September Shred - RED TEAM! **CLOSED GROUP**

I got my 30 minutes in today, and it was 30 minutes of toning! I'm not used to do that, so I'm glad to have one out of the way.

I also wanted to add: Don't be discouraged if you've found that you've gained a little or stayed the same at the end of this first week. That's one reason getting your water in this week is so important, especially if you haven't been working out much. You body, your muscles, in particular, is going to want to hold on to water during the first week or so if you're changing up what you normally do.

What kind of toning exercises are you all going to be doing? I'm kind of lost there...

Kelleman1,

I don't know if you're a member of a gym or not, but if you are, I'd start with the weight machines. You can do 2-3 exercises for each muscle group for a total body workout, taking at least 60 seconds rest between sets and about a minute and a half rest between muscle groups. If a total-body seems overwhelming, concentrate your sessions on one muscle group at a time. I have a trustworthy diet & exercise book that suggests breaking your sessions into upper body (chest, shoulders, back, triceps, biceps) and lower body (quadriceps, hamstrings, calves), then doing core exercises after your lower body segment.

If you're not a member of a gym, I'd recommend doing calisthenic-type stuff like push-ups, tricep bench dips, crunches, etc. The forums around here contain a lot of different exercises to get you going. Good luck and this challenge is going to be great! Thanks for hosting.

See_Jenn_Run

Thanks, Jenn. I don't belong to a gym, but my husband and I have some work out equipment. I messed around with the weights today and did what felt like I was working out something, lol. I wasn't feeling a lot in my back or chest, I'll have to ask him to show me some different exercises. Then I did some crunches and hip/leg lifts and all that. Thanks for all the ideas, it really helps!

startign weight for todat officially sept. 1 is . . .259.3, three pounds down from a couple days ago! So excited for the first new challenge, I don't use weights because I work with my own body weight (that alone is like lifting weights) but I do toning exercise with my own body weight, can't wait to meet this first challenge of 5X a week! Big change from my 3X a week. good luck, hope everyone is losers!

That's great, Kay! And like I think I commented before, do some low intensity workouts, like 30 minutes of fast paced walking I think people often forget that walking is a great workout (I know I do!)

What kind of toning exercises are you all going to be doing? I'm kind of lost there...

i go to gold's gym where they have a "60 second circuit" it's 12 machines that work every major muscle in the body, you do 1 machine nonstop for 60 sec, then move to the next. I usually break mine down into upper and lower body, then do 2 rounds of all the applicable machines.

That's great! I'll have to ask my husband how to manipulate what we have to increase the range of muscles I'm targeting.

Start weight 203.

Anyways, I'm Ashley [Kelly's Cousin] I'm 5'7" ans started out at 215 pounds. Got down to 199 about 2 weeks ago, but a lot has been going on and I lost a bit of motivation. When I weighed in just 10 minutes ago, I was happy that I'd only gained 4 pounds. I mostly do cardio as far as working out. Very little toning right now, but looks like I am going to have to change that. I start school in like 5 days, and they have a gym so hopefully I'll be able to take advantage of that. Good luck ladies.

Also, do you want pictures? or no?

Glad to see you here, Ashley! I know you've had a lot to deal with :flowerforyou:

I mostly do cardio, too, so this toning stuff is going to be different. I do hope you can take advantage of the gym.

Pictures are great! I was actually thinking that we should all take a picture today and another one when it's over. What do you all think??

ETA: are you really 3 inches taller than I am?!!? :laugh:

My picture! My full length mirror isn't dirty, it just sucks. They just painted our bathroom this week and I didn't realize how dirty the mirror was. oh well! :laugh:

Right click and view in new tab if they are too big! (i resized, waiting on photobucket to catch up!)

Here is kind of a before pic, not a very good angle: