Exercise

[thunderdancer]

I was wondering...

Does anyone here exercise?

Kristi you do i've seen :)
Alissa what working out do you do to get those gorgeous muscles, you are so toned.

It's just that this is my next thing to give myself. I'm all set and I have this goal of running the London (or any) marathon with a friend. I am going to start training. I have a family history of running and fitness, i'm the black sheep who always liked horse riding and archery (not exactly over exerting hehe), it's in my blood and I want to let it out! I can't wait to run some races, maybe a 10K first.. my brother was doing these at 12 years old.. he's a great example to me, he loves fitness and works his passionate field too.
I love yoga too but I never take the time to give it to myself.
I have hand weights too and want to be stronger - again it's time to JUST DO IT.

I really want to be fit, strong, toned and supple.

I have a great diet and my body loves it, it is definitely asking for movement though, I have a very skinny upper half and a everso slightly bumpy lower half so some fitness is what is needed to balance me out - I am looking forward to being fit as well as healthy

Anyone want to share what they do? don't do? want to do? aspirations? dreams?

I'm a SPROUT! I'm a SPROUT! I'm a SPROUT! Yippeeee!!

[Kristi]

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Taekwondo. I discovered it only about 4 years old. It grabbed me by the soul instantly. I couldn't and still can't get enough. It's also pretty cool as a 41 year old mom to say, "I'm a black belt." It also makes me one of the cool moms I really believe it saved my life, too, not in the way you might think....I didn't fight off attackers. I did get into a very bad spot in my life. I was so low that I didn't think I wanted to continue. My life lost its meaning...I was ready to quit taekwondo. It was the final 6 months as I worked toward my black belt. My instructor and best friend along with another best friend pushed me to get into class every night. They recognized what was happening to me and made me show up. My instructor is a 4th degree so it's pretty hard to no do what she says. They encouraged me, made me get help, pushed me.....and I did it. I made it to black belt. The next week I quit the job that was sucking the very life from me. All was right in the world again.
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[Alissa]

Well, the muscles are from 20 years of heavy weight lifting. I was jogging a lot (which i NEVER did, i was never big on the cardio) when that picture was taken. Im not as ripped as its hard for me to get ripped but easy for me to gain muscle. So easy in fact that i have to make sure i donÂ’t lift too much or i start looking bulky and im only 5'3 so it makes me look to stalky.

Now i lift, but light, easy workouts and do about a half hour of cardio a day, plus swim in my pool, then walk and some yoga and sometimes rollerblade.
Id love to get back to being really ripped like that but it takes a ton of time for me to get to that state.
Im thinking about taking the challenge though with you guys just to get leaner and more ripped up...

[thunderdancer]

I just found smasty's thread on weights and muscle - cool!

Alissa i'm being a bit dense here but what does 'ripped' mean? Defined?

I'm going to go dust my weights off - my brother just told me he can bench press the equivialnt of our 11 year old sister in each hand LOL He's my fitness guru

I'm really looking forward to getting more buff - Alissa go for it - do the challenge, its a big part of my challenge too, the fitness part, commitment to it and 'just doing it' - hey you might even win your own book ;)

[Kristi]

Thunderdancer-

Ripped and buff are the same.

[smasty]

Ripped = low body fat so you can really see the muscle definition.
Synonymous with "cut"

[Kristi]

I'm so excited. My studio is bringing in teachers for other exercises on times when our second floor isn't being used. She's adding yoga, pilates, cardio kickboxing, and something else that I can't remember. I do much better in a classroom situation than on my own. I can't always remember to put myself first and excercise then clean, do laundry, etc. This will be perfect. Students of taekwondo get a big discount. Yahoo! I will improve my cardio (very needed although it's come a long way) and my strength and flexibility can always use improvement. I need to stretch those inner thigh muscles for splits because we believe that's what's causing my hips to hurt and "pop" during kicks.

[thunderdancer]

Cheers Kristi and Sue!

Having some English-American language divides, it's cool to learn new words

Kristi thats awesome news!! Wow, no coincidences eh ;)

So what will you do?

I used to do a 'boxercise' class and it was awesome, circuit training with tonnes of different things to do AND a punchbag woohoo!

I'm REALLY looking forward to getting home where I want to do yoga in a class maybe but definitely some class of that sort above and Aikido for sure, I can't WAIT! Till then i'm going to get fit in prep!

[Kristi]

I'm doing them ALL! Pretty soon I'll be ripped!

[marigold]

kristi my turn to ask you a word..what is ripped ? i am presuming it means muscled ??? xxxx

[lil]

I'm at the gym 4 - 5 times a week. 40 minutes of cardio and 30 minutes of weights. I was quite sick for awhile, so this has been a huge accomplishment for me. Would love to try martial arts, if I could find a class with a bunch of old ladies like me! (I'm 48).
I started aquafit classes (3x week) - whew! I'm exhausted after those.
Thunderdancer: a lot of places have running clinics, where they teach you to run. I've never been a runner - but I like watching them go by!.

[marigold]

lil i can relate to that sence of achievement.i was ill with M.E for 12 years at one point in bed all the time..before that i was running and workign out etc.i remember the thrill of my first walk - 5 mins there and 5 back!!

i am not as fit as i want to be but way better now. and btw at age 48 you are definately not old

love marigold

[Rawkinlocs]

Kristi, that IS cool that you can say you have your black belt (and MEAN it!).

Well, currently the only exercise I do is Taebo (the old tape series) and every now and then I'll get on the weight machine, Orbitrek or bike thingy.

But I really want those Alissa muscles!!

[Kristi]

Would love to try martial arts, if I could find a class with a bunch of old ladies like me! (I'm 48).

I started when I was 37 and had my blackbelt the year I turned 40! It can be done. That's the beauty of martial arts. You don't have to be the fastest or the strongest......it's more individual. Where do you live? Perhaps I can recommend a school?

[thunderdancer]

Hi Lil

You are definitely NOT an oldie!!!

You go for it, like Kristi says, nothing to do with age or size or anything, the beaty of martial arts.

I'm giggling at the idea of people paying to be taught how to run... surely it's one foot in front of the other, like walking but faster LOL sorry, i've got the giggles now. I know there's more to it than that I'm lucky in that I have a good family background of runners and my brother is a sports rehab pro and personal trainer, he's my dude :)

I can't wait to do martial arts either - I have always wanted to since my brother did karate, I can't wait, the day I dress in my 'gi' for the 1st time I think I might explode with joy and pride