Friends in Fitness - January 2020
 

Newcomers welcome!! Join us!!

Whatever you do for fitness, walking, running, stepping, dancing, yoga, weights, pilates, kettle bells, swimming, biking, etc., come join us and we will try to encourage, inspire, support, and motivate you to achieve your goals!!

Happy New Year!!

Today I did 3 miles of walking. 2 with Nick and one with Nadyia. The first and second were filmed in Leslie's remodeled studio {all while, yawn} while the 3rd was filmed in what seemed to be a small room. Same 4 basic steps but the music was updated and there were different variations on the steps. Nick was a lot of fun and kept us laughing the whole time.

We've been busy trying to get stuff done now that Hubby has the time. We are making progress on the to do list.

Happy New Year!

Here are my last few workouts:

jan 1 The chisel part of Sizzle and Chisel and some of Petra K's Just Dance segments
Jan 2 Totally Cool Step
Jan e Cardio Sculpt - Pam Cosmi

Now that the holidays are over, I'm trying to get back to more sensible eating too! I'm just going to toss the rest of the cookies etc. I think. I think......ha!

So Hubby was laid off yesterday. We knew it was a possibility so we were prepared and aren't in panic mode. Hubby is trying to make an 'action plan' to get everything done about continuing the hunt for a job, getting us on insurance {we have until the end of the month} and fulfilling the requirements for his severance and bonus. In the 3 times he's been laid off this is the first time he's gotten severance so that's new and welcome.

Today I did Gymra's 45min Intense cardio with Natalie. Pretty good but I had to modify almost every move, but it had a pretty outdoor setting with a lot of sunshine. :sun: Our weather pattern has turned into 2 nicer days followed by 4 days of rain. yuck

I'm trying to get back to some sort of routine, which is strange because of Hubby being home all the time. We keep thinking every day is Saturday {well, today actually is, but its confusing} I'm still hoping that we can get a lot of stuff done that we've 'never had time for' including hitting a few parks in the area to clear out or heads and get our minds off the job situation.

PP - sorry to hear about hubby being laid off. Maybe in the end it will lead to something better. I hope so.

Yesterday: Step Boss imax. I like this one. Of course, I will never click my heels together while my hands are on the step, nor will I do her Burpee blast. other than those two things though.....good.

Today: three miles with Leslie

Nora, thank you for your good wishes for hubby and I.

Today I did a workout by Cindy Whitmarsh. I had read that she had workouts on YT but this {and most of the others } seem to be old Exercise TV workouts that I have tried and not liked. This one had us following a pattern of exercise with a few variation until the last few minutes when she went to a HIIT type format. I would have appreciated the entire workout being HIIT rather than the pattern.

The first thing Hubby had to do this morning was replace the faucet and pipe in the bathroom sink that was leaking water all over the floor. Not a happy start to any Monday but another expense that we didn't need when we are trying to economize. :(

Today I started with a HIIT/Strength workout from Fit Force FX. I've tried a few of her workouts but won't be doing any more, these aren't the type of workouts I like. While she used weights in a lot of the exercises they weren't the traditional weight exercises I prefer and the few she did were too fast and few reps to do much good. I cut that one short and added a 1M Walk At Home Party led by Nick, Camilla, Nadyia and another woman, which I really enjoyed.

SB, Sorry to hear you are back to the gloomy weather. I agree about wanting more variety than one streaming service can provide.

Hubby is at a job fair, I'm hoping his prolonged absence means its going well. My mom had a routine eye appointment today, but now has a appointment with my retina specialist regarding a possible hole in her retina. The appointment isn't until next week but I know we are all worried. I offered to go with her as payback for all the times she had to go with me and sit in the waiting room for hours. :p It might be fun to go when I'm not the patient and might reassure Mom.

PP - Fingers crossed for hubby at the job fair! My friend just had an operation due to a hole in her retina. The procedure was fairly quick and painless. Then, she had to keep her head bowed for a week or so, but could still function OK.

SB - Yup, gloomy here too. As for a monthly price for streaming, I wouldn't do it unless they offered a heck of a lot of variety and different kinds of workouts.

