What do you do?

Spinning Class?

Walking/Running?

Gym?

Aerobics?
Ball exercises?

Free Weights?

I was just wondering what everyone is doing for their exercise? I've mentioned in earlier posts that I've been going to Curves, doing floor exercises, and now am using Wii Fit. What do you do?

Leave a comment and maybe we will get ideas for new exercises we can try - maybe we won't get bored with what we are doing!

-Shannon

New Year's Anti-Resolution

Let's face it - New Year's resolutions wreak of self-defeating temporary changes involving high expectations we have problems with continuing on a long-term basis. One of the #1 resolutions involve weight loss and implementation of regular exercise routines. You can see the proof at the noticeable enrollment increase at the local gyms and weight loss programs in January. Funny thing, attendance will tend to drop off a bit by February, then by March the gym is a ghost town for the resolutionists. It will pick up a little in May when people realize swimsuit season is looming, but for many the New Years resolution is nothing but a distant memory.

I suggest we don't use the NYR term in this group but work together to motivate each other toward life-long changes in exercise and better eating habits ('diet' is also a word I don't prefer but I'll save that for another blog). In addition to the monthly Starbucks drawings, I propose we all do a quick post of our anti-resolution (short and long-term weight loss and fitness goals for the year) for everyone to see so we can help motivate each other reach it for the next year.

Here's mine:

I'd like to lose approximately 15 pounds and ultimately maintain weight between the low to the mid 120's. I'd like to lose body fat and create a more 'cut' image by adding a little muscle tone. I'd like to increase my core strength a bit and work on my flexibility in hopes it will help my ongoing lower back problems. I hope to accomplish all of this by doing a combination of cardio, weight training, core exercise (push ups, etc) and hopefully will have time to attend some yoga classes.

What's yours?

-Vic

"Fitting in Fitness at Christmas"-WW Article

Here's a link to an article for exercise - alternatives to going to the gym. Hopefully this isn't too late to help!

http://www.weightwatchers.com/util/art/index_art.aspx?tabnum=1&art_id=47381&sc=3039#Story

Wii Fit - A great alternative!

The boys got a Wii Fit for Christmas---though I think its truly a present for the whole family! Tonight I set up my profile to see what its all about. It's a marvel! Very fun way to exercise. There are four types of exercises, Yoga, Strength, Aerobic and Balance. I put myself through most of the Strength and Aerobic exercises. The program actually tells you how much time you've exercised for this date. I got in a full 20 minutes, and was sweating and out of breath by the time I was done running. I did things like jog in place, push ups, lunges, leg lifts, Hula Hoops and a Dance Dance Revelution type game. The Strength exercises are your more typical floor exercises. The Aerobic and Balance exercises are games in which your body moves the character. It's actually hard - but very fun! I know I looked super silly doing the Hula Hoop! And had retry the Dance Dance stepping aerobic one, because I am so not coordinated!

When you first start, you put in your stats, like birthdate and height, then the Wii Fit will weigh you and calculate your BMI. You will put in your weight loss/gain goal for whatever time period. You only have so many exercises in each area available when you start out, but as you complete the exercises with success (because sometimes you won't have success!), you get points and new exercises are unlocked. The program keeps track of all the exericising you do. With this new toy, I may even get more than 4 days of exercise in each week!

-Shannon

What a Challenging Week!

Hello fellow EFC members! It is the end of week number 2 and I need to know who made 4 work outs for the week of Dec 15-21st for last week and then after today I'll need your results for week number 2 (Dec 22-28). I hope everyone had a great Christmas! I'm sure you all found it as challenging as I did, both in watching what I ate and in getting 4 day of exercises. I knew it as going to be hard to get in four days with being out of town Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I had a plan to go to Curves Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday morning before going to Grass Valley, then on Friday.

Not all plans go as planed. Let me tell you why my week was ESPECIALLY challenging:Last week I needed to get my 4th exercise session in on Sunday. I had thought about going out to the garage to where the Total Gym is, but it was super cold in the garage, and actually kind of too crowded to exercise with all the Christmas decoration boxes out. So I decided to ask Justin to put me through the core exercises that he's been doing in drama since school started on Aug 18th. Justin has lost over 25 pounds since then and he is all muscle now. He works out on his own and will set up exercise sessions with fellow cast members on the weekends. I'm very proud of him! So I thought he would be able to put me through the warm up exercises for my 4th day. Here's what he made me do:

• Push-ups: sets of 15, then 10, then 5 - I could only manage girly ones, but they still were hard to do!
• Leg lifts-2 sets of 10 - without the feet touching the ground between reps
• Back to Back squats (Justin and linked arms with our backs touching and did the squats together) - 2 sets of 10
• Front to Front squats (this time we faced each other and locked wrists and did them together) - 2 sets of 10
• Lunges - by this time my legs were shaking and I could only manage 10
• Crunches laying on his bed with my feet on the floor - I think I did 40 or 50
• Some other weird cruch where I layed on the floor, bent my knees, lifted my feet in the air, put my hands in front of my like I'm praying and did the crunches from one knee to the other with out putting my feet or head down. I'm not sure if I did more than 20, by this time I was getting delirious and told him I was done for the night.

