Category Archives: strength training

Thoughts on vegetarian week

So glad you enjoyed the tulip photos!  It would have been ideal if we had actually gone this week after the festival was over and avoided the crowds.

I headed to the gym this morning. I did not go yesterday. I checked my log and I put 114 miles on the bike since last Tuesday and I was tired. That is a lot of miles for me.  😯  Needed a break!  So I lifted today instead.

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Stiff-legged dead lift 3 sets of 10 at 70# Lower body
Wide Grip lat pull down 3 set of 10 at 60# Back
Lying Leg Press 3 sets of 10 at 100# Lower body
Barbell Chest Press 3 sets of 10 at 55# Chest
Horizontal Wood Chop 3 sets of 10 each side at 30# Core
Calf raise 3 sets of 12 at 110# Calves
Face Pull 3 sets of 12 at 30# Shoulders
Bench Dips 3 sets of 10 Triceps
EZ curls 3 sets of 10 with 25# EZ curl bar Biceps

This was a very good workout.  I biked home and cooked up some banana custard oats.  I am also increasing my carbs a bit now with all this riding.


So, I completed my 7 days of a vegetarian diet.  I wasn’t really all that hard.  I did have some really yummy food, like palak chole and my cheese souffle!  I did have a hard time getting in enough protein for my preference.  I couldn’t get it in without the carbs that come with veggie proteins.  I didn’t want to just rely on more of my whey protein powder, which I could have have done, and I did not want to get veggie burgers because I did not want to eat a fake meat food just to get in the protein since I gave up meat analogues a while ago.  Funny how there is the perception that vegan and vegetarian eating is totally 100% healthy, but it is just as easy to eat crap and processed food on those diets as it is an omnivorous one.

Another interesting thing? I ate no salads!  I always like meat on my salads and without the meat, I had absolutely no desire to have a salad.

I have no interest at all in being a vegetarian.  Not that I need to eat meat every day, and I have no problem going without meat for a day.  Personally, I need the specific amino acids and vitamins that come with eating meat.  It makes me feel better.  I just want to know where my meat comes from.  We are trying to make sure we either buy local or from farms that are certified humane. Not always successful, but I try to be mindful of where it comes from.

Lunch time included some chicken in the form of sweet apple chicken sausages.  These are from the Nature’s Place brand at our local Hannaford.  I emailed them and got the info on the farms they purchase from for this particular brand and they are certified humane, which is good.  Plus the sausages themselves are good. :mrgreen:   Only 100 calories a piece!

Work was quite busy today.  Sometimes it slows down in the mid afternoon, but not today.  Pixie saw me so intently working that she just had to get in my lap to make it harder to type:

Her look says, “Less working, more petting.”

Afternoon latte break with a dark chocolate mint cup.  I bought those again.

Then before dinner my tummy was growling, so I had some peanuts.

Both John and I have been really hungry the last few days.  I am getting in enough calories.  Actually, it seems it would be more than enough calories, but something is going on.  That is another reason I am upping the carbs a bit, to see if I might be glycogen depleted or something.

With the gorgeous weather, it was grilling time for chicken.  And since I am eating meat again, time for a salad LOL!

Working on the project tonight.  I was going to ride more, but it is pretty windy out.  I am turning into such a wuss.  The project is down to the little bits.  We put up the privacy film on the window and caulked the edges of the tile.  Now all that needs to be done really is some paint and wall touch ups and installing the doors.  We are coating the doors with poly, so that will take a couple days.  I am so excited!

What snack goes well with caulking?

Mmmm…. chocolate!

What price to pay?

:Blink blink: There was a weekend there, right? I conked out early last night. While I am able to do much more and more easily than in my 20s now that I am 100 pounds lighter, I have found that my body just feels more tired at the end of those kind of days now that I am in my 40s. Ah yes, aging.
I biked to the gym today. Much warmer in the upper 30s than last Friday!

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Seated Lat Row 3 sets of 10 at 55# Back
Lying leg press 3 sets of 10 at 100# Lower Body
Stiff-legged Deadlift 3 sets of 10 at 55# Lower Body
Decline Situps 3 sets 10 Core
Barbell chest press 3 sets of 12 at 45# Chest
Seated Calf Raise 3 sets 12 at 140# Calves
Lower Back Extension 3 sets of 12 at 80# Low Back
YTWL 3 sets of 4 each letter with 8# DBs (16# total) Shoulders

I’m thinking of doing the 28-day shapeover again for something different. I biked home and was ready for coffee and some soaked steel cut oats.

