<p>I can’t remember if anyone sent you to this site for free PDF downloads of single-page workout sheets for New Rules of Lifting for Abs. One page per workout. All the exercises in that workout listed to use as a handy “cheat sheet”.</p>
<p>No workout for me today. Well, except that I did crawl across a burning hot attic crawl space and install a piece of “rat wire” mesh across a gable vent that squirrels had chewed through. Much easier crawling across the joists and insulation at 160 pounds than it would have been at 250.</p>
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<p>I out did myself on the grill tonight. Grilled up a red bell pepper, a green bell pepper, two Anaheim peppers, a vidalia onion, and three cloves of garlic. Scraped a little of the charred skin off the veggies, then sliced them up and tossed with a tBS of olive oil and some balsamic vinegar and parsely Then, grilled some fresh asparagus and a nice big piece of flank steak. Sliced the flank steak and topped with the pepper, onion veggie mix. Wow. Simple, rustic, out of this world.</p>
<p>I had a 2 mile running week. No bike miles.</p>
<p>My abs were actually sore last night. iPod nazi kicked me hard this week and has more fun, fun, fun in store this week. Just glancing ahead, I get stabilty ball rollouts from the feet (plank position). I know those are brutal. I also get “birddog pushups”. Do a push up then, from the up position, raise and extend one arm and the opposite leg, holding for 2 seconds. I don’t even have to try it to know that I’m gonna be turned into jello by that one.</p>
<p>Picking my four strength exercises, I think I’ll go with a superset of single leg deadlifts and chinups. Plus, a superset of ValSlide reverse lunges and more stabilty ball alternatiing dumbbell bench press (I really enjoyed that one last week, so I’ll stay on a roll with it).</p>
<p>I stepped up to the black mini band on that single leg balance/glute exercise. I’ve been feeling that a little in my hips, but I’m chippin’ away at it, making some progress.</p>
<p>I grilled lamb that had a rub of cinnamon, cumin, coriander, paprika, tumeric, salt and pepper. Sauted swiss chard, corn on the cob and two small peach turnovers that I made with the leftover pie crust from yesterday’s sour cherry pie (which I took to a party so I wouldn’t eat the whole, thing, but it was yummy.)</p>
<p>As I suspected yesterday’s partying did nothing good for my weight, but we were at the gym today and will probably be back to normal in a day or two.</p>
<p>@ BC- my racquet is pretty old. It’s a Wilson Hammer. Today the racquet wasn’t the problem, although it was a little akward transporting it via backpack on the bike. Someone (not me!) forgot to take the balls. Didn’t want to bike seven and half miles back, so hunted for stray balls around the courts. Actually found a couple of decent ones, so it worked out.</p>
<p>I haven’t replaced my racquet in a long time. I used to play on a women’s league, but not very competitively. Nowadays I mainly just hit with guys who are way better than me, but are willing to play with me nonetheless. I can return pretty hard serves and can hit pretty hard from the baseline, but the rest of my game would need serious work. This way I get to be outside and get the hr up a little. But I am far from a serious player.</p>
<p>I know that many of you were athletic stars as young people: ohiopublic, MOWC, BunsenBurner, come to mind. </p>
<p>I think you are very lucky to have an athleticism (even if in the past) to reconnect to.</p>
<p>I was a “cool” girl in high school and college. Cool girls where I am from did a lot of things, but sports was not one of them After college I gradually started venturing into the whole world of exercise. But learning something as an adult, be it tennis or taking up running, is entirely different for some one who never did anything as a teen than someone who already has experienced success in that field. </p>
<p>I am curious how many on this thread were HS or college athletes and how many came to exercise as adults and what effect that has on us now?</p>
<p>^^I was a 3-sport varsity athlete in high school. I started lifting weights seriously the summer before my freshman year of high school. I played football, basketball, and baseball in high school. A little bit of my exercise that I do now are things that I did in high school, but not much. I’ve shed a lot of that within the last 8 months…</p>
<p>1) Don’t feel bad if you can’t do plank and side plank for 60 seconds. IMO, that’s a tall challenge out of the gate. If you can do 30 seconds, do 30 seconds.</p>
<p>2) For the split squat, it would be perfectly fine to do that the first time or two with no dumbbells at all, just working on the basic movement with bodyweight. If you want to use a weight, I would recommend one dumbbell held like a wine goblet under your chin.</p>
<p>3) The Romanian deadlift could be done with two dumbbells or a kettlebell or even a knapsack filled with books.</p>
<p>CJane, I’m ROFL picturing you rummaging in the bushes around those tennis courts for stray balls! That activity might have raised a few eyebrows on the courts, LOL!</p>
