Month-End Review, October

10 Minute Solution: Fitness Ball Workouts (Upper Body), 2 x's

10 Minute Solution: Kickbox Bootcamp (Fat Burning Blast), 1 x

Adaptive Motion Trainer, 1 x

Army Crawls with Weights, 3 x's

Bicycling, 5 x's

Elliptical Trainer, 1 x

Mowing Lawn, 1 x

StairMaster, 6 x's

Stationary Bike, 1 x

Swimming, 9 x's

Treadmill (with bouts of jogging), 15 x's

Yard Work, 2 x's

Lesson Of The Month: If you haven't done upper body work in awhile, don't go swimming as planned the next day.

High Note Of The Month: I swam 29 laps today; I'm getting closer and closer to a mile.


After reading this poll in the October issue of Fitness magazine, I thought about my gym behavior.

I'm solid with wiping down the machines even though I've read that the solution that is used doesn't really sanitize the machines.

I had to think about the hogging machine question. I belong to a gym that is like the Wal-mart of gyms. The one I go to after work is large, has plenty of cardio equipment and there is not a time limit on how long you can occupy a machine. I tend to spend an hour or, at least, 30 minutes if I'm splitting my time on machines. So, I'll say no to the machine hogging.

I've had the urge to sing plenty of times when I'm really feeling my workout or trying to make it over a difficult hump. I restrain myself 95% of the time but I have sung quietly. At least, I hope it was quietly.

I try to be courteous of other people because I know that it annoys me when someone breaks out in an ultra-loud conversation on their cell phone at the gym -- especially after having listened to cell phone conversations at work and in public for the bulk of the day. It's almost as annoying as a gum popper on the next machine.

Month-End Review, April

I decided to do less swimming since my arms often feel as if they are on fire. As a result, I made friends with the treadmill again. I paused for the cause on Fridays.

Here's how I moved my body during the month of April:

Adaptive Motion Trainer, 5 x's

Arc Trainer, 7 x's

DVD (10 Minute Solution), 1 x

StairMaster, 3 x's

Swimming, 9 x's

Treadmill, 11 x's

Walking Outdoors, 3 x's

The Fastest Hour

You can never completely erase pool evidence. Usually, droplets of water remain on my face after I have changed out of my swimwear which reminds me of the advertisement for the St. Louis Blues -- Do you bleed blue?
I had been looking forward to going to the pool all day. I was not disappointed when I got in the water and I even managed to work out a kink in my right thigh from my stint on the Adaptive Motion Trainer yesterday.

The hour went by so fast though. I swam 20 laps while resisting the urge to sing Etta James' At Last because it's hard to swim and sing at the same time.

Three kids were practicing their diving skills by tossing soda bottles filled with water into the deep end and retrieving them. I need to get in on that practicing one day so that I can feel more comfortable.

I learned something new too. I should be washing off my goggles with cold water since the chlorine can destroy the anti-fog coating on the lenses. Who knew?

Today's Fitness Bout

I'm not sure if the Adaptive Motion Trainer (AMT) lives up to all the hype but it certainly felt like it today. I was a little punch-drunk after trying to hang in there for thirty five minutes at a resistance level of six.

Despite my run-in with the AMT, I remain undaunted and will sign up for the National Body Challenge again. With registration comes health and fitness tips and a 30 day pass for Bally's which can be downloaded up until Jan. 16th.

http://health.discovery.com/national-body-challenge/national-body-challenge.html