Category Archives: video

Lifting move of the week

Wednesday is lifting day and bagel day!  Woke up to drizzly skies and I felt groggy and kind of puffy.  Maybe it was the soup I had last night?  Anyway, I had a protein hit and then off to the gym.

15 minute warm up on the stationary bike.  Followed by:

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Rail Squats 3 sets of 10 at body weight Lower body
Seated lat row 3 sets of 10 with 55# Back
Chin ups 2 sets of 2, 2 sets of 1 Upper body
Incline Barbell press 3 sets of 12 with 45# bar Chest
Reverse Crunches 3 sets of 12 Abs
1 leg DB dead lifts 3 sets of 10 with 15# DBs (each leg, 30# total) Hammies and balance
Prone Cuban Snatch 3 sets of 10 with 10# DBs (20# total) Shoulders
Triceps pull down 3 sets of 15 at 30# Triceps
Standing Calf raise 3 sets of 15 at body weight Calves

You may or may not have noticed that I do not always work my biceps. They get a lot of work already with the other moves, and I don’t necessarily need to isolate them anymore. My biceps are bigger in general, so I don’t focus on them.

Workout move of the week is an oldie, but goodie!  It’s the Prone Cuban Snatch (go ahead, I know you are all laughing still from the last time I talked about it).  This move is a little deceptive because the pull up is so easy that you want a heavier weight, but the upward swing is a killer, particularly in the later reps.

I love working my shoulders. I was flexing in the mirror last night LOL. John says I am body obsessed, which I am of course. I hopped on the stationary bike for another 20 minutes while waiting for John and then we headed on out for bagels! Hit up Panera again.


Asiago cheese bagel and 3 (!!!) cups of coffee. I was a jabber mouth, I’ll tell you.

Regarding the buffet last night. Some interesting comments on it.

Kimberly said: I can handle the buffet when I am in a healthy eating frame of mind.

Andra said: I avoid buffets because they really are the bottom of the barrel in terms of food quality.

Paige said: I have trained myself to believe that most buffet food is processed/frozen. I don’t want to “waste” my calories on food that isn’t both healthy and delicious!

Some really good points made here, and something that John and I talked about this morning regarding buffets and fast food.  My wise hubby said that life is too short to eat bad food.  Our tastes have changed so much that most ‘industrial’ food just doesn’t taste good anymore.  It used to.  At least I thought it did.  I used to love buffet food and restaurant food.  We used to love Chilis and Red Lobster.  Now we realize there is a huge difference in  a restaurant that makes food fresh.  The other key is the mindset.  I don’t always have success at outings, parties, gatherings, or whatever.  Maybe it is the true mindset. I will have a plan, but then fall face first into the food.  It’s weird.  Last night I had it, but it’s usually about a 50/50 success rate.

I was feeling something warm and filling for lunch, since it was cold and drizzly, so I decided on cream of wheat:

Cooked with a banana, brown rice protein powder and cinnamon.  It was good, although I have decided I don’t care for the brown rice powder in my hot cereal – it is a bit chalky.

Just another randomly boring day at work with a latte to keep me awake.  Also, before I forget – enter the Slice of Life giveway if you haven’t.  Open to anyone 😀

I decided I needed more fiber and veggies for dinner, as I was missing that from earlier.  I cooked up some lentils, then added them to my broccoli sauteed with carrot slices, 1/4 cup of rice, and 4 oz of chicken.  Drizzled with hot sauce.

This was a big plate!

I probably didn’t need to eat it all, but I did.  Not to mention the Food Should Taste Good chips I munched on while cooking.  At least I got in my fiber.  I doubt I will even need a snack tonight.

I keep forgetting how much I enjoy lentils.  Note to self, make more.

Tonight is more Tour of California!  See you all tomorrow.

Strength training move of the week and bagel nosh.

Happy bagel day! Otherwise known as Wednesday. Seems like those of us who use a blog reader can get overwhelmed by the number of new posts. Isn’t it funny? Supposed to be enjoyable reading, and yet there seems to be some pressure to read everything every day.

I woke up a little late today, and I felt tired.  Maybe it was the bike ride? Don’t know.  I had a protein shake and drove to the gym because it was sprinkling out.  Warmed up on the stationary bike first.