Yesterday: Total body weights with Jenny Ford
Today: Athletic step - Amy B

Yesterday, I started with a Michelle Dozois workout, but had to eject because I hated it. That gave me pause, because a few hours earlier I had just pre-ordered her latest set. I hope that goes well!!

Nora, I'm glad to hear your friend is doing well. Uh, oh, on the DVD purchase. I do find that I don't always love everything an instructor puts out, so hopefully you will enjoy the new workouts.

SB, my understanding is that a hole is a small detachments but doesn't necessarily lead to vision loss. No one has every described one of my detachments as a hole, but a hole is pretty much a hole, right? They didn't make her go immediately so I don't think its a big problem, just something different from last year that needs to be checked out.

I didn't get to my workout earlier so I did it just now, hopefully I'll sleep well. My legs have been really stiff and sore, walking funny-sore, all day so I did an easy cardio to loosen them up. CocoLime's 30m Low Impact cardio for people with Fibromyalgia.

Tomorrow is our first Knitting Meeting of the new year! Afterwards my friend and I are going to volunteer, serving a meal to a classroom, then go to lunch ourselves. It will be nice to see everyone and catch up.

The job fair didn't go well, it wasn't what Hubby was told, the manufacturing plant took his information and put him in a job pool in case someone wants to hire him in the future. They said it could take up to 3 months just to get the information in.

I've been working on a sweater for myself, and I'm quite pleased with how its turning out; I'm already planning another! https://ravel.me/patchworkpenguin/etz2v9

Stay warm!

Hi Ladies,

Happy New Year!

I've struggled to get myself on track workout-wise. I've tended to do parts of Les Mills Hip Hop Vols 2 & 3 (they are 16 mins. each) over the last week or two when I needed steps to make it to 250/hour with my Fitbit.

Yesterday was the first day that I got in real exercise when I walked 2.3 miles in 58 minutes with my friend with the fairly slow dog. We took a different route than usual and ended up going up a road that was a loooong uphill stretch, and I really had to push myself during that part, so at least some of it was challenging.

I gained about 10 lbs from Nov to the new year (I wasn't logging with Lose It! regularly) and I decided to join Noom to jumpstart my weight loss for the new year. I have a couple of friends who lost major weight with Noom and they kept talking about the motivating articles that it provides, so I decided to give it a whirl, mostly because I was curious about the articles since the program is based on psychology. I'm in the 14-day trial period (that I paid $10 for), but I don't think that I'm going to stick with it. I prefer Lose It! because logging your food and exercise is soooomuch easier, it's a lot cheaper, it tells you more about your macros (Noom gives you a 1,200 calorie a day limit and that's it), and a lot of the information that Noom has provided so far is stuff that I already know. I think that Noom is just not compatible with what motivates me. I guess it's best to learn that before you pay more. I notice that when I tried to discontinue with the 14-day trial on the app last night, it wasn't clear how to do that, so I'll have to look online today. I hope it's not going to be a hassle to discontinue. :(

Other than the food part, I'd like to get back on track with exercising. I've tended to only focus on cardio for a while, so I'd like to figure out how to reincorporate weights into my workouts. I'm thinking that I'd like to do some cardio with light weights to start off. I know that AWT is good for this. I tried to do a search (with the search function here) to get some workout ideas but the word "cardio" is not searchable because it's too common. I'll have to look through my workouts and see if I have any obvious options. Before I try to get into heavier weights, it seems that cardio with light weights could be a helpful option.

Well work-wise things are not as hectic. During our January-term I'm teaching a course where all my students are off doing internships, so they'll have to turn in mostly brief reflection papers to me electronically and I'll have to evaluate them electronically. There's a lot of administrative stuff that I need to take care of in the coming days, so it's nice to have a bit of a break from classroom preparation for a few weeks. I did teach class the last two days, but it was just some basic conversational travel Spanish for a co-worker who is embarking on a trip to Spain today with a large group of students, and that was fun. :)

SB - I know how you mean about not feeling so motivated to work out, and the cold, gloomy weather certainly doesn't help! But, you've always done a good job of keeping up with you walks, and I'm sure that you'll get back to them as the weather permits. I didn't realize that Exhale has an on demand service. I'll have to check that out (I'll have look, but I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't sign up at this point; I'm barely working out these days :p). ETA: just saw your last post. Glad you got in a JV and a walk.

