40+ Club - Fall Fitness Fanatics

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  • alf1163
    alf1163 Posts: 3,143 Member
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    Safe travels Cardigirl!!! Enjoy your time away with family. :drinker:

    :flowerforyou:
  • Swissmiss
    Swissmiss Posts: 8,754 Member
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    :flowerforyou: Cardigirl...you have a safe trip. Don't overdue your foods but enjoy yourself also.

    :flowerforyou: zebras, I can't imagine doing the highest incline. Wow, your legs must look great. I bought a Polar F6 HRM when I got my income tax back this year. I love it. I also ways wear it when exercising. Not only can I keep an eye on my heart rate, but it shows me just how many calories I have burned.
  • Texssippian
    Texssippian Posts: 235
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    Ok. All the talk about treadmills and inclines versus speed changes made me get off my backside and get on the treadmill. I like to alternate 90 seconds of high incline (I've made it up to 8) with higher higher speeds (4 mph becuase I don't like to run). Yea! It was fun.

    Brother-in-law still waiting for a liver at Ochsner in New Orleans. The golf course where he works (although not right now) is have a benefit golf tournament for him. You can read about it at www.carlspackler.org . The tournament is based on the Bill Murray character in Caddy Shack. Sound like it will be a lot of fun.

    Need to go make a Wally World (Walmart) run. Hope everyone has a happy weekend! TxMs
  • tron3002
    tron3002 Posts: 440 Member
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    Well I'm gonna start working on the incline with the treadmill. When ever we go hiking its the hills that just kill me.

    Cardigirl... Have a great trip. Enjoy!!!!:smile:

    Alf... So am I understanding you correctly? No rest day? Your a work out aholic. :laugh:
  • alf1163
    alf1163 Posts: 3,143 Member
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    Tron, yes, I am MUY LOCA!!!! :laugh: 11 miles today with my husband, it was insanely hot and humid. I was ready to quit the second I stepped out of the house. We walked our last 3 miles. 8am is way too late to do this, especially here in San Antonio, crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :noway: We passed a vulture that was eeying us...:laugh: :noway: It was waiting for one of us to pass out. My husband said it wanted him because he has more meat on his bones. :laugh:

    Tex, I checked out the website. It brought tears to my eyes. Your brother in law sounds like a great guy. That was nice what Nathan said about him giving his shirt off his back for anyone. Is there a way to donate online with a credit card? I really hope he gets the help he needs soon. :heart:

    Have a great weekend!!! :flowerforyou:
  • duffyzmom
    duffyzmom Posts: 644 Member
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    :drinker: :drinker: Had a great day for a race and finished my 10 miler almost 7 minutes faster than my goal. Chip Time! 1:37:54 :drinker: :drinker:
  • alf1163
    alf1163 Posts: 3,143 Member
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    I was thinking about you this morning. I couldnt wait to hear from you. CONGRATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :drinker: :drinker: :drinker: :drinker: That is awesome time!!!!! How did you feel while running? How do you feel now? You must feel awesome!! How did you exactly train for it? There is a 10 miler in Sep at the Ft Sam Houston. I know my husband does not want to do it because he only wants to do the half marathon in Nov. But I would love to do it myself to challenge myself. Take care and get some rest! :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou:
  • duffyzmom
    duffyzmom Posts: 644 Member
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    Actually - I felt great most of the race - probably twice I started feeling drained and then I took a GU and within minutes I was getting my second wind (It helped that I washed the second one down with a nice beer donated by one of the cheering sections :drinker:) All in all it was a perfect race day the temp at start was around 60degrees with little or no humidity. It seemed like every time I felt warm there was a nice person with a hose spraying along the route. As far as training goes - this race was part of my half training 6 weeks till my half so it worked out pretty well into the schedule. I am using my old running room training schedule which requires tempo, hill, steady and long runs. Today I feel great so I probably could have pushed a little more yesterday but since my main goal is the upcoming half marathon - I didn't want to risk any injury and I tend to get injuried when I push closer to a 9 minute mile.
  • singfree
    singfree Posts: 1,591 Member
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    Good Morning!!! I'm back from Beantown. As they say, "It was wicked hot"!! We were concerned that we would get a lot of rain due to Hurricane Bill (not him, the other blowhard)...but I digress. We took the train to Boston from Salem on Saturday morning. It was hot and steamy even in the morning. We walked to Bunker Hill and climbed the 300 steps to the top of the monument. I had a Nike Coolmax shirt on and I was drenched with sweat. My wife withers in the heat so we had to find as much shade as possible. We spent the day downtown checking out the sights. Boston was crowded, onot unusual for a summer Saturday. It was nice to watch the ships in the harbor and on the Charles River. We saw something unique on the Charles River...an Italian Gondola (like in Venice)!!! There is a company that gives rides on the river (Italian songs and all)!!