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Seated Lat Row 3 sets of 10 at 55# Back
Dumbbell squats 3 sets of 10 with 10# DBs (20# total) Lower body
Chin ups 1 set of 2, 3 sets of 1 Upper body
Barbell chest press 3 sets of 10 with 55# Chest
Planks 3 sets of 1-minute holds Abs/core
Good Mornings 3 sets of 10 with 30# bar Hammies/low back
Arnold press 3 sets of 15 with 10# DBs (20# total) Shoulders
Bench Dips 3 sets of 10 with body weight Triceps

Strength training move of the week is on I did on Monday.  The dumbbell pullover.  Link to video.  This exercise works your back mostly and a little bit in the chest.  You need to be on a bench for this and not the floor.  Otherwise, the weight will crash into the floor behind your head.  I tell you this from experience, and it is pretty shocking when it happens LOL!  You want to keep your ab muscles in tight with this to keep your back from arching.  Then lower the weight over your head.

The nice thing about videoing myself is that I can see corrections that I need to make in my form.  (You all are free to give me suggestions, too.) You don’t have to make the weight go so far forward over your hips.  Just to perpendicular starting position is fine.  My back also pops up a tiny bit.  It’s hard to keep it down!  I really like this exercise a lot.

John met me at the gym and we headed out to bagels.  Went to Cool Beans.  I got a blueberry bagel:

Looks a little anemic, doesn’t it?  It was very small, as was John’s, so we got a small blueberry muffin and split it.  😳

Kind of the start of an “I can’t get full day.”  I get those about every 3 days or so.  I have no problem for a few days, and then it is like my body wants a refeed day.  I have decided to go with that a little bit, as the scale is drifting downwards still.  Maybe I am onto something here.

Lots of work to be done.  We have been really busy as of late, which is a good thing, although they start cracking the whip a bit to the slackers, which means the rest of us have to hear that, too.  We all know what that is like, right?

Lunch break!  There was chicken, laughing cow, and hot sauce on 1/2 of a lavash.  I like the lavash better than the smart carb wraps for sure.

Somebody else was eating lunch, too:

Love the gold finches.  They are so cute 😀 I have the camera sitting at my chair, and I just use the zoom to get these shots.   There are times when the feeder just is full of birds, so it is easy to snap the pics.  The feeder is probably about 5 feet from my chair.

Snack time with a latte:

Then I got snacky again and had some of this while I finished up with work:

I love the sweet/salty combo…. sigh.

Ate dinner a little later than usual and felt somewhat uninspired, so I dug in the freezer for another crab cake to bake.

My hot sauce bottle is almost gone.  I think I am embarrassed about how much hot sauce I have eaten lately.  Maybe my herniated disk is asking for it?

After John and I did a little fly lady, we walked down to the ice cream shop because I was still in pursuit of food.  I got a small malt with coconut soft serve.  I think these are my other addiction now.  Good thing we walked there and back!

Served with the world’s tallest straw.

So, just like last week, now that I have had a refeed day, tomorrow will be much cleaner eats.

Question:  Do you have an obsession right now?

Lifting move of the week

Happy Cinco de Mayo!  It was a gorgeous day today.  I biked to the gym today for my lifting.

  • Rail squats:  3 sets of 10
  • Dumbbell chest fly:  3 sets of 1o with 15# DBs
  • Chin ups:  4 sets of 1
  • Dumbbell pullover:  3 sets of 10 with 25# DB
  • Pushups:  3 sets of 10
  • Reverse crunches:  3 sets of 10
  • Nosebreaker:  3 sets of 15 with 20# bar
  • Cable biceps curls: 2 sets of 10 with 30#

I am going to try to do more video of me doing a different strength move each week.  Today is me doing the dumbbell incline chest fly.  This is a great move for the chest muscles.  While it looks like your arms are doing the work, it is really the chest.  You want to initiate the move with your pectoral muscles.  You want to feel a stretch across your chest when you open your arms, and a contraction when you bring the weights together.  This can be done either flat or inclined.  You can also vary where your arms are a little.  Mine tend to drift upwards a bit.

John met me at the gym, and we biked to breakfast.  He chose where we went today, and he picked Maude’s!

