Weds to Friday and Saturday

Weds to Friday I only walked 19,000 paces but 13,000 was on Thurday alone.

This morning I did 20 minutes of Dance Your Way Slim in honor of today being the first National Dance Day promoted by the So You Think you can Dance show.The dvd was under $2 at thrift store this past Monday and even though it didn't *wow* me when I had rented it, adding Fitstix was the previously missing key to enjoying it. Then I did the first workout on Debbie Rocker's Total Body Challenge Walk which alternated cardio and band resistance for the lower body and was pretty decent. Still used Fitstix during the cardio segments. Used the UR and YogFlex during both of the above for jumping jacks, etc.  Finished with Classical Stretch 618. My attempt to get all of season 6 onto just 2 tapes failed miserably because the darn PBS station skipped 627 through 630 in this runthrough which really were my targeted workouts! now I have to use a third tape for 627 and yet another 4th tape for 628 and don't even know if my mystery workout which mysteriously appeared after 609 is 629 or 630,  leaving the other one as totally missing. 
After I try them all that I have for now, I will be trying to do them all again but in the evenings and see if that helps or hurts or doesn't affect sleep.

Tuesday

The salad was delicious and enough for two meals! Marc helped me with the leftover and really liked it too. It was as good as a similar salad at TGIF but way less calories. I only used one salad dressing package which was more carbs than fat but here is a link to the nutritional info:
http://www.wendys.com/food/Nutrition.jsp?product_id=391


This morning I started revisiting some workouts I totally forgot about after warming up with the standing part of the Ballerobica Express download:
the standing parts of Triple Threat Pilates which uses a playground type ball and had some pretty good moves
some of Sweatin in the Spirit where Donna is wearing pink which was actually her second workout of that title so Sweatin in the Spirit2 was actually the third and it is the one I cannot find LOL
did some Classical Stretch and some of Rollup  to Unwind which is a nice stretch on a stability ball.
I am already tired of the catch phrases Donna repeats so if I got Body Gospel would choose music only if an option.

Monday

This morning I did the second Susan Tuttle Standing Pilates workout and think I like this one more than the first. I would describe these workouts as a barre and walking cardio Fusion. Used the ball that came with the Kathy Smith Rejuvenation kit.
Then I did the kettlebell bonus on the Amy Dixon Give Me 10 dvd with an actual 8lb kettlebell and found it less repetitious than others I have tried so more do-able for me.
Finished with a Classical Stretch using my Fanny Lifter as the chair next to my upright freezer and it worked better and more stable than a flimsy chair.

I'm off to the Monday 25% off thrift store then trying the new chicken apple pecan salad at Wendy's for lunch (commercial caught my attention and found a $1 off coupon on any salad on the Wendy's website)

Sunday

This morning I did the first workout from Susan Tuttle's Standing Pilates because of the heat then did Amy Dixon's Give Me 10 cardio cuz only 10 minutes LOL

After a break did the first half of two Classical Stretches, skipping the floorwork.

I like the Tuttle Standing Pilates because it has absolutely no dread and seems like a good alternative to low impact workouts like walking workouts.  Great for low energy days.  Only thing I do not like is I feel like I am in her Kindergarten class but then again Karen Joy Allen (Fitstix) can have the same effect but I love her workouts.

I have to dig out my previous Donna Richardson workouts to revisit and decide whether to cave on Body Gospel or not.  Really do not need more workouts BUT.......

Saturday (also Tues-Friday)

This morning I did some Zumba and Leslie with Fitstix and alittle on the UR then The Method Pilates Standing Blend which is similar to Ellen's style and Styler's Sculpt&Tone Ballet with a nice outdoors setting. Works the lower body and core with no impact.  Skipped CS cuz did enough with Pilates Standing Blend.

Tuesday through Friday, I only walked 28,000 paces.

Monday

This morning I did some of the original Zumba Advanced vhs I got from the thrift store and it had some of the voiceovers that were on the dvds so have to check my other vhs and see if that one has the voiceovers also because I do not remember any voiceovers in the original vhs. Zumba worked well with Fitstix .
Then I did the standing parts of Richard Simmons Totally Tonin which worked the upper body in a shorter range of motion with a band (great tunes).  Finished with Classical Stretch.

Also I have started losing weight again, nearing the lower end of my plateau and the only change has been a conscious effort to have more Vitamin C when having Calcium so more Iron will be absorbed.  Kathy Smith mentions in her book that Calcium and Vitamin C are critical for weightloss and just maybe, VitC was what was needed for both weightloss and to stop my Calcium from preventing Iron absorption.   So this pre-iron deficiency anemia may be a blessing.

