<p>I know you choose to use dumbbells rather than get kettlebells, but I think that’s the only thing missing from this gym! I’d toss in a couple of kettlebells and otherwise would love that set-up!</p>
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<p>Workout Tonight</p>
<p>-15 minutes on a Hills program on the elliptical
-3 sets of 10
----Half-kneeling chops (each side)
----Vertical Pallof Presses
----Pallof Presses (each side)
----40# Kettlebell Swings</p>
<p>Interval Running
–3 minutes run
–1 minute walk
–Repeat for a total of 20 minutes
Was just shy of two miles…</p>
<p>Great set up, idad. And you have already put it to good use.
BB - amazing push ups, no way I could do 30 at one go. I would end up having to take loooong rests in between toward the end.</p>
<p>Apropos of push ups, just watched the youtube of Michelle and Ellen. Not to disparage either lovely lady, both of which look like they are in great shape, but those push ups wouldn’t fly in my circles, where chest has to touch the ground or they don’t count.</p>
<p>I bring my chin down to about one inch off the floor on pushups. It seemed to me that Michelle’s upper arms didn’t even get down to parallel with the ground. Ellen did a better jobs as idad said but Michelle’s husband was correct in what he said about his wife’s pushups.</p>
<p>Then again I’ve never had to do pushups in front of an audience or in competition with someone else. It may be that the other stuff going on could throw off your form.</p>
<p>I had some work to do last night but took a nap because I was tired and woke up this morning. I need coffee - thinking of a quick Dunkin run right now.</p>
<p>I love the gym, iDad. Also echo the comments on BB’s pushups. Amazing. I think we are all doing great. </p>
<p>Today is Day 250 of my running streak and I haven’t even done anything very stupid during it (i.e. no running while sick or injured or down a freeway…)!</p>
<p>The gym is very nice. That’s an incredibly tidy basement too. </p>
<p>I’m still cleaning mine though about 80% of the work is done. I’m making a trip to Home Depot this afternoon for more shelving which should take care of space issues in the basement for now.</p>
<p>MOWC—I’d like to know your secret of staying injury-free. It seems like I always have hip, calf or other related issues popping up. Now I have a tender Achilles issue. Injured it during a HIT class where I was doing high hops side-to-side. I spend a good 15 minutes with dynamic stretching and slow running before I get into any of my running workouts. I’ve only been at the running for a year now so maybe it’s taking time for my body to get acclimated?</p>
<p>Nice workout! I loved doing the chops and pallof presses. That was the thing I liked best about Planet Fitness and the item I am sorely temped to add to my gym is a pulley/cable. The company that makes my weight bench sells an affordable “lat pulldown” machine that is basically a tall pulley, a mid pulley, and low pulley that you load with your own weight plates. This would suit my purposes (the kind of stuff you were doing) just fine as I don’t/can’t heavily load any of those.</p>
<p>I’m going to keep that one in the back of my mind. At the moment, I really don’t have room for it.</p>
<p>BC:</p>
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<p>Unfortunately, more photo angle selection than tidy. The [two</a> walls you can’t see](<a href=“http://i218.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/albums/cc14/hwc_1000/gym2c.jpg]two”>http://i218.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/albums/cc14/hwc_1000/gym2c.jpg) are stacked chin high with boxes and crates and misc furniture and stuff. The movers had it all stacked out in the middle of the room, so at least I’ve managed to get it moved to the perimeter. Those stacks still have to be dealt with, but it’s gotta be one box at a time. A good bit of it is some vintage tube stereo gear and stuff that destined for EBAY.</p>
<p>GIJANE:</p>
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<p>I’d give Ellen credit. At least those are push ups. Both of them should try M. Boyle’s drill of holding the bottom position of a push up for 45 seconds. But, it’s great to see some “middle age” folk doing push ups on TV, regardless. If everyone in America did some pushups a couple of times a week, our collective fitness would improve leaps and bounds. Probably the one exercise that would provide the most benefit, working the core and the upper body.</p>
<p>ohiopublic- I don’t stay injury free, unfortunately. I was injured most of 2010 into 2011 and was very discouraged. I did a lot of PT, hot yoga and cycling. I tend to have upper hamstring/hip issues stemming from weak glutes. Over my 36 years of running I’ve had stress fractures, knee issues, hip issues that were so bad I couldn’t sit in the car and a couple of bad falls. It sort of goes with the territory.