I love this sign:

I had 2 eggs over medium with home fries and toast.

Yum

I love eggs.  I know you were all expecting a bagel today!  They don’t have them at Maude’s.  Well, they do, but they aren’t made there.

Biked home and got to work after a quick shower.  Somebody got on my lap right away:

Lunch time:

Tuna salad and the extra loud Sun Chips :mrgreen:   Those have to be kept up high, btw.  I snacked on a few out of the bag before putting them on my plate.

I am still having an attack of the snacks today.  Sometimes that just happens.  I don’t feel guilt about eating anymore, but that doesn’t mean I am not disappointed at some of my food choices yesterday and today.  Like the cookie dough:

Which I had more of, too.  Accountability!

I finished up work around dinner time today and made a classic broccoli and chicken stirfry!

Always good.  It was such a nice evening that I did a good amount of work weeding out the side garden bed.  It’s ready for mulch now.  I made the big mistake of skipping the mulch last year and had so many weeds!  I am also going to purchase some astilbes for the side, probably from Bluestone Perennials.  I love their plants.

We then walked down to the ice cream place and I got a small malt made with peanut butter soft serve.  This was so good.

I really need to eat clean tomorrow.  I wanted to lose 3 pounds in May, and this is not a good start LOL!  I need to kick my own butt back in gear.  Come back tomorrow and see my clean eats 😀

Question:  Do you want to see more Move of the Week videos?

Happy Valentine’s Day an Dr. Oz promo

Happy Valentine’s Day!  I had to work today, and John and I didn’t have anything special planned except we told each other 3 things we loved about each other this morning 😳

Off to bagels for breakfast, though!  Haven’t been out for a Sunday bagel in a few weeks.

Trail mix, with some coffee (and grounds….)

Starting to feel somewhat more normal, although I am so behind in my personal stuff like emails and house cleaning.  I still have laundry hanging up that I did from the return from our cruise last Sunday!  Good thing John has been doing some cleaning or the house would be a total wreck.

Check out the promo for Tuesday’s Dr. Oz show!  If you look at this still, I am at end of the 2nd row on the left holding the 105 pound paddle (mouth open).  That’s probably all you will see of me on the show LOL!

Quick lunch break:

Tuna salad and some soy crisps. I used to eat these all the time, but tried decreasing soy in my diet. Now that I am not eating so many bars and use whey protein, I decided to have some of these chips.  I love how many you get in a serving!

Lots and lots of work today. That’s a good thing. We made chocolate lattes for our Valentine snack 😀

Dinner turned out yummier than I was thinking. Don’t you love it when that happens? I sauteed some finely cut brussel sprouts (with new chef’s knife – super sharp!) and then sauteed a bit of pork with BBQ sauce.

Can you tell I am on a BBQ kick lately? LOL Good stuff.

Tomorrow I’ll post some more thoughts on seeing all of the Dr. Oz people. I am going to sit down with a snack and some tea tonight with John and try to muster up some energy to clean a little bit. We are hosting a Mardi Gras dinner on Tuesday!

Happy Vday to all, and spend it with someone special, even if it is yourself (cause you are all special).

Waffles and workout video

Monday and back to work for most people, although I started back yesterday.  My Broncos are done for the year…. sigh….  time to put away the fan apparel for the year (except the snuggie – too cold to put that away).  Now I need to root on my adopted team – The Saints!

Headed out to the gym this morning after a date with nut butter on it for a snack.  We got a box of those big medjool dates rather than the Dole ones we usually get.  Why did no one tell me how delicious they are??  I had no idea!

Anyhoo – here is today’s lifting workout – aka workout A:

  • Chin ups:  2 sets of 2
  • Barbell deadlift row combo:  3 sets of 8 at 65 pounds

Supersets of these 2 moves:

  • 1-arm dumbbell snatch:  3 sets of 8 at 15 pounds
  • Pliet squats:  3 sets of 8 holding a 35 pound dumbbell

Alternating sets:

  • T-push ups:  3 sets of 3
  • Bent over dumbbell row

Here is a video of the T-push up.  Basically you start as a normal push up, then rotate the body so you are perpendicular to the floor and reach out the other arm to the ceiling.  1 set is a right and left push up.  These are pretty hard.  Turn down the sound button, btw…

In viewing this video, I see I need to rotate my legs more.  It’s also like the anonymous workout – I could have at least smiled for you guys or even looked at the camera! 😳

Did some cardio on the stationary bike and then came home to waffle goodness!