Penguin - So sorry to hear about your DH being laid off! I'll add y'all to my prayers. I hope that something works out for him soon. In the meantime, you deserve applause for keeping up so well with your workouts!

Nora - Good job keeping up with your workouts, too! I'm always hesitant to throw out food; I tell myself that I'll just eat it little by little, but that never works. ;) In spite of the fact that I told my neighbor that I was trying to eat well/better over the holidays, she kept bringing over high-calorie food (cookies or half of a pudding pie) that her mom had prepared that her family didn't want. I finally just started throwing it away. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do! :)

Waves to All! :sun:

SB, I hope the weather holds out and you get to enjoy a walk, even if it is chilly. We occasionally see someone literally running in shorts and a tee shirt while I'm wearing a big coat and I think they are nuts but they probably run everyday and are more acclimated to the weather than I am. I'm more likely to do UB and never get around to the LB.

Cambet, Thank you for the review and test trial of Noom. I've been curious about it but not curious enough to actually pay for it. LOL. I should be logging with LI also but I'm not. I haven't gained any weight but I haven't lost any either, and Dr, who I see next week is going to be disappointed in me. For me, exercising is easy, its the food that is so hard! I'm glad to hear work is giving you a break, I feel you needed one! Thank you for your prayers.:heart:

Today I did Fitness Blender's UB Superset workout with Fat Burning Cardio. I really liked this one. We did two UB exercises followed by one minute of cardio, repeat then on to the next set. It was fun, I got to pyramid the weights and I liked that the cardio was incorporated into the workout not in the beginning or end. More fun that way.

Hubby is fixing dinner tonight! He's very good with eggs and other breakfast foods while I'm better with casseroles and crockpots :D

PP - I like the colours in your sweater. Good for you! I have zero talent in that area, but I wish I could do it. I'm sorry that the job fair didn't work out great for your hubby.

Cambet - nice to see you back. I've heard about Noom, but I do well with LI, so if it ain't broke....

SB - I've been reading the michelle D. reviews for her new set and it doesn't bode well for us, I fear! I received my set today.

Yesterday: Sculpt from the BBLift series.
Today: I started with Amy B but abandoned that high impact thing in favour of a marching one on J. Ford's Check-out workout DVD.

Hi everyone! Here are my first workouts of the new year. We went to visit DS and DIL during the first part of the year. I'm so glad he is back home now! They live about 13 hours from us when driving. I tend to get a little carsick so this is tough trip for me to take. I like it better when we split the travel into 2 days but DH likes to do it in 1 day. DH was starting to get sick on our trip home. I think he has a really bad cold but his coughing worries me. And of course he is too macho to go to the doctor. I ordered a few new dvds in Mary's sale. One of them was the Barlates Pilates Ring Series. I had done one of Linda's workouts using the pilates ring and I liked it. It was tough but doable. After Monday's workout, I now think Linda is a sadist with that pilates ring. I've never had much DOMS with her other workouts. That is not the case with Monday's workout. I'm still suffering. The last time I had this much DOMS was when I first started working out with heavier weights and did Cathe's MIS. That was about 25 years ago. I could barely walk on Tuesday and Wednesday. Today is better but it is still tough. My quads are on fire. I'm trying to keep moving with lighter workouts. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. On a side note, I've been doing a lot of CS workouts. I just read that Miranda is now 70. Wow! I was totally surprised. She is in fantastic shape.

Monday (1/6) - Barlates Pilates Ring Series: Pilates Ring Barre + Classical Stretch Season 10: 1002
Tuesday (1/7) - Petra Kolber PK Grooves: Doable Dance
Wednesday (1/8) - Barlates Express Bounce Series: Kickbox + Sarah Powers Insight Yoga: Heaven - Ground Support: Breathing Into the Hara
Thursday (1/9) - Petra Kolber Liquid Grooves

Penguin, nice variety with your workouts. I am so sorry to hear about your hubby's job. Hopefully he can find another manufacturing job quickly. Hopefully, your mom's eye condition is not too serious. I just had a neighbor who had eye surgery. She had to keep her head bowed down for at least a week. It looked uncomfortable to me but I think her sight is ok now. You are very talented - that is a very nice sweater!

