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I went after a different geocache today. I had fun climbing on stuff to find it. I probably did not have to climb on all those rocks to get it but why walk like a normal person when you can climb :D
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Yesterday...
Cycled here, there and everywhere for a morning meeting, shopping in an area I don't usually ride along to and then took the long route back to town and a well deserved sit down and cup of decaff.
Must have done 8-10miles, not too far admittedly but most of it was against pretty 'breezy' conditions which added a whole lot of resistance (along with the shopping) and gave a real challenge to the lungs for which the wind is a huge asthma/copd symptom trigger. It's only through perseverance that this has improved somewhat. Not being able to breathe and the world going a bit dark when on the bike is a trifle scary but it's not happened half so much this summer. :thumbsup: Today is a lazy one. I'm just about to walk, not cycling because walking requires more effort over a short distance, to town with my books and notebook to do some fellowship study for this evening. |
Today was a good one. I needed it after my recent 3 days off.
15 min warm up on treadmill followed about an hour of lower body and ab training and then another 45 minutes on the treadmill with inclining. All in all, about 323 calories sweated away forever and 2.98 miles walked and climbed plus whatever I burned during the weighted portion of the program. |
Hello exercise people! Yesterday I did the usual 45 minutes on the elliptical (ok, so usual is a strong word when you don't do it everyday, me thinks), burned the usual (there is that word again) 500 calories over 3.2ish miles. Then last night I took a brisk 30 minute walk (dogless), and my arches actually didn't hurt (never invested in new shoes).
Until now I have mainly been maintaining my weight, but I really would like to lose some of my belly. So, the plan is to tAke a brisk 20 minute walk in the morning before work and be more consistent with my evening cardio. Mornings are for sure not my forte, so this will be rough to do. Also......CONGRATS TO OUR OWN RESIDENT GEMME FOR LOSING 18POUNDS! HURRAY!!! |
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Today I took that early walk and will take another this evening. That's 'bout all I can fit in when visiting family, so am being extra careful not to splurge too much on meals this holiday (while still enjoying, in moderation, 'forbidden' items like lobster). |
Found two geocaches. The walk was about a mile and a half round trip.
I recently solved some nearby puzzle caches so I decided to go and find them today :) I had to answer questions based upon the clues to get the lat/long to enter into my GPS. |
Today was another good day overall but not as good as I would have liked. I was concentrating on my upper body for the weight training and after performing under what I usually do, I remembered that I spent a good portion of yesterday scraping paint off of window sills and walls. Doh. But it wasn't a bad day at all.
Performance-wise: 256 calories, 2.43 miles, 50 min total cardio including warm up and who knows how much for the weight training I touched on abs too. Since we can do them every day, I try to do different exercises so it hits the upper, lower and obliques equally. I still have a little pooch so I'm going to be kicking ab work up a notch soon. A little bit about the ambiance....well, let me backtrack a minute. Yesterday I got to the gym about 10 after 7am and the Composer was there, on my favorite treadmill. So, I took the one next to him. It's a prime location for the giant fan. Weee! Anywho, he was a bit reserved yesterday. Only a couple of big sweeps with his hands. But today....teehee....when HE came in at 10 after 7am, I was my favorite treadmill and he took the one next to ME. Ha! And he was much more animated this time. He got right into his groove and gave me some composing sweeps and even a little keyboard action before I jumped off to do the weight training. When I came back, he was long gone and my usual treadmill options were all taken, so I chose a new to me one. And very nearly busted my hiney. Both the belt and the sides were very slick. For some reason, I managed to not fall but it's not because I'm graceful or anything. It was pure luck! I made sure to let the lady at the counter know when I left and she reacted appropriately and was concerned so I felt better and confident that she would actually have the owner look into it. Not sure if it was leftover cleaning residue or what but it was slick like Rick, lemme tell you! Today was interesting as far as the people watching goes. I see a lot of folks while I'm taking breaks between sets and there was this past his prime biker dude wailing out to his MP3 player while recumbent cycling his heart out. This is a guy who almost got kicked by me yesterday because he didn't make sure that he was giving us on the machines a wide enough berth. He was lucky I saw him and drew down on the machine before I reached the peak of movement. Dumbass. There was a grunter today too. smh I love my gym for the whole 'no judgement' thing but they go too far with it. They've never rung the lunk alarm when I've been there and there have been some that deserved it. Oh well. In the name of 'it's a holiday and I'm getting paid', I'll let it go. Hope the rest of you have a good one! |
I am so glad I treated myself to a gym membership while I was
down the shore this summer! I don't think I missed more than a day or two all summer. Now I am back home, going back into the classroom tomorrow... but I think I have set some solid routines to live by through this winter. I mentioned a while back that I am cycling my carbs. A few weeks ago, I decided to cycle my workouts too, so they coincide. In short, my most strenuous workouts are on the highest carb days. On the lowest carb day, I do nothing. Just rest. 200 carbs back and chest 150 carbs shoulders 100 carbs arms 50 carbs nothing 125 carbs abs I do about six different exercises with 9-15 reps. It seems to be going well, but I'm afraid that I'm not letting my CNS (central nervous system) rest enough with four days on and one day off. I'm curious what you think of this? I'm also looking around to buy a recumbent bike. I love to walk and jog for cardio, but it's a little hard on my knees. I can't see doing it every day without knee pain. Hopefully I find one! |
Yesterday I kicked ass on cardio for an hour.
