Pentagenarians & Beyond, W/B 1/28

Can't exercise your way out of joints deteriorating. but changing the angle makes a difference. using the raised step or the base of the weight bench is like using those push up stands like diane sue mentioned. same work for arms and shoulders, but less stress on getting the wrist/hand getting down flat. I want to be able to ride forever, so I worry about stressing the wrist too much, and this lessens the pressure.
I always have issues with plain bicep curls. I always have been unable to keep dumbbells "level". something about how my forearms and hands connect. the outside of the dumbbells stick up way higher. always. impossible any other way. it's a reason why easy curl bars work for me better than a straight bar. same with triceps pushups. my elbows won't bend if they are right next to my torso. n. elbows have to be somewhat outward or else bones would need breaking. My shoulders are pretty wide. all of us are put together a little differently so have to work within what's possible.

Judy we decided to wait until after our next trip to MT to decide on whether we can get a kitty. I think we can but I don't want to get one and then go away after a week or two. we keep putting our next trip off because of uncertain weather, and other things. like the cold I thought I was forgetting and then didn't. I'm really happy I didn't, but it seems like this kind of thing is making us delay a clear plan.

I can't begin to think of 110 lbs for dead lifts! I never could get dead lifts "right" so stayed light on those. no more than 40 lbs. have gone way less lately because I finally seem to have gotten the glutes and hams involved.

I did burn sets bi's and tri's and abs from x train today. probably 45 min total. did not push weights since I haven't done this one is a long time but it felt pretty easy with mostly 12 lbs or 12 with weighted gloves.
 
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Good morning,

No workout...maybe today. I liked the looks of the Live workout yesterday...Low Impact Bootcamp. John's surgery to remove the basil cell is this morning, not sure if I will do anything before.

Judy, Love the pics of Chino! Such a cute kitten. Great workouts. I have not done STS squat rack for years. Do you have a squat rack? I used to use the one on my weight bench. I also used the bar holders on the Tower.

Diane Sue, thanks for the info on Piyo. It looked like a way to get in some good stretching, along with cardio. Wow, 25# plates are heavy! I can see why you would want new ones, rather than lug the ones your husband uses up to your workout room. I think the heaviest plates I have are 12.5 #. 110 # for deadlifts is amazing! I am careful with those, stay around 35 tops. It was doing deadlifts that caused my ruptured disk, so I don't go too heavy with them.

Valerie, glad you are feeling better. Yes, Meso 3 has the long waits between sets. I remember that I used to fast forward after a bit of waiting to the next exercise. I like using the Fit Tower for push ups, and even mountain climbers. I can understand why you would wait to go to MT during this time of year.

Carolyn, good job reaching your goal weight! :), and maintaining.

Lori, I hope Nilla feels better today.

Take care,
 
My workout today was WS3 Cardio Step Jam for 32 minutes and 240 calories burned. My average heart rate was 130 and maximum heart rate 149. After that I did WS3 Yoga Strength +Stretch for 31 minutes and an additional 55 calories. I substituted the WS3 because I didn’t want to do Shred Cardio a second time this week.

Diane Sue, I can’t imagine doing deadlifts with 110 pounds! That is some serious lifting!

Judy, yes I do have the Ultimate Yogi set. I haven’t used all of them but I like the practices that I have done. I have done Gentle Yoga a few times. I have also done Yoga for Flexibility, and Yoga Crosstrain. Travis is an excellent instructor. I also have his Yoga Foundations which has three yoga practices and is more instructional. I like the second and third practices on that dvd. Most of the practices on The Ultimate Yogi are 55-60 minutes which is one reason that I don’t use them more. However, I am learning to do part of a practice and stop when I need to do so.

Deb, the Cathe Live from yesterday looks good. I hope you have a chance to do it. I am very careful with deadlifts too. I don’t go heavier than 25# dumbbells.

Valerie, I’m glad that you felt like working out yesterday. Sometimes a lighter workout helps in feeling better.

Hello to Lori. Have a great afternoon everyone.
 
Deb, pay close attention. I imagine you will be doing dressing changes for John. Pretty impossible for anyone to do a proper job on their own back. my surgery needed washing and dressing change 2x a day.

I do mt climbers hands flat on the floor, and plank work flat. I'm surprised how much easier they are since doing regular core work. when I did core 1 from X train, I was surprised at how much easier it was. I credit the leg extension- v-sit move from High Reps with breaking thru the plateau I was stuck at. I kept working that regularly until I could do it all. it has made everything else easier. the flat hand bothers me in dips too, so I usually do those off a bench rather than on the floor. Modify modify.

we also have 25 lb plates. DH leaves them on the tower all the time so I don't use it much. it is a big deal to get those plates off since he has smaller plates on the outside. you have to go back and forth doing one side at a time so the bar doesn't flip upward. I wish he'd leave them off, but everytime I take them off, he puts them back.
 
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Today I did Fit Split Low Impact cardio doubling it with skipping the walk outs on the second time through, 50 minutes (I did the warm up twice)heart rate average 130, max 175, 320 calories(comes in at met 5.8) 3,599 steps. I then did Ice Low Impact Sweat #1 skipping the warm up, 22 minutes, heart rate average 126, max 152, 142 calories, (comes in at met 5.8 again) 1,423 steps. I finished off with YouTube Sarah Beth Monday Yoga, 14 minutes, 37 calories. Total time was 86 minutes, 499 calories. I checked out an older Christi Taylor cardio core workout from the library. I wanted to see if it would be as fun as an old vhs tape that I used to have of hers.
I will come back and post in awhile. I need to hit the post office before school gets out. There is a certain slow period and that is when I try to go in between lunch and almost time for school out groups.
Explanation on Low Impact, I used the full cardio first, then Lori's version second and could not skip to just the cardio without doing the warm up again, so that is why it was done twice :)
 
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Carolyn, that is great that you have the bonus of dropping a dress size :) Slow and Heavy was one of my earlier purchases with weights so I did it quite a lot. At first I was alternating every other week Maximum Intensity Strength and Maximum Intensity Cardio with Pure Strength. Almost anything else I had at that time was a lot of circuit weight and light cardio workouts. So, I have done it a lot over the years. I do not revisit it often anymore though. The older workouts did not have premixes. I used to know where the stop and start points were for different workouts though. I purchased the first ones on VHS and then bought the dvds that included the older ones with a new workout on each at the time. I never liked doing Gilliad. I used to do Kiana and her workouts when they were on. There was a time when I did some Cory Everson off of tv. That wasn't Fit Tv though. I am determined to do all of this rotation :) I really was anticipating dragging through the second day of Shred, but it wasn't bad. I am glad today was low impact before hitting legs tomorrow.

Lori, I am sorry Nilla is not feeling well. It is much more fulfilling to have that snuggle time with her than an extra long workout. I like the FT bonus abs. I do not enjoy the superman move on the one on the workout with the arms over the bar. I would much rather do this on the floor myself. I sometimes wonder at the rope climb with the band over the top though. I don't feel like there is any real resistance though. Even when I try to pull on it a bit and use a heavier band.

Judy, I stay around 50-70# most of the time on deadlifts now. It really does depend on the workout though. I would not want to do that one too fast when doing heavy. I always felt it was the quicker paced lighter ones that caused more back issues. Also I don't do well without plenty of recovery from them. I have thought that there has been a bit more work with deadlifts in Fit Split and that may have also been some of the culprit in my off and on low back issues. I think the slower more relaxed yoga feels so good compared to the quicker paced yoga. I guess there is a place for bot

Valerie, I have some issues like that with joints and the direction that my weights come up. I have noticed that with Biceps curls. Hammer curls are much easier. I sometimes worry about joints that seem to turn at odd directions. I have noticed that my arms do not stretch out fully straight. There is some curve in them when I am doing yoga poses and my arms come down during curls. Also when doing kickbacks my arm does not straighten out that far. It is impossible. My joint at the base of my wrist and thumb curves out quite a lot and makes the turn of my hands odd. I am not sure if it is from arthritis or they have always been that way and I never noticed before.