Knock on wood- things seem to be going pretty well for now. I don’t know what the secret is. Some people are injured all the time and others never are.</p>
I do my pushups on my knuckles otherwise it hurts my wrists. If I’m maintaining proper form I don’t think it is possible for my chest to touch, I’m not that flexible. And I try to keep my head up so I don’t sag my shoulders and back, so touching the chin is out too.</p>
<p>I try to get my elbows to 90 degrees or less, if I do that’s good enough for me.</p>
<p>Yeah Michelle O. didn’t quite make it to 90 degrees, but she ripped off 25 of them with no warmup. Pretty impressive.</p>
<p>I’ve really tried to keep up with it and put stuff away (or at least stacked in the right room) as it comes into the place. The kitchen has been the big challenge as it has required some improvisation with shelving and stuff due to very limited counter and cabinet space. A big teak “wall unit” in the adjacent dining area has really helped. In fact, I’ve got a big empty kitchen cabinet! It helps to have done a lot of cooking because I know what items need to be out on shelving for ready access and what is a pain in the butt to have tucked away in a cupboard. For example, fishing blenders and food processors out of cabinets is no good. Those need to be out on shelving where there are easy to grab. Same with the Kitchen Aid mixer. I’m used to having it on the counter, but no room for that. But it’s way too heavy to fish out from a cabinet.</p>
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<p>Props to her for doing pushups on TV. She also did a workout in the White House on The Biggest Loser this year. If she encourages people to workout, fantastic.</p>
<p>Yup - but I had help and started six-weeks ahead of time. iDad had the sale suddenly come up and had to find a place, get a contract and then move in under time pressure.</p>
<p>I am under so little pressure right now compared to the first five months of 2012 - it’s really, really nice. I have work pressure but don’t have anywhere near as much family stuff to take care of which means that I can workout and watch nutrition carefully. It also means that I can tackle some of the things on my long-term to-do list to make life more efficient, comfortable and to reduce stress.</p>
<p>Oh yeah. Huge difference. When I was boxing stuff up and moving it to the basement of our house to get ready for painters and moving, it was a total disaster down there. A big part of the 30 cubic yard dumpster we filled (the biggest size) came from clearing out the basement.</p>
<p>I’ve learned my lesson. Anything that can go to the garbage goes immediately in front of the back door. No waiting. No maybe I’ll keep it if it’s broken and fix it later. Get rid of it. I got a new vacuum cleaner this week. Before, I would have put the box in the basement. Why?</p>
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<p>The saving grace is that we had done a tremendous amount of boxing up and weeding out in preparation to put the house on the market – first for painting, wood floor finishing, carpeting, etc and then for “decluttering”.</p>
<p>Knowing what I know now, I would recommend that every homeowner pick a two week period this summer, rent a dumpster for $300, fill it to the brim, and have it hauled away. I should have done that every five years. Plus, I found a guy who would haul away all metal for free and other furniture and stuff on a case by case basis. I ended up paying him $100 to get rid of a couple of sofas, a crib, a riding lawnmower, and some other stuff. That was $100 well spent!</p>
<p>Oh, yes. Toss, toss, toss without regrets! DD is cleaning her room and Ebaying some of her belongings away prior to the start of her fellowship. I’m very impressed with the energy she invests in this process!</p>
<p>I have soooo much to do today, it is not even funny! I will have to cram a run into this mess of a schedule to get my neurotransmitters in order or I’ll go nuts. :)</p>
<p>idad, that’s quite a gym you’ve got in there! I’m very impressed. Our “gym” coprises my treadmill, Mr. B’s bike, his kettlebell, some rubber tubing, a set of dumbbells, foam rollers, and some misc. stuff. Not quite as organizes as idad’s!</p>
<p>On the decluttering note, don’t underestimate the power of freecycle. People are willing to pick up all manner of stuff, in working order or not. I like the idea of things still being put to use and keeping them out of the landfill.
Had someone pick up a couch within hours of posting, ditto old magazines, craft supplies etc.</p>
<p>Thanks! Good day for running. Cool but no rain. :-)</p>
<p>Actually I really miss the sofa. It was a nice one. We gave it away during the same time-frame as the lawn mower when we were paring down belongings for a move out-of-state.</p>
![http://i218.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/albums/cc14/hwc_1000/gym2c.jpg]two](http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc14/hwc_1000/gym2c.jpg%5Dtwo){kind=link}
