Lurker Invitations April Check-In

[Shoegal]

Check in Tuesday 4/28

Last night - copped out and did B&G premix Floorwork & abs. I don't even know why - kept looking through my library of tapes and thought there were so few total body weight training DVDs in there and I settled on this. I thought that perhaps I would do an upper body workout later on in the week and now I'm wondering what that will be. I almost did something from the Firm - seems to be more options there. Practiced my push ups some more though - and still not there. DH came in while I was doing the ab portion sporting a tank top and old man pants he just bought. He was simply thrilled and happy with that purchase - didn't know if this was one of those times I was supposed to lie and say they were great. What if he wants to wear those out in public?

Shadowpup - glad you are back and I am also glad someone had good information and personal experiences with Down Syndrome. It is hard to maintain an even keel when faced with different eating choices - and special occasions. I'm caught between joining in and indulging or holding back. Sounds like you managed well.

Michelle - sounds like your back to normal based on your workout. Good job with the push ups!! I'm impressed. Took the tour "around the loop" - yes, it truly is a spectacular campus. Breathtaking.

Janie - it is wonderful that you are preparing and reading the info that is available. I can see that you will be a valuable grandmother to Adrian. As Michelle said - continue to let us know how he is doing and how you are doing as well.

Laura - thanks also for the push up alternatives. They all sounded like excellent ways to build strength. What are you going to do today???? I must live vicariously through you right now or I might go off and buy something - did you see me complain about total body weight workouts!!

I am thinking I am going to do a NRG mix from Amy's ASC II - seems one of her premixes was a circuit workout and I was intrigued.

Hope you all have a nice day.

 

[ladubose]

Hi Everyone,
So I am sore in the abs from my 2 classes last night and really felt them during my pilates class this morning. I am previewing Step Blast right now while I eat lunch the choreography looks brutal. It is going to take me forever to get it so I am debating wether or not to do it or do some cardio where I already know the choreography so I can just focus on the workout.

But today is a good day for me to play with a new routine, since I have more time..I just feel tired and this looks intense to me! LOL look who is whining now!

Shoegal: can't go wrong with Butts & Gutts no matter what you do!
Michelle: welcome back into the ring!! How did it feel to lift some weights again? Sometimes it can be so hard to get going again. I went to Randolph Macon for my freshman year, but the co-ed one not the all girls. I wish I had gone to the all girls school.. My mother in -law went to Hollins.
Shadowpup: welcome home and it sounds like you did well navigating all the diet/health pitfalls that come with family.
Janey:good for you for diving in their and educating yourself. It would be easy to dig your head in the sand and not meet this issue head on but that will not help the situation and you are being very brave to look it straight in the eye and meet it! Please keep us informed.

Wow this looks like a crazy cardio workout, Cathe is winded and sweaty, Oh dear!!

I wanted to let everyone know I lost 2 more lbs! So happy!

 

[ladubose]

Holly Molly!so I tried Step Blast and man oh man I was drenced in sweat even though I kept having to rewind. It took my 1 hour to get the combos 1 & 2 and I started comb 3 and I was just done, caput, nothing else to give so I stopped. My heart rate was super high too. I don't know if it was just an off day for me but that sure did make me feel out of shape!

I wanted more cardio, the cardio I usually do is steady state and I am not used to all the jumped and leaping and bounding that Step workouts have in them. I mean seriously the last time I really did any step was back in those thong days we mentioned earlier on! It is amazing when the body does something new how much harder it has to work. I have been doing the 4ds step combos every once and awhile but they don't make me sweat like I did today!!

 

[Shadowpup]

Laura, you make me want to do some Step! I was tight on time, trying to get somewhat caught up on at least figuring out what emergencies were in my inbox and so I did a short Kelly Coffey-Meyer's kickbox tonight, before dinner. It was fine, but not a sweat-fest that drained me entirely

BTW, I actually read your post earlier, and was so inspired (because I was not tired enough) that I decided I'd at least do a little of that power yoga dvd that came last week. It was fun! I stopped at 20 minutes, so as not to overdo the stretching this first time out.

