Helloooooo EctoChicks! 10/21-10/27

J

JamminX3

Cathlete
I'm starting this week's thread, altho I fear Angela is starting one at the same time! LOL. Gotta hurry... This week:

Mon: Arms of Steel (Gilad)/Step & Intervals/30 min on treadmill
Tues:Leaner Legs/30 min. treadmill
Wed: Get Hard Arms/Shoulders (Cory E.)/1 hr treadmill
Thurs: Leg workout (Geeky tape..you don't wanna know)/30 min treadmill
Fri: Body Max (Upper Body)/30 min treadmill
Sat: Leg Enhancement (Fran Gern)

It was supposed to be a FIRM week, but I sold my LL (getting DVD for Christmas) and I wanted to do it one last time before I parted with it. (Kissing and holding it now as I type. WAH!)

Good news, my clothes are still getting looser. I'm not weighing and I really think that's helping me. For some reason, for the last 2 yrs, every time I get to 140 lbs, I begin to gorge and sabatoge myself. Now, I don't see the #, so I don't trigger this response. I don't have time to wait for years of therapy to figure *that* out. :D

Have a great week!!!!

Robin http://www.smilies-world.de/Smilies/Smilies_klein_1/flower.gif
 
[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Oct-23-02 AT 10:20AM (Est)[/font][p]Hey Robin,

Yep you beat me to it this time. Had a sick dog to clean up after this morning and was running late to work. Nothing like a dog puking under the breakfast table to get your Monday started off on the right foot! Ha.

Congrats on the looser clothes! Sounds like you've got a great week of workouts planned. Here's what I've got going on:

Last Saturday: Leaner Legs
Yesterday, Sunday: CTX Upper Body
Monday: Off - ended up taking a rest day
Tuesday: Leaner Legs (decided to skip dance class)
Wednesday: Off
Thursday: CTX Upper Body
Friday: Abs

Have a great week ectos and remember, as Cathe says, "We're impressin' ourselves!"

Angela
 
Bon Jour Ecto's!}>

More of the same for me, won't bore you with details, but I am still seeing terriffic results.

Briee, how are you doing? I'm thinking about you!

Julie
 
Would you all mind if I joined your checkin? From the name I gather it's for us overweight skinny girls? I've lurked here at the Cathe forum for quite awhile now, asking questions every now and then but that's about it. I'm (re) committing to my eating/exercise program today and I need some accountability. I took some really embarassing "before" pics of myself this morning with my digital camera. Ugh! At this point I would die if anybody else saw them but if I reach my goal (firming up) then I guess I'd be proud of them.

So what's the best way for an ecto to lose the blubber and firm up? What's been working for all of you? Anybody have any luck turning puny little stick arms into Cathe arms? Malissa :)
 
Welcome, Malissa!

We're an equal opportunity ecto group - even "underweight skinny girls," like me are welcome. I think in general, ectos are characterized by small bones and low muscle mass, and have difficulty putting on healthy muscle.

Don't feel too bad about your "before" pics. I was too ashamed to even take pictures before I got serious about working out.

I've never had a weight problem, so I can't address the weight loss issues, but I'm happy to say that, with Cathe's help, I'm losing my stick arms. I'm not up to her level yet, but I'm working on it. My advice? CTX Upper Body. Wow. Crazy eights with a 35 pound barbell and that's just the first biceps exercise! Have you tried it?

Angela
 
Hey Robin,

I've got Cory's Get Hard Arms and Shoulders, too. What's your opinion of it? I thought it was pretty corny and the pace is so fast, I find it hard to use anything more than a 5 or 8 lb. weight. I definitely like CTX UB better!

Angela
 
Thanks Angela! I don't have CTX...just S&H and PS right now. I've been looking at the CTX DVD - I think I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and order it.

I used to be an "underweight skinny girl." Sigh. Had trouble keeping the weight on and was sick of everybody always telling me how skinny I was. I had to get a waiver to join the Navy because I was underweight. In fact, I didn't think I would EVER worry about too much weight. But that was 15 years ago and the fat has been creeping on ever since. I turned 40 last month and am determined to get in the best shape of my life this year.

How much cardo do you fellow ectos do? I'm wondering if cardio would hinder the development of that elusive muscle?

Angela, that's great that you're seeing results...how long have you been working at it?

Malissa
 
Hey Malissa,

I avoided the high rep, "endurance" workouts at first. I, too, used only PS and SH. Then in a moment of weakness, I purchased Leaner Legs. It sat on the shelf for quite some time before I finally tried it one day when I had the urge for something new. What an eye opener! I could hardly walk after it was over - and I didn't even do the whole thing. It made a believer out of me. Now, I alternate two weeks on heavy lifting with PS and SH and two weeks endurance with LL and CTX UB. I'm really feeling the effects of both of these.

I'd worked out for several years consistently with the Firm tapes and never saw much change. A neighbor's friend asked her if I was anorexic when she saw me working in the yard in shorts. How humiliating.

I discovered Cathe's PS series about two years ago and I've never looked back. I supplement with heavy work in the gym downstairs where I work and on our Total Gym at home.

