Elastigirl Enthusiastically Embraces A New Endeavor

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

11 hours ago, Elastigirl said:

So, I was thinking of working on my challenge, because Guild Leader Tank runs a tight ship and he  frowns on people waiting until the last minute to post and then I thought, Hey Tank is all preoccupied with wedding thought bliss, so he won't notice anyway. I don't have to put up my challenge until the day before, or maybe even that day. And hey, if no-one checks what I'm doing here, there's no accountability

[Elastigirl]

1 hour ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

Wait, you're still here?  I mean, of course you're here, I was just  busy planning my challenge .

[Elastigirl]

10 hours ago, WhiteGhost said:

 

I watched that tutorial yesterday and realized I was making some mistakes in my form (even though I am doing bar ant not rings, a lot of the techniques still apply). I corrected it those morning and could see significant improvement. 

 

I am on low jumps now but i think I may be able to move to a higher bar soon

 

That's cool. I can't wait to try it and see. if it helps me.

[LouCarJo]

15 hours ago, Elastigirl said:

Wait, you're still here?  I mean, of course you're here, I was just  busy planning my challenge .

I'm waiting too ;-)

[Elastigirl]

Had friends over for a scrapbooking day so double bonus- I did scrapbooking and friending.  Worked out in the afternoon. Afternoon workouts are never as good, I just don't seem to have as much energy. But it was decent workout. I realized after watching the GMB tutorial, that I had really poor form on my muscle-ups. You are supposed to keep you arms to your side, and I had my elbows sticking straight out. I think I was trying to make wings so I could fly. So instead of jump to muscle ups, I did baby muscle ups. Baby muscle ups you start with the rings low (waist high ).I really focused on form. The other  skills I have pretty good form on.

 

In the evening hubby and I took a walk on the interurban river trail, a little over 3 miles

 

I'm the introvert who always thinks of things to say 30 minutes after the conversation has moved on. My friend today said she didn't want to do BW exercises to get buff because she didn't want to be buff. I was trying to formulate my words to talk about the importance of building muscle, how 50 year old women aren't suddenly going to look like Arnold Schwarzenagger, blah blah, and then before I knew it the conversation had moved on. I really would like to share with my friends why I think it is important for women our age to do some sort of weight bearing exercise, but I don't feel like I do a good job of it. The topic of using resistance bands came up though, and I  did say they were a good idea. Which as I think of it , is a very good idea, it feels less intimidating than weights, but they can build muscle.

 

 

[WhiteGhost]

1 hour ago, Elastigirl said:

I realized after watching the GMB tutorial, that I had really poor form on my muscle-ups. You are supposed to keep you arms to your side, and I had my elbows sticking straight out. I think I was trying to make wings so I could fly. 

 

This is exactly the issue I was having. It wasn't overly bad on the way up but, but on my eccentrics I had my elbows going out almost perpendicular to my body.

[Elastigirl]

3 minutes ago, WhiteGhost said:

 

This is exactly the issue I was having. It wasn't overly bad on the way up but, but on my eccentrics I had my elbows going out almost perpendicular to my body.

I had my elbows out on the way up and down. 

[LouCarJo]

On 01/07/2017 at 5:50 AM, Elastigirl said:

Had friends over for a scrapbooking day so double bonus- I did scrapbooking and friending.  Worked out in the afternoon. Afternoon workouts are never as good, I just don't seem to have as much energy. But it was decent workout. I realized after watching the GMB tutorial, that I had really poor form on my muscle-ups. You are supposed to keep you arms to your side, and I had my elbows sticking straight out. I think I was trying to make wings so I could fly. So instead of jump to muscle ups, I did baby muscle ups. Baby muscle ups you start with the rings low (waist high ).I really focused on form. The other  skills I have pretty good form on.

 

In the evening hubby and I took a walk on the interurban river trail, a little over 3 miles

 

I'm the introvert who always thinks of things to say 30 minutes after the conversation has moved on. My friend today said she didn't want to do BW exercises to get buff because she didn't want to be buff. I was trying to formulate my words to talk about the importance of building muscle, how 50 year old women aren't suddenly going to look like Arnold Schwarzenagger, blah blah, and then before I knew it the conversation had moved on. I really would like to share with my friends why I think it is important for women our age to do some sort of weight bearing exercise, but I don't feel like I do a good job of it. The topic of using resistance bands came up though, and I  did say they were a good idea. Which as I think of it , is a very good idea, it feels less intimidating than weights, but they can build muscle.

 

 

My parents are in their 60s.  My dad is very anti all the weights stuff I do (unladylike).  But my mum has realised (too late for her as she's got oesteoarthritis) that weightbearing stuff is important for health and is therefore less critical.  I get annoyed by what people say though too and my inability to come up with a good response.  We are so conditioned to be small that the fear of becoming other than that is huge.