Cooked with pumpkin and egg whites and topped with honey and toasted pecans. It took forever to cook, because I had a smaller serving of oats, but put in the regular amount of water and then the soaking water. D’uh. It was pre-coffee, so I can forgive myself for that.  Although, the oats were uber creamy.

There is a woman at the gym who has been coming for a while.  She looks great and is about 3 years younger than me (she is 39).  She lifts heavy and is very petite.  You know, one of those people you feel like an amazon next to?  Yeah, that’s me, albeit a short amazon.  I have found myself feeling less than upbeat when we are training at the same time.  I don’t normally compare, but there do seem to be those periods of time when I do exactly that.  I was chatting with her on the treadmills one day and she mentioned how she lost a lot of weight (20 pounds) and all that.  I hadn’t mentioned anything about my weight loss.  She talks about the diet she has now, how hard it is, and how she occasionally ‘cheats’ with a piece of chocolate and  runs even though it bothers her knees, etc.  I thought “Wow, is she dedicated.”  And I sort of felt… lame.

John and I talked about it over breakfast that day when I was feeling a little down about it.  I said I could train harder and all that and get off 10 more pounds.  My husband is so very wise sometimes. His answer? “Not eating chocolate and doing that kind of exercise is the price she pays to look like that.”  That was really what I needed to hear.  It’s not that I don’t work hard (although I could work harder if I wanted to).  It’s not that I am a lesser person. It’s just a question of what is the cost of being like that to me?

I could pay that price, but I don’t think that is me at all.  I really enjoy my food now.  I think that would put me back into having a bad relationship with food and exercise.  Then again,  I could lose 10 pounds and feel like I should lose more.  Hello vicious cycle.  It’s hard, though.  Some days I still have a horrible body image and think that I look much bigger than I am – just like a lot of women who never were overweight to begin with.  Guess I will just keep plugging along.

I broke out the broccoli for lunch today.  Just to shake things up:

With an open face egg salad sandwich.

Tasty!

Work slowed down after lunch, which is pretty normal for Mondays, so I made myself be productive rather than sitting around reading blogs and dinking around on the internet.  Not that I do that or anything… just sayin’… So I did some painting  in the room.  My goal is to be done tiling by the weekend (maybe lofty, but who knows).

Then it was time for an afternoon snack:

Made with 2% milk.

Still chilly again today.  Plus dreary rain in the afternoon.  I would not be surprised if I was deficient in vitamin D, even though I take some. It seems like all anyone talks about is how cold it still is around here.

We did still grill out tonight.  I put some chicken on the grill while sweet potato chips roasted in the toaster oven.

I topped the chicken with some of the Yancey’s Fancy buffalo wing cheese.  It has nice spice to it. Yum!  Note – the pile of grapes looks a little small because I munched on them while fixing dinner. 😳

Another Monday is on its way out the door.  I need to hunt down an evening snack!  But it will not be cookies, either in dough form or baked.  My INO for the day.

Question: How do you keep yourself from comparing to others?

April goals

April Fool’s!  Nature gave us an April Fool today.  I woke up expecting a lot of snow, but it had just started, so I drank some protein and then went to the gym. Apparently others had the same idea because it was quite crowded (for my gym) today!

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Cable Squat to Row 3 sets of 12 at 50# Full Body
Close Grip Lat Pull Down 3 sets of 15 at 40# Back
Decline Sit ups 3 sets of 10 Core
Pushups 3 sets 10 Chest
Seated calf raise 3 sets of 12 at 140# Calves
Lower Back Extension 3 sets of 15 at 80# Low back
Pliet Squat 3 sets of 12 with 35# DB Lower Body
Front Raise 3 sets of 10 with 8# DBs, (16# total) Shoulders

The big snowstorm turned out to be nothing. There was a tiny coating on the grass and then it all turned to rain. I cannot express how glad I am to have it be rain and not snow!

Now on to breakfast!  Friday is my grain breakfast day now.  I soaked some steel cut oats last night and cooked them with cinnamon, pumpkin, and egg whites.

Topped with the ever-present coconut butter.  One of these days I am just going to sit there with the jar and spoon and have at it.

Lunch time!  I made tuna salad and used some protein waffles as bread.  This works out nicely, I have to say.

