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<p>Yep. Now that I’ve got something to jump up onto, that’s going into my workout next week, too. It’s a fantastic hip hinge power exercise. Amazing how I always thought the power for jumping comes from bending the knees, but it’s really the hips. Did you see the video I posted last week of Mike Boyle coaching the box jump in his staff meeting?</p>
<p>I think CJane does a lot of box jumps.</p>
<p>Good tips for the elliptical. He’s right. SO many people do it at such a low intensity thatnitnis just slightly better than sitting down watching TV.</p>
<p>idad, I searched but can’t find it. Would you mind posting it again? Thanks.</p>
<p>Here ya go. Mike Boyle staff meeting on coaching box jumps. I love these staff meeting videos. I always feel like I have great sense of the exercise being discussed.</p>
<p>[Inside</a> the MBSC Staff Meeting: Plyometrics with Mike Boyle - YouTube](<a href=“Inside the MBSC Staff Meeting: Plyometrics with Mike Boyle - YouTube”>Inside the MBSC Staff Meeting: Plyometrics with Mike Boyle - YouTube)</p>
<p>He had an interesting comment last week about being named one of America’s 10 most controversial sports and fitness figures. He said that he absolutely loved being controverial for being too focused on safety and preventing training inijuries.</p>
<p>So much for 4 am snow. It is already falling here in the north end!! Thank goodness I bought a hat downtown. Wish me luck - Im going to walk home. :)</p>
<p>My bus was on a snow route today and as it was passing by a Crossfit gym where a bunch of guys were pumping some serious metal, I overheard some girls in the back of the bus talking. “Crossfit? I heard this is so popular! What is it, anyway?” “Well, they make you work out until you puke. I’m serious!” “So it is like a bootcamp?” LOL.</p>
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<p>Gosh, that must be so good for you! :)</p>
<p>If I ever puked doing a workout, I would figure I’m doing something very, very wrong! That is definitely not my idea of a good workout!</p>
<p>Workout this evening:</p>
<p>2x10 in circuit fashion:
–Kettlebell Swings
–TRX Single Leg Squat (each)
–Dumbbell Snatch (each)</p>
<p>Various mini-band walks. Started out with basic resisted walking forward and backward. Then I added some fun: grabbed a 30 pound kettlebell and kept going with back and forth with the kettlebell held in the Goblet position. </p>
<p>Then I took the band off the legs and placed it around the forearms and started doing bear crawls resisted by the mini-band… I’m thinking a new “exercise of the week” coming ;)</p>
<p>Lastly, I finished my workout using my Gymboss timer. On the minute Goblet Squats. First minute 1, second minute 2, third minute 3, etc. I went up to 10 minutes so I did 55 squats…</p>
<p>My personal best: 3.5 miles in 55 min! I hope that I will not get an opportunity to better it. 
That was my walk home after the bus broke down: mostly uphill, in about 5-10 inches of snow, lugging about 15 lbs of my dinosaur laptop and papers and watching for idiot divers. And here is the best part… In a pencil skirt!! Ha! 
I did wear designer boots, but they were flat. </p>
<p>I think I’m done with exercising for tonight. :)</p>
<p>^^hats off to BB! A pencil skirt! I thought I was doing ok, running in heels. </p>
<p>Got up at 6 am, went to the gym, did 10 min elliptical trainer then 25 minutes treadmill (mostly @ 9 min mile). </p>
<p>Hardest part of this whole work out? Getting up at 6 am…</p>
<p>idad, thanks for the link to Boyle. I didn’t know I was doing this exercise so I could be a better running back. ;)</p>
<p>Oh my Bunsen, that’s awful! Are your boots ok? :)</p>
<p>I am getting really tired of doing planks, like, I’m starting to cheat on time, or even not doing them at all, because I hate them so much. What other core exercise can I do to replace them?</p>
Blankmind. Do you find planks boring? If you find them too painful maybe you should just do them for a shorter time until you build up? But I am sure others will have good suggestions for alternative exercises.
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<p>I think I would have just sat by the side of the road and cried!</p>
<p>Actually, that sort of scenario is what motivated me initially to shed some blubber and get fit enough to at least be able to walk a mile. I realized that I was in such poor physical fitness that I would be in real trouble if an emergency siituation – car breakdown or whatever – required that kind of walk.</p>
<p>journey, I think the problem is that I’ve built up to doing them for too long of a time. Perhaps doing them for a shorter time would still be effective, but I have grown to hate them so much that I don’t even want to do that. I think I need something more active.</p>
Heh, heh, heh. Whole books have been written on that! Amazon has the Kindle or Kindle PC or Kindle MAC edition of [for $9.99. Paperback for $12. It has three chapters of core exercises with photos. It doesn’t have every core exercise (ipod Nazi’s Amazing Abs program sets that bar), but it has most of the good ones.
