Honesty

I just did level 1 of Jillian's Shred for the first time in I don't remember how long. Probably last summer! And I have to admit that Anita was NOT "carrying me through it"...she was kicking my butt!

Anyway, what I remembered (after about the first three minutes) is how very much I do not like working out. Jess, I am so not you. :) I don't like sweating, I don't like hurting, and I don't like giving up even half an hour of precious time to sweat and hurt.

Two years ago I did this consistently because I was really unhappy with myself and my body. I hadn't yet found an eating pattern that worked, and I wasn't taking an antidepressant either. Now I do feel good about my eating, and the meds have taken away the anxiety that was driving most of my life.

I have this thought that it would be nice to lose 10 lbs, but honestly I no longer find it super compelling. (This is a FANTASTIC place for me to be!)

I also have a thought that it would be a good idea to stay in shape so that I'll be more healthy as I get older (Jess, you've written about that before) and that is more intellectually compelling but tends to lack force in the midst of day to day life.

I don't really have any insights or conclusions right now. I'd love to hear your thoughts, exercise buddies. :)

Week 31 Summary for Jess

1/9 - Sunday
1/10 - 20 min. walk
1/11
1/12 - Jackie Warner Xtreme Timesaver Training DVD
1/13 - Dance with Julianne: Cardio Ballroom DVD - cha-cha and jive sections
1/14 - No More Trouble Zones DVD + 10 mins. alternating jumping rope & jumping jacks

1/15 - 3 hours walking around botanical gardens, often while carrying a child. :)

The beginning of this week was hard; I was in a funk, and the only exercise I got was a short walk to the park with my sister and our kids. But the end of the week picked up, and given how the week started, I'm pretty happy with the amount of exercise I got.

Today I did the Banish Fat, Boost Metabolism DVD with my husband. It's the only exercise DVD of mine that he really likes (it's got a far amount of kickboxing stuff in it), and it's fun to get to work out with him. (He stays in shape the rest of the time commuting to work by unicycle and teaching karate.)

Kelly and Katie, I'm glad that you're getting to work out again! And Kelly, I think your workouts with the kids sound really cool. I'll have to try to work something like that into our homeschooling eventually. The only thing we really do that's like that is dancing - when I put on upbeat music to do jumping jacks and jump-rope to, the girls often join in with bouncy dancing, which is really fun. But I think it's neat you're teaching your kids such a valuable life skill/health habit/healthy coping mechanism so early.

-Jess

30 Day Shred + a long walk

Spent almost 3 hours walking around the county fair today. Also did 30 Day Shred, Level 3.

I realized partway through (as I was experiencing the desire to just TURN IT OFF AND SHUT UP JILLIAN SHUT UP) that for me, it wasn't a question between doing it and not doing it; it was a question between doing it and living in a body that COULDN'T do it. And again, I was struck by the privilege of living in a body that was capable of doing it, of having that choice. I don't think I had thoughts like these that often before my hospitalization. Sometimes, but not often. Now I think a lot about privileges like living in a healthy body and living with my loved ones.  I didn't for awhile, and now I do, and probably someday (God forbid, but He might not) I won't again.

And then, I think further, and I think, "but it's not like those, once lost here, are lost forever." Because, isn't that the promise of heaven? Living in a body that finally works right, and living forever in the presence of both our loved ones and our Loved One? All that is lost will be found. But for now I'm glad that not all is lost.

-Jess

responses

First, potty training is actually going really well. Better than it went with either of my other two year olds! Both of the girls seem to get #1, so it's #2 we're working on. Some progress there but . . . we've got a ways to go.

Still! Neither of my first two were ready this early, and I'm actually kind of thrilled. We've got a ways to go, but the progress we're making is enough to keep me from moving them back to diapers, and if you know me and my history with hating potty training, that's saying something.

Christa, is it bad that now I want to try a Denise Austin workout, just to enjoy the goofiness? It can't be worse than yoga booty ballet!

Katie P - I don't have any great tips about sleep, but lots of sympathy. It'll get better soon, but I hope that, for your sake, it gets better sooner.  (And the construction noise- ugh! I still just want to KILL anyone who interrupts naptime! I wouldn't, but it drives me (irrationally, I suppose) NUTS. Sorry that happened to you.)