Kind of looks like a big jack-o-lantern face.

On to the goals for the month! Yesterday recapped March.  These are the things I am going to concentrate on for April.

1.  I am going to shoot for some weight loss. I see a lot of people either recommitting or taking that final push and it sort of has rubbed off on me to want to go a bit further.  I actually am just doing this through food and exercise and I am not going to weigh myself.  I just want to see where my body goes by feel.  It may not go anywhere, who knows.

2. I am going to reduce as much wheat in my diet as possible (or as much as I am willing to).  I think I might have some sensitivity to gluten or grains, which seemed to become more apparent to me when I would do the grain-free days I have been doing.  I am going to eat 8 bagels this month (Wed and Sun), but see if I can go wheat free on all other days.  Except for cupcakes :mrgreen:

3. I am really going out of my box this month with this one.  In looking at my weakest links for a healthy life, my weak links are sleep and meditation. I want to try a bit of meditation this month. I am only going to shoot for a couple days a week just to try it out. I have not been too successful in the past with this.

4.  I am going to work my way through recipes from Nourishing Traditions book by Sally Fallon. Obviously not all of them, because it is just a month LOL!

5.  More biking. And dammit – outside this month! I did 150 miles in March, so I will be increasing that amount.  As soon as overnight lows are above freezing, it’s on!

6. Okay – one more.  I am going to clean up the blog some.  Especially the recipe section and I will put a page up with links to all my lifting videos, and maybe a little store page with AF links in them (gotta pay for hosting and all that).

We shall see what comes of these goals.  All that talk of goals made me want a snack!  2% milk latte with some chocolate crisps.

I am making this box last forever, although there are only 3 crisps left.

Pixie is ready for her piano debut as well.

What are you looking at?

She likes the piano when the lid is closed (and John isn’t playing it).  I think it is because it is high up and she can be queen and survey us peons.

Work done for the week and dinner time!  I can really work any days I want, but there is not always much work on weekends, so it is easier just to plan on M-F.  I still have that odd feeling of thinking of Fridays only being half days, but they really haven’t been in quite some time.

I cooked up a little chicken with laughing cow and a new bottle of hot sauce opened!

I marked the last bottle and I opened it November 30th, so it took me 4 months to go through a big bottle.  John doesn’t use hot sauce.  Not that I am calling him a wimp or anything…

Snack time will be the pumpkin/cream/nut mixture tonight.

I’m getting in a rut!  It’s a tasty rut, though.  Lots of work on the half bath/laundry room this weekend.  I’ll be back with progress pictures on Sunday!

Have a super weekend!

Hooray for Friday!

I couldn’t think of a better title than this :mrgreen: It was warm enough to bike to the gym this morning, too bad it was too dark. It’s coming, though!
The gym was quiet today and had better music. I like Journey (okay, I love Journey). So I rocked on while lifting today!

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Barbell Squat 3 sets of 12 at 45# Lower Body
Seated Lat Row 3 sets of 12 at 45# Back
Plank 3 sets of 70-second holds Core
Seated Calf Raise 3 sets of 15 at 140# Calves
Low Back Extension 3 sets of 15 at 80# Low back
Lying Chest Fly 3 sets of 12 with 10# DBs (20# total) Chest
Single-leg deadlifts 3 sets of 10 (each leg) with 35# Bar Hammies and balance
Face Pull 3 sets of 15 at 30# Shoulders

It felt good today. I have to remind myself to slow down because the tendency when I lower the weight is to increase the speed!

I made a whomping huge bowl of oat this morning for breakfast!  I soaked regular rolls oats overnight (normally I do that just with steel cut).  I wanted to see what they were like.  They got voluminous!

I cooked a mashed banana with these and whisked in egg whites.  Topped with coconut butter and some strawberry jam.  Hello carbolicious breakfast.  I probably did not need this whole bowl, but I ate it all.  Then I went up and rode the bike trainer for 8 miles since I had a carb high going on LOL!

Today was such a beautiful, beautiful day!  It approached 60 degrees!  Funny how spring coming changes my mood dramatically.  I felt a case of full-blown radiance today!  I just kept smiling and I practically skipped down the street to do my laundry.

Certainly made it hard to work today, that is for sure!  The wind really picked up, though.  Otherwise I would have unhooked the bike and taken it outside.

