Homegrown Thoughts

Sunday, April 6, 2008 - Feeling proud of myself today

Posted in Weighty Issues

I finally got back to the Y to work out today.  It's been a couple of weeks due to me being sick (again!), but I made it back.  I thought it might be less busy on a Sunday, but there were quite a lot of people there.  I really enjoy going during the week in the daytime best.  The place is a mess right now because they're in the middle of remodeling different areas of the building, which will last all summer.  After my initial confusion about where I was supposed to stash my stuff, I got down to business.  First, I did 10 minutes on the Cybex.  This is the machine that I could maybe do 2 minutes on before I did the 10 week fitness challenge.  10 minutes was fine, I used it as a warm up.   Then I did the circuit machines.  I hadn't done them since the 10 weeks, so I was curious to see what I could do.  Not knowing where to start other than where I left off, I increased the weight on each one by one increment, so it depended on the machine.  I then did 2 or 3 sets where before I mostly did only one.  There were a couple of machines that I couldn't quite eek out all the reps on, but I definitely did more than I had before.  I added a little ab work at the end. I then moved on to my favorite elliptical machine.  After first choosing one that had a broken holder which caused my water bottle to fall right through and spill half its contents on the floor, I began.  I was in for a rude awakening.  I have now learned that my favorite machine isn't nearly as much fun after doing the circuit, LOL.  My legs were hating me.  After the first 4 minutes at a lower intensity, the higher intensity 4 minutes started and I was pretty sure I was going to fall off the machine.  It was SO hard.  I decided I'd make it through that segment and then stop because I obviously needed to work up to it after my exercise lapse.  It would have been so easy to do that.  But I gave myself a little pep talk and decided I'd continue on unless I actually did fall off.  When the next 'hard' segment hit, I lowered the resistance from 7 (!) to 3 so I could get through it and kept pushing through.  In the end, I did the entire program - 35 minutes.  I really am proud of myself for doing it!  I'm really good at making excuses to quit and I didn't  give in this time! I haven't decided if I'm going again tomorrow or not.  If I do, I'll just do cardio.  My kids are voting to go because they like going to the child care.  What do they care that mom's legs might fall off?  ;-)  We'll see how I feel tomorrow.  I would like to get back into my M-W-F routine.  Hopefully I'm done getting these persistent colds!

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Saturday, March 22, 2008 - Notes on my fitness challenge class

Posted in Weighty Issues

It's over!  Woohoo!  I mean, it was good...but going to exercise 6 days a week and follow a diet (ok, I didn't really follow it *perfectly*) 6 days a week...it wears on a gal! We had our end-of-session party tonight and received our before and after pictures. Mine were a bit disappointing.  I had hoped for more visible results.  And really, since the two sets of pictures were taken from very different distances, it's almost impossible to really compare them.  I didn't have such dramatic results that they showed under those circumstances anyway.  But I do know my clothes are fitting looser and I'm more fit and have a lot more endurance, so I'm happy with that. Here are my results after the 10 weeks: Weight - down 3.5 lbs. (I know, sad isn't it?!?) Chest - down 1.5 inches Waist - down 4.5 inches Arm - down .5 inch Thigh - down .5 inch Hips - down 3 inches Body fat % - down 1.1% (again, quite pathetic!) Sit-ups in 1 minute - increase from 22 to 50 Push-ups in 1 minute - increase from 19 to 33 Sit & reach flexibility - increase 1.5 inches A couple of caveats. First of all, muscle weighs more than fat.  I keep telling myself that, LOL.  Second of all, the first time I was weighed and measured, it was 6 am.  My final measurements were taken at 6 pm.  So there was bound to be some fluctuation due to that. When I weighed today, I was down a pound from what I weighed in at, so...well, it's hard to pin down a number because I go up and down a pound or two all the time.  Lastly, I didn't really stretch before my final test so I could have gone farther on the sit and reach if I had.  I've always felt very inflexible, so the improvement there was pretty exciting! Anyway, that's how things - and I - shaped up.  I see this as just a kick start because I'm definitely not where I want to be yet!  But I'm headed in the right direction.  Next week, it's back to the Y!      Technorati Tags: fitness, exercise

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