exercise

[stolenwine]

thanks, astrid! i'm going to try some of those arm ones with soup cans or filled water bottles or something since i don't have proper weights.

and thanks for making me feel less lame about the eva longoria thing. i know she's not exactly edgy, but she always looks so great and glamourous and is quite petite and carries it off so well.

[let it ride]

aw, i'm glad if my weird instructions can help, haha!

yes, i did some exercises with cans the other week at home, and it still made my arms sore when i did tons of reps + really slow movements. i personally find the boring but basic stuff the best for really feeling/seeing a difference! it does the trick.

eva longoria does look fabulous! she really knows how to dress. i like mandy because she's tall like me (and now she's mrs adams i'm even happier, haha) so we have a similar frame in that sense, she always looks appropriate to the event, and she's like the uber toned version of what i could be, i tell myself.

[stolenwine]

i'm totally feeling the difference! ok, the results aren't visible just yet but it feels good to feel the muscles all firming up and stuff. especially my stomach muscles. the thing is, i do kind of like a bit of fat on my stomach because it feels a bit weird to have a totally flat stomach. maybe i'm just not used to it anymore, but first thing in the morning my stomach is always really flat and it just doesn't feel right! i guess i'm not really too fussed about a bit of fat, i just want to tone up a bit.

does anyone have tips on warm-up exercises? wii fit is always saying "don't forget to warm up!" but it doesn't actually have a warm up workout. it totally should!

[this clump of trees]

i've been working out. i'm huge.

[Sylvie]

Can anyone recommend a decent yoga/exercise mat? We have laminate flooring, so it will have to be fairly thick and non-slippy. I'm wondering whether to get one of those gym balls too, as I liked doing sit ups on those.

[a layer of chips]

Lisa got a cheapish gym ball from Argos for when she was pregnant, Sarah. It stayed inflated quite well. I think it was about six quid, or something.

[let it ride]

I got like a normal kit with a mat, exercise ball etc for about a tenner, I think, at JJB Sports. Most places will have them, even Tesco or Asda I'd think. I got my dumbbells at Tesco cheaply.

[shimmer]

i'm totally feeling the difference! ok, the results aren't visible just yet but it feels good to feel the muscles all firming up and stuff. especially my stomach muscles. the thing is, i do kind of like a bit of fat on my stomach because it feels a bit weird to have a totally flat stomach. maybe i'm just not used to it anymore, but first thing in the morning my stomach is always really flat and it just doesn't feel right! i guess i'm not really too fussed about a bit of fat, i just want to tone up a bit.

does anyone have tips on warm-up exercises? wii fit is always saying "don't forget to warm up!" but it doesn't actually have a warm up workout. it totally should!

Girls should have a bit of fat on their stomach,without sounding stupidly sexist,horribly skinny girls=no no not even from a looks angle but just it makes me feel a bit wrong if i know their starving themselves,when i was at uni and used to play hockey so hit the gym x3 days a week i hated anorexic looking girls on the treadmills for 1hr+at a time made me so sorry for them.

For warm up exercises do stretches and yoga,also just before you play the wii fit do 15 mins worth of quick walking,it speeds up your metabolic rate a little and puts blood to your muscles,also great for making your core engage is doing the plank by lying on floor and raising yourself up by just flexing your hips and abs :)

[stolenwine]

re: post above - i guess everyone finds different things attractive! and thanks for the warm up tips, i guess some of the yoga stuff on the wii is meant for a warm up workout!

anyway, i'm here to ask if anyone knows of any good yoga workout videos online? i usually rely on the wii fit but there is no wii fit at my parents house and i wanna do about 30-45 minutes of yoga a day. i did some today just off the top of my headm but it would be nice to have an actual video to follow. i've found a couple on youtube that look alright but if anyone's got a good one they recommend i'd love to get a link off you!

[tubby]

So check this out:

http://hundredpushups.com/index.html

It's a program that reckons it can get you to do 100 press ups in a row after a couple of months of slowly building up.

I'm on week two at the moment and it seems to be progressing nicely. It's much easier to follow something like this with a set plan and incremental build than to just do some press ups every now and then.

[let it ride]

Hah! Push-ups are the. worst.

My Jillian Michaels dvd makes you do the plank, which is awful in itself AND oblique twists at the same time and it made me pant out "psychotic bitch!" while I was doing it. Push-ups are equally evil to me.

I'm so happy I bought a crosstrainer! I put it together myself to a few episodes of Community (y'all are watching, I hope!) and it works perfectly. It is squeaking like a motherfracker but I think that's down to me doing one bit wrong.

I try to do 40 minutes on the fat burn programme every morning now, while watching an episode of a show I like on the computer. It's awesome! The show makes me forget I'm exercising and I get to catch up on all the 500 shows I need to be watching. Recommended! I found trying to do any sort of free-form cardio at home was impossible, at least to rival a crosstrainer.

[a layer of chips]

Does anyone go through periods at the gym when they can only do about 15 minutes exercise before they have to stop? I've had it this week. I can usually do three 10km runs a week easy, but this week I've done a 2km, a 5km, and a 1.8km and I've had to stop each time. this happens every two or three months and then i'm fine the next week. Weird.

[nanski]

yeah, i get that sometimes, too. i wonder if it's that i didn't eat (or sleep) well the day before or something, but have never really figured out the correlation.

[stolenwine]

damn, i'm getting into the yoga again (ok, ONE TIME yesterday. it's a start) and i'm feeling it today. all the flexibility i gained seems to have gone away again. i feel super old trying to do some of those poses. old and creaky! it's also disconcerting when you're alone in the house and making weird "ouchhhh" noises and trying to control your breathing. i hope i keep it up though! i felt so much better when i was yoga-ing on a regular basis.

[caramarydaisy]

Does anyone go through periods at the gym when they can only do about 15 minutes exercise before they have to stop? I've had it this week. I can usually do three 10km runs a week easy, but this week I've done a 2km, a 5km, and a 1.8km and I've had to stop each time. this happens every two or three months and then i'm fine the next week. Weird.

yep happens to me too.

i went to the gym for the first time in a couple of weeks last week and i got a new program set up and its way longer/harder than it previously was. if i do the whole thing its meant to take about 90 mins and burn off almost 800 calories, argh. before my program was set to do about 500, so its a pretty big leap, but im pretty excited about the challenge. im doing loads of new machines too which are gonna work on my legs (something ive never done before) - i got on one that you sit down on and have to use yr legs to push back on a slide to lift the weights and i was hilariously feeble, i couldnt even do the first weight the instructor put on so she had to halve it!

still, i tend to vary what/how much i do at the gym depending on time/inclination but im keen to get stuck into it soon.

[let it ride]

damn, i'm getting into the yoga again (ok, ONE TIME yesterday. it's a start) and i'm feeling it today. all the flexibility i gained seems to have gone away again. i feel super old trying to do some of those poses. old and creaky! it's also disconcerting when you're alone in the house and making weird "ouchhhh" noises and trying to control your breathing. i hope i keep it up though! i felt so much better when i was yoga-ing on a regular basis.

Haha, well, I'm 24 and I'm exactly the same. I'm good at things like the, er, tree pose? That sort of stuff. But my arms have the strength and feel of noodles, and most other poses just end up with me grunting in an undignified, non-flowy kind of way while trying to regain my balance. We're all the same in the beginning, don't worry.

I have a dvd called A.M/P.M Yoga with two routines that are really nice, only with the A.M routine which you are meant to do in the morning, I get so relaxed that I just fall asleep right there on the floor, haha. What a zen goddess.

[stolenwine]

damn, i'm getting into the yoga again (ok, ONE TIME yesterday. it's a start) and i'm feeling it today. all the flexibility i gained seems to have gone away again. i feel super old trying to do some of those poses. old and creaky! it's also disconcerting when you're alone in the house and making weird "ouchhhh" noises and trying to control your breathing. i hope i keep it up though! i felt so much better when i was yoga-ing on a regular basis.

Haha, well, I'm 24 and I'm exactly the same. I'm good at things like the, er, tree pose? That sort of stuff. But my arms have the strength and feel of noodles, and most other poses just end up with me grunting in an undignified, non-flowy kind of way while trying to regain my balance. We're all the same in the beginning, don't worry.

haha, i also swear "what the fuck. fucking hell. i can't do this" i feel like a crazy lady talking to myself! it makes me wonder how i ever went to actual yoga classes and kept my mouth shut!

[Sylvie]

I'm so happy I bought a crosstrainer!

Do you mind me asking how much it was? Does it take up a lot of space?

I'm feeling really, really fat at the moment as I think I've gradually gained weight due to the medication I'm on and through not enough exercise. The local swimming pools and gyms are so expensive - it's about £5 a time. I get a discount through work, but that means signing up for 12 months. I'm hoping not to be in Swindon in a year!

I could get a Wii balance boardy thing, but I think I'm sceptical about its ability to actually help me lose weight. I have got that personal fitness coach thing on Wii, but I don't aerobic jumping around like a nutter is really for me.

[let it ride]

I'm so happy I bought a crosstrainer!

Do you mind me asking how much it was? Does it take up a lot of space?

I'm feeling really, really fat at the moment as I think I've gradually gained weight due to the medication I'm on and through not enough exercise. The local swimming pools and gyms are so expensive - it's about £5 a time. I get a discount through work, but that means signing up for 12 months. I'm hoping not to be in Swindon in a year!

I could get a Wii balance boardy thing, but I think I'm sceptical about its ability to actually help me lose weight. I have got that personal fitness coach thing on Wii, but I don't aerobic jumping around like a nutter is really for me.

Not at all! I bought it off Amazon for £179. It does take up space (and I have like the smallest version which is still ok to work out on) unless you have a room it can go in, and I have to say I doubt it'll come with us to Stockholm, but then again, there are lots of great gyms around there which are easier to get to. I mean, it's easy enough to move the crosstrainer around, it's just that it has to go somewhere, you know? If you use every room of your house/flat it will be in the way. It's definitely good cardio though, but when we downsize space-wise in Stockholm I don't think it can come with us.

I like our Wii balance board! It's good for yoga and strength training (using your own body weight to work with) - it's great with balance etc. - and fun little cardio and balance games, but for cardio it's not perfect. I think I'll try to combine gym cardio/swimming or something like that with it when we're in Stockholm.