Gym is Open (Friday 2/22)

Hooray, only one more week in Feburary!   Woohoo! No gym for me today.  My sister is working from home, so she said if I wanted to go to the casino, I could take her nice car.  Woohoo!  I'm not about to pass up such an offer because it doesn't happen often. I'll do plenty of walking today. We didn't go to aquacise yesterday.  I was too tired on four hours' sleep, and my sister had gone to the Garden Show with a friend, so she needed to make up three hours of work time. What did you to do move your body today? Kix

i got on my treadmill for 25 mins. and streached lil bit afterwards.

Good job! Kix

Hope you're a big winner at the casino!!!!  We always walk a lot when we're gambling - have to check it all out you know.  One of my girlfriends and I are going to Vegas for a week on March 7th, and I'm excited - we haven't been in years and it should be a blast.  My best friends from high school are also coming out for a couple days - they live in Colorado (one in Vail, the other in Eagle or Gypsum), so I don't get to see them that often.  I think we'll have a great time partying in Vegas -  Anyway, I didn't go to the gym at lunch today because I need to leave work early for the annual girl-squishing (aka mammogram).  I'm going to the gym after that little bit of unpleasantry, and plan to lift weights for upper body, do some core work, and as much cardio as I have energy for.  I'm hoping to work out for 1 1/2 to 2 hours if I have the stamina!   That's it for my exercise plan today - more this weekend... Kellie

I wanted to go to Vegas, the airfares are actually decent right now, but I didn't have enough saved in my coin jar, so my little casino jaunt will have to do for now.  I bought tires and car insurance in the last six weeks, so my budget was a bit more stretched than usual this month!  It's always something, isn't it? My last boobogram was actually not painful.  The boob tech had a hard time getting my flapjacks on the x-ray plate, she kept patting and shaping them as if they were lumps of clay.  They should have so much body as lumps of clay, they just hang.  It's so sad. A 2-hour workout!  I bow in your direction!  Kix

HI Kix, It was back to the pool for me this morning.  This was definately not a day that I WANTED to be in the pool teaching, but alas, it was MY day.   My students from yesterday commented on the difference they felt with the changing of the workout yesterday.  I am a bit sore in my calfs, shins, pectorals and deltoids.  We did jumping jacks in the pool yesterday, but to change the surface area, we turned our feet outward when doing these and kept toes pointed - different muscles.  We also did them very "small and tight" keeping all muscles flexed, and we also did them another way with crossing our hands in front, then behind our backs, then in front.  We did lots of other changes as well to several other basic moves.  I have to give 2 - 1 hour classes for my certification on Sunday afternoon using only scissor moves and rocking moves, but applying the SWEAT formula to each move in different depths, etc.   SWEAT stands for  S - surface area and speed -- so vary those things W - working position -- are you rebounding, are you in a neutral body position, or suspended E - Enlarge/Enhance - make the movements larger/tighter/more aerobic/legs only or with arms as well A - Around the body - turning, diagonal, etc.   T - Travel/tempo -- change tempo or travel while doing a move. You cannot apply all of these to each thing, but it will give you an idea on how to increase your pool workouts. Anyway, today, we did more SWEAT on basic moves and I used my class to be guinea pigs to help me see what does and doesn't work well.  It was a good workout, and my sore muscles feel like they got another barrage today!

I wish our aquacise teacher would change up her routine, but she's lazy and not interested in making a real effort to teach, and the class doesn't demand it of her.  I love it when we have the substitute teacher, who sounds more like you in that she likes trying new things.  The sub doesn't want a regular gig, which is too bad, because I'd drive to whereever she wanted to teach. What sort of things do you have to do to become certified? Kix

Hi Kix, I'm ticked off! Today is my gym day (I go every other day), and for once we actually got part of the snowstorm sent our way. The roads are icy and around here people can barely drive when it's sunny and dry, so it would really insane to take my life into my hands. I've decided that this will my time to learn to not be a perfectionist about getting to the gym exactly as plan to do. I'm learning to be more flexible, in more ways than one. I'll try to do a video, but they just don't cut it for me, and the lady downstairs doesn't deserve to hear all that pounding on the floor :) Chow, -Julie

Julie, I happened to catch the NBC News tonight and they mentioned that you guys were geting hammered by a storm, and it kind of took everyone by surprise because you have had such a mild winter. Here in Colorado, many people have SUVs and figure because they have SUVs, they can still drive like maniacs in the snow.  Why they think their cars won't slide on icy roads is anyone's guess. I hate it when my gym routine gets interrupted, too.  I"m trying to learn not to let it bother me, but I worry that if I miss the gym, I won't go back, and I don't want that to happen. You could always invite the lady downstairs to join you in exercising. Kix

Yesterday was my day off and boy was it hard to get back to the gym - I dragged myself out of it this morning and had almost convinced myself to not run. But I didn't cave in and went, although a little later than usual and since I didn't have tons of time, I ended up doing just 35 minutes of running, almost 3 miles. The difference was I did it at a 1% incline the whole time (that's a first) and then sporadically added 2 minutes at 2%. I can tell a difference already, it's getting easier! Someone told me that if I wanted to lose more weight, I shouldn't begin running. And they were right. Great for maintaining but those last 9 pounds are killer! No matter what I do I stay within the same 5 pound range. I'm seriously considering dropping the idea of losing it - I'm pretty happy where I'm at (although I would LOVE to fit into a size 8 jean!) and my body seems to feel comfortable here. A nutritionist friend was concerned with me losing more, saying I might lost muscle, not fat. So, I'm rethinking all of it. I do know that I have lost some inches, so maybe that's what I should be more concerned about. Something to ponder. I'm in Colorado Springs through Monday, my best friends father died. Just when we all thought the deaths were done, another one happens. Her dad and my dad were pretty close and were two peas in a pod, so this is just a little emotional for me. I'm glad I can be there for her, she was there for me when dad died.  We were talking that there have been 5 family deaths within our little circle of friends (friends I've had since high school) - whatever happened to "it happens in 3's?" If that's the case, then there may be another one soon to round out the 3's. Lord, I hope not. I'm tired of funerals. Have a great weekend everyone - I know here in Colorado it should be gorgeous weather (FINALLY!!) ps - by the way, I'm also snowshoeing tonight, so that's another couple of hours of exercise. It's a full moon and I have always wanted to snowshoe at a full moon, so I got a friend to go with me - should be fun!