I am back from my week of camping & waterfall photography - my phone tells me the most active day was 7 miles of walking; other days were in the 3 to 5-mile range. But the phone is horrible at gauging verticals - like, on the 7-mile day, it said we walked up the equivalent of 7 stories. But no way was it that low. We were scrambling up and down various mountains with elevation changes of something like a thousand feet. It also doesn’t really account for all my photography puttering - a hobby that may be low-impact but isn’t low-effort, with all the squatting up and down, clambering over rocks, and tensing up, not breathing, while you snap the shutter, and twisting this way and that, blah blah.
Anyway, not important, it was a lot of hard walking and I had a great time!
Bummer that we are home today and I only did a thousand steps - had to unpack and do laundry and now working.
I hope to see some resolution of my standing desk request this week, but the way supply chain issues are, I’m worried about actually getting one to the house.
I’ll be working on other ideas this week about increasing mobility, I have not given up!
LOL - I bet that 2 to 3 minutes of rowing would be hard for me. I remember when I was getting back into shape a few years ago at fitness center even just 5 minutes on stationary bike was tough.
Did 42ish outdoor biking miles yesterday. Did biking, ellipticals and rowing indoor on Saturday. Today will likely be a light workout day, once my snugly cat decides to leave my lap.
Had a great outdoor hike at a place we’ve been before. We took friends that had never been so that was fun. Walk was someplace right around 4 miles. Toss in the walking we did during the day and I ended up with a 17K step day.
In other news, DW and I are now the proud owners of bicycles and I look forward to riding regularly.
I’ve entered a new “competition.” Yesterday, I was deciding between a rest day and going to the gym for some cardio, rolling out and stretching. I did the latter.
While discussing diet and nutrition with one of the powerlifters there, who also participated in the recent powerlifting meet, we somehow transitioned into a bet. The bet is who will have the lower body fat % by 1/1/2022. The bet is dinner. His advantage is testosterone, metabolism, and the lack of grey hair, since he’s only 27 years old.
One of the advantages to living in Silicon Valley (described as a “tech ghetto” on another thread) is that they have mobile DEXA scan vans. We’re going to use this company.
But, they also have locations in Austin, Seattle, Los Angeles and DFW too, just in case anyone else is interested.
I’m here to fuss. Last Friday, the gym employee told me that starting this weekend, our gym will no longer be 24-7. It will be 24-7 M-F, but 7-7 on the weekends. 5am on the weekends is my favorite time to go. It’s the safest. The employee was very angry about the change. It’s being done so that all 300 locations under our franchise are on the same schedule. She said she was trying to fight it, and nothing has been posted about the change, so maybe it will be OK. But I’m not getting my hopes up. She told me not to complain until after the switch, because corporate would be more likely to listen then. I could even work with 6am-7pm, or even 5am-7pm Saturday, 7-7 Sunday. But 7-7 for me means that the gym is closed. I won’t go after 7.
Then! I get to the gym this morning. We have two stair climbers. About 40 treadmills, maybe 20 ellipticals, 6 stationary bikes, and some other random aerobic equipment. Once covid hit, they moved the stair climbers so there is one in each row. But today, them moved them back side by side. So, now you can’t have both in use and social distance. Why?!!! In my area, 1 out of every 225 people has already died from covid. I also “laugh” because I’m reading about all these countries moving to the highest level of risk because they had 500 cases per 100K people in 28 days. We are at 1400 cases/100K/28 days and that is an improvement. And, we are a low vax area where nobody wears masks. Ugh. I made my thoughts (nicely) known to the front desk. She said she’d bring it up to the manager to see why he moved them. I really need to get back to running so I won’t need the bike/stairclimber as much. It’s improving, but I want to wait until it feels bulletproof. I’m tired of niggles. I don’t mind the bike/stairclimber as long as I feel safe.
On the bright side, I just got my will updated. It helps to have a real estate lawyer down the hall. We still need to sign/notarize them, but that will check off something on my 2021 list at least.
Probably somewhere in between. I won’t be eating anything like waffles and fried chicken, French fries, burgers, shakes, heavy French food, etc. I’m a clean eater for life.
I found out from one of my gym buddies that she, her boyfriend and my 27-year old competition are going to Disneyland in December. So, she said she’ll make sure to fatten him up with churros, desserts, etc. I have an insider now.
I’ve already dropped 1-2 lbs from where I competed a couple weeks ago, so he’s in trouble.
Hey, does anyone have a home gym? I’m going to convert a chunk of my bedroom and trying to decide what all I want to get for it. I have my bike and a bunch of free weights. I want some kind of rack for them and thinking I need some kind of regular exercise mat, beyond the yoga mats I already have. I mean something a little bigger and more permanent and for cushioning. What else do I need???
I had a small home gym in my last house - a piece of cardio equipment, a weight bench, a small rack for my weights and kettlebells, and thick mats for the floor and for under the bench. I also had a yoga ball, some bands, a jump rope, a weight vest, an ab roller, and my favorite - my bosu ball.
I don’t have a gym any more in the new house and just use a corner of our family room. We’re hoping to finish the basement at some point and I’ll take over a section for a gym again.
While I’m not currently using my home gym, I have barbells and holder, bumper plates and holder, bench, squat rack with pull-up bar and rings (dips), dumbbells and rack, a GHD (glute ham developer), air bike, medicine balls, timer/clock, weight vest, etc.
Under all of it, I have those horse stall mats that I picked up from Tractor Supply.
OK, saw them. I do want thicker ones like these so maybe I’ll head up to Tractor Supply!
Another question: Is your home gym in the finished part of your home? I would love a medicine ball, but the way I used them in class – such as wall slams – I would never do in my house for fear of causing damage. I’m not sure how else I would incorporate them in my workout.
My gym is located in our rebuilt greenhouse in the backyard.
The horse stall mats are about 100 lbs. each, so they’re very heavy. I bought like 6 of them IIRC and that sure was a workout just loading and unloading them.
One of the foundational exercises in CF are wallballs. In the same category as burpees, no one likes to do them.
