more chatting!

Katie, welcome! I envy you the stationary bike - reading while you work out sounds splendid!

And welcome, Christa! I'm glad you're here. I'm sorry Dan's having a hard time; I'll be praying for him. I hope your routine, um, routinizes again soon. So . . . how much of a habit do you have to get into for it to count as enough of a habit to buy weights? :)  If you get there, the cheapest place I've found simple 5 lbs. weights is Walmart, or, strangely enough, Marshalls. It's weird, but they often have lots of random fitness equipment there.

Kelly, good for you on the pushups! I know the arms are a lot of it, but I find they're really good for the back and abs too.  I'd have to differ from you on arms - I really like how cut arms look - but you're right about the legs making most of the difference when it comes to lifting heavy things (a must with little kids - you have to lift them and their stuff!).

Emily and Amie, I really like Rodney Yee for yoga. He's my preferred Sunday workout, when I work out on Sundays, because doing yoga with his dvd just feels so good. I reviewed my favorite dvd of his on my blog, and talked a bit about the spiritual side of yoga, and how I handle it as a Christian.

Emily, about weight loss . . . well, there's about a 5 lbs. window I like staying in, and if I'm above it, then exercise is for weight loss for me. Otherwise it's for maintenance, health and function. <-- By "function" I mean "keeping my body fit enough that it'll be able to do whatever I ask it to". I know that not everyone has that option in this fallen world, and since I don't have a disability, I want to show my gratitude for that by taking care of what I have. I'm expecting to get old and/or sick at some point, and become unable to do with my body what I can do now, and now, while I can, I want to be a good steward of my body.

<-- I don't think I put that quite right. But I haven't finished my coffee yet. :) Does anyone feel similarly and have a better way of putting it? What I just wrote feels incomplete, and somehow a little off.

Maybe because I left out the honest fact that I just love how it feels to have a fit, strong body. There's a strong element of pleasure in exercise, for me.

(On weight loss - I admit to being curious about what it'd feel like to be 10 lbs. lighter. And if what I'm doing gets me there, great! If not though, I'm fine with that. I don't care enough about it to do more than I'm doing now!)

On injuries - aside from the pregnancy-related stuff (which pretty much disappears if I'm working out properly and regularly), I have a knee that doesn't like running more than a mile or two and an ankle that doesn't like swimming laps. The ankle is the weird one - it's only swimming that bothers it. I think it's that full extension of the joint with pressure put on it while it's extended. It is, I think, a left-over from a pole vault injury (I missed the pit once), but it might also be helped along by the fact that I have hyper-flexible feet. 

So, swimming and running aren't good options for me, at least not any great distances.