Deb, Valeries statement about your husbands dressings and care after the surgery reminded me that when my daughter removed a cancer on my back, it was right in the middle and I used a dowel stick with a rubber band and cotton to clean and put antibiotic cream on my back. It was not easy to care for and my husband was not here at the time. Piyo is good for some lighter cardio and stretching. I was disappointed in the first video that was functional stuff because it was not really a workout, but more of an instructional dvd. It has been a workout series that I have been able to take with me and use in a hotel room easily. I should pull some of those out again. I went back and looked at them and the extra dvds that used the gliding discs was called strength. Then I got a bonus abs when I purchased from my coach that is a 30 minute ab workout.
 
Good morning,

No workout yesterday, will start back tomorrow with some sort of rotation. Not sure yet, what to do.

Carolyn, I don't blame you for not wanting to do Shred Cardio twice in one week.

Valerie, yes, he is supposed to change the dressing once a day, after his shower. Nothing to put on it though, I was surprised to hear that. Yes, moving 25# plates off of a bar would be a challenge. I would just get another bar. I really like the Troy one I have with the clips that Cathe now uses. So easy to change plates. I remember something about you using an EZ curl bar for bicep curls?

Diane Sue, you are right about the post office. There are hours that you just don't want to be in there! I always forget that the older workouts don't have premixes. Those were such a great break through for DVD workouts. I think I will pass on the Piyo for now. It did look good in the infomercial though....don't they all? LOL. Kind of concerned that the surgeon did not tell John to put anything on his incision.

Agility class this morning. I missed both classes last week due to travel and a retirement dinner....I need my agility fun with my girl! :)

Hi to Judy & Lori,

Take care,
 
Diane Sue ....Kiana and Cory Everson !! a blast from the past! I used to watch them but don’t remember working out with their programs. I don't remember them being actually set up to exercise with them.
Yes hammer curl alignment is fine. It is when hand is level, facing forward that there is always an angle the prevents the dumbbells from being level. My hands line up with an easy curl bar fine with the angles, but a straight bar is wrong. Since manufacturers make easy curl bars and straight bars, clearly this must not be unusual issue. It helps if I can grab something like handles which makes it more like a hammer curl position.
this is not arthritis related at all. No clue why angles differ but it seems to give me excellent shoulder ROM and strong triceps as a side benefit. My triceps hardly ever get sore and I can usually do cathes weight whereas not so on biceps or presses. on overhead presses I am better with palms facing sides of my head rather than forward facing. preacher curls are awful for me and I do them with light weights carefully. my elbows point inward toward each other, lower arms splay outward. looks goofy!.

I did rock em sock em & core 1 from ICE yesterday. I pulled out Hard Strikes Xtrain. everyone is wearing pink boxing gloves. does that workout "work" without the gloves? I don't remember doing it. I didn't have a lot of time to debate it, so did RS instead.

Deb I was surprised at how big and deep my incision was considering how teensy the original spot was. the scrape biopsy removed the whole thing. mine was a squamous cell. john's was a basal cell ( think you said that )so maybe they don't take out the same amount of tissue. I had deep stitches and also surface ones, but it also was right over the outside of my thigh. not a lot of extra tissue. subject to more stresses than a back area. needed to be held together better. then it got infected anyway. I did everything right too, believe me! there was friction from pants and jeans over the area so it definitely needed a dressing to protect it, and I wore loose yoga pants most of the time. Hope John does well. did they want to schedule a total skin check? that is what is done around here.
 
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Good afternoon ladies,

Yesterday morning was Shred Cardio and FT abs. Today was xtrain Bis and Tris. Wow this one was tough for me. I went heavy and challenged myself but sometimes no way near what Cathe was doing! I finished up with a new BBS Trampoline workout and I feel worked. Hard to believe next week is my 4th week with this rotation. Seems to be flying by.

