<p>:eek: on the “touch your toes test” – if my BP, resting HR, etc. weren’t pretty good (plus no known history of heart disease in the bio family), I’d be really worried ;)</p>
<p>Absolute epic fail on trying to touch my toes. The more running I do (supposedly heart healthy) the tighter I get. Just goes to show why I avoid putting much stock in media-reported studies.</p>
<p>He runs 3.1 miles three or four times per week. At best that’s only 1,200 calories or fewer than 200 calories per day. I’m sure that it’s good for his cardiovascular health but he should add some strength training or bump up his miles. I do think that it’s hard to lose weight with running until you amp up the miles without amping up the calories.</p>
Well, if that’s the case, then this is my favorite Madonna workout video. It makes me want to turn it up really loud and do lots of plyo jumps! Notice that she gets totally gassed trying to dance and sing in the middle of this song. You can see her trying to catch her breath.
[Madonna</a> - Ray Of Light (live 8) - YouTube](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJFofJp7jcA&feature=related]Madonna”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJFofJp7jcA&feature=related)
<br>
<br>
<p>Yup, me too. I think that you have to have a flexibility program separate from the stretching that you do before and after runs. My stretching before a run is upper and lower body. My short (6-7 minutes) stretching videos are mainly lower body with the focus on the hamstrings and calfs. I have a few long stretching videos which are far more comprehensive but I don’t do them very often because they are so long.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>She’s gassed? What about the guy spinning on his head or doing that one-armed spin? ;)</p>
<p>Unbelievable what some people are able to do with their bodies. And I am working on touching my toes…</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>And, he says he hates running! The only exercise I’ll do that I hate is Airdyne intervals… and I’ll only do it for 18 minutes!</p>
<p>I know! If I really hate something - I don’t do it. There are too many fun things to do.</p>
<p>If you truly hate running, I’d recommend finding something that you do like.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Yeah. The spinning on one hand requires awesome strength. One of my warmups lately has been holding the bottom of a push up position (on two hands) for 45 seconds. I have to just gut out the last 15 seconds and then I collapse on the floor. To get in that position, support myself on just one hand, and then spin? I can’t even imagine it.</p>
<p>There’s an old episode of CSI NY which featured break dancers and included spinning on the head and there’s a mention that neck/spine problems are common with people that do the spinning on the head thing. That shouldn’t be surprising.</p>
<p>I think it is SO important to like (well, at least sort of like) whatever you choose to do for fitness. I think that is why so many people fail at it- they think they can will themselves into a routine that they really don’t like, whether it’s “I’m going to the gym every morning at 5 am” or “I’ll run 30 minutes evey day!” Same with diets, as iDad has taught us. Willpower goes only so far, but you really need to find an eating plan that works for you and doesn’t make you feel deprived all the time. We all have those “I wish I could have an extra piece of that cake” times, but for the most part you need to be satisfied most of the time.</p>
<p>Running plans derailed by my ankle injury from Dec 31 -starting physical therapy tomorrow and I’m sure they are going to embargo me from running altogether for a bit. On the plus side, I’m hanging in with the exercise bike which doesn’t stress the ankle!</p>
<p>Pizzagirl, ouch! Hope the ankle heals somewhat before your trip.</p>
<p>MOfWC, I completely agree with you on the “liking” part. For example, I know that there is no way in heck I could exercise at 5 am, so I don’t even try it.</p>
<p>Re: Golden Globes. Shailene Woodley of The Descendants chose to wear Vibram Fivefingers under her fancy gown!</p>
<p>BB - thanks. I came back from a week in Dubai - I can walk on the ankle just fine; it is putting a heavy load on it (like jumping / running, or bracing it as I pull a heavy suitcase) or trying to point or flex my foot to extremes that is the problem.</p>
MOWC - I think the problem comes when there are those of us who were scarred by gym class and just don’t really “like” much of anything physically. That’s where the gym classes of our youth really failed us - with so much emphasis on team sports and competition and things requiring skills, versus running / jogging and using exercise equipment and more individual pursuits.
<p>Even I was scarred by gym class. Synchronized swimming! Uncoordinated on land- water made it worse. Same with modern dance/tumbling routines. And back then I hated to run, although I liked team sports, except that the field hockey halfbacks were HUGE compared to me.</p>
<p>We had a PE Nazi of a teacher who was a national-level athlete. I could not stand the gymnastics part of our PE class even though I was flexible enough to bend into a pretzel. The team sports were the worst because I did not find dribbling basketball around the gym too appealing. I did like the track stuff, especially the events where something needed to be thrown. I was not good at them, but compared to other girls in my class I was a javelin star, lol.</p>
<p>MOfWC, synchronized swimming - OMG. I’m so glad our little town did not have a pool, or our PE Nazi would have come up with some kind of pool torture.</p>
<p>I have just one comment on high school PE from the late 60’s/early 70’s: girls basketball. With the awful half-court rules. There may be more boring games out there, but I’m not sure I’ve ever been in one. I did rather like field hockey. (“Sticks, ladies, sticks!”)</p>
<p>D’s middle school got snowshoes the year after she graduated – they’re right next to a park and that sounded like a lot of fun.</p>
High school swimming- It’s worse. The swimsuits were sized according to bust size! The larger sizes were horrific colors (orange etc) and the boys all knew the code and the swim classes were coed (well, separate, but both in the pool at the same time). The suits were nylon and usually stretched out. The school owned them.
And then there was the whole hair issue. I have curly hair, which was NOT in style then. If I had swimming early in the day, I looked like Bozo for the rest of the day. It was traumatic and girls would claim “that time of month” for weeks on end.
This is a big topic at all our recent high school gatherings!
I played basketball in 8th grade and hated the half court playing. I was pretty small, too.
I am back in touch with a high school friend (guy) who is the first person I consciously remember being a runner. I was excited to find him again and tell him about my running, since back then I thought he was nuts. He ran cross country. He doesn’t run at all anymore.
<p>My wife started running in 1972. People threw stuff at her from cars. She ran on the boys track team in the winter season. Beat every boy in her school except 1 in the indoor 60 yard dash. The next year there was a girls winter team.</p>
<p>They knew my wife could run since she was in the 5th grade. In summer camp they had a track meet and they ran the 440 yard dash. She ran from the outside lane the entire way because she did not know she was allowed to cut in. Beat every boy and girl that ran and some of them were 8th grade boys.</p>
<p>Back to phys ed and health. They should change it to fitness and nutrition. We would be better off.</p>