Pilates Cross-trainers JULY 2021!

[Usia]

Good morning!

Nothing to report for today or yesterday. Yesterday I had a rough day at work, family member had a major surgery and then I had more work-related aggravation in the evening. Ugh.

I have to go to work again today, and I've overslept because Olliver was all over me purring and hugging me from 2am and that kept me awake until about 4-5am. I have a feeling my dh (who always stays up late) forgot to feed him later at night and Olliver was not only extra affectionate but also extra hungry. Oh well. He's so darn cute and so happy all the time that I can forgive him pretty much anything.

Linda, yes I love massages but I haven't had one since right before the pandemic. I need one really bad but I'm reluctant to get one right now.

If I get to work out later, I'll report it. Waves to all!

[donnamp]

Hi Everyone,

I slept better last night so I generally feel better today-

Today's workout was:

CocoLime - Iso Shaped Total Body (20 min) this was some isometric and body weight type exercises with stretching in between. I also added on her Relaxing Stretch from her MITFIT 90 series. That one had a lot of good stretches for the neck which is what I need - my neck and trapezius muscles are so tight. I thought being off work would help, but I think sitting in the car for travel was not great for them either.

Carol - the traveling also seemed to not be real helpful for my back/neck situation either. Ugh. It is interesting how so many of us are fatigued right now - maybe it is the pandemic fatigue fully setting in. I was supposed to be in the office today but w/ the variants we are back to 100% telework, which is fine w/ me ,but I'm also at the point of - when will life get back to normal? it seems one step forward, two steps back. I think I will stick w/ the CocoLime playlist until I feel I want to do more or something different.

Dana - sorry about the work stress.....I hope your family member is ok after surgery.

Waves, Linda - I like your new avatar!

Donna

[txhsmom]

Today's workouts were

Pahla B - June #6 Weights Workout - 10 minutes (Joni O'ed it about half way through - I was just not feeling it;
Jessica Valant - Beginner Weight Workout - 24 minutes & Scoliosis Exercises & Stretches - 17 minutes

Man oh man, I don't know what's going on with my motivation, but it is practically down to zero. I'm so tired, despite all my time off! I don't know what to think, except that normal work hours return either next week or the week after that and then it's time to start the school year. We are going to be in a world of hurt this year, with no ability to require masks or to quarantine for exposures - it's going to be tough. I, for one, will be wearing my mask in public. Our case numbers have gone up substantially in the last week, and we are back to Level Orange, after being at Yellow since March. We aren't to Red yet, but that's probably not too far away. Our Governor will have us fighting CoVid this fall with both hands tied behind our backs.

To top it all off, we had two long time teachers quit last week - yes, last week! - to take tutoring jobs with the local school district. The district has tons of money right now from the federal government and they will make close to double what we would be paying. You can imagine, that did not go over well with our parent body and we've lost a couple of students over it.

Donna - I do think pandemic fatigue has set in for me. Another year of dealing with politically charged public health issues, which is crazy. Until all these people get vaccinated, we are going to be dealing with it. Here in Texas, that could be a very long time.

Dana - Sorry you had a crappy day! I worked up my nerve a couple of months ago and had one massage - it was nice, but I won't be back until things settle down again.

Waves Linda!

Carol

[donnamp]

Carol - I don't envy you in having to deal with all that - no wonder you are tired.

I think it has just been relentlessly busy for me for so long.....I had hoped after the 30th was over things would settle, but nope...not yet.

Are you thinking about paying for Jessica Valent's weight lifting program - it is 5 day - it is $20 for member of Unlimited, but she said the workouts would be available to members - eventually - it sounds like she is releasing a new one every month - or we can pay $20 and get them all now. i'm not sure what to do - on the one hand it seems silly to pay for something I will get anyway - but on the other hand - motivation is so low - maybe paying out $20 would get me fired up.

Donna

[txhsmom]

You know, I did buy it for $20, thinking it might come in handy since my motivation is so low, especially after I Joni O'ed Pahla today. I'm assuming that it will be something we can continue to access, even if we let our streaming membership lapse, but she hasn't exactly said that. It is on the GumRoad platform and that's how her Bootcamp videos work if you buy that program.

I did end up enjoying Jessica's weight routine today so that also contributed to my decision to purchase.

I'm like you, I thought over the summer that things would settle down, but with the constant personnel changes and re-assignments it just hasn't worked out that way.

Carol

[donnamp]

Hi Everyone,

I am running late as per usual these days!

Today I was feeling a bit more energetic so I did:

- Caroline Jordan - Daily Weight Loss workout - this was 10 exercises done for 50 seconds/10 seconds rest. It was body weight that was done at a sufficient pace to get sweaty.

- CocoLime Fitness - Beginner Hip Hop dance workout - this served as a good cool down from Caroline's workout. It could also have been done as a warm-up to it.

