Well we’ve made it halfway through the twelve weeks. Although eight people missed the weigh-in on Friday night, I know at least five of them are still with us.
One guy called it in and said “don’t count me out.” Another’s working hard on the high school play. I think two are out of town, and one gal was sick. That makes three I’m not sure about. So far, 59 out of the original 60 have stuck with it. We’ll see next week.
We’ve talked a lot about the different distractions that can sidetrack you when you’re trying to make lifestyle changes like this. In the end, it’s your ability to work around things that will make you successful.
Trips are going to come up, so you need to find a way to work out while you’re on the road. My first choice is always to find a local fitness center. You might have to pay a day rate (usually around $10) but sometimes you can get a free visit.
I like fitness centers, because they’ll have all the stuff I’ll need. If one’s not available, I’ll try the hotel—often they’ll have a small workout room. Usually, it’s just a treadmill and bike, but once in awhile they’ll have some weights, too.
If neither is available, I fall back on my “hotel” workout. I’ll do a set of pushups, body squats, and then sit-ups. Then I’ll take off down the hallway, out the exit door, up the steps, back through that hallway, out that exit door, and down the steps to the original floor.
If I’m feeling especially froggy, I’ll do a couple flights. Sometimes, I’ll be at an Inn where the stairs are on the outside of the building. Then, I’ll run around the top floor, go down the steps, do the next floor, and so on.
Once I’ve made a circuit or two, I’ll go back in the room and do another set of pushups, body squats, and sit-ups and then head back out down the hallway. It doesn’t take too many circuits to get a pretty good workout and 20-30 minutes in. Not bad for being on the road.
A couple years ago, I was with my wife down in Branson, MO for a TV appearance on a small syndicated show. They had me there when my book “Bodies-in-Balance: How to Eat Right and Exercise Smart” first came out.
Branson is very hilly, and they put us in this hotel that was closed for the season. I think they rolled the sidewalks up too. It was a little weird being the only people at the hotel. It was kind of like that Steven King movie where they were at that resort that was closed for the winter. I was half expecting to see “Jack” come through the door with an axe.
Well the hotel was at the upper end of this one monster hill with some other hotels (all closed) at the other end. There was this big half mile dip in the road between them. It was so steep you could feel your ears pop when you drove down it.
So I decided I’d run down the hill and up the other side to those other hotels and then run back. I’m always up for challenges, and was curious to see how many times I could do it.
The first one wasn’t so bad. I was able to keep running, but had to slow way down to make it up the other end. Coming back, it was the same thing. I barely made it back up to our hotel, and by then, I’d only run a little more than a mile.
Being a little dense, I wondered if I could do it again. Of course, going down the hill was pretty easy, but you kind of had to slow yourself down so you wouldn’t pick up too much speed. That’s harder than you’d think, and you really feel it in your legs.
This time I had to walk the last couple hundred feet to get to the top of the hill. By then my legs felt like I’d, well, trudged up a huge hill, and I was pretty winded.
Going back was brutal. I’d way underestimated the effects of running up and down hills that big. That time I made it about halfway back up (about ¼ of a mile) and had to walk the rest of the way.
Normally I’d run 2 miles in 20 minutes or less, but that day, it took me almost a half hour to do the two laps there and back. I got my workout in, but boy were my legs shot!
Closer to home, in the Friday night workout, they learned their second free weight routine. It switches up some of the exercises and they’ll be using it for the next two weeks.
I showed them how to mix the two sets of each exercise with the Ab Routine and core exercises to keep the intensity up. Later, we’ll combine the two workouts. For now, here’s their Free Weight Workout #2:
1. Walking Lunges – Legs, Hips and Core
2. Pec Flys on the Ball – Chest and Arms
3. Bent Leg Deadlifts – Legs, Hips and lower back (this was in workout #1)
4. Pullovers on the Ball – Upper Back, Chest and Arms
5. Shoulder Press – Shoulders and Triceps
6. Bicep Curls – Biceps and Forearms
7. Tricep Kickbacks -- Triceps
8. Ab Routine #1-5: Crunches with Knees Bent; with Legs up in the air; crossing over to one side; crossing to the other side; and Leg Lifts.
Our winner this week was Michele Everetts, who lost 2.3% of her body weight and an amazing 5.0 lbs. She won a $20 Wal-Mart gift card from Terry Elston and State Farm Insurance. Michele also won a well-deserved certificate for a massage from Bridgett’s Therapeutic Massage.
Second place went to Gary Goodman who lost 1.9% of his body weight and 3.7 lbs. Third place went to a surprised Katy Kennedy, who lost 1.7% of her body weight and 3.4 lbs.
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