<p>Weights this morning and just got back from a 5-mile run at 9:20. Once I get over four miles I don’t feel like doing weights afterwards. I need a while to decompress.</p>
Mailed our big, fat check to the IRS… Glad that at least DD is getting a (smaller) big, fat check from them. H came from work looking really tired - we sat on the couch talking and both ended up falling asleep. Goodness, I did NOT want to go for a run after that nap, but I asked myself, WWMOfWCD? I jumped up, put my running clothes on, and ran 3.6 miles while H pedaled his bike. Thank you, MOfWC for being such a great motivator!
<p>I actually like taking a ten to twenty minute nap before a run. It is hard to do that if I am running during work though. I have moved my running this week to after work though.</p>
<p>I used the ab roller at the gym for the first time ever yesterday. I’m feeling it this morning, which is a very good thing. I’ve gotten rather stale with my core exercises, so feeling it is a definite positive.</p>
<p>A side benefit of the abs roller is that it works the triceps too. If your triceps are already strong, you won’t really feel it. BTW, if you have a choice of the abs roller or the abs dolly at the gym, go with the dolly. It’s a lot smoother and you can more easily do side exercises.</p>
<p>I sometimes wonder if it’s strong enough to move furniture with.</p>
<p>You are welcome, BB. Glad to help! Not sure I would have done it myself, unless the streak needed to continue. :)</p>
<p>Had to get up at 4 friggin 30 to get WildChild to the airport to go back to Denver, exit interview out of his Denver job and prepare to move to PHL. Of course, “prepare to move” means one last bike trip to Moab, Utah with his triathlete friends. I ran a few miles in the dark while H took him to the airport. Maybe a couple more after work. </p>
<p>We talk on this thread about how helpful it is to have some degree of fitness just to deal with life’s activities- mowing, moving, carrying, home repairs etc. Well, yesterday my sister’s greyhounds escaped when the yard mower left the gate open. My mother’s caregivers (ages 68 and 59) had to chase them down on foot. Greyhounds can run 40 mph! Fortunately, the dogs were retrieved, but my sister said the ladies looked like they might not make it! Guess they should have been doing Airdyne intervals!</p>
<p>Very Happy:</p>
<p>A really good trick with the [ab</a> wheel](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0007IS74G/ref=asc_df_B0007IS74G1981261?smid=A5EPTLIXT12QG&tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=asn&creative=395105&creativeASIN=B0007IS74G&hvpos=1o2&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=9396263091026968864&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=]ab”>http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0007IS74G/ref=asc_df_B0007IS74G1981261?smid=A5EPTLIXT12QG&tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=asn&creative=395105&creativeASIN=B0007IS74G&hvpos=1o2&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=9396263091026968864&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=) is to roll towards a wall, so that the wall serves as a limit stopping you from rolling any further. As you want a harder challenge, just back up from the wall. This prevents the one risk of the ab wheel – that you roll out so far your back goes into entension (curved backwards) because you no longer have sufficient core strength. It also reduces the chance of tearing an ab muscle! Nice way to give you full control over making the exercise progressively more challenging.</p>
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<p>That’s what ValSlides (or [ghetto</a> ValSlides from KMART](<a href=“http://www.kmart.com/shc/s/p_10151_10104_005W427052160001P?blockNo=3&blockType=G3&prdNo=3&i_cntr=1334758788497]ghetto”>http://www.kmart.com/shc/s/p_10151_10104_005W427052160001P?blockNo=3&blockType=G3&prdNo=3&i_cntr=1334758788497)) are for!</p>
<p>Mike Boyle uses the [Ab</a> Dolly](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Perform-Better-AB-Dolly-Plus/dp/B00065X0SI]Ab”>http://www.amazon.com/Perform-Better-AB-Dolly-Plus/dp/B00065X0SI) with his athletes. It provides an easier progression (forearms on the dolly, shorter lever arm) and then a harder progression (hands gripping the handles, longer lever arm) where the Ab Wheel is hands only, right from the start. That’s why rolling out to a wall as a stop is so helpful with the Ab Wheel. It’s a tough exercise.</p>
