Every Gym’s Nightmare

The blog stays.

I guess I just felt a little guilty (there’s that guilt again) that the content has been lacking cause ive been using it all getting the articles ready for groundedfitness.com, which should be launching “soon.” Ill let you guys know as soon as I do.

I heart summer and pretty weather and all that jazz, but I always end up getting injured cause i take my workouts outside. My ankles and knees have always been bad from gymnastics, so running/walking on the cement isnt the greatest for them. My knee is barking at me a little bit today, as well as my heel, which really hurts. I have a funny gait- i kinda slap my heel down, and wear flats a lot which offer no support- so im hoping its not anything serious, maybe just a bruise.

but anyway, because of that, im going to go to the gym today, which honestly, i havent been to in about 3 weeks. which is FINE cause i still get my workouts in, but itll be weird to go back. im thinking a great big round of elipticalling and then maybe the rowing machine (charlotte brought this back for me, i kinda forgot how much i love it). I did weight training yesterday and am really feeling it, so cardio it is.

busy weekend with BBQs and such. i will have pictures and more fun later on.

Thats a happy sigh, but a sigh nonetheless.

I am a buzy bee. and a ball of stress. Im a little ball of buzy bee stress.

I didnt realize i spelled both busy’s with “z’s” until i reread it. weird.

All good things, but everything at once is a bit overwhelming. groundedfitness.com should be launching June 1st, which is shockingly close, althought I haven’t heard anything for sure about the date recently, so we will see. Work is killing me: 8-9 sessions a day plus admin work and creating a training maual, which is just as much fun as it sounds. PLUS, im starting write articles for all the Fitness Together’s in the area to send to their email contact lists, PLUS I will be writing articles for two local newspapers, that will hopefully turn into permanent columns.

again, sigh.

last seminar is tonight, and im sorry to say that im happy about that. I get my thursday nights back, and its one less thing to worry about.

So, with that being said, and with the groundedfitness launch so very, very close, (3 days?) hopefully you all will be reading that (RIGHT?!). I will be co blogging with another woman, but i will be posting everyday, so i cant decide if i should keep everygymsnightmare up as well, or if it will be too much to handle. you guys can ask any questions over at GF, which i really, really encourgae you guys to do. and support Susan as well, she knows her stuff.

i think ill keep this up cause i can be more informal and selfcentered personal on here.

what do you guys think?

I just realized i didn’t post any pictures from folklife this weekend. We were there on Sunday, and I heard on the news later that someone got shot after we left. We were in the beer garden for most of the time we were there, and everyone is always happy in the beer garden, so i wasnt too worried about what could have been.

Lotsa People

That little girl in the purple in the front was adorable.

We ended up walking a few miles while we were there so I figured i deserved a few sweet rice balls. Balls of rice rolled in sugar and coconut and then deep fried. Doesnt get more carby or delicious than that.

That angle is really weird. I look all shrunken and lipless. Im always kind of lipless.

I got a free sample of my yogi tea in the mail today. I tired the meditation flavor. It did not make me want to do yoga, nor meditate, but it was pretty good. and free.

Alright all, what are your favorite fitness/wellness/body image books? Since these nutrition seminars are almost over, I have time to read again. Any recommendations?

Please read Leslie’s post, and then write strongly worded letter this “woman.”

usually when i go to the gym i work out 2 muscle groups, i.e. chest and biceps, shoulders and triceps, or back and rear delts. my question is can you combine any two groups and work them out on the same day or are there some better combos than others? and why? thanks!
Jen

As long as you are working out all of your major muscle groups, atleast 2 times a week, you are good to go. How you pair them up isnt as important, but you have to make sure that you are working antagonist muscles equally. Antagonist muscles are muscles in opposing groups (usually on either side of a limb) like triceps and biceps, or quads and hamstrings. When one contracts, the other elongates and vice versa. If you get it done, cool, but I find its easier to make sure if you do them at the same time.

Its important these muscles are balanced or else you safety and range of motion may suffer. I see this most often in the core- people will work out their abs all day long, but completely ignore the lower back. This makes it difficult for momentum to travel through the core, because when it hits the weak spot, in this case, the lower back, it shifts directions, and causes pain in either the muscle or the connective tissue. Its important to keep you body balanced, so everything works together at the same level, keeping you efficient and injury free.

I ate a funny hamburger last night at a BBQ and I think I have a little bout of food poisoning. As to not ruin my keyboard with the contents of last night’s get together, I will be posting and answering your questions tomorrow.

Hope you all had a great weekend

And I heart vegetarians. Very much.

I got tagged by oatmeal, linds and em to write 5 facts about myself. Im really not that interesting.

1. As much as I hate to admit it, I am hopelessly addicted to celebrity gossip sites: perezhilton.com in particular. x17online is a good one as well except the writers make me want to reach through the screen and strangle some 12th grade creative writing into them.

2. Up until about the 5th grade I pronounced hippopotimus, hippoMUpotomus and thought I was right. Then, in some cruel twist of fate, i had to do a report on the buggers and got up in front of the class an proceeded to say hippoMUpotomus about 10 times until everyone was laughing so loud I couldnt continue. Someone finally corrected me, but instead of taking the advice I fought them, and claimed I was the one who was right. A dictionary was brought out and I finished my report a nice shade of beet red.

3. I am the cheapest person you will ever meet. I go to mysavings.com and order as many free food samples as I can, I only shop at Grocery Outlet, Big Lots and even the dollar store when it comes to food and try my hardest to not buy ANYTHING other than gas and groceries. Im 21 with an investment account and an IRA, which I am diligent about depositing any extra money I have into every month, while most of my peers dont even know what those are.

