Just saying hi while I pop by the site after some time away.



Last time I bothered you all, I was trying to start up with running to replace my beloved weight lifting (bicycle + minivan + pavement = permanent wrist injury).



I'm happy to say that I now run/walk to work in the morning, including a scenic detour to the beautiful Seattle waterfront (stunning at 7 am!!!). I also do a quick 2.5 mile jaunt during my lunch at work. That's a grand total of about 8 miles a day, 4-5 days a week. Great success!!!



I just finally accepted, again, that counting calories is the only way, to find that lo and behold my beloved www.fitday.com has improved dramaticly! Highly recomended, it tracks bloody EVERYTHING now.



So, the weight is starting the trickle back off. And, I'm on the hunt for a weight set to keep at home, in the hopes that by starting off super light I can get back into it a little. Here goes nothing!



How are all of you doing?

Lots of Deftones, Fall Out Boy, and Girl Talk, if you can wrap your head around that. Ha!

Yay, pullup picture! ^_^



Well, what I've been doing is supersets with the 10lbs dumbells that my hand can seem to handle quite well. If I try the 12.5lbs, no dice. But 10lbs seems to work well. So, with some high reps and supersetting, I can manage to tire my arms at least, if not inspire real muscle development. It'll have to do. And, if I get to running this much on a regular basis, my bodyfat is sure to drop enough for it to look like I lift heavier than I do. Heh.

So, making a runner out of a horribly non-runner type person, is entirely possible.



Eight miles yesterday, loved every minute of it. ^_^ Many thanks again to everyone for all your suggestions and encouragement.

I'm so jealous, it's ridiculous. CONGRATS! You should post your video for us. ^_^



Also, extra points for the Futurama reference. I've already watched the newest movie, with and without the commentary, several times. Nerdcore like woah. Ha!

I have the same issue Rachel, my mother gifted me genetically with her sweat glands. At the drop of a hat my forehead is like Niagra Falls.



I find that it's nice to wear something around my upper arm to wipe sweat off on. It's a habit I developed doing Karate for years and years; you just wipe your sweat on the sleave of your gi (those white uniforms). So, when I run or what have you, I often tie a bandana around my upper arm and wipe my forehead as necessary.

When I'm on the stair stepper or what have you and really, really want to quit, I picture Jamie Eason in front of me, in all her fitness model & competitor glory, being my own personal cheerleader.



Works everytime. If I want to feel as good as she looks, I have to keep going. ^_^

I would take the easy way out. Just start going to the gym four days a week; two hard workouts by yourself, two fun ones with your friend. Problem solved, and more fitness gained. ^_^

I believe it's just the way our bodies are designed to survive, really. For thousands of years, regularly available food, adequant macro and mirco nutrients, and relatively little necessary physical activity, just wasn't the case for the vast majority of human beings.



These bodies of ours are designed to weather the occasional famine, long days of hunting and gathering with variable returns, etc. Just because we know that there will be no shortage of food in our future, out bodies assume this is not the case. We are hardwired to hang on to our fat stores in case of illness or famine preventing us from fueling up. We're hard-wired to enjoy fatty foods and filling up because our bodies don't necessarily realize that today's pizza won't be the only successful hunt for several days.

It's all been done, I'm afraid. Two surgeries and many months later, this is what I'm left with. There will undoubtedly be some improvement over the next two years, but not enough that I will be able to lift heavy. If I'm lucky, I may be able to support 20lbs someday, but the risk of re-injury is high.

Yeah, it's true. I actually had a bit of a breakdown when they told me lifting was out of the picture, had to go get some anti-depresants...



The hand doesn't support much weight, and mobility is limited. No pushups, no pullups, you get the picture.

Thanks Shawn. Sadly, due to injury, weight lifting just isn't an option for me. I do what I can with 10lb weights, but that's all my hand will take these days. Sooooooo embarassing in the free weight room. I'm thinking of wearing a brace there even though I don't need one, just so no one assumes I really want to be using the bunny weights. *sigh*

Huzzah! Yeah, love that book. Highly recomended on principle, if not experience just yet. These workouts are a blast though. Totally rocked the tempo this morning. Hard, yeah, but doable and quick enough that I had plenty of time to stretch and ice a little ache I noticed in my foot.

I think it depends on what your goals are. As a lineman and since it sounds like lifting is your main focus, I'd chance that building muscle is your agenda. So, high intensity interval training would likely be your best bet. Also, I'd guess that it would be great for football, what with all those burst of intense energy every time the clock starts back up again (I'm not a fan of the game or anything, lolz). With intervals, you can keep excess fat at bay, without the threat to your muscle mass that endurance exercise poses.



Look it up, find some workout recomendations, see what you think. Often, you can apply the intervals to the cardio activity of your choice. Running, swimming, eliptical, whatever strikes your fancy.

Thanks Rachael! Awesome, I'm glad I'm not the only one. I'll totally checked out those links.