Cambet, I'm glad your new semester will be less stressful. You need a break! Good job restarting your workout routine. I just started using Lose It! again. I stopped before our Austria/Germany trip. We ate and drank so much on that trip! The food was wonderful! I gained weight from the trip and from the holidays. I am trying to get back on track with eating better. DH wants to loose weight also so he wanted to start eating better. I told him that meant more vegetables and fruit. And it included smaller portions. We are on day 3 of trying to eat better and he is not happy. He is craving big hamburgers and french fries.

Nora, I'm with you on the streaming. Nice workouts. You always pick fun workouts. I used to enjoy Michelle's workouts until she went the advanced hiit/drills route. Hopefully her new ones will not be extreme. I actually liked the heel clicking move in IMAX 4. I was very wary of it but I tried one. It wasn't as bad as it looked.

SB, good job maintaining your walks in the cold weather and with your dvd workouts. I try to plan a week rotation at a time so it is easier to include one set of split workouts into it. It sounds like you have been enjoying the Exhale on Demand trial. $20/ month is expensive though!

Waves to all!

Hi, Ladies,

In an effort to do a workout with weights, on Thursday I dug through my collection and pulled out the Firm Sculpting Ball workout, which I haven't done in forever, but I remembered liking. I lasted about 8 mins :p, until it got to the lunges sequence, then I Joni-O'd it and did 15 mins of LM Hip Hop Vols. 2 & 3.

Yesterday I took a 28 min walk with 2 of the Italy crew (and the slowish dog).

I'm not sure what I'll do today. Tomorrow and Monday I'll be in Alabama with one of my co-workers helping to chaperone (for lack of a better word) a small group of students. We're going to visit several Civil Rights sites. My co-worker told me to be prepared to walk a lot!

SB - Glad that you got in a walk yesterday and will get in another today! Thanks for the SS, Sin6, and JS suggestions. I thought about the SSE Cardio Sculpt, and a few Jessicas that I have may fit the bill. I'll have to give them a closer look. Hope that work goes well!

PP - Sounds like I also need to check out the Fitness Blender workout that you mention. It's funny, when I signed up for Noom they tell you that the 14-day trial costs them $18+ to provide. So, then they ask if you are willing to pay $1, $5, $10, or the $18+ and point out that most people pay $10. I paid the $10. I'm fine with having paid that since I was so curious about it, but after the 14-day trial it's $34.51/month which, is not worth it for me (though I'm sure that it is for others). I think that Noom is for someone who wants to lose weight and doesn't know where to begin with food and exercise. The articles about making good food choices, setting goals, positive reinforcement, and such things, are helpful, but I'm already familiar with a lot of the information that they shared. I know what I'm supposed to be doing, I'm just not doing it. :p

Nora - The logging with LI is so much better/easier than with Noom. That makes so much of a difference, because if it's not easy, I tend to stop doing it. I'm sooo glad that you mentioned Lose It! here when you did!

Tammie - Great job with your workouts! That pilates w/o sounds super intense! :eek: I hope that the DOMS doesn't last long. That's why I was hoping to start with lighter weights, so that the DOMs wouldn't be too bad. I didn't realize that Miranda is 70. She does look fantastic! Now you have me thinking, maybe I should revisit CS. ;)

Waves to All! :sun:

Looking for something lite, I managed to do Country Heat: Country Swing to make it to 10,000 steps before midnight. :sun:

Tammie, I hope you've recovered from the DOMS - not to mention the car trip. Also hope your DH is feeling better. 13 hour car trips are not for me. I did from home to Washington DC (12 - 13hrs.) two years ago and it almost killed me!

Cambet - Glad to hear I was of service with the LI rec. It has saved me a few times over the years!

SB - nice that you're still getting the walks in, despite weather and work.

So by now, I've done the LB and UB michelle Dozois new ones.What can I say? I bought them for the 30 minute format, so I'm not too disappointed so far. I will say that her recommendation of only 2 sets of dumbbells is off the wall if you want to get a proper UB workout. I used 5 sets from 5lb to 15. Next time I'll probably substitute different exercises for her second sets.

Other workouts: Step with Cathe, Rebecca and Petra.

