<p>You are really smart to focus on good form from the outset. I don’t always have the fitness to do every exercise perfectly, but I try to use decent technique. And, I stop when I get too wiped out in a set to maintain form.</p>
<p>There are several people that I turn to when I want to see good form, but not one source for everything. What exercises are you doing? I’ll try to point you in the right direction.</p>
<p>Performersmom:</p>
<p>This week’s episode really captured the essence of the whole carbohydrate/hormone driven fat storage hypothesis. If I could recommend one 8 minute video for someone struggling with weight to watch, this one would be it. To me, it’s so important to let overweight insulin resistant people know that it’s not their fault and that, if they make the changes fix their hormonal balance, they can shed the pounds and get fit. The belief that “I’m bad because I can’t quit smoking or stop eating so much…” is such a negative motivation.</p>
Well, I punched the clock with my workout tonight. I didn’t really have a lot in the tank, but I plodded my way through a decent workout. Did two sets of iPod nazi’s little circuit for the core. I’m getting better at a couple of those. Stability ball mountain climber knee drives were good.
Chin ups were good again today. I feel like I’ve made some real strides on those. Not in terms of doing more of them, but in terms of doing them a lot better/stronger. I was really feeling the abs today on the chinups.
<p>First week in a long time where I’ve had 3 days off. Felt tired and just had too much going on. I think taking a redeye home from CA got me. I figured I’d save a day of travel and instead I was wiped out for two days after the trip.</p>
<p>^ Back in the day you could take a red-eye and the plane would be 10% full, you could get a whole row to yourself and lie down and sleep.</p>
<p>These days it seems like every single seat is filled even on the red eyes. I can’t sleep on planes because I am too tall, a red-eye would turn me into a zombie. Not fun.</p>
<p>Interesteddad and MOWC, thanks for responding. Here are some of the exercises I do. As I don’t know what I should watch out for, I try to mix it up so as to not overdo any one thing. I could definitely use some help coming up with a little bit more organized approach, shall we say. ;-)</p>
<p>qi gong exercises
jumping jacks
bicep curls
tricep kickbacks
tricep extensions
plank (new to me)
superman (new to me)
various leg lifts
hurdler stretch
hamstring stretch
squats
lunges</p>
<p>This is what comes to mind right now. Thanks again.</p>
It’s a 20 minute 5-exercise core workout with him coaching what to do and how to do it. You can just do the workout along with him, either watching the video or listening on an MP3 player.
<p>Good morning healthy people!! 34 min… not what I was hoping for, my legs felt like tree stumps… but in the cold, wind, & rain - I will take it!
I will shoot for knocking 1 min. off my time each month ( I try to do a monthly 5k)</p>
<p>Am going to try some of those core exercises after I eat iDad, look good.</p>
<p>Have a wonderful weekend with your training everybody.</p>
<p>Watched the video - very hard-hitting but I wish they could speed it up a bit.</p>
<p>Looked up the Fish and Chips place - sounds neat. Probably not going to try it anytime soon though unless they put one up here.</p>
<p>Was rather exhausted last night so went to bed early (after going to the Y to do weights), work up late, very, very hungry and just finished breakfast. Will probably do weights at home and run a mile or two this afternoon. There’s lots of good tennis on ESPN today (Barcelona) and will catch some of that.</p>
<p>Went to the killer spinning class this morning. Felt strong after days off. Average heart rate for 65 minutes was 84% of my estimated max. Burned 575 calories according to my HRM.
Feeling good. Cold and sunny out today in my area–going outside to do some gardening. It’s too nice to be inside.</p>
<p>Been hearing so much about the Rules of Lifting, etc. that I ordered the new book from Amazon–looking forward to reading it and seeing what I can incorporate into my weight routine.</p>
<p>Wow. 84% of max for over an hour is some kind of workout!</p>
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<p>I just skimmed through the exercises in New Rules of Lifting for Life. There’s something in each category that should accommodate just about everyone. I wouldn’t have been able to do them perfectly, but I could have started with these workouts on day one at 250 pounds. There enough options in each category to accomodate anyone. I know that I’ll be picking some level 1 or 2 exercises in some categories and some Level 4 or 5 exercises in others.</p>
<p>For example, squats offer bodyweight squats, goblet squats with on dumbell, or even bodyweight squats while hanging onto something for support like a TRX or a rope (which is the way I should have started.)</p>
<p>ldavis, that sounds pretty good to me, what with wind and rain and all.</p>
<p>Ran 1 mile, walked 1 min, ran .75 mile, on the treadmill. It’s sooooo nice out today, it was really hard to run inside, but I’m following the doctor’s advice and doing treadmill running for 2 weeks. Next week I can venture outside, but I have to find a soft surface to run on for another two weeks. Maybe I’ll sneak onto to the high school track. </p>
<p>I’m still thinking about fish & chips. Darn you notrichenough!</p>
<p>Oh, I almost forgot my stability ball adventures for today. I managed to do a couple of those mountain climber things. I also managed to officially fall off the ball, as in rolling on the floor like a dead bug.</p>
<p>I had to cut the lawn today, since DS isn’t home from school yet. 45 minutes of pushing a mower around, it’s better than sitting on the couch watching the draft.</p>
<p>Thanks, Interesteddad. I’ll give the abs workout a go (wondering how I’ll do on the unmodified side plank…). We’ve been out the entire day, and right about now I am fairly well exhausted though. Sustenance is the first order of business. :-)</p>
<p>I had to start out doing the modified side plank from the knees for about the first month. It was a hard step up to the regular version.</p>
<p>Rather than long holds, back guru Stuart McGill suggests doing multiple 10 second holds to build strength. His logic is that core stability is really more of short-term thing: quick pulses.</p>
<p>2 hours of tennis (doubles). Much less stressful on the body but a good workout anyways. I just did weights yesterday as I was still sore from Friday.</p>
<p>Nadal beat Ferrar at Barcelona this morning. I think that it’s interesting that two of the top five mens players are over 30 and the other three are in their mid-20s. You don’t see stars showing up in their late teens or early twenties anymore and pros aren’t finished around 28. I think that the improved science in fitness and training have evened things up between older teenagers and players in their late 20s and even early 30s. Add the experience by the older players and the younger players can’t break into the top ten.</p>
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