<p>No workout for me tonight. I have basically been at work since 5:30 this morning and just got home about 20 minutes ago… It’s okay; I needed a day off anyway…</p>
<p>Got myself to the gym today. Yay me. I always find it hard to do Wednesdays. An 18 pound kettlebell appeared over the holidays. It too heavy for those one arm raises, but fine for squats and swings. I should do some planks before I go to bed though…</p>
<p>re: going to the gym at night – I was thinking about doing that (I try to go before work but I don’t make it all that often) – do people go after work and before dinner? Do you come home a little early so you can fit in a work out? I find I’m starving from 5 pm on so I would need a power bar or fruit if I’m going to work out. And does it make it harder to go to sleep at night?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance</p>
I find exercising or just stretching in the morning works best. I have more energy in the morning, and by evening would be making excuses not to go. I would be too hungry before dinner, and after dinner I want to just veg out.
Plus as the chief dinner-maker I can’t imagine taking that time to myself!
I do find that GENTLE exercise (stretches, leg lifts) are relaxing at night and help me get to sleep.
I like to workout right before dinner, then grab a quick shower, put on a comfy warm fleece and eat. I try to plan it for leftovers or quicky stuff on my workout days. Plus, I don’t mind eating late. Or, if I’m grilling outside, I can get the fire going while I’m in the shower.
The advantage, nutritionally, is that I’m getting a big shot of protein and carbs right after my workout – dinner instead of a post-workout shake! I usually have some kind of late-afternoon snack before my workout – a handful of nuts, a piece of fruit, a piece of cheese. I sleep like a baby after these workouts.
Everybody’s different, though. My wife only goes to the gym at the crack of dawn. Me? I can’t imagine doing Zhumba at 7:00 am. I’d probaby go postal or something… 
<p>I used to go to the gym right after breakfast, and for a while I had an aerobic dance class that started right after kids were dropped off at school (taught by a fellow Mom), but now on weekdays I prefer to go right before dinner. We eat relatively late. Like idad, I often use the grill. I generally have some sort of snack (usually yogurt or hummus) at 4:30 or so.</p>
<p>I’m on the DL list - I shouldn’t have run on the indoor track last night. The problem with the indoor tracks in general is that they are typically around 1/8th of a mile which means a lot of 90 degree turns which puts a lot of stress on the inner knee. The surface at the close Y isn’t that leg-friendly which is why the Y that’s farther is preferred unless we’re in a hurry. So I cancelled tennis for tomorrow and will skip running and tennis for three or four days.</p>
<p>I should have some time to spend more time on weights and stretchin in the meantime.</p>
<p>BTW, this sort of thing is routine - I’ve dealt with injuries over the years so the course is fairly predictable. The nice thing is that the injuries are a lot easier to manage with much less weight on me now.</p>
<p>mommusic, i-dad, mathmom—thanks for the tips – I think I’ll try an after work workout. I’m really trying to get to the gym 3x/week and I think I’ll go in the am but it’s too easy to hit the snooze button and stay in bed. I think the afternoon snack is key – can’t go on if I’m starving!</p>
<p>BCeagle – rest up and feel better!</p>
NH was ranked second in a national Health Ranking, up one notch from third-place last year. Despite the ranking, Obesity percentage went from 18.1 to 25.5 and the percentage of those with diabetes went from 7.1% to 7.9%. Prosperity is going to the waistline.
