<p>I got up to 90 seconds of front plank, but you are right, it was mainly an endurance contest and my abs didn’t seem to need it for that long. I also think on the elbows is harder than with arms extended.</p>
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<p>No question about it. With the arms extended, it’s more of a shoulder endurance exercise, less force on the abs.</p>
<p>I still think my favorite front plank is elbows on a stability ball. That is really tough and can be insanely tough just by rolling the ball forward a couple inches.</p>
<p>Today’s numbers</p>
<p>Cals 1610
Fat 107 g
Carbs 63 g
Fiber 8 g
Protein 99 g
Sugars 11 g</p>
<p>@ Bromfield
Let me know if there are any recipes or tips that you particularly liked in the book or any other observations.</p>
<p>I am not doing strict paleo anymore, but paleo and low(ish) carb have a lot of overlap. I think the main difference for me is that I am doing much less fruit than I was during the paleo challenge, but do have dairy every once in a while, which is a paleo no-no.</p>
<p>Fruit is my guilty sweet-tooth pleasure now. Specifically, Fuji apples. I guess, all things, considered, it’s probably a good upgrade over sour gummy worms! :)</p>
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<p>180 seconds of plank with elbows forward (face level), 80 seconds for each side plank. But it gets kind of boring to keep doing it for longer; probably will try some more difficult variants.</p>
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<p>I’m having trouble visualizing that! My elbows won’t point forwards! :)</p>
<p>Is the weight on your hands on the floor, with your arms straight outstretched like holding at the top of a pushup, but with the hands walked slightly forward? Walking the hands forward increases the difficulty of that kind of plank exponentially. I can walk them out so my arms are at maybe a 45 degree angle to the floor, maybe a little more… but I can only hold that position for a few seconds.</p>
<p>When I do plank, my weight is on my forearms, with the hands and elbows both on the mat.</p>
<p>[Plank</a> video](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=MHQmRINu4jU#t=23s]Plank”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=MHQmRINu4jU#t=23s)</p>
<p>I’ve never tried to go more than 60 seconds, but I knw that I couldn’t come anywhere close to 180 seconds with that version.</p>
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<p>One variation I’ve been doing lately (hat tip to iPod nazi) is to start with plank with my elbows on the mat. Raise up to hands on mat, arms straight (push up position). Walk the hands out as far forward as I can. Walk the hands back. And, return back down to the elbows on the mat position. Repeat four or five times, alternating from side to side as far as which is the lead hand in pushup up out of the plank.</p>
<p>Maybe a break day for me. Very busy schedule today and I didn’t pack my stuff. I will get in a few miles of walking but I don’t know if I’ll get in weights or running.</p>
<p>Well- it turned out that my weekly mileage was 39.3 after the 8 mile run yesterday morning. I haven’t hit 40 in ages. What to do, what to do. Well, 6:30 pm out the door to run a mile in my barefoot shoes just because I do stuff like that… So- 40.3 for the week with no long run! </p>
<p>AND- very tired legs this morning. 1 1/5 mile run is it for this rest day. Yucky weather, too. Warm with thunder storms.</p>
<p>I usually do this set: ( 1 min front, 30 seconds side, 30 seconds other side ) X 3-4 times. Pushups are also great. I split my 100 pushups into more manageable chunks of 20-30.</p>
<p>Got some running done last week. Also passed a medical test with flying colors. The doc commented that she had never seen such a fit person (LoL, she probably treats very sick, old folk). The test involved some running on a dreadmill with gradually increasing steep incline with a bunch of sensors stuck all over my body. I never thought my BP could reach 200/85ish. Yikes. They tried to get my heart rate to the targeted number, but ran out of test stages. LOL. Plans for this week call for some light running and lots of reading (300 or so pages of really, really boring text that works great as a sleep aid).</p>
<p>For most of us, anything over 30 is huge mileage.</p>
<p>We have fantastic weather this week - 60s during the day and 30s during the night. Rain on Tuesday. It’s sunny and nice out - one of my nephews on Spring Break is outside raking leaves and branches in a long-sleeve shirt.</p>
<p>Note on running up hills - we were looking for apartments on Beacon Hill last week and three older guys came charging up the hill. Surprisingly the oldest was running the fastest and he was really charging. I’d say that he was in his 50s and the other guys were in their forties. I felt pain in my knees just watching him run. There are some real type-A runners out there.</p>
<p>Bunsen- great news about the good medical report. That’s funny that they ran out of stages for your treadmill test.</p>
<p>MOfWC, thanks, Im very glad, too. I think the test was harder than my marathon race! There were no aid stations, and I could not slow down to take a break. 
