Gym is Open (Friday, already? 4/11)

My word, this week flew by quickly! I have been kind of lazy this week in terms of formal exercise, so I need to go to the gym and be disciplined. What did you do to move your body today? Kix

My DD is getting married tomorrow and I get to spend today holding her hand and running around like a chicken with it's head cut off, does that count as my exercise for today????  LOL

Uh-oh.  I'm in trouble.  I was up till late last night studying for a Statistics exam on Saturday and then when I went to make sure the internet was locked out (I've got a 19 year old son if that tells you anything) I discovered he had changed the password.  So you know I went in to my husband and woke him up and of course his answer was "I don't want to talk about it right now." So I can't make any modifications at all as it pertains to the internet or internet security for the wireless.  I was so pissed.  I went in his room this morning and took his car keys.  he has to give me the password before I'll give him his keys.  I know, childish. I'll go later after work since today is my total body strength training.

Planning to go to the gym tonight - since I did weight training last night I will only do the ab machine and cardio tonight - 15min treadmill, 15min bike (to rest hip), 15 minutes treadmill and 50 crunches. 

Originally I thought I had to go home and wait for furniture to be delivered this afternoon, but one of my girlfriends isn't feeling well (allergy/sinus problems), so she's home waiting for the delivery.  So I was able to go to the gym at lunch for upper body strength training and a little core work.  I'll go back after work for 60 minutes of cardio.  I got my new heart rate monitor and am really enjoying it; I like to see how long I can keep myself in the upper part of my target zone (upper 130s-lower 140s).  At first, I could only stay in that range for 2-3 minutes before I had to "dial it back" to upper 120s.  Now I can stay in that upper 130s-lower 140s zone for 30 minutes sometimes!  Amazing...   Did you make it to the gym today, Kix?  Have you started back to your strength training routine?   Kellie

Kellie? Did you get a monitor that works like a belt around your chest/?

Yes - I had a Polar F4, which costs about $90.  Which I lost at the gym a couple weeks ago    I don't usually lose things, especially expensive things, so I just kept kicking myself in the butt and debating whether I should spend the money on another monitor.  I really, really missed having the information you get from a monitor, so I coughed up the money and bought a new one.   Of course, I bought a more expensive model than I had before with more bells and whistles - it's a Polar F11.  In addition to giving me my heart rate while I work out, it calculates the calories I'm burning based on my age, weight, height, and heart rate.  That's a LOT more accurate than what the cardio machines will tell you your burning in terms of calories.  Also, it stores information about my workout, so I can tell for each week how much time I spend in my "light" heart rate zone, "moderate" zone, and "hard" zone.  It also has a built in fitness "test" that approximate your V02, which is an estimator about how fit you are (the higher your V02 the better).  Since I'm interested in seeing just how fit I can become, I thought that information would help me track improvements in my fitness.  The F11 cost around $160 and for me, it was worth it.   Edited to provide a bit more information that's responsive to Estelle's question -> Both the F4 and F11 come with a transmitter that's on a elastic band that goes under your chest.  It fits nicely under the band of my sports bras.  Then there's a "watch" that you wear and the transmitter sends your heart rate to the watch so you can see your rate and look at your data when you're done.  Some cardio equipment have built-in receivers so if you're wearing a transmitter you can see your heart rate on the equipment even if you aren't wearing the watch.  Kellie

Thanks Kelie!  A friend of mine had just told me about these monitors , I didn't even know they existed.  I may look into getting one.  Thanks!  Estelle

I am so out of the loop this week - I'm having a hard time balancing this new commute with spending time with mom and my time is kind of limited on the internet. My workouts are also kind of taking over my life - I have my first Adventure Race a week from Sunday and I am all in a twitter trying to get ready.  This is a really exciting time for me but it's also a bit stressful - just trying to figure it all out. I tell ya, mixing up my workout has been great - I've added spinning, stair climbing and rowing machine to the mix and I have seen a BIG difference in my running! I ran 4 miles today at a 10 1/2 minute mile pace, first time ever! But I just couldn't get my heart rate to 85% so I had to keep pushing it - that's where the cross training has been doing wonders. I can tell I've turned another corner in my fitness, hope it translates well to the race next week. I'm heading to Texas this weekend to pick up my "new" mountain bike from my brother - he is a racer and kept his old bike and is letting me use it for racing. Plan on going for a ride Saturday, should be fun! have a great weekend and sorry about your job . There's something out there for ya, it just needs to appear...  soon!  

I did what I planned at the gym - 300cal cardio (32 minutes at 2.8, varied inclines - machine was keeping heart rate at 145) and 50 crunches with 35lbs resistance.  The treadmill is getting easy (and no hip cramp tonight) so I'm going to increase my time to 40min (plus cooldown) starting Monday I think and try to aim for 400cal burned or at least 2 miles distance.  Husband was very resistant to the gym tonight but once again when I said I'd go by myself he decided to go.  Either he's worried about me having a heart attack up there by myself or he's kind of competitive :)  He ended up thanking me for encouraging him to go though, said he felt much better after.