Push It

[mini-natty]

Happy weekend

Yesterday was a lovely outing at Fairy Park. It's a beautiful park/trail in a city called Newmarket near my home. The residents were out and about in full force; walking, biking, running, roller-blading. It is a very active community, even the senior's run & bike! It's pretty awesome to see that . Lot's of dogs too. Bella falls head-over-heals with all the furry attractions . The geese however were being very aggressive while we tried to feed them bread . Fighting and hissing at each other, and chasing us for food. We were all freaked out and got the heck out of there!

Today's w/o was D13 (chest, shoulder's & tri's). My arms feel very Jello-y right now . Lovin' M2 so far .

Treated myself to a warm cinnamon bun w/icing yesterday . Heaven on a plate .

Do you guys watch Euro Cup? Big soccer fans over here. Viva Italia! I'm rooting for Italy first (my team of course), England & Ireland .

Toni
Listen to your body, take all the rest you deserve/need. I get that way during TTOTM and when I don't sleep enough .
Stacie
I'm the same as you, I usually get up during 2-3am, and have a hard time falling back asleep. When I found to be very helpful is: a) don't look at the time!!! EVER!! b) try to shut your mind off. If your mind starts racing or you start stressing out about being awake, you won't go back to sleep. I used to be up for HOURS and it was so frustrating (and exhausting!). Those tips given to me along with melatonin helped drastically. I refuse to go to bed late. 10pm tops! I need my sleep and will try/do anything to get a good nights rest.
Congrats on the Nike ipod! And your dog jogs!
It's so wonderful you have such a good sitter. Hang on to her! They are hard to come by. Your son is going to have a blast once he starts riding without trainers! You both will feel so proud


Have a great weekend ladies

 

[Jenniferlove]

Happy Saturday night!

Toni, great new do! Prepping for vacation is fun. Congrats on being the one people call to lift things

Heartymax, you made me laugh about borrowing my legs and I could borrow your arms! LOL!

Stacie, thanks for your comments about the jerks. Good thing I have good people in my life to help keep me in line Glad you are enjoying your new technology - the Nike iPod sounds really cool!

Natty, what a great community you live in. The geese on the other hand - wow! You must have had some good stuff! LOL!

The insurance company totaled my car so I did get a new one; since I had just paid off my car I was not happy about having to buy a new one. To make myself feel better I got one with a sunroof/moonroof! The moonroof package came with 10-speaker Boze surround sound.
There - I feel better I received a good payout for my car so that helped. I got another Mazda3 4-door sedan. This time I got Chrystal Pearl White instead of gray - maybe people will actually see me even when they are not paying attention.

Great workout for me today - Pyramid Upper body (just LOVE it), and then I did Athletic Step... it was nice to do a 90 minute workout; I did it to reach a goal for a team I joined at work certainly not because I really felt like doing two workouts today. (but I am glad to be back to feeling good again!)

If anyone has heard of Active For Live, a program sponsored by the American Cancer Association... My goal was a little over zealous... 60 minutes/6 days a week. I got into goal-reaching trouble on Thursday/Friday so I made up for it today.

Earlier in the week I did Slide and Glide and then the floor exercises from Gym Style Legs. I could feel my inner thighs for most of the week! That was a really great combo for the lower body.

Also this week was HiiT 30/30 followed by Chest and Back chapters from Maximum Intensity Strength. I really liked that combo, too.
Finally I made it to Afterburn on Thursday, and then Intensity on Friday.

Between Slide/Glide, GSL, and AB I am still feeling my buns!
Still really looking forward to the new workouts.

Take care my friends and hope to chat again soon. Stay safe and healthy - and watch out for those geese! Geesh!

 

[atompki1]

Hello all!!

Yesterday was supposed to be my rest day, but I rode my bike to help make up for the day before. Today was Low Max. Forgot how much I like that one. A nice workout, but very doable at the same time. Made it through the entire thing with no problem, but I'm expecting to feel that tomorrow .

