Project 42 – “Ronnie Lott” – Week 9…

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OK…  This is becoming a habit!  I am actually exercising every day (almost) without thinking too much about it.  🙂  I must write more so I can remember the workouts better.  Today, I took a video “spinning” class…  It was great!  I started off with a warm up to soft music with a very “fit” guy on his bike guiding me through a meditation type warm up and ended up riding through the clouds to new age music with his soft, encouraging voice saying “keep going” and “your doing great”…  I think I am in love with this guy!  😉  I felt kind of silly and looked over my shoulder a few times to see if anyone was watching me enjoy his soothing voice.  However, the groove I was in was soon eclipsed by the pain in my butt…  I did not have any riding (padded) shorts on so the mounting agony forced me to say goodbye to “Mr Wonderful” and move to the recumbent after 25 minutes.  Maybe I’ll get some serious padding and try a real spinning class soon at the other gym.

So, I finished with another 25 minutes on the recumbent and kept the Watts between 233 and 245 with the heart rate varying between 137 and 145.  Also, I did 3 sets of 10 reps on all the upper body machines which are set up quite nicely to get through quickly.  I had a little shoulder pain from the chest/shoulder reps but I can reduce the pain significantly by lifting more slowly and doing a few less reps.  Let’s see if I can recall the previous week:

Yesterday (4-26), Hard skating for 45 minutes at the ice rink with a few rests.  (Training for a return to ice hockey soon)

Tuesday (4-25), Elliptical machine for 45 minutes.

Monday (4-24), Elliptical machine for 45 minutes.

Friday (4-21), Went surfing for 2 hours.  Lots of paddling but not sustained heart rate training.

Thurs (4-20), Elliptical machine for 45 minutes.  3 sets of 10 reps on most of the upper body machines.

NEVER QUIT!!!

Running Health History…

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A quote that I liked from “Born to Run” by Christopher McDougall…  McDougall quoting Dr. Daniel Lieberman, a professor of biological anthropology at Harvard University:  “Humans really are obligatorily required to do aerobic exercise in order to stay healthy, and I think that has deep roots in our evolutionary history.  If there’s any magic bullet to make human beings healthy, it’s to run.”

Project 42 – “Ronnie Lott” – Week 8 also…

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OK…  I am ready for one of those shows like “So You Think You Can Dance.”  I danced like a champ on the elliptical yesterday for 45 minutes in the late morning because I wanted to sleep through my planned early run.  For some reason, I lose feeling in my toes when I’m on the elliptical meaning blood is not flowing in my feet very well.  I tried staying on the balls of my feet but I think it was too late.  I will monitor that…  I also did some weight lifting afterward which felt good since I hadn’t done that in a long time.  I used the machines and went at a fast pace; 3 sets, 8-12 reps, upper body only…

Today, I ran on the treadmill and I realized that my form and stride are totally erratic!  Since you are stationary (or supposed to be) on that thing, you can easily tell when you speed up or slow down or wobble because you have stationary references all around you.  I can see how the treadmill can help you have a consistent stride and good form at any particular speed.  Hopefully, I will get better the more I use it and maybe it will help me run more smoothly and gently out on the roads.  I think I did get better by the end of the 45 minutes today.  Music helped here also…

I struggle with the consistency thing…  My brother tells me to make it so easy that you can’t blow it off.  However, I want/need feedback and to feel like I did some WORK!  This is what motivates me because it makes me feel really good…  I think I have enough reasons in my brain to NOT blow off the exercise like seeing my kids every morning, feeling good all over, and positive feedback from friends.  Also, I want to run!  I am reading “Born to Run” by Christopher McDougall (about 3/4 done) and this book is inspirational and makes me want to run.  It is still a battle in my brain every day though so he may be right…  Right now, I want to keep working hard and I will make that stick so it can spill over into all aspects of my life.  Work HARD and Play HARD is how I want to live…

Project 42 – “Ronnie Lott” – Week 8

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OK…  I blew off another week.  This is becoming a pattern unlike the pattern I set out to create.  On week 6, I went to the gym twice and ran 4 miles one day.  My calves did not hurt too much during the run but they hurt for several days after.  The run was difficult but I felt good for getting out and doing it…  The pain in my calves kept me away from going to the gym again or running again.  Hopefully, they are getting stronger but I need to be more consistent so I can stop blowing off exercise due to work pressure, pain, etc…

I need to get up early and exercise in the morning.  Last week I had my gym bag with me almost every day but could not bring myself to go to the gym because of work deadlines and once I get going at work the day goes by so fast that I never get enough done…  I need to get to bed earlier and exercise first thing in the morning to be consistent.  I am going to bed early tonight and running in the morning (or going to Gym if raining).

STOP Targeting!

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I am absolutely sick and tired of seeing exercise tips on TV and magazines that are recommended on the basis of “problem areas”. You women are constantly given these bogus tips for the backs of the arms, hips and mid section. Tried em yet? Didn’t work, did they? That’s because the real true information all these companies and products fail to tell you is that you can’t spot reduce fat on your body. The reason your arms are flabby and you have big thighs and butt is not because the muscles in those areas are soft or drooping – it’s because there is a large amount of FAT there. Actively recruited muscles burn fat. They do not burn fat from specific areas of your body. Let me say that again…

MUSCLES DO NOT BURN FAT FROM SPECIFIC AREAS OF YOUR BODY.

Let me also state that no muscle group in the body should be focused on at the expense of all the others. ALL the muscles in your body need to be trained. ALL the muscles in your body need to be strong. By focusing on certain areas of the body you put your muscles out of strength balance. You also rob yourself of the greatest possible elevation of your metabolism which is what you need to burn the fat.

However, this fat burning process will only happen if you have a calorie deficit in your body by way of diet (intake) vs activity (output). The more muscles you use in your workouts, the more fat and energy you will use. Strength training will break down the muscles and cause them to adapt to lifting heavier weights. This adaptive recovery process uses energy and burns calories. This process takes place primarily at night while you sleep. So if you want to burn maximum number of calories while you sleep at night then you better be working out with heavy weights (this means a weight you can lift at least 8 times but no more than 12) and using all the major muscle groups in your body. The reason these companies and products keep leading you to believe these lies is because they know it will fail and keep bringing you back to purchase the next product they plan to roll out. So stop listening to all the plastic looking models posing as trainers on TV, and start listening to the facts.