What was Your Workout Today?

[Nords]

Surfing! Father-daughter dawn patrol. She picked right back up where she left off a month ago.

I am getting a Polar heart rate monitor, to be delivered tomorrow, and hopefully that should provide some information on calories used, target heart rate, and so on.

You'll have to let us know how you like it. I've been eyeballing a HR monitor for five years to see if it's worth recording data for doctor's physicals.

He got into the danggest positions I ever saw and was really pushing it.
I was impressed (and jealous).

Some flexibility is genetic, but most of it is learned. I've learned a lot from Thomas Kurz' "Stretching Scientifically". It teaches the biomechanics of the stretches so that you can make sure you're not damaging joints or ligaments. It's also tremendously improved my flexibility to that of a teenager... or at least the teens of our dojang.

The "problem" is that much of stretching can be boring and thus it's difficult to do 3-4 times/week. I've learned to do it as soon as I stumble downstairs in the morning to make my first cup of tea.

 

[steelyman]

Yes, that has changed, so if you want a new one you can get one with a user-replaceable battery. Mine (an FT7) does, and I think all the others do too now.

Excellent! I think I got mine in 2006. Guess who's going shopping this week

Enjoy your Polar!

 

[W2R]

Excellent! I think I got mine in 2006. Guess who's going shopping this week

Enjoy your Polar!

I will! It is scheduled for delivery today.

Once you have selected the HRM you want, it might be a good idea to double check and make sure the batteries are user replaceable on that particular model. I really only considered 4 models of Polar HRMs, but did find that these models had recently shifted to user-replaceable batteries. I don't know anything about other models, though.

Surfing! Father-daughter dawn patrol. She picked right back up where she left off a month ago.

Glad to hear that you are surfing with her again!

 

[psweath]

Today I rode up Lookout Mountain in Golden, Colorado on my bicycle. It was a huffer puffer but probably one of the most beautiful rides I've ever been on. At the top of Lookout Mountain is a popular tourist attraction, Buffalo Bill's Grave.

 

[W2R]

Today I finally increased my weights, from an average 82 pounds to an average of 87.5 pounds. Doing the same 20 machines, for the same 2 sets and 10 reps, that comes out to 20x2x10x87.5/2000 = 17.5 tons and...

....the most I have ever lifted in a workout before in my entire life!

After doing 17.5 tons for a week and a half or so, yesterday I raised it to 17.9 tons. That felt great, and it is so exhilarating to do better than my previous personal best! I am starting to detect some unhealthy soreness of one shoulder and I am concerned about getting another rotator cuff injury. I might have to cut back on the lateral pull-down machine, which is the one that seems to aggravate my shoulder the most. Getting old is the pits.

You'll have to let us know how you like it. I've been eyeballing a HR monitor for five years to see if it's worth recording data for doctor's physicals.

My Polar FT7 heart rate monitor is a simple model that costs $76 on Amazon. While it doesn't have some of the bells and whistles of the more expensive models, it is all that I needed and everything I hoped it would be. The FT4 is around $10 cheaper and probably would have been just as good for my purposes. My HRM is easy to use, and has never lost signal. The chest strap is very comfortable. It gives me the length of time of my workout, calories used, average and maximum heart rates for the workout, minutes in the fat burning zone, and minutes in the fitness zone, and stores these variables for up to 99 workouts. While I am working out I set it so that my heart rate is displayed on the watch, and that helps me to gauge how hard I am pushing myself.

I have discovered some interesting things from using my Polar HRM. One is that I get every bit as much of a cardio workout from lifting weights (briskly, in the way that I choose to lift them) as I do from riding my exercycle briskly. What a relief that is, since was concerned about not getting any cardio. I guess that my lifting must be borderline circuit training since it does this. Another discovery was that I generally rest between sets until my heart rate goes down to a certain level. Also, I unfortunately discovered that working out on miserably humid days, while harder, does not push my heartrate up any higher than it would be for the same workout on more comfortable days. In fact, it seems to be a little lower overall if I am so hot that I slow down a little.

Overall, my new Polar HRM is a great toy and I find it to be quite motivational. Oh, and by the way, as a surfer you might be interested to know that it can be worn in the water as long as you don't push any of the buttons on the watch part while submerged. I haven't done this but that is what the manual (available online) says.

 

[Lsbcal]

After doing 17.5 tons for a week and a half or so, yesterday I raised it to 17.9 tons. That felt great, and it is so exhilarating to do better than my previous personal best! I am starting to detect some unhealthy soreness of one shoulder and I am concerned about getting another rotator cuff injury. I might have to cut back on the lateral pull-down machine, which is the one that seems to aggravate my shoulder the most. Getting old is the pits.
....

W2R, it is too late for this Olympics but maybe in 2016?

For me: did zero tons last week but compensated by 28 miles of running in hilly terrain.

 

[W2R]

W2R, it is too late for this Olympics but maybe in 2016?

For me: did zero tons last week but compensated by 28 miles of running in hilly terrain.