I’ll post some alternatives, but rather than write a book, I’ll just post a series of post titled “Planks and Stuff”.
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For plank boredom, what I have done is turn it into an interval timer circuit. Four holds of 30 seconds. Start with front plank for 30 seconds, then turn to side plank for 30 seconds, then side plank on the other side for 30 seconds, and finally back to front plank for another 30 seconds. You can either so them non-stop moving directly from one position to the next without going back to the ground (very hard), or rest for 15 seconds in between each hold. This circuit gets a whole plank sequence done in as little as 2 minutes, so it’s not so boring. I either do two sets like that or one set if I’m doing a bunch of different core exercises. Rather than hold for longer and longer times, I would rather do shorter holds of more challenging planks.
To make plank more challenging there are two easy types of variations:
Feet Elevated
Just do regular plank or side plank with your feet elevated on something 6 to 18 inches off the ground. A stair step. An aerobic step. A box. A weight bench. A foot stool. Whatever. To make it really challenging, elevate your feet on something unstable – like a stability ball or TRX suspension straps. I’ve done my little interval timer sequence with my feet on a Reebok step and, recently, in Jungle Gym straps as my standard version of plank. 30 seconds of that is a LOT.
Arm and/or leg lift
While doing standard plank, lift one arm off the ground, extending it forward, reaching in front of you. Hold it for 5 seconds and put it down. Lift the other arm. Do the same thing, lifting one leg at a time. These bring a whole new level of rotational stability to the equation. For a real challenge, lift one arm and the opposite leg at the same time.
For side plank, you can either just slightly lift the top leg and hold it for a few seconds. Or, you can do [url=<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ys612bluWSc]a”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ys612bluWSc]a</a> knee tuck with the bottom leg](]New Rules of Lifting for Abs[/url). You can also extend the top arm towards the ceiling.
Again, these are great with the 30 second interval timer circuit. Just do the various raises and hold for 5 seconds a few times and the 30 seconds flies by. These will be really hard at first. So, just laugh about it as you flop all over the place.
<p>Hi All! Still fighting the back injury so not much in the way of workouts here. Improvement has been torturously slow. I finally got a home portable Tens unit last night that I hope will bring some relief from the muscle spasms. Physical Therapy is slow…still too painful for any type of massage. My fear is that I won’t be able to make my trip to Mexico at the end of the month. After working out continuously for several years and losing weight I am a little depressed over this. :(</p>
<p>BB- sounds awful, but I love that Blankmind and I knew YOU would be fine, but we were both worried about your boots!</p>
<p>More on the statin drug - diabetes association in the new Women’s Healthy Initiative study:</p>
<p>[How</a> concerned should statin users be about diabetes risk? - Health & wellness - The Boston Globe](<a href=“http://bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/2012/01/10/how-concerned-should-statin-users-about-diabetes-risk/3k5ge34CXBox6zHsK8AtQJ/story.html]How”>http://bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/2012/01/10/how-concerned-should-statin-users-about-diabetes-risk/3k5ge34CXBox6zHsK8AtQJ/story.html)</p>
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<p>The 48% increase in diabetes among statin users was after they controlled for weight, diet, smoking, and exercise levels. Thinner statin users saw their incidence of diabetes increase more than heavier statin users.</p>
<p>Awww, NMinn:</p>
<p>That’s awful. Back injuries are so annoying because you end up scared to even breath.</p>
<p>If I were in your shoes with a back injury that has lingered this long, I would bite the bullet and buy Stuart McGills book, Ultimate Back Fitness and Performance probably with the compainion DVD that shows him evaluating and coming up with an exercise plan for a number of real-life back pain sufferers.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.backfit.pro%5B/url%5D”>www.backfit.pro</a></p>
<p>His general approach is to find out what people can do pain free and slowly increase that as their pain allows, and then, once the pain allows, begin a serious core stengthening program to protect the back in the future. I haven’t read this book, but it’s the more layman oriented of his two books and this guy is probably the world’s leading authority on back pain and exercises to prevent it. I’ve listened to enough of his interviews to know that he he would be really helpful when the time comes to ease back into moving and stuff!</p>
<p>As good as doctors may be, I’m convinced that back pain is something that really requires you to take an active role in understanding and managing what is going on – because ultimately the treatment is all going to boil down to what you can handle.</p>
Blankmind and MOfWC, thank you for your concerns. I’m happy to report that my boots made their way home just fine. Rubber soles are key to winter boot survivability My butt is sore though from this uneven terrain walking. Funniest thing is that I was sitting on the bus reading about how running and walking on uneven surfaces such as gravel, grass, sandy beach, etc. helps with injury prevention. And then the bus broke down, so I got to practice what I just read! LOL.