Finally Resumed Exercise Yesterday

Some weeks ago I brought my Total Gym to where I am actually living and stashed it under a day bed in the living room. Unlike my previous home, there is no way I can leave it set up most of the time, nipping in to get in a set of 10, 15 or 50 of a given exercise in between this and that thing several days a week.

Turns out, it really is not that hard to drag it out, set it up and just blow through one of my typical days of exercises, in just a few minutes!

Now I know the ones I have planned for today, Chest, back and core exercises, will not go quite as quickly. I need something like rest or recovery time between sets of back and chest exercises…

Still I am greatly relieved to resume! I think it will work for me, even with having to set it up and put it away each time after all!

Oh, I had my doubts, but it appears to be quit doable.

Update and Outlet Priced Total Gyms with Extra 10% Off!

Here it is, a month and a day after my last post and this is what I have found: While I did get my Total Gym moved to where I am living, I have not used it, or even walked the dog, or gone ice skating since that. This Fri. AM I found that:

• My measurements are exactly the same as the last post.
• Except my belly button, (3.5 Inches! Yikes!), gut, (1/2 inch), and my hips, (3/4 inch), are a bit larger
• I can see, without measuring, that my upper arms and tummy are flabby
• If I could leave it up, I would have been using my Total Gym by now
• That is just me, its not hard to drag out from under the day bed, but it is in a more public part of the house, and I am a tad shy… 

Still, when you consider that I have not exercised since mid-September, having my waist and bust area measurements remain the same is nice! REAL NICE!!

What else I have found is this special offer from Total Gym: Save an additional 10% off at the Total Gym® Outlet Center. Discount automatic at checkout. Now currently, (12/14/12 AM at least), they have Outlet Total Gyms starting at $400.

That is before you take off the additional 10% off you’d get by using that link above!

If you read, just some of my notes, and the posts that back them up, to your right and in this blog in general it might help you figure out if Total Gym is worth trying for you!

If so, Outlet prices with an additional discount is a nice way to try it!

Even so, you can always go with their standard Try it for a month for $1, with Free Shipping offer!

What Happened since my last post here, in July

I have not written here since mid-July for numerous reasons. I, believe, (and will look into my records regarding this) I stopped exercising about mid-September.

At first, I simply had not had the time to post any updates. Then, around, if not on, Sept. 25th, we moved.

This took more time than I would have thought. True hurricane Sandy did not help matters much; this meant nothing much happened with regard to finishing moving for yet another week…

As it happens, I still have not moved my Total Gym to where I actually live now, yet. I have been waiting for gas rationing to end, (in NJ), and I believe that was supposed to happen today.

If so, I hope to go get it this weekend and resume using it. Prior to the hurricane, and gas rationing, I was simply too busy.

I did intend to do some kind of exercise, but week after week this failed to happen.
Seems I am spoiled rotten by my Total Gym
Rather than work something out for the time being, I am just not fitting fitness in at all
Bad Human!

Back on October 26, about a month after I stopped using my Total Gym I did take a stop one Friday am to take my measurements.

So here they are, roughly, compared to when I started last year in Oct of 2011:

10/5/11:                                              Waist 39 inches                    Gut 44 inches
10/26/12: Bust 41.5 Under-bust 31.5 Waist 33   belly button 35    Gut 38.5           Hips 37.75

After most of a year of sporadic use of Total Gym ending in 1 month of no exercise at all.

So here it is, November 13, I am still not exercising.

My loose pants are still too loose to wear without a belt.

It would seem inches lost using one’s Total Gym take their time coming back!

While that is great, I hope I have resumed exercising by this time next week!

I felt stronger, more able and springer when I was exercising regularly, and I want that back. SOON!
 Anne Hunter

Is this what they call a Plateau

In weight loss or strength training vocabulary?

Below are the differences between the last two Friday Morning measurements.

I have been exercising mostly 4 or 5 days a week for the last 3 weeks, pretty consistent, for me anyway…

Plus I have as much as doubled my reps, and put at least one exercise, if not two, up another level…

However.. not much consistent change or reduction of inches, except perhaps my bust and underbust a bit.

