A great Tuesday.

I woke up early this morning, I love that.  I've always been an early riser.  I hate getting up past 7:00 and feel that I've missed half of the day if I do.  While the sun was just starting to come up I head down stairs for my cup of Java and Perfect Bar.  One of my daughters who lives in San Diego introduced them to me some time ago and since then they have been a staple food in my refrigerator.   My favorite is by far the Peanut Butter flavor although I like them all.  Just recently I grabbed three boxes of different flavors at my local health food spot because they were on sale, YES.  

My three year old Standard Poodle has always loved the bar as well and receives her fair share every morning.  Now my old boy, my 14.5 year old Standard Poodle has taken a liking to them.  This makes me very happy because he is suffering from liver cancer and is a very picky eater so when I can get something really healthy into him, it makes me very happy.  

Post workout.  Head to toe Reebok

After my coffee and our Perfect bar, there is a little more time spent snuggling and blogging and then it's time to hit the gym.  I had a great workout this morning.  As I wrote before I've been suffering with a tweaked back but today I FELT GREAT.  Feeling great makes you feel even greater when you've had a nagging injury.  It felt good to work hard with no residual back pain.  Like always I pushed the envelope a bit as far as my back and everything seems okie dokie so far.  

I did some very light dead lifts, which I've missed doing.  (Great butt workout)
I also squeezed in some light squats and added in some bent leg raises on this machine pictured below. It has good support for your back compared to the free hanging leg lifts.  I did some heavy leg press, along with some intense leg curls and extensions.  



Back home it was walk time.  So I headed out with both dogs for a couple miles.  My old guy in his cart (doggyride) for much of it; I love the fact that he can join in the fun.  My young girl?  Well..she's a power house athlete.  She loves working out as much as I do. 

A way of life

After reading the post I put on Lifting for Life FB page yesterday, I felt like I'm on the right track.  100 year old woman who wholeheartedly believes in working out.  Making working out a way of life can take a long time; but once you get there it is a good place to be.  For many, working out is torture and as long as it remains in the "torture" category it will never become a way of life.  I think one of the biggest ways to make working out a way of life is results.  A little result can go a long way.  

These days the gym is full. as is the natural course of January and New Year's resolutions.   Over the next few weeks and months, many will fall away.  New Year's resolutions can be tough on anyone and if you don't follow through and succeed at them then you can feel horrible about yourself.  This is just a lose, lose situation.  I like the idea of starting small and letting the snowball effect happen through results.  Just dip your toe in the workout pool and see what happens.  Of course along with testing the waters must come determination and will power.  There will be times when you just want to give up.  It is human nature.

What about changing the whole idea of working out?  Have you ever considered that working out is a privilege instead of torture?  There have been many days that I've told myself those exact words.  "How lucky am I that to be able to work out?" The words ring loud and clear.  There are people with health issues who cannot work out, so when we are perfectly able to, shouldn't we?  Working out is a way that we can keep our body in shape.  The old "snooze you lose" phrase is very true.  Sit on the couch, snacking and watching t.v. long enough and you will lose muscle and gain fat.  When you lose muscle you shift movement to joints which buckle under the pressure with no muscle to support them.  Sad.  

Instead of taking the easy road to a lose, lose, how about a win, win situation?  Just take it slow, step up and say "I will take care of this body that I have been given."  But don't bite off more than you can chew; it can be fatal to your long term work out regime.  Start small and grow, baby steps to success.  

How lucky are you to be able to workout?  

Leave a comment, I love to hear from you.

Happy New Year

There will be lots of sales on this week; go get some great new workout duds, then hit the gym. 

So here we are, another New Year out before us.  No doubt the gyms will be filled with all those folks made New Years Resolutions to get fit.  In the next few months many will fall to the wayside and their resolution will be another one that didn't quite work out.  Making a monumental life change can be hard; doing it all at once may be impossible.  How about taking steps towards your goal?  Often steps in the right direction work much better than a full and complete change in a day.

Getting fit and healthy needs to be a lifestyle change.  It is not a quick fix and can take months or even years to become 'your life.'  Ask me how I know; yes, it took me a long time to get to where I am now.  That realization that I am not dieting, depriving myself or having to work out to reach a goal that will end must come before you get to the 'this is my life' part. 

So many will start Monday off on a restrict diet; that may also be accompanied with hitting the gym.  Eating well and working out needs to fit into your life if you want it to work.  If you make it a bigger goal than is realistic, it may fail.  Strict diets can only last so long.  Crazy and unrealistic workout regimes can go the same way.  Think in the "I can do this" zone.  Don't ask so much of yourself that you simply can't do it. 

"You can do it" is what I have to say.  But only if you want it and you want to change your life.  Baby steps to success.  Now, think in terms of taking care of your body, you deserve it.   Feeling great by fueling yourself with healthy food; the food that your body deserves.  Exercising your body because leaving it sit idle means becoming weak and unable to do the things that you want to do in life.  Slow and steady wins the race.  ;)  Happy New Year, let's make it a great one.

Leave me a comment, love to hear from you. 

Full range of motion

I don't know what was going on in the gym but all the women working out seemed to have either watched the same workout video or have the same trainer.  "Full range of motion," is what I have to say about their workouts.  Each person was picking up a very heavy weight and tossing it around willy nilly; getting nothing from the workout but joint stress, maybe pain and damage.  Holding their arm at a point of maximum joint strain and moving in and out of that point by a inch or two.  

Breaking muscle - full range of motion article

I see people in the gym doing "pseudo" workouts all the time.  They pick up a big weight and swing it around in the inch range of motion spot.  They think they are strong and getting strong; but ask them to use the same weight in a full range of motion movement and it's not happening.  Full range of motion movements uses all the muscles needed for that particular movement.  If you cannot do full range because the weight is too heavy, lighten up.  

