Getting Our Licks In!

Back among the living. It was a rough travel week: head cold and long work days with really no down time between back to back meetings. Exercise just became impossible. Sleeping, eating, and drinking plenty of fluid--plus getting through the work day were my focus. Feel much better. Did basic step and stability ball abs yesterday. Need to motivate my butt to do something today. Maybe pyramid up from upper body pyramid. Just to get the muscles moving.

Ripken had his 10th birthday yesterday. Seems like yesterday that he was just a pup. He has slowed down but he stills loves to walk and stays right with me when I'm exercising. He got an extra chew bone yesterday and an extra long walkabout in the morning to celebrate another year of life.

Janie: you are doing great with the pushups on toes. Just goes to show that you can gradually build the strength and endurance. I'm not sure about sister trying to do 100 though. But that sounds like sister.

Shadowpup: sounds like you have found a workable approach to communicating with you cat. That has to make everyone feel better all the way around. Home this week or on travel? I've got a week at home, then to New Orleans for the last week of the month. I don't know how you stand being on the road/in the air all the time. There really is no place like home.

Michele Z: hope you are feeling better too.

Elle_P: ounce by ounce you are dropping the pounds. That is so great. I took my Shiva Rea dvd with me while on travel last week but was just too sick to motivate. Maybe this week. We've dodged the snow bullet the last couple of coastal storms. Hope we continue to do so. I know that's harder to do in Canada.

Laura: do you ever find that you hold on to one or two more newbies after the NY resolutions wear off? I've always thought new year's resolutions are strange. If you want to change something, why wait until New Year's? No time like the present, right? I kind of fell off Cathe's January rotation with my cold last week. I'll have to take a look for this week to see what is up.

Hope everyone stays warm and healthy.
~michelle
 
Hi all,

It's a windy day here - and this is not a complaint at all, because the wind is drying out some of that rain we had, and the rain helped with melting the snow. NO SHOVELLING! :D:D:

Yesterday, not so much Trek Desk, but then I had quite a few mobile tasks. What's been a little surprising is how much discretionary plus biz-email-catchup internet time and phonecall time I'd been spending at home in my personal off hours ... somehow I never noticed it creeping up, but now that I'm (mainly) walking it is clear that's been a longish part of my day even after the cutbacks. It gives one a very different perspective to think in terms of 'miles spent answering email' or 'miles surfing'!

Last night, I did the second in the STS Meso 3 again. It really feels nice to be able to work out hard again. My squats are pretty good, though my ability to get to the bottom of the squat balanced and in good form is still impaired. Right now that's not worrying me - I do some bodyweight and kettlebell squats midweek to work on the base of the range there, and am using the squat to judiciously put load on my back. Was able to do front squats in pretty good form at the lighter weight - less than half of a regular squat. The Sting Ray really helps me position the bar more comfortably for front squats and I am enjoying the balance challenge. I also use the Manta for regular squats. BTW, I think I posted about them last year when I bought them - just in case, here you go: http://www.prowriststraps.com/sting_ray_manta_ray_front_rear_squat_support_harness
Fronts were at 77 pounds, and back squats (except for that lower three-four inches that I'm avoiding for now) are at 177. Amazing how much difference the balance challenge makes on these.

Deadlifts are beginning to come back, too. I am nowhere near my 160 record there from last summer. Still, I am up from last week's hundred+ pounds to 127. That feels safe and comfortable.

Upper body tonight! Haven't decided yet if it is time to attempt Meso3 there, stick with Pyramid Up, or go to STS Total Body uppers, or something else. Ideally I'd like to add a little cardio to the weights.


Janie, I think it is just terrific that you're doing all those challenges. I'd started the pullup one a little too aggressively last year, but the way it is structured, if you do the reps they suggest and not too many, you can make really good progress. So go for it! You can always set intermediate goals, like 20, 40, 60, 80, 100. You're already doing great so keep up the good work and let us know. Situps, good for you ... those, I can't seem to do without injuring my back so I've cut them entirely in favor of pikes, supermans, and those stability ball ab workouts Cathe has.
 
Hi Michelle,

Looks like our posts crossed! I'm glad you're feeling better. Resting is sometimes all you can do. Pyramid Up (just up) is one of my favorite ways to deal with recovery. Somehow having the different weights with a little break in between seems - therapeutic and managable, yet challenging. Maybe we'll both do it tonight.

A big Happy Birthday to Ripkin!!! He's the Dog Who Named Us, after all :D:D:D:D:D What a nice way to celebrate. He probably also liked having you on the stability ball, closer to the ground, yesterday :D

MDolfiniReed said:
Shadowpup: sounds like you have found a workable approach to communicating with you cat. That has to make everyone feel better all the way around. Home this week or on travel? I've got a week at home, then to New Orleans for the last week of the month. I don't know how you stand being on the road/in the air all the time. There really is no place like home.
Click to expand...