I know all of you think my cat is sweet and innocent. Here is Pixie being bad.  I got up to get some coffee and I looked right at her and said, “Stay out of my chair.”  I had to take this picture because I can almost read her mind.  She is thinking, “That spot looks warm!”

I came back with said coffee and see this:

🙄

Lunchtime salad.  Chicken with feta and dressing, plus 5 crumbled pecans.

Tasty!

John made up lattes, which I had with some of my chocolate stash.

It’s like they are floating in the air!

My afternoon took on an interesting twist. I received a call from my current job this afternoon from the owner of the company.  Apparently she was forwarded my letter of resignation that I turned in and they made me an interesting offer than I need to seriously think about this weekend. Hard choices!

It wasn’t a hard choice for dinner, though.  I wanted popcorn fish!

I can’t figure out why I like these so much when I generally don’t care for fish.  Maybe it is because they are chunks of fish and not pressed and formed minced fish?

Tonight we are doing it up right by working on our half bath!  We sure know how to party 😀

Plus a couple dates and nutbutter snacks:

Have a great weekend!

Operation Endurance begins

Take advantage of every day. You never know when things can change overnight.  My heart goes out to all those in Japan right now.  Please remember if you donate to any relief effort, check it out first at Charity Watch to make sure it is on the up and up.

Rainy night all night and rain today. At least it isn’t snow! We are lucky enough to be on top of a hill, so no flooding worries for us or basement issues. Very thankful.

I had a protein drink and then headed to do an awesome strength workout. I am moving to Operation Endurance now that bike season is approaching, so I am lowering the weights and increased the reps.  I think I will also go back to 3 times a week with lifting. My goal is to not build strength anymore, but to regain endurance.  Cupcakes are 20 miles  each way!

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Cable Squat to Row 3 sets of 12 at 50# Full Body
Horizontal Wood Chop 3 sets of 10 each side at 30# Core
Barbell Chest Press 3 sets of 12 at 45# Chest
Stiff-legged Deadlift 3 sets of 12 at 60# Lower body
Wide Grip Lat Pulldown 3 sets of 15 at 40# Back
Calf Raise 3 sets of 12 at 140# Calves
Low Back Extension 3 sets of 12 at 90# Low Back
Dumbbell Overhead Press 3 sets of 15 with 8# DBs (16# total) Shoulders

The gym was friendly and fun today. I love days like that. Maybe because it was Friday, or just because of who was there.  However fun it was, I was ready to come home and cook up the steel cut oats I had soaked overnight.

With pumpkin, cinnamon, and egg whites cooked in.  Topped with the last of the crystallized ginger and some coconut butter.

Triple fantabulous yum!

I am in fruit withdrawal!  I may have to shop tonight and pick some up.  Normally we shop just once a week, but a fruit emergency is looming! We have some apple sauce, but I wanted to save that for dinner, so I doubled up the broccoli for lunch!  With a Boca chik’n patty.

Afternoon snack included the usual latte and a few dark chocolate crisps from Marisa’s box to me.

They look like Pringles, but they are chocolate.  At first I thought they were chocolate covered potato chips, but they are not.  Very tasty.

John asked if today was a lower carb day (obviously not with oats on the menu…) and then asked if I wanted to go out for a slice of pizza tonight!  Was I going to say no?  I don’t think so!  Guess I didn’t have to worry about that applesauce after all. :mrgreen:  We stopped at East End Eatery:

This was buffalo chicken pizza.  Boy howdy did that hit the spot!  It was the perfect Friday night dinner.

Update:  After dinner we stopped at the store for emergency fruit rations!

Guess you know what my snack is going to be tonight 😀

Question:  How many times a week do you shop?

Snow and surprises and public speaking

Snow today and I woke up wondering if I would be able to hit the gym. It had just barely started when I woke up – score! So I slugged some protein and headed out.

Backing up to yesterday, John and I donated blood in the afternoon, so this affected my workout today, surprisingly. I did 1 mile of jogging on the treadmill for a warm up, then lifted. The gym was crowded today. Looks like some new people joined, or at least shifted their hours.

