Category Archives: video

Lifting Move of the Week: Deadlift/row combo

Dark and rainy this morning. I drove to the gym, although it was certainly warm enough to bike. I just don’t ride in the dark (or rain)

Exercise	Set/rep/weight	Muscle worked
Barbell Deadlift/Row	3 set of 8 at 65#	Full body
Barbell Chest Press (close grip)	3 sets of 10 at 45# (yay!)	Chest
Dumbbell Pliet Squat	3 sets of 10 with 40# DB	Lower body
Horizontal Wood Chop	3 sets of 10 (each side) at 30#	Core
2-point row	3 sets of 8 with 25# DBs (50# total)	Back
Calf Raise	3 sets of 10 at 140#	Calves
Triceps Pulldown	3 sets of 15 at 30#	Triceps
Good Morning	3 sets of 10 at 45#	Lower back and hammies
Bent lateral raise	3 sets of 12 with 10# DBs (20# total)	Shoulders

It was so humid today that we were all sweating at the gym. I was thinking how sweaty I was feeling and then somebody else mentioned it, too LOL!

I came home and made some protein waffles topped with apple cranberry topping.

Looks good, no? Oui!

Lifting Move of the Week: The Deadlift Row Combo!
Have I done this one recently? I can’t remember LOL! I have talked about this move before while I was doing NROLW, but kind of forgot about doing it and just started bringing it back into my routine. Now I remember why it is one of my favorites! It’s a whole body exercise. What you do is basically a stiff-legged deadlift and instead of standing back up again, do a row with the weights and then stand up.

You can use a bar or dumbbells for this. When pulling the weight up for the row, be careful not to pull too high up towards your chest or you will activate your shoulders instead of your back. We don’t want any injuries 😀

Good stuff.

I made bread yesterday, so I wanted to have that with lunch. I decided to make a pressed sandwich with the waffle iron. Good for so much more than waffles! Did you know that you can cook bacon in a waffle iron? It’s true!

This was cooked chicken, laughing cow, and a bit of blueberry jam. Very tasty. I think I could have let the sandwich get toastier, but it was nice and warm.

The pink item of the day is for Jody and Ish. Pink nose!

Very productive day at work. Actually it has been a very productive week so far (I just typed ‘fat’ – Freudian slip?). Break time was a protein latte and a Luna bar. Oatmeal Raisin

I do like the Luna Bars.

It was so warm again this afternoon. In the 60s! I was able to go out before dinner and work on the new side garden bed. One of my goals this month was to get that 10 foot section tilled and removed of grass, which I finished up today. That’s some good exercise. I also will have some blooming photos on Friday, if you can believe it!

More chicken for dinner. This was an apple chicken sausage from the smokehouse. Too bad we didn’t have any buns. I like these a lot.

I can’t believe how dark it gets early now. It feels so much later. And of course it will only get worse next week after DST clock change. It’s Halloween week, so we were watching some TV after dinner:

Snack of some dried fruit. We had a coupon for this brand –

Dang these are good!

I am not particular with too many brands. Usually store brands are fine with me on most stuff, and even with coupons it can still be cheaper to get store brands versus name brand. However, I am willing to try anything with a coupon pretty much. I will say this is good… really good!

Question: Are you a coupon clipper?

Lifting Move of the Week – Front Raise

I woke up this morning and had a quick Luna Bar before biking to the gym. It was just getting light out.

I thought them temp was supposed to be in the 30s, so I layered up and biked. Turns out it was 29 😯

Quiet gym today. I think it will get less and less crowded as the year finishes out.

