Exercise Thread: May

[Greta]

Could anyone recommend a good fitness podcast?  I'd like something interesting and motivational to listen to while I walk or do cardio.  I tried the Jillian Michaels podcast, but it seems to mostly be chit-chat with friends, and not actual fitness information.  Any better suggestions?

[Snickerdoodle]

Moveskill

 

Move Smart

 

Acrolibrary

 

Katie Bowman

 

 

 

Edited May 23, 2016 by Snickerdoodle

[Snickerdoodle]

Art of Manliness had two episodes I really liked  #183 and #187

[Laurie4b]

Thank you, Snickerdoodle, that was very interesting!  This video illustrates something that I think is really important, but I'm not sure I have the right words to express it.  What he does in that video is functional movements which, like you said, move his joints through a full range of motion.  But they do so NATURALLY, through the power of the muscles in those joints.  He is not using any forces external to the joint to move the joint.

 

I'm not sure that makes sense, so let me give a specific example.  Near the beginning of the routine, he is standing up, and he does some trunk twists.  He uses ONLY the muscles of his trunk in order to twist his trunk.  That's awesome.  But that's not what happens in every single yoga or stretching class that I've ever been to.  What happens in those classes is that you use the power of your arms to grab a hold of something (such as your hips) and PULL your trunk deeper into the twist than where your trunk can go naturally.  That is decidedly NOT awesome.  (IMO)  

 

I think it is potentially dangerous to use an "outside" force to move a joint further than it can move through the power of it's own "internal" forces.  And yet that's standard operating procedure in every single yoga and stretching class I have ever been to, 100% of them, zero exceptions.  I'm going to watch more of his videos, and see if I can put together a . . . what should we call it?  A "functional movements" routine?  I'd be all about that.  I would LOVE a class like that.  I would attend often.  But "stretching", in my experience, isn't about functional movements at all, it's about forcing joints past the point of functionality, and I question the wisdom of that.

 

 

(Edited to correct an errant comma.)

 

 

You might find that Classical Stretch is a good fit for you. If you go to the website, there is even one specifically geared to posture. 

 

And that stretch that I linked for the trapezius is a functional stretch. I don't use my hand, just let gravity pull on my head which gently stretches the trap.

Edited May 23, 2016 by Laurie4b

[Laurie4b]

I have done Supercharged Workout B for the 2nd time but finished it with intervals. Am currently whooped. As I'm typing, I realized that I didn't do the planks with it, so they are still on tap. But the rest is DONE! Yay!

[Greta]

Moveskill

 

Move Smart

 

Acrolibrary

 

Katie Bowman

 

 

Thank you!  I downloaded an episode of each to check them out.

[Greta]

You might find that Classical Stretch is a good fit for you. If you go to the website, there is even one specifically geared to posture. 

 

And that stretch that I linked for the trapezius is a functional stretch. I don't use my hand, just let gravity pull on my head which gently stretches the trap.

 

 

Thanks, Laurie!  You know, I think someone had recommended Classical Stretch for me before, and I don't remember now why I never followed through on trying it out.  But I'm going to do that.  That posture video looks great, so I bet the others are too.

[Greta]

40 minutes of moderate cardio today.  It wasn't what I planned, but I felt like it was what I needed.  Maybe I need to do less planning, and more moving.  :)

[Laurie4b]

40 minutes of moderate cardio today.  It wasn't what I planned, but I felt like it was what I needed.  Maybe I need to do less planning, and more moving.   :)

 

Glad that you did what it felt like you needed. And 40 min of cardio is just fine especially with tomorrow as a heavy lifting day. 

 

For me, if I do not plan, I do not have nearly the "hit" rate as when I do plan. At least if I've planned 3 days of strength training, for instance, I will nearly always get in 2 days. If I have not really planned, it could be 1 day. 

[Pink and Green Mom]

57 minutes of glutes today.  Yikes.

[Greta]

Glad that you did what it felt like you needed. And 40 min of cardio is just fine especially with tomorrow as a heavy lifting day. 

 

For me, if I do not plan, I do not have nearly the "hit" rate as when I do plan. At least if I've planned 3 days of strength training, for instance, I will nearly always get in 2 days. If I have not really planned, it could be 1 day. 

 

 

I think I need to find the right balance of planning and flexibility!  You're right, planning is good because I think I accomplish more when I do it. But also, life happens, and in my life a lot of migraines happen.  So I have to be able to go with the flow to a certain extent too.  

[Greta]

57 minutes of glutes today.  Yikes.

 

 

Wow, I've never done a whole hour of glutes before!  It sounds . . . ouch.  :lol:  But I feel like I do more quad stuff than hams/glutes stuff, so I should take a lesson from you.

