Fiddleman

Hey kristie- Very cool! Will need to check this out for my wife and I. Thanks again for the reminder.

Thank you for sharing all the pearls of wisdom. I think your elevated d levels may be from all the horseback riding and other outside activities you do! Again, congratulations on a job well done. I hope to have your level of success when I reach 18 months.

Yes, do keep posting as much as you like about your experiences. It is helpful to everyone and also the positive feedback will motivate you to keep at it. Great job everyone in running.

Gave up caffeine for 2 months after surgery and then started to introduce coffee again gradually: a shot, a cappuccino, a latte and finally a vente at around 6 months post op. I have not drunk coffee much in the last month. Have not eaten anything sugar in about 14 months except for some honey in my AMRAP bar and 2 g of sugar in a protein bar on occasion. No desire to outright eat sugary stuff, doughy stuff, fried stuff, etc.

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Thanks ! I have heard of raynaud's syndrome because my SIL has it. Didn't realize I might have it also. Yes, my hands get cold and white as a post op, but not so much anymore the further I am out. Today is the first time I have seen this happen when lifting. It took a good 30 minutes for them to return to normal. I type all the time also because I am a software developer. That may be a contributing factor. Being a software developer has caused other things like sciatica and arm tingling as well as general tightness and compression in upper body ( which I am slowly trying to unwind with fitness). Now i really do try and get up every 20 minutes or so and focus on good sitting posture. My pulse has generally been around 40-45 since surgery. You should have seen me in the hospital when I was getting VSG performed. My pulse would hang around 40-45 most of the time then drop to 30-35 other times and 25-30 at night (made me nervous it was so low). Before surgery, my pulse was between 50-60.

The following adv. body weight circuit workout officially kicked my butt today @ home, but I did make it through barely: Warm up : 5 min run Light rotation of dead lifts, bench presses and squats with 90-105 lbs of 3 sets Cross fit like Warmup exercises ( push-ups, sit-ups, jumping jacks, lunges, plank holds) WOD: 8 rounds of 2 minute AMRAP ( as many rep as possible) sets ( added some personal opinions on how these exercises might functionally relate back to formal exercises in gym or crossfit): 1. Iron mike - start in forward lunge, jump into air, switch legs, land in forward lunge with opposite leg. Really requires a strong core and balance. Helps with the solid balance needed on back and front squats, Olympic lifts and dead lifts. Balance is something I am always working on. 2. Bouncy push-ups: start at bottom of a push-up, forcibly push off ground into the air, land in top of push up position ( add clap in air for greater challenge). Good fast twitch exercise and will help with real powerful bench presses. Not sure if these help with pull-ups or not. Would be nice if they did. I know hand stand push-ups do, so suggest working on handstand pushups either on a box of up against the wall. My hat off to anyone who can do hand stand push-ups without a box or a wall, but in the middle of a room, no supports. 3. Jack knife - lay on back, legs and arms extended, reach feet and fingers up to center point and touch. Builds strong core and 6 packs! functionally, these are simulat to the technique and strength needed to do toes to bar (hang from pull up bar and bring toes to meet hands upon bar) 4. One legged leg extensions - sit in L position, hands planted straight on the ground, fingers forward, arms slightly bent (not locked), 1 leg off ground, lift hips up with other heel on ground. This one will help with gymnastic type exercises like ring rows, ring sits, dip variations and L sits. 5-10 seconds between 30 second exercises. 30 seconds of rest between rounds. Killer! This one is a big time cardio breather and sweater! This is the hardest body weight routine and the *last* of the 9 I have been doing over this 12 week challenge. I will do this circuit again next Friday and have 2 weeks of this specific workout to get good at it. Monday and wednesday are timed sets and ladders, respectively. tuesday and thursday are cross fit and dedicated core work. It is all about endurance on this circuit. This will be part of my ongoing workout after the 12 week challenge is up until I need to move onto something harder @ home. Phew, what a workout!! I like these body weight workouts because they are extremely effective, yet short in duration (20 minutes). 20 minutes plus 15 minute warmup and 10 minute cool down with stretching and roller is about all the time I have in the mornings. When i first started working out about 6 months ago, I found I was more likely to do a morning workout at home then in the afternoon. My cross fit workouts are ok in the afternoon because i pay a lot for a trainer. I will never miss. Now I am more motivated to work out just for the sake of working out because it is so much fun and it has become a daily ritual (see my post on different levels of motivation above that I wrote at the end of may or beginning of June). I probably do not have a motivational issue with working out at home in the afternoon any longer.

Interesting thing happened today after doing some dead lifts. Instead of gripping the bar, I held onto the bar loosely with my fingers, letting gravity hold the bar in place. The end of my finger tips turned white. Is the usual artifacts of lifting like this? It took 15 minutes for blood to seep back into fingers. They are still a little white. It was a very weird feeling to have rest of hand pumped with blood, but none in fingertips. Kind of like frostbite feeling. Any thoughts? I thought gripping hard would do this, but I did exact the opposite with no grip. I did a warmup run before lifting at home. Now onto my body weight without! Fun stuff!! [ATTACH]16035[/ATTACH]

Well, lucky you! Today is not my rest day and I feel like I need one after the workout yesterday. I have been spending a few minutes here and there all morning trying to get the tightness out of my back and legs by doing isometric stretches. Update: had a really good @ home workout today- see 12 week transformation thread in vets forum.

Thank you for the good read.

I've gotten pretty decent with running over the last 1/2 year so my body is effective at it. The real warmup for me is complete after the push-ups, pull-ups, etc combined with the run. Cross fit does have some running, but that is not what it is known for. The best way to get better at running is to do a program like c25k or throw in some running every week that is unstructured, but challenges your distance and speed each time you go out. Keep at it. Work. Stay consistent. That will bring real change. Good luck!

Margaret - that sounds like a really good WOD. I am so happy you did it. Get ready for one wild ride as the weeks roll on by and your strength grows really quickly. Cross fit is really exhilarating because each session is a new set of experiences and all out. It is going to take every thing you have. Go hard or go home! And then recover on your back on the Matt. Here is what I did today (more cardio than weight today): 1600 m run warmup Flexibility stretches Push-ups, air squats, ght sit-ups and hip extensions, pull-ups 5 rounds of 1 minute AMRAP 1. Clean lifts @ 185 2. Pull-ups ( unassisted) 3. Burpee box jumps At the end, my trainer said now 5 more of burpee box jumps. I fatigued in my legs on 3 and fell on the box jump. Every one falls in cross fit, but this was my first time. Got my sorry ass off my knees and did the last two. Heart was racing before moving onto : 5 L sits @ 1 minute each If you think planks are hard, L sits are 1000 x worse without a really solid core. Essentially you are sitting between two bars, sitting in a L with your body a few inches off the ground and your arms locked to hold your body weight. Hard!!! My core needs a lot of work, will keep on working at that every week ( outside of 2 cross fit sessions i do 2 dedicated core workouts plus 3 body weight workouts during the week) This is a new exercise for me and I was unable to hold me legs out in front. However, I could sit in sort of a ball with my knees bent. It must be a balancing issue that the weight of feet and legs increases intensity x 1000. I am going to work at this. In the next month, I am going to add another day of cross fit to make 3 with the trainer. In the fall I will be ramping up to 5-6 days a week in order to send the next year really training for regionals and then the Games!! One thing she really emphasized is I have to drop my focus of maintaining a weight (i am 178 ) and be prepared to put on weight for the functional strength that is required to compete at the cross fit games. That is my goal.

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I have been getting cramps or on the verge of cramps in calf a few times in last few weeks. Thanks for the information on preventing cramps Tally and others. I am going to be certain to drink coconut water, eat a banana with nut butter in am and apple with nut butter in the afternoon before 4 pm on a cross fit day. Also including 1-2 ounce of protein on side like chicken skewer. My carbs may have been too low for the amount of workouts I do or maybe overtraining may cause the calf cramp. I also believe dehydration may have been contributing to cramping issue from pre workout drinks (going to break habiit of using these). I love fitness and working out!!

Awesome Karin!

I will look up Pilates and see if it is something I can tryout at home. Thanks for he information on preserving muscle and toning. Do you recommend any specific pilates DVD for someone who is fit, has done yoga for about 7 months and no exposure to pilates. I saw a couple good ones on Amazon: "element: pilates weight loss for beginners" and "classical pilates technique: complete workout for the mat". I am thinking about starting with the former and graduating into the latter in due time.

Take a stroll through the vets forum and you find many answers to your questions about long term success as interpreted by many different vets. I am sure you will find a lot of information there.

Bwahahah, you would have to be super hard core to do this in public on a city block. Must had been a total emergency or they know exactly what they can get away with, except the didn't. I think BTB said way, way back in a running thread that he strictly does his business in the woods while trail running...at least only the bears and deer will be watching, and the occasional bird watcher. no offense intended BTB; hopefully, none taken.

Yup- it was only an issue yesterday. Crossing my fingers it does not happen tomorrow. The on ramp sounds awesome, like a real commitment. Way to challenge yourself! Keep reporting back how things progress. It might be similar to what I when joining cross fit except it was called "go big" and consisted of 18 training sessions. I am now on my second set of these training sessions and love it. So much I am thinking about 3 a week. Once these run out, I will do 5 days a week open gym and start serious preparation for regionals summer 2014. It is tough to even qualify.

Hey globetrotter. I do not need my "strength for life" any more and can pass that onto you by mail. It is a great approach and the basis for the transformation thread that we have been working through. It has served me well. Sorry I do not have the body for life book , but do have the body for life profiles book. I don't really need that one either. I feel that strength for life is a much better holistic approach to building strength then body for life because the techniques tend to apply to all aspects of life where body for life just focuses on building the perfect body ( for their contest). Let me know.

Super incredible curvy! Great job at pushing yourself and setting new personal records.