Jessica Smith and Friends 2021

[Leonana]

Today I did Rebalance Your Body from the Essentrics dvd, 30 minutes. The back cover says: “This full body workout will systematically stretch and strengthen every muscle in your body to leave you feeling relaxed and strong.”

I definitely feel relaxed, especially in the legs. Those hip moves are effective. My hips must have been tight. This workout was on the second dvd. There are two other 30 minute workouts on that dvd I’d like to try. The first dvd is for pain and moves very slow. But the back pain workout looks like a good one if my back is bothering me.

I was feeling more normal, but after the workout, my muscles have that weak, tired feeling again. I feel like I’m recovering from the flu, and my body isn’t 100% yet. But since it’s making antibodies for two weeks, it makes sense.

Pam, I think that’s the one. Miranda is wearing a blue jacket. The first dvd for pain moves really slow. The second dvd moves a bit faster, it seems similar to her short you tube workouts wrt difficulty and pace. I like it for recovery days, or if I have pain somewhere. She does talk a lot! But I zone out, and probably miss some form pointers. But the music is a bit too loud for me to hear her well, with my hearing loss.

[Pam61]

Hi Ladies,

I was up way too early waiting on the irrigation guy to show up to start up the sprinkler system and check for damaged heads. They gave me a three hour window and he was here early, with me being in bed and awake much too soon!

So I had no energy to do a "real" workout, LOL! Spent my time with Lee's Qi Gong Mindfulness in Motion. Did the longer 45 minute routine, which was quite good, though a little more woo than most of his workouts talking about "golden yellow light" and such. Qi Gong seems to be so good for my neck and shoulders and really warms up my body, so most days I really look forward to them. Since I finished the 30 Day Challenge I been selecting longer practices on DVD.

Sherry, thanks for the breakdown of Miranda's workout. I'm pretty sure I've done these before, but it's been a while.

wishiwasinhawaii, hope you're doing okay today and it's nice that you could take some time to recover and let your body rest! We never get to bed early enough, so mornings I am dragging. ;-)

Donna, taking a recovery week sounds like a good plan. I'll probably stick with Qi Gong for those days after my vaccine!

Waves, Liz!

[lizh]

Hi everyone!
How are you all? I was reading through your posts and everyone seems to be doing some good workouts.

Guess what I am doing? Yes! Still Pahla B! I am on day 20 of her weightloss series. I have fallen a little bit behind since I think I started this series around the 1st of April. I missed a couple of weekends and I missed a few when I had my 2nd covid shot. I keep going back and forth whether I want to stay with it or go back to Jessica. I'll have a day when she is driving me nuts and then the next day I like her again! LOL!

My other news is that I made an appointment to get my hair cut on Friday for the first time since last February. My hair (which is pretty grey) is long enough that I can pull it back in a pony tail. Previously I always wore it about chin length in a bob, so I'm not sure what I'll do. I think I'd like to keep it a little on the longer side for a while.

Glad to hear you are all getting your shots and haven't had too much of a reaction. I had fever/chills/tired for about 24/36 hours. It wasn't too bad and after that was over I felt like superwoman!

My job is making rumblings about us going back to the office. Ugh! Say it ain't so!

Take care,
Liz

[wishiwasinhawaii]

I'm mostly back to normal now, but I am having swollen lymph nodes in the armpit on the side where I got the shot. From what I've read, that's a normal reaction. It is a bit uncomfortable, but it's getting better. I read it could take a few weeks to go away.

Liz, I really dread going back to the office. There are rumors that we'll have to go back after Labor Day, but I'm going to talk to my boss about permanent work from home and see what happens.

Sherry, Glad to hear you're getting back to normal. With the reaction I'm having, I'm not sure if I should resume working out or not. Maybe I'll just do some light walking workouts.

Donna, The weather was very warm here yesterday so I went out for a couple of short walks. It's raining all day today so I'll be staying in. I've become such a weather wimp since I've been working from home. If the weather isn't perfect, I tend to stay in!

Pam, Qi Gong after the vaccine sounds like a good plan. I'm going to see if I can find any good workouts on youtube!

[donnamp]

Hi Everyone,

I'm still plugging along w/ WS 1.0 Phase II - My Way - today was supposed to be Interval Max or the 30 Min HIIT walk, instead I did:

Caroline Jordan - Diabetes Low Impact Cardio
Caroline Jordan - Diabetes Exercise for Weight Loss
Caroline Jordan - Diabetes Home Workout

These were about 10 minutes each and taught interval style 50 seconds on/10 seconds off - body weight and low impact. I don't have diabetes, but I can see how these can be useful in reducing blood sugar.

I also did:

Jessica Valent - Gentle Pilates For Beginners

Last night I took my doggie for a short walk, it was very warm and we aren't used to the heat yet, so we kept it short. I also did Jessica Valent's new routine for hip pain. It had a good mix of exercises for me.

Hopefully I will get a walk in later today, too.

Liz - that is great that you are still sticking w/ Pahla. I felt the same way at times about her workout. I am going to listen to her Q&A this weekend. Ugh on going back to the office. I hope that day is not coming any time soon for me.

wishiwasinhawaii - I had heard about the swollen lymph nodes. My DD got that when she had her meningitis vaccine. I think next week will be a recovery week for me. I hope all goes well w/ you being able to work from home permanently. My DH has to go back once he is fully vaccinated. he isn't happy. I don't know why there is a push to go back - no one wants to!! And stuff is getting done...

Pam - that is annoying when people show up early! I have had that happen a few times and back when I was driving my DD to school it was particularly irritating!