    This week I start month 2 of Insanity. I feel like a stuffed pig after the weekend.

    I'm just catching up on the earlier posts. Alf & Stiring, I felt the same way about P90X. I needed some more cardio. If you've come from a cardio-heavy background, you'll feel as though you are not getting enough. As far as the weights goes, at the end of the workout, your muscles should be totally exhausted. The number of sets involved should be plenty of strength training, or you may not be lifting enough weight. Either that or you are super ripped already!!! I suspect that you are both very fit and strong and you will benefit from the extra added weight. If you find that during the workout you are lifting too much to maintain good form, cut back a bit on the weight and see what happens.

    Alf, it's nice to see that your husband took the initiative about running. Maybe he is beginning to see fitness from your perspective. BTW, alf, we are all a bit crazy...but if being healthy and fit is craziness, bring it on!!

    Tron, I rarely take a true "rest" day from exercise. I might walk or take a bike ride on the "off" day. You will benefit from the added incline on the treadmill. It will help your hiking tremendously.

    Cardi, we had a great time in your neck of the woods this weekend. No Chowda, but I had a few Harpoon and Sam Adams Oktoberfest beers. Wicked good!

    We will have a small visitor on Tue & Wed (Grandson). I hope I can work in my Insanity while he's with us.

    Have a great day!

    Duffy, way to go on your run!!! You are doing great!
  • StiringWendel
    StiringWendel Posts: 3,813 Member
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    Good Morning!

    Welcome back, singfree! I'm glad you had a good time in Boston and didn't get hit too badly by Hurricane Bill. Last time I was in New England, we got hit by the after effects of Katrina.....and, boy, did it rain. :noway:

    duffy, great job on the run! I'm really happy to hear everything went well for you.

    I had a busy weekend, but I was able to get in a great workout yesterday. I did P90X Chest/Back for the second time. My goal was to increase the number of reps on all my pushups and the band work/pullups....and I did! I ended up doing 258 pushups during the hour, all on my toes. I'm feeling it a bit this morning in the back of my arms, but not too badly. I also, as singfree recommended, upped my weights in the areas where weights are used, and that seemed to help. I also started incorporating more of the advanced moves in Ab Ripper X. And, finally, I added an hour of cardio at the end of all that. To put it mildly, I felt well worked out....but it was a 2.5 hour workout!

    Today I'm doing PlyoX, and, as with Chest/Back, I'm hoping the second time through allows me to up the intensity.

    singfree, thanks for the feedback on this program. I think I'm going to start adding cardio when/where I can (in other words, when I have the time to do it, like yesterday). I also think I have to get used to the idea that to lift heavier weights means finishing much earlier than the people on the DVD. I'm not used to standing around and watching my workout DVDs :laugh: but in order to lift heavier weights in this section of the program, that is what I will probably be doing. I will try that tomorrow when I do shoulders/arms and see how that feels for me.

    Ate well all weekend...though I had a couple of glasses of wine. I'm in the process of upping my protein and taking down the carbs a bit. I'll have to play around with that some more if I start adding more cardio to the P90X equation, of course.