Yes, I have high hopes for this new way of cat-talking ... This week, and next, both are travel weeks. I agree, it is no fun being gone so much. I love being home ... speaking of travel, though, I will likely be at your actual place of business at the very end of the month. It's a shame but that's when you are out. We're in the middle of planning that particular visit.

Renee, I hoped you'd agree with my approach to the kitty-pulling-out-hair problem!!! She spent all day yesterday curled up on my pillow, looking smug. Kitties are meant to be spoiled. Horses, dogs, well - them too but especially kitties ... We'll see how tomorrow's departure, and trip, goes. And I hope you are healing up from that knee injury. Those are so hard to baby - we use the knee for practically everything ... some of Cathe's upper body can be done from a chair, maybe you could mix up the STS order so as to push Legs a little later?

Hi to MicheleZ, Laura, and Elle - hope your weekends are going well.
 
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Well, I almost weenied-out on my workout, but I gave myself a stern talking to and then did the pyramid-up premix from pyramid upper body. It's only 40 minutes which is about what I've got in me right now--40-50 minutes max. After exercising and cleaning up, Ripken and I went for a little walk. It was nice to stretch a leg. Now that Joe is off the cigarettes, I'm gently encouraging him to start exercise. I asked him if he wanted to walk with Rip and me but he declined. Unfortunately his left knee is bothering him right now and he has been putting his ice-knee wrap on it two to three times a day. That seems to be helping. He gets a shot in his knee about every 3 months and he just got one before Christmas but it really didn't seem to make a difference this time.

Shadowpup: too bad we will miss each other on your trip to DC at the end of the month. I have the same conference in New Orleans in January each year and this year it just happens to be during the last week of the month. The weather is suppose to moderate a bit here for the next week and I hope it continues along that trend. It would be nice if it was a little warmer in NOLA.;)

~michelle
 
Just a quick check-in. I've continued to use Shiva Rea's Daily Energy. Yesterday I did the Water and the Fire & Water routine which had some arm balance moves. It was challenging, but doable. :) I also like the core add on which i have been adding
on at the end.

I haven't done Cathe in ages!:eek: Kind of feel bad about that sometimes since this is a Cathe check-in and all, but between my own yoga and Shiva Rea, my practice is going really good right now and I don't want to mess with it.

I still love Cathe, but in the past when i focus on Yoga, Cathe gets ignored and when I try to fit in more Cathe, yoga suffers. I need to find a way to fit it all in!

Have a great day!
 
I am very impressed with ShadowPups weight lifting weights! Very impressive! Wish I could do all that. Maybe one day, but we are all have our own strenths and weaknesses. I have this image of ShadowPup: Laura Croft, TombRaider, the strong hero chick in the movies! LOL

I am enjoying my 3 day weekend. Finished STS 8, back and triceps. Feel good. Worked on some karate, and may do more later. I do have class tonight. Wondering what new things we will learn. I hope we are not working on crescent kicks. UGH!

Cleaned 3 of 4 cat boxes. Hopefully I'll get to the 4th one later too. It never fails, as soon as one is clean with fresh litter, in goes a cat and makes the stinkiest stink ever! Well, I am right behind the culprit with the pooper scooper. Ick! The things we do for the things we love! LOL

The cardio for tomorrow is MMA: Boxing and then the Thursday one will be MMA: Fusion. My knee feels good so I'm thinking I'll try these, and dummy them down if I need too. I did Step Heat yesterday with no repercussions.

Of all that is good, sublimity is supreme. Succeeding is the coming together of all that is beautiful. Furtherance is the agreement of all that is just. Perseverance is the foundation of all actions.
Lao Tzu

~Renee
 
Quick check-in from me - finally worked out this morning (Intensity) so I am back on track. I do feel a lot better since I got some meds ;). I am still using the Nutrition software and I love it. Nothing much going on besides that - just having fun with Grady and working from home. I live a pretty quiet life other than taking Grady to classes.
 
Dropping in to say hello . . .

Had great intentions of doing a major CleanMax and then XMASRemovalMax on Saturday. I was actually sick of looking at it!! All the decorations are down - but not all packed and put away. I was working hard - when the neighbors called and wanted to have people over for the Steeler game. Frankly - I didn't want to go - but go we did. So I still have lots to do - unfortunately. I just wanted to put stuff away - but Rex complained that the house was so bare that I needed to re-decorate as well which is pull out all the regular knick knacks that adorn the house normally. I normally put all this away to make room for Christmas.

Tonight - I think - Step Mechanics again. I'll try to do all of the combinations I haven't tried yet and master them. This dvd is heavily chaptered so I shouldn't have any trouble getting to that part of the workout. There is no warmup or cooldown for this workout since it is used to teach instructors blocks of choreography. This is with the assumption that I'll be able to get the step over to the tv with all the boxes of Christmas crap all over that room!!!

Hope you all have a great day!
 
Hi,

I haven't posted in a few days. Saturday I had a blast doing Kick, Punch & Crunch!
Sunday I did Circuit Blast for the first time & really enjoyed it.


Bo has been super sick for 48 hours. He basically slept for two days straight, today I am feeling a
Little run down so debating taking the day off!
 
Shoegal: Saturday was clean max around here! It seems like I am always cleaning, that I leave to go to my mom's & have to pick up after the girls there, than I go back home & it's dirty again! So Saturday I decided to clean since I was actually going to be home for a few days so I could actually enjoy it!

MichelleZ: glad to hear your better & back on track. I am still figuring out the Nutrition tracker...

Cat chick: I confess I HATE doing the litter duty! Glad your knee seems to be better
 
I had this huge long post and somehow lost it all! I hate that. I was inspired by every ones workouts and said a lot of good things about all of you. I just can't redo it again. Just cant', sorry.:mad: I think when you have so many lines it (the system Cathe is using) can't deal with it, and goes back to where you left off before the post. Won't do that again, I'll make sure I do it in chunks next time.

Joey and I decided that we will do TBS for 6-7 weeks. He will do it with heavy weight and I will do it as a warm up. Joey is in 7th heaven.

This is what I did today with the challenges, with 60 sec. rest between sets and good form.

Pull-Ups:
Assisted 3
Assisted 4
Assisted 3
Negative 1 (lowering down from top slowly)
Negative (max. hang, starting from top lower down slowly and stay there until you can't any longer. For me, 5-8 sec. Total of 12 assisted.

Push-Ups: 6, 6, 4, 4, 5...total of 25...What? Can't believe I did that.
Squats: 8, 8, 5, 5, 7...total of 33...Wow
Sit-Ups: 9, 9, 6, 6, 8...total 38...I can see that.

Have a great day everyone,

Janie
 
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Shoegal:

Thanks for the tip on getting that move... I don't take the time to preview or if I do I get distracted & don't really pay attention. When it is time to actually do the workout I might rewind once or twice but usually don't really take the time to nail it down completely!

Take care of your back...did you ever give Pilates a try?
 
:eek:Quick post . . .

Last night did Step Mechanics AGAIN. All of the combos I didn't do before - and one I did do but wanted to try again. I actually find that I can grasp the harder version of the step much easier than when Rebecca tries to simplify it. For instance - she breaks down the move down to something like a 7 count repeater knee (YES THAT SIMPLE!!) then starts to complicate it. Do 4 count repeater knee and 2 double stomps. Then starts replacing each of the repeater knees and stomps with some other movement - one at a time until the combination is completely different. If she just said - grapevine off the step . . . I get that - I know that - I don't need to "complicate" it by replacing it with different steps. Well - anyway - bottom line - love the workout - it was totally fun learning these new combos and I got them all relatively well - not perfect - but well enough that I'm confident that next time through I'll get them down.

Laura - You don't need to preview the entire workout - I never do that - I hate watching them - I think it is boring. :eek::eek::eek: But when you are doing it - and you can't get the combination - sit on your step - watch her. Just watch a little bit - a little while. It makes a difference. Believe me - I never did that before - but with a couple of Christy Taylor's step workouts- there were turns I couldn't get - because my back was to the tv and I'd do it wrong EVERY time. I sat down - watched. I got it!! Haven't tried Pilates yet . . . BUT to my surprise and delight a pilates studio opened up a short distance from work. I thought I'd might try that one of these days. What has Bo been sick with??? I do hope it isn't too bad and that he recovers soon and you & the girls don't contract it.

Janie - WOW - pulls ups - and push ups!!! Were all those push ups on your toes??? I'm VERY impressed. Glad Joey is getting his exercise in - even if it is the same thing every time. Rex doesn't exercise - although he did take all the girls for a walk on Sunday.

OK - gotta run - hello to everyone.
 
Will be doing my cardio on the mini trampoline tonight watching TV for about 30-45 min.

Shoegal, Great job on figuring out the way Step Mechanics apply. I'm sure you will do perfectly the next time. Well done. There are preps I'm taking to one day do a full pull up, but anyone can do what I did. Here is what I'll follow in order to get there. First assisted, then negative, then Austrailian and then the real thing, hopefully.:rolleyes: Baby steps first.