My cruise is in six short days and my legs are totally not ready. Sooooo...there will be two a days for me all week. My second workout is really low intensity and low impact. Just something to burn some extra calories. I've cut my calories to 1800 for the next six days, but if I'm feeling really hungry I'll go up some. Totally hate that I've waited this long to get it together. I don't like to feel like I'm crash dieting. Hoping to loose about three pounds. Keeping fingers crossed. Either way imm be chillin on my cruise and eating off the buffet soon

Jennifer - glad to here your car situation is all settled and you are ok with it.

Natty - I am starting STS when I get back. What are you doing in terms of eating habits for the program. I want to get the most out of it, so I'm going to try to eat clean as possible throughout.

 

[mini-natty]

Good morning ladies

Yesterday was a fun outing at Canada's Wonderland (a big theme park here in Canada). It was hot, sunny, sweaty...and packed full of kids! I thought school was still on . Did you guys have PTA days yesterday? Lots of US license plates. The wait times were 1+ hours long for all the big coasters, so no Laviathan for me (Canada's biggest coaster). When I was younger, I didn't mind waiting in those horrendous lines, watching all the kids make-out and act like total fools (LOL, I think I was one of those kids ). Now I have no desire to go through all that waiting for a 3min ride. All that foreplay does not justify the end result . Anyway, Bella proves to be a dare-devil, going on all the kiddie rides without hesitation. I was so proud of her . We met up with my cousin who also has a son only 6 months older than Bella. He was born with Leukemia and is in remission now, doing very well. Those doctors at Sick Kids Hospital are miracle workers.

EXCITED for the new workouts! I see high impact/low impact in there, which makes me very . I've decided to shorten my cardio this week to 2 hiit workouts only. Change things up a bit .

Jennifer
Your car situation sounds like mine . We just finished paying for it and then the accident happened and the insurance company had to write it off. I'm sorry that happened to you. I heard Mazda's are great cars. We've only had Honda's and now Nissan. My mother likes GM and Ford but the cars always give her problems.
I'm glad to see you are feeling better. Your 90min workout was NO JOKE . Actually, your workouts for the entire week was intense . KUDDOS!
AB kills those glutes! If I could bring it upon myself to do it 2X/week, I think I'd have buns of steel .
Hope to hear from you again soon .
Toni
As far as STS and eating habits, they've remained almost the same. I've just added a bit more protein (greek yogurt, ricotta, protein shakes, homemade protein pancakes & bars, quinoa). I'm a clean eater, but in no ways the cleanest 100%, 24/7. I just can't make drastic changes to my eating habits. The most I do is cut out "junk food", and keep my snacks healthy. I'm more about moderation and portion control than anything else. I'm sorry if that was not very helpful. My eating habits are nothing special . Although I am starting to see noticeable muscle definition in my UB. That famous V line in my arm is showing through!
Low Max sounds awesome. I think downloading it would be very wise for me .

Very quiet here lately. I hope everyone is doing well

Have a great day

 

[TRSTACIE]

Good morning everyone! Last weekend my brother-in-law fixed the radiator which was awesome. I can use the air conditioning now and it's not overheating. The drive down to his house was stressful though. The car would start to overheat if I didn't run the heater full blast -- it was soooo hot in the car. Luckily, we went down in the night since I knew I might have to do that. I don't think I could have handled that much heat in the middle of the day when the outside temperature is in the 90s.

Last night was disc 1 of Meso #1. I almost didn't do it since it was pretty late when I started but I forced myself and I am glad I did. I screwed up on the weight values with two of the bicep exercises and really fried them. I am sure the DOMS will kick in soon. 136 pushups were in that workout. I did them all except for the straddle push ups which I will do with the leg workout. I wanted to do them all on my toes but I simply didn't have the time to pause the DVD long enough to knock them all out. I did log how many I did on my knees and I will redo all of those on my toes later on this week. Btw, I realize I hate straddle pushups. Big time. I find holding onto the step to be very uncomfortable and awkward. I am going to start doing those on the turbo tower.

Tonight I have to do the dog jog since the 5k is only 7 weeks away. I do love the Nike+Ipod device. I am going to program it from the distance I want to do and it will let me know when I have reached it. Way cool!

Natty
It sounds like you have been having a great summer! Walks to the park and amusement parks -- Bella is one lucky little girl.

