy. Twice the shopping pleasure!</p>
<p>I have 2 workouts done for this week. One more and I’ll make my goal for the week.</p>
<p>Moving this to a totally unhealthy topic–dining out. I know I got good suggestions on places to walk in Philly from folks here, so I know a number of you are familiar with the area. Now my question–D2 graduates from Bryn Mawr the weekend of May 13/14. We don’t have dinner reservations following graduation yet–she planned to do it but is now wallowing in angst about what to do with her life and trying to finish a paper for a Russian history class and suggested that I make reservations before it’s too late. </p>
<p>We’ve got a lot of foodies in our group and two pescetarians (sp?) and one person who can’t do gluten. Over the last four years, we’ve been to some nice places, e.g., LaCroix, Morimoto, Fountain, Vetri, Zinc, White Dog, and also (can’t remember the name) place in the Ritz Carlton Hotel (billed as an Eric Ripert/Le Bernadin restaurant, but he isn’t cooking there). H says to try LeBec Fin. Probably too late, but I’d welcome any suggestions. Don’t mind driving. When older kids graduated from high school/college and we lived in DC, we drove to the Inn at Little Washington for a graduation celebration and everyone still talks about it 9 years later–one of the best meals ever.</p>
<p>CBBBlinker, yes, my first 2 pairs were from TJMaxx. But they were the last two pairs they had I had to go to the REI, since it was a sure bet that I could find them there. There was a sock sale: 3 pairs, get 10% off. Yipee, what a discount- not! But I had my dividend, so the monetary damage was minimal.</p>
<p>Bromfield, you might get a few more responses if you start a new thread. Congrats to your daughter (and her proud parents, of course!).</p>
<p>Amesie:</p>
<p>The reality is that jogging/running is a high impact, high rep exercise and the odds are high that you will be injured at some point. I think the stats are the 60% of runners will suffer some injury that causes them to stop running at some point each year. The fundamental problem is that there are 1500 impacts per mile, each at 2 to 3 times bodyweight. Think of someone trying to do 1500 one-legged jumps up and down on a plyometric exercise box. They would tear up their joints from the impact. Running is one of the most effective, perhaps most effective, ways to do interval cardio training, but you have accept that it’s hard on the body. The old gym coaches say that you can’t run to get fit; you have to be fit to run.</p>
<p>The biggest correlation with injury is high mileage, which probably won’t be an issue in the near future. The lesson, however, is to increase your running slowly over time and back off at the first sign of pain. Personally, I think the optimal approach as far as injury avoidance is to have two or three types of cardio that you do, alternating among them so that you aren’t doing any of them more than once or twice a week. An ideal week for me would be one 5k hilly walk, one session of Airdyne intervals, and maybe one session of burpees/swings. If I do any of them three times a week, I’m probably going to end up sore or hurt from overuse.</p>
<p>For a safer treadmill alternative, you can walk with the incline cranked up. iPod nazi has a new interval ipod workout that is all walking, but with inclines as high as 15 degrees.</p>