TA Meta and everything else - Spring / Summer 2023

[lgk]

Good evening, Ladies!
Hope everybody is doing well.


Eventmom - What an awesome way to do a rotation - that way there are proven results but also some workouts that one just feels like doing. Well done!
Also, Thank You So Much for the kind words, it means so so much.


Ebianco - the walks sound great! I agree, being outside in the morning & moving defo gets one’s day to a great start. Thank you so much for the advice re GD, I totally agree with you Ladies, I am glad I didn’t comment there, it would have been shoot the messenger for sure.

Buzzer - hi!



All the Firm talk has made me finish the instructor’s words with “follow Libby” during my without today when she said “Beginners …” (she was trying to say, follow instructions on the left).
I used to do the Firm a lot, in fact I had joined the first check in (& it was my only for a longest time, this is only just my second) after getting the one of the BSS - I think I even followed the rotation that came printed out in the box. Good times

Still need to work on better pacing with workouts, my goal for this week. Staying on track with the workouts.

[eventmom]

I woke up with feeling a pulled muscle around my ribs. The only thing I can figure is that I slipped on our wet kitchen floor. I didn’t fall but really had to work to stay up. So no TA. Found barre 3 standing slim and 20 min Gina B walk through the decades.

Ebianco – sorry about your knees! The new horse is still cuddly with me but today he started lunging at the pony (a fence between them). I don’t know what’s up but hopefully things will calm down soon. Your new pup sounds super sweet. Cool that you found a 1 mile walking path. I cracked up that you passed on your marathon entry – just entering means you went further than I would.

Lucie – today was I'm doing something else. hope you stay on track with your workouts. I figure it I'm doing something I'm on track!

hi buzzer!

[lgk]

Good morning, Ladies!
Hope everybody is doing well.


Eventmom - so sorry about your injury, I really hope it feels better soon!
Thank you for the kind wishes. After the illness, because of how very serious & painful, being on track with workouts = in general means being healthy enough to keep up with workouts, it just sounds less scary to me to think about it.
Hope you feel better soon, muscle pulls are certainly no fun. Glad you were able to do a workout! Also hope all the household members in the barn reconcile & live peacefully. Do the misbehave in front of you or do you sort of see evidence of it after the fact? Obviously a city person here so I have no idea how one looks after barn or outdoors animals.

Ebianco - I forget to ask, what city was the marathon for? You mentioned your friend missed the cutoff time to register - there were a few years a while back when absolutely every major marathon would sell out, some really big famous ones literally within hours, that was quite insane. Of all the social popular phenomena, on my opinion, anything fitness related is better than any other kind - in my biased opinion hope you had fun at the wedding!

Buzzer - hi!


Working on better pacing & staying on track with workouts.

[Buzzer]

Ran with trainer 3.2 miles!! DONE!!
Tough Tape 1...DONE!

Yesterdays run was good. About 19 minutes in, I had to flatten out the hills, then at 29 minutes, I had to go to a decline. I was easy on myself about it though, because I have been adding in the Firms on my off days and those are tough! Granted I'm not going full on on the firms, however I am doing the lunges and step ups, which work the legs. Today I did the step ups with no weights but focused on the movement, and lunges and squats with 10lbs on each shoulder. I didn't go 100%, but I did give it a good go. So I know that going up hills running will be tougher until my body adapts to all I'm throwing at it. My heavy weight was 10's, which is what I used for most of tough tape today. I pyramided down to 5's for tricep kickbacks, and up to 1-15 for back rows, otherwise I used 10's for the whole thing. It was a great workout! I love the Firm!

Ebianco: I love them both. I know people are bummed that Tough Tape 1 is hard to get, and I feel very fortunate to have it. It has a lot of step ups though! I think it's a really complete workout. Tough Tape 2 I really love too! It's really complete, and I love the very heavy bicep curls. I really can't say which I love more! I love them both! Of course, I love anything that's more weights than cardio! These really fit that bill!

I am with you on Cathe. I had about 10 of her workouts, and the only one I really clicked with was STS. I was not her biggest fan. I hated her step workouts! Talk about tripping hazard! Then suddenly, I did some Cathe's, and I loved them. I am not a "do it every day!!" with her, but I do like her workouts and they are pretty grueling! I'm still not sure I like her as a person, but I don't know her so it's just my impression. Her workouts are killer though! I am just not into killer workouts all the time!

I love that you have such a peaceful walk through a golf course near your house. Golf courses are always so pretty. All the walks near me are too hilly!! I would love to have a nice, relaxing walk sometimes!

Eventmom: So how long do you have to keep a new horse away from your already established horses? I'm sure you don't put them together and let them duke it out. Especially with a young racer!! AND a pony. I can see that not ending well! HA! I remember with bunnies it was a long process. I would introduce them a little each day, and usually in a neutral place (where there was no established stronghold on the area from either bunny). It would be harder with horses, because you can't stand between horses or pull them apart if they start fighting!!

I hope your back heals quick!