4. I didn’t go to college and I probably never will. And I don’t care. I was told early on, if I wanted to go to college, I was on my own so I made the decision to start working early. I catch a lot of flack from it, especially from aquaintences that I see around when they are home from school, but eff them. Its the inevitable, “Oh, Kelly I havent seen you in forever, where are you going to school?” “Oh, hey I-forgot-your-name. I dont got to school, I…” “OH.” and then i get a pity look. I studied directly for what I want to do in life, have an amazing job, this blog, and an upcoming blog, and am starting to write articles for all the Fitness Togethers (my work) to buy from me, and I am also getting a cloumn in the local newspaper. So when you gradute with your degree in communications, dont know anything about hard work cause mommy and daddy paid for it all and end up working for me some day, I will laugh in your face. Sorry, tangent.

5.) Randoms: I can’t pronounce Malboro, I hate squishing spiders because if I feel them crunch, I almost throw up, other than in Seattle, I grew up primarily in Pennsylvania where my sister is now, but was born in California, I drink coffee consistantly throughout the day, even before bed, and I could live off of diet coke but only have it if the BF buys it cause Im too cheap to spring for it on my own. I used to do ceramics, Im kind of a recluse unless someone forces me out of the house, and I have hypothyroidism, which doesnt effect my metabolism but gives me weird heart palpatations and adrenaline surges every once in a while. It used to really scare me, but now that I know what it is, and when I get those “fight or flight” episodes for no reason, i just kind of suffer through them.

I don’t know why that was all kind of embarrassing stuff, but meh.

On to today. Again, the weather is gorgeous, so I took the dog for a nice long walk, and hit the gym as well, cause it was on the way to my parents house, who i went to visit. I don’t go to the gym much anymore because of the price of gas (im cheap, remember) so it was nice to be back. I did a heavy cardio day of 30 minutes on the elliptical, stretching, then 15 minutes on the treadmill and 15 on the stair climber, which i was able to do with a little more ease today.

Now i am off to deep clean my entire house.

Tomorrow is FolkLife at the Seattle center, where all of Seattle’s finest hippies gather to eat food, listen to music and look at local artists crafts. A bunch of us are going, which will be a lot of walking, and ill post pics if i get any good ones.

Enjoy the weekend!

Hi Kelly! I have a workout question: Whenever I use leg machines, especially the one designed to workout your outer thigh, I get what I would call a “charlie horse” in my hips, both or just one… what is causing this? I assume I am doing something strange, so I am embarrassed to ask the workers at my gym. I don’t know if it is just me, or something I am doing with the weights, it is just becoming so uncomfortable and painful that I forego alot of the leg workouts. Thanks so much for your help! I love your blog! Blaire

Abductor machines (the pads are on the outside of your thighs and you force them open) and Adductor machines (the pads are on the inside of your legs and you have to force them closed) in my opinion are the most overrated, unnecessary machines in the gym. People think they will slim your inner and outter thigh, but these arent the muscles being used to operate the machine. These machines engage your interior stabilizing muscles of you hips- so pretty much the little muscles around the joint. These muscles are just stabilizers, they have to be strong to hold your joint in place while you are performing other movements, but offer no definition, or real contractile force.
These muscles are little and are rarely worked, so you may be trying to lift too much weight. Another possibility (and why I dont like these machines) is that it is so easy to recruit other muscle groups to perform the action- which may cause your back to arch and your hips to wiggle when you try and ab/adduct. This can injure your interior stabilizers, rotators or muscles in your lower back.
These same stabilizing muscles get worked when you perform anything with your lower legs (squats, lunges, jumps, anything) so specifically setting time aside to work them isnt neccessary.
To work the inner and outter thigh, focus on one leg moves, such as one legs squats, or walking lunges. If you want to specifically isolate these muscles with weights, do some resisted abduction and adduction exercises while standing, which a weight cable attached at your ankle. make sure you keep your stabilizing leg soft, and your hips square: dont let the weight rotate your hips.
Machines that focus on one tiny area are fine, but you can make better use of your time. Full body exercises will work those muscles, plus so many more, and usually offer come cardiovascular benefits as well.

If you can’t afford a personal trainer, make youtube.com yours.

Seriously.

You can find ANY type of exercise on there….

Here’s a good 10 minute cardio video

Im off to find more!

I don’t know if this is a type-A personality thing or what, but I have a lot of guilt. I feel guilty about things, a lot of things, for no reason really. Usually its about blowing someone off, or not making plans with someone in the first place, not visiting my parents enough, not maintaining freindships as well as I should, etc, etc, etc. Its usually in reguards to relationships, but recently, its been due to my workouts.

I should know better, but sometimes you can’t help how you feel. Sometimes you can’t rationalize an emotion away.

I haven’t been to the gym in over a week, which is fine because I get a workout in most days. The reason I feel guilty is because I have plannedon going to the gym a few times the past week, but something has come up to prevent it each and everytime. So instead I go for a run, or walk to dog, or do conditioning at home, but I still feel guilty.

Its not like the gym gets its feelings hurt, or its waiting for me and misses spending time with its gym friends while I stand it up. Its got plenty of people to keep it company.

It doesnt cost me any money when I do not go. My membership is paid, and I even got 2 years free, so Im not missing out on anything there.

If anything, its good because I get all my commitments fulfilled while still fitting in my workout.

So whats my deal?

I think its because I planned on something and did not follow through. I like structure and when my schedule is thrown, it get anxious.

Anyone else get exercise guilt? Maybe from skipping workouts? Not doing what you planned on? Not being able to workout when you planned and had to push it back?

Ah, well. Im going to the gym today.

Hopefully.