Sorry also for the hard family-and-friends stuff. You're doing amazingly to be dealing with hard emotional stuff and still keeping up the good habits that you've established. I think it helps so much when we can keep up habits during hard times. Not just because it makes the hard time easier to get through, but because it makes it easier to get back to normal once they're over and the pressure is off. At least, that's been my experience.

I understand the whole being-healthy-but-not-satisfied thing, but I have to be honest, I'd take a peaceful mind over rock hard abs, any day. So, I'd go with your gut and skip the diet, and just keep up the bad habits. U. S. dollars to sand that's the way both a good body and a peaceful mindset, long term. Just my two cents! :)

Amie - I'm so glad Julie's off dialysis and home with her baby. Such good news! 

How's potty training going at your house? It sounds like it's good? is that right? Either way, good for you for going for it with a little (er) one in the house! That's what really intimidated me the first two times - what to do with the younger ones while the older ones need that one-on-one attention to learn this new skill.

And I'm sorry to hear that p90x takes that much time every day. It otherwise sounds like a program I'd be really interested in. Is it the sort of program you could split into 45 minute sessions and just take twice as long to get through?

Katie J. - I hope you like Personal Training with Jackie when you get it!  I hope your hip gets better.

Kelly - congratulations on the long run! Hope the scheduling change goes over okay. I'm working right now on booting us back up into a schooltime schedule - both for me and the kids homeschooling, and because Adam's schedule changes when the university gets going again.

Katie P. - It doesn't sound stupid to wonder how you keep your eyes open - I remember wondering that when I first heard about this sort of surgery!

About weights: I don't know if it helps, but I think you can increase by more than 2 lbs. at a time if you're willing to have, say, your 5s out and your 10s out, and start with the 10s and then switch to the 5s when you need to. I do that a lot. That method lets me work my way into using heavier weights, but I don't need so many sets of dumbells. You just have to give yourself permission to switch back to the lower weight in the middle of the set. I find that if I plan to switch, I don't feel badly doing it. And that really does help me gradually increase what I can do with the heavier weight. I'll even do, say, half of the first set with the heavier weights and half with the lighter, and then do the entire second set with the lighter weights.

And that's a cute little girl in that jogging stroller. :)

Kelly - I've had the same experience of eating better (and often less) when I'm exercising regularly. And it might be the heightened bodily awareness, but honestly, I kind of just think it's because I'm happier then. Food is a comfort drug. It is. It gives you that nice, buzzy, unfocused feeling. Lovely.  But, for me, exercise stops my brain thinking awhile too - it's so intensely physical that when I'm doing it I can kind of switch off my thinking, at least a little bit. And I think all the time. Sometimes I think I'm an introvert just because I'm talking so much inside my head that I can't stand to hear talking on the outside too.

So, if exercise is giving me that nice unfocusing buzz, I don't need food to do it at much.

And, rereading that, I am also realizing I'm a little weird. 

But really, it's an egg-and-chicken thing, I don't know which comes first, and they tend to build on each other, but I feel better when I exercise, and I only really exercise when I'm feeling pretty good. If I can start up either the feeling good or the exercising, the other will inevitably follow. And if I'm feeling pretty good, I don't so much need to eat junk.

It spirals the other way too, of course. Sadly. But it's good to know the good way it spirals, because sometimes I can use good habits to catch myself when I'm spiraling down. And the good habits - even when I'm not feeling them - can turn me around. Not all the time, of course. But they certainly help. Good habits are like the little trees on a cliff in a Looney Tunes cartoon - enough of them catching at your clothes as you fall down the cliff will eventually slow you, and if you're Bugs Bunny and not Wile E. Coyote, one of them will eventually hook you and stop your fall. Ha.

I'm not sure how to make sure I'm Bugs Bunny.

No, really, I think it's always the good grace of the Holy Spirit that stops us, and His grace that prompts us to pray to the Father to ask for help when we're falling. But I think that sometimes He (never wasteful) uses the grooves of our good habits (the ones that He's helped us learn) to help set us on our way again.  And that might have very little to do with food, which is, after all, not as important as the body itself, or the person herself. And I know that. But sometimes it works like that, I think, that He uses what He's already taught us, reminds us of the things we already know how to do, to help us recover. 

Katie J. - the food journaling doesn't seem to take too long; I just keep the site in an open tab (I use Opera as my internet browser) and add to it throughout the day. It's only tricky when I eat something that's not in there, but I don't mind guessing or getting a close substitute. It's only as useful as it is easy, for me anyway, so I don't let it take too much time!

I'm so sorry about your injury! Don't feel bad about "just" lifting weights though - I think a weight routine can do a lot more than people give it credit for!  I hope you can find a physical therapist that can help, though, so you can get back to the exercise you really like.

Also, I like your idea of doing the yard for fun, health and, someday, profit. :)

Christa - I think your comment on working out with Barbie demands that you give us a description of the clothes the instructor was wearing. Were they neon? Spandax? Neon Spandex? Neon Spandex . . . . with ruffles?  :D

Okay, and now I'm curious: does anyone else exercise partly because it shuts your brain up for a little while, and lets your body have its turn? I honestly feel like exercise helps keep me balanced, because I could live so easily in my head - but I like the physical world, and I do better when I'm more connected to it. Anyone else like that at all?

-Jess

responses

-Amie, still praying for Julie. And I hope camping goes well!

-Katie J - I love the Banish Fat, Boost Metabolism workout too! Or, well, I don't love doing it, but I do it regularly and love the results!

As to workout times: lately I've been working out in the afternoon, during the twins' naps and the big kids' quiet time, but I'm trying to get back into the habit of getting up early. If I can do this, I'll get up early and exercise, and then save naptime for writing.

My husband and I used to do push-ups and pull-ups in the evening, but it was just too much. We'd get the kids down, then do clean-up and dishes, and adding exercise on top of that just made me dread the evening, because after supper, kids' bedtime, clean-up and dishes I really just want to sit down. :)

-Katie P - I think you're right to want to use lighter weights but do the exercises in the harder position, rather than do heavier weights in the easy position, because I think the hardest part of a lot of those exercises is just being in a plank position. I bet you see better results with the path you chose.

Curious - it sounds like you have more than one set of weights out when you work out? I do too. I have 15s, 10s, and 5s, and I always have the all out, because I always am wanting different weights for various exercises. And sometimes for the same exercise; sometimes I'll use a heavier weight for the first time through an exercise, and then a lighter weight for the repetition. Anyone else do this?

Regarding the eye surgery: the physical act of keeping my eyes open wasn't hard, if that's what you mean, because they prop them open. I admit, I didn't enjoy having them open; it's not a fun feeling to have bright lights shining in your eyes and not to be able to blink! But I did what I did during my c-section: I just said the Jesus prayer over and over! And my surgeon was really good about keeping up a patter, letting me know what he was doing, and that helped me a lot, because I didn't feel in the dark about what was going on.

Also, they give you a Xanax beforehand, to help you relax. Yay drugs! 

-Yolanda - it's good to hear from you! I think that it's possible that it's easy for some women to lose pregnancy weight, but my guess is that it's only easy for those who already have a long history of good habits. (This would not be me, it took me 9 months the first two times and 12 months the third.) For me, it was giving birth that prompted me to even start forming good health habits. I think that's true for a lot of women. 

Also, even if you had good habits before, trying to figure out how to implement those habits as a mom (and, for you, I'd imagine, as a grad student and then as a professor) is really like trying to figure out how to implement those habits as a whole new person. It's hard to underestimate the difficulty of that.

Also (gosh, I like using "also"!), when you talk about getting off track and trying to get back on again, it sounds so familiar. I'm becoming more and more convinced that you can't just decide something once. If you're really committed, what that means is that you are committed to deciding again and again and again. Commitment means deciding to decide. You can see it really easily if you look at marriage: you make your vows once, but every day you have to choose to turn towards your husband rather than away. The vow was to do it every day, to reaffirm your decision every day in your actions.

So I think it's no sign of failure that you find yourself starting up again. That's a sign of success.

And, I think, eventually, the gaps of time in your decisions will get smaller and smaller until it feels automatic. But you'll still be deciding, day by day.

Anyway, that's my philosophizing on the subject! :) Forgive my longwindedness. I've just been thinking a lot lately about the idea of commitment, especially in my relationship with God.

-Jess

to Katie P., mostly

First, a practical suggestion - if you need or want it later - regarding swaddling and heat. When our son was a baby, we were in an unairconditioned, very, very hot house (like, hotter inside than out), and we'd put him to sleep in a hammock Adam hung from the studs. It cuddled 'round him (like a swaddle blanket), but since it was mesh, it let air in on all sides. And I could rock him in it, so he fell asleep.

