Undulating Warriors March 8 - March 14

Peaceful Rainbow

Peaceful Rainbow

Cathlete
Well my morning got off to a rocky start. :( I played musical cats during the night and ended up on the couch and didn't wake up till DH was done with his shower, so I was tired and got a late start and it was a loooong workout. I really wasn't sure how it was going to go, but I managed to do the whole thing and at the right weights. Though I struggled some with the chest work. Then my left arm was rather unappreciative of the fact that I had adjusted my 1RM for cross body kickbacks. ;) We are home all day and I had grand plans for how much I'd get done, but I ran into an additional snag with the computer and had to run the disk utility. Cause you know it's more important that I get all my check-ins done and check all my usual sites before I shower and start cleaning. :D

I've been toying with the barefoot thing, too. After all it doesn't make sense that humans could have gone for so much of their history doing everything barefoot and survived and now all of a sudden we need all these special shoes. I actually did MMA Kick Box yesterday barefoot and found it worked far better because on the turning moves I could easily turn on the carpet. I may just do it for the MMA type workouts for a couple weeks before I try something else. I think the vibrams are cool, but right now out of my price range.

Because of our budget I've just been shopping at second hand stores for years, so on-line doesn't work for me. Truthfully, too, you can get such good stuff used, sometimes even with tags, that I have a really hard time paying anywhere near full price for anything these days. I did get a really cute girls top for $2 on clearance the other day. Cheaper than woman's tops at the used places.

The postcards have discounts for: Free shipping on anything over $30 (can't combine with other discount); Any DVD 10% off; $40 off purchase of $199 or more; Buy 4 or more DVD's 20% off; Free step with any order over $399; 15% off the new Cardio Club Step; 15% off the Push-Pull Tower; 20% off downloads. Those all end March 31. They all have the codes listed, so if you want something and don't have the codes yet, just let me know.

Ok, I really have to get showered and do something productive! We're supposed to be doing "school" at 10:30 and that's only 20 minutes away now.
 
Hey Everyone

Looks like I'm not the only one with a rough start to the morning. I got up and things were going great. When I realized that there were going to be 1 min breaks between lifts I decided to do cardio bursts so that I wouldn't have to do cardio again later and kill two birds with one stone... Well I must have been moving too quick and lifted incorrectly because I started to notice my lower back tightening up. By the time I got to the double arm kickbacks I could not even bend over to pick up the weights. I have been stretching and trying to loosen things up all morning. I feel like a twit! Hopefully I have gone through the worst and it will just get better from here!!!

Cathy - I will try the MMA stuff barefoot too and see how it goes. Everything I have read says go very slow. I know what you mean about once you have paid less for clothes then it is really hard to splurge on more expensive stuff. Costco has ruined me for workout wear! Have fun at school!

Tara - Funny that I had already decided to do double duty on the workout tomorrow before reading your last post! The time for working out can be too long sometimes. I think your plan sounds great. You have to do what works for you and keeps you going! Running is very liberating! I sometimes still can't believe that i can do it and other times I don't know how I lived without it. I run with no expectations for speed just to get better for myself and that keeps the pressure low. I can send you the plan that I followed when I started if you like.


MJ - Hope you got some tennis in the weekend!


Janis - I know what you mean about the hobbit look! I am in a very small closed minded town and hobbit feet would start the rumour mill buzzing for sure. But I might try some SS after a CC run on the treadmill going barefoot. So have you done P90X ??? did you like it? Is Tony annoying?


Talk to you guys tomorrow! Hopefully my back will be feeling better enough to do something!
Heather
 
Good Morning Fitness Friends,

(it's still morning on the U.S. west coast :))

Well - make that three for three. I, too, had a rough start to the morning. Nothing gigantic, I just went to bed late so didn't have the oompha I wanted or needed for a Monday workout. I just finished Chest, Shoulders and Biceps. I think that's it for the day. Although I just drank a cup of coffee, which is rare for me, so either I'll have a headache soon or I'll have the house clean lickety-split AND I'll do cardio...it could go either way at this point. :D

I was able to increase weights for the triceps, for the skull crushers, maybe after last weeks double hit on the triceps I had a strength gain. ?

Heather - Tony is a wee bit annoying, I know some people react to him. I kind of like him; I know people who are just like him, but I am sure after hearing the same babble over and over he probably becomes tiresome. He is definitely more self-possessed than Cathe, who is, in my opinion, the ultimate professional. Let me know how the barefoot treadmill experiment goes. Barefoot makes sense if you aren't running on hard surfaces, which, is a fairly recent man-made invention.

Cathy - I wear a very lightweight shoe for the MMA kickbox, boxing, fusion dvds. I use the Nike free 5.0 - it seems to provide just enough support and protection. Thanks for letting us know about the discounts. I'll have to make a shopping list!:p

Tara - Your four/five day split sounds like a good plan. Please keep me/us posted how it works out for you. I enjoyed reading the Holy Grail, it was a nice refresher and helped me gain some perspective and is motivating me to get back on track. Tom is the voice of sanity.

MJ - I would love to hear from you. I hope you have sunshine, warmth, time to play tennis and are back to your normal strength and energy.

Tomorrow I am going to run. No surprises there, huh!? :D
 
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Hi Everyone,

Well, I'll break the trend and say that my morning with pretty well. I hit snooze one too many times and was a few minutes late in getting to work, but after that, the morning went nicely. I did have to save my workout for this evening despite intentions to do it earlier. :)

I did Chest only & then Hiit pyramid. The weights were heavy to me. I lowered the dumbbells for the chest flys, incline bench & incline flys. My right shoulder/bicep seems sensitive; it has been more achy the last 3 weeks when I've done chest. Hoping it well feel better next week. I did enjoy only having 25-30 minutes of STS, time went very quickly!

It's way past sleepytime, so I'll wrap this up. Heather, I would like to have your running plan. I'm eager to give running a whirl. The temps got colder this week--highs in the low 30s, but I hope they will get warmer soon, so I can get out there!

Cathy & Janis, hope Tuesday AM goes better for you! :)

MJ, Hope your week is starting out good, hopefully no rough Monday for you. :)

Tara
 
Quick check-in as I have to leave early to watch a friend's kids for a few hours. I did Step Moves which is always fun and then I decided since I wanted a short core workout, to do the core sections from Circuit Blast. Short it was, but damn why does the woman feel the need to use all those core/push up moves! I swear I'm just waiting for her to figure out a way to put push ups in her step routines. :rolleyes: Anyway, my pecs were NOT appreciative after the chest work yesterday, so I opted to not do all the push ups and just do the rest of the moves. I did do the push ups where you roll the ball back and forth cause they were kind of fun - though I wasn't going deep at all. Back later!
 
Good Morning Everyone

Well I am still in pain but not as bad... I am going to take it easy today and maybe go for a walk later to keep things loose.

What a tool I am! My goal is to be able to legs (without deadlifts on Thursday!!!) It feels better the more I move. So mad at myself!

Janis - So did you get to the cardio yesterday after your coffee or did you take it easy? (Actually, nothing is easy after that Chest, Shoulders and Tri's workout!)

Tara - Glad to hear that the shortened STS is working for you. I'll write out the running schedule later today for you.

Cathy - I was thinking of doing Step Moves just to try and learn the moves and not go to crazy tomorrow ... but we'll see what my back says. I have not done it all yet as when I am learning the routine I don't get as good a workout so I tend not to do it. Hope you have fun being monster Mom!

MJ - Hope you doing well

Cheers Heather
 
Hi ladies

For some reason the bottom of my left foot, the heel area, is cramping and bothering me today. I started to run, but stopped after twenty minutes. Plus my HRM was telling me that I was having a heart attack, which I wasn't. I have been massaging my foot, which seems to help.

I am taking a rest day. Hot bath, stretching, pouting.

Heather - You are not a tool! Sometimes our enthusiasm just gets in the way. :) Walking and light stretching sounds like a good plan for your back, delaying dead lifts is smart too, when will you do back and biceps? I ended up doing Athletic Step and folding laundry. How far did you get in the Holy Grail? At the end, Tom includes a workout plan which looks and sounds an awful lot like STS and our Undulating rotation specifically.

Tara - Way to go on Chest and Hiit Pyramid! In addition to the other benefits of running (no equipment, can do it anywhere, feel-good endorphins, mindeless-ness, and a great calorie burner) it really seems to build endurance and stamina. I hope you love it as much as we do!

Cathy - I laughed out loud when you said, "but damn why does the woman feel the need to use all those core/push up moves". I was giggling - "Cathy said damn." But I also have to agree - wow - some of those moves are incredible strength builders that you just don't get from endless variations on crunches.

MJ- :D

Tomorrow is legs for me, and hopefully whatever is going on with my foot will have resolved.
 
Hey Everyone,

Another right before bedtime workout for me! I did shoulders and Tri's & then did the first 2 combos of MMA boxing. Those double-wave loads were something today! I did do them all at the correct weight, but OUCH!!! Doing boxing after helped loosen the arms & shoulders quite a bit though.

Heather, here's hoping that your back will get to feeling better soon! Taking it easy today is probably will help it get back to normal. Thanks again for offering to share your running plan. I'm looking forward seeing it!

Janis, sending positive thoughts to you too that your foot will feel better. Hot bath & stretching sounds like perfect therapy for that! And we all need to pout a little sometimes ;)

Cathy, I think we all feel like groaning or cussing during Cathe's videos every once in awhile. I usually have to bite my tough when she throws in an unexpected bonus!

I'm planning legs tomorrow and will see you all then!

Tara
 
Hey Warriors!

At work finishing a project tonight, but wanted to pop in and say hello and that I am alive and pretty much back to normal after last week. Made myself take a few extra days without working out so I could make sure I had enough rest and recovered my strength fully. So tomorrow will be my first day working out again. Will check back tomorrow and catch up on the posts I missed. Alright back to work...grrr...cant wait until this medical insurance stuff is done....

:)
 
Well it's unfortunately going to be another short check-in for me. I got side-tracked dealing with some volunteer work and now I really have to get on to doing stuff around the house.

I did Disk 21 this morning and might I say that while I did it, I wasn't real fond of it! Those double-wave loads are seemingly way tougher during the undulating rotation than the regular one. Or at least, that's how I'm feeling about it!

MJ - I'm so glad that you popped in to tell us how you are doing! Glad that you are feeling recovered and back to working out. Also, hope things settle down for you at work soon!

Tara - kudos to you for working out before bed. I can do morning and afternoon workouts, but there's no way I could manage that late!

Janis - I hope your heel if feeling better! And Cathe's just lucky I didn't say damn woman. :p I have to say though that reading what you wrote made me laugh because I hadn't remembered I said that as I usually don't go beyond darn and hell on-line. :D

Heather - I hope your back is feeling better. Been there is it is soooo not fun. :(
 
Good Morning Warriors

So this morning I did some yoga that felt really good but my back is still not near ready for more weights. Looks like it will be another walking day. Tomorrow is not looking to promising for weights either but we shall see.

Mj - glad to hear your in the land of the living. Good luck with your insurance hassles!

Janis - I haven't gotten into the Holy Grail yet as sitting a reading does not seem to be a good thing for my back! Did you do legs today? How did it go? Tri-sets...ouch!

Cathy - Now I worried about legs and Biceps and Back! I know that compared to what you and Janis just went through I really should not complain about my back. It is so frustrating though! I have been doing so much core work too.

Tara - Late evening workouts are my nemsis. I can't seem to get myself to do them but when I do I am happy. Go figure!

Talk to you all soon
Heather
 
Heather

I am just getting started this morning; I looked at the workout cards for legs, and also back&biceps. I noticed that there are no deadlifts for the leg tri-sets, only a narrow squat set. For the B&B there is only one small deadlift sequence, which you could easily modify. One option would be to do the leg workout with no weights.

Gotta go rack 'em up!

Will check back later.

---

After Monday's l o o o n n n g g g workout, this disc went very quickly. I went up in all weights and have finally mastered those troubling sit-n-stands. My butt hurts now, which I suppose is a good thing.

I measured my thighs this morning - I am up - AN INCREASE - of almost an inch. Makes me want to cry. I better tighten up my diet and stop sitting around so much.

MJ - Great to hear from you. I am glad you are feeling better and are making progress with your Insurance battle.

Cathy - I have never 'heard' you swear, so it really made me laugh! I, however, sound like a sailor and have been told that I am a bad influence on my children. Yep - one of my ds's first words was 'shit'. :eek: Nice, huh!? I have become much more mindful of my speech in the last decade.

Tara - With your busy life I am happy you have even two minutes to check in with us and I am very very impressed that you consistently find time for your workouts. Keep rocking it!

Alright - now I need to get off my butt so I don't add another inch to my thighs. Gosh darn it!
 
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Hi Warriors,

Legs is done for the week! I had to lower wt for a few exercises, but otherwise felt good.
I don't really like before bed workouts, but I'd rather get them in during the evening than not at all. Lunchtime workouts are my favorite, but it doesn't work too well with my schedule these days! I wish I was more of a morning person and popped out of bed easily, but I love to sleep in! I'm still have a goal to workout in the mornings as I have heard for years that working out in the AM provides a metabolism boost for the rest of the day. When I read part of BFFM on Saturday, T. Veneto re-interated the benefit of AM workouts. So, I keep on setting the alarm early, but just need to stop pressing snooze a million times & get up! :)

I'm off to bed in hopes of being able to get up early tomorrow.

MJ, good to see you back!

Janis, Heather & Cathy, Hello & will chat more tomorrow!

Tara
 
Good morning Warriors!

I did the timesaver cardio from BM2 today. My hamstrings were rather tight and it has to be from that one set of deadlifts yesterday. I haven't done anything else that it could be. Hopefully, it'll work itself out today because I don't want to go into my leg workout tomorrow with them like that!

So, last night we had some uninvited guests in the yard. The boys were playing roller hockey in the garage with the door up. DH was eating and I was at the computer and all of a sudden they burst through the door and (skates on) started scrambling across the floor on their bellies, eyes wide. We're like WTH! and I finally told Nicholas to stop moving (he was still crawling and had reached the dining room) and tell us what was going on. They announced there were cows in our yard! Note that it was totally dark outside. So, I went and looked and sure enough I could see a few black steers standing about 1/2 way up our yard, but when I walked out they took off - sounding like a bit more than a few. So, I came in and called 911. We live on a busy road and steer hitting car would be much worse than deer hitting car. I wasn't the first to call though and they had officers on their way. I'm sure the officers love getting calls about wandering cattle. :D I went back out and there was a guy with his truck lights flashing calling to them - sounded like he was calling their names! Pretty soon he disappeared. Hopefully, they got them all rounded up. Catching cattle in the dark wouldn't be the easiest thing to do. My grandparents had farms and I've been around livestock, so while to me they were just steers in the wrong place, to the boys (especially Derek) they were fierce beasts. ;)

Tara have you tried putting your alarm clock where you have to get out of bed to turn it off, so you can just hit the button and rollover and go back to sleep? I wasn't always a morning person, but made the switch way back in the early 80's after I moved out on my own. The way I did it though was pretty much to go to bed at the same time every night and get up at the same time every day 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

Janis I used to do a lot more shall we say low level cussing, but once I had the boys I trained myself to say shoot and darn. :D With only a once in a while slip. Personally, I haven't measured myself or weighed since the beginning of the year. I can tell by my clothes I'm holding steady at least, but I still don't want to know numbers. And it's all about the diet for me, I just need to get my brain wrapped around the idea of actually doing what I know I need to do and right now it's just not in the mood to cooperate.

Heather I hope your back is doing better today. You can complain and be frustrated all you want. No matter the degree of the injury, it's still exceedingly frustrating when it even temporarily stops you from exercising.

MJ - hope you can pop in again soon.
 
Hi Ladies,

I had a great early morning work-out today! I did Back & then followed it with CCC, but did the drills only premix. It was great (challenging, but good). I did have to stop after Drill 5 as I was running out of time.

Cathy, Wow, what a surprise to have cows in your yard! I hope they did get them all rounded up. Regarding getting up in the AMs, I have tried many things, such as setting 2 alarms, having 1 upstairs & downstairs, splashing cold water in my faces, drinking coffee, you name it, I probably have done it! Even with all those things, I am still sleepy. When I was 10, I set my clock radio to alarm with the volume on full blast, and everyone else in the house was abruptly awakened except me! I slept straight through it! I just am not a early bird. It was interesting to read in BFFM, that folks who are endomorphs, have a slower metabolism and usually struggle with getting up early. I definitely am an endomorph, so reading that at least help me understand why it is a struggle. But I'm also doing my best to heed T. Venuto's encouragement to just get up! With all the trial and error, I realize that the key is for me to get at least 6-7 hours of sleep, so that means I have to be in bed by 9-9:30 PM at the latest (as I have to start working out at 0400-0430 if I'm going to be on time to work @ 0700). I believe in the phrase, "You haven't failed until you stop trying", so I'm planning on continuing to make efforts to change into an early morning person! :)

Heather, Janis & MJ, hope your Thursday is going well!

See you all tomorrow,
Tara
 
Hi Ladies

I ran on the treadmill this morning to CC volume 8. I have major DOGS from yesterday's leg workout.

Cathy - your cow story was hysterical! If the cattle had started lowing I bet your boys would have skated through that door at full speed!

Heather - I think I may be developing a little PF in my left foot. Please remind me, again, what to do about it. It seemed to feel a lot better mid-way through the run, when I was sprinting, than it did first thing this morning. Could this be from Step? I haven't had PF before. :confused: How is your back?

Tara - Your deep sleep sounds like my two oldest sons. I bought my middle son a Sonic Boom alarm clock that vibrates the bed, and he still needs a second alarm! I, for one, need to be awake for at least an hour before I even consider exercising. One option you could explore is doing 1/2 hour in the morning and 1/2 hour at lunch and 1/2 hour when you get home, maybe cardio - walk - weights, or cardio - abs - weights.

MJ - Have you resumed lifting? What disc are you on? The switching between Meso cycles is enlightening, to say the least.

Tomorrow I am doing back and biceps and probably one of the MMA's.

Have a great afternoon and evening. (it's still morning here! :))
 
Hey Everyone

I was feeling a more sore this morning but at lunch I decided to go for a run as the weather is sooooo nice!!! It was just a SS in the sunshine for 35 minutes. When I got back my back felt great!!! My plan is to get really warmed up and then do legs tonight and back and biceps tomorrow so I can stay on schedule. Wish me luck!.

Okay Janis - I read your post and my first thought was that I seriously doubt that your legs are getting fatter!!!! I bet it's muscle! I tried on a warmer weather running shirt today that was too tight when I was my "lightest" a couple years ago. I weigh more now but the shirt it looser. I do have to say that I have not seen my pants get looser in the thigh. You have been doing squat rack legs and another leg workout two times a week+plyo +other leg intensive workouts!!! Do not stress over this! Okay I am done my rant. Maybe your should just do one leg workout a week or do two but not the squat rack legs.
Thanks for checking the leg workouts and back and biceps to get me motivated!

Cathy - I really wish she would put deadlifts in one or the other workout!!! not both back and legs...I tend to get my hamstrings fired up too with them both there. I think that my hamstrings are not as warmed up with Back work. We need to come up with an alternative!

Tara - I'm glad you got the running file! I hope you managed to get up early and fit in your workout. I have always been a morning person. It drives my DH nuts because he is not. I just find that mentally there has already been something accomplished for the day and that the workout is already done so I can't find a way to weasle out of it.

MJ Hope you had a good day.
Heather
 
Hey again

Janis - So I must have posted the same time as you Janis as I did not see your note.
The first time that I got PF was after I started step. I was doing it in the basement on a cement floor in running shoes. Now I have super cushy shoes and have moved the operation upstairs to the play room on puzzle mats. SO the key is to do this stretch before you get up in the morning at the edge of your bed, before you have walked at all. Cross your leg over and take ahold of your toes and pull them back towards your shin as hard as you can. Then run your thumb up and down the arch of your foot. This should be with some pressure and it will feel like your popping rice krispies. I also do alot of calf stretching! Not just straight leg off a step but with the knee bent as well. I really hope that it is not. You have to nip it in the bud. Good luck.

Cathy - I forgot to mention the cow story!!! That is hilarious. I grew up on a farm and have helped meandering cows home many times. We had pigs though... a little more rambunctious!! Your kids reaction was priceless!

So I have to report that I did do legs. I am not sure it was a great idea but I did cut it short for the last tri-set. Hopefully I can at least do biceps tomorrow and upper back. Talk to you all tomorrow.
Heather
 
Disk 20 - Legs - done. I think I burned a lot of extra calories changing my wrist weights on this one. Especially given how FAST I had to change them. You'd think she could have thrown in an extra 10 seconds between the trisets. We'll see what tomorrow brings in the way of DOMS. The only thing bothering me at the time was my lower back, so when I had time for a bit of extra stretching that's mainly what I focused on.

Heather I would think pigs were be much harder to get back than cows. I picture them much more likely to dart off on their own than stay together. I hope your back is feeling ok after the leg workout.

Janis apparently the cattle were making noise - though the boys considered it more like honking? :confused: And, since they never totally shut the door into the garage, my vision from hearing the commotion is that they basically pushed and fell in the house. And DH said that it looked like Derek was beating on Nicholas - probably to make him move faster! We did get a look yesterday at the yard though. Quite a few rather deep hoof prints and a couple of cow pies! We aren't the perfect lawn type luckily, but even so DH was not pleased with all the holes we now have.

Tara you sound like my brother! Growing up nothing would wake him. One time in the middle of the night the smoke alarm went off (for no reason.) It was in the hall right outside his room - door open, and he didn't wake up at all! The rest of us were awake instantly. My Mother always had a really hard time getting him to wake up.

I'm going to have breakfast and then soak in the tub in hopes of minimizing those DOMS!
 
Good Morning Warriors

I am feeling better but not up to snuff yet. I did Back and Biceps this morning and skipped the Barbell rows and the Deadlifts. I tried to do the rows but it was hurting so I stopped. Those biceps!!! after the other back work my biceps were not happy and then the double wave load looked more like a double wave reduction!!! I tried to do Athletic Step afterwards but my back was not enjoying it. The jumping was not good. I need to find something else to do for cardio today, perhaps another walk...

Janis - I forgot to mention that I always stop and do calf stretches on the wall after the warm-up for all the step ro helter utines as I never get them fully stretched when Cathy does it, before I move ahead with the rest of the workout. Have a cardio coach run for me!

Cathy - You are right about pigs... they really go helter skelter when they get loose!. When you hurt your back last time how long did it take to get better? Is there anything special that you did?

Tara - My Dh sleeps like the dead as well. When he was at school he set his alarm full blast to wake him for an exam. The only thing that woke him up was his roommates shaking the walls they were pounding so hard on the door (it was locked of course). I have to get up really early 3 or 4 when I work in the field and it is even hard for me at that hour! You are a trooper!

MJ - Hope all is well.

Talk to you tomorrow!

Heather
 
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