Waves, Sherry! How are you feeling. Yes, I do remember that awful incident w/ your doggie. That was just terrible. I'm glad we avoided the situation, just not worth it for someone to possibly get hurt - but a 7-8 year old boy certainly can't handle a strong pit bull! Oh, the dog's name is Morticia - it is funny b/c the family is like the Addams Family!

Hope everyone has a good day.

Donna

[Pam61]

Hi Ladies,

Good to see everyone posting!

Today I did Cathe's Lower Body Blast (Standing and Floorwork routines.)
Digging through Cathe workouts trying to find one that uses a loop leg/butt band for floorwork, cuz I wanted to test my GYMB loop out to see how it sits on my thighs (and resistance factor, etc.)

I'm going to pre-order Cathe's latest that uses fabric bands and loops, so wanted to see if I could use the gadgets I already have, instead of spending more money. Amazon has sales on bands all the time, so think I can get away with just ordering Cathe's DVDs only.

But yeah, I get these loop bands out and they barely go around both thighs and are challenging on the lightest resistance for me, ha! So, don't know if Cathe Boss bands would have a bit more give for me, or not?

Raining and dreary here. But, that's okay. I always have much to do indoors.

Have a good day all!

[Leonana]

Today was volunteer filing, so that's all I did. I'm actually feeling back to normal, but decided to take a rest day.

I did notice that my right calf, and right inner thigh muscle, are very sore. Not DOMS, but stiff type of sore. My knees were a bit sore too. I think the CS workout might have been the cause. I guess my form was off on the leg lunges, with your foot on the chair. I think I might do the back pain stretch some day, but skip the rest.

We had a few cooler days with rain. I've been asking for a new screen security door, so we can enjoy the evening coolness. My husband finally put it in today, just in time for triple digits this weekend, lol. Oh well, it will get cool again sometime! We are in the 90's now, triple digits will probably be next week. But that's normal for May. Last year we had 100 degrees in the first half of April. Last summer was a tough one, we broke records for days over 100, and even over 110. Previous record was 143 and 33, and we had 145 and 53.

Pam, it sounds like you have some decisions with the new Cathe workouts, but at least they are fun decisions. New workouts are always exciting.

Liz, good luck with your haircut. I'm glad you are feeling okay now. It sounds like Pahla was a good choice this month.

wishiwasinhawaii, that's great you are almost back to normal. I feel back to normal today, five days after the vaccine. I feel like I have my energy back today, so am thinking of a regular workout tomorrow. It's been five days. I hope your lymph nodes are back to normal soon.

Donna, good job on doing WS1 Phase II. It sounds like your way is working well for you.

[donnamp]

Hi Everyone,

Yesterday I took a short walk w/ my Golden. The weather was looking a bit iffy, so I cut it short. We didn't run into the "Family" this time. My Golden is pretty non-reactive to most dogs, but there are a few in our neighborhood that set her off - I guess there is some doggie body language going on that I don't understand. One dog seems to "stalk" her, so she does get upset when she sees him, understandably!

Today's workouts were:

Stephanie Huckabee - Power Fit Harmony - Upper Body - this was a nice substitute for what was on the WS 1.0 rotation - which was upper body. I am thinking of repeating the WS 1.0 rotation in May by just plugging in whatever instructor I want that fits the workout prescription of the day. It would be a good way to make use of my multitude of DVDs that are often pushed to the side in favor or You Tube or streaming.

I also did:

Jessica Valent - 10 min Upper Body - this was all body weight
Jessica Valent - Hip Pain Routine - this one has just about everything I need - bridge work, some extension, side lying leg work, some hamstring/sciatic glide exercises.

Sherry - I'm glad you are feeling better. I think I'll do a rest week next week, unless I'm feeling 100%. Wow, that is hot......

Pam - Cathe's band workouts tempt me a little bit, too....

wishiwasinhawaii - glad you are feeling better, too. My DH gets his second shot tomorrow....and DD and I get ours on Monday....

Liz - My hair grew a lot this year. I have gone to get it trimmed, mostly b/c my DD wanted to go. Fortunately our stylists wear masks and do try to schedule things so the place isn't full. Most of the times we have gone it is has just been us and our stylist there. I think I'm going to keep mine on the longer side, but it does need some sort of shaping... Which shot did you get - Moderna or Pfizer? Just from what I have read here on VF and other places on the internet it seems like Moderna gives more dramatic side effects whereas the Pfizer one seems more mild. But I guess it is also individual, too.

Waves, everyone - happy Friday!

Donna

[Pam61]

Hi Ladies,

Today I did Cathe's Travel Fit. I really enjoy this one! She has some good cardio intervals that are great for the lower body between the band work.

It's really breezy today. My eyes are feeling a bit puffy. I feel sorry for the landscapers working with all the pollen blowing around out there!

Have a good day!

[Leonana]

I did Jessica’s 21 minute Back Friendly Strength workout on you tube, and used only five pounds. I can tell I’m still not up to par, my muscles felt weak. I took two naps today, one this afternoon and one in the evening! I was tired. I’m hoping to start WS1 again on Monday, but I’m not sure I’ll be up for it.

Well, I’ve been able to enjoy the screen door in the mornings and evenings, it’s still in the 70’s. Dh got a wild hair and put in some flowers in our front yard. They look nice. Of course, they will be dead in a couple of weeks from the heat. He needed to put them out in February or March. But he likes projects when he has a day off from work.

Donna, I’m glad you didn’t meet Morticia and the Adams family lol.

Pam, the wind does seem to make my allergies worse.