If it were an athletic training facility, I’m sure they would have had another stage to make me drop dead, but this was just a hospital lab. :)</p>
<p>Great job on reaching 40 miles for the week, MOfWC!!</p>
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<p>Weight on the elbows/forearms, but the elbows are moved forward to about face level, rather than below the shoulders.</p>
<p>71 degrees here, bright blue sky, not a cloud in sight. No wind. Had to break my rule and go out for a walk/jog two days in row. Shorts and short sleeve shirt for the first time since last October. I think I got a little sunburn (us yankees get awfully pale over the winter!).</p>
<p>Used the anti-static spray and my Garmin worked like a champ today – of course, not much static when you are sweating like a pig.</p>
<p>I did the short, fast intervals till my heart rate hit 90% on my usual 5K hilly state park route. Got in 14 interval with an average pace of 7.9 minute/mile and a quick interval of 6.7 min/mile. Ended up with the third fastest time of the many times I’ve done this route, even though I actually ran less than a mile. High average heart rate (81%)</p>
<p>[the</a> graph](<a href=“http://i218.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/albums/cc14/hwc_1000/Maudslay5Kwalk-jogHR903-12-2012.jpg]the”>http://i218.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/albums/cc14/hwc_1000/Maudslay5Kwalk-jogHR903-12-2012.jpg)</p>
![http://i218.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/albums/cc14/hwc_1000/Maudslay5Kwalk-jogHR903-12-2012.jpg]the](http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc14/hwc_1000/Maudslay5Kwalk-jogHR903-12-2012.jpg%5Dthe){kind=link}
<p>I mentioned this a few weeks ago but it’s still happening: I have a lot of free weight exercises that I’ve been doing on a bench for several years now. I just started doing them while I’m balanced on a stability ball, with my feet flat on the floor and only my upper back and head on the ball. Keeps my core very challenged. </p>
<p>Everytime I do that, I’m tired the next day. It sounds insignificant but it has really changed things up for me.</p>
<p>@Very Happy
I think you stepped things up a big notch by having part of your body on a stability ball–you really do have to engage your core. My health club used to offer an entire class on the stability ball–40 minutes of free weight exercises standing on the stability ball. I thought it was really hard. The instructor that taught it left and that was the end of the class.</p>
<p>Actually standing on the stability ball, or sitting and balancing in different ways? Standing on the stability ball takes things to yet another level, as far as I’m concerned!!</p>
<p>VeryHappy:</p>
<p>I’m not surprised. To this day, I think the most soreness I’ve felt in my glutes/butt came from doing one-arm DB presses with just my shoulders on the stability ball. The whole thing was so unstable – side to side – that my butt was working like crazy to stay braced.</p>
<p>It’s not a big issue for most of us geezers, but you do have to be careful and check the ball before weight lifting. A rapidly deflating ball is not good!</p>
<p>The Sacramento Kings NBA team had a player break his wrist when a ball burst while he was bench pressing. They sued the ball manufacturer and Perform Better:</p>
<p>[Sacramento</a> Press / Ball not so stable - Kings file complaint over Garcia’s 2009 training camp accident](<a href=“http://www.sacramentopress.com/headline/41585/Ball_not_so_stable_Kings_file_complaint_over_Garcias_2009_training_camp_accident#comment-41707]Sacramento”>http://www.sacramentopress.com/headline/41585/Ball_not_so_stable_Kings_file_complaint_over_Garcias_2009_training_camp_accident#comment-41707)</p>
<p>Unlike an NBA player bench pressing a big weight, I don’t think any of us are in danger of hitting the weight limits on these balls, but once you start getting up over a couple hundred pounds of body weight and DBs, it’s worth thinking about.</p>
<p>idad, that ain’t gonna happen to me. Little ole’ me, at 103 (on a good day) or 104 (on a bad day), plus at the most 15 pounds in each arm. Just ain’t gonna happen!!</p>