LOL, No, No, it's me.

After all it's an exercise thread not an English grammar one.

I'm so awesome, I have my own calories now. Woot!

I wager you are right so, for a couple of reasons, I'm sitting tonight out. Tomorrow morning will be my last workout before I leave for the Reunion. I might even go light on it. I'll see how it goes.

If the Marriott website is correct and up to date, then the fitness center is 24 hours for hotel guests. I was worried about the hours, so that makes me feel a ton better and a little less stressed about getting as much working out in as possible.

No, no, no. It's Dapper.

It's always Dapper.

:blink:

Unfortunately, this is true. :(

I had been reading that every eight to ten weeks or so, you
should take a week off from weight lifting. This is for your
body to have a chance to fully recover. They say you come back
so much stronger and make more progress this way. Well,
I haven't taken a break in over two years! So I took a week
off. It was hard, because I am so OCD about lifting. But, I
could really feel deep recovery in certain parts of my body.
I really missed my routines though.
I returned to exercising tonight with 20 minutes of HIIT cardio.
So GREAT!

I rode my bike for two and a half hours today.

The weather was spectacular.

At one point I was riding behind a Mister Frostee truck that was going super super slow past the playground by the projects on Hoyt. Oddly, there weren't any kids outside.

Finally I pulled around to be right next to the driver's window and asked if he's going to pull over soon. He looked really startled, and it occurred to me that in my white skateboarding helmet and orange reflector vest, I might look like a bicycle cop.

He pulled over right away, and handed me a small vanilla cone. Right away, I scarfed down the top of it.

Then he handed me my change, and I asked him to take the cone back and hold it while I put my change away.

Ha, I said. Don't eat any of it! And he laughed and said Here, let me refill it for you! and he put it back under the machine and built the peak back up high.

My exercise today consisted of weed eating and trimming hedges.

I have been putting in my time at the beach as usual, averaging about 4.5 miles per day.


I am getting to the pool twice a week. I'm my last two trips to the pool I managed to get the lane that is 4 1/2 feet deep. That makes it about collarbone deep on me which means that I can stand up any time. What I have now switched to doing is spending my hour doing laps but opting not to touch the bottom. It is giving me more confidence and I hope soon to be able to feel okay about going in lanes where it is over my head. (Hey, I'm out of the kiddy area!)

Still skeered of that but trying.

:cheesy:

Ab day.
3 sets on the decline bench
3 sets of oblique twists
And my New Toy!!!!
3 sets with the ab roller!
Love this new ab roller.

Have to remember that it's not just for my body but also for my sanity.

a late afternoon walk
 

We've had a long stretch of weather which has brought lots of inclement weather to our region in the PNW (heavy rains, rain/snow mix, winds, etc) and I haven't been feeling well lately, due to an extensive stretch of stress loads in my life.

I think the most I might do today, would be to go for a long walk.... The trees are just absolutely beautiful, lately. Yesterday, while I was out and about for employment activities, I enjoyed a late afternoon walk in an older neighborhood I have never been in before.

People were friendly and I got to learn about the people and their lives and things about that particular neighborhood, that I didn't know about before.

This week has been busy and full of movement.

Monday:
1 hour at the gym (20 minutes cycle, 133 bpm; 30 minutes weight, leg workout; and 10 minutes of cycle, 133 bpm) then came home and walked the dogs for 20 minutes.

Tuesday:
45 minute brisk dog walk

Wednesday:
1 hour gym time, same as Monday but this time with arms

Thursday:
Cleaning the house
Pulling weeds (should count as squats)
and quick 20 minute walk of dogs

Tomorrow (Friday):

Plan on doing some more gym time-- will update later.

Arms day...
6 sets easy curl bar
3 sets concentration curls
3 sets triceps extensions
3 sets skull crushers
3 sets hitting the middle delts

I've been sick for two weeks to the day, so no exercise during that time. It had more of an effect on my mood than on my body. We forget how much exercise is a natural way to relax and feel good. Or at least I do.

Therefore today's exercise felt glorious. I felt so grateful that my body was working so well. I'm someone who when I get a cold it usually turns into some awful combination of a sinus infection, bronchitis, and asthma. I go from being full of energy to nothing. Since I'm someone who does not use caffeine at all, it's hard to get through a work day without the boost of regular exercise.

Today I went for a three hour walk in Riverside Park. It was a cool, humid day (if there is such a thing), and it felt like a comfortable jungle. I just could not have enjoyed myself more. Here is some of what I saw:

(1) a gathering of pigeons and crows, a cacophony of chirping.

(2) the kung fu group I always see. I notice that all of them have black hair. they were doing kung fu for the full three hours that I was walking because I passed them multiple times. they don't mess around.

(3) a big group of conservative or modern orthodox Jews, with the adults sitting on benches and talking, and the kids playing. no electricity on the Sabbath so a great day to go to the park.

(4) a man and woman boxing each other while wearing boxing gloves (of course). next to them were two little boys playing baseball and the boy pitching kept turning his head to longingly watch the boxing couple. they really knew what they were doing.

