Circuit Torture..er Training...Double Your Torture

Who knew I'd be such a glutton for punishment?

As most of you know, in the spirit of "for better or for worse--and you'd better share the worse!" I've convinced my husband, Rob, to join me in daily circuit torture.  Surprisingly to him, he's actually enjoying it, and he's losing weight and inches.  (Much better than his previous workout program, and I refraim from saying "Told you so"  Wait. No, no, I don't.)  Anyway, since I got him into this fine mess, it seems only fair that I continue to join him in the pain, so I've been going to class at 6 am with him. This past week, however, was an unusual week for Rob.  He had meetings in the mornings, and couldn't make it to the six am and get home to shower, shave and dress in time to get to work.

Now, I'm a paranoid woman at times, so I would still get up and go to the morning class, anyway, on the assumption that Rob might be late coming home or too tired to work out.  However, he came home each day willing if not raring to go, so as a result, I went twice.

Yes, two hours of circuit torture a day.  And it gets worse!

Because last week was Independence Day week, Ryion closed the gym on Thursday and Friday.  As a result, he upped the level of the program--whole body workouts, with floor exercises instead of the treadmill.  So instead of squats, we did squats with hammer curl presses, and in between--burpees, speed skaters, walking pushups, burpees.  Did I mention the ENTIRE CLASS of exercise--burpee--exercise--burpee?

Go ahead--do these for a minute, then go do a minute of squat-lifts with 90 pounds of weight.  (And if you think it's no big deal, come do it with my body!)

So, I did six classes this week like that, including Saturday since Rob wanted to go to make up missing Thursday and Friday due to the gym being closed. 

Here's the take-away I want you to get from this:  The reason I did it is because I felt like my exercise buddy (aka Rob) was depending on me for support.  Having someone to share the pain, er, obligation, with makes a difference. 

Late post, so I'm babbling.

I could say this blog is late because it was a crazy weekend, but that would be lying.  I slept a lot, read a funny book (review later), watched reruns of Primeval, and generally enjoyed a lazy weekend.  I'm sleeping a lot lately.  I'm not sure if it's allergies or recovering from ten months without Rob (and the subsequent restless nights, which were exacerbated by a cat who seemed to miss him even more than I did.)

They say working out is supposed to fill you with energy, but I do not find this is the case.  How about you?  BTW, sorry about missing last Wednesday.  No excuses, just got lazy. Speaking of sleep and exercise, Rob has added a new dimension to Circuit Torture:  Early Mornings!  Yes, we night owls go to bed around midnight, but since he has to be at work by 0800, we are doing the 6 am circuit training classes now.  Know what else that means?  Breakfast at 7:15, and it's only 10:15, and I'm ready for lunch! Did you know Mimi's Mediterranean fettuccine has 1222 calories?  That's more than my day's allowance!

Since Rob's come home, I've let a lot of stuff slack off, and last night, I could not get to sleep for all the things in my head, so I wrote a meta list of things to do before vacation and things to do after and before retirement/house selling etc.  It's a huge list, but it's got me moving, anyway.  Now, to get kidlets moving, too. 

Post some random thoughts in the comments today, and let's get a convo going!

Circuit Torture, et Training: Feel the Burn

I was going to take photos this week, but something happened.  I'll do it next week, promise.  In the meantime, check out these lovely knees!

I slipped on the treadmill Thursday.  (It's Friday morning as I write this.)  Not sure what happened.  I was getting off and must have gotten my foot half on the moving tread and it slipped out from under me.  Of course, that was not the bad part.  I was still hanging on, so my feet were flying, people were running to me, and I was trying to figure out how to hit the emergency stop without letting go,

Here's the irony:  I accidentally smack that emergency stop key on a regular basis, but the one time I needed it, I could not reach the dern thing.  Even worse, I know how it works--you hit it, the treads SLOW to a stop.  That's an important detail.

So Ryion and Kelly are running to me, others are asking if I'm ok, and I finally realize I can contort down and rub off the stop key with my chin.  I do so.

And then the idjit in me thinks, "Phew! I can let go now!"  Whereupon the treads  sweep me away until my heels bang the back wall, which is close to the end of the treadmill.  I grab the sides to push up, but my knees are stuck  against the slowing-but-still-moving tread, so for a few seconds, it's pain, pain, pain, baby, feel the burn!

I'm fine.  Didn't do any spectacular flips, no broken bones.  Just REALLY scraped, bruised  knees.

But, hey, let's find a little humor in the situation.  leave me your best applicable pun in the comments below.  If I get more than five different people commenting, I'll pick the funniest and give you a free e-copy of one of my books!

After all, we kneed to laugh at things like this.

Weight Loss Update 4: How Real People Lose Weight

Hey, time again!  Here are photos and stats on my progress in losing weight and toning up.

As usual, let me remind everyone that I am on no particular diet.  I still eat pizza and chimichangas, drink soda, and have desserts now and again.  What I have done is reduce the number of sodas, cut down desserts by more than half, and drink a gallon of water nearly every day.  (I don't always make it).  So what you see is mostly the results of five hours of circuit training a week.

Also, I am making no attempt to suck in my gut, alter my pose or do anything to make myself look thinner in the after picture.  This is how you'd see me at any particular moment.

Here are the stats.  I'd like to note that my arms have not changed much in size, but it's muscle now instead of wobblyfat.  (I accidentally missed the space between "wobbly" and "fat" but I love that word!  Wobblyfat.  Say it with me: wobblyfat.)

	15-Jan	17-May		total loss
weight	169	153.3		15.7 lb dec
body fat	38.5	32.6		5.4 dec
chest	38.7	35.9		2.8 dec
bust	41.1	38		3.1 dec
waist	39	33.5		5.5 dec
hips	42.8	38.8		4.0 dec
abs	42	36.7		5.3 dec
thigh	22	23.5		1.5 inc
calf	15	15		0
bicep	11.6	11.5		.1 dec
forearm	10	9.5		.5 dec
neck	15	13.8		1.2 dec

Circuit Torture...er, Training, Week 12: Baffling Body Sculpting

(Skipped a week to keep Margaret Realy's *A Garden of Visible Prayer* top on the blog.  It's an awesome book for the Catholic gardener, if you missed her Amazon Day, no worries, but go pick it up anyway: )

It's been two weeks since my last post, and not so great on the diet or exercise front.  I went on a trip with my daughter, so there was much restaurant food and sweets, and at home, cookie dough called to me.  I did exercise on vacation--the elliptical when the hotel had a gym, and going up and down a flight of stairs 50 times when it did not.  I also did isometrics for my abs in the car.  (That's where you tighten and loosen the muscles.)  Last week, I was home, and did the usual circuit torture, without running because my shins still hurt.  Jacob's Ladder and I are becoming fast friends.  Nonetheless, I went to the scale-and-measure expecting to backslide.

Turns out, I did gain a pound and 3 percent body fat, which is a bummer because I'd just gotten into the normal range.  However, what baffled me are the measurements.  I didn't gain anywhere.  In fact, I lost five inches in the waist and abs.I'm sure I wasn't mismeasured, either: at least one pair of pants no longer fit, and I can see my hourglass figure returning (albeit a larger glass.)

The body is a baffling thing, but know what?  I'll take those results and keep on!