Hardcore Fitness Maniacs Check In for Wed June 21

L

lorajc

Cathlete
Morning Fit Ladies -

This morning I did my happy workout. I did about 35 minutes of Seasun's Straight Up Step and Eion Finn's Power Yoga for Happiness - Quickie Premix. I also did some Pilates ab work.

I really need to snap out of this depression so I can start getting more serious about my workouts. I don't feel so "hardcore" lately. I need to start waking up a bit earlier so I have more time to workout and set up, etc.

Debbie - Did you get your workout room all set up? I sure wish we had room for me to have one here. It would really help the "dread factor" of my workouts with lots of equipment. It really sucks having to drag stuff up from the basement and other rooms all over the house to workout.

Charlotte - Did Seether do "Heart Shaped Box" by Nirvana for the encore at Snocore when you saw them? I just heard that song on the radio and it reminded me of Snocore and how excellent Seether did that song. Did you know Seether's coming out with an acoustic album on July 11? I can't wait. Speaking of music -- I burned 2 CD's so far and have 3 more to go before I send them. You don't want the double live Chili Peppers "Live in Hyde Park" then cuz you don't like live music? Isn't that what you said?

I poked myself in the eye with my metal lash comb this morning and my eye REALLY won't stop tearing and it's all red. Great....as if I didn't have enough problems with my eyes!

Have great workouts everyone and I'll try to check in from work later. I think my boss has a meeting today so I should be able to.
 
Good morning ladies,

Today's workout was Muscle Max back & biceps (2 times) and then CTX back and biceps. I really like CTX, such an effective set of workouts. Biceps are toasty now and I enjoyed the deadlifts in CTX, hadn't done those for a while. Last night did a hill climb in the heat on my bike. Another rider saw me riding and hooked up with me for the climb, which was nice. He's a faster rider so we both just climbed the hill (long one) at our own pace, and then rode down together. Great to have company. I plan on an easy spin with the ladies on Thursday, then my century ride on Saturday. I'm hoping I'm acclimated enough for the heat that we'll have. I'll just have to tough it out, hydrate plenty and start early. You're on the bike from about 7:30 a.m. to around 3:30 p.m. (including rest stops and lunch) and the hot climb is toward the end of the ride (around mile 80).

Terri, just wanted to say how sorry I am for your loss. I know how hard it is. It will get better, but you'll never forget how much you loved your pets. Our dogs are a HUGE part of our lives. They live in the house with us, sleep with us, go on vacation, etc. I can't bear to think about them being gone, so I don't. Anyhow, (((HUGS))) to you.

Lora, I'm really enjoying the rotation Debbie did. It's nice to look at what's on the page and JUST DO IT! I figure my other workouts will be waiting when I'm done. All this stuff takes disclipline and you definitely have that going on. I sure admire you for your dedication. And yep, you are definitely HARDCORE!!! Hope your eye feels better. I poked myself with my sunglasses the other day and my eye felt bruised for a little bit. What a klutz I am!

Good workouts to everyone,

Jeanette
 
Good Morning Maniacs!!!

Yesterday I worked out my legs doing 3 sets of bbm w/weights and then off to ride bike for about 18 miles. I still have to work chest/back today and abs and will do some more leg work.

Lora,

Yes, that is the song Seether sang at the concert. Although I was using the restroom at the time...dang it! I did not know that Seether was coming out with more music...GOSH!!!! EXCITED!!! Thanks for burning more cd's...I will have to buy you more. :eek: Yeah, I don't like "live" music. How much earlier would you get up for your workouts? Don't you already get up at 2:30am sick maniac????? LOL! That party and the vacation I had set me back and I started feeling like a slacker so I am putting all that behind me and looking forward to better workouts for now on. Just put stuff on the back burner too. Think about what you want to do to your body and just do it. Did you try that hot n' sour soup yet? Sorry to hear about your eye. I am sure that tearing won't last long for you. Well at least you will be able to have some "space" when your boss is at the meeting...the ole' witch. x(

Charlotte~~
 
This morning I did Gym Style Shoulders and added the shoulder work from High Step Challenge (I love the band work for the rotator cuff). When doing the overhead presses in GS I used a 35 lbs. barbell because 15 lbs dummbells isn't heavy enough anymore, but I know I couldn't go up to 20 lbs. dumbbells yet. These seemed quite easy with the bar, I wonder why? I usually struggle doing these with dumbbells. Weird.

Then I did Gym Style Tri's. Went heavy with this one as well. I love this series. I then did abs from Kick, Punch & Crunch.

Had an excellent workout. Having some family problems right now, I'm really stressed out. I'm praying to God that this will work out. Keep me in your prayers, everyone!

Lora - weight room is almost done. My dh has to finish the duct work. Hopefully by Sunday I'll be in there with all my new stuff!

Jeanette - great workout! Love MM and CTX together, very effective.
 
Charlotte, wow, working legs and then a bike ride! I always go easy on legs when I have a bike ride. That's probably what I'm doing wrong. You go girl!

Debbie, I love shoulder workouts, have one on Friday on my rotation, but will leave out the legs that day due to bike ride next day. I have got to order the Gym Styles soon. Sounds like they are a must have. Will be thinking and praying for you.

Jeanette
 
HI!

What a morning!! I wont bore you with the details, but just getting everyone ready this morning was quite the challenge.x(

This morning I did GS-Chest and Triceps. I still think this is Cathe's most difficult workout.

OK, got a question, lets say your working chest and you have three sets (Gym Style) to do. On set three, you know you will not be able to complete all the reps with the current weight you have used for set one and two, do you
A)just do as many as you can with the heavy weight,
B)drop to the next dumbbell size down or
C)do what you can with the heavy weight and immediately switch to a lighter weight to finish the set?
I do C. I wonder what you all do.

I have a TON of stuff to do this morning, so I'll be back a little later!

Susan C.M.
 
Good Morning Maniacs!!

This morning I ran 4.5 miles on my treadmill...that wasn't the plan, but that's what I ended up doing. Me and rotations simply are not getting along right now...so I'm pretty much just doing what I want at this point.

Lora - I really do hope you can come out of your depression soon....seems like to me you need to do some soul-searching to determine "why" you are depressed.

Netta - You are getting in some really great workouts! I can't wait to hear about you century ride this weekend...sounds awesome! I'm concerned that you may not be acclimated to the heat yet, but if hydrate enough you should be okay. You gotta get Gym Styles...you just gotta!!

Toasty - Great job on the bike ride yesterday...what leg work are you doing today?? Inquiring minds want to know....

Debbie - Glad you had a great workout....Sorry about your family issues...I hope the workouts can relieve some of the stress and I hope that our prayers will result in giving peace to your heart and mind. Hang in there...

Dallas - Yeah...I have ADD right now when it comes to following any kind of training plan. Just can't focus right now for some reason.

Hi to the Maniacs that follow!!

I'll be back..



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(fitxme)
http://www.picturetrail.com/fitxme
 
Hi Susan...

I do all of the above just depends on the day. B and C are pretty much the same and the term for doing that is called "stripping" (see below)which are actually great to include in workouts from time to time.

Here are some other great options...

Breakdowns

This requires the use of machines. Choose a weight that you think will challenge you for a set of approximately six repetitions--50 pounds on the Tricep Pushdowns, for example. Do as many repetitions as possible at that weight. Once you have reached muscle fatigue, quickly decrease the weight to 30 pounds and again do as many reps as possible. This would complete one set. Breakdown training enables you not only to increase the intensity, and thus force more blood into the muscle, but also allows you to reach momentary muscle fatigue twice, affecting more muscle fibers.

Stripping

This method is similar to breakdown training, except it is done with barbells and is called "stripping." Let's say you do the flat bench press with barbells for your chest muscles. If you normally do a set of Bench Press (Bb) for 6 reps with 185 pounds, you might want to arrange the weights so that you have two 35-pound plates on each side of a 45-pound barbell. Do your bench press with the two 35-pound plates on each side for as many reps as you can. When you have reached muscle fatigue, have your partner or--even better, two people--quickly strip one of the 35-pound plates off of each side and do the bench press again for as many reps as possible. This would complete one set.

Up/Down the Rack

This method promotes new and improved muscle and strength gains, similar to both breakdowns and stripping in its intensity, is called "up and down the rack"; this one requires the use of dumbbells. When using the "down the rack" training technique, make sure all the dumbbells are in proper sequence with about 5-10-pound increments between each pair. Shrugs (Db) is an example: choose the weight you would normally use for about 8 reps, and do as many Shrugs as possible; then quickly grab the next set of dumbbells (approximately 40 percent lighter) and again do as many Shrugs as possible.



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(fitxme)
http://www.picturetrail.com/fitxme
 
Morning All!

Today I did CM #1 followed by BBW. I'm going down to do the upper body workout I didn't get to on Monday. I'm feeling it a bit from KM yesterday in my traps. Do you think it's OK to work upper body?

Susan ~ I do (c) as well. I don't know how working moms do it and you work out on top of everything else you have to do in the AM. Good for you! I agree GSC&T always gets me.

I'm bummed...I finally decided to bite the bullet and order the Powerstrike workouts (even the VCR ones) and they're sold out! x( I decided on those over the Turbo Jams after doing a search and re-reading the reviews. Now what?!?! x( x( I guess I'll check out what Janis has to offer.

I looked on Amazon hoping that they would have the Pwerstrikes and I came across this:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1569754780/002-7623304-5922467?v=glance&n=283155

I think if I got this workout my dh will think I've lost it. LOL! :7 :+

OK, got to go finish my workout. I'll come back and read what everyone is up to later....

Dallas
http://www.picturetrail.com/chisoxfan

ETA: I'm supposed to do Body Max upper body, but I'm not feeling it. Any suggestions?
 
Marietta - Life, in general, depresses me. I suffer from depression and my disease of addiction only adds to that.

Susan - I see Marietta answered your question, but I usually do a combination of the things you mentioned. Sometimes I drop the heeavier weight and immediately pick up lighter ones and finish. Sometimes, I just finish with the heavy weight....making it a lower rep exercise. The only time I drop the weights immediately and go to a lighter pair is if the weights are so heavy that I can't even do 1-2 reps with it.