Since your husband was a tropical MK too, I assume you have a hammock lying around somewhere. :)

Then, regarding LASIK, the reason I feel so confident doing it is that I watched my mom and sister go through it, and it was just wonderful for them. I'm going to the same doctor, and he's done over 20,000 surgeries, and several hundred of them were other eye doctors - so I figure he knows what he's doing. That helps me feel very optimistic about it. I'll be glad to let you know how it goes!

Finally, I realized recently that I was avoiding working on my novel, because I was afraid that if I really worked on it, I'd fall back in the trap (old, old trap for me) of thinking that I'm worth what I do. It was so frustrating to keep finding myself balking at working on it, but when I finally figured out why I was balking, it was so freeing, because I was free both to walk around the trap, and to start writing again, only this time with prayer, asking God to help me do it with a right heart, because it was my work and not my self. It was so strange, though, to find out that the reason I'd been unable to do this good thing was because I had been veering towards doing it for a bad reason. And such a relief that once I saw that I was doing it for the wrong reason, I realized that I could still do the good thing, I just had to do it differently, and with a lot more prayer, holding it open in front of our Father.

So, I just wanted to say, I appreciate so much hearing about what you're learning about your relationship with food and finding freedom by recognizing what's going on. Thank you so much for sharing that.

Katie J - I'm slowly doing reviews of my favorite workout DVDs on my blog, but I've only got two up so far, so here's a list of the ones I have and use:

-30 Day Shred - I think everyone knows about this one at this point

-Banish Fat, Boost Metabolism - another Jillian Michaels one; imagine taking just the cardio parts of Shred and making them into a 40 minute workout. Basically, this is hard cardio for 40 minutes - lots of jumping, plank-based moves and kickboxing.

-No More Trouble Zones - this, on the other hand, is like taking just the strength parts of Shred, and making them into a forty-minute workout. Lots of weights and also some old-school matwork.

-Personal Training with Jackie: Power Circuit Training. - This is just strength stuff, and it's more systematic than Michaels' No More Trouble Zones. I love this one. She starts with hamstrings, and proceeds through quads, glutes, chest, back, biceps, triceps, upper abs, lower abs and obliques. It just destroys your body piece by piece. It moves very quickly too, which I really like, but others might not.

Dance Off the Inches: Hip-Hop Party (Jennifer Gilardi). - This is the one I did this week. Fun, lots of cardio, kind of goofy.

Dancing with the Stars: Dance Off the Pounds. - I'm just starting this one. It's a sweatfest, and the dancing's actually stuff you might do in public, if you ever got good at it. As I recall (I haven't done it in awhile), one of the three routines took up too much floor space to do in my small living room. But I liked the other two routines (swing and jive) enough that it didn't feel like a waste of time.

Dance With Julianne, Cardio Ballroom - This is another fairly new one to me, but I really like it so far. It has a jive section that's particularly fun.

Dance Off the Inches: Fat-Burning Belly Dance - This isn't real belly dancing, it's kind of belly-dancing-inspired cardio. But it's fun.

Fwiw, I like dance DVDs because they're a good option for me when I've done a hard strength workout the day before and am too sore to lift again. Also, in all honesty, I find the dancer's bodies such great inspiration. It makes me want to be fit just so that I can move my body in such energetic and free ways. (Hee, quoth Larry the Cucumber: "Libre y suavamente!")

Rodney Yee's Power Yoga: Total Body Workout. My favorite yoga DVD, hands-down. Starts easy, gets harder as it goes. It's about an hour long, and, to my mind, the perfect Sunday afternoon de-stressor.

Katie J. - I also wanted to thank you for your observation about candy, and how it makes you feel. That's such a good reminder for me, because I love hard candies (like Runts and jellybeans), but they don't make me feel that great, and it's good to remember that.

Christa - you might like either of Jillian's other videos: the No More Trouble Zones or Banish Fat, Boost Metabolism, if you like the Shred. The second one does have a lot of jumping (is that "bouncy"?), but the first one doesn't. You might also like the yoga one - it does require coordination, I suppose, but it doesn't move terribly quickly, so you have time to get into the different positions. If you want something dead simple that will just get you moving, you might like one of Leslie Sansone's Walking Away the Weight videos.

Kelly, you're amazing. Hang in there. I think you're doing great to get anything more than childcare done when you're on your own with three kids. 