Cambet, That's a lot of money per month! Hubby and I both use the free Lose it. We looked into paying for it but really didn't think the extra features were worth the money. I hear you on know what to do, just not doing it. I know I've been stress eating lately, at least I've shifted from chocolate to crackers but still I know I'm overeating. I have a Dr appointment tomorrow and I'm sure I'm going to get a lecture. I also know I've been falling behind on my exercise.

SB, Hubby worked in a warehouse, it was either freezing or the transformers were being testing and it was so hot! so while I'm wearing jeans, boots, sweater and coat, he's wearing jeans and a tee. Drives me nuts!

Today I did Body Project 45 Min Cardio Challenge. The male and female leads were having a contest to see who did better and at the end they had a wall sit contest. She did high impact for the workout while he did low impact and she still won the wall sit! It was funny hearing them trash talk but I don't think I'd do it again.

Tammie, thanks for the good wishes for Hubby and Mom. Some of his friends came by to help him work on the truck and told me they would be across the street. I told them "thank you! please take him away for a while, he's driving me nuts!" a little togetherness is a good thing, but there comes a time when we need alone time! Thanks for the compliment on my sweater!

Today, I did the Michelle Dozois total body one. I also did a half hour of Step with Rob Glick.

SB - Yes, I did notice that she seems to rush a bit, especially in the UB one. The total body one I did today had a few points where I would have liked a bit of a stretch or break, but it was do-able. She does some variations in the push-ups and tricep dips that I didn't fancy, so I just did regular sets. I'm not over the moon about any I've done so far, but I'm not filled with hatred for them either!

PP- I understand your need for some alone time. We ALL need that now and then! Hopefully, hubby finds employment soon.

Three more days, and I'm off to Mexico for a little road trip with my daughter. Really looking forward to it! We're meeting in Cancun, then driving to Tulum and Bacalar in the Yucatan peninsula.

Hi all! Here are my latest workouts. I tried to avoid catching DH's respiratory virus but ended up with a mild case of it. At least I avoided the more severe part of it. Today I talked to a friend living in a different part of Texas and his wife sounds like she has a similar disease. It is apparently going around the state. I switched my rotation from Linda to Ellen because I couldn't handle Linda's intensity. I still have an occasion lingering cough but I think it's on the way out.

Friday (1/10) - Fit by Tracey Circuit Zone
Saturday (1/11) - Barlates Bounce Express Series: Jacks + Classical Stretch Season 10: 1003
Sunday (1/12) - Ellen Barret Crunch Super Slimdown + Classical Stretch Season 10: 1004
Monday (1/13) - Ellen Barret Crunch Burn & Firm
Tuesday (1/14) - rest
Wednesday (1/15) - Ellen Barrett Crunch Fat Burning Pilates
Thursday (1/16) - Jessica Smith Feel Good Fusion: Flow Cardio + Ellen Barrett Crunch Pick Your Spot Pilates - Belly
Friday (1/17) - Jessica Smith Feel Good Fusion: Fusion Strength + Ellen Barrett Crunch Pick Your Spot Pilates - Total Body Bonus

SB, it sounds like you are enjoying SBF's challenge. I'm glad you found a site and a rotation that you really like. Are the workouts all around 30 minutes? Good job maintaining your walking.

Penguin, I hope things went well with the doctor visit.

Nora, have fun in Mexico! I did recover from the DOMS and then the virus hit. Oh well, I needed a Linda break.

Cambet, I also like the easy logging with Lose It! We had a "free" steak dinner one week. (We had to listen to a sales presentation for the "free" dinner.) I went way over my daily limit and I had no alcohol. I was under for the rest of the week so I like that it tracks more on a weekly basis. Good job with your workouts.

Waves to all!

I feel like I haven't been here in forever.

Hubby has a job interview tomorrow which we are hoping he gets because this would be his dream job! He's been spending a lot of time on the computer looking/applying for jobs.

Its really cold here, supposed to get into the teens tonight! Yuck! Yesterday I spent some time in my sewing room and got very cold, usually I'm hot in there. We decided to get a curtain and rod to cover up the extended hole from the washer/dryer install and that has helped. One of the outside walls isn't insulated very well {I thought I was going to have to write 'fluffy stuff' and let you guys figure out what I meant. I couldn't remember the name}. Gah!