Lucie: Cracked me up about Libby. Yay for beginners! HA! The Firm was my first workout tape, Volume 1, and I have it memorized. When I found it, I had no idea other workout tapes existed. I thought they were hidden geniuses, and no one else seemed to know about them. You could have knocked me over with a feather when I saw other volumes at Block Buster for sale! I saved up and bought them all.

So far, I'm not sure which place I have ran I have liked the most! They are all amazing! I have been in Portugal, Morocco, the Alps, and Easter Island. They are all so beautiful! The Alps I thought was my favorite, but then Easter Island happened. Then I went back and watched Portugal and Morocco with LB when she ran, and I fell in love with them again. I guess when I get to one I don't like at all, I'll be better at evaluating! But right now, they are all amazing! All equal I think. I seriously can't pick a favorite!

[eventmom]

yesterday - 20 min sara ivanhoe yoga - rode in a clinic with my old horse - 20 min resistance stretch (different DVD that the one I usually do glad I finally tried it).
today - 40 min 5 parks yoga it was good but some down dog so not perfect (for me)

well horse update for lucie & buzzer - yesterday things were calm so put the mares in the other field this am and put the new horse in the small field with the pony. nope. the new horse ate for 30 second then went after the pony, bit him, the pony ran, he chased, bit him again, the pony ran up to the paddock (small fenced area) which would have trapped him, but in the smartest move I've ever seen from this pony, the pony pulled a 180 and the new horse ran into the paddock. I shut gate on him. not sure what I'm going to do long term. Pony has scrapes and a hematoma. Pony got pain meds (analgesic) its not serious in terms of injury.

lucie - they misbehaved in front of me they couldn't touch each other so I wouldn't have know but see above. my rib/pull is much better today. glad you are getting in your desired workouts.

buzzer - well see above I didn't keep them apart long enough. The new horse may get horsey time out and be stuck in the paddock even when the other horses come in if he won't be nice. But no I don't want to let them 'duke' it out. Don't even want to subject my mares to that. sigh. good thing he's gorgeous.

hi ebianco!

[eventmom]

just to stay caught up:
yesterday - TA 2.9 day 8 + Latin grooves (thrift store fine) 20 min
today - TA 2.10 day 1 + 20 min Brand fitness walk

The 'prescription' for the TA dvds is repeat each workout 10 times but after 8 times I was done. I'm fairly certain the repeat 10 times was marketing - she put 3 workouts on 1 dvd, charged $29.99 and then would say $1 per workout. Her in person and streaming classes change every week so I figure if I get 6-8 per levels it's okay to move on.

waves everyone!

[Buzzer]

I think since my last checkin, I did a run with the trainer... 3.3 miles!!! DONE!
Today I did Tough Tape 1 again.. .DONE.

So the trainer is having us walk for a really long time, then run for maybe 20 minutes, then walk again. I usually start running slow at the start instead of walking, then run everything except the hills. I ran between 4.0 and 4.4 mph and it felt great! I walked the hills, however with my Firms, I am OK with that. I am getting "hills" on the step ups, lunges and squats! I am getting in a long, steady run which I like. It just feels good.

Tough tape I did the whole thing with 10's. I went to 5's for tricep kickbacks, and didn't use weights for step ups. Well, I did the first set of step ups, I held my 10's, but after that I realized I am not ready for that. Lots of step ups in this workout! It was great though. Still bummed there's no abs, but the workout is solid!

We have been non stop for about 7 days. Today was a park day with our old CC friends, so we did that. Then we left and went to see the vet appointment for the horses (so interesting!) and now LB is up at the lady up the streets house playing with the kids. I am finally sitting and enjoying some quiet. We did the final event for CC yesterday where we put everything together that she did for the year in to a book and they decorate it. The afternoon we had a friend drop by for a few hours. Before THAT we went to the tack and feed store near us that is closing and got a few fun things (LB got some reins for her stick horse, and some lead ropes, I got another pair of grooming gloves. I LOVE those things!!)

We have just been go go go every day! I found out DH will be out of town the same week LB is at a church camp, which is awesome for me! LB will be gone from 8-3:30, and I will have the days to myself!!! I will still have to drop her off and pick her up, but I will have like 4 hours a day to MYSELF. Unheard of!! I am so excited. I am making a list of things I can do!!

We have rain again..... and again.... and again. I am still wearing a jacket and pants and it's almost June. I kinda like this! I hate the heat, so rain and cool weather is my speed for sure!

I have to plant the garden though, so I don't know when we can do that. It's just soaked out there.

Eventmom: I guess horses are just keep them apart until they are comfortable (and you are) then, huh? Horses are so fascinating. I was talking to the vet and he was happy to give me all sorts of info on horse sicknesses and how to treat them. He was super interesting to talk to. The family we are going to to ride their horses has a horse right now they are "fostering", and he is so sweet! He's 25 years old but he is really arthritic and lame. She has him on some shots and he's feeling better, but she said she has no interest in keeping him. She said he is much better as a pasture horse than a horse that's ridden. He is so sweet though! So she will have him for the summer then give him back. He's a quarter horse and beautiful. Really pretty. So interesting, horses are!

Hi Lucie and Ebianco!

