Fitness Safari

I tried my luck with breathing squats again. This time I cut waaay down to 75 lbs. These will take me some time to get accustomed to - and it's not even the legs that bothered me while I was doing them - it was my traps/shoulders. They just get sore and tired holding up the weight through 20 reps and all of the breathing in between. I'm still not exactly sure if I'm doing them correctly - am I supposed to be sucking air like I was just held under water for 3 minutes? 'Cause that's how I feel about 3/4 way through the 20. THOUGHT THIS PIC WOULD BE MORE INTERESTING THAN A PHOTO OF A SANDBAG. ENJOY! Even if I'm doing them wrong, they're still doing something b/c today my legs feel like sandbags. When I walk up my stairs I feel like I'm walking through mud. Definitely going to hit the gym for what a friend recently called "Geriatric Cardio" - LISS - low intensity, steady-state. I'll also get bundled up and take my dog for a good long walk to th...

If you're a 125 lb woman like me, grab a 30 or 40 lb barbell and do the following circuit with no rest between exercises: 10 Romanian Deadlifts (stiff-legged) 10 Bent Over Rows 10 Hang Cleans 10 Push Presses 10 Front Squats (using your hands/shoulders, hold barbell up against your upper chest/neck) 10 Lunges (ea. leg) with barbell behind your head resting across your shoulders. Rest 1-3 minutes. Repeat entire circuit 2-4 more times. I did this 4 x's with a 40 lb barbell (except for the push press I used the 30) and one more time through the entire circuit with the 30 and I could barely walk on the stairmaster! I was flushed, hot, sweaty and my legs were shaking. Even now, at my desk 3 hours later, my shoulders are feeling it. Followed this routine with a 30-minute walk on a slight incline and called it a day. This circuit seems like it would be nice to throw in a couple of times a week for fat-burning instead of just running intervals. It's the equivalent of HIIT training ...

I n my journey through the Fitness Safari, I am looking at every small achievement as another crossed milestone - each pound lost and rep completed is bringing me closer to my goal. Yesterday I passed such a milestone - actually I'm calling it a 2-"milerstone."  Earlier this year, in what was to be yet another failed attempt at making exercise part of my regular routine, I hurt my hip running. I think I just tried to do too much too quickly and ended up with bursitis - the inflammation of a jelly-like sac covering the bony point of my hip (the greater trochanter). It is an attachment-point for muscles that move the hip joint. When inflammation is present, movements such as walking and running result in pain. I finally came to the conclusion that the pain would not go away with rest alone and saw a sports medicine doctor who prescribed physical therapy. After just two weeks I noticed a dramatic improvement in the pain (it no longer hurt when I walked or jogged slowly).  Ba...

Ever since a spandex-clad Olivia Newton-John sang those three magic words, women have been under the impression that the only thing between the hard body of their dreams and the elimination of their cellulite is "cardio."  "If I just do more 'cardio' I'll lose weight." "I can get rid of my cellulite if I do more 'cardio.'"   And this may be true -   Stairmaster, treadmill, elliptical machines, stationary bicycles - Moderate to intense use of this equipment will in fact raise your heart rate, improve your cardiovascular fitness and burn a few calories. BUT , you can spend hour upon hour on these machines and never achieve muscle definition. On top of that, when you are doing traditional 'cardio,' you are only burning calories while your heart rate is elevated. This means that by the time you reach your car your metabolism will already be back to where it was before you walked into the gym. If you weight train , you can burn serio...