I picked up a couple books this weekend; "Your First Triathlon", "Run Less, Run Faster", and "The Runner's World Injury Prevention Guide". I already plowed through the tri book, which was a perfect primer, and I'm almost done with Run Less. Totally following that program, and already tried one of the workouts yesterday, and it was great. Kicked my butt, though it was short and doable. Can't wait to see if I can actually pull off the tempo run tomorrow. Yikes! The program has you run only three times a week, perfect to go with my flirtations with tri training and to keep me from over doing it.



Thanks again to everyone! If anyone has a favorite running book of any sort, I'd love to know. I'm plowing through these things. Nerd like woah...

Ha! Love it, thanks Bean.



Sorry, suppose I should have been more clear on my goals.I would be absolutely thrilled to get to the point of being a competitive 5k runner. Being competitive in sprint triathalons (at least looking at wikipedia, that's the kind of distance and such that interests me most) would probably give me fits of joy. The idea's really appealing. Naturally, weight loss will come along with this. I have no interest in being "skinny", really. I want to look like an athlete, a badass.



Yes, rest is critical, I know that from lifting. Tomorrow will probably involve nothing but walking. Sunday I'll do something fun and easy. Woo!

It's been my experience, that my body will tell me how much is too much. The problem is making sure that you listen. I think with a very low impact activity such as walking, going for a stroll, you can have at it as much as you please. More intense activity, stuff that really gets your heart rate up and puts some real stress on your body, I think that can vary widely. There are athletes out there that often train for 4hrs or so a day, not a huge deal. There are people out there for whom more than half an hour of activity will leave them barely able to move.



If it's a real concern for you, I would suggest asking your doctor, or a trainer. Otherwise, maybe try just gradually increasing your activity and seeing how you feel, how your body reacts.

HUGE thanks again to everyone for your suggestions!



So, I crosstrained these last two days, ZERO running except for a quick 50 ft or so to get to the liquor store yesterday before it closed.



Today, I went to the track at the college down the street to see if my treadmill 5k skills would translate well at all. Lo and behold, I did my fastest 5k yet, 32:06! That's about 5 full minutes faster than my best 5k on the treadmill. Who knew? I have a mad gift for quick recovery, so after walking for about half a mile I tried some hill sprints. Found a short little hill behind my flat, sprinted up and then walked down 5 times. Loved it. A totally different kind of challenge.



The plan now is to shower, and then acquire some reading material as recommended above. Great success!

I'm so sad to see you so discouraged, because I love reading your posts! I'm definitely rooting for you.



I, too, am a numbers freak. I love nothing more than to see my progress on paper in black and white. So what I do, is I collect as many numbers as possible. I measure my waist, I keep track of how long I work out, at what level if it's a machine, what distance, how fast, body fat percentage, my weight, how many miles ran per week, etc. That way, when one number (usually like you, it's the scale) isn't making progress, or god forbid even goes in the wrong direction, I have other numbers to turn to and be proud of. As long as I keep working and trying, I always have a couple numbers that are improving.



This strategy has been crucial to me for staying motivated, and has also been a great help for knowing when I'm slacking and how I'm doing overall. It's also fun to see your progress in so many different ways.



Hang in there, and good luck!

Oh, definitely, I'm more hot on speed than distance. I'd much rather do a blazing 5k than ever run a marathon. Right now though, I think it's crucial to re-develop my cadiovascular capacity, and to eliminate the excess fat I've accumulated while going through surgeries and recovery. I also think it's crucial to develop good form. So, except for occasional tries for personal records at one mile for motivation and entertainment, I'll stick to just conditioning myself.



A good plan? Yes/no?

If you have Trader Joe's stores in your area, they have these great simmer sauces in jars. They are all thai or indian kind of flavors, and quite good. They also have frozen shrimp (my FAVORITE protein source these days) and cooked rice that's ready to go. Bring the simmer sauce and water to a boil, throw in some frozen veggies (I like spinach or broccoli, personally), throw in your frozen shrimp, microwave your rice, and in about 10 minutes you've got a fanbloodytastic, healthy dinner.

Rowing, again, would put too much repetitive stress on my wrist. For the time being, it's not an option. Yesterday, in trying to think of how to get myself to crosstrain and not bloody hurt myself (my WORST nightmare at this point...), I had a thought; why just make a runner out of me when I could try and make a triathlete out of me? So, I plan to do some reading over the weekend and in the mean time, the idea of it was exciting enough to get me on a bike for an hour this morning.



Swimming, would potentially be awesome for maintaining a little muscle mass. I'm also doing the most wicked supersets I can come up with, with my puny little 10 pound dumbells the doctors let me get away with. It takes a lot of reps and a lot of time, but, I can eventually fatigue my muscles a a bit. And hey, I'll always have squats...

Hahahahahahaha Word.