Currently, I'm not doing any cardio, but as I said, weight loss is not one of my objectives. So far, the age factor hasn't hit me yet. I'm 36. My husband's the same way. He turned 40 in May and can still wear clothes he wore in high school and college - unfortunately! Ha.

Angela
 
Hi everyone!

Here's my schedule for this week:

mon- legs/calves
tue- treadmills/random hills, abs
wed- push exercises
thu- rest
fri- pull exercises
sat- maybe another 5K run
sun- rest

Speaking of 5K's. I came in at 28:55! Not bad considering last weekend whenI ran in the park my time was 35 minutes. Not sure if I placed or not but it was a great first experience. I think I'm hooked! I'm trying to find a running club or team to join so that I can make some improvements but there's not much in Illinois. Most clubs are too far away. There is one group in Alton, but I'm not sure where so that could mean any where from a 20 minute drive to a 40 minute one! Just thinking ahead about the upcoming winter days when the snow has ceased but the roads are still somewhat a mess! Don't want to bail out on my group! :)

Georgia! Looking to hear what you think about my run this past weekend. Along with the other two ladies from my office, we were a little intimidated because so many seasoned runners were there, so we knew placing was out of the question. But it really sparked an interest in us to pursue this activity further! We knew we were up against some serious runners when we found out that a few of them had been there since 7 a.m. running laps around the parking lots and some were wearing running shorts and tank tops and it was probably 40 degrees out! I thought I'm hear but I'm keeping on my sweats, turtleneck and jacket! :) But it was great! We toasted our accomplishment with bagels and bananas! We got our picture taken too! That really made us feel good!

I'm late posting here. So it's just about time for me to cut out from work.

Talk with you tomorrow!
Angie
 
I'm not overweight except in my own sick mind! I have skinny arms and legs, no bosom or rear end and a belly the Buddah would envy if he envied.... I guess he wouldn't but anyway! I am an EctoChick.

I have been doing LemonCustard's 12 week challenge and it's going really well. My workouts have been very consistant and I am happily down a couple of pounds. I had gained 7. I like to be about 125 which makes that belly more acceptable. Isn't it glorious to have a body that stores it's fat so specifically? Shall I compare thee to 5 pounds of ground meat, oh belly mine?

Mon 5.2 miler and SH legs
Tues PowerMax and SH shoulders
Wed 4.8 miler and PS BB
Thurs StepFit and PS Chest and Triceps
Friday Kindergarten with my 5 year old
Saturday BodyMax

I love Jammin's posts! She is so funny!


http://www.plaudersmilies.de/chicken.gif Chick's Rule! B http://www.plaudersmilies.de/natur/petals.gif bbi
 
Hey Bobbi, I got the blessed belly too. Oh well, just got to grab it with both hands and "luv" it. That kindergarten workout sounds scary. ;-)

Malissa, I've been having excellent results using the Slow and Heavy in a one day mini-routine and CTX spread over three days. Four sessions of cardio, I've included a couple of interval workouts, kickboxing and some planks. This is week four for me and I can't stop pinching my "modest-but-big-for-me" bicep.

Wow Angela!!!! 35 pounds on CTX Crazy (sucky) 8's!! I'm impressed, your raised the bar for me on that one, I'm going to have work harder, now.;-) I think you're right about CTX upper body, it does something special for me as far as development goes.

Julie
 
Oh, no! I didn't make that very clear, did I? The 35 pound barbell for Crazy 8s is what **Cathe** is using, not me! No ma'am! I'm struggling to get through them with my eight pound dumb bells for a total of 16 pounds - approximately half of what Cathe's using. It's tough! And since it's only the first bicep exercise, I'm afraid to try to push myself any heavier. I'm looking forward to that day when I can get closer to that goal of 35, but it's a ways off. I can do regular bicep curls with 15 pounds when I'm doing slow and heavy.

Angela
 
Wow, Bobbi, that looks like a really grueling workout...5 miles and THEN S&H Legs??? You Ectochicks are machines! :) You know, most people wouldn't call me overweight either but if only they saw me naked...the HORROR! I'm definitely a stick girl but I've got a couple (or more) layers of fat covering my skin & bones frame. All I want is to lose the fat and grow some muscle.

Hey Angela, what are these dreaded cray 8s anyway?

And Julie, what did you mean by S&H in a mini-routine?

Malissa
 
Hi Julie, okay a confession here. I was psycologically prepared to stick out the TTR for another 6 weeks, but then on Sunday I began rationalizing (and daydreaming) of doing S&H just for three weeks and going right back to TTR and could this really be so bad???? My desires got the best of me and I did S&H biceps and triceps on Monday morning, OHHH it felt soooo goood. And I added some shoulder sets (arnold presses and bent arm delt raises 2 sets each, cause I hate my shoulders). You know you can actually feel the swell in the bicep...so cool!!!