7/13/12: Bust 42    Underbust 32.25   Waist 33   Belly Button 34.5     Gut 39.25     Hips 38

7/20/12: Bust 41.5  Underbust 31.5    Waist 33   Belly Button 35.5,    Gut 39         Hips 38     

Perhaps this is a “Plateau”

I am going to look around and see if I can find anyone I can trust about exercise to ask:

• So I increase my repetition of these exercises to get continued steady loss of inches?

• Is a steady loss of inches possible?

• If so, must one “Diet”?

• Should I make the move from beginner to intermediate on the exercises where these levels are possible.

Well I did find a Total Gym blog I put in my new Blog List in the right column.
They have this Prevent Fitness Plateaus with Total Gym Training DVD page.

Now all I have to do is fit in the time to read it, and apply what I read!

Anne Hunter

What I learned, so far, Using My Total Gym for Strength Training

I have been using my Total Gym, first very sporadically, and now with more consistency, to meet my, very general, health and fitness goals.

My main goals are to:

• To Feel Stronger, more Energetic
• Develope, or maintain, Bone Density
• Looking better, as in losing weight, shaping up, would not hurt one bit either

 As the Total Gym is a Strength Training device that uses your own weight, and the incline of its sliding board, by lifting weights.

Here is what I have learned, so far:

1. Consistency is possible!

For me the big breakthrough for achieving consistency in my exercises was:

• Leave it set up all day or night, whenever you aim to exercise
• Then do the exercises you plan when ever you have to waist a bit
• Do not give up if you only get the exercise once or twice on a given week, just do your best to do more the next week.

 2. Never do the same exercises two days in a row. Even if you feel ok when you are doing them, you might well end up like I did, feeling like you had been hit by a truck, by the third day.

Besides, there is no reason to!

I have not counted the numerous exercises this home gym comes with, but I can tell you there are plenty for various parts of your body.

So far, since my above mentioned faux pas, have tried to not only do: 

example Ab exercises, every other day, Back and Chest exercises on days I am not working my Abs.

However:

I have been doing alternating Leg exercises each day I workout

Also, 

tomorrow I will try to do a different Ab Exercise that I have not been doing on Ab Exercise day.

We’ll see how this goes…

3. For Women

If you start doing back, chest, compound as well as possibly arm and shoulder, ( I am not really sure about those two), exercises regularly with a Total Gym:

• Check your bra band and strap adjustment almost right away, and often!
• If you bra band starts creeping up your back, during your normal activities, not just exercise, it might be too big already. Try smaller band size bras if you notice this happening.
• If your straps can go up a bit, try to move them past the part were the hardware of the adjustment slide is out of contact with the bony part of you shoulders as soon as you can. The skin there does not enjoy protracted contact with hardware!

I think that is it. With these simple rules and the exercises I have mentioned in my Friday Inches off Achieve and various posts I have gone from a woman with:

10/5/11 The Starting point:               Waist 39 inches                          Gut 44 inches

To my current

7/13/12 Bust 42  Underbust 32.25 Waist 33  Belly Button 34.5   Gut 39.25  Hips 38

The reason there are these additional Underbust and belly button measurements is that at the beginning, I had nearly no waist to speak of, and as it became longer, I added those. I added the hip measurement out of curiosity.

Anyway, it has taken a while to get any sort of consistency at all, and for me I can be happy with a three day a week workout because it is better than noting and worth the effort.

I think the Total Gym is great because I can just do a few exercises while I am waiting  for a pot of water to boil, a page to load, our security program to do its updates, and soon each days exercises are done!

Then you can always break it down and stow it under the bed at the end of the day, or night!

When you consider you can try the Total Gym for just a buck, it is worth it to:

• Plan a chunk of time when things will have a steady schedule at home, like after summer vacations
• And Give it a try!

