Never 2 Late 2 Chase the Dream (it's better than liposuction)

[Victoria]

Hey Karla...I'm a bit late in welcoming you here. Good for you for starting a log. See? Isn't it fun? Great work so far!!!

[kfisherx]

Originally Posted by Victoria

Hey Karla...I'm a bit late in welcoming you here. Good for you for starting a log. See? Isn't it fun? Great work so far!!!

Thanks Victoria and also thanks for bringing my log to the front page for me. I didn't have to go dig it out after not posting for a day. And finally thanks for the advise RE eating. I am finally getting the swing of it and I too am feeling worlds better now. I have eaten once a day or too little for most of my life so this is a BIG change and a very good one.

[kfisherx]

Sat at the gym.....

I went to ballys with my buddies on Saturday. My friend and I signed up recently together and my other buddy has been going forever. Well because we were new, we got a free session with a trainer.

The friend who joined with me is also an egineer (AKA geek) but unlike me he doens't have years of military and sports exerience. For him this adventure into the gym is a rather big deal and so to make the experience more comfortable I signed him up for the session and then joined him in it so that we could play together.

I was actually rather impressed with the guy they gave to us. I had never seen him working in that gym before that day or I don't remember him but he was very knowledgable and he made our time fun. We did not work out very hard but we did learn a lot. He took us over to all the equipment (the stuff in the non-free weight area) and he gave us a nice tour. He explained that these machines served a good purpose to help people to learn which muscles to use before going to the free weights. He said the machines gave more stability. My trainer doesn't use the machines from what I can tell so this was a good thing for me to learn about.

We walked through about 10 of the different machines and how to do the movements correctly. This guy was really big on form and very knowledgable about the body and muscles that are in use and how they all interact. He explained concentric, ecentric and isocentric movements to us and many other bio-mechanical things. Once we learned the 10 different machines he had us do them as a circut. That was fun. We did lat pull downs, rowing, leg press, overhead press, butterflys and some others. Then he had us finish with the plank (I finally know that that is now). He put us in the plank position and then asked if we felt we could hold it for 20 seconds. I laughed at him and asked if he was serious. So he told me I could do it with one leg. So I did and then he let us hold if for 60 seconds.

He also showed us some cool moving stretches before the circut and he finished us off with some balancing exercises that were fun and challenging. After watching some training sessions in this gym I didn't have high hopes for this session. This guy exceded my expectations. It is a different type of thing than what my trainer does but it was still a great learning experience. My trainer talks less and works me a lot more....

Still, I'll count this as a workout and log it...

[kfisherx]

My first at home workout....

Motivated by the great LostDog I figured that today I would try to do my workout at home. I think I finally have enough of the right ingredients to make it an effective use of my time. I have a 3, 10 and 15 pounds pair of dumbells, a jumprope, a pilates mat, a foam roller and a plan.

I decided that I would pair up some of the exercises that I knew and do them one after another and then take a rest before the next set of them.

For my first pair I did (3 sets)
jump rope x 200
burpies x 15

Second (3 sets)
jumping jacks (60 seconds)
bicep curls 15 lbs (x 15)

Third (3 sets)
Overhead press 15 lbs (x15)
Mountain climbers (40)

Then I switched to some Pilates exercises
The hundreds (200)
Siscors (100)
Obliques (30)

Then I finished off with all my hamstring exercises (ankle weights = 10 lbs each leg)
Hip abductor 12x2
Sidelying Hip extensor 20x2
Leg lifts (25x2)
foam roll the IT band

And to finish the hour I did a plank for 2 minutes

I felt just as whipped as when I go to the gym so I think I did a good job for a first time.

[Lost Dog]

I'd be honored, but I don't think you gave it any real effort.

[kfisherx]

Originally Posted by Lost Dog

I'd be honored, but I don't think you gave it any real effort.

I am thinking it will take me a couple o' weeks of training before I am throwing 125lb bags of sand around. Probably sometime in Jan or so...

[Lost Dog]

Originally Posted by kfisherx

I am thinking it will take me a couple o' weeks of training before I am throwing 125lb bags of sand around. Probably sometime in Jan or so...

That's the spirit. I put a reminder for an "atta-girl" on my calendar...

[kfisherx]

Originally Posted by Lost Dog

That's the spirit. I put a reminder for an "atta-girl" on my calendar...

Well in that case I will push to make it 150 pounds! That is only 20 pounds over my current weight so it should be easy right?

[Lost Dog]

Hmm... I guess that depends. Then I'd have to have a 195 pound sandbag to compete.

Shoot for 85lbs, maybe. That would make you equally studly.

[kfisherx]

Gotcha and that is actually pretty attainable sometime in the next years I bet. I currently throw 90 lbs hay bales around almost every day. It would just be a matter then of me doing some reps and sets with them.

[Lost Dog]

So, with an actual farm (sweet), you probably don't even need sandbags. You have real stuff to work with. Those hay bales. 90lbs? That's great, right there.

Do you have sledgehammer? That's a good workout, too.

I'm sure you have a wheelbarrow, too.

90lbs? Hmmm...