In all seriousness, I would sell my soul to be able to deadlift and bench again. But the fact of the matter is that my ligaments and bones in my wrist are just too effed up. The likelyhood of me ever putting up more than 20lbs or so without assistance is about nil. I am in the process of looking for someone who can set me up with custom braces that will put the weight entirely on my forearm, so that I can at least do some significant amount of weight. So far, no leads. Way I figure, surely there are vetrans coming home with missing or non-functioning hands, and someone must be helping some of them lift despite their injury. I just don't know who...

Wait, there's such a thing as running school??? Really? Omg, that'd be perfect, I would LOVE to have someone help me do this right. Any suggestions on how to go about finding one?

Thanks again Neesha, lot's of great suggestions.



The reason for the split, is that I'm chained to a desk at work. I can't bloody stand it, my energy level get's reved up and I will get anxious without an outlet. Three workouts a day is pretty standard for me, and is about right to actually wear me out and keep the anxiety at bay. During my lunch at work I'll usually do a mile, or some light, fun supersets, just a little something to get my blood going and make my work day bareable. It's before and/or after work that I'll actually put in some real effort.



I definitely think you're right about getting outside. I know that I need to, but I just get such a kick out of all the numbers on the treadmill, I really like feedback. Also, I worry about hurting myself, and like the relative softness of the treadmill vs. pavement and such. I've promised myself I'll go explore the parks and stuff around Seattle at some point. All these hills, phew! I think I'll wait till it starts raining again for that... Heh. I'll definitely give the Master the Treadmill thingy a go though. I LOVE podrunner, having a beat my legs can stick with is rediculously helpful.

Thanks all. I looked up the running vs. jogging thing, and found that definition in a couple places. So that's where that came from, and therefore it became a goal to be able to get to where I could maintain a speed of 6 mph or more for more than two minutes at a time. Which I've done now, and I feel like a badass. Heh.



I can easily keep moving for 40+ minutes, so that's not an issue. I'm usually doing 5k, trying to gradually increase my speed for that distance, and then I'll just keep moving easily at a slow, comfy pace to round out 60 minutes of total time on the treadmill. I'm cutting about 40 seconds or so off my 5k time each week, nice and gradual like. I definitely want to try doing 5k races/events, but, I'll be happier if I get a little more speed first. I'm pretty competitive, I could see myself overdoing it or being disapointed if I go into it at my current speed. On Monday, I did my 5k in 37:15, my best yet. Huzzah!



Workouts are pretty light. For example, I did 7 miles total on Monday, split into two workouts about 8 hours apart. Yesterday, I only did three miles, two fast and one very very easy. Today, I'm making myself do the stair climber nice and slow, and maybe a quick little jog just to get it out of my system, half a mile maybe. A decent compromise?



Thanks for the suggestions. I will definitely get a book (one cannot live by magazines alone, silly me) and I have already invested in a pair of Brooks shoes that I may eventually be burried in. Ha!

Since it looks like heavy weight lifting is permanently off my list of activities (check your mirrors, don't hit cyclists with your mini vans), I've decided to make a runner of myself. Some questions...



- Pretty much all the workout plans and what have you that I look at have you running every other day. Is it such a bad plan to run consecutive days? I've only been working on it for three weeks now, but I love it, and can hardly stand to rest or crosstrain more than two days a week or so (though I do vary the intensity of my runs).



- Any of you use a heart rate monitor when you run? Your thoughts and suggestions?



I just got up to real running some of the time (6+ mph) instead of always jogging (< 6 mph), and actually managed to run a mile in just under 9 minutes yesterday, so I'm rediculously stoked on this new hobby of mine. I can't believe the progress I've already made in only three weeks time. If you have any other bits of wisdom, I'm happy to hear it.

Hi Joanne,



I know I'm a little late here, but I wanted to chime in and let you know that doing strength training and cardio, in the same day but about 8 hours apart, has worked very well for me in the past.



I think it would be best to do your weight training in the morning, and cardio in the evening. I personally did it the other way around simply for convenience. Also, because at the time I hated cardio, and if I got it out of the way first thing, doing the weight training I loved after work was a breeze, and i was sure not to skip out.



Good luck!

That's likely a flexability issue Rachel. I believe some people will start off doing squats with a 2.5lb or 5lb plate under their heels, to help with this issue. I would suggest taking a look at whether you're stretching enough after your workouts, and consider trying to improve the flexability in your legs. It's worth a shot, and as long as you're careful to not pull anything or over do it, working on your flexability can only benefit you regardless of whether it helps your squats, specificly.

If you're interested in doing body weight squats, why not just do, well, squats? I like to warm up my legs by crossing my arms in front of me and putting resting my hands on the oppiset shoulder, and doing ass-to-grass squats, nice and slow, with a pause at the bottom and at the top. One legged squats are a nice body weight only alternative to weighted squats.



I'd say, don't bother with the swiss ball unless you have a pre-existing injury that requires such adaptations. But by all means take advantage of body weight only training.