Posts by turnthequietup

If you've got a track at your disposal, try sprinting on the track.  I never found I could sprint on a treadmill, I mean I could run fast but not sprint.  Real full-out sprints might make the difference if you've got some straight, flat ground to do them on.  (I've got an indoor track... I'm very, very lucky.)

Yeah, if you don't feel tired when you're done... well, congratulations, you're fitter than you thought.  :)  Unfortunately, you just have to work harder.  You could try replacing the 1 min. intervals with more of the 30 second ones.  I find that short, super-fast bursts burn me out quicker.

Ditto.  And squats.

I've worked in a cubicle since (and all during) college and my butt is only getting better the longer I've been lifting weights.  Some good, heavy weight training is all you need.  Cubicle butt is not inevitable, thank goodness.  :)

Original Post by dkenworthy:

• They don't much like food -- they truly eat to live rather than live to eat.  My father's mother fell into this category, she saw meals as a necessary chore, not a pleasure.

That's me.  Occasionally, I'll get a craving for something, but for the most part I eat to get rid of the feeling of hunger.  Eating itsn't an unpleasant thing at all, but it's not something I look forward to much either.  It's just something I have to do.  Oddly enough, I've noticed I have a very keen sense of "fullness" on top of that.  There's a very fine line for me between full and I-don't-feel-so-good full that I notice other folks don't seem to have.

I think it's that sensation of fullness that has helped me stay about the same size for the last 10 years.  When I got into running in college, my apetite ramped up accordingly and it took significantly more food to get to the same feeling of "full".  As soon as I stopped running (injury), my apetite dropped.  I'm not sure if it's genetics but I do consider myself very, very lucky because I know some folks never get to the point of feeling that same fullness.  My mom, for one, has dieted most of her adult life and has told me before, she only occasionally feels full after a meal.

I agree with what mawata said about just not liking the taste of certain foods.  I tend to like blander foods.  Most overly sweet/salty/oily foods just don't appeal to me at all - meaning most fast food.

Hmmm... maybe chinups?

Never tried these but I recently stumbled across the "inverted burpee"!

Bruised and swollen?  Yikes, I wonder if you don't have a full-on sprain.  I had a mid-foot sprain two years ago, and in contrast to the planar fasciitis, the sprain I genuinely couldn't put weight on for a couple of weeks - not because I didn't want to but because it just hurt too bad.  Try the tape, but if it is still downright uncomfortable with the tape, you might just have to stay off it after all.

The only thing I can say from experience is that the sprain and the PF both seemed to be the kind of injuries that healed to about 90% in a relatively short period of time (between 2 wks. to a month).  In both cases it probably took about another month for the last of the pain/soreness to go away but I was quite functional during that time.  (It probably took so long to get to 100% because I got up and moving again as soon as I could...)

If your foot really hurts, just stay off of it.  Better to miss out on a few stateside workouts than aggravate your injury and be laid up for most of your stay in Europe, you know?

As far as weights go, for comparison, I'm 5'6", eating at roughly maintenance, and I do a heavy 5x5 (sets x reps) program (heavy for me, right now, is 140# back squats, 80# bench presses, 90# lunges, etc.).  It has tightened my up all over, but that said, I don't have excess fat that I'm trying to lose.  If you've still got weight to lose, you might do best to divide your time between your chosen form of cardio and weights.

If you're more or less at a bodyweight you're comfortable with, hit the weights hard.  As long as you're not eating wildly in excess of your burn rate, any muscle you build will come slowly.  As far as programs go, I'm a fan of Starting Strength but I know quite a few women on these forums are following the New Rules of Lifting for Women plan.  Then again Stumptuous.com has a variety of workout plans you might want to start with - plus articles galore on form, etc.  Pick a program and give it an honest shot - at least a couple of months - before you expect to see any dramatic results.

