<p>Friday is punch the clock day and, by god, I punched it. :)</p>
<p>Good, solid workout. I’ve now been doing this group of three workouts for a month now and I’m seeing some progress. I would say that all four of the strength exercises today were the best I’ve done them.</p>
<p>Barbell front squats and single leg DB deadlifts for the legs. 3-pt single arm DB rows and kneeling DB curl and press for the upper body. Really happy with the single leg deadlifts. Time to bump the weight next time on that one, I think.</p>
<p>The other one I was pleased with was the standing medicine ball sideways slams against a wall. I’m finally at the stage where I can put some real ooomph into the slams, complete with lunkhead grunts on each one – just like the overhead floor slams. That’s when throwing the med ball gets to be a lot of fun.</p>
<p>Killer core exercise of the day was the dreaded stability ball deadbug. 10 good solid reps per side, with decent holds, the best I’ve done them.</p>
<p>I’m no longer killing myself with these workouts, but it’s kinda fun to be able to just punch the clock.</p>
<p>interesteddad-- I don’t blame your for making fun of the meditation app but it really is my version of your ipod Nazi, albeit with a very soothing voice and new agey sounds/music. I can’t bring myself to really “meditate” on my own, but this little app has a 5, 10 and 20 minute version and it really works for a mental “time out”. I am the last person to advocate woo-woo stuff, but as a stress reducer I really find it helpful. Plus, I don’t have to contort myself into unbearable positions like my previous failed attempts at yoga…</p>
<p>OK CJ…sorry if I missed it but could you please share the iPod app you’re using for meditation? I have one that is 30 minutes long and it is TOO much. Having trouble sleeping…too many “tapes” running in my head from work and I need help!
Have a very stressful job but have kept the weight off and I’m sticking to my clean diet. Need to raise the bar on exercise as we head into the spring and want to drop 10 more pounds. Wish I could run but my knee doesn’t agree so will amp it up on the bike and do more “hilly” walks. We have some real “long termers” on this thread…IDAD and MOWC…very inspiring!</p>
On walking, swimming, etc. I agree with MiamiDAP and san-dee that it’s all good. Heck when some is as fat and out of shape as I was, walking might be the only thing possible to do at first. Even when you’ve cranked up the intensity with other workouts, going out for a walk on a nice sunny day is a great way to to get a little bonus exercise. If you can find some hills to get the heart rate up, so much the better. I feel like walking played a big role in my fat loss.
<p>Would love to know what the meditation ap is too, CJ. I find I’m less likely to start going over my “to do” when I’m listening to a guided meditation. On my own, I’ll often fall asleep or become preoccupied with the day’s problems.</p>
<p>Took the day off today–had 4 days of solid workouts and just felt tired. Also, spent the day shopping and cooking for a birthday party for two friends–it was an all-girl birthday dinner for 10. Felt like I got a workout organizing and getting everything ready and then cooking for the dinner. Will go to the killer spin class tomorrow.</p>
Ya got me beat, CJ and I thought I had a pretty good day yesterday:
Cals 1879
Fat 110g
Carbs 136 g (big serving of lima beans with my country ham!)
Fiber 37 g (big serving of lima beans with my country ham!)
Protein 86 g
Sugars 34 g
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I’m trying to tighten up on my fruit consumption. I’ve been plowing through clementines and Fuji apples lately and it’s time to scale that back to an apple for evening dessert.