Man you guys, I'm worried about VF. Suddenly getting error messages now too. I have been worried for a few years, but I always think when stuff like this is going on "this is it. This might be it!!!" it makes me so sad. I wish Wendy would let someone save VF

[ebianco]

Hi everyone,

I swore I checked in this past weekend but I guess I didn't oh no!

Last Saturday: Cathe Pyramid Upper and Lower premix combining both workouts, plus an extended stretch on my own for 69 minutes. I like this one a lot, as usual lots of burnout, lots of leg presses for the legs! My abs were really sore from the day before so I skipped the stability ball abs, oh well.

Last Sunday: Walk outside plus Pure Barre Focus Seat plus extra Callanetics stretching for a 58 minute workout. This is my least favorite Focus workout, it's the only one of the four that doesn't have focused extra sets for whatever the focus is (in this case seat) but it did seem like it had an extra long seat portion. I used a heavy booty band and really felt the burnout.

Mon-Tues planned rest days but I got in a 2 mile walk both days!

Late last week I decided it's time to slightly restructure my rotation. I have been enjoying the Caroline EPIC Endgames so much that I decided to follow a hybrid rotation.

Wed-ab-focused HIIT
Thurs-Epic Endgame lower or upper body (alternate weeks)
Fri-Epic Endgame lower or upper body (opposite week)
Sat-Cathe total body
Sun-Epic Endgame lower or upper body (alternate weeks)

All the odd-weeks are lower body (so Thurs and Sun are lower; Fri is upper) and the even-weeks are upper body (so Thurs and Sun are upper; Fri is lower). And making sure I get plenty of abs on Wednesday during the HIIT (and Saturday during Cathe total body) and sometimes with Caroline when she adds abs usually during upper body weeks. So, that will keep me occupied for the next 10 weeks!

Yesterday: I tried out Daniel PT for a HIIT this week (this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8SM...h_HiE0t0X0vOQm) and I really liked it! It was structured with three exercises grouped together, than on to the next 3, etc. The first exercise of the three was a kettlebell style move, second exercise was an explosive plyo or pushup move, and the third exercise was an ab move. It was a really good balance and I was able to briefly get my heart rate up to 156 which is along the lines of the ACE HIIT! Definitely would do this workout again.

Today: Epic Endgame Day 1, lower body (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afyW...ndex=2&t=2421s). She was only using 20# weights and I was able to match her, even went higher at 25# for the staggered deadlifts and used one 54# for the regular deadlifts. With that said, my staple was a little different from hers, I did hover squats using 2x20#s off the fanny lifter and really burned out the quads...since it's glutes and hamstrings on Sunday.

I will probably miss the barre days but felt better stopping since I no longer felt barre-weak. It feels nice to shake it up!

Tomorrow Epic Endgame Day 2, total upper body, then a Cathe total body Saturday, then Epic Endgame Day 3 glutes on Sunday.

Eventmom My knees still feel very slightly stiff, not painful just a little more creaky than they were. I'm wondering if it was because I let my glucosamine supplement lapse, I am back on it now so we'll see if that's it! I don't think it was the HIIT workout on Wednesday this week anyway.

I'm glad your ribs are feeling better! I really like Gina B through the decades

Buzzer There are so many leg presses in Tough Tape! And wow I'm finding there are so many in Cathe's workouts too, when she uses the high step. I think they're great but so many sets layered on top of each other are very tough.

Lucie It's tough to beat the Firm classics, but I like the BSS series too! Especially the first and second set with the Fanny Lifter, and the last set with the Transfirmer but less so the third set with the "death box" only because the cardio had more choreography than I like. I have the Fanny Lifter and use it for everything, use the Transfirmer less so but sometimes for Cathes, never got the death box LOL.

It was the Marine Corps Marathon in the DC area and yes I think it was a frenzy to get a package! The person I gave it to was so happy to get it, I don't think I charged them anything either and it was like a $50 thing. I was just happy to get rid of it LOL

The wedding was a really nice event, except the overeating part but I've been more on point this week thankfully.

[eventmom]

TA level 2.10 day 2 + 20 min TA dance aerobics.

ebianco - well Daniel PT is sure easy on the eyes, the workout looks good too! LOL. glad your knee is feeling better. I was amazed that my rib felt better so quickly. great workouts.

buzzer - if the horse is 25 and lame he certainly deserves an easy pasture life. My 25 year old fortunately can still enjoy being ridden but no way to know for how long. The 'boys' will stay apart for a very long time. Everything seemed fine, then the new horse noticed the pony and just went over and bit him. Not sure what exactly is up but hopefully at some point it will be okay. I think I need to get grooming gloves for the new horse but not sure what brand etc.

hi Lucie!

[ebianco]

Happy Friday everyone,

Today I did my two mile walk outside then Epic Endgame Day 2, upper body (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OV3S...vilnbL&index=3) and as usual was very tough! At the end I did 100 reps of triceps instead of shoulders. As usual I feel like Caroline seems to overwork the shoulders but I did enjoy the shoulder staple exercise.

Eventmom Haha Daniel PT is easy on the eyes and his workouts are solid!

Buzzer and Lucie waves!