Son returns to the US this weekend till his visa red tape gets cut.

Sunday

This morning I did the 3rd and last segment of the 4 mile Weightloss Walk with Fitstix then some Hemalayaa's Belly Beautiful warmup and first circuit but skipping the floor parts. Belly Beautiful did have some fun core cardio.

Finished with some Classical Stretch.

Geez tomorrow I plan to visit the Monday thrift store again even though I have barely dented the pile of vhs from there.

Saturday

This morning I did segment 2 from Leslie's 4 mile weightloss and again, found it so much better than her newer stuff. Used Fitstix but only did alittle on the UR because too lazy to redirect my fan towards the UR. Then I did some lower body (wrote down the moves from bum bum alive and found them pretty effective!). Finished with Classical Stretch 612.  Still have one episode I cannot identify so have to keep taping till I know what the heck it is LOL

I will be recycling one of the Leslie vhs I bought at the thrift shop done as a spark yesterday cuz it was a very routine Walk the Walk toning workout even though it had decent loud music which worked well with the bum bum moves.

Friday

Between the humidity and having so many new workouts to try and check for defects, I did alittle bit of several workouts:
Jane Fonda's New Workout that has rebounder friendly cardio
TaeBo Adv Live vol 2 with Fitstix
Susan Tuttle Standing Pilates

and finished with Classical Strength

Will be having a *new* patient appointment this afternoon with the group that will be doing the colonoscopy.

Tuesday through Thursday

I did walk but not as much as usual because of the heat.

Also found out my blood cells are starting to look like I may develop an iron deficiency and the heat was already making me feel pooped so I didn't push it.  Guess I will be scheduling my first overdue colonoscopy soon to rule out any GI bleeding.

Monday

My shoulder is soooo much better today after hurting quite a bit the past few days after lifting a suitcase badly.  All I did was Fitstix,  Arnica and Classical Stretch for rehab.

My feet, ankles, knees, hips and lower back seemed to be responding nicely to the Walkfit inserts so am buying a second pair today at Bed Bath and Beyond with another coupon so I can leave a pair in my AC walking shoes and a pair in my home workout walking shoes.  I seem to be able to rebound and do all previously barefooted workouts without any joint twinging.  They still feel weird when I first put them on but my feet adjust quickly.  Am still using a high on my shorter leg and a medium on my longer leg because it seems to even them out.  The longer leg was very uncomfortable on the low insert for some reason.  The joints of the side with the longer leg tended to complain more without the insets.

This morning I did the first segment of Sansone's 4 mile Weightloss with Fitstix and some rebounding then the second workout from Styler's Sculpt & Tone Ballet which were the same moves as the first but without Trudie and with chairs instead of a barre. I do most of these moves in both workouts pretty much while balancing and not relying on a chair or barre which is my upright freezer LOL
Finished with a great Classical Stretch recently broadcasted (610). 
We had a power failure while in AC last week which killed  my vcr programming and I panicked because of my CS recordings but son came to the rescue and figured out how to record them for me with just alittle texting between us and let me tell you, it is very complicated to accomplish. He really would make a very valuable employee for an understanding employer that needs somebody who isn't afraid of technical stuff because he seems a natural. Even helps me now and then with a puter issue and pulls a rabbit out of the hat everytime, like yesterday showing me how to start the Firefox browser in its safe mode when it got totally locked up.

Sunday

This morning I did the rest of Leslie Sansone's old Walkaerobics 2 mile Walk, mostly on the rebounders while holding Fitstix. Then I did the second workout on Susan Tuttle's Standing Pilates which was similar to the first but had some different tweaking to it. I think these are are a great add on to extend a workout or do as a spark because they do not need much energy yet get the joints lubricated.  Spark plan is some TaeBo and Classical Stretch. 

Saturday

Pulled my right shoulder lifting the suitcase yesterday and humidity has really gotten to me so I did some of what I had received from TotalFitnessdvds this week which were low intensity so perfect for this morning. I did the first workout (Barre) on Styler's Sculpt & Tone Ballet then the first workout on Susan Tuttle's Standing Pilates. 

OK I just did a spark:

The first half mile from an old Leslie Sansone 2 mile Walkaerobics  workout to warm up then some Classical Stretch.  I wonder why Leslie changed her routines and became so boring compared to her earlier workouts which had so many more moves?

Weds through Friday

Only walked 22,000 paces cuz way too hot outside!