Thanks for the tips on the sleeping. I have found that with me that I really need to get in a good workout in order to sleep really soundly. I hate just lying there toss and turning. I am glad that you have found ways to help your sleep problems as well. Next time I skip a workout and can't sleep, I will try some of your tips.

BTW, I liked Meso #2 more than #1 because I actually had a chance to listen to all of Cathe's helpful tips instead of just running around trying to get weights ready. #3 actually has shorter rests than #2 and moves along pretty quickly except for the squat rack discs.

Toni
You do such a great job on your workouts -- I know you will look absolutely fantastic on your vacation. New hairdo...nice legs...your husband better watch out!

Jennifer
It's always so wonderful to hear from you. Your workouts sound so challenging and you act like it's no big deal. Are you related to Cathe?

Have a wonderful day everyone!

 

[TRSTACIE]

I forgot to mention that we had my son's birthday party on Saturday as well. I have to show off the awesome cake my sister made. He is a big Angry Birds fan so she made him an Angry Birds cake. Everything on the cake was edible and it looked simply amazing! She really outdid herself on this one. Here is a picture of it!

 

[atompki1]

Hello all....been busy prepping for vacation I can't wait!!

Yesterday was Athletic Training in the morning and 35 minutes elliptical in the evening. Today was a Kickboxing DVD and tonight possibly more elliptical. I'll have to see how I feel. The two a days are working out nicely. My weight is 138, when I get to 136 I'm done!! Well done with two a days. I can just keep my normal workout and clean eating and I'll be fine. And while the two a days are effective and giving me what I want, next year I will choose not to go on a food bindge two weeks before vacation...LOL!! No more two a days!!

Stacie - cute cake...love it!! I'm big on birthdays!! I'm glad the cake turned out so well.

Natty - thanks for the reply on the eating habits. One thing that I am finding funny is that figuring out how to maintain weight at 40 is just as difficult as figuring out what works to loose the weight. I really would like to stablize and not feel like my eating is so controlled all the time, but I'm afraid that is not going to be possible now that I'm getting older. Oh well I'm pretty sure that I need to give up pop(majorly not happy about this). The sugar just seems to stick to the front of my thighs Plus I do notice the more pop I drink the more I want, so just cutting it out will help.

I'm so excited...STS starts with I get back from the cruise!!

 

[heartymax]

Hi Ladies! Sorry I haven't checked in much lately. After finishing up MESO 2 my body was tired so I took 3 rest days to see if I would feel better. This morning I did 40 minutes on the elliptical.

Toni---Like, Natty--I try to limit the junk food and cut down on bread when doing STS in order to maximize my results. My eating is decent. I don't deprive myself but enjoy in moderation. I had a salad for lunch 3 or 4 days a week. I varied the toppings to keep the salads enjoyable. Sometimes, I stir fry shrimp and/or chicken, onions, mushrooms and toss on a salad along with a little corn. Like you, I struggle with maintenance. I am 43 and will be 44 in August. I struggled with the maintenace more once I turned 40 years old too. In preparation for vacation, my weight seems to be hovering around 138 to 140. I remember when 140 was normal for me and then it got hard to maintain and then it became 142. Well the last few years my weight seems to range more betwen 142-144 when I am focused. I really had to cut down on the junk food in order to get to the 138-140 range. I think I have said this before, but I don't like weighing under 140 because I lose my butt. This is the reason I know I can only go so flat on my stomach because I will lose all my hips and butt along with it and it is not worth the price.

Stacie--love the cake!

Natty----excuse my ignorance--but what V line are you referring to??

Jennifer----congrats on your new car but bummer on having to make car payments again. I remember when that happened to my brother. As soon as they paid off the camry, there was an accident and they had to get a new car. At least you found some cool features that you like.

 

[mini-natty]

Good morning

Yesterday's w/o was D18 (back & bi's). That 5% increase really caught me off guard . I'm so happy Cathe is introducing the barbell in this Mesocycle for the majority of the exercises. I feel like a warrior using that thing . My absolute fav though is pull/chin-ups w/my tower . Perhaps one day I will be able to knock them out Linda Hamilton style . I was always in awe of her body in T2.

