<p>Remember those vibration belt machines (early 70s) where you put this big strap behind your butt, turned on the machine and it was supposed to vibrate the fat off? I think it mainly appealed to females…</p>
<p>Pizzagirl- the problem with some of the chains like Planet Fitness isn’t that you can’t exercise there and get a decent workout. It’s that they tend to offer big specials, rope in a lot of members and then not keep up the facilities. They bank on people not showing up after a month or two. Also, the staff can be less than expert and offer poor advice or training on the equipment. My daughter/son in law joined something like that for convenience/cost since they felt they knew what they wanted to do, but equipment was always broken and the temperature was too warm for much treadmill/elliptical work.</p>
<p>There is an LA Fitness near my sister’s house that I have talked my way into on some icy days when I was in PA. It’s a decent club with LOTS of equipment. It’s huge. I don’t know about quality of instruction, though.</p>
<p>My English teacher in seventh grade had one of those vibrating bands in the classroom. She would stand in it and jiggle while she taught us. The last half of class she would always play Neil Diamond songs while she cooled off. It all seemed perfectly normal . . . so strange to think back on. The seventies were wonderful!</p>
<p>I remember those! Maybe I can find one on Craigslist. It’s got to be easier than the Airdyne and rear foot elevated split squats.</p>
<p>I was feeling it (in a good way) in every single bone in my body this morning from my workout last evening. I think a lot of it is from switching up my warmup. Some of these drills are workin’ stuff I didn’t even know I had.</p>
Well that’s one problem with the attitude of many Americans. Fitness does not mean athletic and never should mean athletic. They are related, but are NOT the same.
I use to also have this same attitude. Now I limit that to very few individuals. It all depends on one’s goals. But in large part, it’s not true.
Back in the gym after the long weekend, including a day of being ill, still not sure what it was.
6 minute run - .62 miles @ 3% incline. Sadly this just about all the pace I can handle at that incline these days, but I am okay with it, since it was just the warm up
2 rounds
2 minutes each exercise with 10 sec rest
air squats
pull up rows
push ups
double leg raises while holding yourself up on bars
On the exercise plate machine thing – I love it. My gym has them ( I would never purchase one on my own), but I really like it for stretching and need to make sure I make more use of it.
2 lbs. up from the damage done over the weekend
I am not entirely sure what did me in, since I was pretty careful, but so it goes.
Good to see you back poundin’ the gym after the holidays! The break probably got you recharged.
<hr>
I was back on the Airdyne this afternoon. My second shot at three 3-minute intervals. I cranked up the pace a little bit and got some pretty high heart rates – 90% or higher on all three intervals. It didn’t take increasing the pace by much to completely change the intensity of the workout. That’s what makes the Airdyne so diabolical.
I’ve officially changed my max heart rate in the software from 165 to 170, reflecting the max that I’ve actually seen over the last few months. On the old scale, this workout would have been up around 96%. I was huffing and puffin’ pretty good.
<p>Back from 8 days of vacation. Between various family dinners and eating most meals at restaurants, I feel like one giant saltcellar. Lots of water in the next few days…lots. Did some hiking in Sedona, and if there is a place where the views are as beautiful in every single direction, I’ve yet to find it. We did one of the Pink Jeep tours, and this year I was able to hang on to the overhead straps – still a little sore the next day from all the bouncing and jostling, but last year I had to sit in the back where I could wedge in and not have to lift my arms overhead because my shoulders and arms weren’t strong enough. So, progress of a sort.</p>
<p>Looks like both of us are doing the rear foot elevated split squats this week. I had reverse lunges yesteday, RFESS tomorrow. I hadn’t done them in more than a month and they’ve been good this time around.</p>
<p>Played 3 sets last night in 1 hour, 20 minutes. 6-2, 6-1, 6-0.</p>
<p>This was against someone that I normally beat fairly easily but he’s been getting better in stroke production and tactics. He can hit the ball very hard and very soft and his approach is to hit the ball where you aren’t or where it’s uncomfortable. This basically means that you have to do a ton of running to win.</p>
<p>You might wonder why everyone doesn’t use this approach of hitting the ball to where the other person isn’t. It basically has to do with geometry - percentage (or statistical) tennis has you returning shots cross court so you get rallies from corner to corner and both players play closer to the corners. If you hit a ball down the line (where the other person isn’t), then that person can get the ball and hit it crosscourt on the other side and you have to run farther to get the ball. It’s also difficult for most people to change the direction of an incoming ball markedly. So you tend to see more cross-court rallies at higher levels.</p>
<p>But playing someone that doesn’t do that can throw you off as he can pile up the points pretty quickly if you don’t have an answer to his tactics. The guy is also the tennis coach of the local high-school.</p>
<p>I went to bed early after all of the exercise yesterday and woke up without any aches and pains which is very nice.</p>
<p>Today is a break day of sorts. My plan is to run one mile and do some weight training during the day.</p>
<p>Very impressed by your tennis playing BCEagle. I play a little. It is just a whole different flavor of exercise. For one thing, one needs reflexes. As I’ve gotten older I seem to have lost my reflexes. Also, there’s thinking involved. Thinking, moving and responding all at the same time is hugely hard for me nowadays. That probably means it’s what I need more of . . .</p>
Table tennis is a good sport for improving reflexes - I used to do these for about 40 minutes a day a long time ago. We used to use our table tennis table as a recruiting tool at work.
Tennis is a hard sport to learn as the learning curve is steep to get to the point where you can sustain a rally for say ten shots. I think that lessons are the best way to go as it is so easy to develop improper technique which can take a lot of time to unlearn when you get to higher levels.
Videogames are also good for reflexes but maybe not so good for workouts.
I think that doing aerobics classes or videos are also good for improving coordination as they frequently have combination moves that take some mental effort to get down.
<p>OK, I will never say I’m in good shape again! And I may also never walk upstairs again! Sheesh!!! The PT worked out a routine that should keep me sore for quite some time. It’s all good, though – if I survive! :)</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure he’d like me to sign up for regular sessions with him, but I’m too cheap. I figure I’ll work on what he’s shown me so far, and then drag D to the gym with me during Christmas break. After all, there’s got to be some benefit to having a “personal” Personal Trainer.</p>
<p>Ah, “squats and glute activation”, huh? What kinds of stuff does he have you doing? </p>
<p>I think it’s the Biggest Loser syndrome. Personal trainers think they should “make you feel the burn”. :)</p>
<p>I think it would drive me nuts to have every workout with a personal trainer. I’m better off getting a workout and then just working on it for a while. I probably don’t progress as quickly as I might with someone pushing me all the time, but it’s worked out OK.</p>
<p>Today’s run: 3 miles at an easy pace. I had a freak out moment when I got home and tried to upload my run and the garmin wouldn’t turn on. I tried everything I could think of to get it to wake up, but nothing. I called garmin, got through immediately and they got it unfrozen for me. I am happy again. </p>
<p>I think I’m going to work towards a 10k. Is it reasonable to think you can run a 10k at the same pace as a 5k, if the 5k pace is not uncomfortable?</p>
<p>“I think I’m going to work towards a 10k. Is it reasonable to think you can run a 10k at the same pace as a 5k, if the 5k pace is not uncomfortable?”</p>
<p>You will be surprised what you can do with the right training. :)</p>
Only one I know 
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