Michelle, I know families with bipolar children, and autistic children - so hard for them, because it seems to cause so much unhappiness. In contrast, the Downs Syndrome kids seem to keep that love and joy that babies and tiny children radiate, which most of us lose as we grow up. Not easy, needing so much more care as they grow up, but the caregivers almost universally say that they get so much back that it is a joy. That's how my sister describes my niece. How many mothers say that about their sixteen year old daughters??? And now, those pushups - terrific job Gym Style remains one of my favorite series ... glad you're feeling well enough to do that one!

Shoegal, nothing to do with B&G is a copout!!! Love that one too. Oh, I sometimes do miss having all those Cathe dvds to choose from, though I love having STS in hand. Arg! I also have that 20% burning, burning, burning ... why is it easier to resist extra cheesecake and so very hard to resist more dvds???


All, the scale and tape measure tell me I did okay despite four days of temptation. No change, and the rest probably did me some good. Whew! And I have a short pushup story. I was at my grandmother's, with my dad, who started SP with me a year or so ago and who also hit his goal weight. He's doing really well, and he's one of my few family members who can talk about nutrition and workouts without becoming bored before I do Anyway, I was starting on toe pushups as a morning warmup and reminder to myself that I should not eat too much for breakfast. Dad remarked that he used to do them in boot camp, but hadn't done them since - and that sometimes they'd make him do twenty and he'd about die. I thought ... hmmm, a chance to show off to dad (and yes, I admit it, that was exactly what I thought ), I started counting while he watched. Six ... seven ... eight ... nine ... At ten I heard "WOW" but kept going. Eleven ... twelve ... He called my grandmother over. She's ninety five, lives unassisted, and it is hard to get her to even let us wash her dishes for her. It is hard to impress grandma, but ... I'm up to thirty five ... thirty six ... thirty seven ... thirty eight ... It's getting hard now, and slow; I haven't done this many without a break before ... but I want to get to ... thirty nine ... forty! And stopped, goal met. They clapped

And the thing is, I could only do a few in December. You'll all find that there will be a breakthrough moment, I'm guessing, and then these will come much faster and you will be snearing at my 40

 

[Shoegal]

Check in Wednesday 4/29

Well - things of course did not go as planned - and I didn't do the NRG mix from Amy Bento's ASC II. In the meantime, I had gotten Cathe's wedding video - bought it off ebay since they no longer sell it here anymore. I have been intrigued with this for awhile and had put off buying for quite some time. I'm talking years and years when it acutally was selling elsewhere. I don't know why now - I'm ready to buy any other time. I think it had something to do with not being readily available any longer that made me go on a mission to find it. I was incredibly excited. I did it last night. I had actually intended to do both workouts - but then decided a little later that - no - I'm not doing both. I actually felt like Laura - a little out of shape. This is not intricate step - but it is a pretty good workout. I suppose I was expecting less and wasn't putting my all into it and felt kind of sluggish. It actually made me angry - I don't feel like this usually - and I can't be out of shape. I finished - then found the ab portion in the muscle conditioning workout and did that too. One thing though - Cathe was super enthusiastic in this and kept Whooping - I don't recall her doing that in any other workout before or since.

Laura - My first impression of Step Blast - hardest Cathe step workout. My second impression was something like - I wonder why I thought this was so hard - until I got to the blasts - then I was like - oh - okay this is why. My goodness - after an hour - no wonder you were out of energy. I am really very inspired by you taking the time, going back - rewinding to learn the choreography - it is a lot more than other people would do.

Shadowpup - You are amazing - 40 PUSHUPS!!! I'm clapping over here too. Really - you should be incredibly proud - and you have really given me hope. If you could do only a few in December - then I could really do it too. I am anxiously awaiting my breakthough - and I have renewed confidence. Thanks for that.

Tonight - it is questionable about working out - right after work DH and I are going to a wine dinner. I have been looking forward to this for awhile. One other side note - I came into the kitchen last night to get water in the middle of my workout. On the counter I found three small little potted flowers and a card from DH. Just because it was April 28th it said. He's a pretty good guy if I do say so myself.