Here is my plan, I REALLY want to build some muscle

Monday: S&H Bis and tris, abs and 2 shoulder sets - arnold presses and delt raises.
Tuesday: S&H Legs and shoulders (20 minutes of cardio if possible)
Wednesday: S&H Chest and Back, ABS
Thursday: Cardio
Friday: S&H split ala Julie I believe. bis, tris, shoulders primarily.
Saturday: Cardio (IMAX)
Sunday: rest

I'm not planning on doing much cardio. I just love what the lifting is doing for me. My arms are definitely changing, just would like more "shoulders". My 9 year old daughter tested for her yellow belt on Monday night and we had to do 110 pushups (this is based on # of mistakes). We do not do them all at one time. We did 30 and then sets of 20 until we reached 110. I could have done lots more, so I believe Cathe is really helping.

Sorry to change after you were so supportive. I promise to go right back to TTR after this S&H. I still plan to get in bis, tris, and shoulders two times per week with the S&H. Thanks for your S&H split idea!!!!!

Briee :-jumpy
 
[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Oct-23-02 AT 09:50AM (Est)[/font][p][font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Oct-23-02 AT 09:09 AM (Est)[/font]

Hi Malissa,

If you have dvd you can make a one day routine out of S & H. Here's the thread: http://64.225.138.194/dcforum/catheforum/4796.html
I have also added Legs:

Squats-all three sets
Barbell static lunges-two sets
Plie Squats-2 sets
Calf Raises (For my wimpy ecto-calves)-2 sets

I found that this was an awesome substitution for MIS which had done for about 15 weeks in a row. Love it, but I was horribly sick of it. Without the ab work on S & H I THINK it comes in at about 75 minutes also.

Isn't it funny how we can be skinny-flabby at the same time? People think of me as "skinny" because my limbs are long and thin, but really the torso is the problem. It's literally like a "trunk".

Angela, that is SO funny. I'm doing 25 now on Crazy 8's and it just takes every ounce of strength I have. 35 . . . maybe someday, "when I'm big". HA!

Can't wait for those Pyramid tapes!!! :-jumpy :-jumpy :-jumpy

Julie
 
[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Oct-23-02 AT 09:49AM (Est)[/font][p]Hey Briee,

Don't worry, I won't "cyber-spank" you. It's just that Tank Top Arms is SO darned tough. I was really burning out with it towards the end. I was going to refer you to the post on "Ask Cathe" about overtraining (and of course, I can't flip back to it to find the title or I'll lose my post here), but maybe you've been following it. It's a "printer".

I'm wondering if we couldn't come up with something more "conducive" to our ecto needs (and the Pyramid tapes wil probably be an awesome addition). For me it was just too much and I have to wonder if I didn't hinder my own results by over training. How about a Tank Top Ecto's Rotation? Gosh, now I've got myself thinking . . . look out world.

I like the idea of S&H bi's, tri's, shoulders 2x per week. Keep me posted on that. ;-)

Good luck,
Julie

The thread is "Too much cardio/muscle growth" on Ask Cathe
 
Hey Malissa,

Crazy eights are bicep curls that come from the bottom only half-way up for eight counts, then you curl all the way up and come down only half-way for eight counts. As Cathe would say, "It really gets ya."

Angela
 
Angela, it sounds like a great way to develop the biceps. Ok, you've convinced me...I'm going to buy CTX.

Which of the new workouts are you all going to get? I shy away from the step stuff because I'm a total klutz. If I want some cardio I just get on my treadmill. I'm only interested in strength training...from what you understand, would that be Intensity Series Vol 2&3?

Malissa
 
Hello, there Ecto-Machines...and I mean that sincerely. My bicep curl barbell weighs a measly 18 lbs (this a.m. it was 14lbs :-tired) and GOOD GRIEF!...S&H Legs *AND* a 5.4 mile run? Heavens, I've bursted a blood vessel just thinking about it. WHEW! Hey, Bobbi, is LemonCustard's 12 week Challenge in that last set of rotations that Kathy sent out? I may look at it....NOT! OK, I might.

Right there with you all on the apple woes. *sigh* Am I forever doomed to wear swimsuits with tummy control? BLECH!

Angela, I must agree on GHAS and the heavy cheese factor, but there are just too many testimonials around that rave about the results from this tape. It always makes my arms quivery after the workout and they have a burn in the muscle for the rest of the day. That *has* to be good. OTOH, it's partner tape, Get Hard Abs and Glutes, was more than I could bear (bare???) I gave it away.

BTW, after reading your question, I just couldn't bring myself to face Cory, her thong :-rollen, and her fake enthusiasm, so I opted for BM (upper body) this a.m. instead. Maybe I'll do it Fri.:p

Robin http://www.smilies-world.de/Smilies/Smilies_klein_1/flower.gif
 
Malissa, for right now, all I'm pre-ordering is Intensity series Vols 2 & 3 also. Just interested in the wt. work. I'm sure I'll break down and get the rest, tho, once everyone starts raving about them. I can't stand to be left out.

Oh, and thanks to whoever said that you can make S&H a one day routine with the DVD. I just sold S&H Legs/Shoulders and am trying to sell the other 2 and I ordered the DVD, but was regretting it. Now, I'm happy! :D

Robin http://www.smilies-world.de/Smilies/Smilies_klein_1/flower.gif
 
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