Stacie
Love your new Avatar . Your hair is so long, full and pretty with those nice waves. I can't stand my hair long anymore. No patience to make it look "decent". But I love it on others .
The cake is pretty awesome . I hope your little guy (and you!) had a wonderful birthday party. How old is he now?
Great job on those push-ups . Those straddle ones feel awkward for me as well.
Toni
Cutting out pop is a pretty big thing. You will notice immediately that your stomach will be flatter. My aunt always complained that she could never lose weight, and I told her NO MORE POP! She asked me for an opinion and I gave it to her. Anyway, she no longer drinks Coke and lost 50lbs. She is 51 years old and weighs less than when she was in her 30's and looks amazing. Simple things sometimes really do make a huge difference.
Heartymax
Wait, is the defining line in your upper arm not called a V? . Is it a C? Did I get the name wrong? LOL .
I'm sorry to hear that you've been feeling tired. Resting and listening to your body is a good thing.
My DH loves the elliptical! He is back at the gym now and does cardio+weights, and the elliptical is the only cardio machine he goes on. He says however, people sometimes only do 15min on it and leave. Do you burn that many calories in only 15min?

Have a great day everyone

 

[TRSTACIE]

Good afternoon ladies! Last night I didn't do the dog jog because I accidentally fell asleep (again! -- reoccurring problem!). However I did make it up this morning. The Nike+Ipod congratulationed me on doing my longest dog jog to date. I had to smile at that. I have some serious DOMS from disc #1 but I am loving it. Tonight is disc #2 plus some 1RM tests beforehand.

Toni
Going on vacation takes a lot of work doesn't it? I hope you don't need a vacation AFTER your vacation! Great job on the workouts and doubling up! I often plan to do that but it almost NEVER works out. Kudos to you for making it happen!

Natty
Aww...thanks for the compliment on the Avatar . The picture looks funny on the Cathe website though -- like my eyes are partially closed. I swear I wasn't stoned when I took it!

My son turns 7 this Saturday! I can't believe how old he is getting. Sometimes it makes me kinda sad how quickly time is passing.

I have seen people at the gym do the cardio for short bursts as well. Sometimes it's guys warming up before lifting. Other times I think it's the people who just want to be seen at the gym if you know what I mean. I used to burn around 400-450 calories per 30 minutes on the elliptical and I was working my hiney off. If they are pushing themselves like I used to, maybe they are getting to the 200 mark which isn't too shabby. Nothing compared to a good Cathe video though!

Gotta run to a meeting. Have a great day ladies!

 

[heartymax]

Natty---I was asking because I truly have never heard of it being referred to as V or anything else. so I wouldn't know if you got it wrong or right...LOL! Glad your DH is enjoying his gym time. I agree with what Stacie said about why some people may be on a cardio machine for 30 minutes. Some people may also hit several different machines for 15 minutes each to get in a workout.

 

[atompki1]

Evening all. My legs are absolutely FRIED...LOL! No two a days today for sure. I do manage the upper body portion of TBT. But I lowered the weights a tad because I just wasn't in the mood for the intensity. I also took my dog for two walks today. My dog is out of shape..LOL She hadn't been able to got the entire 1 mile loop without stopping to rest. Now she's doing it pretty well. In a few weeks I'll start taking her to the the metro park for a walk. She'll love that. Right now when I ask her if she wants to walk she immediately heads for the door and sits down for me to put the collar and leash on

Natty - I've been taking the advice I've been seeing you give here and there...walk, walk, walk everyday at lunchtime I've taken a walk and my extra workouts today was walking. Although I'm not sure I consider it a workout. It's more like a leisurely stroll but it gets the tension out of my legs and gets me off the couch!

HeartyMax - don't you wish we could do a made to order body? I would personally like to order a flat belly, with a little hips, thighs, and chest...please and thank you! Instead what I was born with is a flat behind if I have a flat belly. Or cellulite on the from of the thigh if I get my behind to just the right size...LOL! Oh well, we just have to work with what we have and live life happily

 

[mini-natty]

Good morning ladies

Yesterday w/o was walking and playing in the park w/Bella. I've been very exhausted with TTOTM and lack of sleep (which comes hand in hand). I feel better today and will tackle D17(legs). I hope that disc does not give me super 3-day DOMS like the last one . I need to get in at least one Cathe cardio by the end of the week.