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Seated Lat Row 1 sets of 12 at 40#

1 set of 10 at 55#

1 set of 8 at 60#

1 set of 6 at 70#

1 set of 4 at 75#

 Back
Barbell Squats 3 sets of 8 at 75# Lower body
Decline Situps 3 set of 10 Core
Pushups 3 sets of 10 Chest
Single-leg Deadlifts 3 sets of 10 each leg with 20# DBs (40# total) Hammies and balance
Calf Raise 3 sets of 10 at 170# Calves
Face Pull 3 sets of 10 at 30# Shoulders
Lower Back Extension 3 sets of 10 at 100# Low Back

I was feeling a little lightheaded a couple times and lowered my squat reps. The blood donation just made me tired. I know it can sap energy for 5 days afterward, but normally I don’t have too much of a problem. Today was different. So, the plan to run again after lifting was nixed so I could go home and eat. :mrgreen:  The car was covered in snow during my workout as it started coming down fast and furious.   I can’t even bear to take another picture of snow.  I was glad to get home.  Especially to this!

The return of pumpkin oats!  One thing that I really miss doing my lower carb experiment is my oats.  Not that I don’t love my other breakfasts, but I uber love the oats.  And what a perfect day to have them.  Snowy!

I received a lovely package from Pubsgal today just because:

It contained some Kona coffee, some kale chips (kinda scared here), a microwave dehydrator tray (my brain is spinning at possibilities) and a little toy for Pixie.  This was so nice it about made me cry!

Pixie tore right into that toy. I didn’t even get the tag off of it.

She will probably disembowel it shortly…

Lunch break included the last of the magic rolls.  These are definitely on my make again soon list.  The one thing I really like about being an omnivore without a real particular food plan or allergies  is that I can try anything – low carb, low fat, vegan, vegetarian, meatitarian, gluten free, gluten filled.  It’s kind of nice.

Anyway, I did a BBQ chicken sandwich with laughing cow on this last bun.  I haven’t had BBQ in a couple weeks and it was tasty!

On an interesting note, yesterday not only did we donate blood, but I went to my mom’s TOPS meeting upon request to talk about my weight loss.  I am not much of a public speaker, although as a former musician I am used to being in front of people, just normally not talking.  I brought in some before pictures and passed them around before I told them how much weight I lost.  That was fun to hear their reactions.  I babbled on about the long journey it took and what I do now to keep it off.  People seemed most interested when I talked about pumpkin oats.  Funny, isn’t it?  We all love the food.

I didn’t really want to tell people what to  specifically eat, since everybody there follows their own plan and everybody is different.  I hope I just got out a message to get rid of processed/fake foods, to exercise, and to not expect perfection all the time.  I think if people just take those 3 things out of it, they really can change their health and attitude for the better.  Public speaking – here I come!

After round 2 of shoveling – I think we are going to approach a foot of snow today 🙄 , it was time for lattes.  John didn’t want one (what’s up with that?) so I had to make my own.

I paired it with a dark chocolate mint cup.  I adore those things.

Work has been very slow this week, and today was really slow because not many people made it in for their appointments with the snow!  This 2nd job just is not able to be full time for me.  Oh well.  I am assuming I won’t hear from the garden center as she was looking to fill her spot for the transplanting asap.  I would have been good at that, so that is their loss, right?  My resume is getting a few nibbles, so I just have to be patient.

I did work a little later to finish up what there was, so I had a rather uninspired dinner.  Boca Chick’n patty.

Now I have an evening to relax, although I am really wanting to get working on the laundry room.  We picked up more wood, so that is on the agenda for the weekend.  I can’t wait! Dork alert!

Question:  Have you ever spoken to a group about your weight loss or progress?

To the dark side

I was worried that snow would keep me from the lifting today, but I lucked out as it seemed to have been delayed some, so I was able to get there before the snow really accumulated. Here is me pulling out of my driveway.

It’s not quite fully light out, so I don’t know if you can see any definition in the snow banks.

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Cable Squat to Row 3 set of 10 at 60# Full Body
Stiff-legged deadlift 3 sets of 10 at 75# Lower Body
Dumbbell Pull Over 3 set of 10 at 20# Back
Incline Dumbbell Fly 3 sets of 12 with 15# DBs (30# total) Chest
Planks 3 sets 70-second holds Core
Seated Calf Raise 3 sets of 10 at 140# Calves
Face Pull 3 sets of 12 at 30# Shoulders
Lower Back Extension 3 sets of 10 at 100# Low back

The planks felt good today and I didn’t struggle at all. Actually I felt very strong today. I don’t know why, but I’ll take it! Actually, I think it is my overall reduction in exercise right now that makes me feel stronger.