<p>I didn’t think about resting forearms on the dolly platform. I’ve always wondered what you do with the handles on the top and bottom though I guess that you could use them for a wider platform. The other nice thing about the dolly is that you have a place to put the cushion on when it isn’t in use.</p>
<p>Regarding getting dogs to come back: would a steak work?</p>
<p>We’re giving up the kids’ apartment at the end of May and are in the slow process of furnishing son’s apartment with some stuff from the old apartment and our home. Today I moved a 50 pound bookcase from the apartment to the trunk of my car. Our off-street parking is about 3/4 mile away but I managed to park on-street on the opposite side. So I moved it down the stairs, across the street and put it top-first into the trunk. It didn’t fit because the top was too high. Fortunately the bottom (legs) weren’t too high so I had to pull it out, flip it around and then move it in and it’s there now. Pretty good morning workout and it’s really nice to have the fitness to do that. I get to move it into the house tonight and then back in the car in a few days when I go down to see him.</p>
<p>We have more heavy and big furniture to move though I’m going to offer the two queen beds to the next tenants - they will likely be students and they might like cheap beds that they don’t have to move and set up. I figured that it would be cheaper to toss the beds and buy new ones than to move them back home.</p>
<p>There’s another book case that I will have to partially disassemble to fit in the car. I will need to rent a U-Haul to move the twin bed and industrial-strength table that’s there. That table will hold at least 500 pounds - I bought it when Digital Equipment Corporation was selling off assets as it went into a death spiral - for $20. I have about six weeks to do this stuff which should be plenty of time.</p>
<p>I will also need to move a 27 inch iMac. These things weigh 30 pounds and the shape makes it a pain to carry. It has a carrying box but it’s inconvenient to carry that too. There’s an additional 24 inch monitor that I can harvest too - that one is pretty light.</p>
<p>Yes, all kinds of strength is helpful for life’s little tasks.</p>
<p>I will have my son’s help for moving the desk and the twin bed - the issue there is size, not weight. He’s considerably stronger than I am but he’s in Boston most of the time so not available to help.</p>
<p>On these ab wheel/ab dolly rollouts, you could also do them with the ValSlides or ghetto KMart ValSlides. Extending out as far as the lady in this video is unthinkably difficult! This is awesome core strength.</p>
<p>[Superman</a> Val Slide Push Up - Dec 30, 2010 - YouTube](<a href=“Superman Val Slide Push Up - Dec 30, 2010 - YouTube”>Superman Val Slide Push Up - Dec 30, 2010 - YouTube)</p>
<p>You can also do them just with your hands. Get in a push up position, arms extended. Then, walk your hands forward a few inches. Stop and hold. Walk your hands back. As you get stronger, you can walk them out further. Makes the abs burn. This is probably a little easier place to start than the ab wheel.</p>
<p>Or, the variation I prefer. Pushup position, arms extended. Walk the feet backwards without moving your hands. Stop and hold. Then, walk the hands backwards to return to the normal push position.</p>
<p>Ran 1 mile, very slowly, on the treadmill today. No pain, yay! Warmed up and cooled down on the elliptical. I wore my minimalist shoes, and even my calves were fine. </p>
<p>So after my cardio I went over to do some strength and core stuff, and there was a stability ball staring at me. I kept looking at it, trying to decide whether to try some of those exercises from that video. The gym was pretty busy, and all I could think of was me falling off the thing in front of all these people. The only exercise I could remember is the one where you put your feet on the ball and you’re supposed to alternate touching the floor with your foot. I made it as far as getting my feet on to the ball. That was my stability ball workout for today.</p>
<p>Wow. I’m toast. My usual workout kicked my butt.</p>
<p>Power was my favorite superset: box jumps up to my 16 inch weight bench and overhead medicine ball slams. The jumps didn’t bother my Achilles at all, so that was good.</p>
<p>I forgot about iPod nazi’s new core workout, but, i did a bunch of his favorites. Swiss ball plank. Side plank with knee drives. And swiss ball knee drive holds. Plus farmers walks with a 40 lb DB at my shoulder.</p>
<p>Strength got me. Rear foot elevated split squats and chin ups. Trap bar dead lifts and alternating DB overhead presses. Chin ups were good again. Three sets of 4 & 2, chin above bar on every one of them.</p>