Katie P. - I'm glad to hear that your shoulder is getting better. Glad the tennis ball helps too! What a simple tool for such great results.

Emily - I'm curious - are you still able to do your green smoothies during your kitchen remodel? I know how much you like them (though I still think greens ought to be eaten with bacon).

Amie - is there any news on Julie? Still praying for her and her baby.

-Jess

Week 5 Summary for Jess + comments

Sun: Power Yoga: Total Body Workout

Tues: 4/7 circuits of No More Trouble Zones

Thurs: 6/7 circuits of Banish Fat, Boost Metabolism

I only worked out three times this week, but they were all of them long and hard workouts, and I feel good about it. I am noticing that I've stopped working on my pull-ups and my goal for next week is to start that up again!

Katie, thanks for the bag compliment, but Emily was the one who made it. I saw it in person though - it's even prettier than the picture tells!

And Emily, I think you're right to drop something given all the other stresses. I bet karate will keep you energized (and if it's not, you can always pull back there for a bit too), and I can't imagine living with no kitchen for so long! You're keeping everyone fed and sane, and that's no small accomplishment with such an important part of your house unusable!  I'll miss you here though. 

About measuring fitness comparatively, well, I remember what I was doing in college. I walked and played rugby and roller-skated sometimes - but I didn't do anything regular (till the last semester, when I took 3 P. E. classes at once - archery, weight-lifting and gymnastics, so fun!), and I know that I couldn't lift as much or go as long and hard as I can now. I bet I'd be better at rugby now, if I got the chance to play again! Then again, maybe I wouldn't, because I'd be more careful now - less willing to throw myself at the ground to make the point, you know? :) I know pain hurts now, in a way I really didn't in college. Anyway, with being in shape, I think it's having a routine now that makes the difference between now and then. Plus, I weigh a bit less now than I did the last couple of years of college. Not much, but enough that I can tell, and knowing I weigh less but am stronger lets me know it's because I'm in better shape. <--Hope that sentence makes sense; I'm not sure. :)

Amie, how was the chicken? :)

Katie, the running + push-ups sounds great! I think those last few reps that are so hard to do, where you're just shaking (literally) as you make it up, do make a huge difference. 

It's also interesting to read your account of watching others do old age and seeing some things you want to copy and some you don't. I'm going to have to keep my eyes open and watch too.

Conversations

Jessica, I don't think I've had the thought "I'd better enjoy this", rather "I'd better do this" in order to stave off the the inevitable decline. :)

I also find it helpful to focus on what I hope to obtain from these workouts. Shred gives me muscles. Yoga gives me a quieter mind and a more flexible body. Karate gives me a sense of a grounded center in my body (does that make any sense?) which I really like.

And when it comes down to it and I just really really don't want to work out, I'm with everyone else in finding this accountability blog helpful. Last Friday the main reason I worked out was because I didn't want to have to admit to being lazy! It can be so easy to talk myself out of exercise, but harder when I know I'll have to admit it later. :)

Most despised household chores: cleaning the bathroom and vacuuming. Oh, and dusting. Come to think of it, I'm not sure there are very many that I like... But I really like the results, especially a clean bathroom. I just have to remind myself that I like the results so very much (rather like how I hate the shred but like the results...!)

Shape changes post-pregnancies are so very real! I can't even begin to fit into college jeans or shirts or dresses, but college skirts fit just fine. My bust got enhanced, as did my hips. :) Jess, how do you measure your fitness level comparatively? Your comment about being in better shape made me wonder about my own level of fitness, and I'm really not sure how to compare. My body and my life were just so different back then.

Katie P, shred workout 1 is my favorite. :) I like boring workouts, apparently. Also, I find it the simplest one to modify. There's just not much in workout 3 that my knees, shoulder, and wrist can handle, so it feels rather pointless.

Does anyone else find holding Warrior 2 arms in yoga to be killer??? Bob is always talking, in my dvd, about how "your legs are cooking now..." and I'm standing there thinking "my legs are fine you crazy man, its my arms that are going to fall off!

not just yoga, POWER yoga. :)

Yesterday I did Rodney Yee's Power Yoga: Total Body Workout. It felt good by the end of it (it usually does), but the kids all got up from naps or quiet time before the end of it, so it wasn't quite as peaceful as usual. And I was sore from the Jackie and Jillians workouts last week, so all the stretching was more challenging then usual. Still, a nice way to start the week.  I always feel so accomplished after I do the backbends towards the end. I'm never quite sure I'm going to make it (I've cramped and tumbled in the middle of them before). It's a good thing they're towards the end, when he has you all warmed up and balanced, or I probably wouldn't make it!

