Diet/Exercise/Health/Wellness Support Thread

Parent Cafe
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<p>So I did my first workout at the world’s worst gym today!</p>

<p>**WARMUP<a href=“in%20the%20stretching%20room,%20where%20everyone%20else%20was%20doing%20crunches”>/b</a></p>

<p>Bent-over thoracic rotation
Squat to stand
Ankle mobility
quadruped hip extension
Lateral Squat
Seal jack
Reverse inchworm
Forward-backward hop
Split squat
Hip hinge
Heel to butt walk</p>

<p>**CORE<a href=“2%20sets,%20using%20the%20cable%20columns”>/b</a></p>

<p>Plank rows
Side Plank rows
Pallof Press
Farmers Walk (1 60lb DB)</p>

<p>**POWER<a href=“3%20sets”>/b</a></p>

<p>DB snatch (30 lb DB)</p>

<p>**STRENGTH<a href=“3%20sets%20at%20the%20weight%20benches%20where%20everyone%20else%20was%20doing%20wrist%20curls%20or%20something”>/b</a> </p>

<p>Goblet squat (60 lb DB)
3 pt row (60 lb DB)</p>

<p>Single leg deadlift (40 lb DB)
Alternating overhead press (2 x 30 lb DB)</p>

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<p>All in all, not too bad. I left my water bottle sitting on my sink at home so I had to buy a bottled water and my GYMBOSS timer died :). It was hot as blazes in there. I was wearing long pants and long sleeve shirt, like I do in my basement, and was sweating my butt off. Short sleeve shirt from now on.</p>

<p>Loved the cable column for the core stuff. Really kicked my butt. Two ol’ geezers jumped in to tie up both cable columns in the middle of my core stuff, so I went over and did the DB snatches and came back to grab one of the cable columns while they were yakkin’…</p>

<p>Nice DBs that gave me a chance to do heavy goblet squats – you really need DBs that will stand up on end to pick them up that way.</p>

<p>Saw crazy high heart rates for a strength workout - 94% of my max. I think it was the heat and I was probably working at a little faster pace.</p>

<p>Cardio machines were nearly full. Plenty of room at all the weight machines and the benches. I was pretty impressed with how few people exercise with any intensity whatsoever.</p>

<p>I scoped it out and literally the only place to do a chin up the place is the one assisted chin up machine! Fortunately, the foot platform flips up out of the way, so I’ll be able to chinups there. I’ll take advantage of that next time and do some neutral grip chin ups (palms facing each other). DBs and benches are fine. There’s even one Olympic bar, so I could do some hang cleans and front squats. I’ll probably add some more cable column stuff – some chops and lunges. Maybe some front presses. There’s a stack of stretching mats over near the cable columns, so I don’t miss my Airex pad that much.</p>

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<p>I keep a water bottle in my bag but sometimes I take it out and leave
it on my desk before going down to the gym. I have another water
bottle on my desk but it’s not my favorite. I did that today and
didn’t feel like walking back to get my bottle so I just took one of
the paper cups from the office area and filled it from the water
cooler. But it’s always best to always bring a water bottle. I have
a tough time paying $1.25 for 20 oz of water.</p>

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<p>The temperature settings in gyms can vary all over the place. Our
office gym is cold in the winter. In the summer, it’s cool during
the day and warm at night and on the weekends as they turn off the
AC. The weights area at the Y is usually comfortable, around 72
I’d guess.</p>

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<p>At the Y, we have one metal-sculpture combination dip/pullup station,
an assisted pullup machine and there are pullup bars on the cable
pulley machine. I think that there’s one more in the freeweights
area too.</p>

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<p>I think that I know that machine.</p>

<p>We have that at the new YMCA. At the old YMCA, you kneel on a platform
to do pullups and dips. It took me a little time to figure out how to
use it.</p>

<p>The previous machine at the old YMCA required you to stand on the
platform. You couldn’t really do a pullup or dip on it without
standing on the platform. Of course you could just set the assistance
to the minimal ten pounds.</p>

<p>I think that the sculpture pullup/knee raise/dip station at the office
is ideal. No moving parts and you can get assist if you want it by
putting your feet on a diagonal section (your legs are the assist), or
no assist at all by just hanging vertically. That would be a great piece
at home if you have high ceilings. Good to practice those L moves.</p>

<p>Ran 2 miles, pace 8:42, felt good. Also did the Smith Machine and some
free weights. So four days in a row of short runs. Knee isn’t great but
it doesn’t look like the running is doing any damage. I have tennis
tomorrow and will wear the knee sleeve. I haven’t worn it playing tennis
for a long time.</p>

<p>BTW, if enough people do the stuff that you’re doing, the gym might
create a room for it. They did that with a squash court at our old Y
though I think that it was driven by the BoD - in other words, our
Y is forward thinking.</p>

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<p>Not Planet Fitness. If he does it enough, he may find himself on the outside looking in! I would guess that even what he is doing is borderline in their world…</p>

<p>This is the gym, afterall, that has pizza on Monday nights for their members…</p>

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<p>Hmmm. I guess idad want something between Gold’s Gym and Planet Fitness.</p>

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<p>I doubt that! I believe that Planet Fitness’ business model is to sign up as many people as they can at $10 a month and then hope they never show up!</p>

<p>I did, however, grunt on several occasions today (those 60 lb goblet squats are a bear) and did not set off the Lunk Alarm.</p>

<p>[Don't</a> Grunt in Planet Fitness! - YouTube](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQ6OrO1f610]Don’t”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQ6OrO1f610)</p>

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<p>I’ll get my $10 worth. The funny thing is that I would be doing pretty much the same stuff at a fancy $100 a month gym. This place will serve the purpose: a place to go spend an hour on the spur of the moment. It’s limited compared to the variety I can do at home, but there’s enough that I can come up with enough different workouts to not get bored.</p>

<p>I thought that the DB snatches might raise an eyebrow, but I tried to grunt quietly! Those things are pretty much impossible to do without a grunt.</p>

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<p>Forgot to mention that our gym now has an intern. The intern goes to a local university and she has to do 32 hours/week for a semester as part of her program. The fitness center manager is pretty happy to have help now.</p>

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Glad the gym worked out. It’s always fun to play with new toys!

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I’m tore up, though. Really feelin’ it after dinner (grilled steak tips and my bacon marsala brussels sprouts).

Might be the [Pallof</a> Press](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=YpvbR_Ah8_g]Pallof”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=YpvbR_Ah8_g) that got me. So simple, but it is so hard to keep the weight from rotating the body. I was literally panting during second set of these.

15230

<p>Don’t ask me why, but Dan John’s fitness book, Never Let Go, is free for the Amazon Kindle (or Kindle for PC, Kindle for Mac, etc.</p>

<p>[Amazon.com:</a> Never Let Go: A Philosophy of Lifting, Living and Learning eBook: Dan John, Dave Draper, Pavel Tsatsouline: Kindle Store](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Never-Let-Go-Philosophy-ebook/dp/B0051GOM66/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1328104608&sr=8-2]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Never-Let-Go-Philosophy-ebook/dp/B0051GOM66/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1328104608&sr=8-2)</p>

<p>This guy is a great strength and conditioning coach and funny as hell. The book starts:</p>

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<p>He talks about good workouts and punch the clock workouts and bad workouts:</p>

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<p>^^^ Cute, idad.</p>

<p>Today I had a good workout. A personal best distance on the treadmill during my 30 minutes, plus a lot of pushing and pulling heavy things. I was also beaten up twice today by my bully of a boss, so I was truly prepared and eager to be intense at the gym.</p>

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<p>Today’s run: 13 x 400 intervals. The intervals are getting closer to my times from November, so things are improving. I’m still not sure I will actually be able to run a whole 10k by race day.</p>

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Thanks idad! I went and downloaded it onto my computer. I have the hard copy of the book as well… absolutely FANTASTIC!

Spot on.

15234

<p>Lost 3.4 lbs</p>

<p>Starting weight: 177.8</p>

<p>Current weight: 156.4</p>

<p>Total so far: 21.4 lbs</p>

<p>I was in Walmart tonight and walked past a mirror and didn’t recognize myself. I still feel like I look like I am 180. My brain will need time to process this change.</p>

<p>Blood pressure: (average over 1 week) 109/62
Pulse: 70</p>

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<p>That’s got to feel great. I hope you have this on a spreadsheet so that you can graph it. It’s great to have the chart around so that you can see the progress, even when the weight is gone.</p>

<p>The expensive part is clothes. Going down all of these sizes means you need new clothes unless you have smaller clothes from before. It’s fun while also being a pain.</p>

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<p>Eagle: Yes, it is very expensive. Especially now that I need new bras. Ack… My husband is going to have a heart attack when I tell him how much a decent sports bra is. And I have very few items that are small sizes except 2 size 8 jeans. Yikes. My pajamas pants are falling off me.</p>

15237

<p>Hello all:</p>

<p>Anyone ever try the app “Fitness Builder” for your smart phone, computer or I pad? My (very in shape) son told me about it. The app gives you hundreds of well crafted routines for all fitness levels and exercise scenarios - home gym, bodyweight, dumbells, kettlebells, abs, gym, TRX, cardio, sport specific, body part specific, even routines to do in a hotel room, etc etc. You are told exactly what to do and you can even watch demos of the exercises. I find it is wonderful for structuring weight training exercises. My son has gotten into fantastic shape doing it (he likes working out in a gym). There is a free 30 day trial; then it is really cheap if you want to sign up for a year. Its kind of like a mini-Ipod nazi without the chatter. I don’t like using a book to set up my own routines and can’t afford a trainer. Options include logging your routine, so you can keep track. See what you think!</p>

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<p>9k xcountry skiing,short rest followed by 1 1/2 hour snowshoeing.</p>

<p>Beautiful day, no complaints!</p>

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san-dee:

That looks like a cool app. I signed up for the free trial so I could check it out. The only problem is that I can’t find where it is printing the PDFs!

mspearl:

Fantastic. By my calculations, 21 pounds means it’s time for a five pound party! I love parties!

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I recovered from my workout. Man, I was tore up last night. Thinkin’ about some Airdyne intervals today, but I’m not sure yet.

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I Dad -

I think you will enjoy fitnessbuilder. I really don’t use the website or the PDF’s, I just use the phone app. I did have one question though and they promptly responded to me via email.

Today I did one of their “medicine ball” routines. It was fun, and not too long (though I could only manage 3 sets of 10, not their suggested 15 reps).

I like having the ability to use different pieces of equipment, etc…and I like someone (or some thing like my phone) telling me what to do!

I alternate these routines with swimming 3 or 4 times a week, walking, and yoga or tai chi everyday. I have to mix things up! I also have a bunch of dvds of all sorts of exercises, and i like the efit youtube stuff, but I get bored of the same person saying the same thing.

I will be interested in hearing what you (and anyone else) thinks of this app.