 Currently this link takes you to discount models you can try for a buck, and yes, the shipping is free.
 Total Gym® Official Store Endorsed by Chuck Norris & Christie Brinkley. Take our 30 Day In-Home Trial for only $1 and get FREE Shipping!
The shipping is fast too, at least it was when I brought mine last spring! Try it and enjoy feeling and looking better soon!
Anne Hunter

Taking it a little easier this week, a 1.25 inch loss this week

I say that, but believe some of this could just be water weight…

I try to take  care to measure 1^st thing Friday am when I awake, before I start drinking water or tea, but today, I forgot it was Friday…

Here is this Friday’s Perspective:

10/5/11 The Starting point:                Waist 39 inches                          Gut 44 inches

7/6/12: Bust 42     Under-bust 32        Waist 33    Belly Button 35.5     Gut 38.5       Hips 38.5

7/13/12 Bust 42  Under-bust 32.25 Waist 33  Belly Button 34.5   Gut 39.25    Hips 38

Just 3 days of exercise, possibly to day and tomorrow, but that remains to be seen.

I am not exercising on the weekends at all lately so…

Even so, it seemed to have lost:

• 1 inch at the belly button
• .5 at my hips
• gaining .25 at the underbust.

Water Weight or not, I have Lost Enough to have to Replace Apparel

My three pairs of light cotton shorts, as they are now falling off me, unless I wear a shapewear style tank top…Which I am not apt to do when it is hot enough to wear shorts.

So far I have turned 2 pairs of jeans I have not been wearing into cutoffs!

However, I will need more…

Also, I have been wearing a 34 inch bra band size. Lately I have been steadily shorting the straps with their adjustments. The adjustment hardware is right up to the top of the cups.

Even with all the sweat, (we do not have central air), my bras are starting to creep up my back..,

Besides, the underbust measurement has been nearer to 32 than 34 for a while now.

Hopefully that will wait until fall…

It is worth it though, just because I feel so much better!

Sure I still get tired, but a feel less dragged down throughout the day, like I am standing all the way up. It also feels like, if I had a chance, I could ice skate or something I really feel like doing, for hours on end. Perhaps that is why it is called Strength Training?

It great to feel more energetic and stronger while doing mostly work and chores!  
Anne Hunter

Exercised 4+ times this week, bit of fat intake reduction

a bit better results!

This week this post is in lieu of the Friday Inches Off Report, (to your right), becuse I cannot seem to access that page to give it this update today.

7/6/12:   Bust 42      Under bust 32 Waist 33 Belly Button 35.5   Gut 38.5 Hips 38.5
6/29/12: Bust 41.75 Under bust 32 Waist 35 Belly Button 34.75 Gut 39    Hips 38.5

However, I may have dieted sort of, a bit, this week. It being too hot for me to figure out what to eat that was light and cool enough; I took to eating cereal, with skim milk, 2xs a day and chicken chunks for supper, with duck sauce, and pepper!

So perhaps, for me anyway, who was just previously eating bologna and cheese sandwiches for breakfast and lunch, perhaps that is dieting…You can read about my typical diet here if you want to.

I consider the bust fluctuation negligible Getting the waist, belly button, and especially gut measurements down are my main concerns.

I did the Ab and Leg exercises Monday, Wednesday and going through them today, Friday.

I did the other Leg, Back, Chest, Core and Compound ones Tuesday and Thursday.
I finally got the back ones up to 2Xs in one week!
For future health reasons, for me, this is another big concern, or at least could be.
I did add a few more repetitions of some of the exercises, and went up a level setting of my Total Gym on others.

I hope to have this blog more organized in the near future.
However, as it is, I am having quite a time of it fitting everything else in.
I will try!
Anne Hunter

How little has changed, with just 3 days of up to 7 exercises a week

So last week, again I only managed to exercise 3 days, two ab and leg days and one leg, back and chest days and if you look at the Friday Inches Off report, (link to your right), for 6/22 there is little change. What change there was may be water weight for all I know…

It appears that somehow, I will have to squeeze in a fourth day of exercise a week to enjoy much more improvement.

On the bright side: Perhaps this means once I get to the shape I want to be in, 3 days a week of 6 and 7 exercises a week might be enough to maintain it! Or not. Remains to be seen.

Speaking of Seen; I notice my upper arms are flabby, and I do not like it. Will have to work in some arm exercises too…

So here it is Tuesday, time to resume exercise, with the usual Way too much to do other wise and a lack of motivation…

Nothing to do but get on with it!