Well, as for hulking out, if you do, make sure you post before and after pics, so at least we can see it! :)

I'm going to be one of those people who says you can't spot reduce - yes, you can spot build (muscle) - but you can't burn off fat in specific areas unfortunately.  If you've got an overall calorie deficit, you will lose weight, although typically, for females, your belly and your thighs are going to be the last place you'll lose any fat from. :/

Use the tools on CC to make sure you've got a calorie deficit and as far as workouts go, think about adding in some HIIT (interval cardio - sprints being the most obvious example) and some weight lifting.  The weight lifting will help to maintain your muscle mass as you lose fat.  I say "maintain" because if you're taking in fewer calories than you're burning, you won't be building any appreciable muscle.  Squats, deadlifts, pushups, pull-ups, rows, overhead presses, planks, and floggingsully's Pallof presses are all great exercises to take a look at (and they burn quite a few calories, too).

Ditto.

If I incorporate a new exercise into my routine or jump my weights up 5/10 lbs. I'll get a little sore for the next couple of days but it's mild.  I wouldn't read much into soreness.  The longer you lift, the less DOMS you'll get.  As long as you're making measurable progress, well, that's what's important.

Dead, squat, & bench - ah, they're wonderful. :)

I used to be the typical girl - I ran 5x a week and did yoga.  I made the switch to heavy lifting about a year and a half ago and haven't looked back since.  It made me stronger and it did absolutely awesome things for my shape.  I just can't recommend it enough...  I've only gotten one of my friends to try barbell squats and I'm not sure she appreciated it: she couldn't walk for a week afterwards.

I'm trying to teach myself the olympic lifts right now.  The book I'm using (yes, book... it's a small town, I've got nobody to coach me) has me learning the snatch before the clean/jerk.  So, I'm working on mastering overhead squats at the moment. :)

Melkor explains it really well here.

Ever tried GOMAD - gallon of (whole) milk a day?  You couldn't do it indefinitely but I've heard that GOMAD for a month + a full body lifting routine will put some meat on ya.

The soreness will get better with time - i.e. in a few weeks, the same workout won't make you nearly as sore.  You're body will adapt quickly.  As long as you're keeping your weight challenging, it doesn't mean you're not still getting a good workout, though.

I've heard it's ok to push through that soreness - you may very well even feel better after you workout, as hard as that is to believe.  I only tried it once and it actually worked great, but it was a plyo workout.  I suppose the key is to make sure you're getting in a good warmup beforehand.  Try to work out tomorrow, if it's just too unpleasant or if your form suffers, by all means, skip it.  It's not worth the risk of compromising your form.

The plain-old-tiredness is just a fact of life.  I've done the falling down thing too!  If I work out in the mornings (we're talking sort of a powerlifting-style workout), by late afternoon, I usually feel like flopping down on the couch and laying down for a while - my body just doesn't want to hold me up anymore.

Good for you for getting back in the gym!

What do your workouts look like? Can you be a little more specific? Is your goal primarily to lose body fat?

It wouldn't be a bad idea to incorporate some weight lifting into your program if you're not already doing it (couldn't tell from the post) - as far as that goes, compound movements are king (a la Sully's #3).

Original Post by carmenxox:

when you look at a fitness magazine, you see the cover model first. A good rule of thumb is to make sure that the cover girl has MUSCLE DEFFINITON. It's so sickening to see all these skinny-fat airbrushed chicks on all those so-called fitness and health magazines when they have probably never picked up a weight heavier then 2lbs in their life, or have done a real pushup!!

I know! I picked up Fitness the other day and flipped through their "bikini body" workout while I was in line at the grocery store.  The moves weren't terrible - lots of lunge and half-squat variations (unweighted of course) - but the model demonstrating them looked like a twig! Rail thin, completely unathletic.  Sad.

I've had it - best thing I can recommend is taping it:

http://www.heel-that-pain.com/plantar_fasciit is/taping/plantar_fasciitis_taping.php

The nice part is althetic tape costs about $1.50.  When you've got the tape off, stretch your foot too:

http://www.aafp.org/afp/20051201/2237_f1.jpg

Those together did wonders for my foot - it healed right up in about two weeks (to my surprise).

Edit: On a side note, I was able to continue weight lifting through it - squats, etc. - with some good squishy shoes on.