Do you guys ever do a workout and think, "I'd better enjoy this, because someday my body isn't going to let me do this anymore"? I've been thinking about that recently. You enjoy this body, but its capabilities slowly declined, and how do you wean yourself off of the joys of a willing body? I've had my ability to physically do things taken away at a couple of points in my life, due to injuries and such, but in each case, I could reasonably expect them to return, and they did. But that won't be true with old age.

Though it does seem - in some completely serious sense that I don't think I really understand yet - that the hope of a new body in heaven is part of the answer. I don't think I get that yet. But I can see that it's there to get. Does that make any sense?

anyway, just wondering if anyone else has thought about this at all. It seems we're all close to what you might call our physical peak, and I can see the downhill staring me in the face.  Wheeeee!  :D

-Jess

comments, assorted. :)

Katie P., about the side lunges in Shred: I don't know if this will help you, but a trick I use (because they never felt right to me either) is to look towards the foot of your strengthened leg - as if you were a dancer emphasizing the move by a pointed glance down (sounds weird, but that's how I think of it). I don't know why that works for me, but ever since I started doing that, the move started feeling right instead of all wrong.

And congrats on moving to heavier weights throughout! Love it when that happens.

(btw, isn't it funny that as you get fitter, you use heavier weights on most things, but a small amount of weight during those all-important body weight exercises?)

Most despised household chores . . . I don't like the bathtub either, because ours is a plastic composite that never looks clean. But I tell myself I just have to clean it, I don't have to make it look clean, and then I feel better about it. Actually, a lot of the ones I like least, Adam does, just like I do a lot of the ones he likes least. Gotta love marriage! :)

Katie J: glad you're getting the high of being stronger - I know that since I started the Shred, going up and downstairs isn't a big deal. I mean, it wasn't a horrible deal before, but now it's not even much harder than walking down the hall, you know? It's a small thing, but you notice. 

Kelly, I'm sorry about your back. I hope it gets better soon!

Kelly and Yolanda: I'm a different shape too, after having kids. I'm in better shape, weirdly (I think having kids forced me to get disciplined in my personal life - it was that or go under), but it's not the same shape.  I'll take it though. 

I really like St. Francis' way of calling his body "brother ass." Lewis talked about it: the body is a beast of burden, stubborn yet loveable. You don't expect magnificence from it, but you just can't hate it either. You use it, you take care of it, and you feel some affection for it. I think my affection for my body has, I don't know, deepened?, since bearing and nursing children. It's proven a more useful donkey than I ever would have thought. I can't hate something that's done its job so faithfully, even if it looks a bit funny now. :)

Yolanda, RE expectations: I've actually kept track of my weight over a couple of years, and so I guess I think about my fitness in a longer stretch than just a few weeks, and that helps a lot. I actually graphed my weight once (nerd!), and it was really interesting to see what a bumpy line it was. But (this was post-pregnancy) the general drift was down and then steady, and that works for me. I think enjoying the fairly-immediate increase in endurance and strength, and looking for a slower, slightly-bumpy-but-consistent drift in the direction I want to go is how I balance my expectations. 

And Adam found the remote! Yay! I can do the Shred again!

a note on getting bored during workouts

Emily, you can't read during the Shred or Biggest Loser DVDs, but I have to admit: I've occasionally turned the sound down and listened to a podcast. It wouldn't work with a new DVD, but if you're doing one you're familiar with, it's not that hard.

I don't do it that often, because I don't really like the breaks in my concentration it seems to engender. But every once in awhile, when fear of boredom is what's really keeping me from doing the workout, it's worth it.

I imagine you could do the same thing with a book on CD.

Or music you like. But I haven't tried that yet. I should though. Most workout DVD music leaves a lot to be desired. I want to work out to Shakira! :D

btw, anyone else watching the World Cup? Now that's fitness!

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.

welcome, Amie! plus weekends and sore necks and heat

First of all, welcome Amie! Glad you're joining us. :)  I'm curious: what's Ab Ripper X - is it part of P90X? Also, are you doing 10 pull-ups at a time, without rests? Or do you do sets? 'cause - wow! I'm happy to have gotten to the place where I can do two at a time! (Still working on it.)