Nilla is better thank you all. Today she was acting like a younger version of herself. It was nice to see. :)

Deb...I think I m going to try a month of Slow and Heavy after this rotation. Mixing in cardio of choice and some metabolic workouts. I think this sounds good for me and mixes it up. Hope John is feeling well. I thought the recent Live looked great too.

Carolyn...great substitue for shred cardio. I may substitue if it comes up again.

Judy...only once? I really thought you were on at least your third round! This morning I added Cathe Live channel to my Roku. I have been meaning to do this and finally got around to it. You signing up to stream reminded me to do this. I think I will like it.

Diane Sue....Corey Everson!!! I remember liking some of her workouts. Wow that seems ages go. You amaze me how much you lift. I can go 50 to 60 depending on how I feel with deadlifts but no more. My friend loves plyo and received great results. Yes a great workout for traveling. Nice workout yesterday...oh well I guess you were really warmed up! Lol!

Valerie...I never wear the boxing gloves unless I am using the heavy bag. Otherwise I use 1lb sand weights. Last week when doing HardStrikes I had to stop using the weights (my arms were tired from the previous days workout). I did most of the workout without and felt I still got a great workout. I can see why you would wait on a kitty. Hoping it works out for you.

Hello to Janet and Melanie!
 
No workout for me today. I decided to make this a rest day. I had planned to do Metabolic Conditioning and Bonus Abs but I was not in the mood for it this morning. It would have been an early morning workout because I needed to go out this morning. I’m glad to be finished with the Fit Split rotation. I like the weight work in the series, but not to enthusiastic about the cardio. I will probably continue to use them by adding them in periodically but I don’t see myself doing a full rotation again. I looked at the February rotation and it looks somewhat interesting. I might try that next week.

Valerie, Hard Strikes works fine without the boxing gloves. I have done it both ways. You will still get a good workout without using the gloves. Rock ‘m Sock ‘m is a little less intense than Hard Strikes in my opinion but I like both.

Diane Sue, I have the same issue with joints and moving in certain positions that you mentioned. I agree with Valerie, that everyone is built differently and some moves just don’t work. My left arm seems to come down straighter than my right which makes bicep curls difficult with a barbell.

Deb, enjoy your agility class today.

Hello to Judy and Lori.
 
Caroline I'm motivated to add yoga into the mix. looked at the guy you mentioned but DH wants to do it too, and has never done yoga. I ordered a very basic DVd by someone named Chrissy carter. it was only $7 cause it's a few yrs old. looked at 10 min of it. the Travis you use is Travis Elliot? wow there are a lot of people with yoga DVD's. I do pretty well with a lot of yoga moves, except for the hip/knee things. Lotus is far beyond my abilities.

Lori thank you. I didn't think RS was that hard but it was simple enough choreography. I might have done HardStrikes before but I never bought any gloves or a bag. I didn't have a work sheet for it. will give it a go next time. Little Nilla is a resilient doggie!.
 