[kfisherx]

Yes, I have 40 acres just SW of Portland and 11 equines. I throw hay pretty much every day. The bales are between 75-95 pounds and I do throw them around. My current batch are in the 90 pound range. Big and dense. I only once or so a year throw tons of hay around though. Mostly I just throw one bale a day. I chop it all up and carry it around to the different stalls. I also do stall duty and push several hundred pounds of horse leavings around in a cart or wheelbarrow (I have 3 of these). So it perhaps is no wonder that I am not getting sore from my workouts in the gym. The 15 pound dumbells don't seem that much.

When I was in the Marines I could lift 125 pound generators and carry them around. I weighed 113 pounds at the time. I have always been a really strong person and more than once beat the guys on the obstacle course. That is why this injury and the weakness that I have allowed to creep into my body is so kicking my ass mentally. I know that somewhere I have strength. I will find it again.

I do have a sledge hammer but don't use it much. I chop wood every week though with a big ol' axe if that counts for anything. I have a woodstove and a fireplace so lots of fuel needs to be burned.

BTW: I am in Santa Clara right now on business trip. I just passed an IN AND OUT BURGER. OMG!!!!

[LisaS]

turn back and get a double-double (protein-style if you want - no bun) - mmm - that's what a hamburger's all about -

[kfisherx]

Session 5 (I think) with the trainer....

On Friday night last week I did interval training on the treadmill. It was the first time since I injured my hamstring that I went all out and sprinted. Of course I warmed into it and only held the sprint for 3 minutes before backing off and running more slowly for 10 minutes. I did 3 of these sprints in the 30 minutes of running that I did. On Saturday my hamstring was swollen and sore to the touch. I couldn't sit down it hurt so badly. So I had somehow managed to injur myself yet again.

When I walked into the gym today my trainer asked me how I felt and I told him about the incident. He scolded me then and told me not to do any more sprinting for some time. I was furious with everything at that moment. I was frustrated about the stupid thing getting hurt and mad that my trainer got on my case. He sent me off to go warm up on the treadmill and stressed slowly. I started to warm up and just wanted to hit something I was so mad.

It was just then that he comes over to me while I am running and asks if I would be open to learning about boxing. I couldn't believe my ears. I would get to hit something!!! Yipee!!

Now I don't know about you guys but as a girl I never got introduced to this sport in my whole life. So this was all new to me. He put these really big gloves on my hand and he made sure that my thumb was in the right place. Then he taught me about jabs and crosses and how to stand. I started with jabs only and did 20 on each side over and over again. Then he had me to jabs and move around the bag and more of them. Oh yeah and I had to keep my face covered if I wasn't throwing a punch the whole time. After a lot of this, he switched to a jab/cross combo throw. BAM BAM one after another. We started on the left side, then moved to the right side and back again. I did this many times on both sides. The jab work previous was about hitting hard but this was about speed and technical accuracy.

This is some really tough cardio working out and I got tired so we took a break at some point and we went to work on abs for awhile. He put me on an incline bench and threw a 10 pound medicine ball to me. I caught it and went all the way back on the bench touching the ball to the ground above my head before sitting back up and throwing it back to him. I had to focus to not arch my back and use my abs. We did this 15 or 20 times. He gave me a few seconds rest and then we did side to side. I caught the ball and turned my body to one side before sitting up and throwing it back. We did these 15 times on each side. Then the final set was back, right side, left side and we did those 15 times.

Now that I had time to catch my breath we went back to the boxing thing. This time he did not have me put on gloves but he put on these little white target things on his hands and held them up. He invited me to hit one and instructed me to do a jab/cross. I did this and with his other hand he came across to hit me. I had to duck to avoid being hit. We repeated this exercise until I was pretty exhausted. He did a lot of moving around so it was really interesting for me to try to keep up.

We then did more ab work to allow my heartrate to go down.

For the grand finale, he handed me these 3 pounds dumbells. My job was to square off against the bag and just jab it with both hands one right after the other such that the bag never rested. With the dumbells in my hands for course. I had to do this 100 times. The did it for 2 more sets for a total of 300 hits. This again was about speed and not hard hitting. Even so I was really beat at the end of this.

That was my workout for the hour. It was a great deal of fun actually. My knuckles are a bit swollen right now but they do not hurt so I think all is well. Still it is quite noticable. My business collegues think I am nutz. I think I am nutz too! I actually really liked boxing.

[kfisherx]

Originally Posted by LisaS

turn back and get a double-double (protein-style if you want - no bun) - mmm - that's what a hamburger's all about -

No can do. I am limited to avoid fats and sodium as much as possible. I think that these burgers are most likely loaed with fat. I am on week 3 of my training program and have not yet cheated. Even tonight at the Chinese Restaraunt in town I found a green bean dish with very little sauce on it that I think was okay to eat. It did have more sodium than I should have but I think it was otherwise okay.

I do have to admit that my mouth watered a bit as I drove by though...

[LisaS]

sorry about the limited fats thing - I am jealous of your boxing so maybe that makes us even? I was just saying the other day to someone I wanted to learn to hit stuff ... sounds like a blast.