You're the one who is closest to being in the Olympics! 28 miles is more than a marathon, and even if it was split between days (hard to tell), to me that is still very impressive.

 

[Lsbcal]

You're the one who is closest to being in the Olympics! 28 miles is more than a marathon, and even if it was split between days (hard to tell), to me that is still very impressive.

Thanks. That was over 5 days during the week. I've never run more then about 10 miles at once. These days my max is 8 miles/day but if I do this it's only once per week.

It's easy to get a hard workout, just up the pace so no need to extend the mileage unless you'd like the bragging rights -- I do take my hat off to people doing marathons though.

 

[Dawg52]

Did my 5 mile walk at the local state park with mutt today. Damn it was muggy. Thank God for the shade on the trail. The mutt was thankful for the lake to take dips in. Also mowed grass, so got my sweating in today. Tomorrow.....golf.

 

[haha]

Same as almost every other day-11-12 km on my rower.

Ha

 

[timeasterday]

My Polar FT7 heart rate monitor is a simple model that costs $76 on Amazon. While it doesn't have some of the bells and whistles of the more expensive models, it is all that I needed and everything I hoped it would be. The FT4 is around $10 cheaper and probably would have been just as good for my purposes. My HRM is easy to use, and has never lost signal. The chest strap is very comfortable. It gives me the length of time of my workout, calories used, average and maximum heart rates for the workout, minutes in the fat burning zone, and minutes in the fitness zone, and stores these variables for up to 99 workouts. While I am working out I set it so that my heart rate is displayed on the watch, and that helps me to gauge how hard I am pushing myself.

I have discovered some interesting things from using my Polar HRM. One is that I get every bit as much of a cardio workout from lifting weights (briskly, in the way that I choose to lift them) as I do from riding my exercycle briskly. What a relief that is, since was concerned about not getting any cardio. I guess that my lifting must be borderline circuit training since it does this. Another discovery was that I generally rest between sets until my heart rate goes down to a certain level. Also, I unfortunately discovered that working out on miserably humid days, while harder, does not push my heartrate up any higher than it would be for the same workout on more comfortable days. In fact, it seems to be a little lower overall if I am so hot that I slow down a little.

Overall, my new Polar HRM is a great toy and I find it to be quite motivational. Oh, and by the way, as a surfer you might be interested to know that it can be worn in the water as long as you don't push any of the buttons on the watch part while submerged. I haven't done this but that is what the manual (available online) says.

My wife & I each have the FT7 and have been using them for several months. Prior to that we used the EA Sports Active 1 & 2 programs on our Wii and used their estimated calories. When we used the FT7 with Sports Active we were shocked how far off that program is. And our elliptical is pretty far off too.

I think the FT7 has really helped us get results, combined with calorie counting. We use the MyFitnessPal website to track food consumed and calories burned. The site gives us a nutrition target based on our body measurements and goals. It's a pain to measure everything we cook but well worth it. I was quite surprised that I wasn't eating enough in the past. I wasn't losing much weight because my body was in starvation mode a lot. The first half of this year I have easily reached my goal weight while eating much more. Now I am working to gain muscle while keeping my body fat down. Very hard to balance the two.

For now I have stopped the EA Sports Active because I think it is too hard on my legs. Now I am 2 weeks into the BeFit in 90 program and it burns about 400-440kcal in 35 minutes, 6 days a week. After that I need to step up to something a bit harder, with more focus on building muscle.

 

[eytonxav]

Did my 5 mile walk at the local state park with mutt today. Damn it was muggy. Thank God for the shade on the trail. The mutt was thankful for the lake to take dips in. Also mowed grass, so got my sweating in today. Tomorrow.....golf.

So which one of you is the alpha male. It must be nice being able to do your walks in local state park that provides shade.

 

[easysurfer]

About to go on a 5 mile or so bicycle ride, before the temp goes up to 102 degrees.

 

[LeavingOhio]

Haven't worked out yet today (I do that in the evenings), but yesterday I ran a very short 2 miles. I'm a runner and that's a very short run for me.

 

[aaronc879]

I signed up for the 7-day free trial at Anytime Fitness. My first workout went really well. They have everything I need and I didn't have to wait for any of the equipment. There were only a few people in the place at 7:30am. Anyone have any negatives they'd like to share otherwise i'll probably sign up for a year?

 

[Nemo2]

Did 'the stairs' early this a.m. 60 repeats x 59 stairs = 3540 upward steps......using a guesstimate of 2 flights of 20 steps each per (imaginary) building floor and that's 88.5 floors.

Going to do a bit on the elliptical trainer shortly.

 

[eytonxav]

Did 'the stairs' early this a.m. 60 repeats x 59 stairs = 3540 upward steps......using a guesstimate of 2 flights of 20 steps each per (imaginary) building floor and that's 88.5 floors.

Going to do a bit on the elliptical trainer shortly.

Wow, you are beast. I'd be sucking wind and have legs feeling like lead from that workout.