 

[janiejoey]

Getting prepared to do the last disc in Meso 2 and then looking forward to a week of rest. Then will start Meso 3. Can't wait!

Thank you so much for all your support about Adrian.

Michelle, I will share our little Adrian's news with ya all. Someone might be able to give me some tips down the road. Your college is beautiful, have a great time at the reunion. I'm an Aries, a Ram.

Last night - copped out and did B&G premix Floorwork & abs. I don't even know why - kept looking through my library of tapes and thought there were so few total body weight training DVDs in there and I settled on this. I thought that perhaps I would do an upper body workout later on in the week and now I'm wondering what that will be. I almost did something from the Firm - seems to be more options there. Practiced my push ups some more though - and still not there. DH came in while I was doing the ab portion sporting a tank top and old man pants he just bought. He was simply thrilled and happy with that purchase - didn't know if this was one of those times I was supposed to lie and say they were great. What if he wants to wear those out in public?

Shoegal, it helps me tremendously if I make a weeks plan/routine/rotation of what I'll be doing concerning cardio and weight training. I use to pull something out but it didn't workout for me in the end. I prograstinated and it sometimes took me a half hour to an hour to figure out which one I wanted. So many to chose from! That being said, you did a great workout. B&G is not easy. Great job.

Holly Molly!so I tried Step Blast and man oh man I was drenced in sweat even though I kept having to rewind. It took my 1 hour to get the combos 1 & 2 and I started comb 3 and I was just done, caput, nothing else to give so I stopped. My heart rate was super high too. I don't know if it was just an off day for me but that sure did make me feel out of shape!

I wanted more cardio, the cardio I usually do is steady state and I am not used to all the jumped and leaping and bounding that Step workouts have in them. I mean seriously the last time I really did any step was back in those thong days we mentioned earlier on! It is amazing when the body does something new how much harder it has to work. I have been doing the 4ds step combos every once and awhile but they don't make me sweat like I did today!!

Laura, So glad you were able to do Step Blast. It is a sweaty workout. This DVD makes everyone feel like they are out of shape. It's suppose to be a challenge and by golly you did it. Very well done! One day you will get through the whole thing. Yeah! Congratulations on losing 2 more pounds!

All, the scale and tape measure tell me I did okay despite four days of temptation. No change, and the rest probably did me some good. Whew! And I have a short pushup story. I was at my grandmother's, with my dad, who started SP with me a year or so ago and who also hit his goal weight. He's doing really well, and he's one of my few family members who can talk about nutrition and workouts without becoming bored before I do Anyway, I was starting on toe pushups as a morning warmup and reminder to myself that I should not eat too much for breakfast. Dad remarked that he used to do them in boot camp, but hadn't done them since - and that sometimes they'd make him do twenty and he'd about die. I thought ... hmmm, a chance to show off to dad (and yes, I admit it, that was exactly what I thought ), I started counting while he watched. Six ... seven ... eight ... nine ... At ten I heard "WOW" but kept going. Eleven ... twelve ... He called my grandmother over. She's ninety five, lives unassisted, and it is hard to get her to even let us wash her dishes for her. It is hard to impress grandma, but ... I'm up to thirty five ... thirty six ... thirty seven ... thirty eight ... It's getting hard now, and slow; I haven't done this many without a break before ... but I want to get to ... thirty nine ... forty! And stopped, goal met. They clapped

Shadowpup, 40! WOW! I'm so impressed. Good for you girl.

Tonight - it is questionable about working out - right after work DH and I are going to a wine dinner. I have been looking forward to this for awhile. One other side note - I came into the kitchen last night to get water in the middle of my workout. On the counter I found three small little potted flowers and a card from DH. Just because it was April 28th it said. He's a pretty good guy if I do say so myself.

Shoegal, The wedding video is one of my favorites. It dosen't have all that intricate step but it does kick butt if you use more risers. If you are feeling less like a workout using less risers will get you through it too. I don't think you will regret purchasing it. It's a very versatile workout. Awwww, your hubby is so romantic. That melted my heart.