I guess that is going to happen to all of us from time to time…

How little it took to loose 3.75 inches between this and last Friday AM

If you check out the 6/15 Inches Off Friday report, whose link is to your right, you can see that I lost 3 inches off my bust, .25 inches off my underbust and .75 inches off my gut. However, I gained .25 back on the hips.

Considering I only exercised three time this week, this if great!

I did my, now standard, 3 Abs,3 Leg Exercises, Tue. and Thur. However, I did up to reps from 30 to 40 on the Kneeling Plank Presses, Twist Squats and Toe out Squats.

So far, not counting today or tomorrow, and I doubt both at this point, I only got around to doing the newer Legs, Core, Chest and Back exercises on Wed.

My diet changed a bit:

From

• peanut butter and honey sandwiches
• and pizza
• Plenty of Bacon this Sunday morning

to

• Bologna and cheese sandwiches, on whole wheat
• with skim milk

Like most weeks for me include

• a Wendy’s Double Baconator, at least one a week
• chicken nuggets, Weaver frozen, with duck sauce, at least two times a week. 

See, I really do not adjust my diet to loose weight!

It’s working! I now have more pants that fit nicely, and tops. Looks like I will have to buy smaller bras though, which is fine with me. Maybe not my budget at just this moment, but I am ok with it anyway.

A Video showing some of the Exercises I just posted about

Here is a video I found that shows some of the exercises I just posted about having started earlier in the day!

Here is, approximately where these exercises, I mostly posted about earlier today, are in this video:

• Seated Chest Press :34 to :51
• Seated Chest Fly:52 to 1:07
• Surfer, Compound exercise, 1:48 to 2:10

And one I do on my Abs day:

Kneeling Plank Press starts at 1:33 of this video

Just for continuity sake, the Ab Crunch Exercise Video again:

OK!

Maybe I can get them all in this same post, so I can just Show you what I am talking about!
Anne Hunter

Finally adding Back, Compound, Chest and more Legs Exercises

Having learned that doing the same exercises, while weight lifting, which is what you are doing with Total Gym IS, is hard on your body, exhausting and Stupid. After all, you can do many different exercises on a Total Gym. No, I have not counted.

Besides, I meant to get around to toning up my back and chest! I believe Compound means overall toning, but I am not sure…

I hope to be able to provide some videos of some of these so they are not just words:

These are the exercises I aim to do on those days when I am not doing my, now normal, 3 each Abs and Leg exercises:

Legs: More Squats

Two more leg exercises, this time using Total Gym’s “toe bar” rather than their “squat stand” at the end of the glide-board.

Like the squat or bend exercises I do on the ab days, these too are bends, or squats, except the sprinter squats.

The  Feet in “V” squat seems to really work the inner thighs, if you have your heels where they are suppose to be during the exercise.

The Toe Bar Squat might work the same muscles as the other squats I do on ab days, but so far, no complaints from my legs about being over worked.

I did 30, all at once, with the Total Gym set at Level 6. I guess they are not too hard. This is also how I do the Toe Out and Twist squats on my Ab exercise days; 30 at a time, at level 6.

Back, Chest more Legs and a Compound Exercise

For the Surfer, a Compound exercise, the two Chest and One of the Two Back exercises, I had to bring the glide-board down to level 2. The last back exercise, I had to bring it all the way down to level 1!

I did 3 sets of 10:

Surfer exercisesSeated Chest PressesSeated Chest Flys and Kneeling Row, back exercises at level 2

Then did 3 sets of 10 Swimmer back exercises at level 1

That was yesterday, woke up feeling fine today.

Actually did these, while having a bout of my painful shoulder problem. It felt the same before, during and after these exercises! My shoulder surprised me by (finally!), feeling fine this morning!

There are shoulder exercises for Total Gym. It is likey I will avoid them for now.

I believe I can confront these on a regular basis!

So now my plan is to do;

• Ab + Leg workout 3 days a week
• Back, Chest, Legs and a Compound exercises 3 days a week

We will see:

• How long I can be consistent with this
• How Consistent
• What the results are

Anne Hunter

Then I spent a Week Sick

Exercise and at least 2 good meals a day beats lack of appetite for weight loss!

I have not exercised since last Wed. the 16^th, had been on antibiotics from last Friday until this Friday am. While one of the side effects I got was lack of appetite, I did not exercise, except walk the dog, usually once a day, I gained a bit back.