<p>I took some pretty cool fitness-related tests (IMHO) last weekend at a running retreat.</p>
<p>-VO2 Max or Aerobic Capacity
Lactate Threshold - the point (speed) at which blood lactate rises at a rapid rate
Body Fat Analysis</p>
<p>VO2 Max and Lactate Threshold measurements were conducted on a sophisticated treadmill setup with an oxygen-mask with tubes fed into a computer. Best ways to increase VO2 is track repeat intervals (400-1600 meter repeats at your 5k pace or faster.) </p>
<p>Lactate Threshold was conducted over 7 - 4 minute running stages where they took blood samples to measure lactate level. They raised the speed .5 mph every stage until you couldn’t go any longer. Best ways to raise lactate threshold is through high intensity tempo runs (three miles or longer runs at 15 to 45 seconds slower than your 5k race pace.)</p>
<p>Body Fat Analysis was analyzed on a Dexa machine. It measured body composition by every region of the body and broke it down by tissue, fat and lean muscle. Needless to say the majority of my fat composition was in my android area (belly). The tech doing my testing told an interesting story about diet. Apparently a woman had a re-test on the Dexa one week after she went on a salad-only type diet of 500 calories per day and minimal exercise. She lost 7 lbs. The Dexa machine showed that 6 lbs of the 7 lb. loss was in LEAN MUSCLE.</p>
<p>The focus/philosophy of the running retreat was that if you want to get faster is that you focus on 3 days of high -intensity quality runs (track, short tempo run, long tempo run) and 2-4 cross training days composed of either swimming, rowing or cycling. Never two consecutive days of hard running. Of course this is combined with a routine of stretching and strength training. The latter very important for us older runners.</p>
Their food database is enormous. I’m often able to find the exact brand of salsa or whatever, which is a big help. There are over a million items. It also allows you to save your own recipes, so I have a lot of my standard stuff (like blue cheese salad, chicken fajitas, chicken caesar salad, my bar-b-q sauce, etc.) saved.
I don’t track all the time, but it’s a fantastic learning tool and a good way to focus or re-focus from time to time. A kitchen scale helps. It’s especially helpful to set a baseline and figure out what the heck you are eating that’s been packing on the pounds (although in my case I had a pretty good idea!).
<p>Wow. That’s really interesting. Better you than me on the treadmill testing with the oxygen mask. That’s would be brutal!</p>
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<p>The rapid loss of lean muscle is why low calorie starvation diets generally produce only short-term yo-yo results at best. Losing lean muscle is the worst thing you can do to maintain weight over the long haul because it just kills your metabolism (resting energy consumption, insulin sensitivity, growth hormone and testosterone levels, etc.) Really bad for us geezers as we tend to lose muscle as we age anyway.</p>
<p>18 miles. Longest run since marathon in December 2009. It was a supported group run, but I never found anyone to run with. I am among the slower runners who go that far in these group runs, and the others my pace seemed to be way behind me. At least it was on a greenway, so I could see people out and back. I never put my music on, although I had my Shuffle with me, because I kept hoping to run with someone. I went a little faster than I wanted to, but I just didn’t want to be out there forever. 50 seconds a mile slower than August 2009 on same course (which was a spectacularly bad idea on that hot day with hills and led to a pretty unpleasant last few miles), but I felt relatively OK the whole way. Well, as OK as you can feel running for 3 hours and ending up with 2 miles of hills! 55 to start, 72 at the finish. DONE!!! Went to Sonic for a giant iced tea and to Dunkin for 2 donuts.</p>
I did the lactate threshold and VO2 test a while back. Treadmill and mask until you feel like you are going to drop. Weirdly enough, right after you get off, you feel like you could have done just a little more. I was told everyone feels that way.
I used my results to help me determine optimal HR zones for marathon training. (basically concluding that for most of training runs I was running way too hard) They were also able to determine my basal metabolic rate, which turned out to be significantly lower than what they would have estimated. Partially explains difficulty losing weight.
but it really is my version of your ipod Nazi, albeit with a very soothing voice and new agey sounds/music. I can’t bring myself to really “meditate” on my own, but this little app has a 5, 10 and 20 minute version and it really works for a mental “time out”. I am the last person to advocate woo-woo stuff, but as a stress reducer I really find it helpful. Plus, I don’t have to contort myself into unbearable positions like my previous failed attempts at yoga…</p>![http://images.cheezburger.com/completestore/2009/10/22/129007354014345587.jpg]We’re](http://images.cheezburger.com/completestore/2009/10/22/129007354014345587.jpg%5DWe're){kind=link}