Take care,

Janie

 

[MDolfiniReed]

Talked to my sister last night about which cardio to do today. She suggested the step intervals only Low Max premix (44 minutes long). Gave it a go--I was pretty winded by the 7th interval but managed to get through. I'm thinking I'm going to bounce back on weight work quicker than cardio. Also worked on my chin-ups this morning. I am soooo close to being able to do one.

Shadowpup: 40 pushups-woohoo! Had to tell one of my male colleagues at work (he can get up to 35).

Okay--I've got to cut this short, but I'll be back.
~michelle

 

[janiejoey]

Michelle, way to go with the almost chin-up. How cool is that?

My workout today, Disc 24 - back and Biceps

Lat puldowns with band 12 reps
T-Pull with band 12 reps
Y's with band 12 reps
Pull Ups Overhand modified 3 sets 12 reps ea.
Chinups Med. grip modified 3 sets 12 reps ea.
Chinups underhand modified 3 set 12 reps ea.
Pullovers 1 dumbell 20# 15# 12# 10 reps ea. and last TF
One Arm Horizontal Row 1 dumbell and 1.5# band 20# 15# 12# 10 reps ea.
Deadlifts 40# barbell 12 reps, then 10 reps then TF
Barbell Curl barbell, 40#10 reps, 35#10 reps, 30# TF
Incline dumbell curls on ball 15# 10 reps, 12# 10 reps, 10# 10 reps
Seated cncntratn curls on ball used1.5band 15#10 rps,12#10 rps,10#10 rps

I've improved again. Yeah! Now I have a rest week and cardio to do. Then Meso 3 to start. Will probably do Meso 3 twice.

Janie

 

[MDolfiniReed]

Back again. Had to go to a meeting.

Laura: Isn't Step Blast the workout with the song Buttercup. Love that workout. If I'm thinking of the right workout, it's kind of like Rhythm Step because you have the challenge at the end. It's definitely good for sweating out a couple pounds of water. Small world--your MIL went to Hollins. Do you know what year she graduated. Why did you switch from Randolph Macon College? Where did you go afterwards? And did you know that Randolph Macon Womens College in Lynchburg went coed a couple of years ago. They just couldn't attrack enough good woman students anymore. Hated to see it, but it happened.

Janie: I want to be able to do as many chinups as you. Those are fantastic numbers. You are lifting some amazing weights amount on those bicep exercises. Cathe likes to put biceps last on her routines and my arms are always feeling fried by the time I get to biceps on the GS dvd.

Shoegal: B&G is a great dvd. I never consider B&G a cop out--quite the opposite.

~michelle

 

[janiejoey]

Janie: I want to be able to do as many chinups as you. Those are fantastic numbers. You are lifting some amazing weights amount on those bicep exercises. Cathe likes to put biceps last on her routines and my arms are always feeling fried by the time I get to biceps on the GS dvd.~michelle

Michelle, The chin ups I do are modified. I couldn't possibly for the life of me do a real one! But maybe one day I will. Hopefully this year.

Take care,

Janie

 

[ladubose]

Good Evening,
I couldn't sleep last night for some reason, it seems to be happening on and off for me. So today the girls only had a half day at school so I just decided to keep them home. We have had a great day together. We took a 45 minute leisurely walk with the dog, which end up burning 340 calories.

I also just did combos 1,2, & 3 on Step Blast again. I am getting 1 & 2 so they weren't nearly as hard, but combo 3 still is confusing there is so much turning around and flipping around I don't know which end is up but I just kept moving!! Did not get to the blast because I needed to get dinner ready for the kids, but I still lost a couple pounds of water and burnt 500 cals.

Michelle. I don't know the date my ML graduated but most likely late 60's Kathy Allen is her name. She loved it. I left Randolph Macon because I had a couple of very bad experiences there. One of which I witnessed a brutal beating of a fraternity boy from another fraternity boy and had to be a witness and everything. That got me caught up in all this weird stuff with the sister sorority from both fraternities trying to get me to say what they wanted in the trail. The other was my English teacher started failing all my papers and I have always done well in English, he wanted me to start seeing him in his office for 'tutoring'....well do I have to say more? When I went to the college about it they said other complaints had been made but they didn't do anything about it because the Professor basically donated his time because he was independently wealthy. I know it sounds to crazy to be true but sometimes life is stranger than fiction! After all that I had no desire to go back.