 

[painterbill]

I signed up for the 7-day free trial at Anytime Fitness. My first workout went really well. They have everything I need and I didn't have to wait for any of the equipment. There were only a few people in the place at 7:30am. Anyone have any negatives they'd like to share otherwise i'll probably sign up for a year?

Was a member in Fairbanks a couple of years back at the Anytime Fitness close to where we were living. It was a small facility but nice and the local owner was nice to deal with but when we were transferred we had a heck of time getting out of the contract. The contract was handled by the national office via a credit card deduction, it took many, many calls, letters and finally the local franchise owner calling on our behalf to end the deductions. They may have changed their policy for payment but the experience broke me from ever signing a similar contract again. The facility was never very busy and it was nice to be able to go at any time. On a sad side note, after we had moved I did read a story that a member (an MD) at that facility had died while using the elliptical machine when there was no one else in the facility, it was recorded on the security camera.

 

[aaronc879]

Was a member in Fairbanks a couple of years back at the Anytime Fitness close to where we were living. It was a small facility but nice and the local owner was nice to deal with but when we were transferred we had a heck of time getting out of the contract. The contract was handled by the national office via a credit card deduction, it took many, many calls, letters and finally the local franchise owner calling on our behalf to end the deductions. They may have changed their policy for payment but the experience broke me from ever signing a similar contract again. The facility was never very busy and it was nice to be able to go at any time. On a sad side note, after we had moved I did read a story that a member (an MD) at that facility had died while using the elliptical machine when there was no one else in the facility, it was recorded on the security camera.

I wouldn't expect to be able to get out of the contract. If I sign for a year then i'm commited for a year. If I move I just go to the facility closest to my new home. There are 1800 locations throughout the country and you can use any of them at any time.

My facility has a Life Alert that you can put around your neck if you in there alone. Just push the button(if you're able) and an ambulance will be sent immediately.

 

[Koogie]

Just finished a 5K run at 1 pm. Damn near killed me. Normally run very early in the morning lately due to the heat (5 am usually) but had to do it at lunchtime today. I can normally run 5K fast(ish) without even really thinking about it but man, I just can't handle the heat at all. I knew I was in a little trouble when I stopped sweating (I'm a sweater (not a cardigan..ha)) and had to stop for a breather before the end. We're due for a major thunder storm tonight.... Bring It On !

 

[W2R]

Koogie, running in that heat sounds dangerous, especially with the humidity that sometimes builds up right before a storm. Take care!

Lifted 18.1 tons today and it felt so great. I had intended to do some brisk walking or light jogging on the indoor track as well, but after I finished my lifting routine I was done.

F.'s doctor told him to lighten up on the weights he lifts because of his high BP, since weight lifting can raise BP temporarily. However, the last time I saw my doctor I asked him about the effect of weightlifting on my high BP, and he said it is great for me and to go ahead and lift. I sure hope that it doesn't become an issue for me.

He is taking the doctor's orders with good cheer, and taking up the seated elliptical, seated stair stepper, and walking to beef up his watered down lifting routine, but if the same happened to me I think my response to such directives would be less than gracious.

 

[MooreBonds]

On Tuesday, will be starting the 7th annual Missouri American Water MR340 race in Kansas City - a 340 mile jaunt across our beautiful state, in what's billed as the world's longest non-stop river race. Not only do we have an incredibly slow river this year, but our recent heat wave of 90+/100+ temps will really make things interesting. I've competed in it the previous 2 years (when we had record high water and much cooler temps), so this year will be an even greater challenge.

So, will be an (almost) 3 day long upper-body workout. And at times, it can be as much of a workout for your brain and resolve as it is for your torso.

And for those who are wondering...no, it's not a 'float trip'. If you're in the water, you're paddling. Non-fricking-stop. This isn't something where you pick up a few cans of beer at each checkpoint, paddle for a few minutes, and kick back to lazily float down the river and enjoy the scenery as you let the water take you wherever.

 

[REWahoo]

This isn't something where you pick up a few cans of beer at each checkpoint, paddle for a few minutes, and kick back to lazily float down the river and enjoy the scenery as you let the water take you wherever.

Sounds to me like you signed up for the wrong race...

 

[W2R]

Wow, that sounds like quite a feat, MooreBonds! Good luck and I hope you have a great time.

I'm still having fun with weight lifting, 18.2 tons lifted yesterday. It really feels great now that I am in a cycle where I am meeting or exceeding my personal best every time. I am still watching that slightly sore shoulder carefully because a rotator cuff injury could put a real crimp in my style (as I saw one time last year). I am doing extra shoulder stretching and paying attention to how it feels.

But... I need to get back on the exercycle. Even though my HRM has proven that I personally happen to get as much cardio benefit from lifting as from cycling, still I only lift 3 times/week and that is not enough cardio.

 

[FIREd]

Walking is my main "workout". I walked 35 miles this week (carrying a pretty heavy backpack). My goal is to progressively ramp it up to 50 miles a week. If I can make it, I may be able to ditch the monthly bus/subway pass and save myself $700+ a year.