Last night I did too much of this. :beerfunnel: So today exercise consisted of walking the dog for 15 minutes. :blush: |
Lately I have been dealing with a cold plus my arthritis had been giveing me fits.After several days of takeing it easy I tryed to go out and play with my fur kids,but my energy is low so I only lasted about ten minits till I had to quit.Hopefuly tomorrow will be better,what set my arthritis off on a bender I have no idea as it is nearly every joint I have,either swelling or burning stiff joints.Every sence I got back from Vegas I have had onething or another happen health wise,enough already.
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First Day Out..
Walked about a mile and a half in about 33 mins. I'm just happy I got out there and moved for awhile.
Elijah |
I got behind for a couple of weeks. Partnership of weird schedules driving my kid to camp and back every day for two weeks, which messed up the morning routine, and work picking up- keeping my days busier than usual (but that's a good thing). Got back on the rowing machine tonight and had a good work out. Plan is for every day this week, and henceforth!
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Last week was our first week back, and I got to the gym three mornings for stretch and Group Power. One of my most favorite colleagues turned up in that class; she was away this summer when I started so I didn't know. We are a good team. She's a counselor and I'm a teacher, and we work well together to meet the needs of the students we share. We work well together to put away our weights and steps and bars at the end of class when we both have to shower and dress and zoom to school.
I didn't go to the Y at all this past weekend, and I regret skipping Zumba on Saturday. I did go after school on Tuesday and I was exhausted, and the class felt very hard. I hadn't been there in about two weeks, and there's a new routine with a lot of jumping, which I pretty much hate anyway. I do modify the various exercises so I can get through the class. I was feeling pretty rotten when I left, like it was a waste of time, and I should have gone home, but then I realized, I still did much more than if I had gone home. |
hello everybody. I've been slacking the last two days so I'm back today. I'm actually training for a specific fitness test I may be doing soon so it's push ups, sit ups and steps for me for awhile till I reach my goal on the count and time. Good day!
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Catching up on my own and other people's exercise :)
Since last post: 8/31 The Beast 90, weights and stretching 30 9/1 Beastie 75, yoga 45 9/2 Elliptical 1 hr, weights and stretching 30 9/3 (Same as the day before) Then today I did two hours on the Beast (aka the Arc Trainer). I did kind of a sampler with 30 minutes each for 4 programs, level 10: Strength, Cardio, Interval, and Hill Interval. I like strength the best. For strength I have it at the highest level but am not finding it challenging enough. For those of you familiar with the Cybex arc trainer, how can I amp things up? Since it's a program, besides the level, I am not sure whether I should be messing with settings (such as incline and intensity, since the program has its own way of shifting them around at intervals). I find myself more bored if I am not truly sweating. I could just go back to manual because then I could definitely get an intense work-out, but the programs are fun in how one doesn't have to think as they vary themselves. Oh, well, anyone who knows this machine and has an idea, please let me know. I'm pretty sure I'm missing something. I'm back working at school so that is making working out, of course, harder to fit into the day. What a difference not working makes, and not commuting an hour each way, and having enough sleep time. It's hard going back to school, even though I love my job. One mistake I made is to work late when I didn't have to. I forgot that then getting a long work-out in plus making dinner plus getting to bed at a decent hour is not really possible. I'm going to try as much as I can to leave on time from work so that things don't feel this stressful to fit everything in. |
Hey everybody, I'm back!