[Greta]

I had a good workout today.  The first time I did squats with the 45-pound bar, I got so sore it was hard to walk for days.  So I stayed at that weight for awhile, because I wanted to make sure my body had adjusted.  So today was the first time that I tried more weight.  It wasn't much more, but it was enough to feel a sense of progress and accomplishment!  Also, because of my trapezius pain, I had not been able to do deadlifts lately.  But thanks to Laurie teaching me how to put my shoulders in my back pocket, I was able to do them today with slightly lighter weight, and no pain!  Thank you Laurie!  I also did overhead press for shoulders, curls for biceps, and kickbacks for triceps.  And walked two miles with my dogs.

[Laurie4b]

Light day: walked 45 min with a friend and dh. 

 

Tomorrow is a heavy day: Zumba and lifting.

[Laurie4b]

Supercharged Workout A Basic I 3rd time plus Zumba. Beat. 

[Greta]

Went to my circuit training class today, and did 20 minutes of cardio afterward to make it a full hour.

[Laurie4b]

I am guessing that today ends up being a rest day though I am doing plenty of "running around" getting ready for a graduation. 

 

Tomorrow will be weights and hiking, or at least hiking. (Meeting up with a friend.) 

[Greta]

I did 20 minutes of run/walk intervals.

[Laurie4b]

Hiked 1 1/2 hours with a friend. Good thing we had set up a hiking date b/c I got home from work and really just wanted to veg on the couch, but it was a good hike. Saw a copperhead though. At first I thought someone had chopped off its head because the head seemed to be missing, then I realized the head was all distorted because it was eating. Ugh. Other than that, it was good!

 

Tomorrow, I need to do weight lifting and maybe a hike though it's supposed to be pretty warm. 

[Greta]

Copperheads are so creepy.  Once when I was a kid, my brothers and I were messing around at a creek on my grandparent's property.  I was walking through some tallish grass, and my brother called out something to me, so I stopped to answer him.  When I went to resume, I looked down, and there was a huge copperhead curled up in the grass just inches in front of me.  If my brother hadn't caused me to pause, I would have stepped right on it.  Miraculously enough, I didn't scream, or panic, or do anything crazy.  I just backed away until I'd put a comfortable distance between us.  When I told the grownups about it later, they insisted it was just a gartersnake and I only thought it was a copperhead because I was scared.  I know the freakin difference between a gartersnake and a copperhead!  I'd had a run-in with a coachwhip once too and I didn't insist it was a rattlesnake!  :lol:  But snakes do creep me out, and I generally try NOT to get close enough to tell what kind it is!

 

Anyway, I had a rest day.  Not by choice, but by migraine mandate.  I did go for a little walk this morning, and I'm about to go on another one with hubby.  That will have to do.

[Laurie4b]

Completed my 6th workout in New Rules of Lifting Supercharged. Tried a new plank variation, did weighted jump squats, RDLs, push-ups, weighted lunges (how I loathe thee), and eccentric pull-ups and rows. I was going to try some foam rolling tonight, but am too beat. (I started the workout late--didn't finish till 9:00. 

 

So I am halfway through Basic Training I. (There are 4 levels of basic training before you move on to the next phase of hypertrophy.) I will be excited when I finish stage 1, though it will be a challenge because I will be out of town. I'm looking into various gym options for when I travel. 

[Snickerdoodle]

If anyone wants to join us at the WTM exercise FB, just pm me.  We are having fun there too!  It's a closed, "secret", group so no one else can see the posts. 

[Laurie4b]

Rest day here. What are the rest of you doing today? 

[Slache]

If anyone wants to join us at the WTM exercise FB, just pm me. We are having fun there too! It's a closed, "secret", group so no one else can see the posts.

Shush. You took my people so I got more people. Stop taking my people!

[Snickerdoodle]

Shush. You took my people so I got more people. Stop taking my people!

 

 

Come.

[Slache]

Come.

I don't have a Facebook, otherwise I would be totally there!

[Snickerdoodle]

Join just for the group.  You don't have to  erm, do the whole FB thang.   I don't for the most part.

[KathyBC]

1 hr. Zumba Exhilarate on Friday, 30 min. Toning on Sat., 30 min. Sentao today.

 

This past week at work if I found myself getting sore, I did a quick run-through of the total body stretches and it really helped.

[gardenmom5]

I didn't do as good - I only did yoga four times - but I was also working in my yard for two+ hours a day nearly every day.  on a slope.  hot baths are good for sore muscles.

 

I'm almost done planting one bed.  (2 doz plants on Saturday.  and that was an easier day since I only had a few odds and ends weeds to pull.)  my dd said she has eight foxglove coming up in her lawn, and I'm welcome to come get it.  so, I can add those.  then I will be pulling yarrow and wild violets from along the driveway and putting them in the bed. then pray everything does well and I can stay ahead of the weeds.

