Cathe Fans Part 5

Hi Ladies.
OMG I'M SO EXCITED!!!! I was greeted by my trainer this afternoon and she handed me a white envelope with my name on it. I asked what it was and she said: "you've won the client of the month award" :bigsmile: :drinker: :bigsmile: :bigsmile: :bigsmile:
The note from the owner on the card said that I'd won for my the hard work I've been doing and that Sarah (my PT) has been really impressed by my hard work and dedication lately and it looks like it's paying off. So my name will appear in this month's enewsletter! Apparently the winner was selected last week because Sarah had been asking me about the things I like to do on weekends. I honestly can't even remember this conversation! Anyway, I got $50 worth of AMC Theaters gift cards. I think they made this decision because they know that I should've won last month. I could've won two months in a row! That's OK. I won't even complain about to her anymore because in my heart I know I won last month too!.

My assessment went pretty well too. According to their scale I've lost 7 lbs. Of course this is after drinking 9 cups of water and 3 cups of coffee today! I just go by my scale when it comes to my weight. My heart rate 3 minute step ups test was great. I improved by 20 bpm's.
since I started 1/1/14 my body fat has gone down 3.9%, body fat - 1.4%, chest -1", waist -1.25", hips -1.75", thigh -.5", arm no change since 1/1/14 but last month I'd gone up .25" and this time I lost that.
My flexibility had improved and I was able to do more pushups since last month.
I also thought I was going to have a low calorie day due to the assessment but I burned 587 calories. I don't even know how I managed to contain myself from telling DH over the phone about my win at the gym. I waited till we sat at the table to have our dinner. I just handed him the card. I just watched him read, then smile from ear to ear. He gave me a big hug and a kiss and I could tell how proud of me he was. I just cried!

This totally made my week because I've had a horrible week at work so far. I'm leading a project and I have two people reporting to me. One of them is a problem child but he's more of a grumpy old man. I've been dragging him into the boss' office almost daily since last week because he refuses to take direction from me and won't accept feedback on his work without going crazy on us. Today he finally drove me to tears and the other woman in the team and I went to talk to my boss about the situation with this guy. Since I'm the lead I serve as a buffer to her because I take the bulk of the abuse. Thankfully I haven't been getting angry because my rationale on this issue is that it is a management issue. My boss is very supportive of the work this other woman and I do and we were assigned to this team to fix things up. Today this grumpy old man was going to be put on a PIP (performance improvement plan). I hope my boss had time to do the paperwork because he is going to our office in England next week and I'll be left alone to deal with this man.

I'm not sure what workout I'll do tomorrow but it will definitely include cardio. I'm thinking CrossFire or Tabatacise.

Michelle, sorry about the budget issues with your job and your health. That is a big pay cut you had to take and on top of that more work! I'm so glad you're finally going to see a doctor. I hope you're able to get an appointment soon. Where do you live that you don't have easy access to doctors?
Given the stress you're under with work it is so good that you're finding time to workout because it will help with the stress. Continue to go easy on that shoulder!
We went to see Non-Stop and we liked it a lot. Did you see movie The Heat with Sandra Bullock? If you're offended by profanity this movie was hilarious. I was laughing so hard that I had tears rolling down my face. DH loved it too. We've seen it 4 times! It is not a girly movie at all.

Tami - That BC abwork sounds like a killer workout! I'll have to check out that Kick Punch & Crunch DVD. The name alone sounds like something I'd love. I'm sure you'll love your Insane-X class tonight! I'm always in awe of your killer workouts. Thank you for inspiring me and for cheering me on!
Can you believe that huge burn from the STS leg workout! That was HUGE! I found out last Friday that finally a decision was made to bring a new gym to the town next door. There will be a Boston Sports club just 10 minutes from my house. I used to be a member of that club about 15 years ago. I will check it out whenever it opens up but my joining will depend on their class schedule fitting my schedule. I'll try to get my act together and do the 1RM test one of these days!

Geez! You also have problems at work! It really stinks when companies merge and you end up with less benefits. Hopefully you'll be able to max out your contribution. Is the merger the reason why you didn't have insurance earlier in the year?

Good night!
Thelma

Hi Ladies!
Tonight was Tabatacise and I found it harder than last week but that is because I'm really tired. I've been going to bed late. My fault! I saw my rheumatologist today and was really happy with my workouts and progress. PT tomorrow for me.

Laurel, we missed you too! I'm glad you're getting your killer and amazing workouts in! :flowerforyou: I think you'll have a blast with the STrain rotation. I see a P90 rotation in your future! I like that program.

Thank you about the award! It was really good to receive the award as a reward for my hard work. almost 2" hips Laurel I need to lose at least 4 inches there! If Meso 2 Legs is hard I can only imagine that anything after Meso 2 gets ever harder. I was able to walk after that workout and I thought I was not going to be able to move the next day. All that stretching pays off!

Erika - Good to see you again! Love your doggie! Can't wait to read the stories about your foster dog! I'm glad you're looking at the positive side of things now that you're going through. I hope you find a new job soon. Congrats on the re-fi approval!

Tami - I'm glad your enjoyed your Insane-X class. I can't believe the class was still hard this week. Didn't Katy say she was going to go easy on the newbies? Were there any newbies there last night? I hope tonight's Spin was a good one!

Thank you so much for your comments on the award. It really has increased my motivation level. I have no idea how I was able to contain myself from telling my husband about the award on my way home. My body is changing and that is a big motivator. I still have a long way to go and I'm happy to have had such a good start!
I had my one-on-one with my boss today and he was going to write the the grumpy guy today and will read him the riot act tomorrow.
I took a quick look at the Kick Punch Crunch workout and was wondering if the legs part is another DVD?

Those mergers can cause so much chaos! At least you still have your job. I was once laid off as a result of a merger. I'm glad you have your insurance again. I had no idea you'd been at your current job that long. I can totally understand now why the retirement contribution issue is so upsetting!
The Heat was insanely funny. I dragged DH in there and he didn't really want to go but since I always go see the movies he likes I made him go. He loved it too, then we went to see it again with another couple and the guy there didn't want to go and he loved it, then we saw it months later on cable with my brother-in-law and his wife. We laughed each time we saw the movie.

Good night everyone!
Thelma

Hi Ladies ~ Last night’s Spinning did not disappoint, we did tabata drills and Big Kahunas! So that’s a lot of climbing, sprinting, sprinting on hills and more climbing and sprinting! :laugh: It was great. No workout yet today,:grumble: I had planned on Abs class at noon but was interrupted with a very last minute deadline of designing a half page ad and off to the printer so no lunch break for me. Hoping tonight after work I will get in something!

Thelma: Great work with Tabatacise! :bigsmile: Funny how much sleep can affect our workouts isn’t it!??! There were a few “newbies” in class but they were “muscle beach” type guys … so I think she decided it would be ok to go full guns again. :laugh: Knowing Katy she has a back up plan if she sees a bunch of new people and will switch the format.
Good luck with PT tonight! I’m sure it will be a good workout. The legs section of KPC is another workout on the same DVD which is also great! :bigsmile: I meant to add that as a “p.s.” to my grumbling about the merger. I am VERY thankful to have a job forsure and not have a pay cut either. Both of which I do worry about at times as of late due to the new ownership and the people who don’t even know me. Again, that would be why I would love to sit down with my long time owner/manager and tell her those concerns to see her thoughts.

Michelle: Happy Happy Birthday!!!! :drinker: :drinker: Love that you are celebrating 36 again! Your hubby is so sweet to do that for you! Awesome stuff. I’m sure you have had a fantastic day of pampering and your girls/hubby will treat you to some fun family time and good eats later! Can’t wait to hear all about it. It should be a law, I agree. The day I found out they were doing it, back in the Fall I nearly burst out of the room. It was awful Me and two others who have been here the same time were just mouths wide open when the “new company” HR person told us. I made an appt today to meet with the financial investor to advise me on what to do and get me set up to make contributions on my own now.

Hi Laurel :flowerforyou:

Talk to you ladies tomorrow ~ Tami

Hi Ladies! Last day of a busy week.....thankfully. My tireds aren't being helped today by a drastic change in weather. We were 70 yesterday and today.....snow. My head is killing me.....as it always does when we get a big snow storm coming through. So I was a bit late starting my workout today and will be playing catch up for the rest of today. I started my workout with Gym Style Back, Shoulders and Biceps (I did Chest and Triceps yesterday) and followed it with Cathe's IMAX Extreme workout from her Terminator DVD. It felt good despite how I feel physically, which is always nice!

Erika, I am sorry to hear things are so bad on the job front, but, as you said, at least there are positives as well right now. Great job with the workouts!! I haven't bought the P90X3 workouts yet, though they really look good. Wouldn't be surprised to own them down the road, that's for sure.

Michelle, Happy Birthday!!!!!! I hope you had a great day. I love that you are 36.....again. I am trying not to stress over the upcoming move, but it is beginning to bother me a bit that we have no clue where we will be moving!! DH has applied for jobs here in Colorado as well as in Maryland and Florida. And it looks like he is going to apply for one in the UK as well. :noway: Not quite sure how I feel about going back overseas to be honest. Really mixed emotions there.

Tami, glad she didn't ease off too much in your insane X class!! Sounds fun! I am with you in floundering a bit with my workouts these past couple of weeks. But I think I have talked myself out of P90X/X2 for right now. I had a good look at my calendar over the next couple of months, and I really think I want a little more flexibility in my workouts than those programs allow. So, right now, I am looking a three weeks each of the following strength training 'programs': XTrain, Gym Styles/Muscle Max, Slow and Heavy, and Pyramids/Muscle Endurance. For the first nine weeks, I think my weeks will look very much like Meso 3 did for us (lower, upper, lower, upper, cardio, total body). That will change a bit for the last three weeks given the workouts. But this would be kind of like an STS rotation (endurance for three weeks, muscle building for three weeks, etc). And I will use the last three weeks of pure endurance after Slow and Heavy to 'shred out' (as Jillian Michaels would say). This also allows me to do whatever I want with my cardio. So that's the plan......for now. :blushing:

Thelma, I am glad to hear the smaller step works better for you and Tabatacise. Sometimes the first run-through of a workout can be the easiest one for me as when I get familiar with a workout, I tend to push it a little harder. So that could be one reason Tabatacise felt harder. But lack of sleep and stress can definitely have the same effect!! Just want to put a plug in for the KPC/legs and Glutes DVD. Love it!!!

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Laurel

Hi Ladies! TGIF!!! :drinker: :drinker:
All I can say is thank God this week is over. What a horrific work week I had! Today was a busy and stressful day at work. Normally I get out of work on Fridays at 1:30. Today I left at 3:30. Had breakfast at about 7:30, snack at 10 and lunch at 3PM. I forced myself to eat lunch before I left work just in case I got hungry on my way home.
DH and I went food shopping when I got home, then I changed and down to the basement I went. I wanted to do something easy because of the day I'd had and was feeling tired. I chose the XTRAIN - All Out Low Impact HIIT DVD and once I was doing it I realize that it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. At least it wasn't high impact! I am loving using the little step.

Tomorrow we're going to NH to see our chiropractor. I have something in my left bicep that has been bugging me and I think it's getting worse because sometimes I feel a pull with some arm movements. I'm so afraid the doctor will say don't lift weights
DH has this little ultrasound machine which we use for injuries. I'm going to use it and hopefully it will help.

