Using It Nov 26th - Dec 2nd

[Ottawa]

Here we go ... working out right into December.

Sunday: 70 minutes of heavier hand weights and crunches
Monday: Aerobics class at lunch 15 minute Bullworker bar in the evening.
Tuesday: Day Off
Wednesday: Sculpting Class from Hell.:evil:
Thursday: Hand Weights, crunches, stretches 45 mins
Friday: short workout on inclined bench withweights/crunches
Sat: Day Off

[banshee]

Got in myworkout last Saturday, although I decided to cut it short and only do upper body due to spending about 2 hours roller skating. That was probably a bit of a mistake, as my knee is acting up again now. But my legs are otherwise nicely sore, so I definitely got in a good lower body workout! Arms and back are a bit sore as well, so upper body weight lifting went well too. Had a couple "indulgences" in full sugar foods over the long weekend, but today I'm at my lowest weight in the last 2 years, so I clearly did enough exercise to balance it out!

Plans for this week:
Sunday: rest day
Monday: Weight lifting
Tuesday: Circuit/aerobic
Wednesday: Personal training/weights
Thursday: rest day
Friday: Circuit/aerobic
Saturday: Weight lifting

[daisy]

Monday -

snuck an extra workout in today, did a 30 min run on treadmill, cranked speed up to 8km which is fast for me and ran the required 4km :D

daisy xx

[SherryJ]

but today I'm at my lowest weight in the last 2 yearsMary, you ROCK!!! I'm so proud of you!!!

Sherry

[daisy]

Tuesday -

1 hr/crosstrainer/level12/fat burn
30 mins/stairmaster/level8/fat burn

daisy xx

mary - wtg on weightloss :D

[daisy]

Wednesday (morning)

1 hour run/speed went up to 9km/p/h for last 5 mins, covered 8km's in 62 mins so getting closer to my 1 hour goal :rolleyes:

daisy xx

[Ottawa]

"1 hour run/speed went up to 9km/p/h for last 5 mins, covered 8km's in 62 mins so getting closer to my 1 hour goal "

Just amazing!
Although I can do various strength training exercises, running is still my shortfall. Other than short sprints I have not really run in 20 years.

Time for a change I will put it in as part of the December Challenge.

Way to go Mary on hitting your "low".:D

[banshee]

Well, I ended up skipping my strength workout on Monday. I was still sore from Saturday's workout, and didn't want to overdo it. Tuesday I did a regular circuit training session - assisted pullups, assisted dips, leg raises, chest press, bicep curl to arnold press, tricep extensions, leg raises. 3 sets of 20 reps, except my abs were too weak to do the leg raises during the last set. :(

Today was measuring day. No change from a week and a half ago, which I found odd, because not only are my pants feeling looser, they're feeling looser straight out of the dryer! :eek: :D I must be losing in an area I don't measure. Time to start drying my pants on high heat! :p

[Shadow]

Way to go everyone on the workouts :)! And congrats, Mary, on that low weight :D!

Very busy week for me but I'm getting the exercising done. Back to strength training with some cardio in between.

Have a great week, everyone!

[daisy]

Thanks Ottawa :D I hadn't run in 20 years either but i quit letting the trainer push me into speeds that i could not sustain and i've been building it up over the last 2 weeks, now i can run an hour 3 times a week and that speed is slowly creeping upwards :rolleyes:

daisy xx

[daisy]

Wednesday night -

1 hour/crosstrainer/level 10/fat burn

leg press - 55kg - 3 x 15
lunges with 5kg weight - 3 x 15
squats with 5kg weight - 3 x 15
leg extension - 15kg - 3 x 12 each leg separate
leg extension - 25kg - 3 x 12 legs together
leg curl - 35kg - 3 x 15
hip abductor (inner) 75kg - 2 x 20
hip abductor (outer) 55kg - 2 x 20
Abs machine (new and it hurts!) 25kg - 2 x 20
lower abs v's - 2 x 20
obliques on fitball - 50 each side

daisy xx

[SherryJ]

Although I can do various strength training exercises, running is still my shortfall. Other than short sprints I have not really run in 20 years.Speaking of 20 years, Randy... yesterday, for the first time in TWENTY YEARS, I hit my goal of getting back to 4 mph walking!

If I can, YOU can! :)

Sherry

[banshee]

Good personal training session yesterday. We did a whole bunch of new exercises, and I ended the session nicely tired/sore. I've noticed something interesting. I usually get to the gym a bit early, and on days when he doesn't have another client, my trainer will often start my session early so I don't have to wait. The interesting thing is that when he does this, he'll often keep me working out until the original ending time of my scheduled session, which means I get an extra 10-15 minutes with him. :thumbsup:

I haven't decided yet if it's just because he has hidden sadistic tendencies :evil: or if he's just nice and is willing to push me harder/longer because he knows I want a good workout. :D Either way, I'm not complaining! :rolleyes:

[Shadow]

Oh wow, Sherry, that is awesome :D :D :D!!!

[Ottawa]

Hey, thanks Sherry and WAY TO GO on getting your speed up!!!
If we lived closer we could do walking/running together on those Colorado mountains.:D


My workouts are definitely up a notch this fall and the DOM's from either class usually last well into the next day.