And I hear you on the stomach surgery thing. I only had one, and I don't know if it was the surgery or the stretching from the twin pregnancy, but I had some real weakness that planks and push-ups helped with a lot. It wasn't till I started doing those that my back really stopped hurting all the time (I think my backaches were a combination of weak ab muscles and nursing position.)

I admire your goal of being a healthy role model for your girls! I don't think I've thought explicitly about that a lot, so thanks for the food for thought!

Emily, weekends are a different animal than week days, I think. They have their own pattern in our house, but it's not the same pattern as weekdays, and I don't try to fit week day stuff into weekends. If I work out on the weekend, it's because doing a dance DVD or yoga DVD sounded like fun. So . . . that's what works for me. Saturday has chores, but they're not the weekday chores, and for me, that includes working out. 

As for sore necks, I had a lot of trouble with this with the ab exercises in Shred, at one point. I just did less than they did, so that I didn't strain anything, and let it build up with time. (Because when I tried to keep up, at first, I hurt myself! So I decided I didn't want to do that again. :) ) I think there are a lot of exercises that require neck strength, but I've never found any that specifically build it, so I've just had to let it happen slowly while I did ab and shoulder stuff. With ab stuff, though, purposely focusing on tightening my abs or hip flexors, rather than my neck muscles, was helpful. Maybe focusing on the specific shoulder muscles you want to work will help your neck muscles relax a bit? Also - again, this is abs - focusing on the ceiling helped me not to yank my head up (thus straining my neck). Maybe on the forward raises picking a spot to focus your eyes on will keep you from craning your neck the wrong way? Because if you keep your eyes still, you'll generally be keeping your head level, and your neck in a neutral position. Again, I don't know if it works when you're standing, but it's worked for me when I'm lying down.

Kelly, I'm sorry about your hot run last week! Heat + exertion can just be a killer. Hope you're able to run in the cool of the day this week!

Oh, also - I'm responding in posts rather than comments because it just seems to be an easier way to keep the conversations going. I hope nobody minds, and please feel free to do it yourself!

on the 30 Day Shred, Water and the rest

Kelly, I did a review of the 30 Day Shred about a year ago here.  So, I've been using it over a year now. I like it because it's really hard and very no-nonesense. And it really works. I like that you can make it harder as you get more fit by simply using heavier weights. I like that even when she has you training smaller muscles (like biceps) she has you training larger muscles (like your quads) at the same time, so that you're still burning a high number of calories/minute.  

Also, it got me to a level of fitness where I felt comfortable trying new, harder things, like trying to learn to do pull-ups and a higher number of push-ups.

Thanks to both of you for explaining the water thing to me. Like I said, I drink a lot of water just because I feel rotten if I don't, and I'm always thirsty (this has been true ever since I started breastfeeding with my first, and especially since breastfeeding twins - you don't know what thirsty is till you've breastfed twins!), so I've never really had to think through other reasons to do it.

I drink at least one 32 oz. canning jar full of iced tea (just black Irish breakfast) a day and then use the jar to drink water from for the rest of the day.  That, and a couple of mugs of coffee, and often a glass of milk - that's usually it for me for liquids. So lots of water, a fair amount of iced tea and coffee, and maybe some milk.

Kelly, Pilates has never been terribly attractive to me (I don't like exercises that put a lot of strain on my neck, which Pilates seems to, to me), but I do understand the attraction of body weight exercises. I love how push-ups and pull-ups and plank exercises change my body composition!

Emily, good for you for closing the fridge! I know. Eating is just a lovely, drug-like experience. It makes you feel better.  There's some interesting stuff in Dallas Willard's The Divine Conspiracy about Jesus' words that he has food to eat the disciples know not of, and how doing the Father's will is is food, and how that might be more literal than we usually assume. If nothing else, it makes me think about how we turn the wrong places for comfort so often. 

Kelly, it's interesting how you've ended up finding snacking all day a better pattern than three meals a day. I do much better if I just eat three meals a day and don't snack. It makes me realize that though all of us need to be ordered in our habits and need to find a way of exercising our bodies so that they're capable of doing our daily duties, those virtues of order and care are going to be played out differently in different people's lives! What works for you might not work for me, even though it's the same virtue we're practicing. 

:) I like this blog. Do we want to share it with other folks? Inviting them to read? Curious what you think.