Got my flu shot yesterday, so my arm is a bit tender!
It’s pin presses & bench today. Then tomorrow I’m volunteering for sag wagon duty for the club’s 25 mile hike in WI.
The weather forecast is somewhat MEH, but I’ll make the best of it.
I’ll have to move a lifting session to Sunday bc Saturday is going to be a very long day & no time to train.
I’m a very sporadic poster here, but an avid reader!
This thread inspired me to start doing yoga 7 years ago, running 6 years ago, and weight training 4 years ago. I have a few health issues that respond to “lifestyle” choices; my doctors say I should keep doing exactly what I’m doing.
I’m a book person and not a gym person. For yoga, someone here mentioned Richard Hittleman’s 28 Days book. That was a great start for me. I now use an online app with a range of yoga classes. For running, it was Jeff Galloway’s Run-Walk-Run method and Christopher McDougall’s Born To Run. I run outdoors year-round. For lifting, it was New Rules of Lifting by Alwyn Cosgrove and Lou Schuler. Then I found the online Stronglifts 5x5 by Mehdi. I have a bench and barbell set at home that we bought when our son was 13 (he’s now 28). I added a squat bar to the setup.
About food, my general philosophy comes from Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma and the good old South Beach Diet. Plus lots of reading about nutrition and the latest research.
I’ve been informed about different tweaks and experiments with food and exercise through the wonderful posts here. Any time I’ve had a question, someone here has kindly answered it.
There was some discussion above about whether this was a place for beginners or not. I absolutely think it is! I’m grateful to all the long-time posters.
Hi and thanks for the book suggestions @FrancescaBennett ! I also enjoy reading and my fitness activities are similar to yours.
3 mile treadmill speed workout this morning, I am speeding it up a little bit each time. I’m off work today (yay!), so H and I took a 4.5 mile hike this morning which went quite well. The silver lining of Covid is that he has really realized how much he needs to take care of himself in order to lower his risk. I’m hoping this becomes a habit.
I was inspired to start weight training again by our discussion here. I don’t have a gym membership any longer. However, I do have use of the gym at a private club where we are members. You have to sign-up for a time slot, and there are never more than four people. It feels safe (I have worked out on the stationery bikes there.)
The problem is that the club is open seasonally and it’s going to close at the end of October. There’s a virtual weight training class at the studio where I do pilates mat and reformer. I’ve taken classes with the instructor (she had a great TRX class) and I signed up for the virtual class. I also looked at the online strength training classes Sushi posted and found one that interests me. My goal is start slowly and build up.
The vest’s weight can be adjusted by adding or subtracting metal or cast iron plates from the vest’s various pockets. The vest that I was using supplies the user with a ten 2 lb plates.
The reason I ran with the weight vest at 20 lbs yesterday is that CF has a Memorial Day WOD called “Murph,” which consists of a 1-mile run, 100 pullups, 200 pushups, 300 air squats and another 1-mile run, all performed with either a 20 lb weight vest for men or a 14 lb weight vest for women. Generally, most people that attempt the “Murph” will do it without the vest.
As folks may recall, I finished the “Murph” this past Memorial Day, but the “Murph” has come again as a topic, because the two owners of the gym that I attend have a bet to see who can lose 10 lbs the fastest. And the loser has to do a “Murph.” I guessing “Masters” (old people) like me don’t do the “Murph” at all, because there’s no Masters weight specified for the WOD.
And I may do the “Murph” with the loser just for fun. So, I’m getting some “reps” in now for practice. 
@Bromfield2 Yeah for you!
Right now for some reason I’m putting off heading outside for my run! I’m so used to it being a “must” to get out early that now that it’s cooler (39 right now) I’m being poky!
Hey, where is @ClassicMom98 !?
Friday’s workout wore me out. I started with inverted presses. And then I power cleaned to a point where I just couldn’t get the barbell to the front rack (receiving position). One of the big “strongman” types challenged me and I told him that I’d have to clean (squat clean) it, where your receiving position is the bottom of the full squat position. It took every grunt and groan in my body to stand up, but I did it. Not a PR, but more than I’ve done in a long time.
And then the guy who challenged me to lift it went up to the bar and made it look like one of those light movie props. The HIIT was a couple combo of rope climbs and the air bike.
Saturday’s workout was bench press for strength and the HIIT was 20 minutes of ring dips, rowing and thrusters. Core was weighted GHD sit-ups.
I’m taking a rest day today. My first rest day since a week ago last Thursday. I did take the SushiPup to my Bay trail for some up and down on the interior hills.
Did my walk/run for over an hour with my friend. We upped the running stretches to over a minute run every 6 or 7 minutes, so we’re improving! It was a nice morning- rain due to move back in early this week, I think.
Haha! I can picture it all! Great story!
I had a good time working sag wagon duty for the 25 mile hike yesterday. I brought the dog and it was a relaxing day, hanging out in the car, listening to music, waiting for hikers to pass thru and offer them food, drink, and Advil.
