Using It - May 7 - May 13

[Shadow]

Here we are at a new week again :eek:. Amazing how time flies :rolleyes:! This is a maintenance week for me since I see the chiro on Monday. So my basic lineup is going to be:

Sunday - Step cardio, lower body circuits, upper body, abs
Monday - Kickboxing
Wednesday - Total body weights with abs
Thursday - Step cardio

[Mitra]

I think it will be a maintenance level week for me too. Getting my energy back after the latest bug seems to be a bit slow, so I will try not to push it too hard.

[Shadow]

Great plan, Janet :thumbsup:! Anything more than that and you would just hit another set-back and I know you don't want to go there :tongue:!

[Ottawa]

Sunday: Walked an hour on a long loop with my wife. Her Accupunture and CHiro work are paying off and I was hard pressed to stay up with her without running.:D

Monday: Stretches Abs work up on the roof at lunch - 50 min. biking to/from work

Tuesday: 50 min. biking to/from work - Body Sculpting Class at Lunch

Wednesday: 50 min. biking to/from work, 15 minute leg lifts, crunches

Thursday: 50 min. biking to/from work, 45 minutes inclined bench-crunches/hand weights

Friday: It's raining hard here and will continue raining for the next 6 days. The biking and gardening may be on hold. I'll take today off and get is some shopping and baking.

Saturday: Crunches/one hour fast walk

[poodle_woman]

Here’s my plan although Wednesday and Thursday may change as I am traveling for work and I’m not sure what the hotel will have:
Sunday: 65 minute run, upper body weights and crunches
Monday: Abs and butt in AM, 60 minute run, PM Lower Body weights
Tuesday: Upper Body weights and crunches, 60 minute run
Wednesday: Hopefully lower body weights, day off from running
Thursday: Hopefully upper body weights in AM, run or bike depending on weather in PM
Friday: Abs and butt in AM, 60 minute run, PM Lower Body weights
Saturday: 65 minute run, upper body weights and crunches
This may change as I may not get in the workouts while away so one of those days is bound to be a day off.

[banshee]

OK, going to try and get back into my weekly routine this week. Started out as usual, since I spent the day yesterday working on my office. I bought an organizing unit for my closet, and had to assemble it. It's amazing the workout you can get if you put furniture together without power tools. I didn't need them, but all the screwing and hammering and lifting gave my wrists and arms a workout, and all the moving of parts, bending and lifting gave my back and legs a workout! Then I put it in place and emptied a bunch of boxes and containers, which of course involved more lifting and bending.

Today will be a Core workout.

[Mitra]

Today I felt pretty much back to normal - but I'm going to stick with my plan of maintenance level work for the week until I'm sure I can manage that - then try some slowly planned increases in intensity rather than jumping right in!

Shadow, I hope your chiro appointment is just routine maintenance.

[Shadow]

Janet - Wise decision ;)! I am glad you're tempering the pace for now - and especially that you're feeling mostly better :D. And yes, thank you, this is the maintenance appt I have every six weeks :).

[banshee]

Well, I failed to do my core exercises yesterday, so now I have to do upper body AND CORE today. Sigh. I can see it happening - after not formally exercising for two weeks, the urge/motivation is gone again and I have to start from scratch. I really wish I could get at least a full 6 months in without slacking off. My original thought that hubby would help keep me on track was completely wrong. I have to push him, which just makes me feel like a nag since he doesn't reciprocate and help push me. Sigh... I need an exercise buddy, but I don't have one. The local gyms don't have a TotalGym setup, so getting a gym membership won't help me, plus we're in a bit of a cash crunch right now so getting a gym membership isn't a possibility right now anyway.

Argh.

--Mary

[Ottawa]

Re;"after not formally exercising for two weeks"

It's amazing how quickly it catches up with you. Today was the first day with our old intructor at lunch for strength training. We all missed one week from her and it really showed.
Less than half the class finished the planks and several people dropped their weights at the end of a move in exaustion. It was an amazing class but she stopped halfway to ask how we could have "slipped so much by missing one week?".

There were two newbies today and both were hobbling from the lunges with weights which brought odd smiles to the rest of us.:lol: :rolleyes: :D

I had only missed one week of her classes but failed two longer planks as well, so it does catch up with you when you let it go. The other thing that I notice is that my workouts are never as intense if I just do them on my own. I can get many of the same moves in but rarely push it like you do in a class. Also we often don't push for an extra curl, rep, or 30 more seconds on a plank if there is not someone pushing or a class that you are trying to keep up with.

[Mitra]

It's amazing how quickly it catches up with you.

I'm worrying about this :( . Well, I have to have something to worry about :rolleyes: . I've been doing lighter exercises for the last couple of weeks, and am not really ready to get back up to normal intensity, and although I know it's better for me to take it easy for a bit longer, I hate the idea of my hard-won gains leaking away. Oops :o time to go back and read Gaelen's post about being happy to work where you are - or remind myself of the same idea in someone else's words: "All I can be is who I am right now; I can experience that and work with it. That's all I can do. The rest is the dream of the ego." (Charlotte Joko Beck)

[banshee]

Mitra, it's one thing to take it easy because there's a reason to, and another when it's just lack of motivation. That's what's killing me. I just can't seem to stay motivated by myself, and can't find someone who will work out with me to help push me. I don't know what it is about exercise that just makes it tough to stick with it. I enjoy the exercises I've decided to do, so it isn't that I don't enjoy them. I think a large part of it is that I don't enjoy exercising alone, but it seems I don't really have much choice about that. I was so excited when hubby said he wanted to exercise with me, but his comment of "I won't work late on exercise days so we can exercise together" has become more like "I'll try not to work late, but don't count on me or expect me to really make the effort if something distracts me."

Anyone have any ideas for how to stay motivated working out alone? When I get home and I'm the only one in the house, I just can't seem to enjoy myself working out. This bugs me because I really should be doing this for myself and not care if someone else is there. Why should that make a difference? It's the same workout either way...

[Mitra]

Mary, I know that taking it easy is sometimes justified, but the strength still ebbs away, no matter what the reason :(.

I really don't know what the answer is to finding motivation. I know it was very hard for me. Setting my goal at the right level was very important - too much, and I'd be overwhelmed, or one day of genuine difficulty would blow the week's goal. Too little, and I'd do nothing for the first half of the week - then probably not bother for the second half either. Five days worked for me as being often enough that I couldn't keep putting it off, but low enough that I had a realistic chance of meeting it.

As I'm at home most of the time, I generally exercise either mid-morning, or mid-afternoon, but when I had an "proper" job I could only depend on getting it done if I did it in the morning before work. I started work at 8, so that meant getting up much earlier than I wanted to, but even though I finished early enough that I had time in the evening, I'd always want to sit down for a bit first ... then I'd want a bit to eat ... then I'd have to let my dinner go down ... then it was bed time. So I got up early, and exercised then. In fact, it only fell apart when I stopped the job, and didn't have a fixed schedule with a time when I had to do it.

For me those practical things were what I focused on - I knew the benefits of doing it, and had a form of exercise I was happy with, so I didn't spend a lot of time bothering about that side of things. It took a long time (several years) to re-establish the habit after stopping work. Who'd have thought having lots of extra free time would make it harder to fit in my exercise? But I found it much harder than when I was fitting it around long work hours (I lived on my own in those days, which also changes the dynamics).

[Ottawa]

"it's one thing to take it easy because there's a reason to, and another when it's just lack of motivation. That's what's killing me. I just can't seem to stay motivated by myself, and can't find someone who will work out with me to help push me. I don't know what it is about exercise that just makes it tough to stick with it."


Mary, you are expressing a viewpoint that I had for years and there is truth in it. As Mitra has added it is quickly noticeable when we let things go after having "toned up". There is some pain to real exercise. In my case I compare it to going to see a live theater presentation. I would never buy tickets and usually view it as a painful experience, yet with rare exception am always glad that I went.

As we age I often feel that we are racing against time. The less we do or the less that we "master" ourselves the more "time" pulls ahead. Causing myself some discomfort seemed a small reward to decrease that distance so I need to come up with something else, ... a carrot or two.

My Carrots ... http://www.kindplanet.org/kindkids/graphics/carrot.gif

When I work out I feel great!
Any pains during or after my workout ... I earned them!
My lipid profile is incredible! (HDL is the STP oil treatment for your body - Exercise is how you give add it)
I am a mirror/scale junkie. (Is that new muscle definition? How many of those pounds are LBM?):o

Working out alone is not as much fun or push you as much as a coach or good partner can. I've tried some of the videos and really like the Billy Blanks Boot Camp, but it is tough and after a few tries you realize that you are not quite part of the class, even though the person just to the right of Billy keep looking my way.:D When I do weights/crunches to a movie, I'm not pushing myself like I would have to in a workout/Sculpting class. I get most of the numbers in but spread over the length of the movie.

My kids are gone, my wife is supportive, and unfortunately some parts of life are a little easier if you are male. At work I take the stairs two at a time most days which just wouldn't look great in a dress/skirt. That aside, a woman roller blading, biking, working out is always alluring to most men, including your husband I'm sure.
Days that I don't feel up to the stairs or a little "soft", let me know that I am falling behind and in need of some toning.

Note: Reading the above may sound a little chauvinistic but it was not intended in that vein.

[banshee]

Well, I sorta succeeded in my exercise and sorta failed. I did my ab vacuums, and I can feel it today, so I got in part of my core workout. But I also managed to get a mild burn on my backside, and the thought of doing the TotalGym part of my exercises had me wincing. :o I ended up spending quite a bit of time lying on my stomach on the couch letting aloe gel sink in. It worked, the mild burn is gone today, but I didn't get in my upper body exercises or the core exercises that involve movement in that area. :(

Today is another day! Although I'm not sure what I'll be able to do, since we have a neighborhood housing association meeting tonight. But I'm going to try and get that upper body workout done!

--Mary

[Shadow]

Great advice, Randy :thumbsup:! While I push myself very hard at home on my own, I know many who thrive on the group experience :). We each have to find what works for us and what stimulus we need to get the most from our workouts. Otherwise, it's just "putting in time" ;).

Mary - Unfortunately, there is no magic "motivation pill" that I can give you :). From my own experience, the only way I made it a habit was to make it a non-negotiable appointment for the day. As Janet said, when she had a definite time she had to exercise, she was far more inclined to do it than when it was "just penciled in" for the day, so to speak. For me, due to reflux, I had to exercise in the morning on an empty stomach. So my deal with myself was that I could not have breakfast until my exercise was done. Believe me, the enticement of having my meal was enough to get me going :p. Yes, it was the hardest thing I ever did until it became a habit, but I had set a goal and was sick and tired of failing. Just as with finding the right way to eat, finding the right exercise rx is time consuming and takes sacrifice in the beginning. But if you know in your heart why you are doing it and you actually believe in your reasons, it gets easier in time. And before you know it, it is just a part of your day like brushing your teeth or taking a shower/bath ;).

[Mitra]

I forgot to add that a major incentive for me is to protect my lower back. I know you still hear me mention it, but these days the twinges after a run in with a recalcitrant supermarket trolley or an overhead ice-cream maker manoeuvre just mean I have to be a bit careful for a few days. If I don't exercise and maintain a strong core, something like that can take a year to get over, with months of therapeutic level exercising and multiple trips to the chiropractor :(.

[Missy]

Shadow, that was great! I can't add anything to what you just said.

Your statements of : "Non negociable" and "if you know in your heart why you are doing it and you actually believe in your reasons, it gets easier in time. And before you know it, it is just a part of your day like brushing your teeth or taking a shower/bath ;)." ~ are exactly what I've told myself to get me through those getting started moments of following through.

Mary, consentrate on just beginning...and the rest will kick in. Sometimes that all it takes. Then something takes over and you begin to dig deeper in yourself to find self motivating challanges.

I personally find I prefer the "gym" when no one else is around.

[realruth]

I too prefer the gym when no one else is around......
I have had a couple of really busy weeks doing double shifts from 6.30 am until 9.15 pm...I biked and walked butno gym work except for last thursday when I had my day off.
I get 2 days this week Thurs and Fri WILL GET TO THE GYM!
Luckily during the middle of the day it's not busy :)

[Shadow]

Thanks, Lynn :). Overcoming the mind-set is definitely the hardest part of the battle!

Ruth - It's so good to finally "see" you :D!

[banshee]

I've been posting about not getting my exercise in, and feeling terribly guilty all week whenever I missed a workout. This morning I was feeling terrible because I didn't exercise Wed or Thurs either. But when I went into my Excel spreadsheet to enter my daily weight, and glanced at my exercise column, I suddenly realized something.

My goal is to exercise 3 times a week. This week, I got in a lot of exercise on Sunday, and a core session on Tuesday (albeit a small one). So I only need one more day of exercise this week to meet my goals.

I think I need to rethink my expectations a bit. Before vacation, I had been doing more than the three days, and I had started to feel that was the norm, but I think I need to give myself permission to only do the three days if that's all I'm up for that week. I need to celebrate if I do more than the 3 days but not feel bad if I only do 3 days!

I still need to work some more on my motivation, but at least I've been able to let go of that guilty feeling I've been carrying around all week! :rolleyes: This also points out how useful a chart is, not only for keeping track of progress, but also for seeing trends, realizing when you are meeting your goals even if you feel like you aren't, etc.

[Mitra]

I agree - when I was trying get back into the habit of regular exercise a couple of years ago, I was sure I'd hardly done anything all year, but when I looked at my chart (I had a paper one) I'd actually exercised on about half the days in the year. Unfortunately it wasn't alternate days throughout the year, but a few weeks of doing it most days followed by a few weeks of missing most days. But even so, it wasn't the total write-off that I'd thought.