<p>VeryHappy, I just want to weigh in on the running shoes question. I’m not a real experienced runner, but I did experience running shoes causing a bad knee injury. I would definitely go to a specialty running store and have them fit you for shoes. I have a small foot, but it’s very wide, so there aren’t that many shoes for me to pick from. When I bought my first pair, I picked the ones that felt the most comfortable on my foot, and while they were perfectly good shoes, they were terrible for me. For my second pair, I went to the specialty running shop recommended by my son’s cross country coach. The guy there spent a lot of time with me, and the shoes I bought there immediately solved my knee problems.</p>
<p>By the way, both shoes cost about the same amount of money, so price isn’t really a factor.</p>
<p>Mathmom:</p>
<p>On planks and stuff… I think one key for me was that both iPod nazi and the Cosgroves make core exericises and integral part of the workout as opposed to something that is tacked on at the end or at some other time. By doing them as part of every workout or even at the beginning of every workout, they become routine.</p>
<p>iPod nazi and Mike Boyle simply include them with the other exercises. So a superset might be a squat, a press, and a plank. The core stuff actually becomes a bit of an active recovery because core exercises usually aren’t heavy panting/sweat type stuff.</p>
<p>New Rules of Lifting for Abs makes core exercises a separate 10 minute section of the workout, immediately after the warmup and before any strength training. The advantage to this is that you are dong the core stuff when you are completely fresh and it’s a nice transition through the workout as intensity ramps up. I tend to prefer this approach.</p>
<p>Either way, it has gotten me in the habit of doing core stuff in every workout, three days a a week. When I was doing ipod nazi’s “Amazing Abs” program, I was using it as the core part of my workouts – and having to cut the strength training back because the core was taking 20 to 30 minutes (and kicking my butt).</p>
<p>BC: Heal up fast.</p>
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<p>I believe that all states will be steadily increasing in obesity rates. There are recent federal regulations requiring BMI reporting on all medical records. Since BMI exaggerates the numbers of overweight and obese people (66% of of all Americans are “overweight”, i.e. above average), mandatory BMI reporting will drive the numbers up just by definition.</p>
Goy my exercise in today through a workout with the physical therapist. Did my small stretching exercises and then had a light massage and then 15 minutes with the tens machine. Felt wonderful at the time but now fighting the soreness. Yikes! Had to break down and take a pain pill and some ibuprofen. I can see that I am making progress. Slept through the night without taking any pain meds or using a heating pad. Yay! Hoping to be off the meds so I can have a glass of wine as a reward! Funny thing…my knee has been pain free for the past 2 weeks. Wonder if it is from the pain meds???
<p>NMinn, that sounds encouraging! Be careful though with taking ibuprophen and pain meds at the same time, if pain meds contain an NSAIDS, you might be overloading on it. Have you looked into topical NSAIDS creams? Although the active ingredient does get absorbed into the bloodstream, they are much less damaging for the stomach. I like Aspercreme with aloe (not stinky) and Salonpas patches (this one does stink because it has menthol).</p>
<p>Those little PT sessions can whip up some serious sweat! A co-worker scheduled a session before coming to work and swore that she’d never do it again - she was so sweaty that she had to go home and shower!</p>
<p>Your knee is probably benefitting from both rest and anti-inflammatrories. Has it ever been diagnosed properly?</p>
<p>NMINN: </p>
<p>Hurrah for progress, no matter how small. Back spasms will drive you nuts. They are apparently the body’s way of preventing you from moving in ways that might hurt the spine. The problem is that they continue even after the initial problem is no longer a problem!</p>
<p>Glad to hear that you were able to do a little stretching. Sounds like there’s light at the end of the tunnel!</p>
<p>idad, I’m sure you are right about the planks. The problem at the gym is that I have to go to another room upstairs to do them as there really is no space in the weight room. My husband is very good he has a whole stretching “back maintenance” routine that he does everyday before bed - it now includes planks.</p>
<p>BCE- heal up quickly. At least you have a good attitude about injury, unlike some others (ahem…me…).<br>
NMinn- Glad there’s some progress. The wine sounds like it will help!</p>
<p>Good run at noon today from work since I had a breakfast legal seminar this morning and didn’t want to run in the cold, dark today anyway. Was 43 by noon, overcast but no wind. I found a really nice residential area with no traffic. 4.1 done. The small locker room here seems to be my own personal space. One of the positives of the new job. I look hard for those positives…</p>
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<p>Ah, yes. The “stretching” room! They showed me that on the tour of my local gym. I had to try to visualize how in the heck I fit my workouts into the available spaces.</p>
<p>I would probably take a look at my workout and try to figure out how to combine the warmup and the stationary core stuff into a routine that I could do in that room.</p>
<p>A little mesh bag with some ValSlides and minibands would be very handy for putting together little routines in those rooms.</p>
<p>There is more than a foot of fresh snow on the ground in my neck of the woods. The streets are not being plowed, so running outside is not very feasible. I’m actually glad we got our treadmill. We are expecting freezing rain and ice tomorrow, so… Yikes.</p>
<p>BC, speedy recovery to you.</p>
<p>How do you people do planks without throwing out your shoulder? If I try even one my shoulder is on fire for several days after. Darn.</p>