Just a reminder on my lifting.  I don’t want anyone to feel bad if they don’t lift like I do, and I would not expect someone to take one of my workouts and do it successfully right off the bat.  There are plenty of people who lift a lot heavier than me (and are tinier!).  Also keep in mind that I have been lifting for a few years now, so I have a really good base of strength built up.  Just a PSA.

I came home for a different breakfast today. A cheese omelet!  With a bigazz bowl of blueberries.  Yum

Funny how I love to eat omelets for lunch and dinner, but I rarely have them for breakfast unless I am out to eat :mrgreen:

The snow fell in wet sticky flakes today.  I love how it makes the bare bushes look:

I planned out my lunch for today last night and still wasn’t all that enamored of it.  Except the peanut butter.

One more can of tuna and then it is going back on the ‘tired of it’ list again.

I received a wonderful package in the mail today from FoodBuzz as part of the Tastemaker program.  2 samples from Pure Dark!  Pure Dark is a division of Mars and have come out with a new line of chocolates.  The idea is that these are a premium chocolate with minimal processing.

For an afternoon snack, I had to crack into the Bark Classic, which is dark chocolate topped with cherries, roasted almonds, and cacao nibs. I fit it into my eating plan for the day.  There is *always* room for chocolate!

With a latte and it was totally delicious!  John and I both agreed. I loved the crunchy cacao nibs in it.  Didn’t taste much cherry (which is okay by me). I’ll talk about the slab one another day 😀

Dinner time was just assembled tonight.  I had chicken spread with laughing cow and hot sauce.  This is really good!

Lots of food talk today and not much else.  It was a quiet day, which really can be a relief sometimes.

John and I are headed out to Starbies for some coffee and relaxing!  I will be having cream in my coffee and bringing some nuts for a snack.  Total carbs for today is 90.  Yesterday was 86.  I just count all carbs – I don’t do the net fiber or whatever other people do.  I love how all that food looks today, too.  So colorful!

Tomorrow will be a grains day, which means it’s bagel time :mrgreen:

Question:  Sweet or savory breakfast?

Strength training tips part deux

Welcome to Friday! Regarding the Wordless Wednesday post from, errr,  Thursday…. Ever have those days where you think it is a day that it actually is not? Raising hand here. I had that all yesterday. Hence the post. At least I now know it is Friday, though! Yay!

I headed out for my lifting session today. I am totally ditching any isolation arm exercises except for shoulder now because they just don’t need the extra work.

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Barbell Squat 1 set of 10 at 55#

2 sets of 10 at 65#

 Lower Body
Dumbbell Pull Over 3 sets of 8 with 30# DB Back
Barbell Bench Press 3 sets of 10 at 55# Chest
Decline Situps 3 sets of 10 Core
Alternating Reverse Lunge 3 sets of 10 each leg with 25# plate Lower Body
YTWL 3 sets of 4 each letter with 8# DBs (16# total) Shoulders
Low Back extension 3 sets of 10 at 100# Low back

New furnace at the gym now, so it was warmer today. I hopped on the treadmill for a little walking. I decided to have a lighter workout today. Maybe because it is Friday?

I was so  ready for brekkie. I soaked some steel cut oats last night so I could make pumpkin custard oats today!

I love those bowls where I am literally saying “yum, yum” as I eat them.  I love food.

Continuing the discussion from last week on lifting and talking a little more about designing a strength workout.  Let’s talk upper body from my unprofessional viewpoint.  Remember that you can choose how you want to do your strength training.  Either full body, or split training.  When doing split training, you will concentrate on one section of your body for that day.  So taking the upper body, you will work the triceps, biceps, shoulders, back and core (abs).  For general conditioning, you basically want to hit each group once during your workout.  Once you have a good solid chunk of time (6 months or so) on conditioning, then you can move to more specific body tweaking if that is the direction you want to go.

I like to start with the big muscle groups first, so I would do chest and back first.  There are so many different exercises to choose from, but the most important thing always is form.  If you cannot get a trainer to help you, do your research. Do a lot of reading and check out online videos like at exrx.net or trainwithmeonline.com.  Also – do all movements without any weight at all to make sure you have the form right.  There is no hurry to add weights, ever.  Attention – do not be afraid to get off the machines and step to the free weights!  Trust me.  I might talk about that at a later date, but I am sure most of you know by now that I am mostly off of all machines.  Not that they don’t have their use, but there is a huge difference between doing a chest press on a machine and with free weights.  But start there if you feel more comfortable.  I’d rather see you on a machine than not lifting at all.