Exercise	Set/rep/weight	Muscle worked
Stiff-legged deadlifts	3 sets of 10 at 80#	Lower body
Seated Lat Row	Reverse pyramid of 1 set of 4 at 85# 1 set of 6 at 70# 1 set of 8 at 55# 1 set of 12 at 40#	Back
Pliet Squat	3 sets of 10 with 40# DB	Lower body
Front Raise	3 sets of 12 with 8# DBs (16# total)	Shoulders
Horizontal Wood Chop	3 sets of 10 (each side) at 30#	Core
Good Mornings	3 sets of 10 at 45#	Low back and hammies
Biceps curls	3 sets of 10 with 30# EZ curl bar	Biceps
Bench Dips	3 sets of 10	Triceps
Seated Calf Raise	3 sets of 10 at 110#	Calves

John texted me that he got a late start, so I filmed a video today. I keep trying to get the good morning, but it is really hard to find a place to put the camera and get everything. Once John got to the gym, we headed out to Cool Beans. Chilly ride, I have to say!

My wheat bagel:

Good company while reading the paper:

The sun was shining, which was nice, but it was still a cold ride home. Probably not too many breakfast rides left for the year.

Lifting Move of the Week: The Front Raise. This is a shoulder move, and more specifically, an isolation move for the front (or anterior deltoid for those that want to know). It is important not to use a heavy weight for this one. Other than it being really hard – you certainly don’t want to hurt yourself. Raise the weights straight up in front of you to 90 degrees and lower down. Don’t push off or use your back to lift the weights. If you are doing that, the weights are too heavy. I am using 5# DBs in the video and usually use 8#, but not much more.

The face in the video is probably why not many people talk to me when I am lifting. I look pretty serious

Lunch time today included baked clam strips. They were toasty warm, which was nice after trying to warm up from that bike ride this morning!

Did you know that today is Love Your Body Day? I will shout out now that I love my thighs! They do everything I ask of them and more. They are strong and carry me through life.

Snack time:

John made up brownies last night from a mix. I was doing a no-added sugar day and boy was it tough not to eat one! But, I knew they would still be there for today.

I kind of was snacky today. I had some cereal:

I spied my pink picture of the day while John was doing laundry! This is his basket:

It looks more pink in person. Must have been the lighting.

Cooked up some chicken for dinner. I found out that the chicken sold at our local smokehouse comes from Georgia. WTF?? Not all of the meat is local from there, so it will be on to plan B (one of the other smoke houses).

Question: What part of your body are you loving today?

Lifting Move of the Week: Straight Arm Pull Down

Okay – you guys totally crack me up with the comments yesterday! Not sure I am going to eat any more Brazil nuts…

It was dark and rainy when I got up. I drank a protein drink before going to the gym, which was just plain whey isolate in milk. No flavor or sweetener. The isolate is the only type I can do this with. I decided today was a no-added sugar day, so I drank it straight up. Yep – I am hard core!

Exercise	Set/rep/weight	Muscle worked
Barbell Deadlift	3 sets of 10 at 75#	Lower body
Straight Arm Pull Down	3 sets of 12 at 50#	Back
Barbell Chest Press	3 sets of 8 at 55#	Chest
Planks	2 holds of 75 seconds 1 hold of 1 minute	Core
Standing 1-leg calf raise	3 sets of 10 each leg with 15# DBs (30# total)	Calves and balance!
Prone Cuban Snatch	3 sets of 10 with 10# DBs (20# total)	Shoulders
Lower Back Extension	3 sets of 10 at 100#	Back
Overhead Press	3 sets of 12 with 12# DBs (24# total)	Triceps

It was pouring when I finished. Good thing I didn’t bike. I went home and picked up John and we had bagels! Off to Panera Bread. It was freezing there, as per usual. What is up with that?? I needed a non sweet bagel, so I decided on a sesame today.

Lifting Move of the Week: The Straight Arm Pull Down:

This is just a nice break from the seated lat pull down. The real trick is to keep the movement happening in your back and not your arms. Practice with just holding your arms out in front of you (go ahead and do it now) and lift and raise and notice the feeling in your back. It helps to draw your shoulder blades back. That is the feeling you are looking for (feeling for?).

Break from work for lunch time! When you do a no sugar day, it really makes you have to pause and think about what you are eating more than usual. No yogurt with cereal today! I decided on a nice omelet with a laughing cow wedge and sauteed broccoli. Plus a baby macintosh apple. These are small apples!

I was talking to John about how good it was and he just made a funny face. He doesn’t like the laughing cow or broccoli. What is wrong with him, anyway?

I totally got absorbed in work until John brought out my afternoon latte. He actually had forgotten my no sugar today and put pumpkin drizzle on top of it, but then scraped it off. Now that is thoughtful. He also puts some whey isolate in it as well for that protein boost.

Caffeine Power! Good thing caffeine is not an illegal drug or I would have quite the problem.

Yesterday, Shelley asked when the duathlon is. It is the 17th, so about a week and a half away. We actually have not signed up for it yet because it is totally weather dependent on us doing it. I will not do it if it is raining, as the bike event is scary in the rain (not to mention totally miserable). I decided if the actual race day doesn’t happen, I will go ahead and do it on my own on a nicer day since I have been training.

John also made dinner tonight. Not only do we have a plethora of apples, we have a platoon of potatoes! I don’t know what he was thinking when he shopped over the weekend. So, he made a low fat bacon potato soup.

It was pretty good. Think I got enough cinnamon on that pear? I have probably had 2 tsp today

My evening task? Coffee roasting. This is my set up.

I wish I could hook up my 1 kilogram roaster, but it needs 3 phase 200 amp power, which would be about $800 to do. So it languishes in the garage.

This is decaf I am roasting to have tonight. I wish I could have some of that apple cobbler tonight, but it will still be there tomorrow (I hope). I will likely have some more fruit.

Gratuitous Pixie.

For some reason, Pixie likes the umbrella. She always gets under it when we dry one out.

Pink item of the day! My camera case, which also doubles as my wallet. A food/fitness blogger must always be prepared 😀

Question: Do you go back and read comments on blogs or do you forget?

Lifting Move of the Week – Plie Squat!

Thank you all for the kind anniversary wishes! I know I have said this before, but even though I don’t have tons of material things and wealth and all that, I am very rich in other ways, family being one of them.

I headed up to the gym today and it was somewhat warm. That good fall kind of warm.

Exercise	Set/rep/weight	Muscle worked
Stiff-leg deadlift	3 sets of 10 at 75#	Lower body
Dumbbell Chest Press	3 sets of 12 with 20# DBs (40# total)	Chest
Seated Lat Row	Pyramid of 1 set of 12 at 40# 1 set of 10 at 55# 1 set of 8 at 70# 1 set of 6 at 85# – D’oh!	Back
Plie squats	3 sets of 12 with 35# DB	Lower body
Horizontal Wood Chop	3 sets of 10 (each side) at 30#	Core
Nosebreakers	3 sets of 10 at 30#	Triceps
Reverse fly on bench	3 sets of 8 with 12# DBs (24# total)	Shoulders
Lower Back Extension	3 sets of 10 at 100#	Low Back
Seated Calf Raise	3 sets of 10 at 110#	Calves

We flipped bagel day this week to be on Wednesday, so John met me at the gym and we biked the rest of the way to Cool Beans.

I was happy to have bagels a day early!

Sesame seed deliciousness!

I was tired biking to and from bagels after the strength workout. I even had a protein drink beforehand, but it still is just tiring to do cardio on those days, but what are you going to do?

Lifting Move of the Week: Plie Squat! Yes, I did a squat move last week, but this is a fun and non-intimidating exercise. It is like a dumbbell squat, only your feet are pointed out and you have 1 dumbbell between your legs that you lift. Make sure your knees and toes are pointed in the same direction. Same other rules as the squat apply.

I like this move because I can feel my inner thighs working a lot more. This is one move where I can still feel the difference in leg strength due to my herniated disk (6 months later, thank you).

Got right to work when we got back from the gym. I need to play a bit of catch-up because I knocked off early last night so we could have an evening together with dinner and coffee out.

Lunch time:

4-day-old leftover pizza. Very gourmand, I must say… I really felt protein deficient from this, so I had one of these:

Today has been a calorie creep kind of day. Know what I am talking about?

I had a bit of dark chocolate:

And then a latte. I’ll have to do a little picture demo of our cheapo machine for these. 😀

Just so darn hungry. All this will show on the scale for the monthly wrap up tomorrow, but these things happen.

John grilled up some boneless pork chops for dinner. Yum! It’s a nice change from chicken

Must get this posted and get back to work!

I have a brick scheduled for tomorrow, but we are supposed to get inundated with Irene rain, so it may be at the gym again. Sigh… better change the batteries in my mp3 player for that.

**Attune Munch Granola Giveaway ends on Thursday!**

Lifting Move of the Week: The Squat

Happy Hump Day to all! It’s Wednesday, so you know it is the Lifting Move of the Week! Since this is an important exercise, I am just basically going to talk about this by itself today.

Here was my workout this morning:

Exercise	Set/rep/weight	Muscle worked
Barbell Squats	3 sets of 10 at 55#	Lower body
Seated Lat Row	3 set of 10 at 55#	Back
Barbell Chest Press	3 sets of 10 at 55#	Chest
Planks	3 sets of 75 second holds	Core
Alternating reverse lunges	3 sets of 15 each leg	Lower body
Ahnold Press	3 sets of 12 with 10# DBs (20# total)	Shoulders
Good Mornings	3 sets of 10 at 45#	Low back and hammies
Triceps Kickback	3 sets of 15 with 15# DBs (30# total)	Triceps

I haven’t done the planks in over 2 weeks and I could feel it! Again, someone felt the desire to talk to me while I was doing them. Saying they looked harder than pushups. Good thing I was looking at the floor so he couldn’t see my eyes roll…

Anyway, as you know by the title, the Lifting Move of the Week is: The Squat!

I was a wee bit hesitant to actually post a video and talk about the squat because there certainly are strong opinions about it and what is “right” and what is “wrong.” With squats, there can be some variety of the minutae because of different body types, but there are some general things to do or avoid.

Some people say they can’t do squats because of knee problems, but truthfully, good squat form does not put that much pressure on your knees. Most people tend to squat too far forward. When you are doing a squat, you should be able to wiggle your toes and lift them off the floor at all times. If you cannot do this, then you are putting too much pressure on your knees. Think of sitting back onto your heels, as those really are what drive the force of the squat.

Knee problems with squats also can occur because you don’t go deep enough. This means your legs never get to parallel or past.

Source

This actually is okay if you have the chair in front of you to support your forward weight. I see a lot of people, guys especially, load up the barbell and partial squat. I die at how their knees must feel stopping at that point fully loaded. When you stop part way down, this is what causes the greatest stress to the knee instead of passing through this point to where your muscles take over.

So, here is my version of the squat. I wish I could have had a different camera angle because you can’t see my feet and it does not look like I am going past parallel (which I am) , but I had to use what I could attach the camera to for this. Maybe when I get paid to do this, then I will get a fancy set up

Notice that my lower back does round a tiny bit at the bottom. This is referred to as butt wink. And hooray thinking of the Google hits I will get with this post. After doing much reading, I don’t mind the rounding when I go past parallel for 2 reasons. One, it is just really hard to keep your lower back arched once you go past parallel, which I think is a function of the way I am built. The other is that when I try to keep that arch in my lower back, then I tilt forward too much and go off center as my hips rise faster than the rest of me, which is not good either. Personally, I would rather just have a little bit of rounding and stay stable. Again, just my opinion. (This video also gives me some things to work on with my squat that I don’t see from viewing myself in the mirror.)

Maybe someday I will get to this:

The most important thing with squats is form. It’s better to do 1 perfect squat with no weights than 20 done poorly with heavy weights just to say “I squatted my body weight.”

If you want to see the perfect example of squat form and how easy and free they are, just watch kids.

Source

They squat naturally ass-to-grass without thinking about balance or anything like that.

** I am not a doctor, personal trainer, or other person of degreed knowledge. Take any of my musings with 2 grains of kosher salt and do your reading**

Lifting move of the week – Triceps Pulldown

Yay- the return of lifting. I missed it. My last session was last Monday! I drank some protein and then biked a cold ride to the gym. I don’t think it was quite 50 degrees. Must remember to put on one more layer nowadays.

I was ready to throw around some iron.

Exercise	Set/rep/weight	Muscle worked
Barbell Stiff-legged Deadlifts	3 sets of 10 at 75#	Lower body
Dumbbell Chest Press	3 set of 15 with 20# DBs (40# total)	Chest
Lying Leg Press	3 sets of 10 at 100#	Lower body
Seated Lat Row	Pyramid with 1 set of 12 at 45# 1 set of 10 at 55# 1 set of 8 at 70# 1 set of 6 (barely) at 85#	Back
Reverse crunches on a bench	3 sets of 15	Abs
Front Raise	3 sets of 12 with 8# DBs (16# total)	Shoulders
Triceps Pulldown	3 sets of 15 at 30#	Triceps
Seated Calf Raise	3 sets of 10 at 110#	Calves

My gym was a little less crowded today. Think the college kids went back to school. Funny note, I was talking to a couple women today that said they missed me last week. I told them about my ride on Sunday and one asked “How many days did you ride to do 62 miles?” LOL! I said one and I thought she was going to fall off of her piece of equipment.

I biked home pretty hungry. Banana custard cream of wheat with the yin and yang of PB and Jam!

Time for the Lifting Move of the Week! I need to record more videos as this was the last one of that big recording day I did 😀 This week’s move is the Triceps Pulldown. This is using my favorite piece of equipment – the cable machine. Using the rope attachment, lock the pulley up high. Then pull down keeping your elbows tucked into your sides and keeping your abs tight. It is tough to keep your elbows from moving.

Lunch break today was an open faced tuna sammie and a delicious plum!

After an hour, I was feeling hungry again, especially for protein, so I had a Balance bar.

My little butterfly friend was hungry as well. I think he is single handedly going to suck this plant dry. This picture was taken through our new windows, too!

I’m loving the new windows 😀

John brought me a latte and I took a break from work to enjoy:

After I finished up work for the day, I was ready for my football dinner We biked to Rockhill Bakehouse. That actually was not my first choice, but the original place changed their hours to lunch only. It is pretty cool today, so I was in the mood for some soup! This place serves local products, so we are free to choose anything on the menu!

This was a pork and apple soup. Served with a sampling of breads. (I thought of you, Jody!)

With organic coffee on the side.

Yum! We couldn’t dilly dally too long because it gets dark earlier now. We did stop on the way home and buy tickets to the Irish Fest this weekend! Two of our favorite groups are playing, Gaelic Storm and Lunasa. Yay!

Now it’s getting warmed up at home. That was a chilly ride home. Tomorrow morning will be in the 40s for our bagel ride tomorrow morning. Frost advisory overnight, can you believe it?

Looking for some inspiration? Go head over to Kim’s blog and check out her recap of her first 1/2 iron woman race she did on Sunday. Take my charity ride and precede it with a 1.2 mile swim and then follow it with a 1/2 marathon. Unbelievable!

Question: Are temps falling where you are?

Lifting Move of the Week

Up bright and early today and biked to the gym. I was there by 6:30! That is 1/2 hour earlier than I normally am there.

I hopped on the treadmill with the intention of only doing 1.5 miles, but it really felt good, so I kept going. Ever have that happen? I was doing 5.5 to 6 mph and ended up with 3 miles. I never run that much before lifting. Oooops.

Exercise	Set/rep/weight	Muscle worked
Seated lat rows	3 sets of 12 at 45#	Back
Lying leg press	3 set of 10 at 100#	Lower body
Incline Chest Fly	3 sets of 15 with 15# DBs (30# total)	Chest
Horizontal Wood Chop	3 sets of 10 at 30# (each side)	Core
Good mornings	3 sets of 12 with 35# bar	Hammies and lower back
Arnold Press	3 sets of 15 with 10# DBs (20# total)	Shoulders
Nosebreakers	3 sets of 15 at 20#	Triceps

I was pretty tired at this point. Even though I had a protein drink before leaving the house, I was really hungry!

Came home and made custard oats topped with almond butter and honey fluff (recipe coming soon).

Can I just say “wow?” I actually had to get up and walk away from breakfast for a minute because I was eating too fast (being mindful!).

I got to work early, as the window people were coming to start the big installation. Hot day to do it, too. Poor guys.

Lifting Move of the Week: The Horizontal Wood Chop!

This is for your core. The object is to use your core muscle to move the weight, not your arms. Keep the lower body still. Lighter weights allow you to use your core and not the arms. To do this at home, just use a dumbbell and go along the same path.

Enjoy!

Lunch time and the house was getting warm because of the AC being unhooked. Nothing like no AC on a 90+ degree day, right? I wanted a cool lunch:

Greek yogurt, Uncle Sam’s, and berries! It was very good. Although, I was still a little hungry after this, so I had a Luna Bar.

New flavor to me and I liked it.

Since the men were moving into my work area with window taping (not to mention I was getting too hot!), I moved upstairs to sit in air conditioned comfort while I worked. Since we have a 100-year-old house, there is lead remediation to be done. Windows barriered on the inside:

Snack time!

With a latte.

The downstairs was done by dinner time. How exciting! Old windows. These windows were 100 years old with the original rope pulleys and wavy glass (some broken).Not all of the windows even opened:

And yes, our neighbor’s house is that close to ours on that side.

New windows are tilt ins, E-glass and insulated. I’ll get pictures of those up tomorrow. Happy, happy! This will make a world of difference with our heating bills this winter. I am just dorky enough to be excited about cleaning the windows now. I couldn’t do the upstairs ones from the inside before.

Dinner was a scrambled egg open faced sammie.

Gonna need more bread soon. One thing I have done, which you probably might have noticed, is increased my bread consumption in the past couple of months. That is a result of all of this bike riding I am doing and I am adjusting the diet to include more carbs.

Tonight involves a trip down to see my niece for her 11th birthday and have some cupcakes! I’ll try to just have one.

Question: Are there any moves in particular you would like me to video?

Lifting Move of The Week – Squat to Row

Happy Hump Day! Sort of. When you work 6 days, where is the hump exactly? Guess that would be tonight. Anyhoo, I decided to chance the gray skies and bike to the gym. First I quaffed a protein beverage:

Then headed out.

The air in the gym was all wavy from the amount of testosterone today. It was kind of funny as there was a group of 8 young men and one was obviously the ‘leader’ as they all followed him around the gym like chicks after a mother hen. I was not going to let them intimdate me out of free weight area, either. I made sure to scrub down everything really well that I used before I touched it. There was so much testosterone around that I didn’t want to grow anything unwanted…

Exercise	Set/rep/weight	Muscle worked
Barbell split squats	3 sets of 10 with 65# bar	Lower body
Dumbbell Chest Press	3 set of 12 with 20# DBs (40# total)	Chest
Seated Lat Row	3 sets of 10 at 55#	Back
YTWL	3 sets of 4 (each letter) with 8# DBs	Shoulders
Cable Squat-to-Row	3 sets of 12 at 50#	Full body
Horizontal Wood Chop	3 sets of 12 at 20#	Core
Seated calf raise	3 sets of 10 at 110#	Calves
Arnold Press	3 sets of 12 with 10# DBs (20# total)	Shoulders

I notice I did 2 shoulder exercises today. Ooops. That’s what happens when there are so many people in the gym that you forget where you were.

I biked home to brekkie and some protein waffles!

Topped with a little honey fluff. I’ll get a recipe post of this up. It’s life changingly good. I put it in the recipe book, too (which is almost done).

Lifting Move of the Week: Cable Squat-to-Row. I have posted this before a long time ago, but I do love this move. Short on time? Work the entire body with this. You could also do it at home with a resistance band around a door knob (or something to that effect).