- Caroline Jordan - Neck Stretches for Neck Pain relief - still dealing w/ pain in my neck and traps. It is on my right side which is my tight side. I'm much more used to dealing w/ lower back and hip pain so it is a bit challenging for me to find things that work for me for this area of the body.

Carol - I will probably cave on Jessica's as well - for the reasons you mentioned! I generally like her weight stuff - it is simple and straightforward.

Take care everyone.

Donna

[txhsmom]

Today's workouts were

Walk at Home - 2 Mile Fast Walk (special mix from the Miracle Miles set) - 30 minutes;
Jessica Valant - 10 Minute Pilates for Back Strength - 10 minutes plus therapy exercises;
Happy Yoga - Chair Yoga - Full Body Stretch - 12 minutes

The Walk at Home workout was a "parts" video, to use Firm-speak. They took all of the fast walking segments from one of the Miracle Miles walks - I think the 3 mile walk - and put them together in one "fast walk". It was pretty fast, and I ended up getting 10K steps which is pretty unusual for me these days. Leslie led.

The Happy Yoga stretch (from YouTube) was in the sunflower field with nature sounds. It was very nice, but that gal has a really strong accent.

Today was an extremely productive day at work. Oops, I meant to say "an extremely unproductive day at work". The power kept going off in the building due to the power company installing a new mobile transformer at a substation that services the School. Just about the time I would get something done on the computer the power would go off - over and over again. Then about 1:30 we started smelling natural gas in the building - someone in the neighborhood had severed a gas pipeline and the police and fire trucks were blocking off the street behind the school. At that point we did an all call in the building and told everyone just to go home. Hopefully our luck will be better tomorrow!

Donna - Glad you have more energy today!

Carol

[Usia]

Good morning!

JS 2 Mile Walk WU+CD - 40min. This was off Walk Off Belly Fat DVD. Pathetic effort on my part this morning. I'm low on energy and motivation but at least I did something.

We have to replace our garbage disposal and have the installer coming in this afternoon. It's a disruption to my routine and yet another expense but it has to be done. I got 3 quotes and finally went with the licensed and insured independent contractor through Home Depot. Interesting how the other 2 quotes were more than double what I'm paying through the HD.

I have to go to the office this morning and I'm planning to have a talk with the owner of the company who also happens to be my friend. Some of the work and aggravation that migrated my way over the past few months is not what I've agreed to when he first had approached me for help over 2 years ago. I don't want to deal with some of it and if he and I don't come to an agreement, I'm going to leave. I don't need this extra burden and aggravation in my life anymore. Been there done that. No more.

Hope everyone has a good day today!

[fanofladyvols]

Dana I was wondering whether the stress you're dealing with was necessary. Go get em Dana!! Btw, love the new picture of Oliver!! What a handsome face he has!!

Carol your day at work sounds like a nightmare day. At least you had a great combo of workouts.

Donna I think ebb and flow of having energy is the hallmark for us women of a certain age. Good to see you roll with it!

Tuesday was Mark Lauren EFX. I did the warmup and cooldown and picked exercises from each of the three workouts to do randomly. I will probably always do it this way because it was fun. Wednesday was SUAT #4 and #5. Those two workouts were fun and meshed well together.

Waves to Brenda, and Christine!

[donnamp]

Hi Everyone,

Today I did:

CocoLime - Tone and Stretch # 1 - this was a 30 min body weight/isometric type workout - it was good for my non-existent energy and motivation level!

Sunday starts a new month - and I'm hoping to be more active in August. I want to achieve 7K steps per day. I remember reading somewhere that 7-8K steps per day provides the health benefits and there is no real need to do more - for health - since my job is so sedentary and working from home has made it even more so - I figure 7K is reasonable whereas 10K will be stressful. For this "challenge" it doesn't matter how the 7K is achieved - through formal exercise or just misc. meandering around the house - it will mean I'm being more active and that is the goal. Work is so busy right now it is very hard for me to get up and move and then the more you sit the more you want to sit - this week it has been pretty much going from bed - to desk chair - to dinner table - to couch. NOT GOOD.

Workout wise I'm not sure what I want to do for August. Pahla will start a new playlist for the month on Sunday. Jessica Valent will have a new calendar. I was also thinking of becoming a patreon for Caroline Jordan - for $5 a month you get a monthly workout calendar of her You Tube videos. I'm not a huge fan of her cardio stuff but I do like her strength and functional/PT type stuff so that may be a possibility. I also have some Gilad workouts....basically anything that will motivate me is on the table!

Carol and Dana - it seems we are all in the same boat. Work aggravation (Carol - yesterday our VPN was down for hours - but mine worked fine - it was just other people having issues!), low motivation, exhaustion, etc.!

Hopefully we will all feel better soon!!

Good going, Linda!

waves!

Donna