So, all of this arc trainer talk, plus my recent forays back into my gym have raised a lot of questions in my mind. The last time I belonged to a gym before just recently, was three years ago. The place I go to is a branch of 24 hour fitness which means it has about an acre of cardio machines. Joking of course, but actually there are 90 of them. Things of changed a little since the last time I was there but it's pretty close to what I remembered. There's a row of various and sundry recumbent and upright bikes, two long rows of treadmills, and the rest is split up into five rows of varying styles and vintages of ellipticals. One row of the ellipticals is all new to me. There are about 15 of something I'm not even sure I can describe, I will have to get back to you on what they even are. They are made by Cybex and are some kind of a cross between an elliptical and a stairmaster, making the person using it look like a very small human trapped in a large cyborg device. Then there are six of what I have now identified to be one of these mythical ARC trainers. Since I wasn't quite sure what everybody was talking about with these, and I have now used one of them a few times, I thought I would put in a video by Cybex explaining the difference between an elliptical and an ARC in case there's somebody else here who, like me, didn't really understand what was going on. The one demonstrated in the video is the same as the one that I use at my gym from the waist down. From the waist up mine has short throw moving arms also. I just tried to put a picture of it here, but I cannot link to the URL because of the length. You get the idea. So a couple of things that I have noticed about the famous arc trainer. In the video above when they show the comparison to the elliptical they show the elliptical user flexing and lifting the back of their foot while using it. When I was introduced to them and using it three years ago I had seriously damage in both feet. The elliptical is one of the very few things in the gym that I could use because I just kept my feet flat on the platforms and was able to use it that way without flexing my feet. This is the reason I thought the arc trainer looked like a good idea to try also, I no longer have problems with my feet, but it looked familiar and relatively safe. The other reason that I chose it was because of some of you will recall, a while back I was having a bit of trouble with the tendons in one of my ankles. I found that on the arc trainer not only does it keep your feet flat on platforms which might help people with arch problems, but it also keeps ankles in a relatively static position and fixed angle. It provided me a way to get in my cardio without putting undue pressure or stress on my ankle, and it helped me a lot. I think these arc trainers could be a good alternative for folks if they have not tried it yet if they're experiencing problems with arch, ankle, or knee problems. Obviously under the advice of your PT if you're working with someone. One last thing to note; as someone who is used to walking long distances in semisoft sand with poles, it KICKED MY ASS!! :cheesy: |
Thanks for posting the video, Kelt. That's definitely been my experience. The arc trainer feels so much better on my feet and knees than the elliptical. I also do the arc trainer that has the arms on it (so that it appears like an elliptical but isn't). My feet always stay flat on the arc trainer, and unless I am doing a manual program where I add too much resistance, my knees do fine too.
It's true that there are a surreal number of different pieces of cardio equipment these days. Since I'm relatively short (5'4"), I think some sort of fit me, and others don't. Right now it's really only the Arc Trainer that I am finding does not cause me knee twinges or back pain in doing lengthy sessions. I also find that I must do a minimum of 30 minutes of yoga and stretching after a long use of a cardio machine in order to get the repetitive motions of the cardio machine out of my body. If I don't then that night I get the stiffness from the session still stuck in my body. It's been a lot of trial and error over the years. So much of exercise is finding what doesn't cause injury or discomfort. |
I did an hour on the arc trainer today, manual program, resistance 75. A guy was getting off my favorite machine when I arrived. It's my favorite because it's the only one that isn't in need of repair :|. However, I used a different machine because his clean-up procedure was going to take a while. I think he has that condition where one sweats profusely, to the point of it being a real problem. He was wearing layers, which at first I thought seemed like it would make things worse, but then I realized the layers are to absorb the sweat. He had at least six towels laid out on the machine in different places. That must be a really hard condition to deal with at the gym. He looks super fit so it seems not to be stopping him from being active.
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I went for a bike rode the last three nights after work. Tonight I'm just hanging out at home.
