Who could have guessed that the week I committed to getting better at step-ups, my trainer would go and modify them on me. On Wednesday, she had me doing shoulder presses during the step-ups. It turns out the added weight/movement forced me to slow down and focus, which in turn basically eliminated the wobbling. And I really like being able to exercise multiple muscles at once. It makes me feel more efficient.
I also added dead lifts to my personal routine, which made my hamstrings scream in protest the first time but became much more reasonable the second time. The only problem is that the body bars the gym provides are all old enough that the weights have been rubbed off. I'm going to have to switch to dumbbells so I know how much I'm lifting.
As for the push-ups, I was able to do one set of ten followed by a set of eight over the weekend. I could probably do more if I started fresh, but I thrown them in a cycle with a bunch of arm exercises, which leads to faster fatigue. It's still nice to see improvement, though.
I have made very little progress on pull ups. These are hard enough that I basically have to do them first thing, or I won't be able to do them at all. So if someone's on the machine, I end up skipping them and doing other things to work out my back and arms. I'll keep plugging away at them, though.
And I still probably want to buy a bike. Though that's a little lower priority than a new oven, a new mattress, and possibly even a new fridge. Damn, expensive home ownership.
Thursday, July 31, 2014
Monday, July 21, 2014
Roller Coasters
For my birthday, we spent the day at Kings Dominion riding roller coasters and water slides with a group of friends. The weather was beautiful which was something of a mixed blessing, since it meant that every single line was absurdly long. But at least we didn't get too grossly hot or overly dehydrated.
We started the day with a couple of roller coasters, both of which were the kind that launch you forward from a standstill. Thanks to lines, it took nearly three hours to ride those two coasters, so after lunch we decided to head to the water park. Lines were still kind of long there, but they mostly moved faster, or at least continuously. We were even able to ride one of the slides twice because the line moved so quickly.
We spent most of the afternoon in the water park and rode almost every ride they had. Then we went back to the park for birthday funnel cake and some more coasters. Unfortunately, the lines hadn't really died down at all. Even the lines that are normally relatively short took us a while to get through. We skipped several coasters because we just didn't want to wait. Finally we decided it was time to seek out the less popular rides.
The old wooden racer had a really short line. We almost walked right on it. Then we decided to ride the really high swings. You corkscrew up and then back down a 300 foot tower and get to see the whole park. We timed that one perfectly, because the flashing lights came on for our ride, but it was still light enough to see everything. After that we went on one more wooden coaster before calling it a day. And my sometimes unpopular opinion that wooden coasters are far superior was definitely upheld. The slightly out-of-control chaos you get on the wooden coasters adds a level of genuine terror that makes the whole experience better.
On the way home we stopped for burgers in Fredricksburg. We didn't get there until ten and then, thanks to slow service, weren't back on the road until after eleven. It was past midnight when we got home, and I was so exhausted that I slept for a solid eleven hours. I felt just like a teenager again.
Kings Dominion was a ton of fun, but the lines are so long that it's definitely a rare excursion. It had been five years since I was last there and it'll probably be five more before I go again. Unless we can arrange it to go in the middle of the week and avoid the crowds at some point.
We started the day with a couple of roller coasters, both of which were the kind that launch you forward from a standstill. Thanks to lines, it took nearly three hours to ride those two coasters, so after lunch we decided to head to the water park. Lines were still kind of long there, but they mostly moved faster, or at least continuously. We were even able to ride one of the slides twice because the line moved so quickly.
We spent most of the afternoon in the water park and rode almost every ride they had. Then we went back to the park for birthday funnel cake and some more coasters. Unfortunately, the lines hadn't really died down at all. Even the lines that are normally relatively short took us a while to get through. We skipped several coasters because we just didn't want to wait. Finally we decided it was time to seek out the less popular rides.
The old wooden racer had a really short line. We almost walked right on it. Then we decided to ride the really high swings. You corkscrew up and then back down a 300 foot tower and get to see the whole park. We timed that one perfectly, because the flashing lights came on for our ride, but it was still light enough to see everything. After that we went on one more wooden coaster before calling it a day. And my sometimes unpopular opinion that wooden coasters are far superior was definitely upheld. The slightly out-of-control chaos you get on the wooden coasters adds a level of genuine terror that makes the whole experience better.
On the way home we stopped for burgers in Fredricksburg. We didn't get there until ten and then, thanks to slow service, weren't back on the road until after eleven. It was past midnight when we got home, and I was so exhausted that I slept for a solid eleven hours. I felt just like a teenager again.
Kings Dominion was a ton of fun, but the lines are so long that it's definitely a rare excursion. It had been five years since I was last there and it'll probably be five more before I go again. Unless we can arrange it to go in the middle of the week and avoid the crowds at some point.
Friday, July 18, 2014
Goals
I haven't posted about the gym in a while. Not because I haven't been going (I have), but because I'm still trying to figure out a routine that really works for me. For most of the winter, I was doing I good job of getting in four times a week - trainer on Wednesday, lifting by myself on Saturday, and cardio on M/Th or T/F. But ever since the wedding I've had a hard time sticking to that. A big part of it is that my routine just got so thrown off. Then weekends were so busy that it seemed nearly impossible to get in on Saturdays. But I'm trying to get back on that schedule.
In that vein, I decided it would probably be helpful to define some goals. The main goal, obviously, is weight loss. But I've been trying that for a year, and I have yet to lose any weight (well, except for the two pounds I gained on the honeymoon, does that count?). So I'm going to try and focus on fitness goals. Places where I should be able to see actual improvement in the coming weeks.
So from short-term to long-term, here we go:
Step Ups. I have a love/hate relationship with step ups. The thing I love about them is that it's really easy to pretend I'm Buffy while I'm doing them. Which makes it easy to get into a rhythm and keep my motivation up. But my balance isn't great. I usually start wobbling about 7 in. So goal number 1: make it through a full set (10 on each side) without wobbling. Then up that to 15.
Modified (Inverted?) Push Ups. I started doing these modified push ups that are just hell on my abs, in a good way. Instead of putting your hands on the floor, you grip some dumbbells or use a stair or something. It requires more balance, which engages your core muscles, which results in your entire torso being sore the next day. They're fantastic. Also I can actually go down farther when I do these, since my boobs and stomach don't hit the ground. Currently I can do three sets of 5. I'd like to be able to do 3 sets of 10. Or even 20 all at once.
Legs. I need to stop focusing so much on my quads and start focusing on my hamstrings. That's poorly defined, as far as goals go. I have a couple of exercises to do, but I hate them. Maybe it's just a matter of doing them until I hate them less? Or maybe I should look into other, hamstring-specific exercises. The real goal here is to build up muscle to protect my knees in the future. Currently it's all unbalanced, which is why I hurt myself so easily last Fall. I don't know, I'll figure this out.
Pull Ups. As it currently stands, I do pulls ups on the assist machine. You stand on a weighted lever thing and it helps make pull ups easier by reducing your own body weight. I have no idea how much it reduces it by or even how to figure that out. The scale goes from 1 to 16, and I currently set it on either 9 or 10. I can do two sets of 10 at that level. My goal here is to do one unassisted pull up. I have an impressively long way to go, given that the last time I tried it was like my arms simply weren't responding to my brain, which was a very strange feeling.
Biking. Okay, this is a really fuzzy goal. And it would require me to invest in a bike and then carve out time to actually ride it regularly. As of last year (ish?) I could ride about 4 miles comfortably and push myself to 10 before I actually felt like dying. So long as there weren't any major hills. So this goal (which I'm still waffling on) would come in two parts. (a) Bike to work. My office is about 10 miles from home, on bike trails. It's all downhill there and all uphill home. But if I could do this once, if I could get to a point where I'm doing it once a week, if I could get comfortable with that sort of distance, that would be a good thing. (b) Maybe sign up for Bike MS next year? There's a 30 mile component. It's at National Harbor in June. It would be for an excellent cause. I don't know. We'll see where I am when that rolls around.
Weight. Okay, weight loss is still a goal. But in a more abstract sense. I'd like to look the way I did in this picture:
That was taken about 2 1/2 years (and 25 lbs) ago. I don't think I need to lose a full 25 pounds to get back to that size (~8), since I'm building muscle and that weighs more than fat. At any rate it seems like a perfectly reasonable and doable goal. If I could just lost that first pound.
Anyway, this is where I am. I'm hoping to knock out the first 2-3 by Labor Day, then up the ante on them. Or come up with new short-term goals. I'll keep you posted on my progress.
In that vein, I decided it would probably be helpful to define some goals. The main goal, obviously, is weight loss. But I've been trying that for a year, and I have yet to lose any weight (well, except for the two pounds I gained on the honeymoon, does that count?). So I'm going to try and focus on fitness goals. Places where I should be able to see actual improvement in the coming weeks.