So for me, this is an upper body workout that I have done in the past.

Incline chest fly: Chest
Assisted Dips: Full upper body
Lat pulldown: Back
Reverse crunches: Core
Biceps curls:  Biceps
Triceps kickback: Biceps
Front raise: Shoulders

Question – how many reps and how much weight?  As far as reps go, for good general conditioning you should be doing 8-12 reps with 3 sets, resting 1 minute between each set.  Again, that is just a good average.  As far as the weight goes – it really depends on you.  Do not be afraid to lift heavier.  Your body will tell you what is too much.  With that said, don’t pick up a 40# dumbbell for biceps curls right off the bat. Pick up a weight and do your set of 10.  If you can do that easily, try a little bit heavier weight on the next set.  If on the 3rd set you are easily completing your 10 reps, move heavier.  You want the last set to be really hard to finish, but not complete failure.  I never advise going to failure, especially if you are working by yourself.  Safety first!

Phew – now it’s time for lunch!  I made an omelet and added in some cooked (I just typed cookie) lentils and a laughing cow wedge .   This was actually quite good!

You know, I really don’t like beans that much, but I do love lentils.  I don’t know why I just don’t eat those more instead of worrying about getting in beans.  My mind is just so silly sometimes.

Work was slow in the midday, so I futtered around while waiting for it to be latte time!  I had a mint cup to kick things off:

Then the good stuff.

Again, my appetite is not ravenous.  This is really, really weird.  I think it must have to do with my decreased exercise finally catching up with me.  Normally on a rest day I am very hungry, but with lowered exercise in general, maybe my body finally is caught up?  (Lowered exercise because I am trying to lose some weight, btw).

I was up for the easy dinner tonight.  Cooked up some clams, sauteed brussel sprouts and ready to go!

I had one of those pescetarian days without even planning it.  I have to work tonight, hoping I can get a full day in to end the week off on a good note.  Hope you all have a more exciting night planned than I do!

Question:  Do like lentils or beans (or both?)

Lifting and more snow fun

It was all the way up to 0 degrees when I got up. It’s a heat wave! Funny how much warmer that felt than -27. It’s all relative. I headed out to the gym for some walking and full body lifting.

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Cable Squat-to-Row 3 set of 10 at 60# Full Body
Barbell Split Squat 3 sets of 10 (each leg) at 65# Lower body
Close Grip Lat Pulldown 3 sets of 12 at 50# Back
Pushups 3 sets of 10 Chest
Plank 3 sets of 60 second holds Core
Calf Raise 3 sets of 10 at 140# Calves
Face Pull 3 set of 12 at 30# Shoulders
Good Mornings 3 sets of 10 at 55# Low back and hammies

The gym was so cold today. Apparently the furnace conked out again yesterday (of all days!!) and no fixing it this time. They need to get a replacement. I couldn’t even touch the dumbbells because they were so cold.   I will run tomorrow, which should keep me warm.

I was ready for breakfast today!  I planned out all my foods in livestrong.com for today last night.  Then I forgot after I made breakfast that I was going to do a different topping for my waffles, but ended up with blueberries.  The idea of writing down is so that you follow the plan, right? 🙄

Still tasty, though. Playing in the light box again.  I have a daylight bulb, but I am thinking I need something a little warmer.

A box arrived for me today. I finally upgraded my phone.  I had one of those old ones with only numbers, so texting was a real PITA.  Plus it randomly called John out of the blue, so who knows if it did it to anyone else.  😳  When I went to upgrade I could do a nice phone because it was 4 years since my last one!  Ooops.  I am not a big phone user, it’s the computer for me.

I got an LG Cosmos with a keyboard.  Cool.  Yeah, I know everyone else has an iPhone, but it just doesn’t fit in the budget.  Not with a new half bath to be put in!

Lunch time! Amping up the protein today for the lifting.  I had some cat food… errr I mean tuna.  Lemon pepper, to be exact.

Need to make some different seasonings.  Time to get more hummus!  Suzi has a challenge this week to get in more fruits and veggies, so I joined in.  Fruit is never a problem, but veggies can be.

Doing work for the orthopedic clinic and there are so many ski related injuries as of late!  I tried down hill once and didn’t enjoy it very much.  I did like cross country, though.  Without insurance, I am not likely to try downhill again, though.  Broken clavicle is the most common injury so far this season.  Then torn meniscus.