Monday's class included setting your hand weights close to a wall, placing your hands on the wall and stepping onto the handle of your weights with teh front part of the ball of your foot. You lower your heels to the ground and then raise yourself up, sliding your hands against the wall. As soon as we had it down, she calls for 2 count pauses between middle and upper moves and your could feel the arches of your feet stretching.:eek:
The weights class is always a little tough but she does not consider it a success unless you have DOM's for at least a day. One exercise involved passing your handweights (as well as everyone else's) around the room while laying on your back, supported on your elbows, using your feet while laying on your back supported on your elbows. Everyone's thighs/abs were aching both at the end and the next day.
I definintely get a better workout when in a class than I would get on my own and will see if a gym membership will work if I can motivate myself. Here at work the gym is just $30/4 months or $85/year. It is just under a mile away and I will join next week to give it a shot.

The benefits to the harder workouts are an increase in HDL and my arms which were 19.5" "fat man":o arms and went down to 15.25", 18% BF arms, are now up to 16.25" so the weights and classes are making a difference.

[SherryJ]

Thanks, Guys... :)

And, RANDY!!! You KNOW I'd LOVE to do that!!! :nod:

Sherry

[Shadow]

Wow Randy - you're a rockin' and a rollin' :D!!!! BTW - it would've been nice for you to keep that Canadian cold front to yourself :razz:!

[daisy]

Friday -

1 hour run/7.73km in 60 mins so speed going slowly up :D

abs machine - 30kg - 3 x 15 (ouch)

daisy xx

[Ottawa]

BTW - it would've been nice for you to keep that Canadian cold front to yourself :razz:!

We get blamed for everything except the war. :D

We only got our first snow today and it should be gone in a few days.



Now to bring it back to topic.

There are times especially in the past where I would plan to join a fitness class, sports group, or buy a fitness video with great expectations.
A few classes/workouts in, you begin to weigh off the effort of doing the activity or workout along with the later DOMS, against the benefits or doing other things instead.
I would start missing classes, rationalise it, recalculate my cost/class and start missing more or just drop out. Sports were a little different since you have a social aspect to it as well.

There have been two times as I stumblingly progressed that I found I had that warm, muscle humming feeling, and wanted more. Last years Aerobic/Kickboxing and lunchtime Body Sculpting, and then this years Sculpting class with Ilsa. She pushes the class extremely hard which keeps the class smaller and the DOMS sometimes last up to 3 days (normally one day) depending on the particular movements and exercises. There is little social aspect to the class with little or no communication during the workout other than the background music.

I am hopefully at the point now that I will continue to feel best right after a workout. I think part of it is the little guy (conscience) giving some reinforcement :suspicious: (HDL, and muscle development), but I think that gradually you come to recognise that you “earned” those pains and feel best on the initial edges of them.

Anyone else have ideas on this?
For those that use a gym or workout machine, without a trainer, how do you push yourself to get the best workout?

[Shadow]

Randy - I can only speculate as I've never tried a gym and don't know for certain how I would react in that situation ;), but at home I have a zillion workouts. As long as I do one I "want" to do (as opposed to one I feel I "should" do) then I automatically have a desire to get the most out of it. But I think making sure I get a nice variety in helps also. Since the only person I'll ever be able to compete with will be myself, I have my logs for each workout so I know what weights I used the times before. That way I have an easy record of what weights I need to grab to either remain at the last level or kick it up a notch.

[banshee]

This has ended up being an odd week for me. I was too sore to do my weight workout on Monday, but managed an aerobic session Tuesday. Then I had my Wednesday personal training session, and my trainer introduced me to a whole new set of exercises that have given me big-time DOMS. It was a great workout! :eek: Thursday was my usual rest day, and I was going to do another strength session today, but I'm still way too sore and need to let the muscles recover. I did do a bit of cleaning and organizing around the house, but even that little bit of lifting had my muscles complaining. Unfortunately that means I'm done for the week because we're traveling and visiting with friends tomorrow. So my next workout will be Sunday.

[daisy]

Randy - i started off about 2 years ago with regular exercise visiting the gym and swimming maybe 3 times a week, i'm not a great swimmer so it wasn't a really great workout, then i progressed to the gym and did an hour cardio, again not a great workout cos no i wasn't really pushing myself... anyway i invested in some personal training sessions and that was the turnaround point for me, simply because A. she showed me a ton of exercises i'd never have known how to do properly and B. she pushed me to my very limits and that gave me a point of reference... Now i work out with her once a week and sometimes not at all... BUT i'm at the gym 4, 5 or 6 sessions a week and each time i can vary what i do with this experience she gave me, and yes i push myself on everything she's taught me to do but seeing her a bit still helps give me new things and keeps my confidence boosted..

daisy xx

[Ottawa]

"As long as I do one I "want" to do (as opposed to one I feel I "should" do) then I automatically have a desire to get the most out of it. But I think making sure I get a nice variety in helps also. Since the only person I'll ever be able to compete with will be myself, I have my logs for each workout so I know what weights I used the times before. That way I have an easy record of what weights I need to grab to either remain at the last level or kick it up a notch."

I may have to start keeping a log or a journal on workouts. I've noticed that a few people at the work gym where I do the Aerobics use them and tick off each task which must help with the motivation. I agree with you as well on varying the workout. In summer there are lots of sports activities to help with this and I need to add something during my "indoor" months.

"yes i push myself on everything she's taught me to do but seeing her a bit still helps give me new things and keeps my confidence boosted."

I'll check out a trainer after a month at the gym if I can't get it going (pushing myself) through a journal/log. My one concern was the cost of a trainer when the work gym is so inexpensive. ALthough there are some organized classes at work, only the sculpting class pushes the class beyond what they think they could do.

Thanks for the pointers.

[Shadow]

Randy - Nothing has helped me more with my resistance training than having a journal :thumbsup:! And it's so awesome to see how my beginning weights have changed over time :D!