I did a Jenny Ford walking workout. I don't think that was her leading but it was very beginner and we kept repeating the same few steps. Not very fun. I added on one of Nadyia's miles from Walk At Home. I'm really enjoying these workouts.

Tammie, the Dr office called as said I was stable and keep up the good work. Yay

SB, always nice to have a day off. My advice is to schedule some time apart. Since I don't drive I can't leave, so I have to wait for him to go which is compounding the problem. My Tuesday Bible study starts tomorrow so that will give us more time apart and me more time away from home. I think that will help a lot.

Nora, I hope you have a wonderful time! Sounds warm!

Hi Ladies,

Didn't mean to go missing. The trip to Alabama was super interesting, but it totally wore me out because we were constantly on the go. I guess I don't bounce back as fast as I used to. :p

Here are my workouts over the last while:

Saturday - Feeling like doing something different, I did CIZE: In the Pocket and Country Heat Cardio Round Up. I forgot that CIZE has that blonde chick who gets too much screen time who gives off a sex kitten vibe (insert eye roll). I literally taped a piece of paper on the screen over where she was to not have to see her constantly. :eek:

Sunday - JS 1 Mile of Motivation from WS3.

Monday - Parts of LS BodyJam Vo. 2 and 3 throughout the day to reach 250 steps every hour.

Today - I had planned to do a short walking workout last night, but fell asleep. So, this morning I did CH: Dance Mash Up and JS 10 Min Powered Up Walk.

SB - Good job getting in your walks in spite of the weather. It's cold here, in the 30s, so I imagine that it's much worse in your neck of the woods. I hope that you continue to enjoy SBF streaming. I know that you tend not to be a set rotation kind of gal :), so, I imagine that you'll be mixing it up!

Penguin - I hope that things work out well with your hubby's job search! Good job with your workout and so glad to hear that the Dr's office called with a good report.

Tammie - I hope that you continue to feel better. Ellen is a good choice! I keep wanting to primarily do cardio, but if I could get myself to do something gentler/different, I'd probably go with Ellen.

Nora - Enjoy Mexico!

Waves to All: :sun:

Hi, Ladies,

Got up this morning and did JS 10 Minute Happy HIIT Walk. I used my own music and did some of my own moves, just using Jessica as a guide. I'll probably do something else later.

I've been thinking about subscribing to Body Groove for a month to see what I think, cause I feel like I would like some new workouts (even though I'm not exactly working out regularly :p), but I'm kind of on the fence. I've been looking at clips and some of her stuff is so unstructured and smooth dancey that I think that I would wonder if it would get my heart rate up enough for me to feel like I'm actually doing something productive. I like the idea of something fun and dancey that's not too hardcore everyday. On the other hand, I don't want to feel like I'm not using my time well with something that's not going to challenge me. Hmmm . . . going to look at more clips later today and decide.

SB - I definitely would not walk with temps in the 20s, and not sure that I could handle the 30s either. :p I hope you get some decent walking weather soon! I totally understand what you mean about not being able to do the meditation affirmation, especially if that's just not what you had in mind for the day. I can do those things on my own, but am not so good at following others doing them. I think that's because it feels like it should be a more personal thing than having someone tell you what to do. I know that it works for some people, though. Hope you enjoy the next SBJ workout! :)

Waves to All! :sun:

Hi Ladies,

I didn't get in another workout last night as planned. I got home late (I ended up catching up with a coworker in the office until about 6:30 pm) and though I thought about what workout I might do, I fell asleep before doing it. :p

So far this morning I got up and did part of LM BodyJam Vol. 2. I'll probably do something else later. I've been working from home but I was more productive when I went in the office yesterday (I had 2 scheduled meetings yesterday, so I wasn't able to work from home). So I think that I'm going to go work in my office. If I don't stay too late, hopefully I'll get in a workout this evening.

SB - Wow, that was a great workout day for you yesterday! :music: Good for you for getting out in the cold temps and getting in a walk. Though you are not going to stick with SBF, at least you got to try it out. I still haven't decided for sure about Body Groove, but I'm leaning towards probably not.

Waves to All! :sun: