The 2017 Exercise Motivation Thread

[Winchester]

@foxxycat, I will look at the video when I get home tonight. I need some stuff for stomach exercises. Thanks!

Thursday

4 miles on the treadmill

2.5 miles walked during lunch

9 of 9 hours with 250+ steps

Friday (Today)

3.5 miles on the treadmill

3 miles walked during lunch

Working on my 9 of 9 hours (have 5 hours so far)

I think I get steps because I walk both on the treadmill in the morning and outside during lunch. And if you actually walk 250 steps and count them, you'll see that it really doesn't take long at all to get them. While Monday, I only had 11,526 steps, Wednesday and Thursday, I was a little over 17,700 steps both days. Today, so far, I'm at 15,260 steps, but that will increase as I work on the rest of those hours with 250 steps; I have 5 hours in so far today.

The Blaze is also tracking my heart rate, but I have no idea how accurate that is. I need to check more on how it calculates heart rate; it must be averaging it out somehow, because on Monday, it was 60, Tuesday 58, Wednesday and Thursday 56, and so far today, it's 54. Those are resting rates, but it shows a graph for each day on my phone. And if I check it on my computer, it goes into more detail. I think a resting heart rate in the 50s is good, but I'm not sure. I know they take age into consideration, too. I read that a normal resting heart rate is 60 - 100, but some doctors think that it should now be lowered to 50 - 70 beats per minute (BPM). I'm on a beta blocker for blood pressure, so that's probably why my resting heart rate is a little low.

 

[foxxycat]

did my lunchtime workout. I watched this video below but mostly ran in place. There was a part at 16:20 at the end-I followed through the entire jump and squat session-wow! I ran in place for 8 minutes nonstop then another 7 minutes after 2 minutes of walking around. I didn't do the exercises below because  I am going to the gym after work and didn't want to do too much.

the video is a short one.


I think like 19 minutes?! I wanted to watch so next time I play it I can follow along better.

Winchester=I don't know much about blood pressure meds-but my friend at the gym he is on meds and he has a hard time getting his heart rate up and he sweats like crazy. I don't know if this makes sense.

 

[Norachan]

One hour of yoga yesterday.

Today I walked for 45 minutes, ran for 15 minutes, walked for 5, ran for ten and then walked the last ten minutes home. I'm running in my hiking boots, but I don't think that matters for now. Got to build my stamina back up.

 

[Winchester]

Winchester=I don't know much about blood pressure meds-but my friend at the gym he is on meds and he has a hard time getting his heart rate up and he sweats like crazy. I don't know if this makes sense.

Yeah, it makes sense. I have a difficult time getting my heart rate up and my doctor says it's because of the beta blocker, which purposely tries to keep heart rate down. When Rick and I were walking together, til we got down to the end of our road, I'd be sweating and he'd be fine. And he used to make fun of me. But it's not because he's in better shape than I am. It's because of the beta blocker.

I have to take a stress/echo test (treadmill) on Wednesday and that will be interesting.They increase the speed pretty quickly and they also jack up the incline. Oy

Oh, BTW, my blood work came back and it's all normal. Thyroid is fine, too. My bad cholesterol is right on the edge of being high, so I need to work on that. Part of that is genetic as my parents both had high cholesterol and high blood pressure. My mom was also diabetic. I have a lot of genetics things that I have to watch.

4 miles on the treadmill this morning. (Norachan, I would love to be able to run, but my knees and my ankles won't take to running. Every time I try, I booger a knee up or mess up an ankle. That's why I stick to walking. But I'd love to take off on a good run some day!)

 

[foxxycat]

That makes sense. Funny my heart rate has always been on the high end. so it's not unusual for my rate to be 150-160 when I am sprinting on the elliptical. I used to have a rate of 180 in my 20s. I always had a high resting rate around 85ish. I had an EKG done when I was 30 and they said it was fine. My then retired doctor said he wished everyone else had readings like mine-not sure what he meant-I assume that the S wave and those others were right where they are supposed to be, I don't have high pressure or chol. the last test it was I think 147? I had it as low as 113 and one time it didn't register on the scale-but that was when I gave up fast food for a year. I still ate deep fryed foods but not at big chain places. wow that was years ago. My parents didn't really have any health issues other than mental stuff. My dad is very healthy and still in shape at 75. He brags that he is still outside splitting wood. LOL. I will be that 85 year old woman who will use her walker as a dipper or a weapon lol. I hope  I can still get into the gym at that age. nothing like a good workout with a good sweat. helps distract me from depression that plagues me in the winter. It's essential to my inner body to get in a good sweat a few times a week. Works better than the pills the doc had me on for decades.

last night gym.

6.5 miles on elliptical=I found a dance music station on Pandora=I didn't want to stop! 80 minutes. I forgo judge judy. Decided for some good tunes instead.

lat pull downs, leg press and calf raises at the same time-I used their sit in leg press machine=did my 25 reps and then pushed the plate all the way out and did my calf raises at the same time. Saves time changing machines. It was 6:45 then and I had to get moving otherwise I would never get any sleep.

Norchan I run in my workboots. I find my boots more comfortable than sneakers. I wore them the other night too on the elliptical machine. last night my feet ached in my sneakers. I give up. give me my boots.

 

[foxxycat]

yesterday was my rest day. today I took it easy=did 20 minutes at lunch-I mosty ran in place and a few of the exercises in this video=she does jump roping in between sets of combo exercises-lunges with overhead press at the same time-my balance is not that good-I would fall over without hanging onto desk or wall at same time.

Then 10 min good long stretches=surprisingly not sore from that superlong workout Friday.

 

JTBO-I had to reread your winter excursions=that looks like total FUN! I would love to try out riding in the snow=the problem is the roads aren't wide enough and drivers are stupid here in America-I would be more worried someone would hit me than I would be of falling or whatever. Sigh. Would have to stick to snowmobile trails but even that is hazardous because people FLY on those like 100mph or more..nope. no safe place anymore for us slower people.

 

[jtbo]

yesterday was my rest day. today I took it easy=did 20 minutes at lunch-I mosty ran in place and a few of the exercises in this video=she does jump roping in between sets of combo exercises-lunges with overhead press at the same time-my balance is not that good-I would fall over without hanging onto desk or wall at same time.

Then 10 min good long stretches=surprisingly not sore from that superlong workout Friday.


 

JTBO-I had to reread your winter excursions=that looks like total FUN! I would love to try out riding in the snow=the problem is the roads aren't wide enough and drivers are stupid here in America-I would be more worried someone would hit me than I would be of falling or whatever. Sigh. Would have to stick to snowmobile trails but even that is hazardous because people FLY on those like 100mph or more..nope. no safe place anymore for us slower people.

Stupid drivers and narrow roads, that is exactly like here, so I choose forest roads that are not much in use, maybe 10 vehicles a day at most, I have heard you have fire roads that are bit of the same, maybe you can try to find such?

Bicycling in general is more fun on smaller roads, paths etc. Dual track is where the fun starts, single track is of course more fun, but we don't have much of that here locally as population is quite small in this area and during winter there is 1 or two other ones that ride trough the snow like I do, so that does not make much paths.

 

[Norachan]

@Winchester  It must be frustrating to have your medication working against you when you try to exercise. Hope your tests go well on Wednesday. You sound as if you take good care of us, I hope you avoid all those genetic problems.

@foxxycat  Yes, I think boots are fine to run in. Particularly when the grounds rough or stony or frozen. Sneakers only really make a big difference if your running on a track.

No running for me today though. We had 30 cm of snow over night. The really wet, heavy kind. I spent 90 minutes shoveling snow this morning. Cleared the deck so the cats could get out if they wanted to, went all the way around the enclosure knocking snow off the fence so the weight of it doesn't bring it down, then dug myself a path out from the front door.

Cat stayed inside in a big, snoring pile and didn't help at all.

30 minutes of yoga after that, just to stretch my back. I guess clearing snow is a good upper body workout.

@JTbo  Awesome balaclava!

 

[Norachan]

One hour of yoga and a 90 minutes walk today.

How's everyone else doing?

 

[foxxycat]

forgot to log yesterdays exercise. lunchtime jam running in place and a few exercises.

gym last night. slow going.1 hour 3.5 miles. I wasn't into it. next time music is a must. then hit the smith machine. overhead press, squats/calf raises and bent over rows. it was almost 6pm by then and didn't want to be there all night.not sure what my problem was, I couldn't lift as much as I used to. so gonna try tonight on my legs. I wanted to mess around with the leg press again.

norchan yes shoveling is a good upper body workout.

 

[foxxycat]

cardio last night- elliptical machine- 6.3 miles in 80 minutes- listened to music instead of tv. makes a big difference- tonight I have two errands to do then will try weights tonight. want to try squats and leg press again.

gonna workout at lunch and use light weights for arm exercises=this time I am trying to get used to holding my arms up over my head=when working out in the field it's not unusual to have my arms over my head so trying to get used to all positions since my arms ache being up over my head after only a few minutes.

edit: ok got 20 minutes straight of jogging at lunch! I only stopped once! just a gentle slow jog like 4.5mph. nothing nuts. just took my time and controlling my breathing through my nose and doing arm exercises at the same time. That's hard to do. I feel good with what I have accomplished considering I'm heavier now than I have ever been. but at least my heart is in shape. now if the figure would follow. willpower..can't buy it with money sigh.


as I was running I watched from 9:00-39:00 of the video=I forwarded to near the 2/3 of it and she has some interesting shoulder exercises. She is wonderful of explaining the how and why. Of course I love her accent. Keep up the good work folks!

 

[tammat]

I'm on holidays. Not good internet connection here at times. I can't remember if I posted my change of plan? I'm taking a month off he weights to do cardio and reduce my body fat. I'm training cardio according to how well I recover. My resting heart rate is about 55 and when it gets up to 60ish I have to take a rest day. I drove home from hols (45 mins away) last night to see the bay cats and sleep in my own bed then this morning I trained with Rohan. He got me to do a warm up then a circuit, I then repeated the warm up and then another circuit.
Happy exercising everyone [emoji]127939[/emoji][emoji]127995[/emoji]‍

 

[Winchester]

I'm trying here, but not doing very well. That flu really has me by the whatevers. I did do 3 miles on the treadmill Monday morning, followed by Tuesday and Wednesday of pretty much being down and in bed....didn't even come close to my 9 out of 9; on Wednesay, I had 0 out of 9. Well, my upper back is killing me and we're thinking that it's because I spent two days in bed (something I hardly ever do) and so I went downstairs and figured I'd hit the treadmill this morning.

Got about midway through the second lap of the very first mile and broke out into a cold sweat. It was ugly. I finished one mile, then came back upstairs, chucked off my shoes and went back to bed. I was exhausted. If this is what the flu is like, I don't want it anymore. Rick told me not to worry about it; he even had a flu shot and this crap is kicking his butt, too.

I'm going to try to walk one mile (and only one mile) today during lunch. And that even depends on how I feel. It's not pretty.

 

[Norachan]

@Winchester  That flu sounds really nasty.

I think you should take it easy for a while. If you try and do too much before you're properly over it you'll just set yourself back further. Your body needs time to recover.

My exercise time on Wednesday was taken up by trying to get three cats to the vet. Managed to catch 2 of them! But catching, vet time and the trip there and back took about 2 and a half hours, so no time for anything else before work.

Walked for one hour today.

It's supposed to snow again tomorrow. More shoveling to come.

 

[foxxycat]

I second what Norchan said. you need REST.  you NEED REST!

The fever is nothing to mess around with. Rest, damp cool clothes on your head. and read a good book. I remember you mentioned reading=take advantage of it! Sorry you have the flu! Everyone here in NH is still fighting off the crud. So far I only felt a faint lick of it and didn't train too hard so I can have enough reserves to fight it off.

orange juice. That's my secret to health. yes it has sugar but it must have enough vitamin C as I haven't gotten the crud yet.

no gym last night-traffic was a nightmare and it was 6:30 when I got home. of course I was in the middle of reading a novel so when I got home I exercised my eyeballs with reading-stayed up till 1 reading...tired but so worth it. good book!

Winchester=GET TO BED and get better!!!

 

[tammat]

I agree with Nirachan too. Rohan is making me rest every second day and I'm not even sick. Exercise will have no benefit to you when you are sick. Your body will be using all its energy to recover. It will not grow muscle, it will not burn fat and you won't be improving your fitness. In fact you are working against yourself and you could be making your recovery slower and more drawn out. Not only are you not benefitting from the exercise but you could be making your down time longer. Please pop yourself up in bed with the cats and sleep. Rohan tells me your body heals when you are horizontal.
My RHR is 61 this morning so I'm resting today.

 

[Norachan]

I went out for my walk early yesterday as more snow was forecast. Man, it's cold! Usually I've warmed up after about half an hour but I was still shivering after walking up and down lots of steep, snowy trails. 

It's just started snowing now so I guess no walk today, but I'll try and do some yoga later.

2 hours walk yesterday.

 

[foxxycat]

yesterday at lunch-light jogging for 20 minutes.

last night gym elliptical machine for an hour. it was already 6pm after. I had to run some errands first.

today working 12s so will try to do some walking around at work. It's very cold out today- hopefully I get back to the gym tomorrow. it's dead on the weekends anyways.

 

[foxxycat]

last night did a few exercises at the gym-went to meet my friend there and drop off a book for him.

overhead press, forward rows and squats

todays lunchtime tried to follow a video from LisaMarie but that one had too much chatter so I ended up doing my own thing of running in place and lunges and squats with punches and kicks at time.

I am going to the gym after work=the best day to go=it will be totally dead. no crowds. no eyeballs watching me screw up. or watching my jiggly body as I try to kill the elliptical machine

 

[Norachan]

@foxxycat  Joining a gym is starting to sound like a good idea, particularly over the winter. My closest gym is kind of difficult to get to though. It was so cold this weekend that after I finished work I made myself a nest of blankets on the sofa with the cats and watched DVD'S. Very lazy of me.

I did an hour of yoga this morning and I'm heading out for a walk now. The outdoor temperature got down to -15C last night.