Laurel - Sorry about that bad headache. You guys really had a drastic weather change! I'm glad you recovered and managed to get an amazing workout in!
I hope your husband finds a job soon and in the US Laurel. I'm sure it is stressful not knowing where you'll be moving to next.
The little step is really helping tremendously with the step moves on some of Cathe's workouts. I think the biggest problem with the big step is that I don't have space on either side of my workout area no matter which way I place the step on the floor. This is the reason why I think I'm afraid to fall off the step.

Tami - it really was great to see my name on the board at the gym last night. I'm really excited about using the little step. I can finally do all those exercises!
I should've known that Katy came up with the term the Big Kahunas moves!:laugh: She is one tough instructor!
I had the feeling that the leg workout on that KPC DVD looked like a leg workout I have and it is the Lean Legs!
The layoff we had at work 2 years ago was scary. We were all IM'ing each other and wondering who would get escorted out the door next. As much as my job sucks I prefer to have that job than no job at all.
I really can't imagine retiring at 55 that is too early I think.

Have a great weekend!!
Thelma

Hi Ladies,
Just a quick morning update. I was right I've hurt my biceps and my left shoulder. For the longest time I heard this cracking sound on my shoulder and it turns out it was my bicep slipping out of place. This is what my chiropractor thinks anyway and after doing some reading online I agree.
Now my left side is all messed up. My shoulder blade, my shoulder and bicep area are throbbing. I think I have tendonitis.
I'm not lifting any weights for now and I'm icing and trying to sleep on my back propped up with pillows.

My workouts are cardio only right now. Thankfully I have X10, Tabatacise and my spinning bike!
Needless to say I'm depressed about this.

I tried to get a orthopedic doctor appmt near my job but no luck which to me was a sign to go back to my usual healthcare facility that I go to for everything. I was able to get an appmt with my ortho for Thursday afternoon.

I hope what I need is physical therapy which probably will include, ultrasound, electric muscle stimulation and strengthening exercises.

Thelma

Afternoon Ladies,


Well my birthday was a work day which I usually never schedule but the Coordinator from HQ emailed me that they needed the team leaders to finish up since they misjudged the numbers and cancelled all of the workers shift. :huh: So I agreed but afterwards I gave myself a nice facial with my electric scrubber, plucked and tweezed, shampooed and conditioned my hair and felt like a new 36 year old woman. :laugh: This weekend the weather was great and we had a movie date to see Non-Stop, which was great.:bigsmile: I may have indulged in too much popcorn and do not want to see any for a month or so. On Saturday I had a long Zumba session but Sunday was a busy day in the city. Today it was awesome as I grabbed an old favorite Kenpo X . :bigsmile: :bigsmile: Wow I forgot how much I enjoyed working out with Tony and his smart Tonyisms. :laugh:


Laurel- Sorry to hear about the uncertainty with the pending retirement. I recently sat down with hubby as orders will be surfacing soon in hopes of discovering where the next place may be, Seattle or D.C. or even an extension here. :noway: I also mentioned just retiring and transitioning into a GS position which will allow us to move back to Texas as our 13 year old is headed to H.S. this Fall and get settled. It seems that my husband does not want to retire from this place so right now I can only pray that the grass is greener where we are headed to next Summer. :blushing: Hopefully with Summer approaching and relocations starting a position will open here in Conus, although the UK is great your family is here so hopefully that will not be an option.


Thelma- Sorry to hear about the shoulder. I have an old shoulder injury that resurfaces every now and then in particular with High Reps dvds or my kickboxing workout. Cardio for a week usually helps and decreasing my weights on shoulder press along with watching my extension also prevents that clicking noise. Bummer on the Biceps but hopefully the PT will get you back on track.

Tami- Another fun Spin class and way to catch up on your missed workouts. :bigsmile: How is the weather? This weekend was such a beautiful change from the chill of last week, shorts and tank tops again.:bigsmile:


Early appointment tomorrow with the doctor and then errands.

TTYL,
Michelle

Hi Ladies,
Glad you all had a good weekend. Tonight I did Tabatacise. Of course it is hard not to move my arms and a couple of time I forgot and I felt a little discomfort. My calorie burn was lower which I expected since I couldn't move my arms.
Tomorrow night and Wed will be PT at the gym. Will focus on lower body.

My shoulder and upper back felt better as the day went on which was encouraging.

Laurel, wow! awesome workouts! Glad you finally decided on rotation and you picked a fun program too!
So my shoulder/bicep feels better but I'm not pushing my luck and I will be a good girl and will try to rest this arm and ice it. I hope the doctor tells me all I need is rehab. It sucks to get old! :brokenheart:

Michelle, sorry you had to work on your birthday. I'm glad you liked Non-Stop and got to still do your self pampering on your birthday! We went to see 300 on Saturday and it was pretty good considering that is not my kind of movie.
I really like that Kenpo X workout!
So you hear a clicking noise too! I never thought it was my bicep. I thought it was some bone sound just like crunchy knees make! I know that I need some rehab because I can't have this bicep slipping in/out of place. I've been increasing my weights so maybe that made the injury worse. On Thursday I was doing chest presses with a 50 lb barbell so I think that was the straw that broke the camel's back.

Tami, I love Bernie! He looks like a good boy! You had some awesome workouts this weekend!
I think the icing has helped. I've also made sure to stand/sit very straight. No slouching allowed which I tend to do while at my desk at work given the horrific office set up we have now.
I'm praying this is a short a setback. I actually cried on Saturday when the chiropractor told me what he thought I had. At least I can still do cardio although all that jumping is not good for my knees with this new increased frequency so I have to be careful.

Thelma

Hi Ladies! Another good workout today. I started with the High/Low Interval workout from Cathe's Hardcore Extreme DVD. Then I moved into XTrain Legs and did the 67 minute premix. Before doing the stretch, though, I added in the 100 rep hip thrust challenge on that DVD. And, to top it off, I did XTrain Core 2. Long workout.....but it felt good.

Michelle, sorry to hear you had to work on your birthday, but I am glad you had some time to pamper yourself as well. I hope you get some clarity in a future assignment soon. I am coming to terms with possibly going overseas again. It is my husband's first choice of jobs he'd like to have, and I know that he would love doing the work. And we are familiar with that area of England since we lived there 20 years ago (my DH has spent 7 years it that area; I have spent 4). But with my mother's health.....it isn't easy. Not to mention the fact that we would have to pay to ship our belongings over so we would most like get rid of everything and have to start over.......again. I was kind of hoping for an easier first step into retirement. :blushing: But nothing is close to a done deal right now, so I am choosing not to dwell on it ......too much. And I would love to see more of Europe.......:ohwell:

Tami, I love the new photo! Such a sweet pup!! That sounds like a good rotation. Is it one of Cathe's newer ones? I remember her doing a rotation recently that focused on legs, and I thought it looked good. Let me know how you like it. I am open to changing my plans after these three weeks of XTrain.

Thelma, I am glad to hear your arm is feeling better, and I hope the doc gives you some good news. But I think it is wise to continue taking care of it. Great job getting in Tabatacise despite a bad arm! That's not easy. I was thinking about you today since you have mentioned trying to find a Cathe step workout to try to see if you can master the choreography. Because I did parts of it during my workout this morning and remembered it, I thought I would suggest Low Max. I don't know if you have room for it given how you have described your workout space because you do need room all around your step. But it is a low impact workout, and Cathe does a pretty good job of breaking down the moves. The workout is also broken into seven sections, so it is easy to learn them one at a time if the entire workout is too much. Not much fun factor in the workout, unfortunately. But it does leave the lower body with a little 'sting' which is nice. Anyhow......just a suggestion!!

See you all tomorrow!

Laurel