Push It

Hi everyone!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas :). We spent Christmas Eve at my mom's and Christmas Day at the in-laws in Hamilton. Bella got SO MANY GIFTS :eek:. My house looked like a train wreck for 4 days lol :p. Very exhausting and busy, to say the least. As much as I appreciate the holiday's, I'm counting down the days until normalcy returns and Bella goes back to school.

Did any of you get affected by the huge ice storm? We got hit pretty bad, but luckily we did not go without power. Some family and friends were without power for 4 days! I felt SO bad for them :(. It really makes you appreciate some of the things in life we take for granted.

Bella and I have been sick on/off. I didn't get a fever, only sore throat, cough and now cold. Bella has already went through 2 fever's, along w/ a cough that got treated with antibiotics (the cough lasted 6 weeks!) and now it's back again . My sleeping has been VERY crappy these past few weeks :(. I feel as though this has affected my training tremendously, as my lifts #'s have not really been increasing :(. On the upside...

I GOT A SQUAT RACK! My rack comes this week :eek:. Using the TT as a "rack" has a lot of limitations, and I knew that as soon as my #'s were going over 90lbs. The bar is positioned far too low to get up/under in a safe manner, not to mention unloading the bar once your done is very awkward. I was already feeling a strain in my back, and I KNEW I just could not take the risk any more. Another thing I've disovered these past few weeks, is that I'm a much stronger deadlifter than a squatter :confused:. Ha ha go figure! I feel as though because I'm pretty much deadlifting from scratch, my #'s are easlily and successfully increasing, whereas because I have been doing squats wrong for 2+ years and had to "re-train" myself, it has been much harder for me . I'm determined NOT to give up though! Hopefully the rack will give me a bit more confidence and focus because I really want to squat over 100lbs :eek:. I love the shape and muscle it's been giving my legs!

So ya, that's it, that's all. I've been doing Leslie DVD's again when the weather has been far too cold to go out. I was still walking to/from school, but now that Bella's home, the inclination to go outside is a little less.

Toni
I saw a thread that P90X3 was coming out. I hope you enjoy it!
I'm so jealous of your spinning! That's one form of cardio that I KNOW I would love, mainly because I love bike riding as well.

Hearty
Glad you had a nice Xmas with all of your family. I love the pics you posted on FB :).

Stacie
How was Tyler's Xmas? Did he get a lot of gifts from Santa ;).

Jennifer
How is your back? Are you still doing the cupping sessions? I recently bought a trigger points therapy stick thingy. It has little pointy nubs that roll -- very cool! I have been using it on my quads, neck, shoulder's, traps, shins. Do you have one?
How was Xmas with your dad? Your dinner sounded lovely :p.
Glad you got to enjoy your time off from work :).

Nancy
Glad you had a wonderful time with your family :).
As far as fitness goals/lifestyle, I truly believe you have to do what YOU love and what makes YOU happy. There is no right/wrong. The most important thing is that you are consistent and that you enjoy it. Your DH is right though, 2 months is not really enough time to see "results". Elliott talks about this all the time, and I would have to agree. Even with Nia's program, I have been doing it for 5 months and JUST NOW I'm starting to see a noticeable increase in strength and change in body composition (which comes at a very slow pace :mad::(). For someone who lacks patience and likes instant gratification, it can be very discouraging sometimes, but I'm never gonna let that get me down. Anyway, you do what you feel is best for YOU. And yes, you have been under a lot of stress lately from your loss, so don't be so hard on yourself.

Have a great day everyone! Hope to post more regularly when things get settled.
 
We made it back from Georgia last night. Long ride but I enjoyed my family. I told myself that i wasn't going to weigh this morning. ....but I did anyway. I have gained 5 pounds so it has to go. I have eaten too many bad carbs lately and not enough veggies. It's also TTOM today.

I had a hard time choosing a workout this morning so I decided to do Cardio Fusion for a mix. I completed through first drill of Drill Max and then decided to do 150 walking lunges and planks. My core is definitely not as strong as it was a couple of months ago. I was trembling at a 1 minute plank and that should not happened.......can we say loss of gains......Yikes.

Tasha----glad Bella was showered with so much love on Christmas.