<p>I was a total slug today. If you don’t count some light weeding activity and some digging in the garden, I hardly did anything to earn my dinner of baby bok choy stir fry with rice noodles (a total experiment!) and roasted pork, but I ate it anyway. Despite running 28 miles this week, I gained 3 pounds, but I don’t think I ate extra 10,000 calories. I blame my weight gain on the current phase of the moon. :)</p>
<p>I ran XC and track in HS, did some running and skiing in college, but I was never a star athlete. :)</p>
<p>The Wilson Hammer was quite a popular line back in the 1990s. I don’t think that there’s anything comparable to it today - the approach of using head-heavy frames went out quite a while ago. I think that almost all frames are head-light or even-balance today outside of perhaps some superlight (under 10 oz) frames. The reason why head-heavy frames went out of style is their potential for arm injury with prolonged use.</p>
<p>Many players only use a can of tennis balls for a match. Yesterday we went through two cans for a match. The problem with a lot of public courts these days is that the surface isn’t maintained. Tennis courts (hard courts) should be resurfaced periodically (say every five to eight years). What happens over time is that the surface gets worn away by play and weather and it turns into a much rougher surface that eats the fuzz off of tennis balls. This results in “bald” tennis balls that bounce just fine but act like rockets on the court. So a can of balls that used to last a match only lasts a set.</p>
<p>The court may look fine to someone that doesn’t play tennis but it may play very poorly. City and town budgets are under stress and resurfacing tennis courts is probably low on most priority lists if they even exist at all. The city where I play outdoors had universally terrible courts. They built two new high-schools and put in a set of very nice outdoor hard courts and that’s where everyone plays because the others were so bad. Now the high-school courts are falling into disrepair - the nets have holes and the surfaces are worn.</p>
<p>I’m quite happy to play indoors but most of the people that I hit with prefer to play outside.</p>
<p>CJane- I didn’t start running until law school and didn’t compete until 1978 (post law school). I wasn’t a high school or college athlete. I was always active, but was in band (concert and marching) in high school. I was also somewhat of a wild child-imagine that! </p>
<p>I was fortunate to work for a company starting in 1978 that was a pioneer in corporate fitness. (Texas Instruments). We had excellent facilities available to all employees and encouragement from the top. I got interested in running, found my “tribe” (and my husband) and made the TI national team. My next company was just as supportive of fitness and running. The CEO was my coach and running mentor before I worked there. I was very lucky.</p>
<p>MOWC…D2 wants to run a half marathon and eventually a whole. Do you have any suggestions on setting up a training schedule? She is an ex-soccer player and has started the running recently. Usually runs about 5 miles a few times a week on average but will run 7-8 once in a while.</p>
<p>I was very active bicycling and playing tennis in my middle-school and high-school years but didn’t play on a team due to part-time jobs. In college, I played a match for the men’s team but was otherwise busy with my part-time job and spending a lot of time programming. I lived with a tennis coach for many years and he used me as a sparring partner for some of his students - played amateur tournaments and spent about 20 hours a week hitting tennis balls or training for tennis. Picked up squash, racquetball during those years. Picked up basketball a few years later and running in my 30s. So I’ve always worked out and I’ve found that picking up something new isn’t that hard.</p>
<p>If you worked out when you were young - you have an understanding for what the body can do. You know that a given amount of training can get you to a particular spot and you probably have that competitive aspect which supplements your drive to get things done.</p>
<p>NorthMinn, Runner’s World (I think) just had a new issue come out with an article on training for a half marathon. You can also purchase training plans from them but I’m sure MOWC will suggest some great resources. I attached a link to a sample below- remember, I am not an expert runner so no idea if your D qualifies as an intermediate runner. </p>
<p>Thanks sabaray! I will pick up the magazine on my trip to the store! Did a long workout today. Spent 2 hours in the gym. Did biking, weight machines, pushups, kettlebells and dreadmill. Started watching tv the last hour and didn’t want to leave until the show was over. Unfortunately I split both of my heels open again! I had gotten some small blisters on my walk this weekend and I cracked them open on the dreadmill. Darn! Not sure why I am so susceptible to this. I have changed shoes and types of socks. At least it doesn’t bother me on the bike! :)</p>
<p>I sometimes take a knife and cut off thick and tough skin on my feet or hands to avoid it turning into a blister. A blister on my hands means no tennis for a while.</p>
After college I gradually started venturing into the whole world of exercise. But learning something as an adult, be it tennis or taking up running, is entirely different for some one who never did anything as a teen than someone who already has experienced success in that field. </p>