I was proud that I was able to do most of the work out and now I have floor exercises I can concentrate on for the days I can't make it to Curves. BTW - as I left the living room Justin told his dad "she won't be able to walk tomorrow', then the little shit snickered! The punk!

MONDAY MORNING - I was out to prove Justin wrong. I got up. Walked almost normally. My thigh muscles were pretty tight and a bit painful, but I was ok. I had to put my goodie bags together and take them to work to distribute and then go to Reva's to take her on some errands. So I went about my business and noticed that my thighs were hurting a bit but was ok. Then when I got to Reva's around noon I went to use the toilet. As I began to assume the position, my legs almost gave out and I almost fell back against the tank. But I was still OK. So OK that I figured I should go to Curves as planned to keep the muscles loose. So I get to Curves that evening, and I was hurting and could only do about half the reps that I normally do and was feeling very old. I took an extremetly hot bath that night!

TUESDAY MORNING: Justin was wrong. I could walk on Monday. Tuesday not so much! I felt extreme agony in my thighs whenever I went to sit down, especially on the toilet. Never noticed how low the seat was before this week! Going down the two stairs into the garage was agony. I was hurting and calling myself a total idiot! So Tuesday I pretty much did nothing but get some things done for Christmas. No exercise was performed on this day.

WEDNESDAY: Christmas Eve - My legs were a little better, but I really didn't do anything but get everything together to go up to GV. My legs were still sore, but on the mend. But by this time my pecs and abs were feeling the pain too!

THURSDAY:Merry Christams - no exercise, feeling much better, Yay!

FRIDAY: We went to the Bay Area, but I still managed to get in some exercise. After we got home I did a modified version of the floor exercises that I'd done with Justin. I even used Jordan's dumbells and did some arm curls and other exercises. I tried to do just 5 back to back squats, but Justin went so low on the second one my hips locked up and I thought my thigh bones were going to literally pop out of the joint. So I just used the back of a chair to do 10 squats. I also did crunches and push ups. When I went to do the leg lifts I learned just which ab muscles are being worked! I made a couple false starts in which I could only do 2 at a time. But I perservered and was able to do 10 with out putting my feet down. When I later tried to do another set, I did something bad and now have a pulled left abdominal muscle. Everytime I sneeze, and I never sneeze less than 5 times in a row anymore, I have sharp pain in my left ab. I swear, it sucks to be this out of shape! So on Friday I got my second day of exercises in.

SATURDAY: Curves was open again, so I actually did the work out and was actually able to do almost all the normal number of reps that usually do, but I was definitely tired and sore afterwards! Third day of exercises complete!

SUNDAY: Curves is closed on Sundays, which is what started my whole ordeal...so tonight I plan on doing my version of Justin's floor exercises again. The left ab still hurts, so I may have to skip the leg lifts, but I'll do something else. Or I might use the Wii Fit the kids got for Christmas. I'll report back on if the Wii Fit is a good exercise tool, I hear that it is.Good luck to you all!

-Shannon

Welcome To EFC

We are now embarking upon the new blog for the Exercise For Coffee group, or EFC. Let's face it - it's not fun to exercise regularly throughout the week. We are all busy with work, family and life in general. It's hard to get motivation to get to the gym or take a walk or do anything that causes the heart rate to rise above 50! I believe our body wants to naturally go the easy route instead of doing what's hard. It takes hard work, dedication and commitment to not only lose weight but to keep it off. Not everyone jumps at the chance to hit the gym during a busy work week. How easy is it to always vie for the low or non-fat versions of our favorite foods, especially around the holidays?

Ok, enough with how hard it is. Let's stop whinning and do it! On the flip side, exercise can be self satisfying and invigorating (when done regularly). It can give you a sense of accomplishment when you complete a workout instead of skipping it. It's hard enough to lose weight between having to balance the eating and exercise. But I've found if you are doing well with your exercise, your body will want to eat better and after awhile won't be so hard.

Throughout my weightloss journey, I've lost over 60 pounds. What I've learned is you cannot be successful with weight when you simply diet; it must be a lifestyle change or you will ultimately be back at square one (and I visited square one more times than I can count). And it is hard for sure - look at Oprah, who is showing her vulnerabilities along with the rest of us with her recent weight gain. Weightloss is tough and we can use all the support we can get.

So EFC was created to motivate our exercise habits. Participants are welcomed to blog and comment on this site at anytime. This is how it works:

If anyone doesn't make four workouts in a week,that person(s) owes one coffee card ($3.50) up to the monthly"kitty". For each week any of us makes all four work-outs will get a "ticket". After four weeks, if there is any coffee cards in the kitty, we will have a drawing. So if you work out 4 days a week for 4 weeks you would have 4 chances to win ALL the coffee cards. If you make it only 3 weeks, you would have 3 chances to win and so on. There may or may not be any coffee cards in the "Kitty" to be won, but it sure would be a great"prize" if there were multiple coffee cards. This way we can have as many members in our "Exercise For Coffee" club or"EFC". Shannon will write our names on tickets, then we report in to eachother on the blog. An impartial person will pick the winning ticket. Who ever owed coffeecards can then send them to the winner each month.

Bring it on!

- Vic