I love how the weight on the cable allows me to get all the way down for the squat. Today I did lighter weights and more reps and it got my heart rate up. It’s sort of like doing the rowing machine only standing. Obviously an older video with the longer hair 😀

Workie, workie! I am getting much faster with job #2 as I get more and more familiar with the doctors. That makes the days a little shorter that way. It’s a good thing.

Took a lunch break for some greek yogurt and cereal!

One serving of Newman’s Own Sweet Enough cereal on the bottom of this bowl. Dang a single portion size is so tiny. This is why I don’t have cereal with just milk as the serving is too dinky. I like to bulk it up with yogurt and fruit.

Payday for one of my jobs was today, so I socked that right towards the new bike. Just a little more craziness and I might make it. I had a latte for a snack, plus a couple of these.

Think I am going a little crazy? You wouldn’t be incorrect.

One thing I have noticed in all of this is that I am really not stress snacking. I would say I am proud of that, but to be honest I just hadn’t noticed I was not snacking and was not consciously trying to avoid it. Maybe that is pride worthy in itself…

Another fast dinner.

The baked crab cakes I use are Smart Option brand, which I believe is a store brand for Hannaford. This is one of those things that I kind of close my eyes on the ingredients. The nutritional stats aren’t bad, and they are inexpensive – hence they enter the house for quick meals. Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do.

I am posting from Starbies tonight. Needed a break, so after I got most of my work done, we are here now and I can internet and catch up on emails and blog stuff.

This bush is outside. Does anyone know what it is?

Decaf!

Plus I snagged half of one of John’s chocolate grahams. Most times he doesn’t mind me taking some of his dessert, as long as it is too many bites

Lifting Move of the week – The Face Pull

Off to the gym on my new bike this morning. It was a fast ride there. Definitely take some getting used to, I have to say. I locked it up at the gym and kept looking out the big windows to make sure it was still there LOL!

I am now working on some endurance, so I have lowered the weights and increased the reps a little bit.

Exercise	Set/rep/weight	Muscle worked
Barbell deadlift	3 sets of 10 with 65# bar	Lower body
Dumbbell Chest Press	3 set of 12 with at 20# DBs (40# total)	Chest
Cable Squat to Row	3 sets of 12 at 50#	Full body
Dumbbell pullover	3 sets of 12 with 20# DB	Back
Captain’s Chair	3 sets of 10	Abs
Seated calf raise	3 sets of 10 at 110#	Calves
Face Pull	3 sets of 12 wat 20#	Shoulders
Nosebreakers	3 sets of 12 with 25# bar	Triceps
Good Mornings	3 sets of 12 with 35# bar	Lower back and hammies

Note to self – Don’t be surprised when you do more reps that the workout takes longer…..

I then biked home. It felt fast. I didn’t have the computer on my bike yet this morning, so I don’t know exactly what my speed was and didn’t think to time it (with pre-coffee and all, that isn’t surprising), but it seemed fast. LOL.

I was ready for some brekkie! I mashed up a banana and cooked it with whole grain cream of wheat and topped with PB and jam. Breakfast of champions!

I would have had egg whites in there, but forgot those at the store the other day. I swear my head is just not quite on right lately.

Lifting Move of The Week: The Face Pull. No, it isn’t plastic surgery! This is actually a shoulder move and a fun one to do. You need to either be at the cable machine or you could also to this at home with a resistance band.

When you pull, think of pinching your shoulder blades together. That keeps the focus on the shoulders and not the arms. I split my legs as you can see in the video to keep from leaning. I found that if I stood with my legs together, I was leaning back and using my arms more than my shoulders, but that is just me. Your mileage may vary.

Lunch time included a bit of everything:

I should quit showing my lunches as they are boring during this heavy duty work phase I am in. I just need quick!

Saw that my choosing a bike post from yesterday has made it onto the homepage of FoodBuzz in the health section!

The dork in me gets excited about stuff like that!