I’ll stick with sledding, like we did last weekend:

That’s kind of how I stop when skiing, too. :mrgreen:

It’s time:

Latte with 1/2 scoop of whey isolate in there.  I loves me some protein!

I had set out some clementines to eat with the latte, but I wasn’t that hungry.  My appetite has been low today.  What a relief! Usually I could pretty much eat all the time (and sometimes do).  Not sure what is suppressing it today, but I will take it.

More light box playing for dinner!  I definitely need another light on the other side.

This pita had scrambled eggs, laughing cow and the requisite hot sauce.  I almost burned my brussel sprouts, too, but they came out quite good.  I think that pan sauteing them in coconut oil is my favorite cooking method.

I have a bit of work to finish up tonight and then I will have a snack later of a couple mint cups.

Don’t they look giant? :mrgreen:  I’ll post about the light box tomorrow.  I’m likin’ it.

Question:  Do you ski?

Busta move

Tuesday lifting day.  I have had all kinds of schedule changes lately.  I am going to do full body workouts Tuesdays and Fridays, possibly alternating with Mondays and Thursdays.  It had already begun to snow when I got up, so I made haste and got to the gym.   Icky roads.

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Barbell Deadlift 1 set of 10 at 45#

1 set of 10 at 65#

1 set of 8 at 75#

1 set of 6 at 85#

1 set of 6 at 95#

 Lower body
Wide Grip Lat Pull Down 3 sets of 8 at 60# Back
Horizontal Woodchop 3 sets of 10 (each side) at 30# Core
Reverse Lunge/Forward Reach 3 sets of 10 with 8# DBs (16# total) Full Body
Incline Chest Fly 3 sets of 10 with 15# DBs (30# total) Chest
Upright Row 3 set of 10 at 30# Shoulders
Calf Raise 3 sets of 10 at 170# <— increase Calves
Bench Dip 3 sets of 10 Triceps
Low Back Extension 3 sets of 10 at 100# Low Back

The gym emptied out halfway through my workout (presumably because of snow). My poor car all by itself:

With it empty, I was able to do a circuit with the last 4 exercises. I just did a set and moved right to the next one. Then I rested after the 4 exercises and repeated. Good way to keep the heart rate up.

For those new yahoo readers to the blog – here is a video of the deadlift.  I don’t want you all thinking I workout at the undertaker’s or something.

Squat is king, deadlift is queen!

A snowy morning was the perfect setup for pumpkin custard oats!  So tasty.  I am out of the eggnog honey now, though, which makes me a little sad.  That was some tasty stuff.

Did more shoveling of fresh fallen snow.  Good thing, too, because then it turned to sleet.  This is one of those times when I am very glad I work from home other than getting to wear slippers all day.

After getting some more work done, it was time for lunch!  Baked clam strips.  I love these things.

And yes!  Blueberries on sale again!

I get asked about these fairly often, so here is picture of the package.

12 minutes in the toaster oven and you are good to go.

Since I have been so serious the last couple of days, let’s lighten up a bit, shall we?  What is a good thing to do when it looks like this outside?

Go shopping for plants!  I had a gift certificate to Bluestone Perennials, which is my go-to place for plants I can’t get locally.

On order are some specialty coneflowers:

Green Jewel:

and Tiki Torch

(image source)

Plus Red Hot Poker, which for some reason makes John and I snicker in a juvenile way.

Plus I got some seeds.  Are you as excited as I am?  I cannot wait to do the What’s Blooming series again!!!  Sigh – the plants won’t even get here until the end of April and then a few months to bloom.  Mustn’t get ahead of myself!

Afternoon latte time!

I did have a dark mint cup while waiting for the barista John to finish up the lattes. Helen – here are how the cups come:

It’s just a store brand, but I have seen this exact thing in other stores.

Today really went by fast, I have to say.  It was time to make dinner and I cooked up some lentils and tossed in some of that brown rice (still have a lot of that!) with caramelized onions.

Dang that was good.  Plus sauteed brussels in the back there.  3 foods on this plate I never would have touched 10 years ago (heck, even 5 years ago)- brussel sprouts, lentils, caramelized onions.  And yet this meal was so yummy to me!

Tonight’s agenda? Work, shoveling, snack, and writing up the recipe post for the peanut flour waffles, which I was remiss on getting done for today 😀

That will be up tomorrow, I promise.

Question: What is a food you eat now that surprises you?