I was going around the 3-mile loop at Prospect Park, and noticed a guy ahead of me with a prosthetic leg and long dreds. His T-shirt said, "Work less." I saw three people (yes, three!), riding with no hands, so they could text. That last quarter mile or so of the loop is a slow incline that will really kick your ass, but it's gotten so much easier now that I realize, I've been waiting for the hard part to hit, and then suddenly I'm at the end of the loop. I also like that straight path that goes about 20 blocks down the west side of the park. Coming back, I got off and started going up and down the side streets. I would coast down one block, then stand on the pedals and use what feels like my whole body, up the next street. It's light enough to ride till about 7:20. Today I ordered a $7 reflecting vest on Amazon. I should also get lights. I'm thinking, if I get the right gloves and jacket and so on, I can ride till there's ice on the ground. |
Today was a good day
It was a beautiful warm late-summer day, and just perfect for swimming. I did a good hard hour of laps with all of my assorted and sundry headgear and then at the end I just floated for about 10 minutes and enjoyed laying in the sun. I never thought I would say that, I never knew I could float. :cheesy: I find that I am already altering my plans a bit. I've been finding that trying to keep up with two workouts per day every day is frankly a bit much. I think that if I stick with a good solid hour of whole body exercise per day with the option of adding more a couple of times a week will be smarter for me. It's hard for me to take a pass on the beach now and then, but my overarching goal was to add variety and balance things out better. I saw an article earlier today that actually kind of fit in with that so I thought I would share it here, How to overcome a workout rut.. It is pitched towards weight loss but it is really about the bigger picture. Beach update: when I was out on my walk yesterday morning I got to survey how the sand project is going. They're setting up special equipment and fuel depots at intervals in preparation. According to schedule in about the next week or two they should be setting up and completing the pipelines, buoys and everything for the barge. So naturally we had an oil spill in the bay couple of days ago. Damage is still being assessed, but it doesn't look good. Most of it is north of me but the Coast Guard was out in full force laying out oil spill boom lines. This area has a lot of land designated as bird sanctuaries on the coastal migration path. Right now is when the bird populations are at their lowest, which is why the work was scheduled for now. We're approaching fall so I hope the cleanup is quick. :( That's all for now, everybody keep up the good work. |
Yay! I now have a Craigslist recumbent bike in my workout
room (aka living room)! I am so happy about it! Kelt, thanks for that great article. Smart advice. Jennifer, I am so with you about being back at school and trying to pack it all in. Or being worried that I won't be able to. Actually, the other day I found myself really feeling that working out and watching my food takes total priority over my job now! Work, this year, will be a very small part of my life. It will not consume me (as it usually does). My health and fitness routines, and the slow changes that are happening to my body, mind, and spirit, are so much more rewarding and important to me! Well, let's see if it stays like this... So, today was my high carb day. And my hardest workout with the weights. A great day! Exhausted! But I just have to hop on that new bike for 20 minutes before bed! |
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Year round cyclist here and proud of it. You can cycle through all weathers with the right clothes and attitude. I love that feeling when an 'incline' that's always felt like a workout suddenly becomes easier, if not easy. I've experienced the same recently with some nasty short, steep(ish for for a chap with lung disease) inclines that have always been a challenge. I love reading your exercise posts because you do in the open air like me. :thumbsup: Keep on doing it outside! |
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The weather never bothered me. How did I get so old and grumpy (at age 43)? :seeingstars: |
After one day off, I did another mile and a half walk last night. I felt so much better after taking a day to rest. I was in some pretty serious pain from going from sedentary to active. I am not nearly as sore today.
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Hah! Dapper, perhaps when you get to my advanced years you'll be less grumpy and feel even more inclined to do things, like cycle in all weathers, when all around are saying they're too old to do stuff like that anymore! :raspberry:
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0222good, what type of recumbent bike did you get?
BB has one from Costco that we ordered on Amazon (for maybe 2 to 300). Hy's been riding it for several years, and screws fall out, but somehow the bike continues to work great for hym! I let the bike be hys alone because I think it's nice for someone to have their own space and toy :). Hy watches Pretty Little Liars, Orange is the New Black, the Fosters, and all sorts of shows I never watch while hy rides it. |
Today was alternate walking/running for 30 minutes.
Various pushups and situps- I'm up to 27 in a minute. Have a great Saturday everybody! |
I went to Zumba this morning, and I worked hard!