    I went shopping for clothes on Saturday....and bought quite a few things. :blushing: And expensive things (like business suits and a cocktail dress) at this size. I was near panicky as I was checking out, thinking to myself 'This is commitment now!' I have been buying clothes under about $20 per item since losing the weight, and these were my first major purchases at this weight. I kept saying to myself over and over again, 'I'm going to keep the weight off, I'm going to keep the weight off...' It is surprising me how something as simple as having nice clothing that I can wear is working as an incentive. Now I just need to get rid of all my bigger clothing (which I haven't done yet). Baby steps I suppose.

    Hope everybody has a great day! :flowerforyou:
  • zebras
    zebras Posts: 600
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    Stiring:

    Its supposed to be very helpful to get rid of those too large clothes. This way, if the new stuff gets tight, you have nothing to wear but uncomfortable clothes, and its a bigger incentive to lose it again. I have been following that rule, and have given away a lot of clothes. Now I had promised myself not to spend a lot of money as I get smaller on the in-between sizes, but I got so excited that I could shop in non-plus size stores, that I have bought a lot of things at this size, my closet is fuller than ever. When I put away my summer things, I will be thinking about when I pull them out next Summer, that they will just be way too big, and I will have to buy all new stuff!

    I know you will not need those bigger clothes ever again, because we can all see the huge commitment you have made to staying healthy.
  • singfree
    singfree Posts: 1,591 Member
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    Stiring, when I finish sooner than the cd, I usually fast-forward to the next exercise. It's easier when I put the cd in my Mac. When I do pushup-pullup days, I have to pause the cd because my pullup bar is in the garage. The neighbors must think that I'm crazy running back and forth to the garage every 2 minutes!

    I think we are cut from the same mold. Even when I do Insanity, I still walk 3 miles at lunch and do a bike ride in the evening. I don't feel as though I've accomplished anything unless I am completely drained. I will let you know how month 2 of Insanity goes starting tonight. The workouts are supposed to be around 50 % longer and more intense.

    Alf, how are you doing with the P90X nutrition plan?
  • StiringWendel
    StiringWendel Posts: 3,813 Member
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    zebras, thanks for your vote of confidence! I, too, have heard that it is best to get rid of bigger clothes as you lose weight so you don't have an easy 'fall back' in place. I was planning on starting to do that a few months ago, but when I told my husband, he cautioned me to wait about six months 'just in case'. I think that vote of less-than-high confidence has really stuck with me, making me question my ability to maintain this weight more than my husband himself does now. But when I think about it logically instead of emotionally, I can't see why I would gain back the weight because I literally have absolutely no desire to go back to eating the way I used to. I, quite simply, just feel so much better, so why would I do something that would make me feel worse?

    singfree, we are definitely cut from the same mold. I love the 'completely drained' feeling. In addition to my workouts, I walk for at least two hours a day. But I don't count that as working out because, for me, it is actually more relaxation. That's when I get the chance to listen to music on my iPod or, more often than not lately, listen to all of the podcasts and audiobooks about fitness and nutrition that are impacting how I live my life so much these days. I just love the feeling at the end of the day, though, that I've actually done something physical with my body.

    I'm anxious to hear about Round 2 of Insanity. Every opinion I've read on this program is a positive one. I can't wait to do it.

    And I am laughing at the image of you running back and forth from your garage every couple of minutes when doing P90X. You're right....the neighbors must love that. :laugh:

    I did P90X Plyometrics this morning. It felt about the same as it did last week, which is good. I followed it up, though, with a killer cardio/lower body strength circuit workout, which was like a big ole cherry on top of an already tough workout day. I definitely felt 'completely drained' afterwards. :tongue: Tomorrow is my favorite workout--shoulders/arms--so I'm looking forward to that!
  • alf1163
    alf1163 Posts: 3,143 Member
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    Stiring and Sing, you are both insane!!! :laugh: :laugh: I love to exercise but I don't see myself exercising all day long like that. Where do you get all the time and energy to do all that. And believe I have energy!! :noway: I cannot top that at all. My husband and I went out for a short jog/run this morning, 4.5miles. I challenged him to pick up the pace especially at the end. He did very well. I was going to do Plyo this afternoon but my son will be coming home from school soon and I have a lot of things to do around the house. I was thinking about doing plyo tomorrow after shoulders/arms and ab ripper. But I am not sure since I have to get my son ready to school and wait for his bus to pick him up by 8:10am and then go to work. :grumble: What do you guys think? Oh, wait, you guys are insane so why am I asking? :laugh: :laugh: I know the answer...:tongue:

    Sing, I am not really sure how I am doing with the P90X nutrition plan. I am not really doing it. :laugh: I think 50% protein is way too high. Then I was doing 40-30-30 but realized that the second phase is 40-40-20 so I changed that. I keep going over my fat allowance and under carbs and protein, especially protein. It is so hard for me to balance it out. Stiring, are you increasing your protein over 30% or 40%. Why is that? With all the cardio you do... Last week I weighed myself a couple of times and it looked like I was steadily increasing my weight, highest was 128.4 but then I weighed myself this morning and it is back to where I want it, 125.8, so not bad. Body feels the same and clothes are fitting the same. Of course, it has only been a week of the X so I am not expecting to see a lot of changes yet.

    Have a great evening! :flowerforyou:
  • singfree
    singfree Posts: 1,591 Member
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    Alf, I think that you can do plyo tomorrow if you have the energy. I don't think that P90X plyo is too difficult. As far as the 50% protein goes, I think that they are having you up protein to accelerate fat loss. But since you are also running, 40% might be more realistic for you. You will need some extra carb for cardio work. You seem to have a very good handle on nutrition, so just listen to your body and play it by ear. Common sense is always the best way!!

    Stiring!!! I don't think of walking as exercise either!!! It's just a nice way of relaxing and killing time during my lunch hour at work.

    I started month 2 of Insanity today. First was the bi-weekly "fit test". That takes about 30 minutes and is a nice little workout in itself. After that I did the Max Interval Circuit, which takes an hour. It is a TOUGH workout!!! Fast paced and difficult exercises keeps you grunting, panting, sweating (or swearing). Did I say it was tough???? Wow, a great workout, probably burns close to 1000 cals. "Nuff said!!!
  • zebras
    zebras Posts: 600
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    Dear Friends:

    Just hearing about your workouts is inspiring me a lot. I ate badly at work today, so I promised myself I would do my elliptical machine plus a full hour on the treadmill. I have been building up the elliptical by 2 minutes each visit, but I wasn't sure what I did last night, so I did 38 minutes (should have done 36), and then I started the treadmill. Not too long into it, I started thinking I really didn't need to do the full hour, I worked hard, I definitely had made up for enough calories to eat badly at dinner, too. Then I thought about all the crazy workouts you all have built yourself up too, and I told myself that I can do it, there was no reason for me to stop before I reached my goal, and it worked! So, thanks, all. 98 minutes with an average heart rate of 142!
  • StiringWendel
    StiringWendel Posts: 3,813 Member
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    zebras, good for you! Just remember to listen to your body, though. If your body is saying 'I can't take it any more' and your mind is saying 'But I ate a donut, I have to keep going'....listen to your body! You are doing amazingly well, and I love your 'I can do this!' attitude. :flowerforyou:

    alf, I've always worked out hard. It has been my hobby of choice for two decades now. When I stopped working full time back in 2000 (because with all of the military moves, it became impossible for me to manage my career anymore), I just started doing more and more because it is what I love to do. The walking thing, as I said earlier, is just my way of relaxing more than it is anything, so I don't actually think about it when I talk about my daily activities. It's funny about the energy because I don't really realize how much energy I have until I don't workout, especially for a few days. If I'm not doing anything physical during that time, I, quite literally, start bouncing off of the walls. I just can't sit still at all, and I get cranky restless (which isn't good). So I think of working out so hard as, if nothing else, one way of keeping my husband sane. :laugh:

    Regarding my protein, I'm upping it a bit from the 30 percent. I can't see me going over 40 percent in protein because, as you mentioned, of the cardio I'm doing. But when I finished STS, I kind of starting eating more carbs than I had done, and I noticed that my body didn't recover as well from the workouts I was doing. So I'm back to making a more conscious effort to intake more (and better) protein to help in my workout recovery. But I'm still keeping my carbs high. Where I've actually cut is in fat because I'm actually changing the type of protein I'm taking in (more lean proteins), and eliminating some of my peanut butter ( :sad: ). We'll see how it goes. I'm not so interested in lowering my body fat or anything as much as I'm trying to get the most out of my body for my workouts right now.

    singfree, thanks for the update on Insanity! 1000 calories?!? Wow!
  • singfree
    singfree Posts: 1,591 Member
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    Good morning!

    Zebras, you've got it!!! The attitude/ mindset to succeed!!! It's not easy for any of us. Just push past the "I can't" and think "I CAN...I WILL". Pretty soon it becomes a habit and a way of life. Too many people think that a healthy lifestyle is a great sacrifice. It's not...we all "fall off the wagon" at times. Forget about past failures and concentrate on today. Yes, you can do it, we are YOUR support team!!!

    Stiring, that's a great observation about protein & carb and how it affects you post work out. I'll have to give that some serious consideration.

    Alf, don't sweat the fluctuations in your weight on P90X, especially in the beginning. Your body is adjusting to the new routines. Your body fat % is pretty low as is your weight. The mirror will be your best friend at this point. I believe that your body will undergo some reshaping, due to increased weight lifting during strength training. It is at this point where you can begin to concentrate on your perceived problem areas. Judging from your pix, I can't see of those areas!! You are doing a great job and I can't wait for the results after 90 days. I really think that the increased strength training will help your running too!

    Today will be a busy one for me. I'm taking a half-day vacation today because our Grandson is coming for an overnight visit. I hope I can get my workout in today. I forgot to tell you...I strained my OTHER calf during the fit test warmup yesterday :angry: . This is getting ridiculous. Oh well, I will be in great shape in another month if I survive! We will take our little guy to the pool this afternoon. He loves the water.

    Have a great day!
  • Texssippian
    Texssippian Posts: 235
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    Hi all!

    Thought I would try a workout in the Fitness magazine yesterday. Did two exercises and decided I am not ready for that. Our trainer has worked us up to doing free weights but not all this crazy stuff that the 20 something was doing. I did get a good free weight and ab workout at home.

    Son leaves for San Francisco on Saturday for grad school. He is finally going through all the stuff he brought with him when he moved back home. Has some special requests for meals before becoming a starving artist/grad student. Last night I broiled lobster tails, boiled shrimp and crablegs with corn and potatoes. Way too much protein but it was only one night.

    Alf, Sing and Stiring: Wow on all the workouts. I wish I could put in that much effort. I am trying to find something to replace river aerobics. Was in Walmart on Sunday (bad choice as it was tax free weekend, day before school starting plus local colleges move in weekend...) Tried not even notice how crazy the store was. Finally noticed the couple in front of me at check out because i thought I recognized the man's voice. We all looked at each other thinking we knew each other... Dawned on us all at the same time that we did river together the first session. At the same time, we all said "Oh! Did not recognize you with clothes on!" Got several looks from other people...

    Zebras: Keep up the positive can-do attitude. Also, think intensity very duration for workouts. Study came out yesterday about interval hard to light training burned more fat in 20 minutes than 40 minutes at steady pace. I will try to find the reference. I think this was mentioned in an earlier post, but if you are not at the size you want to be but too small for current clothes, check out Goodwill and other places like that.

    Duffy: congrats on your race.
    Alf: Thanks for the sweet words about my brother-in-law who is still waiting for the liver transplant.
    Thanks for all the support!
    Sing: chasing a little one around is a great cardio workout!
    Take care all. Texssippian
  • zebras
    zebras Posts: 600
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    Thanks for all the encouragement and advice y'all.

    Tex:

    Yes, I do vary my intensity, more to alleviate boredom than anything else I work my way up the incline till I get to the max, and then I'm ready to go down low for a little bit and then work my way back up. Instead of changing my incline at a set time interval, I change it as the treadmill shows I burned calories, this might sound funny, but its much more of incentive to watch your calories burned number go higher than to watch your clock count down. On the elliptical I like to do all the inclines from the bottom to the top. They just fixed our elliptical last week, and I swear what little butt I had left has disappeared. (This is me giving my stomach the evil eye!)

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