I don't return to work til next week so that is so nice.
 
Hello there!
Well, our heat wave is over. 'Tis the Winter season so I suppose I can't complain, especially since we've been lucky enough to only have snow and sleet so far this year.

Since I've been off work for 6 days I've been able to enjoy having no workout time limits. I'm working today but will enjoy Tuesday/Wednesday off again with friends.

I actually managed Party Rockin Step #1 but I did it on a *recovery* day so I didn't care that I had to rewind, and rewind, and rewind, etc many times. I used NO risers which was a good thing or I would definitely have tripped and fell over the step a few times. I know this because I did actually trip over the step:rolleyes:

So, anyway, PRS#1 wasn't too bad and I still ended up pretty sweatty.

I've incorporated Nia's pushbacks; they are not the same exercise as Bret's and Cathe's pushbacks but I like Nia's much better; I feel more bang for the buck so to speak... a great chest pump from lowering down into a low pushup position and then then pushing up into a pike shoulder press. I've been doing them on an incline and am looking forward to getting stronger.

I'm still staying light/high reps or body weight with Upper Body and it is working out pretty well for the most part. At least I am gaining some strength back. Also, I still am doing cupping/acupuncture for relief in my neck/shoulders/upper back and haven't lost circulation in my arm for weeks.

Still going strong with lower body and cardio and feeling great about that:D Today I did 30/30 after various muscle work.
I committed to doing ALL of Bodymax2 on NYD:eek:

Tash,
So good to hear from you! However, I'm sorry to hear about you and Bella getting sick on/off; I hope it's all over with!

I'm very excited for you that you can move forward safely and effectively with your squats! Congratulations on how far you've come already, and that you're enjoying your new curves and strength;)

I'm feeling a lot better, thanks for asking. Seems one side of my neck (especially) tenses up and pulls on my shoulder/chest/back. I've been doing well lying or pressing back on a trigger point ball, but it's really hard to get one of the deep neck muscles because of the carotid artery:rolleyes: I have to be careful pressing on that one but it feels good when I squeeze it for a few seconds or use a foam roller on it.

I've seen the Back Knobber and other types of trigger point therapy tools but I've never seen a knob on a stick that actually rolls; it sounds really good! When you get a chance please let me know what it's called.

Toni,
After days of not working out sounds like CLB hit the nail right on the head for you!

I've read that P90X 3 has half-hour workouts instead of an hour. Be sure to let us know what you think when you've had a chance to check them out!

Enjoy Meso 1, you endurance junkie you:D I only have M2 and really only did the C/S/T sections of it.

Heartymax,
Welcome back home! Glad you had such a good time seeing your families. I'm sure some of that 5#s is water retention from higher-sodium foods, and you'll gain your strength back quickly:cool:

Have a super day everyone, and a very happy, safe, and healthy new year!
 
Back to work for me today...booo!!! I'm really glad to have a job and it's a good job, but I REEEEEAAAAAAAALY wish I had another day off...LOL!!

Yesterday was FlexTrain. OMG..wiped me out. When I got the tricep section I had to do my tricep extensions laying on the floor cause my legs were wobbly :mad: I also couldn't do the plank extensions. I was just too tired. I did one arm band pull downs instead. But I still love that workout!! It totally works the entire body!! Today was PRS #1 minus the 'Final Product'...the part where she does all the combos together. OMG AGAIN!! I was wiped out. The footwork isn't bad so I was pretty much about to do it all first time through, but it MOVES FAST and there is a lot of plyo in that sucker!! My legs quads are fried between FlexTrain and PRS :eek: My quads are still not really conditioned for back to back workouts like that and I'm pretty sure it's my nutrition and not my strength. I seem to be taking longer to recover lately and I'm pretty sure it's because my nutrition isn't that great. I've been eating less cause I'm working out less(just not as hungry), but the quality of my diet is not that great. So I'll be adding more veggies and proteins in the coming weeks along with a multi-vitamin to see if that helps.

Oh...I did order P90X3 and Slow & Heavy :eek: I had no intentions of getting SH, but I was intrigued by a review that Clare wrote and did an impulse purchase. I've decided not to do an STS rotation just yet. Jasmines cheerleading season is really about to pick up and it messes with a very structured rotation like STS. It will die down in March and that's when I think I will do Meso 1. Until then I think I want to do a more core focused rotation. It's going to be a hodge podge of lots of stuff I'm thinking. I still have only done one RF DVD and I want to use that and I'll also use some of P90X3 and HC. I need to wait until my P90X3 DVD gets here before I can decide.

Tasha
Sorry you and Bella have been sick :mad: But CONGRATS on the squat rack!! I'm sure it will be put to good use :D

Jennifer
I'm glad your neck and shoulders continue to inch along and get better. I've decided that my extra rest day needs to be a stretch/Yoga day. I have several stretch/Yoga DVDs collecting dust, so I'm going to make an effort to do those once a week.

HeartyMax
Glad you had safe travels home!! Enjoy the rest of your time off :)
 
Today I did Xtrain Legs Standing, Floor, & Rear Delts....it was nice to be "home" with Cathe again ;)! I followed it up with foam rolling and a hot Epsom salt bath :p! Tomorrow will be Xtrain Burn Sets Bis & Tris and Core#1 with a chance of a Tabata drill tacked on. I have to go back through my old workout cards and see where I left off weight wise. We had a very nice visit over the past week with family, but it sure was hard to eat healthy! Nobody seems to enjoy veggies like my DH and I! So, it is great to be back on my home turf eating veggies and fruits again! I'm still enjoying a cookie here and there, though :)! Tomorrow night we've opted for bison burgers for our New Year's Eve meal....I think we'll start it out with a kale soup...haven't decided on the whole shebang yet, but I'll still be using my china and crystal! I was surprised that my DH asked for the burgers and not a steak or something, but I understand...bison burgers ARE delish!
We're hoping for a mild day on NYD so that we can hike, but DH is still feeling pretty wiped out from traveling so we may opt for a long walk instead. As the years go by it becomes harder for us to recover from the long drive, lack of our usual exercise, and poor diet. I'm determined that next year will contain more veggies and sweat!

Tasha, it is simply not fair that you and Bella have been sick :(! I hope that you're able to get back to hitting personal bests very soon...I'm sure the squat rack will give you some inspiration ;)!

Toni, I felt your pain with your descriptions of Flextrain and PRS! I haven't done any of the new step w/os but I ADORE Flextrain! I usually am fried after those plank triceps, too, and have a REAL TOUGH TIME trying to get those dips in :rolleyes:! Cathe has a way of sneaking in the "bite" doesn't she?

Jennifer, I loved Nia's version of the push-back too! Thanks for reminding me of it! I'm still not up to par with my push-ups so maybe I should plug those push-backs in for a while. At our family Christmas party my 22 year old niece was excited because she could do 2 toe push-ups...she asked how many I could do and I said I really didn't know...then proceeded to pump off 18 quality reps before I decided to quit showing off :eek:;)! So, I guess I'm not doing as bad as I thought?

HeartyMax, it IS good to be home again, isn't it? Like you, I don't go back to work until the 6th, so I plan on really taking advantage of the time to get re-acclimated to doing a pure Cathe rotation. I'm sure you'll be back to your previous level of fitness before you know it. I think we all get off track during this time of year....but we have great tools available to us to get it back again!

Stacie, I hope you're doing okay! What are you New Year's Eve plans?

Okay fit ladies, I'm going to kick back and watch a DVD with my DH and drink tons of seltzer water because it's fun on my tongue and calorie free :D....
 
Nancy--I agree, it feels so good to be back home and most of all...back to routine. I suddenly feel less bloated just after one day of having more veggies and fruit and no junk.

I have decided to do the Xtrain 30 day undulating rotation. I don't have ride so I will sub the elliptical or some other form of cardio.

This morning was Horizontal Conditioning followed by Burnsets chest, back and shoulders. I am going to try to do HC twice a week during this rotation....at least the core segments. I did all of it today with plenty of rest breaks.
 
OOOOOOWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!
I have CSDOTT DOMS :p:rolleyes:!!!!!
Yesterday's Xtrain Leg workout has done me in!!!! I am shocked at how sore I am :eek:...even though I've been hitting my lower body hard with Bret's routine, Cathe managed to kick it up a notch and I AM FEELING IT!!!!!!
We went for a 45 minute walk this morning to try and loosen me up, but I was walking like Frankenstein's monster so we had to cut it short ;).
Today I'll be doing just Burn Sets Bis & Tris (even my core is a bit sore????).
Had a gigantic salad with black eyed peas and spinach in it for lunch; looking forward to that bison burger for dinner! Our big treat will be Virgil's Root Beer :D!
Hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year's Eve!!!!:cool:
 
Happy New Year everyone!!!

DH and I went out for an early dinner to celebrate our anniversary. It was 19 years yesterday. My boys celebrated the new year at a neighbors house.

Today was Cardio leg blast. By the time I got to the air jacks I didn't have any air so I couldn't jack. I needed a rest. I was wiped out early. After a quick break, I was able to finish. Love this workout but it is surprisingly tough.

No specific plans for today. I'm not even sure what's for dinner since I have not planned the traditionals.
 
Happy New Year everyone!!!

DH and I went out for an early dinner to celebrate our anniversary. It was 19 years yesterday. My boys celebrated the new year at a neighbors house.

Today was Cardio leg blast. By the time I got to the air jacks I didn't have any air so I couldn't jack. I needed a rest. I was wiped out early. After a quick break, I was able to finish. Love this workout but it is surprisingly tough.

No specific plans for today. I'm not even sure what's for dinner since I have not planned the traditionals.
 
Hi all

I did not work out for a month, and I started again this week. I did the Pyramid portion of HIIT, and I did my legs. It isn't easy. I also could not find any of my weight lifting gloves. Who knows where these things go? I also ordered the 2014 Cathe calendar. I hope you are all doing well.
 
Happy New Year ladies! Yesterday I finished a big part of the project at work that's been killing me. I'm trying to build a new rotation to start next week. I wanted to start to day but I've caught a really nasty cold that I'm having trouble shaking. Anyway, I hope you all had a great day!

HeartyMax
Happy Anniversary! 19 years is wonderful! I hope you and DH have at least another 19 more.

Nancy
XTrain legs uses lighter weights it's always a shocker that it causes such DOMS! Hope you are feeling better today!

Jennifer
Thanks for the PM! I'm sorry for not answering it yet. It's always so sweet that you think of me!

Natasha
Sorry to hear you and Bella are sick. I hope you both recover soon. Whatever is going around lately is NOT fun. :( Congrats on the squat rack though!

Toni
I hear you about vacation....I cancelled almost all of mine because of this deadline on the 31st. This is the second year in row that they put a deadline around the end of the year. It really makes me angry that they keep doing that and messing with our holidays. Anyway, I hope your day back wasn't too painful. ;)

Caitlin
Welcome back! I'm sure you'll find your gloves when you are looking for something else -- at least that's how it works with me!
 
Yesterday I "enjoyed" some SERIOUS DOMS in my bis & tris from New Years Eve's Burn Sets Bis & Tris. I feel like a total NEWBIE :rolleyes:! I know it's not good to have DOMS this intensely; I'm going to have to lower the weights a bit until I get re-acclimated to Cathe weight workouts. My DH broke his toe (stubbed it on something) so no hike yesterday, but we did do a 90 minute walk. I was STILL feeling the leg workout from 2 days ago! Today I'll be doing AOLIH. I'll finish out the week with BS C,B,&S, and Cardio Leg Blast.
I noticed that Cathe's January rotation is heavy with Gym Styles (no pun intended :p), so I'm going to do GS next week. I love what they do to me ;)! Hope that everyone gets over the bug going around and gets back to the workouts they love!!!!:D
 
Caitlin----Welcome back. I couldn't find one of my wrist weights this morning. I needed that extra 1.5 weights. I hope we both find our missing items.

Stacie--- Glad your big project is over. Hope you and Tyler had a great holiday.

My abs are darn sore from the HC workout on Tuesday. A matter of fact, I'm feeling DOMS in several places. I upper back is sore and found myself feeling it when trying to do the flat bench tricep extension. I had to change to the overhead extensions because of the DOMS in my upper back/shoulders while laying on the bench. I did HC and Burnsets chest, shoulders and back on Tuesday. I thought I was going to barely get through those planks at the end of core 1.

Feeling great!!!
 
Happy New Year all!! Yesterday was Spinning.com DVD. I did the endurance ride, which is much lower key and all about maintaining a lower heart rate throughout the duration of the ride. My quad was still a little tired, so I wanted to do something easy on the legs. This fit the bill. Today was HC V2. Not as good at that one as I used to be. Partly because I haven't done it in a while and partly because my quads are still a bit weak. I did modifications I needed to get through it and still get some good core work.

I've decided that my next three weeks will consist of 2 TB workouts from RF, 1 HC, and 2 endurance spin workouts(or 1 spin and 1 KB depending on how my legs feel). I'm still feeling like I need to build the strength up in my quads and this will let it build slowly I think. I am also going to take rest weeks every three weeks this year and see how my body likes that. They will be active rest weeks, but still something that allows my body to rest and recover. I'm feeling like changing to a 5 day a week workout schedule was really good for me so I want to see how doing a rest week helps. I've never done them before and there have definitely been times were I have felt burnt out. So going to try this to see how it helps(or not).

HeartyMax
HC PLUS Burnsets for CBS??? :eek: My might pass out trying to get through that...ha!! I really need to work on my shoulder strength. I feel like it's a weak link for me. I've heard Slow & Heavy is supposed to be good for building strength, so I'm interested in doing that in my next rotation.

Nancy
Sorry to hear about DH toe. Wishing him speedy recovery!! Glad you are enjoying Cathe again :)

Stacie
So nice you hear from you. Glad you survived that project. I'm so glad I don't have those type projects right now. They are exhausting. Esp when you have kids!!

Have to go find some food!! Still haven't eaten after my workout and my body is about to do some serious rebellion!! Bye :)
 
I ordered new gloves from Amazon

I can't find them at all. I am still tired from staying up so late on New Year's Eve, and I am all out of whack. I was going to to step today, Party Rocking Step 1, but I am not up to it.

I am going to do some easier Christie Taylor hi lo, and I am skipping Lower Body Blast. I will do the legs from Muscle Max. I hope all you wonderful people are doing well.
 
This morning I woke up to 4 inches of snow and it is supposed to be very windy today.

I subbed cardio on the elliptical for Ride today.
 
Hi all and Dana

I joined this group, and my doctor told me never to do pushups. I have a bad back, so I keep my upper body work to my back to make it stronger, and my bi's and tri's. The doctor also told me not to do shoulders. It is kind of odd that I post here, and I admit I don't know you all yet. Today, I did Party Rockin Step 1 but I was at the fifth combo when somebody called for a personal training session. After that, I did my back, bi's and tri's with High Reps. and Cathe really fries us with that workout. We had close to 8 inches of snow here, it is hell living here without a car.

I hope you are all happy and healthy.
 
Boy oh boy is it cold outside (for us, 20 degrees is cold! :p); I can't imagine what it feels like up north...my Mom in MI told me it had "warmed up to 0 degrees" up there this afternoon! She even went out and shoveled her driveway and sidewalk (at 84 years old!!!). All I can say is BRRRRRR!
Today I did Burn Sets Chest, Back, and Shoulders and had to lower the weights quite a bit from the last time I did it :eek:....baby steps! Tomorrow will be Cardio Leg Blast and I'm already planning out my Epsom salt bath afterward ;)!!!

Stay warm my friends!:cool:
 
Happy Friday!! Today was KickMax kicking/punching combos only plus segment 1 of StretchMax. I'm really not into working out more than 60 minutes lately and this combo gave me a really good stretch and a bit of cardio. I'm def feeling my HC from yesterday. Core and UB are a bit sore.

My P90X3 came today. I've previewed a bunch of them and they look exactly like what I wanted :cool: I'm super excited. They will fit in with well with RF and HC. And I love love love that they are 30 minutes each. I can tack some extra stretching onto each of my days when I need it.

Nancy
Have fun with CLB. That one keeps me huffing and puffing for sure.

Catlin
Welcome back :) We have quite a bit of snow also with more on the way Sunday. Not looking forward to it.

HeartyMax
I have the same DOMS as you from HC. Hoping tomorrow they subside.
 
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