I won’t bore you with the latte and chocolate snack I had. Groundhog Day anyone?? (I’ve got you, babe)

John left this afternoon to go to another bike shop to look for himself. Fran had mentioned the lack of bikes now, but up here in the North Country, biking season doesn’t last all year. Most shops will also sell winter sports stuff, so they aren’t buying new bikes because the season is ending soon (for wimps ) and they need to gear up for ski season. However, that does mean some good deals!

Dinner time was a BBQ chicken salad and a POMtail.

Then I went back to work impatiently waiting for John to get home. He came home with a Specialized hybrid bike. I hope he isn’t too much faster than me! That meant we could go on a ride for this!

How long has it been since you have seen frozen yogurt on here?? Too long, I say. This was macaroon flavor with raspberry sauce. Yummers.

It was a good ride. Definitely faster than the old bikes, which I would hope to be the case! Broke in the bike with 16 miles today. Tomorrow we are biking to bagels, so another good ride. We will see how it feels!

Now I have to get back to work for another hour tonight.

Question: What are your quick go-to lunches?

Lifting move of the week – barbell chest press

Ahhh – less humid today! Felt good to step outside this morning when I headed to the gym. This is a fountain that I pass to and from the gym. I really only get this close to it on the way home, which is a nice treat after working out.

I ran a mile on the treadmill for a warmup.

Exercise	Set/rep/weight	Muscle worked
Barbell split squat	3 sets of 10 with 55# bar	Lower body
Dumbbell 2-point row	3 set of 8 with at 25# DBs (50# total)	Back
Lying leg press	3 sets of 10 at 100#	Lower body
Barbell Chest Press	3 sets of 8 at 55#	Chest
Reverse crunches	3 sets of 15	Abs
Lateral Raise	3 sets of 10 with 8# DBs (16# total)	Shoulders
Good mornings	3 sets of 10 with 35# bar	Low back and hammies
Overhead french press	3 sets of 10 with 10# DBs (20# total)	Triceps

I was going to run a little more, but then changed my mind and just biked home as my tummy was growling. My snack didn’t last very long.

I was craving nut butter today, so I made banana custard cream of wheat and topped with some cinnamon PB I made the other day and some homemade strawberry jam.

Very, very tasty.

Lifting Move of the Week: The barbell chest press! You can do this with dumbbells or a barbell. It’s actually easier to do 55# with the barbell than using two 25# DBs, at least for me. I keep my feet up on the bench as I do with most lying bench workouts because I am short. If I place my feet on the floor, then my lower back arches. If you are taller , you can put your feet on the floor. Keep your abs in and don’t lock your elbows at the top.

Note, this is one exercise where I don’t go much heavier than 65# as I don’t usually have a spotter (using 55# in the video). This is really a classic move to build the chest muscles. Ladies – building up your chest will really give you some ‘youth’, if you know what I mean. Good underlying muscular structure makes things appear higher. 🙂

Lunch time! I made a quick lunch today. Just a standard tuna salad with lemon pepper on top.

Wheat Thins Fiber Select crackers. These are quite good!

I think I am close to going down to part time with job #1. It’s starting to wear on me a bit. I noticed I have been saying that more and more, so it is about time to let part of that safety net go.

Snack time!

I’m not in a rut or anything, am I?

Not as humid today, but it is still hot! I let the latte sit for a while before consuming.

Dinner time included an open face BBQ chicken sammie with laughing cow.

Standard brussels. I just shred and sautee in a tsp of coconut oil with salt and pepper. It only takes 5 or 6 minutes to cook them this way and they get some crispy brown bits on them. Mmmmm…. caramelization….

I have to say that I am doing really well on not snacking while cooking anymore. I still use the altoids, but not as often. I think I might have broken that habit. Now must keep it broken.

Took a break to water the garden and write this post, then it is back to work again.

Can’t wait for biking for bagel day tomorrow!

Finding Radiance

Trying to live a fit life loving food, cycling, gardening and everything in between!