Toni
I'm actually very fascinated by Eastern Civilization. I'm a huge fan of TCM, acupuncture and the Okinawa Diet. Essentially, if you look at their lifestyle and eating habits, it includes a very active lifestyle (walking everywhere) and nourishing their bodies with clean, whole, non-processed foods. It's not complicated. A lot of the Mediterranean people adapt similarly. My cousins went backpacking through Europe a few years ago. Guess what? Everyone walked/biked and they were fit and lean. My cousins (who are slender anyway) came back 10lbs lighter in 1 month. I truly believe that if the Western world adapted to these types of lifestyles, obesity would decline dramatically. Anyway, those are my thoughts and opinions. Could be wrong, could be right .
Stacie
Kids do grow up way too fast! Sometimes I want Bella to hurry up and get older, so I can enjoy simple things again like sleeping in, a warm meal, movie theaters, restaurants, not having to worry about temper tantrums, ect. . But then I see how much she's grown in such a short time and I forget how small and innocent and helpless she used to be. It's beautiful but sad at the same time .

Have a rockin' day ladies

 

[TRSTACIE]

Good morning everyone! Last night was disc #2 of STS. I did some 1RM tests before the workout and my barbell rows hit 112lbs! I was excited about that until I did the workout and it hit failure with 70lbs at 14 reps and again with 65lbs at 15 reps. It feels good to be doing STS again. I figure in about 6 hours I will be rethinking that when the DOMS kicks in!

This workout had straddle pushups and it was much nice doing those off of the turbo tower. I also did my dips from the turbo tower as well. I have always disliked dips but they weren't bad at all from the tower.

Yesterday on a different forum a man was advising a woman to not lift weights because she would bulk up and be unattractive. I had to chime in on that one. She was only doing P90x too -- nothing too extreme. His advice was to only do dancer moves because a dancer's body is what is attractive. Ugh...I was annoyed by that. Honestly, I think her post was bogus anyway. She claimed to be doing P90x and running in the mornings. She said she wasn't getting results after a month of this even though she was eating less than 500 calories per day. If that were really true, she would have likely been hospitalized by now or at least be passing out all the time. Obviously there was some exaggeration going on with either her eating habits or workout levels or possibly both.

Natty
My son is going to be 7 this Saturday and he still wakes me up early in the morning! Sleeping in for him is 7:00am! Every once in a while he will occup himself by watching TV or playing his DS but it's not the norm for him. I think he just likes knowing someone is around. Maybe when he hits his teenage years it will change! What a sad thought though....

Toni
A made to order body would be fanstastic! Luckily we have Cathe -- in some ways she allows us to customize our bodies as we see fit!

Have a great day everyone!

 

[mini-natty]

Hello ladies

I'm on the couch writing this and my butt hurts from yesterdays w/o (D17-legs). Nothing like the last DOMS though (thank goodness!!). I've come to the conclusion that I need a weighted vest. My 75% 1RM is a lot higher for squats and static lunges but I can't get there . For one thing, I find it very awkward to hold 25lbs dumbbell's. I'm a wuss ok, it hurts my forearms. If I go higher in #'s, I feel myself slouching and my form being off. Secondly, if I try to use my barbell (which is my preferred method) I can only hoist 40lbs of barbell safely over my head. So, I'm basically stuck at 50 lbs max. I did not feel my legs challenged enough for 10 reps unfortunately. I wanna go HARD on my lower body . It's a common myth that pear-shapers need to do light weight/high reps. The heavier I go, the leaner my thighs/butt become.

Today's w/o will be Athletic Step...although I'm -thisclose- to downloading LowMax . Sometimes I want something similar to Imax3 without the high impact. We shall see...

Stacie
I stay off forums. The only one I like is Cathe's...but sometimes even the drama here is just too much . Whatever, anyway it's great you gave your 2 cents. That guy sounded like a douchebag . You know what, some men do not like women with musculature. The majority of guys I've met like a girl w/curves and booty . Then there are guys that like a more slender frame, while other prefer gals with a hard rock body like Jessica Biel. One man's junk is another man's treasure . I think women are beautiful in all shapes/sizes (and men too of course ).

Heartymax, Toni, Jennifer
Hope you are all doing well

Have a wonderful weekend folks!

 

[TRSTACIE]

Good morning everyone! I skipped my workout last night. I had to balance my checkbook and I was sore from disc #2. I did another dog jog this morning. Unfortunately, I accidentally stopped my Nike+ipod so I have no idea what my pace or exact mileage was. I need a new armband...I have been trying to shove it into the one I have but the Nike+ connector makes the Ipod too long to fit properly and then I can't access the control properly. Hopefully, I can pickup a cheap one at Walmart or Target tonight.

Natty
I think that guy was more misinformed than anything. He wasn't a personal trainer or anything -- just a guy who had recently lost a lot of weight and was feeling confident. I just dislike the general mindset that women shouldn't do this and women shouldn't do that. I think we are quite capable of doing anything we set our minds too! I agree with you that beautiful people come in all shapes and sizes. For instance, I think that Queen Latifah is nearly as beautiful as Halle Berry (I like Halle Berry's features a little bit better though) and there is a big difference between the shape of their bodies.

Btw, I have trouble holding onto the higher weight values too. It's a failure in my hands -- I attributed it to the slight carpal tunnel I have from typing all day but after I read your comment maybe it's just the nature of lifting weights. Maybe eventually our bodies will adapt....in the mean time, I take it slow and focus on keeping my grip on those weights. It's funny how one body part can completely limit another huh?

Have a great weekend everyone!

 

[atompki1]

Hello. Very quick check in. 40 minutes of Rhythmic Step today. Busy day getting packed and ready to go. Tomorrow will be just as busy. We leave Sunday, so I'll won't be on next week. Have a good weekend all!!

 

[mini-natty]

Happy Sunday

Hope everyone is doing well. Just a quickie post...

Yesterday's w/o was D16 (chest, shoulder's & tri's). LOVED IT .
Today's w/o will be a hard, kick-butt cardio so perhaps HE Hi/Low Intervals or Intensity.

Toni
HAVE A GREAT VACATION!!! Have a drink (or 2 or 3) for me . You lucky duck . I'm so very jealous .

Stacie
I saw so many runners on the way to Wal-Mart yesterday and thought of you .
ITA about the mindset people have about women and fitness. I just started getting into heavy weights not too long ago, and my entire family laughed when they saw I purchased a barbell . Even my own DH rolled his eyes when I told him I wanted to buy one. The Turbo Tower got a lot of roll-eyes too. It's frustrating and sad at the same time. Unfortunately, I do not have a lot of support with my health/fitness endeavors. That's ok, I will continue on my way and leave everyone else in the dust...

Have a good one ladies!

 

[heartymax]

Natty-----if only people knew what we knew about the benefits of strength training. Yet, they love to give us compliments on our nice arms......we don't get them from just cardio for sure. and Yes---the weighted vest is a good investment.

I only worked out 3 days last week and my body sure feels great right now. I needed that rest. Just finished After Burn and I love that kick butt workout. We leave next Sunday for vacation so I started packing yesterday.

 

[mini-natty]

Good morning

Yesterday's workout was Hardcore Extreme hi/lo intervals 70min. I totally knocked it out of the park . Intense cardio at it's best

I made these Dr.Oz protein cookies if anyone is interested. They were pretty yummy :
Dr. Oz's Protein Cookies | The Dr. Oz Show

I ate one before I did the workout . Perhaps that's why I had enough stamina & endurance to do it right til' the end .

Heartymax
I'm glad to hear you are feeling better. Sometimes your body and mind just need a well deserved break. I cut down on my cardio from 3 days to 2 days and feel much better. STS is very demanding. My LB always feels very sore, and walking is the only thing that will let out the tension.
I always admired people who were organized and packed well ahead in advanced for their vacations. If I left on Sunday, I would pack on Saturday the day before . Mind you, I did not have a child then .

Have a great day folks!