Hi Mark,

Sorry for posting so many questions. Sorry to bombard you. I'm not usually THAT bad. I can ramble, but I try not to spew out a million questions. But thanks for your patience. I appreciate it.

Well, after I read the posts this morning, before I left for work (I was a little excited about this) I went in and tried to curl the olympic bar. Not yet, too heavy. So I'll have to stick with my EZ bar. But I did add a few more bicep exercises tonight. So that should help. Debbie suggested a few good ones. I'm just so weak. I never considered myself a weak person as I have always done things for myself, that many would have their husbands do. But doing these exercises make me feel really weak. It's embarrassing.

Thank you again. I hope you have a fabulous weekend!!!!

Cara

A fabulous weekend indeed! I'm working nights, and the plant is shut down!

And yes Pammie, I do have a great job. I get paid to play with *really* big toys. To me, it's like being paid to drive Lionel trains

Chest and upper back.

Forward leaning dips (between the forks on the forklift): 10,10,10,10
Wide grip decline pushups (between a couple of chairs, feet on a table): 10,10,10,10
Pullups (on a low-hanging natural gas line): 8,8,8,6

Situps, full: 10,10 (These were hard to do!)
Oblique situps: 15,15
Reverse Crunches (wearing work boots): 20,20

Cardio (yuck!): Six trips up and down the #1 boiler: 19min 20 sec. Jeez I'm outa shape! I *used* to do 8 trips in the same time!

I *may* go do a few laps around the facility later on. Right now I'm kinda hot and sweaty, and need to think about doing a little work, LOL.

Edit: Update - The new Tanita scale I bought a couple of weeks ago showed that I weighed 181 lbs, while the old spring scale read about 170. As of today the Tanita read 177, so I'm down 4 lbs, hopefully mostly water and BF.

Interestingly as my weight has gone down, the Tanita scale shows my BF% increasing. Today at my lowest, 177 lbs, the BF read its highest, at 14.9%. Interesting, as my jeans have begun to look baggy once again, and the quads and abs feel harder and are showing more definition.

Well you have just proven that there is no excuse for not working out. Where there is a will there is a way. I loved all the make-shift exercise equipment you came up with.

About those lying scales: I use scales as one source, but having my pants hanging on me rather than me feeling like I've been poured into them is much more encouraging to me than what the scales say. I'll always use scales because I'm hopelessly addicted to them, but I know they have a mean streak in them sometimes, and you can't always go by what they're saying .

Aaahhhh, the abs. Well, I'm not making progress by leaps and bounds, but I do believe I can see some improvement. The tape measure is holding steady at 29.5, but I think there might be a little more definition. They're nothing to brag about still-- that's for sure.

In other injury updates: My shoulder feels much better. After I worked it yesterday it got better! I don't know....odd. My wrist was better but after doing arms yesterday, it got sore again. I may have to stop supinating (?) for a while and see if that helps. I've done very little hanging lately, because remember, I thought that was what caused it.

Alright enough from me. I'm in a talky mood this morning. I keep taking over other people's journals. Sorry.

Hey!
Thanks for stopping in my Gym Log & for the nice words of encouragement!
That always helps! Ya know???
I can take all I can get so feel free to visit often! he he he
I'm going to work on those pics today!


Thanks again!
Donna~*

Hiya Mark,

Thanks for not getting disgusted with me our first conversation Yes, I've learned there is a lot of conflicting issues and opinions out there. I guess all one can do is take it all in, shuffle it around, and decide what is best for that person. I've had my tailbone removed, so I really have to shuffle lower body around as not to hurt that anymore than it already does. Like lunges, can't do them. I want to as they're so good, but they cause a great deal of pain. But case in point, what works great for one might not fit another.

Sounds like you really enjoy your job. That's great. It sure makes the days go by much easier, that's for sure. And the fact you get in a good workout there, also. Congrats on the pants feeling baggy. That has to make you feel great. NO matter what the stupid scales say

Thanks for the encouragement. It sure helps me not feel like a total weakling But no matter what, I'll keep plugging along. It feels great afterwards!!

Have a great weekend, Mark!! Thanks again. I'm glad we got to meet.

Cara

too kewl about the hard abs and baggy jeans!


hope you have a fabulous weekend!

Interestingly as my weight has gone down, the Tanita scale shows my BF% increasing. Today at my lowest, 177 lbs, the BF read its highest, at 14.9%. Interesting, as my jeans have begun to look baggy once again, and the quads and abs feel harder and are showing more definition.[/QUOTE]

He, He, He, !!! Hey Mark! Don't talk like that!! You don't know what it does to me!!!

YOU DID FANTASTIC TODAY!! GOOD GOING! WHERE'S THE PICTURES? I WANT TO SEE THE QUADS AND HARDER ABS! (GOD, THAT HURT!! ).
Have A GREAT EVENING MARK!
BRENDA

Thanks-- well, shoulder day isn't until Thursday....by then I hope I can. They aren't hurting as much now as they were this morning. I've been being very careful with them today. And I will tomorrow too. 2 days of rest should do it!
I like the website too....I don't have any trouble with videos. I hate it if I have to wait. I have a very short attention span .

Wow you guys! Lots of entries to read and respond to! Cool!

I tried out some new delt exercises tonight - and boy did they *hurt*!

Delts and Traps:

Warmup: Arnold presses: 20x15
Warmup: Dumbell upright rows: 20x10

Static lateral raises: (normal lat raise with a 10 sec hold at the top): 15x6,5,4,5,5

"W" presses (hold dumbells with your arms in a "W" position for 10 sec after performing three dumbell presses): 20x3,4,4,4,3,4

Behind the back mini-press (olympic bar - press halfway up, perform 5 'mini presses' where the bar goes up and down a few inches, then press up. On the way down, do five more 'mini presses', then down. That's one rep. 40x6,6,4
I noticed more burn on the tricep than the delt with this exercise, so I probably won't be using it again.

You can see from the low reps how painful these new delt exercises were! Had to keep coming back for more sets to get a decent number of reps. Definitely couldn't do 10 in a row! Ouch.

Dumbell Shrugs: 50x10,10,10
Barbell rows: 90x10,8,10
Dumbell Cleans: 20x5,10,10

LOL - calves are *way* sore from all those boiler climbs last night

Edit: Did some static sit-ups. Pause halfway up and hold for 10 seconds. Brutal! 10,7 (no more!)

Yesssss.....that's what we're doing . And I'm thinking of adding more pain to the mix. I'm thinking I'll go ahead and do legs twice a week for a little while. I like getting legs done on Mondays and then being able to forget about them until the next week-- but they look awful for all the neglect I've shown them, so my master plan of being lazy, yet achieving great results isn't working for me . So I'm conjuring up a new plan to do legs twice a week. One that I won't HATE so might do more than one week.

[QUOTE=galatia And I'm thinking of adding more pain to the mix. I'm thinking I'll go ahead and do legs twice a week for a little while. [/QUOTE]

You masochist!

edit: Note to self: Must learn how to use the quote feature properly!

Loved the success story!! You are a success and everyday continue to be. Your little girl will follow in your footsteps and be so proud of her Dad!

Using quote feature:
highlight quote
copy then paste it into message
highlight again and click on quote box
Ta Da!!

Thanks Debbie, both for the kind words and the directions