The Exercise Motivation Thread - 2016

[jtbo]

Nice pictures, Norachan! Love your hair!

Monday:
3 miles on the treadmill 
3 miles walked during lunch

Alas, I spoke too soon about the treadmill behaving; it died again this morning. I had just started and was just a little over 1/8 of a mile when it bit the dust. 

Was the problem slipping of belt with it?

I was thinking that it has some kind of belt and if belt is slipping, then you might try Belt Grip:
http://www.crcindustries.com.au/products/specialty-chemicals/belt-grip

However if you apply too much of it, then everything is covered in sticky goo, so apply with moderation, it is kind of not drying glue, works wonders with rubber belts though, I used with old car when alternator belt started slipping and that cured the issue.



@Norachan, you have full grown leaves on trees and so much grass and stuff, we have just tiny starts of leaves. Really nice scenery to ride with fog and all

 

[Winchester]

Yes, it was, JTbo. We bought a new maintenance kit for the treadmill and when it's freshly gooped with the grease, the belt works for a while. But then it gets really bad again. I do need a new treadmill, but we just don't have the money for one right now. We keep babying this one along, trying to make it last a couple months longer. I'll say something to Rick about the belt-grip. Thanks!

 

[Winchester]

Tuesday

3 miles walked during my lunch break. It was raining, so I needed the umbrella. But I couldn't not walk, since I wasn't able to use the treadmill yesterday morning.

We were able to get the treadmill running properly again and I did 3 miles this morning. We went down last night and it took a couple tweaks and after I tried it out and said it was OK again, Rick just went "Whew!" We don't know how long it will last, but it's working OK this morning. The belt either slips really badly or grips really badly. We did try to fix the fray in the belt, but it's only a matter of time. There's also some kind of a thumping in the motor, too, and I'm not sure what that is. I'm running the treadmill now with the shield off the motor. 

I told Rick last night that I'm just going to go down to Dick's and say, "I want this one!" and that will be that. He didn't argue. But it's frustrating.

 

[foxxycat]

How about craigslist? I always see these at yardsales-if you were nearby I would help you find a free or cheap one. I found my $20 elliptical machine at a yardsale...

lunchtime did 40 min of dance moves with hand weights-heading to the gym after work to at least attempt another hour either cardio or all weights...its so nice out-I still need to dig out my bike and use it.

 

[Norachan]

Thanks for the nice comments everyone. @JTbo  it has suddenly  got really green over here in the past few weeks. I was looking at some photos I took at the end of April and there was a huge difference in how spring-like everything looked.

I walked for 90 minutes yesterday and did 90 minutes yoga today.

 

[Winchester]

 
How about craigslist? I always see these at yardsales-if you were nearby I would help you find a free or cheap one. I found my $20 elliptical machine at a yardsale...

lunchtime did 40 min of dance moves with hand weights-heading to the gym after work to at least attempt another hour either cardio or all weights...its so nice out-I still need to dig out my bike and use it.

I won't do craigslist.....and I don't know that I want something used. Largely because mine is used and has been used hard, so I don't want to exchange one set of problems for another, if that makes any sense. Although most pieces of exercise equipment are pretty much gently used because people use them for a month or two and then bag it. (I have an elliptical in the bedroom that I cannot stand to use. I hate that thing. Well, it's more of a love/hate relationship I think. Once I get back into the knack of using it, then I'm fine. It's just getting into the routine.)

One of my GFs just got a "free" treadmill. She's just starting out to walk regularly. It belonged to a friend of hers. Rick picked it up the other night for her and brought it to her house. I can see why it was free....they would have even had to pay someone to haul it away for junk, that's how bad it is. Rick even told her not to even get on the thing. Her husband thinks he might be able to fix it up a bit, just to make it last long enough to see if she decides whether she wants to use it. She asked me to get on it to see how it worked; I won't go near it. We turned it on and the thing started to shudder. 

 Oy

So anyway. I did 3 miles on the treadmill on Wednesday morning

and 3 miles out walking Wednesday during lunch.

I'd love to get a bike. Dear Richard, however, has issues with me on a bike. He knows how dopic I am and says I am not allowed to even sit on a bike without a good helmet, elbow pads, and knee pads. Sheesh. You'd think I was going to crash it! (And it's very possible. But just because I spent my childhood bathed in mercurochrome. iodine, and bandages from jumping off cliffs on my bike does not mean I'm going to do things like that now!)

 

[Winchester]

And today (Thursday):

3 miles on the treadmill this morning

3 miles walked during my lunch today

 

[jtbo]

I won't do craigslist.....and I don't know that I want something used. Largely because mine is used and has been used hard, so I don't want to exchange one set of problems for another, if that makes any sense. Although most pieces of exercise equipment are pretty much gently used because people use them for a month or two and then bag it. (I have an elliptical in the bedroom that I cannot stand to use. I hate that thing. Well, it's more of a love/hate relationship I think. Once I get back into the knack of using it, then I'm fine. It's just getting into the routine.)

One of my GFs just got a "free" treadmill. She's just starting out to walk regularly. It belonged to a friend of hers. Rick picked it up the other night for her and brought it to her house. I can see why it was free....they would have even had to pay someone to haul it away for junk, that's how bad it is. Rick even told her not to even get on the thing. Her husband thinks he might be able to fix it up a bit, just to make it last long enough to see if she decides whether she wants to use it. She asked me to get on it to see how it worked; I won't go near it. We turned it on and the thing started to shudder.   Oy

So anyway. I did 3 miles on the treadmill on Wednesday morning
and 3 miles out walking Wednesday during lunch.

I'd love to get a bike. Dear Richard, however, has issues with me on a bike. He knows how dopic I am and says I am not allowed to even sit on a bike without a good helmet, elbow pads, and knee pads. Sheesh. You'd think I was going to crash it! (And it's very possible. But just because I spent my childhood bathed in mercurochrome. iodine, and bandages from jumping off cliffs on my bike does not mean I'm going to do things like that now!)

Recumbent bike, tadpole trike might be quite nice, but it is a shame that those are so costly at least over here, anyway I would love to have such thing, well if we would have bike paths I guess.

Thing with the bicycles is that there are riders that have felled down and there are riders that have not yet felled down, so there is some good reason to be bit worried, however at least with mountain bike one is quite well in control even when going down. Knee pads and elbow pads will make things to bruise lot less, but I'm not sure if those do much for bone fractures.


Today I did:
4 hours of fixing chainsaw, 2 hours of wood chopping, 34 minutes of cycling, 28 minutes of running.

Would of had lot more workouts without need to fix that chainsaw.

Last night I went riding at midnight, temperature was bit below freezing and sky was clear, nice moon lit scenery and there was even a fireball that shot trough the sky, then when I came back I saw an owl sitting on electric line near my house, making noises, then owl lift off and fly right past me into woods, those are rare to be seen.

Last night's ride was 1 hour and 26 minutes, also had 1 hour and 10 minutes of firewood chopping, but it was busy day otherwise as I visited in a city twice and that takes about an hour to go to city, so more than 4 hours of the day did go there.

Pollen allergy season has hit me bit worse than last year, I try to cope with it, but might be that soon I have to keep resting week because of allergy.

 

[foxxycat]

Yeah I hear you about the used-I guess I got lucky-I also never buy it unless I can look at it-it helps to do some research on that model they are selling-stall for a day to look it up then back out=I have done this for other things-besides 70% of the posts are junk anyways.

Today I found a different way to make muscles bigger-a simple logic of make myself stronger and the muscles will grow.

http://stronglifts.com/overhead-press/

Strong lifts dot com.

Said I don't have to do all those isolation exercises I have been messing around with for months-curls for example.

Going to follow this plan for a month. Maybe that's what I am doing wrong.

Today I did the over head press, Deadlift, barbell Rows.

The other exercises they recommend are the dips and pullups= I am not strong enough yet to even do the pullups-that's a great one for making the back and chest stronger but I got a long way to go.

I did figure out a better way to do burpees-instead of bending my knees to get up I just hop and space the feet apart then push off with my hands to stand-less pressure on my knees. So for now I did 30 min of strength training-eating now because I am STARVING! Protein and fats-wish me luck with this new workout-I think I just get bored and need to shift things up.

 

[tammat]

foxxycat Do you ever check out bodybuilding.com? Jamie Eason has a programme complete with nutrition plan. There are tons of other plans on there too.

Yesterday I did my legs with Rohan. I didn't do my extra shoulders. I was just too worn out. I'm getting better and better with technique and yesterday he just made me keep going and going. I felt sick in the end and he thought that was awesome :lol3: mean trainer. After I finished my weights he put me on a bike and I rode for 1 min increments and at the end of each he turned up the resistance until my legs wouldn't pedal anymore. Rohan swears by bike riding. He says it's great for legs. He suggested I sell my elliptical and buy a bike instead. Bikes are much cheaper here and they are more compact too.
We might all join you in a bike ride jtbo I'm afraid I'd be the first to complain about the cold :lol3: I suppose I would have to pedal faster to warm up. The bike sure made me sweat yesterday and I think I only lasted 3 mins!!!

 

[Winchester]

We looked at treadmills tonight for a while. I found an upper middle-of-the-road NordicTrack that I like. It doesn't have the mapping and scenery or the internet, but I've lived without something like that for this long and I never missed it. Speed goes up to 15 (mine goes to 12) and the incline goes up to 12% (mine goes to 10%) and it also has a negative incline of down to -3% to act like I'm walking downhill. Mine doesn't do that. It has an iPod jack and the speaker quality isn't all that bad; which is kind of good because I won't have to wear my ear buds all the time anymore. It's a wider belt and a longer belt. I can't remember what the model number is right off-hand, but it's on sale until Saturday night, plus I get an extra 5% off right now, too.

I walked on it tonight and took it through some paces (the clerk at the store told Rick that I was really running the puppy, whatever that means). People were watching me, but I had to make sure I had the right one. I used about five different treadmills before I tried this one. What was really nice is that it's so smooth. I had it cranked up, even for me and was jogging and it was so smooth. I can adjust the cushioning, which is pretty cool, too. I think I could go faster on a new treadmill because there's no jerking/sliding of the belt. 

Rick and I had a long talk tonight. Although he'll never use it -- the idea of walking on a treadmill is abhorrent to him -- he knows that I will. And that it will get used hard, pretty much every day. He has no problem at all spending the money; I'm the one who has the spending problem! It's a lot of money, at least in my mind. Even an average treadmill is expensive to me.

I told Rick that he'll have to deal with music blaring out of the basement if I'm not using my ear buds. He said he can handle it. 

 I'm not sure he can at 5:00 in the morning, but we'll have to see.

I'm going to think about it and make up my mind tomorrow.

 

[tammat]

We looked at treadmills tonight for a while. I found an upper middle-of-the-road NordicTrack that I like. It doesn't have the mapping and scenery or the internet, but I've lived without something like that for this long and I never missed it. Speed goes up to 15 (mine goes to 12) and the incline goes up to 12% (mine goes to 10%) and it also has a negative incline of down to -3% to act like I'm walking downhill. Mine doesn't do that. It has an iPod jack and the speaker quality isn't all that bad; which is kind of good because I won't have to wear my ear buds all the time anymore. It's a wider belt and a longer belt. I can't remember what the model number is right off-hand, but it's on sale until Saturday night, plus I get an extra 5% off right now, too.

I walked on it tonight and took it through some paces (the clerk at the store told Rick that I was really running the puppy, whatever that means). People were watching me, but I had to make sure I had the right one. I used about five different treadmills before I tried this one. What was really nice is that it's so smooth. I had it cranked up, even for me and was jogging and it was so smooth. I can adjust the cushioning, which is pretty cool, too. I think I could go faster on a new treadmill because there's no jerking/sliding of the belt. 

Rick and I had a long talk tonight. Although he'll never use it -- the idea of walking on a treadmill is abhorrent to him -- he knows that I will. And that it will get used hard, pretty much every day. He has no problem at all spending the money; I'm the one who has the spending problem! It's a lot of money, at least in my mind. Even an average treadmill is expensive to me.

I told Rick that he'll have to deal with music blaring out of the basement if I'm not using my ear buds. He said he can handle it. :lol3:  I'm not sure he can at 5:00 in the morning, but we'll have to see.

I'm going to think about it and make up my mind tomorrow.

You deserve it. If Rick has no problem spending the money then do it girl. The cats want you to get it. They told me. Not sure what Jackie thinks? I don't talk dog yet :lol3:
I did my chest today, abs and once through with my shoulders. I'm not supposed to go hard second time around with my shoulders - I did last week oops.

 

[Winchester]

You deserve it. If Rick has no problem spending the money then do it girl. The cats want you to get it. They told me. Not sure what Jackie thinks? I don't talk dog yet

I did my chest today, abs and once through with my shoulders. I'm not supposed to go hard second time around with my shoulders - I did last week oops.

You're hilarious.

 Actually, Mollipop did tell Rick to go ahead with the new treadmill this morning. When I'm done on the treadmill in the morning, she's at the basement door yelling for me to open the door, so she can come into the basement. I open the door, pick her up, and we do a quick tour. "Here's the light!" "Oh, here's the washer....and the dryer!" "Here's the freezer!" And she just purrs and purrs. If my treadmill dies and I don't have a new one, there will be no more basement tours....and then where would she be? So she's a definite YES for the new treadmill. 

 That's the story anyway; that's what she told Rick. According to Rick. (I wish we could train Jackie to use the treadmill....)

Be careful going hard that second time, Tammat. You don't want to hurt yourself.

Oh, that reminds me. After months of complaining that my Fitbit isn't recording all my steps, I finally went online and talked to somebody. They suggested that I up my stride length a tad. I walk a 2 foot, 4 inch stride; they suggested going up to 3 feet, checking the steps, and if that's too much, dropping back to about 2 feet, 8 inches. I adjusted the stride distance to 3 feet and that seems a little high. I'm going to let it go for today, then readjust on Saturday morning, down to 2 feet, 8 inches......see if that will help get the correct steps. I was really missing a lot of steps, but I don't want credit for what I'm not stepping either. Yesterday, I walked 3 miles on the treadmill and the Fitbit only recorded a little under two miles. Well, that's just ridiculous, so I needed to do something. Geez, just think of the steps I'd be getting if it was really recording everything. 

3 miles on the treadmill this morning. I don't know that I'll get outside during lunch today as the local weatherweenies are calling for some nasty t-storms. 

 

[Winchester]

....and 3 miles walked during my lunch break today.

3 .15 miles actually walked; according to the Fitbit, it was only 2.82 miles. Grrrrrrrrrrrr

 

[jtbo]

Oh, what a day, I was again on yard, from 9 to 9 as it has been now that our days have gotten long.

Gardening, wood chopping, moving rocks, bicycling, construction work, chainsaw carving, all kind of things.

Again over 4000 calories gone and over 23 000 steps. Our nice weather is over now and we are getting lots of rain starting from tomorrow, but I hope to get something done despite the rain.

For more than two weeks I have averaged over 4000 calories a day, so I guess that is new standard for me then, close to 160 000 steps in a week.

I think some of you would of rubber your eyes when I tried to pry off one little rock out from ground, I had iron bar tucked under it, then I was crouched on end of iron bar, which was some 2 feet off the ground, and jumping up and down from that position on one leg, that was really difficult to do, but I could not find more sensible way to get that rock up.

Sadly even that was not enough, I tried many other things which were all quite amusing, but could not get results, I think that stone weights about 3-4 times what I weight, could be even more, it did appear to be fist sized, but it is a lot bigger, I need clearly more strength, but I have trouble sticking with strength training and I really haven't found proper program to follow.

 

[Winchester]

The treadmill will be delivered next Wednesday, May 18th! 

 

 I'm excited!

 

[jtbo]

The treadmill will be delivered next Wednesday, May 18th!     I'm excited!

Wohoo! Soon you get to 100 000 steps with ease


I see often here other runners doing that number 1 mistake on list, even my hands like to creep up, but when I note it and bring them back down I can feel the difference in running, it becomes much easier.
http://www.active.com/running/articles/5-bad-running-habits-and-how-to-break-them

Not sure if others here know about that?

 

[Norachan]

Thanks for that @JTbo  I'm going to start running again today.

90 minutes of yoga and about 30 minutes on my bike yesterday.

 

[foxxycat]

Oh, what a day, I was again on yard, from 9 to 9 as it has been now that our days have gotten long.

Gardening, wood chopping, moving rocks, bicycling, construction work, chainsaw carving, all kind of things.

Again over 4000 calories gone and over 23 000 steps. Our nice weather is over now and we are getting lots of rain starting from tomorrow, but I hope to get something done despite the rain.

For more than two weeks I have averaged over 4000 calories a day, so I guess that is new standard for me then, close to 160 000 steps in a week.

I think some of you would of rubber your eyes when I tried to pry off one little rock out from ground, I had iron bar tucked under it, then I was crouched on end of iron bar, which was some 2 feet off the ground, and jumping up and down from that position on one leg, that was really difficult to do, but I could not find more sensible way to get that rock up.

Sadly even that was not enough, I tried many other things which were all quite amusing, but could not get results, I think that stone weights about 3-4 times what I weight, could be even more, it did appear to be fist sized, but it is a lot bigger, I need clearly more strength, but I have trouble sticking with strength training and I really haven't found proper program to follow.

you  need a winch on the end of your truck/tractor etc- and a good heavy chain or cable-wrap that baby around the rock and put the truck in reverse and slowly back up. I have helped pull trees out of the ground using my big truck and a chain  

I rested yesterday per the instructions on stronglifts site-today I will try his Workout B and see how it goes. I have to look for a real gym-planet fitness doesn't have free weights on the barbell without that smith machine-evidently they don't allow the body to learn to hold steady the weights so far found a gym close to work that is 24 hours and has all the stuff I need to work on lifting heavier weights-the goal is increasing my weights by 5lb each workout-so every week go up 15 pounds.  Today is workout B and I cant do all those at work-don't have the correct equipment.

 

[jtbo]

It was warm day 18C (64.4F) so I though it would be nice to have some exercise, so wearing only my bicycle shorts and T-shirt I began:

20 minutes of bicycling as a warmup.

1 hour 42 minutes of running (16km / ~10 miles), so no too great pace, Gebrselassie would run almost 1 hour faster, it of course started to rain during the run.

20 minutes of bicycling as a cool down and oh boy it was cool alright, temperature had plummeted during my run to 11C (51.8F) and it was raining hard with strong gusts of wind, if you want to reach the top you have to be ready to push trough everything, no giving up, no easing off, no excuses.

Oh yes almost got bitten by a dog too but jumped out of way when he made attempt to bite me and owner was screaming in panic not being able to do right things.