Assisted Pull-Up

Use a band, spotter chair or bench or assisted machine (as shown) to support some of your weight while using proper form and building the pull-up muscles. This is vital for learning the proper body position and strengthening. PLEASE be careful when supporting your weight or balancing on a chair or bench
prep_assisted.jpg


Negative Pull-Up

Use a spotter, chair, or bench to start you at the top of pull-up position and slowly lower yourself down. PLEASE be careful when supporting your weight or balancing on a chair or bench
prep_negative.jpg


Australian Pull-Up

Position yourself under a bar (Smith machine works well) with your feet lower than your hands. Using an overhand or underhand grip (vary grip from set-to-set) keep back straight and pull your chest to bar, and return slowly to starting position. If you struggle, you can raise bar and increase the angle of your body to be more upright.
prep_aussie.jpg

Janie
 
Did IMAX3 today - the entire thing - however, I did do some modifying to lower the impact of some of the blasts and in doing that, didn't do the same number as Cathe and crew did - but it still kicked my ass.
 
Hi everyone, been a busy week but I have been sticking with getting some exercise in each day. I'm basically doing 30-40 minute workouts while this head cold lingers. Today I did low impact step. Yesterday I did the back and bicep workout from 4DS; tomorrow will be teh 4DS premix for chest, tricieps and shoulders.

Got my hair cut and colored this week. It was so time for both things to be done.

Janie: helpful tips on the pull-up strategy. I've kind of laid off my pull-up bar but you've inspired me to work on them again.

Laura: as a person still trying to kick the last of her head cold (after 2 weeks)--I highly recommend trying to snuff it out before it gets going.

MicheleZ: a quiet life sounds pretty darn good to me. Some of my favorite times of the day are when Ripken and I go for our walkabouts. It's like our special time and we have each other and the world all to ourselves. Particularly this time of year because we generally are walking in the dark and no one else is out and about.

And yes I too am impressed with Shadowpup's weight lifting. I've met Shadowpup in person and all I can say is she is nothing but lean, mean muscle.

Okay--back to work. Hope everyone is having a great week.
~Michelle
 
Joey and I did TBS, Joey with heavy weight and me, with heavy weight with biceps, triceps, inner and outer thighs, and hamstrings. All the other exercises were warm ups. My challenge suggests 60 sec. rest per set. unless otherwise mentioned.

Pull-Ups: I have DOM's
Assisted 3
Assisted 5
Assisted 4
Negative 1 with 30 sec. rest then
Negative 1 yet again

Push-Ups On Toes:
6 read it wrong and did 10 OOPS!
8, then 6, then 6, then 7. Was hard! 37 total

Squats:
8, 11, 8, 8, 9

Sit-Ups
9, 12 obliques, 9 Lower(with legs up), 9 combo and 10

MicheleZ, Great job on IMAX 3 today. Even when you modify and you did worked hard, you are doing a fantastic job. Well done.

Michelle, You still have a head cold? If it's been longer than 2 weeks, best get in to see a doc. Great job on doing 30-40 min. workouts, yesterday on 4DS on back and bicep and today's Low Impact Step. It's so nice that you could get groomed. We all need that from time to time. Inspiration is good.

Janie
 
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Hi Everyone,

Things are going great for me right now. My yoga practice is on a roll and I'm feeling great so I'm focusing on maintaining that right now.

Janie: Wow, you have gone all hardcore with the pull up/pushup training! That's great!

It's been freezing here with some snow and freezing rain which makes it feel like you are walking on a skating rink outside!:eek:

Have a great day!
 
Didn't get a chance to workout this evening.

Elle, So glad things are looking up for you. Do be careful when having to go outside in your weather. Yuck!

Janie
 
Hi!

Today I did Imax 2, yesterday I did Insanity for the 1st time all the way through (well not with the boot camp section!) I had only done the HIIT routines before. I agree with what I have read on the forums here, I think the step is way harder than the HIIT! I also taught my Total Tone class last night.

I keep thinking I am getting sick, but than I feel better, than not so hot, than better...so working out when I feel up to it and taking it easy when I don't feel so hot...

Janey: wow you must be so excited to see your improvements!! Way to go!

Elle: glad to hear you are on a roll with the yoga! My hamstrings were so tight after Lower Body Blast + half of STS Meso Cycle 1 legs that I couldn't touch the floor with out slightly bending my knees, a totally foreign sensation for me and it gave me better understanding for clients of mine that have flexibility challenges!

Michelle: one of the best thing about our 4 legged friends is our walks together! Hope you are better soon and I don't get sicker!
 
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