Used my protein pancake recipe (with 2 egg whites instead of 1 egg).  Topped with a mix of 1/4 cup lowfat vanilla yogurt and 1/4 cup of pumpkin with a dollop of cranberry sauce.

I vote this Yum+!!

Seems like most of you like Indian food.  Yay!  The nice thing about going to an Indian restaurant is that there is a huge variety of food to satisfy anybody from a vegetarian to a meat eater.  That can be tough when choosing places to eat out at with a large group.

Speaking of Indian, I had the leftover dal from yesterday made it really multicultural for lunch with a mix of Greek and Mexican!  I put the rest of the dal in a tortilla with a bit of brown rice and some feta cheese and heated it up in the microwave.

It was delicious!  I need to make more lentils to have on hand.

I did well not snacking today.  I am sitting here with my Beck cards and the one for me that says “It’s okay to be hungry.”  I have a little trouble with that, but I went from latte time to dinner without snacking.  Go me!  Okay, so it’s only 2.5 hours, but hey – gotta start somewhere!  Think I might discuss this tomorrow in a post.

John cooked up a couple burgers for dinner, which I have rarely, as you know.

This tasted so good!  I put some laughing cow cheese on top and hot sauce!  Loves me some hot sauce.  I think it is my favorite condiment.

I can’t believe there is no more Monday Night Football!  Now is the time when we start wandering around wondering what to do with ourselves LOL

Want to win some Dave’s Killer Bread? Check out Kristi’s giveaway!

Tomorrow is run day at the gym.  Trying to decide how long I want to go for…..

Question:  What is your favorite condiment?

Lori’s rules of lifting

Hello and happy Monday!  I am glad you enjoyed my winter pictures from yesterday.  I love my camera (even though I drool over DSLR!).  I made up a lifting program to do for the month of December.  It will be 2 alternating workouts for the next few weeks.  Today:

Big muscle group start:

  • Chin up (I am just going to keep trying a couple of these to build up strength each workout):  2
  • Barbell squats:  3 sets of 8 at 85 pounds

Then alternating sets of a pull and a push move:

  • Widegrip lat pull down:  3 sets of 8 at 60 pounds
  • Pushups:  3 sets of 10

Then alternating sets of lower body, upper body, and core:

  • Static lunge:  3 sets of 10 with 25 pound plate
  • Prone Cuban snatch (video below):  3 sets of 10 with 10 pound dumbbells.
  • Incline reverse crunch: 3 sets of 10.

Here is a video of the PCS – since I know you are all giggling about the name (turn the sound down before starting 😕  ):

Hit the treadmill after that.  I loaded up my mp3 player with Christmas music!

Came home and made up some of my patented layered Cream of Wheat:

brekkie1207

Half of the blueberry sauce is under the cream of wheat.  I could bathe in these Wyman’s blueberries! I love them so.  Sometimes brands really do stand out.

Busy work day.  They are moving over to a new platform, and I was one of the first to use it today.  Gotta love being the guinea pig!  It went pretty well, though.

Stopped for lunch.  We had some egg whites in the fridge and I decided to make a sandwich with them.  Just stuck them in the microwave and got a *giant* puff of egg whites (from 4 eggs).   I had to mash this sandwich down to what you see below.  Hello protein!

lunch1207I used laughing cow and a slice of Canadian bacon on it as well.  I kind of missed the yolks, but the cheese and bacon made up for it.  How could they not?  😉  It’s quite a low calorie and lowfat sammie, too, which is a bonus.

Ornament of the day:

orn1207

This is a blown glass acorn.  I love glass ornaments, but I am scared to have too many.  John and I call stuff like this ‘breakware’ because that is what we do to it.  My mother bought this for me last year and I love it.  It fits all my requirements of shiny and sparkly. :mrgreen:

Please forgive dinner, as it is another of my BBQ chicken salads!

din1207

Even the gourd snowman was getting ready to enjoy it.  Plus a plate of strawberries on the side:

straw1207

These are really, really good berries.  We’ve been here for 3 years and I still cannot get over $2.99 a pound strawberries year round.  I don’t know who the buyer is for Hannaford, but they should get a raise!