Janie: great workout once again! I bet you are looking forward to that week break. Maybe you can get a few more walks on the beach during that week.

Shadowpup: So did you like the DVD? There is lots of forward bending which is great for those tight hamstrings and low backs. And 40 push-ups that is an inspiration. How long have you been working on them now?

Shoegal: it is always fun to find something that is no longer on the market. It makes it more special somehow. I think when the choreography is new the workout seems harder because our bodies are not proficient in the movement yet so we spend more energy than usual. Step Blast Combos 1 & 2 were so much easier today I was like "huh, how could this have been so hard yesterday? " But when I got to combo 3 which I didn't spend much time on I started sweating buckets!

 

[Shadowpup]

Hi all, checking in before going to sleep ... another long day. My fingers are tired from all that typing. Today's workouts - STS week 2 meso 2. Very challenging to do 75% 1RM! Also, did Power Yoga 20 minutes, and two hikes totally about 45 minutes.

Janie, congratulations on a rest week well earned! We will all be curious about Meso 3 when you start it. Sounds like Meso 2 was a real success. What kinds of cardio will you do?

Laura, thanks very much for recommending power yoga. I'm thinking that this style is a better match than anything I've tried before! All of those transitions between poses, with the calm image and also the steady voiceover explaining when to breath, how to stretch, and paying attention to improving each little piece during the movement - it really works for me. So far I have not attempted more than 20 minutes in a row ... my GWF tells me I'm at about 4 mets, doing power yoga, and it looks like that's because the pose transitions get more challenging and faster as the dvd progresses. After getting more used to this I'll try the whole hour. It's too soon to tell whether I'm more flexible. But enjoying a workout like this is real progress. Thank you, thank you! Step Blast sounds really tough. Maybe ... maybe ... maybe I need it ... Anyway, thanks for letting us know how the new dvds are going, and congrats on losing more pounds. Woo hoo!

Michelle, sounds like your workouts are coming together again. You will be reporting that first pullup very soon! Maybe tomorrow? Maybe Friday? Sometimes I think that being sick for a bit gives the muscles a chance to rest, and they actually grow. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if there's some truth there. Cardio always seems to take longer to get back.

Shoegal, I hunted up my toe pushup and pullup milestones for you, down at the bottom of this post. Once starting STS, I didn't do anything extra during the week. As you can see, things start speeding up very quickly! I'm guessing you will be doing tons of toe pushups very soon, and Michelle will be doing many pullups, too. And what a neat treat from DH! Very special

Ironlady, hope you're doing well. I thought of you today when I did my bench press. Not anywhere near 90 pounds, alas. Join us again when you can.

Milestones: Pullups - do 20 in a row.
-12/31/08: one. Barely.
-01/01/09: two reps. Well, three, with momentum
-01/17/09: Nine! Had to fight to get that last one in
-02/01/09: TEN. Two sets of ten, an hour apart.
-03/21/09: TWELVE!!!. Used momentum to start. Over half way there!
-04/27/09: 14, then 12, then 10. No real momentum needed.

GOAL 2: Toe Pushups - 100 in drop sets, 50 in a row.
Milestones:
-01/01/09: 70 drop set reps using 6 inch stair, first drop set 16 so eight sets altogether. These were not on toes, except for half of the first drop set where I did them on toes at an incline, then dropped to knees.
-01/15/09: 50 in three sets decline on the ball, then 16 toe pushups.
-03/19/09: 30 toe in a row, after doing two sets of ten on toes, then a break, and drop set totalling 50 on toes. Over 100 on toes total within a one hour period.
-04/24/09: 40 toe in a row!

 

[MDolfiniReed]

This morning was GS Back, Shoulders, and Biceps. I'm still feeling my chest and triceps from GS on Tuesday, so it seemed a bit more challenging today, but I got through the workout.