Tuesday

Today I did the Sweat Effect and some of the Strength Effect from Karen Voight's Sleek Essentials. Much of the warmups and cardio in both worked great with Fitstix.  Think the warmups and cardio chapters will make great sparks. Finished with alittle of CS 608.

ETA: Got news from Greg this morning that his move to London is becoming a great move for him.  He moved into a flatshare which is 20 minutes closer to his office than the hotel, rents are much cheaper than NYC's and his company is compensating him well for his visa red tape making him have to keep his place in NYC a bit longer.  He really enjoyed being able to be part of London's Pride Day more than he ever did in NYC although I really enjoyed NYC's the one year I attended.  Maybe NYC's has been getting raunchier with more nudity or whatever?

Monday

This morning I tried some of Amy Bento's In the Ring and really liked the medball intervals with my heaviest homemade XCO trainer. Then I did just the bar parts from Spreen's Cardio Combat Surge which worked well with my Walmart wand homemade XCO bar LOL

If I tweaked the moves a bit, I get more filler motion and now am thinking of all of the bodybar workouts I have to revisit.  Still may go for the pvc pipe and cap homemade XCO sliding filler bar attempt cuz my neighbor can cut it to the size I want and I could then make a heavier one 

I stretched a bit with Sleek Effect and did the Classical Stretch Office episode 607.   Tomorrow morning I'll be taping the Classical Stretch episodes Monday through Friday again now that I can identify them so I have them in order without the duplicate weekend broadcasts.

Today being Monday, I'll be checking out a Goodwill type store that is discounted on Mondays where I have found exercise vhs for 75 cents each.  Last week I found the original TaeBo Advance Live volumes 1 through 11 which originally were $35 each 10 years ago and are still the best of TaeBo because of their soundtracks IMHO.   To test that these tapes are without defect, I have been using them for sparks.

Sunday

This morning I did most of Amy Dixon's Give Me 10 and liked it more than expected. The routines are short and do-able but feel effective. The cardio also worked the lower body and the lower body felt aerobic so a good choice when wanting to work the lower body and less annoying than Bum Bum's music, etc. The core started with standing Kettlebell inspired moves and there was a bonus kettlebell chapter which I didn't feel was so repetitive as to make me want to stop like most kettlebell workouts. I used the YogFlex for the cardio impact and homemade XCOs for the upper body and core and kettlebell stuff. Also used them for extra biceps curls when doing the lower body. Finished with a CS that added to my upper body which was already fatigued more than expected.

I did duct tape my paper towel roll to the Walmart wand handles but had to reinforce the center so cut a toilet paper cardboard tube and taped that around the center for reinforcement (also had to be careful in which direction I was wrapping the tape so as to tighten, not loosen the handles and dumped some rock salt in the center of the tube before taping the second handle)

Saturday

This morning I did most of Spreen's Cardio Combat Surge, substituting homemade XCO trainers for the medball and even the bar holding the cans end to end. Then I wrapped an old stretched out wrist band around the overlapping ends of the Walmart bubble wands and that worked well too for the bar
May revisit the medball and bar routines but probably not the kickboxing. Mostly freestyled during the kickboxing today on the UR with Fitstix.

Also did alittle Classical Stretch but learned the hard way to keep my shoes with the Walkfit inserts on next time because my right hip and knee starting to twinge soon after taking the shoes off for CS. Put the shoes back on and did alittle more CS and no more twinging since.

and I  just had to order some dvds this weekend from Mary/TotalFitnessdvds in appreciation of her donating the Amy Give me 10 dvd I won through the Fitness For the Rest of Us blog giveaway and Mary's attractive prices with 10OFF, the holiday weekend sale and free shipping became irresistible LOL

ETA: I improved the bar with sliding filler gadget! Just inserted the handles of the Walmart (bubble) wands into the cardboard tube from a roll of paper towels.  May eventually tape it if I think I would use it enough to warrant the tape.  Meanwhile alittle extra squeeze inwards to hold it together works the chest extra.

Tuesday through Friday

Walked over 45,000 paces with the Walkfit Platinum inserts and have to say, I did not have any problems!    No heel pain and no ankle, knee, hip, or lower back twinging.  No blisters (usually do get them on the small toes a bit) Plus the shoes were even more comfortable and cooler when sitting long periods in casinos and during the car commute (2 hours each way).  Think the inserts take up less room than the padding that comes with the shoes that is recommended to be removed before using the inserts.

So I think if I continue to use them when working out at home, especially on the UR and walking outdoors, I can still go barefoot most of the time when home. :)