Today I did Fit Split Boxing Bootcamp only mix, 32 minutes, no stretch at the end, 212 calories,6.0 met, heart rate average 127, max 155, 2,965 steps, and wore my 1.5# gloves. I then did Fit Split legs and glutes only mix skipping the warm up, 28 minutes, 145 calories met 4.7, 838 steps, heart rate average 111, max 134. I finished off with the Core and stretch from the Christi Taylor dvd I got from the library, 23 minutes, 83 calories, heart rate average 102, max 154. This was don't using the step and a 5# soft med ball. Total time was 83 minutes, calories 440.
I finished the rotation today plus an extra week before I started. I am ready to do something else :D
I cooked up chicken and shredded it yesterday. I made my own version or the Whole 30Fast and Easy spaghetti squash with chicken, kalamata olives, and tomatoes for dinner, since I had spaghetti squash in the refrigerator already cooked I tossed the ingredients in a skillet instead of slow cooking it. I also put together the Buffalo Chicken Dip and had it for lunch on a baked sweet potato and it was yummy. I set some of the dip back in the oven when cooking the sweet potato since I had baked it last night and wanted it warm. I ate only a half serving on the potato. I purchased the Primal Kitchen mayonnaise and used my own avocado oil mayo to make the ranch dressing. I think my mayonnaise tastes better than Primal kitchen. I think it is because they put some rosemary in theirs. It is made with avocado oil. I like that the Primal kitchen one does not have any sweetener to it at all. Today I am putting together a white chicken chili that does not have beans in it. This is from Pinterest.
Weights
deadlift 30#dbs 12 reps
squats 30# dbs 12 reps
rear lunge off the step 12# dbs hard to count with all of the pulses and single lifts
forward diagonal lunge 15# dbs 16 reps
push dips off the step 12# dbs 13 reps and 3 sets of 7 pulses ??
deadlift 30# dbs 12 reps
cross back slide lunge 12# dbs 7,7,3,3,3,3, 15 pulses
slide side lunge 15# db
elevated lunges 15# dbs lots of pulses didn't count them
single leg deadlifts 20# db

Deb, my daughter always said that keeping the incision moist with an antibiotic ointment and I guess now she sometimes says petroleum jelly, that it slows healing a bit, but you come out with a smoother flatter scar and heal nicer. It is odd the doctor just said change the dressing. When I purchased Piyo, I was still having to give my knee more of a break as it really took a couple of years to really get back to impact stuff. It was good for that and once in awhile is not bad. It is just like many Beach Body workout series and all the workouts get kind of repetitive. Particularly the full body stuff. The lower one feels pretty much like a 20 minute yoga workout and I should add it to my lower body workouts. The Upper is things like push ups and plank core stuff. The others have more movement and I can generally get around 150 calories in 30 minutes. The movement becomes more of an up and down to the floor type of moves. You are right, most workouts look more fun than they really are. Another thing with Beach Body is that the extras that can be purchased with the series end up being the ones I tend to like and use the most. I liked the gliding disc dvd that had two workouts on it. I think the barbell that I got with Les Mills Pump is the same thing as the Troy barbell. It has the collars that open and click shut quickly and breaks down into two pieces that go together. It has a bit of padding on it too. I use it most of the time. It came with 35# of weight. It is not so long as my other one.

Valerie, we used to have a weight machine in our room years ago and I had a few dumbbells so I would watch those shows and do some of the moves. I think Kiana had more of a follow along program, but it has been a long time since I did that. I am the same way when I do preacher curls. I use a mirror to try to watch my form and I do have to be careful. My arms want to turn at an odd angle. I have strong triceps as well and would rather do triceps work over biceps :) I have an easy curl bar. One of the things I liked about the Body Beast program was that they used dumbbells and an ez curl bar throughout. No, straight bar. You don't need to wear the boxing gloves with any of those kickboxing workouts. Cathe just says it gives you an additional 12 to 16 ounces for your workout. I think mine are 12 oz and they block my heart rate monitor and sometimes turn it off, so I prefer weight gloves or just picking up some 1# dumbbells if I use anything at all.

Lori, Cathe picks up some pretty heavy weights for the biceps in X Train. I have a hard time when she picks up 25's. I used to be better at it, but do not do that heavy often and have to build up to it. I am glad to hear that Nilla is acting more like her younger self today :) That is always nice when a rotation seems to move by fast. That is great that your friend go great results with Piyo. I think that Hard Strikes is one of Cathe's most intense kickboxing workouts. Probably second to that last part of Kick Max which I think I have not done in years. Maybe I shoul revisit and see if it is any easier :) Maybe I should go back to some of those older long intense workouts for awhile. It might kick my metabolism up.