So from short-term to long-term, here we go:
Step Ups. I have a love/hate relationship with step ups. The thing I love about them is that it's really easy to pretend I'm Buffy while I'm doing them. Which makes it easy to get into a rhythm and keep my motivation up. But my balance isn't great. I usually start wobbling about 7 in. So goal number 1: make it through a full set (10 on each side) without wobbling. Then up that to 15.
Modified (Inverted?) Push Ups. I started doing these modified push ups that are just hell on my abs, in a good way. Instead of putting your hands on the floor, you grip some dumbbells or use a stair or something. It requires more balance, which engages your core muscles, which results in your entire torso being sore the next day. They're fantastic. Also I can actually go down farther when I do these, since my boobs and stomach don't hit the ground. Currently I can do three sets of 5. I'd like to be able to do 3 sets of 10. Or even 20 all at once.
Legs. I need to stop focusing so much on my quads and start focusing on my hamstrings. That's poorly defined, as far as goals go. I have a couple of exercises to do, but I hate them. Maybe it's just a matter of doing them until I hate them less? Or maybe I should look into other, hamstring-specific exercises. The real goal here is to build up muscle to protect my knees in the future. Currently it's all unbalanced, which is why I hurt myself so easily last Fall. I don't know, I'll figure this out.
Pull Ups. As it currently stands, I do pulls ups on the assist machine. You stand on a weighted lever thing and it helps make pull ups easier by reducing your own body weight. I have no idea how much it reduces it by or even how to figure that out. The scale goes from 1 to 16, and I currently set it on either 9 or 10. I can do two sets of 10 at that level. My goal here is to do one unassisted pull up. I have an impressively long way to go, given that the last time I tried it was like my arms simply weren't responding to my brain, which was a very strange feeling.
Biking. Okay, this is a really fuzzy goal. And it would require me to invest in a bike and then carve out time to actually ride it regularly. As of last year (ish?) I could ride about 4 miles comfortably and push myself to 10 before I actually felt like dying. So long as there weren't any major hills. So this goal (which I'm still waffling on) would come in two parts. (a) Bike to work. My office is about 10 miles from home, on bike trails. It's all downhill there and all uphill home. But if I could do this once, if I could get to a point where I'm doing it once a week, if I could get comfortable with that sort of distance, that would be a good thing. (b) Maybe sign up for Bike MS next year? There's a 30 mile component. It's at National Harbor in June. It would be for an excellent cause. I don't know. We'll see where I am when that rolls around.
Weight. Okay, weight loss is still a goal. But in a more abstract sense. I'd like to look the way I did in this picture:
 |
| We represented Westeros at the 2012 Winter Beerlympics |
Anyway, this is where I am. I'm hoping to knock out the first 2-3 by Labor Day, then up the ante on them. Or come up with new short-term goals. I'll keep you posted on my progress.
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
Merica
When we lived farther away from Zach and Sarah, every visit seemed to turn into a beer and mimosa-fueled 3-day game fest, occasionally punctuated by naps, dog walks, and excursions for food. Since they moved to DC, our visits have become more frequent and a lot shorter. Gone are the epic sleepovers of years past, replaced by much more adult get-togethers where everyone goes home at the end of the night. Or at least at a reasonable time the next morning.
Well, mostly.
This year, we decided to celebrate our independence with a throwback to those weekends, albeit with a few more friends this time around. The weekend was, indeed, epic. Though the break to go watch fireworks kind of killed my momentum and I ended up getting cranky and going to bed early.
We played a bunch of board games, some beer pong, and entirely too much "Don't Drink and Drive" with the newest Mario Kart. We made a lot of delicious food, including biscuits and gravy for breakfast. I love biscuits and gravy, but it's really hard to make just enough for two, so I try to save it for when we have a lot of company.
People stayed through dinner on the 5th, then Kevin, Connor and I watched a movie before falling asleep early. All that partying really took it out of me. I slept for nearly 11 hours. I can't even remember the last time I slept that long. It was nice to get a full day to recover. I spent most of it doing laundry, putting the house back in order, and cooking an incredibly involved dinner. Because if you're going to be stuck in the house for five hours doing laundry, you might as well make some chicken stock, too.
Well, mostly.
This year, we decided to celebrate our independence with a throwback to those weekends, albeit with a few more friends this time around. The weekend was, indeed, epic. Though the break to go watch fireworks kind of killed my momentum and I ended up getting cranky and going to bed early.
We played a bunch of board games, some beer pong, and entirely too much "Don't Drink and Drive" with the newest Mario Kart. We made a lot of delicious food, including biscuits and gravy for breakfast. I love biscuits and gravy, but it's really hard to make just enough for two, so I try to save it for when we have a lot of company.
