i've been trying to get the preggo working out but my baby girl is kicken her ass.. well she's allready a lil over 7 months now though so..  but after mikaela is born in april, i'mma have her training hard so she can be ready for the next baby soon after.. lol we getting old and gotta popem out quick..

Awesome work on trying to keep up exercising while pregnant. I know that can't be easy. A friend of mine did all sorts of pregnancy exercises before she delivered her baby and I thought it was really amazing that within a few weeks of delivery she was back down to her pre-pregnancy weight - I think that all that she put on was baby weight.

How's everyone else doing? This thread has slowed down a bit but that's probably due in part to the winter season setting in.

I've always liked to train during the winter season more than heat of the summer - I make the biggest leaps forward during the winter.

Currently I'm working out 3-4 days a week at the gym and doing a combination of weights, spin classes, and putting extra focus/effort on core work. My current favorite core exercise are Dragon Flags like those you see Rocky doing in Rocky IV:


(I love that movie - it really inspires me to work harder!)

Dragon Flags are really challenging especially to keep your body in the correct position. It's a great isolation exercise but you have to be careful as doing them wrong could cause lower back injury. My reps are low since I've just got back into doing them, no more than 8 per set, but I hope to get those higher over the next month or so. In the past, when I did them regularly the most that I would do was 12 per set.


Keep up the good work everyone - have fun and enjoy the fruits of your labor!  

Hey MD,
which gym do you go to. I was lookin at joinin either the Y or LA Fitness since both are close to my place and both have a pool. Any thoughts? im by cortaro/thornydale

Hey DJ,

I have a membership at LA Fitness and like it well enough. The one on Shannon and Ina would be close to you. It's funny that you mentioned debating between LA Fitness and the Y because a coworker here was doing the exact same thing. In the end the value was more with LA Fitness for the classes and the variety of equipment.

I like the variety of classes and equipment. Sure there are things that I don't like, but you get that anywhere you go. I used to have a membership at Golds years ago and felt the same way.

The location that I mentioned on Ina has nice staff, and a friend of mine and his wife workout there frequently. That's actually where I completed my membership though the location that I workout at is further south (down on 1st) and closer to me. It's been open less than a year so its brand new which is nice too. 

Whatever you do, if you go to LA Fitness don't let them bully you into some ultra expensive startup cost. That's what happened to a coworker of mine. She and her husband went in to sign up at a location on the east side of town and really got the "salesman" approach. That's not the same at all locations, and why I went with the location up on Ina.  I think I had to pay 2 months worth of membership in advance (@ 24.99) and am under no contract. If you ask they will often wave the fee to sign up on top of that.

Here's a link for a free pass to try it out if you haven't already:

https://www.lafitness.com/Pages/findclub.aspx?flow=GuestPass

Let me know what you end up deciding. Good luck!  

I have a new training partner....


A Timex Ironman Race Trainer.  I have just started to play with it and it waaaay above my head at this point. 

It has an ANT data stick that allows me to upload/download my workouts to the watch.  Timex has partnered with TrainingPeaks to provide the on-line data/training log and programs. 

I have spent the past hour or so just playing around with the digital training log and it is very intestering.  I can monitor my nutrition, workouts, and equipment.  It will even tell me when my shoes are too old. 

I can't wait to start using this for workouts!!   

Quote from: DesmoDiva on January 28, 2010, 07:38:57 AM
It will even tell me when my shoes are too old. 

Wow that sounds complex. We have/use/love our IronMan watch and heart monitors that we got last year. They aren't quite as complex, but I think that I'm grateful for that to some degree because it really frustrates me when I think that my watch could be too complicated for me to understand how to use it!!! 

Awesome! Let us know how well it works for you! I really like seeing immediate feedback about my workouts too. 

I been lazy/injured/traveling.


Lame.


Time to start again.

I took advantage of today's break in the weather to get in a little 16-mile rolling hill ride.

Been also doing 4 miles of hilly walks with the dogs almost every day, and various bouts of resistance exercise or moving wood (today was 6 wheelbarrow loads up the steep driveway).

wow! great job! i probably couldnt even do that, and you've got a baby inside you!

Quote from: djrashonal on January 28, 2010, 01:22:07 PM
wow! great job! i probably couldnt even do that, and you've got a baby inside you!

That means she's only doing half the work.

I'm really sore today, I've been doing some new exercises, and some old ones that I haven't done in quite a while, but it's a hurt-so-good sort of soreness!

I set a new personal best last night doing bicep curls - 130lbs 4 reps after having done 2 sets consisting of 2 parts that made up a single set - barbell and dumbbell curls - no rest/pause between the two until the single set was complete.

I also did 3 sets of the gold standard for core strengthening - hanging leg raises - for the first time - those were tough - not really to crank out, but certainly to keep from swinging. Hanging from a pull-up bar engages a whole series a muscles which are left out when on a leg raise bench which supports your weight. See image below for example:



A variation on this to increase the challenge is also to not curl the legs in but to bring them up strait until they are parallel with the floor. Even harder is to curl them up and tap the top bar that you're hanging from with your toes. I'm not there yet, but looking forward to being able to do that!

Quote from: MrIncredible on January 28, 2010, 01:34:34 PM
That means she's only doing half the work.

Oh come on! She's carrying a baby - that counts for added weight to the loads that she's lugging up hill!!!

Quote from: Monster Dave on January 29, 2010, 05:55:58 AM
Oh come on! She's carrying a baby - that counts for added weight to the loads that she's lugging up hill!!!

unless it's a strong baby!



Me and the mrs. went to LA Fitness yesterday and decided to sign up. They're also building a new one close to Cortaro and I-10 so it will be a short bike trip from the house. I'm actually looking forward to getting out of the house and gettin back in better shape! See you all at the bench 

Quote from: djrashonal on January 29, 2010, 07:52:41 AM
Me and the mrs. went to LA Fitness yesterday and decided to sign up. ... See you all at the bench 

Excellent! 

Come on everyone, how's the getting fit going??

Keep the updates coming!  

Quote from: Monster Dave on February 03, 2010, 05:41:47 AM
Come on everyone, how's the getting fit going??

Keep the updates coming!  

I ate an entire cheescake.