[Elastigirl]

12 hours ago, LouCarJo said:

My parents are in their 60s.  My dad is very anti all the weights stuff I do (unladylike).  But my mum has realised (too late for her as she's got oesteoarthritis) that weightbearing stuff is important for health and is therefore less critical.  I get annoyed by what people say though too and my inability to come up with a good response.  We are so conditioned to be small that the fear of becoming other than that is huge.

Yeah, I lot of people my age and older still feel like strength training isn't for women. I  really try and emphasize how good muscle building is for bone strengthening.

[Elastigirl]

Went on a hike yesterday. Fitbit said 13 miles, 275 floors, and 34,000 steps. That is a PR for me. Went with a friend who does lots of hiking. She is several years older than me, and in great shape. One of those friends who crazily motivates you to do more than you think you can. The hike was 9 miles long, modest elevation. We get to  the view point in the hike, and my friend says

"Hey let's take this other trail that's just a bit up here, it's a great view" 

Other friend " How far"

Oh, just a bit"

Other friend, " How far?

Oh,, my friend  says evasively and shrugs her shoulder, "Maybe a half mile or so

 

So we agree to go. About 20 minutes in, after going lots of up, I ask "How much further" 

Friends' Oh, I'm sure we are almost there

We keep climbing.Friend says we are almost there

Then my friend tells us how she always told her kids that it was just around the corner. Uh huh. Now I see what we've been led into. A total of 2 miles later, and lots of up we did make it.  View was beautiful. We could see all the mountains and the valley below.

 

On the way back, my friend said " Let's dip our feet in the stream. I agreed. The water is straight from the mountain, it was super cold. She went up to her calves. I just went ankle deep. Mr Incredible, who is usually hesitant about cold water, went in up to his calves with no hesitation! 

 

We started on the trail at about 9 am, and got back to the car at 6 pm. My knee was bothering me a bit. I think if we are going to do more hiking I need hiking shoes that have more ankle support. Knee is fine now though.

 

Good day. I never would have gone that far without some prompting by here. Hubby took pictures, I'll post later. 

 

 

 

[Kestrel Grey]

16 minutes ago, Elastigirl said:

Yeah, I lot of people my age and older still feel like strength training isn't for women. I  really try and emphasize how good muscle building is for bone strengthening.

My husband's first response to me starting barbells was to be worried I would end up looking like a male bodybuilder.  I had to google pictures of female lifters, and showed him Staci's pics, before he was convinced it would be okay.  It is surprising the misinformation out there about being female and strong.

[Elastigirl]

28 minutes ago, Kestrel Grey said:

My husband's first response to me starting barbells was to be worried I would end up looking like a male bodybuilder.  I had to google pictures of female lifters, and showed him Staci's pics, before he was convinced it would be okay.  It is surprising the misinformation out there about being female and strong.

Yep, it is really hard to overcome that. I was thinking one of the best ways is to just say what I like doing, and people will look at me and  see they aren't going to be the next Scwarzenegger.

[Fonzico]

That hike sounds phenomenal! Exhausting, but amazing. I kind of love that your friend tricked you into pushing yourselves!

[Elastigirl]

40 minutes ago, Fonzico said:

That hike sounds phenomenal! Exhausting, but amazing. I kind of love that your friend tricked you into pushing yourselves!

It was. Yes, I think we need friends like that in our lives.

[LouCarJo]

2 hours ago, Elastigirl said:

Yep, it is really hard to overcome that. I was thinking one of the best ways is to just say what I like doing, and people will look at me and  see they aren't going to be the next Scwarzenegger.

Same.  I found pictures of kettlebell sport lifters to show my dad.  He didn't like the evidence though so chose to ignore it...

[Yasha92]

My husband's first response to me starting barbells was to be worried I would end up looking like a male bodybuilder.  I had to google pictures of female lifters, and showed him Staci's pics, before he was convinced it would be okay.  It is surprising the misinformation out there about being female and strong.

 

Mine to. He still worries sometimes when I shove my bicep in his face and holler "feel my muscle!!!", but he's since got into it a bit too, so we have something new to chat about

[Elastigirl]

1 hour ago, LouCarJo said:

Same.  I found pictures of kettlebell sport lifters to show my dad.  He didn't like the evidence though so chose to ignore it...

Maybe if your mom gets into it a ibt (even bodyweight stuff) and starts to feel better he will be convinced .

8 minutes ago, Yasha92 said:

 

Mine to. He still worries sometimes when I shove my bicep in his face and holler "feel my muscle!!!", but he's since got into it a bit too, so we have something new to chat about

 My husband doesn't quite know what to make of me when I start going on about my muscles. But he does the gymnastic rings too, so we can talk about that. ANd he does see how being stronger has helped me. 

[Sloth the Enduring]

That hike sounds great.

 

"Ladylike" is a weird concept for the 21st century.

[WhiteGhost]

9 hours ago, Elastigirl said:

Went on a hike yesterday. Fitbit said 13 miles, 275 floors, and 34,000 steps.

 

 

 

You say hike, I say expedition...

 

That's a heck of a lot of up! 

[LouCarJo]

9 hours ago, Elastigirl said:

Maybe if your mom gets into it a ibt (even bodyweight stuff) and starts to feel better he will be convinced .

Unfortunately she gets too much pain these days when she loads weight onto various body parts.  She still does her classes but is careful.  She's been doing the same classes for over 20 years now and unfortunately again, whilst she must have got aerobically fit, I don't think that they have done much in terms of muscle or bone development/maintenance.

[LouCarJo]

9 hours ago, Sloth the Enduring said:

 

"Ladylike" is a weird concept for the 21st century.

Oi!  (I agree with you...)

 

My dad has some weird ideas - he used part of his speech at my wedding to go on about how much of a tomboy I was as a child.  I don't see it as noteworthy and in any event what he really meant was that I climbed trees, but then everyone in my street did as we had a woods right next door to play in.

[Elastigirl]

23 hours ago, Sloth the Enduring said:

That hike sounds great.

 

"Ladylike" is a weird concept for the 21st century.

Thanks- see my comment below to LouCar

14 hours ago, LouCarJo said:

Oi!  (I agree with you...)

 

My dad has some weird ideas - he used part of his speech at my wedding to go on about how much of a tomboy I was as a child.  I don't see it as noteworthy and in any event what he really meant was that I climbed trees, but then everyone in my street did as we had a woods right next door to play in.

That idea that  it's not normal for girls (or women) to be active, strong and athletic seems silly to me too. True, women didn't use to lift weights, but it's fairly new for men too. And women in past generations had to be strong, they helped in the fields, chopped and carried wood, went out back to the stream and carried buckets of water

14 hours ago, LouCarJo said:

Unfortunately she gets too much pain these days when she loads weight onto various body parts.  She still does her classes but is careful.  She's been doing the same classes for over 20 years now and unfortunately again, whilst she must have got aerobically fit, I don't think that they have done much in terms of muscle or bone development/maintenance.

That's too bad. I really want to encourage my friends to move now, the longer the wait the harder it is

18 hours ago, WhiteGhost said:

You say hike, I say expedition...

 

That's a heck of a lot of up! 

Thanks. I like that term. Hey, I went on an expedition!

[Elastigirl]

I was a bit frustrated on my hike. Coming back down, my knee started to hurt. I do fine with walking and light climbing, but steep climbs make my knee hurt on the way down. I feel like that is an area of my fitness that hasn't improved, and I'd like it too.  I have hiking shoes. I was thinking of getting hiking boots that go a bit further up my ankle. Maybe if I have more supportive shoes so my ankle doesn't wobble, my knees will be better. The only time I struggle with this is with steep climbing. I used hiking poles yesterday. Any one have any ideas of exercises or stuff I could do to make the knees stronger?

 

Yesterday I went to my friends house for dinner and firework show. This was the same friend who was worried about getting buff .There was another gal there who does CrossFit. I asked her questions about it, so she got to talk about all the cool stuff she does, and how it helps. Then she asked me what I do, so I got to share. Then my friend who led the hiking, who I think is in really good shape, got excited about maybe trying some BW squats and incline push ups. I thought that was cool that we were able to encourage her.

 

Did the GMB leg circuit today. Maybe roll into pistol were much stronger. Also went for a walk in the evening. The calve DOMS are real from my hike Monday, so I rolling pinned (instead of foam roller)

 

Oh , I read an article about doing 10 pushups a day and decided to do that. It's sort of a challenge goal, when I actually post a challenge. First day of the push ups was today. Maybe tomorrow the challenge will happen. 

 

 

[WhiteGhost]

1 hour ago, Elastigirl said:

Any one have any ideas of exercises or stuff I could do to make the knees stronger?

 

I used to get really achy knees when walking down steep trails too.  Not sure if it is the same for you, but my issue was that I was not accounting for gravity and basically treating each downward step like a regular step, which was grinding up my knees.  Once I started treating my downward steps as if they were eccentric unweighted Bulgarian squats i.e. using my quads to slow my decent rather than letting my knees take the brunt) I stopped having knee issues.

 

Maybe something you could try.

[The Most Loathed]

Knees that hurt suck. It could be a ton of different things. Where in the knee does it hurt, is it sharp or dull, persistent or intermittent, and unilateral or bilateral?

I'd start by having Mr. Incredible film you walking down a slope from front and back. You don't need to show it to anyone, just scrutinize your gate yourself and see if you can find a wobble or hitch that is informative to you.