Janie: Hey, no way do you get to say you will never be able to do a chin-up--I think it was Shadowpup who encouraged me to adjust my thinking from "I could never do one" to "when I do one"--much more positive--so we can work on these together.

Laura: that's too bad about your experience at RMC. That was one nice thing about Hollins--no sororities. It is just too small and the institution recognized that social stigma was hard enough without having sororities. I hope times have changed enough that the college would now support a woman student who was having such issues with a professor. I think the Clarence Thomas hearings back in the early 90s really opened alot of people's eyes to how intimidating that type of behavior is. Of course, he still got confirmed for the Supreme Court. Oh well.

Shadowpup: you really have excelled at the push-ups. I think Cathe's concept of drop set push-ups really helps to build your ability to do more reps on your toes. But then Cathe just seems to love push-ups. I told my male colleague and good friend at work that I could almost do one chin-up and he was like "hmmm, you know the kids got me one of those iron gyms for Christmas, I might have to start using it." I just laughed. He is going to be so peeved when I can do more toe push-ups in a row than him!

Have a great day everybody.
~Michelle

 

[Shoegal]

Check in Thursday 4/30/09

How did it get to be Thursday - or the last day of April for that matter?

Went to wine dinner - well - it was alright. But came home and just went on to bed so as expected no workout. Not sure that it was worth it to go to that and miss a workout.

Anyway - thought I'd check in here to see what everyone else did.

Michelle - Nope - no Buttercup song in Step Blast. The only reason I know this is that I did that segment from Cardio & Weights a lot recently because it was all through the Terminator Video. Know that song well. Way to progress on those pull ups!!! You'll do it in no time.

Laura - keep plugging away - it always happens but now I'm like - geeze I want to do Step Blast again. I LOVE deciphering new choreography so again envious that your working through it. Also wanted to congratulate you as well on the 2 pounds lost - sorry I'm a little late but yeah - Woo Hoo!! I wish I was you. Surreal happenings from RMC - glad you are on the other side of it. Now I am having this "need" to have PowerMax - know nothing about it but it was there on ebay just calling out for me. Seriously - talk me down from the ledge.

Shadowpup - wow - yes your milestones happened very quick - love that. So I'm working on it. It is great motivation. You certainly put in quite a workout!!!

Janie - earned a good week of rest and I thought your stats were impressive. How exciting it will be to start the 3rd mesocycle!!!! When you take a week off - do you actually not do anything??? Or you just don't do weights?

Off I go - probably will do the weights portion from the Wedding and I thought I'd do more 1 rep max testing. Love to get that done.

 

[MDolfiniReed]

Shoegal: Powermax is great. I suggest that you get the Cardio Hits dvd because it includes powermax, step fit, and step works. All 3 are really great step workouts.

Also, just ordered my slanted risers using my 20 percent discount.
~michelle

 

[Shoegal]

Michelle - I said to talk me down from the ledge - not encourage me!!!!!!

 

[Shoegal]

Look at me I'm a Catheite!!!

 

[Shadowpup]

EEEEEEKKKKKKKKK

Michelle, Shoegal, I'm not listening! I promised myself, no more dvds until May!

(fingers in ears, hands over eyes, running away, NOT CLICKING ON MY SHOPPING CART)

And, congrats, Shoegal the Catheite! Janie has turned many of us lurkers into verbose, and strangely penniless, posters

Bye, all, I think I better not look at the forum again until it is safely past midnight and the expiration of my coupon. The urge to order is coming up on me again, a Mr. Hyde-like feeling ... rationality slipping away ...

 

[ironlady]

Oh my there are so many posts!!!! I have read them all and have thought of you all.....Hopefully I can do some personals tomorrow.... for now some news....

Well, I went to the Dr about my heel.... turns out I have a heel spur, it's quite painful and I don't know yet when I will be able to start STS. Have an appt with the Podiatrist next week
really frustrating!!!

So glad to read about all of your accomplishments and w/o's... will live vicariously through you all until I find out how I can modify my own to work around this injury for now!!!

more tomorrow!