My butt is sore, my legs are sore, and I hope there's some good reason we're working our shoulders. There was a new young peppy teacher and she kept us moving for 60 minutes. I don't do any jumping and if I'm tired, I just march and gyrate until I'm ready to go again. I'm trying to get to my morning classes three days a week and to Zumba 2-3 times a week. Good for me! |
I went for a three and a half hour walk in Riverside Park today. Well, I also swung on the swing set and used the jungle gym and that cool spiral slide. I was on the phone with my mom while at the playground, and she kept yelling at me, "Be careful!" And I'd say, "I'm old enough, MOM!" It was a beautiful day out, and I walked trails, climbed steps, and people watched. I saw a group doing a kung fu lesson. Ironically, with such a long walk, the only tense part of it took place during the last five minutes! I ran into an administrator and teacher from my school (married to each other) and their children. It was very awkward because my wireless listening device had lost it's charge, so I'd been listening to a book on Audible through my i-phone set on speaker. It was a non-fiction book on toxic waste. So I tried to turn it off as we stopped to say hello, but instead I pushed the button that speeds up the audio narration of the book, so it sounded like Chipmunk Punk! And, of course, for the life of me, I just couldn't get the sound off! It was a painfully awkward couple of minutes. Afterwards I just tried to look on the bright side that I wasn't wearing my "On a Queer day you can see forever" t-shirt.
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nothing planned today. I'm surprised I'm not sooo sore lately. :)
I'll be doing "some" walking at work. Ya'll have a great Sun day! |
Today and yesterday both I've done beach walks in the morning. 4.5 miles each time with Saturday 1.5 & today 3 miles done barefoot to strengthen my feet. It feels like I'm doing nothing, but I know that I am on the way to balancing things out.
Beach report: Looks like the oil containment booms have been pulled up. I'm not seeing much in the way of media information, but I gather the damage is mostly north of where I am. So it looks like all systems are go for bringing in more equipment this next week. It is going to be interesting to watch. nycfem, I love swing-sets! That is something I learned to look for when I'm doing long drives during road trips. There's nothing like finding some old swing-set along the way and spending 15 or 20 minutes really going for it. It shakes out the kinks and the antsies and I have found that it is actually a really good core workout. I was thinking there aren't any around me, and then I realized that I really haven't looked locally. So you've giving me a new project, go find a swing set! Bonus points for being outdoors. :) Thank you. :theisland: |
Today I did the Arc Trainer for an hour, Level 10, strength program. I got my favorite one. Jill's favorite one is not my favorite one, thank goodness, so she was right beside me. She likes to go back and forth between the Arc trainer and the Stair Master from here to eternity. I never use the Stairmaster, just regular steps, because the Stairmaster doesn't agree with my feet (Too much pressure falls on the front of my foot, and I have a history of a fractured sesamoid bone, so yeah... not my thing). Afterwards I did 30 minutes of weights, stretching, and yoga. Here's a list of 3 things I like and don't like about Jill (I made this in my head while next to her):
Don't like: 1. Too much perfume 2. Doesn't acknowledge my existence unless I initiate 3. Plays her music a little on the loud side Like: 1. Always there 2. Mysterious 3. Amazing looks |
Danced for three hours!
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I did my mile and a half walk...I went from "slow paced" to "leisurely pace" to "moderate pace" in a weeks time, not bad. *s
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worked in the heat today, should have burned a million calories!
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Did all that I planned this week. Would have liked another hitting session but it was probably good I didn't and not risk overdoing it for today's event. Always want to play more but have to be cautious not to over-play.
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We worked in the garden for more than three hours.
Poor Pete would have given up, she said, but I was unstoppable. I weeded the hell out of all four beds, I trimmed two rose bushes, and I dragged around bags of mulch. I guess it doesn't sound like much, but, I was sore and tired, but not as sore and tired as I would have been last year. |
Same old thing; bike riding around Prospect Park yesterday morning,
then down the 20-block path that flanks the west side of the park, then up and down the side streets between Prospect Park West and 8th Avenue, then up and down the side streets between 7th Avenue and 6th Avenue, then headed home. It took about an hour and a half. I stopped at one point to check out the big flea market at the public school on 7th Avenue. It was beautiful out. |
This mornings game plan was to go to the gym and do weights for 30 minutes and then HIIT on the arc for 20 minutes.
Then I got up and it was sunny. :blink: I went to the beach instead. 4.5 miles. Everyday here is sunny. I see a flaw in the gym plan. :thinking: |
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