<p>These workouts are just plain hard for an ol’ (formerly) fat guy like me! I’m thinking day off tomorrow. I’ve exercised 16 of the last 18 days and I’m feeling a little run down.</p>
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<p>Just getting my feet on the ball was a major accomplishment for me when I started. I would say that, of the four exercises in that workout, the feet on the ball, rolling it in, and then back out, is probably the place to start. One leg on the ball, like in that other exercise, is really hard. You want to be able to stay on the ball with two feet first!</p>
<p>Sounds like a rough one. I was ready to go out to run and then felt like I shouldn’t (lack of sleep + too much coffee + too much work to do) so I’m doing laundry instead, a little stretching and going to bed early.</p>
<p>BTW, sometimes I wonder why it isn’t called an instability ball.</p>
<p>^^^Ha ha ha.</p>
<p>Lou Schuler has posted the Introduction to the new book [The</a> New Rules of Lifting For Life: An All-New Muscle-Building, Fat-Blasting Plan for Men and Women Who Want to Ace Their Midlife Exams](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/The-Rules-Lifting-Life-Muscle-Building/dp/1583334610/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_1]The”>http://www.amazon.com/The-Rules-Lifting-Life-Muscle-Building/dp/1583334610/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_1) on the Facebook page:</p>
<p><a href=“https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=428773713815902[/url]”>Facebook;
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<p>Scheduled to ship next week. I haven’t decided if I want to go with the book or the Kindle version.</p>
<p>Well, I had to ask myself again: WWMOfWCD? 
I had zero motivation prior to my run, but felt soooo much better after the 4 miles I managed to run today.</p>
I don’t know. While I kind of think everyone should give up soda, that’s easy for me to say, because I don’t really like it. I drink it once in a blue moon though. I think if there’s something you really like, but don’t want to give up completely you have to come up with a plan for how much and how often you can eat it. I have a pretty low carb diet, but I eat 1/2 a whole grain English muffin 4 days a week and I have blueberry pancakes or waffles once every weekend cooked by my husband. There’s room in my diet for wine on the weekends, but during the week only at wine classes or neighborhood association meetings. Obviously, I am not losing weight fast, but I am not in a hurry. I want a food plan I can live with forever. If I need to tweak it I will. For me the hardest piece is to get serious about exercise, it’s very very easy for me to run out of time in a day.
You must be doing something right, mathmom! That’s a pretty nice milestone you’ve hit. Five 5-lb parties!
What is such a challenge about this whole fat loss thing is that we’ve each got to look at what we eat and figure out a strategy to eat less in a way that leaves us satisified with what we are eating. I’m convinced that the downfall of most diets is trying to live on stuff that you really don’t like to eat!
I ate English muffins for the first year or so of my fat loss. I had a carb-fest meal (pizza or pasta or a sub) once a week. There’s no reason that can’t fit in a workable plan. I had a carb meal the other night, eating a sub sandwich for dinner.
<p>Two days later, still feeling the results of the ab roller, which is a very good thing. In both my core above the waist, and in the muscles on my upper back. (I’m sure they have some name.) Looking forward to using it again and to trying the ipod nazi workout idad posted.</p>
<p>Didn’t work out yesterday and probably won’t today. Work has picked up and I’m trying to watch my stocks too.</p>
<p>Cleaned out the remaining XLs and Ls on shirts (long-sleeve and short-sleeve tech) from my bureau and moved them down to the basement. I plan to put these in storage as I might wear some of the thin, long-sleeve stuff next winter. My plans are to buy M long-sleeve tech shirts on discount this spring. The discounts are pretty good right now at the online places for winter gear. I might buy it from Marshalls too. No hurry on it. I have the Capilene 3 and that works but it’s a little too warm for Spring and Fall. The Nike Pro Combat long-sleeve shirts would be fine.</p>
<p>I’m going to try to squeeze in longer runs this weekend to make up for the lack of exercise during the week.</p>