[Laurie4b]

Finished my Supercharged workout minus the last set of single-leg deadlifts and push-ups. My shoulder felt a bit tweaked, but seems to have recovered, so now I need to decide whether or not to just call it "good!"  :tongue_smilie:

 

Dh and I are planning a 1 hour walk.

[PinkTulip]

I went to the gym and walked for an hour on the treadmill and did some arm and core strength / weight stuff.

 

I really want to lose 10 pounds this summer, so I am trying to do some kind of cardio or strength every day, and really focus on my food. I bought a food scale today at BBB, so hopefully that will help me see if I am underestimating what I eat.

[Laurie4b]

I have a question for all of you: I am trying to ramp up my flexibility work, and I'm trying to figure out what I should cover. I have been doing stretches for areas where I am typically tight: hamstring stretches, upper trapezius stretch, and a shoulder stretch. At Zumba we do more, but that's what I cover after a strength-training workout. I sometimes do cat/cow, but mostly only if my back feels tight that day.

 

What else should I add? I am planning on adding quad stretch and piriformus (Figure 4 stretch). Any others you consider "must-do's?" 

 

[Greta]

I've had a rough couple of days with regard to exercise and movement.  I have piriformis syndrome which flares up from time to time (been this way my entire adult life).  Usually when it flares up, I'll just do the exercises my physical therapist gave me a dozen or so times over the course of a few hours, and it's all better.  This time it didn't seem to be helping much, so I decided to try some piriformis stretches, and that made it profoundly worse.  Went from painful to agonizing.  I could hardly put any weight on my right leg, and I was shuffling around using these tiny three inch steps, with stiff knees and hips.  It hit me last night that I was walking like C-3PO!  :lol:  But walking is all that I can do right now.  Lifting weights is out of the question, and even using the AMT machine makes it worse.  Walking does, slowly but surely, loosen it up.  So I walked about 4 miles a day the last couple of days -- four very slow and difficult miles, but I did it!  It seems a little better so far today, and I hope that trend continues.

 

If I would just do my physical therapy exercises every single day without fail, I could probably prevent most of these flare-ups.  But when I get to feeling better, I tend to forget.  :(  So it's my own fault.

[Laurie4b]

I've had a rough couple of days with regard to exercise and movement.  I have piriformis syndrome which flares up from time to time (been this way my entire adult life).  Usually when it flares up, I'll just do the exercises my physical therapist gave me a dozen or so times over the course of a few hours, and it's all better.  This time it didn't seem to be helping much, so I decided to try some piriformis stretches, and that made it profoundly worse.  Went from painful to agonizing.  I could hardly put any weight on my right leg, and I was shuffling around using these tiny three inch steps, with stiff knees and hips.  It hit me last night that I was walking like C-3PO!   :lol:  But walking is all that I can do right now.  Lifting weights is out of the question, and even using the AMT machine makes it worse.  Walking does, slowly but surely, loosen it up.  So I walked about 4 miles a day the last couple of days -- four very slow and difficult miles, but I did it!  It seems a little better so far today, and I hope that trend continues.

 

If I would just do my physical therapy exercises every single day without fail, I could probably prevent most of these flare-ups.  But when I get to feeling better, I tend to forget.   :(  So it's my own fault.

 

So sorry! That is discouraging, but it's best to rest and heal. You can get back on track after recovering. In the future, would it be helpful if we periodically ask you how your piriformis exercises are coming along? 

[Greta]

So sorry! That is discouraging, but it's best to rest and heal. You can get back on track after recovering. In the future, would it be helpful if we periodically ask you how your piriformis exercises are coming along? 

 

 

Aw, thanks, Laurie!  You're the best.  I should be a grown-up and figure out a way to remember it myself, but yes that would be great!  :D

[Laurie4b]

Aw, thanks, Laurie!  You're the best.  I should be a grown-up and figure out a way to remember it myself, but yes that would be great!   :D

 

I think a lot of us grown-ups benefit from a supportive community so that we are not left entirely to our own devices! ;)

[Slache]

Aw, thanks, Laurie! You're the best. I should be a grown-up and figure out a way to remember it myself, but yes that would be great! :D

I would do it the minute I get out of bed, or even in bed if possible, or before I go to bed. You wake up and go to bed every day without fail so that should work.

[Greta]

I think a lot of us grown-ups benefit from a supportive community so that we are not left entirely to our own devices! ;)

 

 

:001_smile:

[Greta]

I would do it the minute I get out of bed, or even in bed if possible, or before I go to bed. You wake up and go to bed every day without fail so that should work.

 

Excellent idea!  I've tried to make it part of my workout routine, but my workout routine varies every day, so it didn't seem to "stick".  But waking up and going to bed are things that I do, without fail, every single day.  So it makes a lot more sense to tie it to those.  Thanks!

[Laurie4b]

1 hour walk with dh. 

Edited May 31, 2016 by Laurie4b