Question:  Are you brand loyal?

Product review coming up tomorrow……

NROLW with video!

Last strength workout before the duathlon!  Stage 6 workout B:

  • Reverse Lunge, one dumbell on shoulder:  3 x 8 at 20 pounds
  • Dumbbell 2-point row:  3 x 8 at 25 pounds
  • Dumbbell push press:  3 x 8 at 15 pounds
  • Back extension:  2 x 8 at 100 pounds
  • Incline reverse crunch:  2 x 8

Then a 30-minute walk on the treadmill.  Quick and easy workout today.  I was done in just under an hour!

This video is the Dumbbell 2-point row.  It’s basically like a regular row, but the weight is held perpendicular to your side instead of parallel.  I feel this more in the chest than with the weight parallel.  You also pull the weight up more towards your abdomen, which helps keep your shoulder from hunching up.  The other arm is placed behind the back. Because you do this with one arm and while standing (rather than with one knee on a bench), it also works on balance. Enjoy.

Bike ride video and be a good egg!

Are you a good egg? Click to pledge that you are and help the hungry!
I Pledge to Eat good. Do good everyday.

I did a switcheroo today like I did on Tuesday and worked out later in the day.   So, I started off with a combo I have been thinking of for a while – mocha oats!   Susan and I were on the same wavelength.

coffeeoats

  • 40 grams oats
  • 3/4 cup coffee
  • 1 small banana
  • 4 grams cocoa powder
  • 10 grams chopped toasted pecans

I used the coffee in place of the water.  This was very strong brewed coffee, too.  It was a very unusual flavor, I have to say.  I couldn’t taste the banana at all, just a bit of sweetness.  It was eye opening!

My wonderful husband bought me some memory for my camera!  I was talking about getting some because I can only take so many pictures and very short video with it.  And then he said not to buy any because he got me some.  Early Christmas gift for me!

memory

Isn’t technology amazing? 2 Gigabytes and the size of my fingernail.

Today was my hardest training day before taper week before the duathlon.  I did a 1.5 mile run, then 16 mile bike ride, then 2 mile run.

As promised, here is a little bit of my bike path. It’s like my own Blair Witch Project LOL!  I took so much video today, it was fun.  This is just one piece.

I am such a nerd LOL. I feel like a bit of a goof. I held the camera in one hand while riding. Actually surprisingly steady for that.


It was the most gorgeous day today.  So beautiful.  I kept stopping to take pictures:

fallpath3

sumac-1

Stunning, just stunning. I wish I really could capture this on camera.

After the bike ride and before the 2nd run, I had some of this!

zico

Zico, would you sponsor me, please?? 😀  I love this stuff.  It’s coming with me on duathlon day!

Pink picture of the day:

bands

This is a local laundromat. That color is on purpose LOL!

I felt really good when I finished. I did take more breaks riding that I should have, but I realized that I will be able to finish the duathlon. I know that now, and if I have to take a few breaks, it’s okay! I am getting excited and nervous about it. I can’t wait to see what kind of weather we will get next weekend. Mid October could be anything!

Question: Do you have fall photos to share? List the link, I would love to see!

NROLW and video!

Today was workout B of stage 6 for NROLW!  Short, but intense.

  • Reverse lunge, one dumbell on shoulder:  2 x 10 at 20 pounds
  • Dumbbell 2-point row:  2 x 10 at 25 pounds
  • Dumbbell push press:  2 x 10 at 20 pounds
  • Back extension (on machine):  2 x 10 at 100 pounds
  • Incline reverse crunch:  2 x 10

The incline reverse crunch was harder than I thought it would be, and I didn’t have much incline LOL!

Here is the video showing one side of the reverse lunge.  This is a great balance builder.  I actually had to refilm as I fell over the first time!  You then switch sides and repeat.

This lower camera angle makes me look tall.  I think I like it 😀

Please mute unless you want to hear “School’s Out for summer”  😛