Using It - 17th March

[Mitra]

I've been starting these threads because I'm in an earlier time zone than most of you, but I thought I should ask: do you want to keep a daily exercise report going? Or a weekly thread (and, of course, you could post to it every day if you wanted to)?

Apart from pondering such deep mysteries, I'll be doing some yoga postures today for my final session of this week.

What's everyone else up to?

[Ottawa]

I like the daily format since it requires a daily effort to report/monitor myself in fitness. There might need to be some more direct form of seperating the M's & S's since there are daily reporting in both areas.

Today is a half hour of stairs with weights. I found an unused stairway that circles an old service elevator at work in an older portion of the building. Using small handweights and taking the steps two at a time gives an amazing burn. This frieght elevator still works and I take it down and start over again.

[banshee]

Today is a rest day for me. Last night I did my lower body on the TG. I think I need to find/do more/different lower body exercises. Even at the highest resistance, the squats and calf raises just aren't challenging, even if I do them at super slow speeds. Stair climbing is good leg exercise, but unfortunately after about 3 flights I have trouble breathing and have to stop. Last night I was having trouble with my heart rate during the squats. I wasn't "feeling the burn" at all, but my heart rate started shooting through the roof, so again I had to stop.

I need to find exercises that are challenging for my legs but that don't aggravate my asthma or my tachycardia. <sigh>

[Shadow]

Rest day for me so just chores and cleaning :rolleyes:.... As for how often, I'll go with what everyone else likes :). I would be fine with a weekly check in but that's because I do my own detailed daily journal on my exercise days ;).

[Mitra]

Today is a rest day for me. Last night I did my lower body on the TG. I think I need to find/do more/different lower body exercises. Even at the highest resistance, the squats and calf raises just aren't challenging, even if I do them at super slow speeds. Stair climbing is good leg exercise, but unfortunately after about 3 flights I have trouble breathing and have to stop. Last night I was having trouble with my heart rate during the squats. I wasn't "feeling the burn" at all, but my heart rate started shooting through the roof, so again I had to stop.

I find with squats that keeping good form makes a huge difference. I put a support under my heels that means I can lower all the way down while keeping my back vertical and my arms stretched straight up. Feet are just slightly apart and parallel. If you can't get all the way down without your back tipping forwards, then either use a higher support under your heels, or just don't go so far down. The Slow Burn book achieves a similar effect by holding a door knob for balance, and not going all the way down. Doing the movement just from the bottom to the point where your thighs are parallel, then back down again (slowly) and keeping your back upright is quite tough for me. If it's still too easy, you could always hold some weights. Or do one-legged squats. But keeping your back upright makes a big difference to how hard it is - as soon as you lean forwards, it's much easier. (And make sure you remember to breathe.)

[hawk]

I don't know what I'll do. I have a sinus infection and a fever.I'm just going to hang around today again.:mad:

[Shadow]

Lynn, it's okay :)! From what I read on your other post, you're are pushing entirely too hard. And the body has a way of rebelling against that ;). Too much exercise is harmful and does break down the immune system. So you might want to think over what you're doing and try to temper it down some. Just a friendly suggestion :p. Tiredness, headaches, emotional swings, weight gain, sleeplessness, aches, colds, etc are all signs of overtraining. Okay - end of nag for now :rolleyes:....

Mary - Do you have free weights or exercise bands?

[banshee]

Mary - Do you have free weights or exercise bands?

No exercise bands, but I do have a set of dumbbells and a "stepper" from when I used to do The Firm tapes. Never enjoyed it enough to stick with it, but I still have the equipment I bought. Let's see... I think the dumbbells are either 2 or 5 pounds, and I also have some ankle weights stuck in a closet somewhere. I doubt the ankle weights add up to more than 2 or 3 pounds. I bought them when I was just getting started, so I didn't want to get a lot of weight.

[hawk]

Thanks for the nag shadow:rolleyes:

[Shadow]

Lynn - Anytime :D!

Mary - What about slow motion lunges? You could always 'pre-exhaust' the muscles by doing your regular leg work and then finish off with them. If done correctly, they are incredible burners :eek:! I use about 1/3 or less of my usual weight with these and I am dying by the end! I personally find that static lunges in general give me more of a burn than anything.

Anyway, in case you don't know what I mean by a slow motion lunge, this is how you do them:
Assume a static lunge position. Go into the downward move very slowly - take at least 4 to 8 counts to get there. At the bottom, hold for several seconds (at least another 8 counts or so). Then do a "pulse" for 4 - 8 counts staying within the lower half of the movement. Then come up very slowly - another 4 - 8 counts. Immediately go into the next rep. I only do 8 per side and believe me, that's about 6 more than I want to do :p.

For calves, using a 2x4 or something for elevation under the ball of the foot may help. Also, doing a lot of tempo change really gets mine. Like 32 - 48 quick reps followed by 16 slow count reps, followed by quick reps, followed by static holds. If one round of this isn't enough - just give it a second whirl, lol.

I think the tallbox is killer on the knees which is why I rarely use mine any more. However, you can use the tallbox for hover squats or sit-n-stands. I dread those babies!!!

Anyway, I'll contemplate more moves but in the meantime, if you try these let me know how well they work so I know what direction to go with my thinking.

[banshee]

Mary - What about slow motion lunges? You could always 'pre-exhaust' the muscles by doing your regular leg work and then finish off with them. If done correctly, they are incredible burners :eek:! I use about 1/3 or less of my usual weight with these and I am dying by the end! I personally find that static lunges in general give me more of a burn than anything.
Thanks for the ideas - I'll have to try these. I'm kind of afraid of regular lunges because it always seemed they were just begging for me to twist my ankle as I stepped into and out of the lunge. But lunges where I step into it slowly and then hold the position for a while might not be as bad. I was looking at the lunges that use the TG, but those also scared me because you have one foot on the floor and the other on the board, and I can just see myself losing control, pushing the board too high with the one leg, and overextending - snapping a tendon or something. It could be I'm letting my fear of injury keep me from trying it, but I think I'll try your lunge ideas first. ;) I'll try them during my full body workout tomorrow and let you know how it went on Monday.

I've seen videos and commercials where they show people holding dumbbells while doing lunges. Do those really make the workout more intense? It just doesn't seem to me that holding a couple 2 pound dumbbells (which is all it looks like they're using) would make that much of a difference. Or are they trying to do some sort of arm workout at the same time?

I do like doing the calf raises on the TG because the squat board actually allows me to place my feet so that on the down stroke I'm going below the board and stretching the ankle and hamstring out. But I haven't been doing more than about 20 reps. I guess maybe I should increase my reps by a lot going by what you're doing! :p

[LisaS]

1. lunges - you don't have to do walking lunges or alternating leg lunges if you feel off balance. You can do 10 reps with L forward & R back - and then switch. Call that 1 set.

2. to burn out your legs - try air squats (just body weight) in this fashion - have someone call time for you unless you have a big clock with sweep second hand:
20 sec: as many squats/as fast as you can, as deep as you can
10 sec: rest - if advanced, rest in the bottom-most position
repeat 7times for a total of 8 sets (4 mins).
Your heart rate will be way up - your legs will be burning - and tomorrow you'll know you did eccentric exercise (DOMS city).

[Shadow]

Mary - Static lunges are definitely the way to go until you're comfortable doing the move. Plus it makes it easier to focus on good form so you don't learn sloppy habits from the faster paced moving lunges/dips. For me static lunges work best because they don't bother my knees or ankles. However, I do use other types of lunges just because they all have different purposes and work us differently :).

[ShayKNJ]

I did 3 miles on the treadmill ran for 2.25 at speeds of 5.5, 5.6 & 5.7.