Carolyn, I am glad to be done with the rotation too. I might do some of the cardio once in awhile, but it will not be a regular thing. Agreed the weight work is good though. I think that our body mechanics make a huge difference in how we able to do certain moves. Adjustments have to be made.
 
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Valerie, yes Travis Eliot is the name of the person who does The Ultimate Yogi. His Yoga Foundations might be a good one to start with for your husband. It doesn’t seem to be available anywhere but on Travis’ website these days.

Diane Sue, I like going back to some of the older workouts. We get caught up in what is the next new thing and tend to forget some older workouts that are good and that we enjoyed.

Lori, I have started Hard Strikes with gloves on and have to remove them before the end. My arms start to feel like jelly!
 
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Hi Everyone,

Yesterday I did FS Low Impact Cardio/Metabolic Conditioning, Lori's version. Today I did Barlates Upper Body Drop Sets, Back & Biceps. We have a winter weather advisory for tonight and tomorrow. We're supposed to get 3-7 inches of snow. It's been snowing off and on all day today. We had planned on going to Ann Arbor but decided to stay home and do that another weekend.

Deb-I don't have a squat rack. I use the bar holders on the fit tower. I'd love a squat rack but we don't have enough room for one.

Carolyn-I agree about Travis Eliot-he is an excellent instructor. I am looking forward to trying more of his practices.

Lori-I've done a week or two of STS here and there but I've only done the 3 month program once, in 2015. I feel like I should try to do the full program again this year, even though I don't really care for meso 1.

Diane Sue-I agree about the quicker paced, lighter deadlifts causing more problems. I'm sure my low back issues are triggered more by lighter weight, high rep, fast moves than they are by slower moves and heavier weights. I've had to learn to go at my own pace, especially for lower body work.

Valerie- I think I'm enjoying doing yoga at home more than I would at a studio, at least for now. I never thought I would enjoy yoga this much, but it's really starting to make a difference in how I feel.

Hi to Janet & Melanie!

Judy
 
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I think I remember the problem kick boxing with cathe's weighted gloves. the weight on the back of the glove flies around, out of balance... and pull themselves off quickly. doesn't take long to realize they're a problem. I have some 1 lb hand weights with a strap that might work better.

I did cardio supersets, and abs from high reps.

I tried yoga at home long long ago( VHS) and didn't enjoy it. DH... I don't predict if hell like it. I thought he'd like a woman instructor better, and she started off clearly showing the wrong way to do something, then the right. my problem is I think I'm doing it "right" and I'm not. this was only $7 so we will see if he even looks at it. it is a good reminder for me. If this works, I'll look at others. I didn't want to spend a bunch on dvds if this doesn't work for him. the VHS ones I had just showed people doing impossible poses, no halfway.
 
Carolyn, I try to not forget the older workouts. I feel kind of guilty when they sit around and I don't use them :)

Judy, I don't think I would enjoy going somewhere for yoga. I like doing it at home. We have sure had a warm winter this year so far. A few freezing temps here and there and dropping below freezing a lot at night, but that is it. It was beautiful Friday. My daughter and I sat outside on the patio with the children at the library. Tomorrow it will drop a bit and I think there is one day that they say may have some freezing rain. We will see how that goes. I have had way less injuries doing slow paced weight work over the years. I am not real fond of swinging even light weights around doing cardio. When instructors started doing that, I started having more shoulder issues.

Valerie, Cathe's weighted gloves do tend to shift on the hands. I think they are a bit better than some though because you have the pieces that your fingers go through. Or maybe I just have an older style. The 2 # ones I got of Cathe's are more like a full glove and I could never understand how she unzipped those and took weights in and out so quickly during STS. Most weighted gloves tend to shift or the velcro starts getting loose over time and doesn't want to stay stuck. I have some 1# dumbbells and a pair of 2# that I use a lot. The two pounds has an adjustable handle like you are talking about. The one pound has a C shaped solid piece that you stick your hand through. I have switched to these instead of using the sand weights at times when I am on the rebounder.
 
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