EXERCISE POLL

The best I do is walking about 1/4 mile to the bus stop for my oldest... I do plan to get into something serious when I recover from my c-section.

I don't do all I want but do the best with what I have. Looking forward to a gym membership, hopefully within a month. Anyway, for now, I power walk 2-3 miles per day (approx 30 minutes) x's 4 Aerobics x's 3 Treadmill ... even though I think I have killed it ... it won't keep up with me ... Definitely need a new one before winter hits ... there is no where I can really walk in my area without being in danger of cars that drive way too fast on an ole county road. Mix that up with jumping rope (yeah I can do it once again ... even though I have not been able to do so since I was a young girl - really gets the ole heart a pumping) I also have a hula hoop (DON'T LAUGH - well not too hard anyway) and I play around with that, hoping that it will help the mid section. I am not able to do spot training on the mid area ... my hernia is getting real bad (need to get if fixed sooner than later) and the spot training aggravates it terribly. But I guess the best exercises I get is the ability to play with my children once again. It is so cool to actually play ... makes the heart grow younger for sure. Yesterday, we were out doing visitations for the church and the boys were getting restless and we knew they needed a few minutes break. We jetted over to Longwood Park and let the boys run and play and guess what ... mommy was right behind them. Didn't matter if they were on the balance beam (which I did just fine on BTW - not ready for the Olympics but hey, who knows what the future holds), whether it was the rope climb, the spiral sliding board (do you know how much fun those things are??? TOO COOL) Any way, you all get the idea ... that was one of my main goals before surgery ... to be able to truly play with my little guys .. and here I am doing it!!! What a blessing!!!

I just started at PMRI 3rd floor-- I do 20 min treadmill,7min eleptical trainer, 8 min. bike, 3 min UBE-ARM bike. Plus weights/machines--- I started their because still in morbidly obese category, but will probably go to the YMCA after the three month membership I have. PMRI -checks BP before/after workout and the have pulse monitors to checkout your target heart rate. The are also helping witha shoulder injury because of fat/excess skin under the arm. I need to get in shape for snowskiing!!!!

Great pic Charles. Good to see your post. Keep up the great job. Elissa

Shay, I have changed my passion for eating and gorging, to exercising. Since none of this was possible even a year ago, I really feel like I'm tooting my own horn sometimes. But what better group of people to strut your horn. Right now my routine is pretty set. I have gone from watching the pounds drop, to working on inches and muscles. I can go a whole week now without thinking about whether I have lost a pound or worrying about my weight, but feel great when I feel progress in shaping my body. I'll never be a muscle man, but I feel good! Here is my exercise routine. Weekdays I do a 2 mile walk with two to three people at lunch time. In the evening, after dinner I head up to the ACAC Fitness Center. Monday, I do 35 minutes on the eliptical trainer (6400 steps), 15 minutes on the stair-climber or 10 minutes running on a treadmill. Tuesday, I do 30 minutes of circuit weight training, and 10 minutes of free weights or big ball training. Wednesday, I am doing 55 minutes of gut-wrenching aerobic spinning, followed by 20 minutes of free spinning, followed by 55 minutes of race spinning. Thursday and Saturday is a repeat of Tuesday, 30 minutes of circuit weight training, bench press, and 10 minutes of free weights or big ball training. Friday is the same as Monday. Saturday and Sunday morning in preparation for the Bike to the Bay I am doing 25 miles of outdoor bike riding. On Sunday I also do the laundry since I sweat a lot at each session. After the Bike to the Bay in October, I am thinking about switching from outdoor biking to swimming. Biggest problem I have found with the exercise regimen is that I do feel like I am eating much larger portions at some of my meals. Hopefully I am just burning off what I am taking in, if not, I could be in trouble. The best thing is I am really enjoying the excercise. I look forward to grabbing a trainer at ACAC and learning a new lift, and also love to watch people get on the elliptical trainer on both sides of my machine and get off before I finish my session. Since I started on the eliptical at two minutes I found that I have gone from listening to part of a song to two albums before I finish. Still having fun...Rob

Dear Shay and the group, I joined a gym a little over a month ago (1614 on route 40) and started walking. Glad to say that I am now up to 2.5 miles at 3.5 speed on the treadmill. It takes me about 45 minutes to do that. I have tried the weights but got scared because I have some shoulder problems and didn't want to get discouraged. I have also used the eliptical machine 2 x's a week for about 10 minutes. My walking is 5-6 days per week. Would love to see some others in the group join the gym I'm in cause it would make it more fun. Hope this helps, Mama