People stayed through dinner on the 5th, then Kevin, Connor and I watched a movie before falling asleep early. All that partying really took it out of me. I slept for nearly 11 hours. I can't even remember the last time I slept that long. It was nice to get a full day to recover. I spent most of it doing laundry, putting the house back in order, and cooking an incredibly involved dinner. Because if you're going to be stuck in the house for five hours doing laundry, you might as well make some chicken stock, too.
Wednesday, July 2, 2014
Beach Weekend
This past weekend a group of us went down to Nag's Head, North Carolina for a friend's wedding. The bride's family all lives in the area, so a bunch of people ended up renting houses and staying in the area for an entire week. We were only able to go for a three-day weekend, but it was still fun.
We got a room at a hotel that was right on the beach. Not that that's difficult at Nag's Head, where it's basically impossible to be more than a quarter of a mile from the ocean at any given time. Since we arrived several hours before check-in time, we were able to spend some time at the beach and play a round of mini golf before we got our room.
The beach was fun, though I mostly didn't get in the water. I spent some time watching the crabs, reading, and napping while everyone else splashed around in the ocean. Sadly, the crabs got scared underground when everyone else returned to sunbathe. But it was fun to watch them toss sand around while it lasted.
We got into our room with just about enough time for everyone to shower and get dressed before heading over to the wedding, located a convenient quarter mile from our hotel. The happy couple had actually gotten married a year previously, so in lieu of a ceremony we watched a short video of the ceremony. The reception was a lot of fun with delicious food and tons of small children running around. The kids had their own pirate-themed area with mini burgers and pirate-ship forts.
After the reception, there was a party bus headed to a club for the after party. I opted out and went back to the hotel room instead. Kevin followed not too long after, and the rest of the group trickled in sometime between midnight and 3.
The next morning we found a truly excellent breakfast place, though they almost refused to serve Sarah a bloody mary because she looked too young. Then it was back to the beach to hang out for a bit before getting lunch with the wedding party. At lunch, the bride and groom invited us to stay the night in their house. They'd rented a huge house for them and their families for the weekend, and most people had left that day. So we canceled the hotel room and moved all our stuff over to the fantastic house, where we all got bedrooms and feasted on leftovers from the reception.
The weekend was a lot of fun, even if I did sustain a rather nasty sunburn on part of my back. I think I'm coming around on the idea of beaches a little. Laying in the sand and staring at the waves is fun, so long as there's a shower nearby. Though by the end I was sick of smelling like sunscreen and finding sand everywhere. Maybe it's just good in small doses.
We got a room at a hotel that was right on the beach. Not that that's difficult at Nag's Head, where it's basically impossible to be more than a quarter of a mile from the ocean at any given time. Since we arrived several hours before check-in time, we were able to spend some time at the beach and play a round of mini golf before we got our room.
The beach was fun, though I mostly didn't get in the water. I spent some time watching the crabs, reading, and napping while everyone else splashed around in the ocean. Sadly, the crabs got scared underground when everyone else returned to sunbathe. But it was fun to watch them toss sand around while it lasted.
We got into our room with just about enough time for everyone to shower and get dressed before heading over to the wedding, located a convenient quarter mile from our hotel. The happy couple had actually gotten married a year previously, so in lieu of a ceremony we watched a short video of the ceremony. The reception was a lot of fun with delicious food and tons of small children running around. The kids had their own pirate-themed area with mini burgers and pirate-ship forts.
After the reception, there was a party bus headed to a club for the after party. I opted out and went back to the hotel room instead. Kevin followed not too long after, and the rest of the group trickled in sometime between midnight and 3.
The next morning we found a truly excellent breakfast place, though they almost refused to serve Sarah a bloody mary because she looked too young. Then it was back to the beach to hang out for a bit before getting lunch with the wedding party. At lunch, the bride and groom invited us to stay the night in their house. They'd rented a huge house for them and their families for the weekend, and most people had left that day. So we canceled the hotel room and moved all our stuff over to the fantastic house, where we all got bedrooms and feasted on leftovers from the reception.
The weekend was a lot of fun, even if I did sustain a rather nasty sunburn on part of my back. I think I'm coming around on the idea of beaches a little. Laying in the sand and staring at the waves is fun, so long as there's a shower nearby. Though by the end I was sick of smelling like sunscreen and finding sand everywhere. Maybe it's just good in small doses.
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