The weather was chilly. Low 40s and a constant misting that sometimes turned into a light drizzle — so my vision of sitting in the sun on a nice fall day did not come to fruition.
We had 2 hikers who were going to try to finish in under six hours! I never did hear whether they managed it or not. Crazy!
We had another 2 hikers who are trail runners and ran it. One is training for long distance trail runs — races of 30 miles plus — and he did 30 miles. Crazy!
At the end, volunteers set up a FEAST. Hot soup, sandwiches, salads, desserts, wine. The amount and variety was really something.
I’m stiff all over from hours sitting in the car with the waiting, shuttling and driving.
Making up for my skipped training session now, then hoping to dive into a plate of food and then dive into bed. Zzzzzz
If the weather is good next Sunday, I might drive back up there and hike a section on my own. The trees have begun to turn and it’s just so beautiful.
@Midwest67 - 25 miles is quite the hike! What kind of terrain?
@HighTide2020 - Good job on the improvements!
I attended a “261 Fearless” event for the first time yesterday. This is a group started by Kathrine Switzer to promote running/fitness and empowerment for women. It was different than my expectations. I thought it would be more of a group run, but the activities vary each time. We did do a short group run and the played some active games and went through an obstacle course. I have mentioned my proprioception issues/lack of coordination here many times so that made me nervous, but the women were very friendly and supportive so it was not awkward. I plan on going back and hopefully can get a few friends to join me. The group I was with are doing several virtual runs, so this might be a group we could join to do that with.
Big, rolling hills. Wooded glacial moraines in farm country.
In SE Wisconsin there are 2 large state parks, Kettle Moraine South & North. The main hiking trail is the IAT — Ice Age Trail, although there are other trail options to choose from.
It’s a great place to train for us Chicagoland flatlanders, and close enough for a day trip.
One club member did the AT a few years ago and said he clocked in about 20 miles per day — but wasn’t hiking like a bat out of Hell.
I’ve done the 25 miler 2x, and finished in just under 8 hours.
Wow, a 25 mile hike. I think I’d like that car/snack duty too! It’s sometimes fun to “see” fitness from another angle - being the helper as opposed to the participant. I know in running races participants are so VERY grateful for the volunteers who man the course!
Sag wagon duty was fun!
We had cascading assignments, so I was at 3 different trail intersections although for a long time at each stop.
Usually sag wagon volunteers are the older club members who are no longer doing the long hikes. So, I was a bit of a change up this year, plus I had dog therapy to offer! 
hearing about the trail hike/runs reminds me of my daughter, who did a 50k trail run a couple years ago (and then said, since I have already trained for it, I might as well do a marathon) and is doing a 50 MILE trail run next month. We’ll see how that goes, as I’m not sure her training is on shedule. She is coaching xc but they have no meets this year so it is mostly group runs.
But back to me, I went to a ww meeting on Saturday since I now must go monthly to maintain free lifetime status, I had to wear heavier clothes and shoes than I planned since it was 47 degrees when I got up. But weight was still in range which I mark as a victory.
Went for a bike ride with DH yesterday at one point I checked pokemon and had 30 mins to finish a set of tasks I hadn’t been aware of, this included periods of slow biking to get distance to register on the app then wicked fast biking at the end to try to get to places to finish it, I ended up one task short but some speed for the bike ride. The people on the other hand were above average annoying, it was a trail that had parks adjacent and bike shops, so many people who were not staying to the side of the trail when you called that you were coming up to pass, including some who gave me attitude when their group took up the whole trail and I said please get to the side! I wore my mask more than I had hoped due to the crowds. A parallel trail closer to my house had fewer people and will be my preferred option in the future, especially since I can bike there from my house and not need to drive to it.
I repeated a “40 min full body workout with dumbells” this morning since it is raining. I was more sore than I expected the first time I did it, which is good. I will do this one a few more times, although I want to focus workout videos on my upper body as my lower body is getting other opportunities. But the big thing I need to do now is get in the habit of doing some sort of video a few times a week.
Do people have any hand weights that they really prefer? Or what sizes/weight do you keep on hand??
@abasket - I am currently using 5lb and 8lb weights. We have a set of 20lb weights (S’s ) in the house- I don’t know if I will ever be able to use those!
I have 5, 8, 15 lbs dumbbells. I would like to get something in. between the 8 and the 15, and since my current exercise room is hardwood floors, I want to get some with the plastic coating. Haven’t been able to find any. The ones I have suit me ok for now.
I actually have two sets of 5 and two sets of 8, so if DH ever does videos with me (not often) we can usually pick what we want
It’s going to be hot today, so I got myself up and out before starting work. 45 minutes walk/run. Not too humid. I’ve done support for some bicycling charity rides that some folks from my church were involved with (an aid station) and it was fun. That hike sounds long but gorgeous. @jackief Good luck to your DD!