Fiddleman

Yesterday, I tried to do the same body weight workout above on the grass instead of on the floor with the DVD trainer. Two things I noticed: 1. The grass in the yard I was in was slightly sloped and very uneven. This made the workout more challenging. 2. I tended to take the reps a lot faster, instead of pacing. The form suffered at times and I lost the ability to successful complete all the intervals to end before muscle fatiguing (for example, on the bouncy push-ups). 3. Focus was compromised So there were some advantages and disadvantages to performing the workout outside on the grass. Besides not having the excellent trainer to keep me in pace and motivated, I fatigued too early and my focus deteriorated. Interesting. I think that is why I like a trainer with me when I workout, even if it is one on a DVD. Just food for thought. What do you guys think?

You might consider exercises like 1 or 2 legged hip extensions. Sit on the ground in a L shape with back straight, legs straight. Lift one leg off the ground and push up off with the other foot until your hips are parallel with the ground. Pause for a few seconds and come back down to l shape. you are supporting your weight with your hands planted on the ground with fingers facing toes. when you come back down, stop about 1/2 an inch above the ground and repeat. I think any pushup or plank variations would help. Keep your core very strong and stable during these exercises with your butt tight. For pushups, try to go slow up and down, pausing at top and bottom to hold tight for a few seconds. Again, pause 1/2 an inch off the ground and hold your cheeks tight. Any exercise that has you thrusting your hips upward and squeezing the cheeks or and core exercise will strengthen the butt. You definitely want to feel the burn in your entire core as you do these. Air squats or sumo air squats are excellent for strengthening your upper thighs and behind. For a challenge, you might try star jumpers. These are like sumo squats, but when you come up you want to get air and stretch out your arms and legs like a start before landing again in the sumo position with back straight and butt out. This is a definite butt strengthener and will give your whole core a workout. Try and do sets of 8 or timed set of 20 seconds with 10 seconds between each set. Lower back into sumo squat position , arms in from touching the ground before repeating. These also give you a good cardio workout in addition to strengthening legs and core. I was flipping through the Pinterest fitness forum over the weekend (1st time) and noticed a number of workouts people posted on creating dream behinds. You might want to look there. I also heard Jillian Michaels has one or more DVDs just for targeting butt and core if you like her type of training style.

Mark, BTB, Around, Tally and many others- I cannot begin to express my appreciation for you guys taking the time to consistently provide high quality information in the fitness forum with regards to lifting and supplementation. For guys that are newer to the fitness and bodybuilding scene, this information is invaluable. Being 6 months into this type of fitness, I consider myself a newbie. however, I am glad that every day is a new day to increase understanding about the body and the role that fitness and supplementation has on it.

Yup - I've been eating ostrim from before surgery a year ago. Good snack.

Thanks! We look forward to getting our goodies.

I've enjoyed a book and DVD set called "be your own gym." This will get you into elite fitness relatively quickly without having to buy any weight equipment. It is based on a 3 phase set of workout routines that progress from beginner to advanced. I have just completed the last advanced routine today and look forward to the body weight exercises to maintain strength going forward. Consider this approach, but be warned, it will challenge you. I really appreciated the workouts are short (20 minutes) and the trainer comes from a background of training over 1000 elite special forces with the same types of workouts. As it is progressive, you will get really strong in a manageable approach by spending about 3 weeks on each phase for a total of 9 weeks. I never get tired of listening to the trainer as he speaks very clearly and articulately. I also appreciate that he takes the exercises as a speed where form can be perfected.

I ordered som teriyaki Ostrim (12.5 months post op) and my wife ordered a bunch of things ( she is 3 weeks post op). I like that you could pay with pay pal. Howling does a ground shipping order take to arrive? I am in WA.

Yup - they are super duper fabulous! My surgical center had done quite a bit of research on which protein powder is the best for patients and nectar was the top pick. Vanilla bean is also a great flavor for mixing in with other things. One mix you can do with the chocolate truffle is to make a butter finger flavor. Add together a scoop of chocolate truffle, a tbsp of dry SF butterscotch pudding, 8 oz of milk, a tbsp of pb2 powder and a pinch of expresso powder to accentuate the chocolate flavor. Delish!!!!

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.

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.