There are times when partial reps are needed; those times when you are trying to up your weight but just cannot do a full rep yet.  Those are typically saved for the end of your set when you squeak them in; at least that is when I do them.  I don't try to up my weight before doing lighter reps.  

A bicep curl with FRM rep would start with your arm hanging down beside you and end with your fist up near your chin somewhere.  Many people are pushing for more and more weight without using form.  Form and full range of motion will make you strong the right way.  Using too heavy of weights and staying in the point of least resistance zone; swinging the weight around in there will lead you to joint damage.  

Too heavy is damaging,
Too light does nothing, 
Build your strength, it takes time.  

I'm back

Some of my new workout clothes I got for Christmas. 

Hello, it's been a while.  I hope that you all had a wonderful and healthy Christmas with a bit of indulgence.  I was pretty good with a little extra goodies here and there but nothing to pack on the pounds. We had a nice big turkey for Christmas dinner which is a huge help as far as snacking goes.  Turkey is a great protein which helps you to stay away from the other stuff that you shouldn't be eating.  

I had four days away from the gym and working out completely. You see I've been suffering with a very bad back for about two weeks.  I did several different things that ended up with me having thrown my back out.  I tried working around it for a while but finally gave in and took the days I needed off.  But I am happy to say that I was back at it yesterday and today and am feeling MUCH better.  

Taking time off can be very hard to do when you see progress.  The idea of letting any of that progress slip away can be tough mentally; but the sooner you take time off the quicker your body can mend itself.  As hard as it is, you must take the time off for your bodies sake.  Four days wasn't so bad and my back is thanking me for it.  The most difficult thing over the last two weeks has been standing, cooking and baking.  Standing in one spot can be the most taxing thing that you can do for your back and I did a lot of it leading up to the season.
  
Having a thrown back is not okay with me; I hate being down for anything.  When yesterday rolled around I was determined to hit the gym; but my workout was very careful.  I monitored my body from head to toe for the entire workout; paying close attention to anything that sent a twinge to my back.  I kept it slow and steady and did nothing stupid; I have a tendency to try stupid things now and again.  :)  Yesterday was upper body and today was lower.  I did a bit of hanging but only a few bent leg raises to test the waters.  So far so good and I feel great.

We had a wonderful Christmas at our house.  It was very "fitness" oriented which I love.  My whole family is into eating well and working out which is really nice.  We talk about food, diet, new workouts and staying fit much of the time.  It truly is a family affair. 

Just one more big "celebration" holiday and we will be into the New Year.  It's gonna be a great one.  

Hanging out

Reebok Nano 3.0  LOVE!!

I had an amazing workout today.  It was upper body day and I switched it up big time.  I started with light standing, straight arm lat pull downs for a warm up before hitting any weights.  Next was the assisted pull up machine, onto curls, bench press and triceps.  After being done just about everything I looked at the pull up bar; it is high, not meant for me at 5' 1".  I wanted to do hanging leg raises; it is a crazy great workout.  I pondered the height of the bar and looked around the gym, "maybe I'd missed another bar somewhere" I thought.  Nope.  Only one and very high.  

I spotted the stools that people use to jump up and down on.  Then noticed that there is a small sized one; just right and all I needed to make my bar workout work.  I ran and got it and readied for the work.  I wondered how good my neoprene gloves would do for grip.  I soon found out that they are no good for grip; especially at the end of my workout when they are wet.  I took them off, dried my hands and tried without gloves.  It's tough, a bare handed grip is going to take some getting use to.  I have very small hands, they sort of go with my short body.  ;)  

I did manage to get two sets of ten bent leg lifts done before losing grip.  Then I squeezed out three single straight leg lifts.  There is no texture grip on the bar so you really have to grip.  Of course every time I am hanging from a bar I realize that I need to work on dropping weight.  Any weight I lose will make it that much easier to hang on or pull myself up on the bar.  Lots of steps on the journey, strength, weight loss, learning new things about working out etc. etc. 

Hanging type exercises are hard.  Pull up type exercises are hard.  Give simply hanging a try before adding bent leg or body lifts.  It's really hard and you must focus on form; you do not want to throw out your back.   

As a side note; I also had a chance to try out my new lifting shoes today.  I LOVE THEM.  The bottom is nice and flat for lifting and they are super comfortable.  Of course they're really cute to boot.  :)  

Bars

I love when my family gets together and we get into fitness, either in the form of discussion or action.  Everyone in my family is into fitness and clean eating which makes for great conversation and fun.  This past Thanksgiving we hit a close-by school yard for a workout.  My son who is a huge crossfit fan did the coaching as it was his day off from working out.  Days off are very important when you work out hard.  So on his day off he shared some of his workout knowledge with his sisters, brother in law and me.  

My daughter who is also a huge crossfit fan; with her dog watching her do burpees. 

 I hung onto my daughter's Bull Terrier and took pics while they worked on their WOD (workout of the day).  It was really hot this morning and as I was also on my day off I skipped the WOD but did join in for some hanging workout. 
  

I loved this workout.

The first thing I did on the bar was to just hang.  I could literally feel and hear my spine stretching.  If you have back problems, this is wonderful.  Next it was bent leg lifts and onto straight leg lifts which are MUCH harder.  It is amazing what a great workout you can get just with a few bars.  Had it not been so hot I would have done much more.  So many muscle groups are hit by doing these exercises and the following day I had sore muscles that have not been sore in a very long time.  

As I've said before, form is so very important and my son really helped me with this hanging exercise by simply telling me to engage my lats (latissimus dorsi).  This made all the difference when doing the leg lifts; putting the work onto my lats and off of my joints.  

Now I just need one of these bars in my back yard.