Exercise

Every once in a while I make a good faith effort to try and get an exercise routine going. 30 minutes on the treadmill and about 20 mins with weights and stretching.

I got up at 6:00 and plodded my way down into the basement to get started on this routine.

Now, I don't know about you, but I have good exercise days and bad exercise days.

Today, was a bad exercise day.

As soon as I started walking on that damn thing, my calves knotted up. So...I slowed down my pace and tried to warm up a bit and get them to loosen up. They did and so I increased the speed again.

KNOTS! KNOTS! ugh...ack...ugh.

I slow down again. They relax.

I'm going pretty good for a bit...I notch up the speed a bit...ok...this is working...notch it up a little more...all is well....then...BAM - KNOTS....ohhhhhhhhh..the freakin' knots. I somehow managed to get my 30 minutes in and then spent the next 20 trying to stretch these puppies out. They are still spazzing as I type.

This is not an unusual thing for me. I found out that my sister suffers from the same problem as well. I think it has something to do with our body type. We're both short, stocky, overweight and if you think Irish Potato pickers...that is what we look like and that is what our bodies were meant to do. Our legs are short and we have these calves that would make a linebacker proud.

They are thick and rock hard.

The rock hard is the problem.

We aren't flexible -at all. Even when I was in high school and played sports I couldn't touch my toes...it just doesn't happen. That stretch up along the back of the calve is extremely painful. I get a little concerned about these legs as I get older. I can feel how they stiffen up after long periods of sitting down. It takes longer to get them to cooperate with me now.

I know the exercise will help. I'm sure after a few more days of knots, these ol' calves will loosen up and I'll be fine. It's the getting started part that hurts.

No pain, no gain right?

ow

Butt - my butt

A few weeks ago, M and I got new bikes! We have the mountain style bikes already, but we bought cruisers this time because we wanted to just take some easy rides on the weekends.

Today, we went on the Henry Hudson trail. It's 9 miles in one direction, then you gotta turn around and come back...so we rode 18 miles!!!

So much for the easy rides on the weekends! What were we thinking?

Thank goodness the cruiser has a wide load seat for my butt! It has a bit more cushion than the mountain bike. That's the one thing I never got used to when riding a bike for a long time...is the toll it takes on your inner butt. And I got a lot of padding back there, you would think it wouldn't affect me that much!

We rode in a very relaxed and casual way. The weather was absolutely gorgeous! I cannot remember another Labor Day weekend where the weather was absolutely perfect! Bright blue skies, the temperature was in the mid-70's, very low humidity and a nice soft breeze blowing.

After this weekend, the summer crowd will go back home and hopefully we'll be able to ride our bikes up on the boardwalk. That's my favorite because then you can look at the ocean the whole time you are riding!

I'm gonna go rest my butt now!!! Have a lovely weekend all!

Treadmill

An update on the dieting and exercise thing - not that you asked, but I'm gonna tell you anyway.

I've lost 11 lbs so far...which is pretty darn good I think and I've gone down 2 notches in the ol' belt buckle.

I never found any "humorous" work out videos, aside from Richard Simmons, so I'll have to keep working on that. I have some clever friends, perhaps they can help me make one some day. (But that's another topic for another day)

My walking music playlist on my iPod is nearly perfect. I like to start out slow, because I get up so freakin' early. (4:30 am EST) It's kind of like a surprise attack I play on my body. By the time I'm actually up to the 2nd or 3rd song on my iPod, my body has no other choice than to accept what I'm doing to it - exercising! it's moving...it's kind of liking this! REALLY! I'm serious, I'm starting to have some fun with it.

Ok...first song -

Something to Talk About - Bonnie Raitt: this gets me going...wakes me up a bit...the legs feel the blood starting to flow to them.

2. Stand - REM: A little peppier (sp?)
3. Cherry Avenue - Melissa Etheridge
4. Wannabe - Spice Girls (Yeah, yeah...I know what you're thinking, but I like them!)
5. Everything I Need - Melissa Ferrick
6. Rhythm is Gonna Get You - Gloria Estefan
7. Respect - Aretha ( You gotta have the Queen of Soul in the morning...you just gotta!)
8. Express Yourself - Madonna
9. God is a DJ - Pink
10. Hella Good - No Doubt
12. Shoop Shoop Song - Cher (this is where I get a little goofy, but it breaks up the routine.)
13. Walk the Walk - Poe (not sure about this one, I may swap it out for something else)
14. It's My Life - No Doubt
15. Trouble - Pink

I always end with Trouble because that song really pumps me up. I actually jog a little bit too! Pink is one of those entertainers that I love: She's smart, she's sexy, she's pretty, she's tough and she stands on her own and does her own thing.

My goal is to increase my pace as I go along, I also use weights to try and tone up the BINGO arms, I am seeing some improvement that is for sure.

I will probably get bored with this music in a month or two...then it'll be time to re-vamp the play list, but for now this motivates me!