I pretty much had two snacks a day with my antibiotics.

It is plain to see that less food is not the way to weight loss.

I normally eat 2 satisfying meals.

Lately my own spaghetti meat sauce on Italian bread, with mozzarella is one typical daily meal, when I am well.

I had been aiming to exercise most days, but was doing well with every other day exercise.

Quite often, a 2^nd meal of the day tended to be take out…

Still, I was loosing nicely!

Last week, while sick I was having:

Crackers and milk

Potatoes chips and mild

One of those once a day

Lots of water through out

I think I had a peanut butter and honey sandwich or two…

The weight, well inches, gain was not significant.

However, I did eat much less.

In fact today is the first day I actually ate 2 meals! Finally felt like myself again!

I hope to resume exercise on Tuesday, after this holiday weekend.

I just looked today and Total Gym is giving away the Ab Crunch exercise attachment I do most of my regular exercises on, with a free Workout DVD!

They currently have Total Gyms starting at $400 in their Outlet store, under Product on the left side of their blue horizontal menu bar.

You will find a text to Total Gym in the right column.

Just saying.

Adding Different Exercises, Instead of Overdoing Ab Crunches

With Good Results!

Two weeks ago I did ab crunch exercises every day, whilst adding leg exercises two times that week and while the results were results were excellent but..

I could tell by the way I felt by the end of the week, (like I had been hit by a truck!), that this regime could not, or should not be maintained.

A friend suggested stretching before and after each exercise. True, I do not stretch much at all, except often when walking our dog. He stops a lot. Then I bend all the way down from the waist, (I know I am not going to be lifting so..), as I pet him and tell him what a good dog he is.

I did not really think stretching was the problem.

Last week I did the 3 each Ab and Leg exercises, every other day only. I felt fine and lost 2.25 inches in one week !

This week I am experimenting with adding several, to start, Core, shoulder and / or chest and back exercises on those off Ab and Leg exercise days.

I will post the results on Friday, or close to it, as usual.

The up shot is. Total Gym is weight lifting.

Results may be splendid, but do not do the same exercises two days in a row.

Besides there are so many to choose from anyway!

Cut back exercise and lost 2.25 inches on bust, waist and hips

If you check out the 5/11/12 Inches Off Friday post you can see what I actually did, very little, on my Total Gym this week to get down to a 32.5 inch waist, and 39.5 inch hips, Gut remains the same and lost a bit other wise.

For only managing to exercise two times this week, this is quite nice!

For what it is worth, Today, (just had to look), Using the Total Gym Official Store link to your right I found:

• As Always, Free one month trail for A Buck
• 60% Off and 
• 23% Off and 
• one for $600!

 Just saying. In past months I have enjoyed what it did to get rid of my back ache. Now I am enjoying being in better shape and loose clothes!

Response to Tommy Lee’s comment of 4/16/12

Sorry about the delay on this. Tommy Lee wanted an explanation about part of my 2/17/12 post: Lost ½ inch off waist, ¼ inch off gut!

Tommy, what I meant was that in addition to using my Total Gym, I also starting using a, (I think they are called), resistance band, at my desk.

I was doing something like this one pictured here, but with a simpler band, like the one I pictured in the above-mentioned post.

I hope that clears things up!

Lost 2.5 inches since mid-February and my prominent double chin this week

I have only in recent weeks began to really work at it!

For the previous two weeks, I had only managed some ab crunches 2 and 3 days a week.

Then this week I ramped it up a bit by:

• Adding one more ab exercise3 leg exercises
• Both two times this week
• Did the usual sets of ab crunch exercises, but every day Sunday through Thursday
• One day I did 50 ab crunches and 5 sets of 5 oblique ab exercises on Tuesday when I added the leg exercises.

Comparison Mid February and Today

2/2012:  Bust 43, waist 33.5 tapering to 36,                 gut 40.5 hips 40 inches!

5/2012:  Bust 44, waist 35.5,  no tapering to speak of  gut 42.75 hips 41 inches

Plus, the day after I added the leg, and one more ab, exercises

I noticed my prominent double chin was gone!

I am pretty excited about that. I did not know whether it being there was an age or weight thing…

YES! 

I will try to find videos of the Total Gym leg exercises and ab exercise I added to my routine to post here.

Finally Resumed Exercise, and have lost 1.5 inches!

Since last Wednesday, with a longer waistline!!

No time to write later last week, but as it stands:

I just did:

• 30 each ac crunch exercises, with my Total Gym set on level 6
• 15, 10 none and 15 oblique crunches, each side on

Wed, Thur. Friday and Sunday, 4/18- 19 - 20 and 22

I started:

36 inch waist and 42.5 inch gut and am down to a

35.5-inch waist and a 41.5-inch gut

My eating habits are their usual bad.

The longer waistline is especially encouraging!

One morning, my waist actually measured 35 inches and a few inches down 36.5.

It used to be one smallest part, bulging directly, rather than gradually, up to my gut thickness, with not appreciable length of waist in-between!

Got to go, get in a few reps and get back to the rest of what needs to be done here.

This is encouraging!

Aiming to resumed exercise next week

Do we all say that from time to time?


It looks like things are settling down in our household.
Teddy dog, who injured a toe nail is off antibiotics
and one of our kitties will be off his, owing to a nasty bite he got out side, will be off his shortly.

Soon School will resume for my daughter
by then my eating habits will have stabilized.

Distracted by events, I have gone from roughly 7 packets of ring dings a week to 1.
I have cut out potato chips, and lunch meats all together, these days. I do not know how long that will last.

I can say I am down to a 36-inch waist without exercising, out side of walking Teddy dog.

As I intended to make a valid test of:

Shaping up using the Total Gym

• to the extent I could fit it into each week
• Without Dieting

I will give it until next week to restart the whole

• Do my best to fit in some each day
• and Inches Off Friday report

To see what it really does, with what little I can fit in, fitness wise.

If I do not resume exercise soon, my back will tell me about it!

I do know I can count on a few ab exercises on it several times a week to keep  my back feeling good. That I know already.
Can I really, EVER fit in enough to loose, then keep off inches?
We shall see!

2-inch gain after about a month of slacking

That is on just my waist, GULP!

Well there you go. Now the question is, how fast can I get back to a 35.5-inch waist, and then smaller?

Sadly, my slacking off from exercise came about at the same time I decided:

• I would do, abs, then abs and core exercises every other day
• Leg, then add, chest and shoulder, exercises on those other days

Well I still believe it is a sound plan
Let us see if I can just get around to it!

Greetings from the If it Can go Wrong, It Will Life

Well I have not managed to fit in any kind of exercise lately, except walking our Teddy pup.

He just had his winter coat cut off, (Picture the dog in the picture to your right, with 4 times as much fur). It takes a few days for him to recover. He gets timid. So we have not been walking much either.

Exactly as the title suggests, that is how it has been around here lately.

Fortunately for me, a friend of ours tuned me on to Gabriel Iglesias!

You can check out a bit of his comedy here!

If you are down, and even if you are not and just appreciate a good laugh, like exercise, his comedy is worth fitting into your week, or if you can do it, day!

Well hopefully things will get better soon, and I can resume exercise and writing about it.
If not, my back is going to kill me!

Fitness Simplified, Thank you Kasper V. Chistensen

Thank you Kasper for your kind comment to my Ab Crunch Exercises I Refer to in Inches Off Friday post. Though I seriously doubt you need much of the info provided here!

If you have the Passion and a Burning Desire for Fitness yet lack the knowledge

You really should check out Kasper’s

Free and PROVEN Fitness Simplified plan at Fortius Fitness!

Kasper’s web site tells us Fortius if from Latin meaning Stronger. Not just physically stronger, but also stronger in terms of;

• Moral Endurance
• Steadfastness
• Dedication 
• and Discipline

If you are up to a Free, and Proven

• 5 part course, including video, text and questioners

Or

• If you grave doubts about a fitness plan you are currently following, check out his Body Building and Fitness Strategies, The Good, The Bad and the Ugly.

Even I, who am only trying to fit fitness into my, already over packed with obligations life, will be scoping out his site for info I can apply to my own fits and starts, just fitting it in where and when I can exercise, (cannot call this a program), effort.

If you have ever been remotely interested in diet and exercise, Kasper’s Fortius Fitness site is worth at least a good browse. You will no doubt learn something!

Thank you for the nice comment Kasper. I am glad it led me to your informative site!

Roadblocks to Exercise, great and small

Helps to remember I have still lost 3 inches off my waist and 1 inch off my gut since October of last year doing these few exercises in a fits-and-starts fashion.

Well sometimes things come up.
Sometimes we let things overwhelm us.

Some weeks it is both, which is what I had last week.

In an ordinary week, I would have tried to adhere to these guidelines I came up with in the last few months:
Try to Exercise

• When you are cold
• Before Breakfast
• When the browser, or program, of your choice is not responding
• Before opening an email, or otherwise hearing from one in your life who tends to be upsetting

As last week went, few of those guidelines would have gotten in a 10 reps of ab, oblique exercises, or plank presses. Well, OK, I did manage a few, but too few to mention.

No. There was driving other people to the doctor, to work and their car’s garage, and other things of that ilk all week.

Some weeks are going to be like that.
Will just have to get back to it ASAP!

Still not quitting!

Lost ½ off Waist and ¼ inch off Gut

Which may seem meager except
Especially if you compare them to my original, back in Oct 2011, actual Inches Off in one week

Except:
This time I am concentrating on consistently working this into my life.

I have managed consistency! For 10 days at least!

Reasons I think I can maintain this and why just a ¾ inch loss is just fine

Total Gym is weight lifting, I am:

1st making a point of not doing the same exercises two days in a row.

• Granted I am not quite able to Fit In different ones on the in-between days, 
• but am aiming to.

 2nd Doing my best to not overwhelm myself, so as to keep this up for the long run

IF I consider my eating habits:

• I lost over 3 inches off my waist, 1 off my gut, since starting this in October.
• I am not killing myself trying
• I sure do not diet!
• That I am just beginning to get consistent

Actually, considering:

• The way I eat, or rather what I eat
• It is miraculous that I have not ballooned up to 200 pounds
• With all the ill heath issues that can come with that at my age!

Also, if I loose just a ½ inch off my waist
And a ¼ inch off my gut
Every 10 days

I should be in pretty good shape by summer!

SO this is what I have been doing, with great consistency, these last 10 days.

1st, I got a separate agenda, desk calendar just for exercise. These notes did not really fit into my normal one. It also made it impossible to add more exercise, and its notes.

2nd In addition to my Total Gym workouts, such as they are so far, I have started using a resistance rubber band thing for arm exercises at my desk.
Mine looks like this, but is relatively small for arms, chest and back I guess…with grips instead of ankle cuffs, but the same basic round of rubber band.

I picked it up somewhere, maybe the Sports Authority, years ago.

This is perfect for when you have a few moments of waiting for something to load when you are at the computer!

So the upshot of this is

I did:
All at level 6 on my Total Gym, because I will not take time to change the level
Every Other Day

• 30, in sets of 10, plain Ab Crunches, using the attachment
• First just 5 each, but worked up to: 30, each side, sets of 10, Oblique Ab Crunches, using the attachment. This is especially grueling, at first, at level 6
• 30, in sets of 10, actual Plank Presses

I also did 30, in sets of 10 each, arm exercises I either made up or are recalling, (likely a combo of these two things), with my above-mentioned resistance band.

If I can find a picture for this, I will post it here.

So I did these things and lost 3/4 inch from my waist and gut!

More importantly, I think I hit on something I can do no matter what.
Those were a rough set of 10 days

• My favorite Aunt died
• My current hopes for my love life did a roller coaster maneuver
• Plus Technical difficulties throughout….

Though it all it helped to feel physically stronger and more energetic!
Worth the effort!

Why I let myself Stop Exercising and Why I Will Not Stop This Time

I did mention I would explain why I stopped exercising, and the Inches Off Friday report.

Mostly Upset:

• 1st, Problems with my child
• Then, a member of our household in and out of the hospital with new needs…
• It was all very time consuming. 
• However the real Stop, and the real reason to continue and not quit is:

If you are in good shape, and currently exercising, you will have more energy to deal with whatever life throws you.

Yeah, I stopped again, but resumed in earnest just yesterday. The above is what I am going to tell myself to keep going.

The Total Gym does make resuming easier than if I had to go to some gym outside the house too!

Currently you can use this link to Check out Total Gym®'s Daily Offer today!

You can also note the savings code in their A New Year Means a New You...Save 10% Off Total Gym Home Models (Total Gym 2000, 3000, and XLS) using code 11001 + Free Shipping! link and get the most for your money!

I have never been a fan of the “A New You” verbiage, wherever it crops up. However I do believe that your Total Gym, providing you use it regularly, will to a great asset for the same old you.

Additionally, I noticed it pays to take care of yourself. You just cannot count on anyone else to do that.
You will feel better for it!

With even the sketchiest use of your Total Gym, you will certainly feel a whole lot better a whole lot sooner than anything else I have tried!

Oh Yeah, I have tried a few other at home, and out side of home, exercise equipment types and gyms.

The Urban Rebounder was fun, but scary to do with our kitties coming a bit too close, too often.

Most were not fun.

Only the Total Gym:

• made my body in general feel stronger and springier the very next day! 
• The Total Gym also got rid of my late in the day lower back pain! 
• Within days of using it.

It is nice to feel more energetic
Very nice to not be in pain at the end of the day too!
It is well worth its price!

Ab Crunch Exercises I refer to in Inches Off Friday

As Promised, I am trying to find a better way to show the exercises I refer to in my Inches Off Friday report.

This video shows the Ab Crunch, with the Ab Crunch Attachment, exercises I refer to:

 See. This is nice and easy at lower levels, a bit gruling, if you are, like me, out of shape, at higher levels.
I do mine at level 6 now in 3 sets of 10, or 2 sets of 15. That is only the easy ones though.

If I have more time, (If you know where we can get more time please comment to this post and let me know!)
I will play around, and possible use of of these, even at lower levels!
The nice and easy lower levels look FUN!
Gliding Right Along!

A Sneaker Style Price Comparison

Best Price Zappos
If you need both footwear and a handbag, a possible excellent deal at ShoeBuy might be the place to shop, today

After wearing them out side the house on nearly all occasions since at least 5/5/11 my Reebok Easy Tone Freestyle Hi top sneakers really need to be replaced. They actually are still quite comfy, but the very worn out Easy Tone soles now make a racquet when I walk in them.

Having decided to get my old favorite Reebok Freestyle Hi sneakers to replace them, I found: They cost $64.98, and this week’s, (changes tomorrow), Reebok deal is 30% off running shoes. This is not a running shoe.

I found them at Zappos, Free Shipping, for just $51.99! If you click on this picture, that is where it will take you. Or this text link, if you are using script blocker,
Reebok Lifestyle - Freestyle Hi (Black) - Footwear. They are called Reebok Lifestyle in some places, not others?


I checked Zappos, using their Athletic Shoes text link to the right,

after I purchased them from Shoebuy, using the $5 discount link in the right column here.

This style does not qualify for the $5 discount.

They did cost just $58.54 and like Zappos, Shoe Buy gives us Free Shipping, so I was happy.

Just because I am looking, after the fact, I notice they have this nice discount link too:
10% Off Any Purchase at Shoebuy.com plus Free Shipping. Enter 'SHOEBUY' to redeem at checkout.

The reason I offer that is, Just in case a style you might be considering qualifies,
With my order confirmation, I got a link for
$10 Off, buy just using the link in my Shoe Buy Order Confirmation , at
Bagsbuy.com!

I do not know if every one who orders from Shoe Buy gets one.
I can tell you I am not on their mailing list, for what ever that is worth.

I kind of do want a different bag for spring, and my daughter still wants the one I am using….

 It pays to shop around!

Watch, Irony in my life being what it is, Reebok’s deal of the week tomorrow will turn out to be some great % off Classic styles!

I will soon be resuming my Total Gym Workouts and the Inches Off Fridays Reports will soon follow!

Either that or my back will kill me instead.
Yep, early evening back pain is the true inspiration behind my fitness efforts!
The trick I guess, would be to get the exercise in before the pain starts!
I am aiming to try just that!