(5) a man sitting high up on a big rock reading a book

(6) a couple playing Frisbee

(7) a lone woman in all black with a fanny pack walking up and down the St. Clair Stairs*

*that was me

I started out my walk by doing the slow text-walk, which I use as a term to refer to either reading or texting on my i-phone while walking. It's a good way to ease into a walk if you don't hit a tree. I caught up in reading the "Good/Bad/U-G-L-Y" thread or whatever it's called, a juicy way to start the stroll.

I did a torturous thing on my walk which was to make a series of calls to every family at my school to tell them about an upcoming event. Talk about a challenge! That was grueling. "Hi, this is little Timmy's school social worker, Jennifer. Would you and your family like to join us for a traditional baked beans breakfast on Sunday at 6am?" - said with renewed enthusiasm each time. That was not the event btw but it gives you the gist of having to repeat some random invitation over and over again. It starts to feel silly.

During my walk I also listened to a TED talk that BB sent me on vulnerability that was thought provoking in parts:

The Power of Vulnerability (20 minutes)
http://youtu.be/iCvmsMzlF7o

Fall is my favorite season and the scent of the leaves was intoxicating.

Glad to be back here!

Unfortunately I didn't ride my bike today, though it was beautiful out. I was frozen, in a sense, and couldn't muster the energy to leave the apartment. Sometimes when I'm a bit overwhelmed, I do that. I sit in the apartment with no TV or music, and listen to the noises from the street below, and the silence is delicious. Today I exercised my right to stay in a quiet, private place.

I fell off the exercise wagon. Actually, I never fully got on. I don't sleep well, and in the last week or so my body has slowed way down. Sometimes I can barely lift my hands to type. I read this thread a little while ago and decided to do something tonight. I walked in the yard for 15 minutes. I consider it a small victory.

Wow, Bully. That is really concerning. Maybe you should see a doctor? When is the last time you got an full blood work panel done? Most people don't get them regularly. I think we are supposed to get them every 2 years or something.

Day off and none. Took the dog out a couple times for a short walk.
Tomorrow start back on the week with my sit-ups and push ups for sure.

Hope you all had a great week, weekend and look forward to another good week coming up!

Today was a little rainy so I went to the gym. It was my first time back in almost three weeks. I was quite stubborn about the idea of lessening my routine due to having been away and just having gotten over a nasty bug, so my asthma did kick in a little here and there. My lungs are still not 100%, and I'm so tired of it.

Anyway, I did one hour on the Arc Trainer, Hill Interval program, Level 10. While on the Beast, I watched this Dance Mom's reality show that I've been watching for what seems like forever (plodding through the seasons). In this episode an underdog dancer, Chloe, got chosen to be the star of a music video by Lux, an up and coming pop star. In the video Lux falls asleep and starts dreaming about her younger self who is played by Chloe. Somehow it was so moving I nearly cried.

Then I did an hour of yoga, stretching, weightlifting, and abs. The gym was surprisingly empty for a rainy day, and I loved having all the space and equipment to myself. The highlight was when the gym speaker played "Blister in the Sun" by the Violent Femmes. That was a favorite of mine as an 80's child.

I'll be in this thread a little more frequently now :)

My work buddy and I are going back to the gym tomorrow. I am actually GIDDY with excitement and have made a new playlist to help me get motivated.

I'm still just ticking along as usual. I'm averaging about 4–5 miles per day on the beach although some days it isn't easy. What with all the work that is being done and having to work around giant holes that appear out of nowhere, areas fenced off for heavy equipment, and the looong bunch of plumbing running everywhere for pumping the sand onto the beach. Seriously, the barge is a mile off shore and there's another mile of it trailing down the beach. :blink:

I'm also getting to the pool a couple of times a week and really enjoying it.

The last couple of days my left hip has been a little upset with me. Today the ankle decided to join in the chorus. Good thing tomorrow is swimming.

:shark:

Oh yeah, the gym? Not so much. Money down the drain.

Yesterday was Ab day,
sit ups on the decline bench
oblique twists
and the ab roller
I even went to the driving range and hit a
bucket of balls for the first time in like two years!
It was great! It seems with golf, that the less
often I do it, the better I am!! lol
But we met a friend for dinner and I really
overate... I'm disgusted with myself to put
it mildly!

I can't let it get me down though.
Today I did back, chest and shoulders.
Three sets of one arm rows
Four sets of seated bent over rows
Three sets of dumbbell chest presses
Three sets of Arnold shoulder presses
Three sets of bent arm lateral raises
Three sets of seated behind the neck barbell shoulder presses
Three sets of barbell pullovers

It felt good doing mostly shoulders today.
I think I'm going to stick to this routine for
a few weeks.

October 2013 (week 2)
 

I don't always post often here, but I want to start making it a weekly part of my exercise routine. Mostly I want to do this because it will reinforce a stronger sense of stability in my life, when my life hasn't been too stable for almost two years now (employment factors).

