"Fitness Club" Thread

GWC Community GWC Fitness Club
#761

So I ran a 5k last weekend and had the best run of my life. Managed to run the first 2.8 miles without stopping to walk. Then even when i did walk it was only about 200 yards or so and then ran the rest of the way. So i came super close to making my goal of running the entire time.

This was an interesting race, it was my first race off road. The trail was pretty rough lots of stumps to avoid and narrow paths so i would get stuck behind bottle necks. I did trip once almost went sprawling but somehow managed to stay upright.

I think, however awesome my run was, I injured myself on that trip and didn’t realize till a couple days later. I am pretty sure i have a shin splint on my left leg so its easy going for the next couple weeks.

So I am done racing for the season. I will spend the next few months strength training and working on conditioning.

Also I am pretty sure i have decided that when i start back into the races i am going to go all out and start Training for a Sprint Triathlon which is approximately a 750m Swim, a 20k Bike ride and then a 5k run.

It will be tough training. While i know the mechanics of biking i have never done it for distance or competitively. And while i have grown up swimming all the time i have not swam as an exercise. So it will be interesting.

i am giving myself at least 6 mo to train. I think that’s a realistic goal. And as with my first 5k I well set the goal to finish as opposed to actually race.

#762

WOLVERINES! You can do it! And these fine folks will make it easier and lots of fun. Also, you have a nifty little 10 pound weight you can carry around with you everywhere to add some oomph to your daily routine :slight_smile:

#763

you stay in the prone plank position and jump both feet up to your right hand- jump them back to full plank home- jump both feet up to your left hand and back home. You maintain stability in your upper body and core and ‘engaging’ your obliques with the side to side action of your lower body. I tried in vain to find pix or a video… okay. I’ll post my own homely self doing it… update soon.

and here it is:

//youtu.be/X1TWG6dWCsA

you can doooo eeeeet!!! we’ve got your back, man!

Is the weather nice enough to take a good stroller walk? I really like this guy I found on youtube for some at-home instruction:

//youtu.be/DMSeu1NpP_4

you can pick up the workout at the :58 mark.

He’s a home vid personal trainer, and his kids run around thru his videos- hilarious. His workouts have a lot in common with the stuff I’m doing and he shows you that you can do this stuff pretty much anywhere!

#764

Solai! Wolverines! Don’t worry, you got this.

#765

The confusion is understandable. In America during the Clinton years, the ‘Monica’ was something else all together. :smiley: I am not sure how many calories you will burn doing the Clinton kind, and I rather doubt there are any videos on YouTube of them… but they were quite popular. :groucho:

#766

bkitty. I lurve you. That is all.

#767

283.8 this week. Figured last week’s 3 lbs was an outlier, but less than a pound is a bit disappointing.

Plus, I have some travel coming up, so I’ll be eating out more and won’t be able to use the elliptical (or weigh myself next Sunday).

#768

Solai- You can do it and we’re here to help! Plus, like Starbuccaneer said, use that new little 10 lb weight as a good excuse for walks : )

Mr. Lister, Sir- Love it! I wish there was a place where I could try swimming for exercise too. Not many gyms around here with them that I would also want to use for classes and lifting, etc and pay for on top of what I already pay. Alas. Biking is great though.

Bkitty- great video! I had an aha! moment and completely understood the movement. Those do seem like they’d be good for a complete core workout and no weights or anything else needed, perfect for the ‘in-apartment’ workouts when I don’t feel like going to the gym.

Keep up the good work WOLVERINES!

#769

So say we all!

I often gain weight from one week to the next. There is a lot of two steps forward, one step back if weight is your main goal. If feeling and looking better, improving your health, and getting stronger are equally as important as the number on the scale, though, every week you’ve done your workouts and eaten pretty healthfully is a big leap forward. Focus on that!

As far as business travel goes, it is tough. Eating out healthfully can be very difficult, especially if there is a lot of hotel/conference food provided. Pack some healthy snacks in your suitcase so you can minimize meals that aren’t really in line with your nutrition goals. Bringing a box of oatmeal packets for breakfast is also great. Finally, lots of hotels–even midlevel ones that your work pays for–have fitness rooms. Call up in advance and see what they have. You might be able to keep up your elliptical routine pretty easily.

Update from me:

After losing more than was healthy for several weeks in a row, presumably due to the combo of ramping up my workouts and my work stress, I gained a pound a week for the last 2 weeks. A jar of hormones-satiating Nutella shared with the fiancee likely played a role. But I also put in at least an hour extra at the gym this week and the week before, doing extra cardio.

I am getting really bored with the stationary bike after 3 weeks of nothing but that. However, my foot, which is supposed to be doing better right now, has been acting up. Seeing the doctor early this week. We shall discuss. The swelling has really reduced, which is good. Means I can probably get back to the arc trainer soon. I want to run!

My trainer is out of town for the next 2 weeks so my workouts will all be self-guided rather than half with her half on my own. It will be a challenge to force myself to work as hard on my upper body while she’s away but I’ll do my best to push myself.

Barb, the Monica looks deadly! I might have to try it!

#770

It’s not for work and I know my parents don’t have an elliptical :wink:
We’ll be staying in a hotel at least one night while I’m there, but the main thing is my cousin’s high school graduation. It’s just that family’s scattered over the state, so lots of time in cars.

#771

Hi, finally jumping in here. I finally stopped with the excuses and joined a gym. It is kinda far away (40 minutes) but i’m in the boonies. It has the advantage of being between here and the boyfriend’s place so that does make it relatively convenient. Today was my first visit and I survived :smiley:

I am the heaviest I have ever been and very sad about it. I have lost some mobility and flexibility and those are my goals - to get them back. I will not focus on weight or measurements. Those will follow along. I will focus on strengthening my knees and lower back which are where my mobility problems are focused. So here’s to starting over…again.

As for diet - once again not worrying about this or the other. I am concentrating more on making better food choices rather than the other stuff. I can make more modifications later. I wold like to do WW again but right now I don’t have the money for that, so I will just be good instead :smiley:

#772

welcome aboard!

its been said many many times in this thread, but I’ll go ahead and say it again

diets don’t work, lifestyle changes do, if you shift your lifestyle towards eating better it’ll be easier for yourself

I once made the mistake of ‘dieting’ in reality all you’re doing is telling yourself “okay hold out for a certain amount of time, then its back to the way that got you to where you were!” when the way you were is why you were dieting in the first place

#773

I totally agree with this. Dieting for me is like the smoker knows they should quit smoking and may quit four or five times unsuccessfully. You know when a smoker really quits? When they know in their core that they are done. They do it for themselves knowing they mean it.

Eating is the same way. We all know what the good choices are, and we all know what the bad choices are. It isn’t to say you can’t go have an ice cream cone, it is knowing that you shouldn’t have ice cream every day, or perhaps since you had a treat that day that the ice cream is largely unnecessary.

A good eating day for me is I tend to skip breakfast and have two large coffees (sometimes with skim). Lunch when I am making a good choice is spinach with some turkey and broccoli. Dinner is whatever we are eating at home which is generally something that my healthy wife has made that I can trust is all good.

I don’t tend to snack, and I don’t have any set exercise. My main exercise is walking which I am figuring out to get more of (lunch break for example).

#774

Preaching to the choir! I have done many diets over the years to many results. I do like the WW program because a lot of it changing behaviors, I did really well with it. I just tend to slack off back to bad habits with some form of external accountability. Trying again and maybe this time it will take :stuck_out_tongue:

#775

Its a play on the old joke about “doc says i can live 10 years longer if i skip steak and eggs for breakfast every day, but thats 10 years without steak and eggs for breakfast and who wants that?”

More and more i feel its not “no steak and eggs” if you get my meaning; its “That steak and eggs are gonna cost you 2 miles tonight chief” and i am becoming more and more ok with this :smiley:

I am a very poverty stricken individual. I have no job and survive on ramen and loans. So ubber fresh and healthy is not always an option, but i CAN choose the lesser of 2 weevils and get the grilled chicken fast food then jog or spin or whatever to make up for it.

Who knows, might even put on some muscle in the process.

#776

I’m finally getting away from that. My big problem this time of year is working in the family restaurant where almost everything I will eat is fried. I bring in my own low fat salad dressing to encourage me to eat more salads. I also try to keep some veggie burgers in the freezer to have instead of a regular burger or hot dog. It isn’t perfect but I do try. Every little step.

I am also happy that the gym I joined is 24 hours during the week so I can go at night. That will help a lot, because my days are so booked up.

#777

fwump.

Just back form my first Gym session, the PT (Paul) had me do two reps of a set of i think 12 exerises on the power plate, around 30 mins all told, I’m feelign banjaxed, apprently simple exercises really took it out of me. I’ve signed up for another 5 sessions, will be doing power plate tuesday evenign and Saturday afternoon, pilates on a thursday and some light walking on some of the other days.

Even as I went through the pain I kept thinking of chuck’s story about the dude with the oxygen bottle, yes it hurts, yes I’m incredibly unfit but I don’t frakking well need oxygen.

wolverines!
Phaze
on the gymn doesn’t open on a sunday so once Pi8lates finishes in 5 weeks i’ll be power plate three times a week" ID

#778

Well I’m 209 (71lbs lost since july/aug 2010) as of this morning which is the lowest I’ve ever been ever, I’m seeing the 14 stone weight which is a god send. :slight_smile:

I’m doing a challenge where you get credits for improving your life and the thought is that by doing these everyday you will get to your goal. It’s a good way of being accountable for your actions and ensuring that you maximise your potential every day.

So Phazed - What’s this power plate thing all about? What benefits does it bring to the table vs doing normal free bar movements/machines? Just curious. My thoughts and this is really my thoughts is to ensure that the PT is explaining the what and why and how. Why are we doing this movement, how does it work, what is the movement doing. I would also ensure that he shows you a wide range of exercises (just in case the PP breaks down - but that’s just me being a paranoid mary so ignore me :))>

In terms of mobility drills (I can’t remember who wanted them) but the ones I do are the following (You can find them on youtube)

Scapula Pushups - 2 sets of 12
Wall Ankle Mobility Drills - 2 sets of 6 (each side)
Kneeling Rockback - 2 sets of 8
Hip Swings - 2 sets of 6 (each side)
Thoriac Rotations - 2 sets of 6 (each side)
Kneeling Dorsiflexion - 2 sets of 6 (each side)
Scapula Wall Slides - 2 sets of 8
Bent T-Spine Rotations

Other than that, things have been going good. diet is on check, I feel slimmer,etc and life is good.

Also going with son for walks when I get home, so that is good as well

#779

@bp well it’s the first time I’ve used it, you do a variety of standard aerobic exercises, squats, pushups, stretches etc while either standing sitting or resting arms or feet on the plate while it vibrates at (for me at present it’s lowest setting of 20hz) the vibration apprently aids muscle tone.

got pilates on thursday evenign and the power plate again on saturday, I’ll let ye know how my legs get on tomorrow :smiley:

Phaze
on the “housemate has heat on again, le sigh, it’s bad enough I have to put up with the weight in work” ID

#780

Weekly check-in: Lost 3 pounds this week, which is the two steps forward to the one step back of the last 2 weeks. Hmm… that’s awfully unclear. Rephrase: I gained 2 pounds over the last 2 weeks and this week lost 3, so I’ve come out ahead once again.

I’ve mentioned that I’ve been getting really bored on the stationary bike. Thankfully, the doctor says I can start trying to run again this week. Have to keep it to 20 minutes on the arc trainer for now but it is a good start.

The bad news is that I have to get another steroid shot on Friday. Stupid foot. Two steps forward, one step back, indeed.

But I had a great week and I am going to do my best to make it happen again!