Not a good day here.......gotta run.
 
Okay Lora, I understand that life depresses you...at times life depresses me too! Now, I'm not going to pretend that I can solve your problems for you because I can't...all I can do is pray for you and offer a few suggestions.

First, have you considered counseling? I think that you really need to talk through and face the things that are troubling you so that you can come up with a plan to deal and conquer those things.

Second, what do you see as your purpose for living and when it's all (life that is) over what do you envision? Is life to you a means to the end? Or do you feel that there is more to this thing called life?

In otherwords, is the glass half empty or half full? It's your perspective and how you view life itself that determines how you deal with it.

If you think negative then your outlook will be as such...If I approach anything with a negative mindset regardless of my physical abilities...I will generally acheieve what my mindset has convinced to to believe. However, when I'm positive even when my physical abilities are not up to par, I somehow rise to and above what I even thought was possible to begin with.

So does that mean that if you think postive that nothing bad will ever happen? Nope...doesn't mean that. But when you have a positive attitude, you can certainly face and deal with challenges with much more effectiveness. And your are not constantly beating yourself up.

Yes, you have an addictive personality...stop claiming it! Decide that tomorrow or today for that matter that you will have the victory. One step at a time...don't talk about it...be about it!

Tomorrow...I will wake up early and I will have a good workout. Tomorrow I will go to work and will give it my all. I will let nothing or no one to get me down. Despite all the things that attack my body, I can workout better than people half my age...I am a remarkable woman and there are no limits to what I can do!!!

If you can believe that then you can certainly achieve that!

I care about you Lora and wish peace and happiness to you.

Again....I know this isn't a miracle cure and I hope that I have not offended you in any way. It was just placed on my heart to write these words to you.


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(fitxme)
http://www.picturetrail.com/fitxme
 
Well gitty-up Marietta!! hahahaha:7 :7

Boy did I get an answer! I love those suggestions. Thanks so much!

A while ago I put in a suggestion to Cathe to do more different ways of lifting. Search "yeah baby". (I must have had a drink or two when I wrote it).:p Anyway, I would like to incorporate extended sets.

Extended sets
This carries the muscle past the point of positive failure. So a set on one angle to failure, then do additional reps from another angle. Example/ Triceps: first, lying extensions, Second exercise, narrow presses. Or Chest: dumbbell flyes. Second exercise, dumbbell presses.

Lora, after having the baby I had a few bouts of depression. Everything was fine, but then I'd get real, real sad. This feeling would only last a minute or so, but it wasn’t fun. I had nothing to be sad about ~ it was just there. Maybe in your case, it may help if you spoke to someone about it. Life is too short to be depressed. Maybe I shouldn't stick my nose where it doesn’t belong, but maybe look for another job. Your employer makes your depression worse.
I'm glad you come here to vent. I hope it helps!:D


Susan C.M.
 
Well I just did coremax 1 this morning. Still not feeling too awake even after such so asked son if he wanted to go biking again. Made sure this time he had enough water and asked what he ate for breakfast cuz I told him I was not stopping this time...full speed ahead!!!! Now I am awake and feeling the love so I am gonna do some squats, walking lunges and I hope to complete all upperbody workouts today as well. Pretty darn hot here again today. A/C is on this time. Yesterday my kids begged me to turn it on and I had no choice when Stinky was panting like she was going to die so I turned it on.

Marietta,

Cool breakdown of workouts above. What is with the 185 pounds for chest...you do that????? Just an example or what? Curious, Maniac!!!! LOL!

Charlotte~~
 
Toasty....In this lifetime, I'll NEVER be able to lift 185 lbs...NEVER!!!! Squat...maybe, but press...NOT!! That was an example....I think you were trying to be funny though...LOL!!

Glad you finally turned on the a/c...must be hot when the dog is panting inside!!

Susan - Yee-Haw!!!!!! Watch me ride!!! (keep it clean)...LOL!!

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(fitxme)
http://www.picturetrail.com/fitxme
 
Susan C.M. - If you want to increase muscle mass you need to stay at the same weight and work to failure. I like doing this with the Gym Style workouts. If you want to define and shape your muscles, lower to a less weight to finish out the reps.
 
Well - I guess I won't mention my depression here any longer. Yes, I've gone for counseling and only to find out I have ADD (per the professional).

ETA: You could have PM'd me instead of posting that on the thread also. Now I'm embarrased to keep checking in here.
 
After thinking this over at lunch, I've decided there is no reason to check in here if I can't be honest and vent. Obviously, there are some strong feelings about my problems. It has been nice knowing everyone.
 
Lora...as I said it was not my intent to offend. You have totally taken my comments out of context. I don't believe in any way that I implied that I had a "problem" with your issues. Nor was I implying any negativity with them. You put it out there and so I was responding.

You keep on posting here.

I will humbly and respectfully leave. Again, I wish you the very best.

~Marietta
 
Lora, I also replied about your depression. I'm sorry, if you thought it was a private issue you wanted to vent about, you could have also PM'd this group. We've done it lots of times with each other here. I didnt mean to offend you by me response.
Susan C.M.
 
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