So with that in mind, what I want to share is that I am going to monitor closely the intentional time I spend on exercising; with the goal in mind that it will help me do a number of things:

For example, this week, one goal is to spend half an hour performing stretches in bed, before I get out of bed. This may seem rather backwards to most, but I did something this morning and noticed how it improved my whole overall perspective on life, today. I did exactly that: before I even rose from sleeping in bed, I did a series of stretches - stretching the muscles in my back and in my legs as I pushed my hips up on top of my hands and rode a bicycle (in the air) and then laid on my side and stretched my legs up and down and then practiced some other hard-to-describe yoga stretches. After I did my stretches before getting out of bed, I found I actually could get up off my bed without rolling off to the side, to stand up on the floor. It really worked for me, to do this today. I forget what made me do it - I may have dreamed I was doing it and then talked myself into doing it. *lol*

Anyway, this is how I am going to begin each new day this week. I shall perform stretches in bed, before I rise to greet the new day.

As for how I made time (and what I did) for exercise today: We had amazing weather - lots of sunshine, blue skies for miles and miles and early today, I unplugged from life on the net and went outside and walked for about 7 miles (either walking or breaking out into a jog and jogging for as long as I could, then retiring to a mid-range kind of walking style).

My day was enjoyable and I think what helped me today was altering the way I normally rise for the day and I plan to make it a habit this week to spend a half hour stretching - my body and mind - before I get up for the day.

*Cheers* :bouquet:

ps/ Just want to say thank you to Dapper for the warm welcome to the thread and to extend the same to Medusa -- It's good to see you here! And to also share with everyone: thanks for your commitment and support and the way you share about your day in exercise. It tremendously helpful to me to read about your day of exercise.

exercise? what exercise?.......

Ok... I need someone to say something motivating.... coz I have some races to get ready for..... and about 20lbs to lose before said races......

While I was at the gym this afternoon, with my small dumbbells (it's hard to move up in weight!), I noticed an elegant, older woman in a sparkly violet T-shirt and violet yoga pants hoisting a barbell up and down rapidly. As I did my curls and squats, I counted her doing three sets of twenty lifts of 30 pounds. She was fit without looking hard. I guessed she was about 60, which means she was 80 :blink:. I don't gawk at people at the gym, but I often find someone around my age to use even temporarily as an inspiration :).

Today is day two......


I'm cleaning a bachelor pad with my mom again today.
Nough said.. :seeingstars:

(no offense to you bachelors)

I love deep water running. It’s the only real cardio left for me to do. That and interval stair climbing. It’s hard to believe that a shoulder injury can affect so much, but it has. I was told from the beginning, as soon as they looked at the MRI, that physical therapy for the shoulder would not be an option and would only further the damage. I can no longer lift weights of any kind (well I can do small weight on triceps and biceps but it has to be exercises that limit any deltoid involvement which isn’t much and it doesn’t eliminate deltoid involvement which is impossible.) It is hard to accept because I love to lift.

Luckily it is my left shoulder and I’m right handed so that helps with regular life. But since my right shoulder does all the work all the time, it hurts me often, bouts of tendonitis and such. I can’t run or do too much with my legs for any length of time because the pounding adversely affects my shoulder and the pain is too much and then it takes days to get back to being able to do anything. I have to be so careful. The only thing the orthopedic says they can do for me is a shoulder prosthesis. Shoulder replacement is just not really going to help me get more movement, it may help pain but that’s hardly a worthwhile trade off. The ortho agrees I’m too young for it really but under the circumstances he advocates that I do it because there is no other help he can offer for any relief. Not gonna happen.

Even stairs can hurt if I do too much. I can walk for 5 miles or so and get away with it, but depending on the terrain I may have problems with my shoulder if I go much longer. Anyway I find deep water running a wonderful exercise for me.

But I miss my life before. Even reading this thread sometimes makes me sad. I mean I'm thrilled for you guys, but sad for what I've lost. Then I smack myself hard and say get a grip. I just have to find ways to work around this. It's just a shoulder. And I still have the thing, it's just not very useful. LOL.

Keep doing it. Small victories are the only way. Little by little it becomes a way of life. If you walk every day for 15 minutes after awhile you'll miss it if you don't do it. And the more you get your body involved it will tell you when you don't give it what it wants. You'll find yourself craving it.

I have never liked walking as an exercise but now I try to do it places I want to be or have a destination that excites me. That does help.

I'm not saying this is what is happening to you but I know for me if i'm a bit down sometimes it plays out that I feel really tired and it's an effort to do shit.

Lousy, rainy day here...so I can only boast that I walked to the subway, grabbed a ginormous coffee, and began flying the desk.

Thank you so much for your encouragement. I honestly haven't done any walking or other exercise since I last posted here. However, the last few nights I have gotten a bit more sleep, which does help. It is a beautiful day, so I do plan to walk in the yard and play with the doggies out there today. I agree that doing it on a consistent basis is a very good idea.

I do find this thread encouraging because everyone has their own path and the place where they are at during this point in their lives. The struggles and small victories are just as impressive and encouraging to me as the strenuous workouts. It's all good. I also enjoy nycfem's gym observations and the cast of characters there. I feel like I am reading an interesting novel, lol.

Walking the mutt every evening - he's a big beast so a slow pace is not an option!

Going to introduce some light weights work from Monday and some work on my abs.

Need to adjust my playlist, need a little more oomph :dance2: