My story, and my plan!

[dani]

Hello everyone! I am new here. I am loving all the positivity and support and learning going on. I want to contribute and be a part of it! I love nerds. I am one. Steve had me at the home page with his Red Sox hat. And all the Legos. And the Star Wars references. Yeah!

My deal: I am 38 (how did that happen??), 5’4â€, 128 lbs. I am sort of fit; I have always had healthy eating habits and try to work out (30 mins of cardio, free weights, and yoga or dance) at least twice a week. In the past 10 years I’ve had two wonderful kids and subsequently the demands on my body (two very difficult pregnancies, two c-sections) and time have taken their toll. There is 5-10 pounds of flab that I really need to replace with muscle. I find it really challenging just to find the time to work out these days—I have a fairly demanding full-time job, a house, a husband, friends, kids, not to mention I am trying to write a book…..all of which means I am so blessed but also means working out can easily take a back seat and I want to change that.

I really want to commit to better workouts and eat even better (moving toward primal). The shift toward body weight exercises and mostly meat/vegetables from cardio/whole grains is a profound one for your average American fitness-conscious woman, but I totally get it and am implementing. I LOVE working out this way, love eating this way--it's really what comes to me naturally, I think.

My goals are to build more muscle strength and definition, especially in my core and legs. My back hurts a lot, and I know it’s from a weak core. I am shifting my diet to primal, and getting my kids in that direction as well. I need to carve out time to work out. I am already fairly active: I garden, we do a lot of home renovation projects, I work out with friends at work where we have a gym (side note: the other day, for the first time, there were 6 of us in the gym and not one of us was on the cardio machines! All free weights, baby. It’s the revolution!). I want to perfect my form and be much stronger. I want to be able to do pull-ups and push ups well. I'd like to be much more cut/ripped (sounds sort of cheesy but you all know what I mean!).

I broke my scenario down to pros and cons (cons first):

1) Time. Already detailed above. Often I am too exhausted to work out well or sometimes even at all, since I am committed from 6am to 8pm to either work or family.

2) Ability: I have never been very “athletic.†I was a mediocre ballet dancer till I was 25, but I am a terrible runner, built with kind of a small, non-muscular frame, not strong, and I have very low stamina/endurance. Hmm, this sounds terribly unattractive….mostly I am concerned about form when lifting/doing squats etc.

3) While I love to eat well, I really love bread, cheese and wine. I am half French! I can live without bread and wine, but cheese….oh dear.

Pros:

1) I’m not so much starting from ground zero, just need to get to the next level. Level up, right??

2) I have decent eating habits, I love to cook, I love eating healthy

3) I have a nice finished basement where I can work out, some decent free weights, etc. Need to get a pull-up bar.

I have to attribute this next phase/leveling up to Crossfit. I haven’t joined but just the general buzz and friends who are doing it finally piqued my interest and I decided to find out what it was all about. That (through various googlings) lead me here to NF.

I love workout prescriptions and menu plans for ideas. Would Steve’s eBooks be a good bet for me?

Thanks for reading (if you got this far) and looking forward to challenges, workout logs, blogs, and tracking progress with you all.

dani

[bigm141414]

Hey welcome dani! Man, you got a lot going on. I get tired just reading that stuff. Steve''s ebooks are great worrkout routines. The Rebel Strength Guide might be a good first bet for you. Crossfit is great and a lot of people of the boards here have a lot success with it. The support and community at Crossfit is what makes it so addicting.

If you need any help on form or any questions about free weights, running, crossfit, or really anything we're pretty knowledgeable round these parts. Poke around an let us know how we can help!

[Morrigainz]

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

Another lady lifting heavy things! Viva la revolucion! Or something. Is that Spanish for revolution? I am too lazy to Google.

Aaaaanyway, welcome! You've definitely got a full plate so it's awesome that you want to get into lifting heavy Great to have you and like bigm said, feel free to ask questions!

[IfItPlugsIn]

Hey dani -

You sound a LOT like me! I'm 5'4", and 128 has been a goal weight of mine for years. Also a mom of 2 (both c-sections, with my 3rd c-section planned for Sept.), former dancer, super busy (full-time job, husband, house, kids, etc.), similar home gym setup, love cooking, eating healthy and cheese. I definitely know how you feel!

Poke around in the forums - there's so much knowledge out there. It's the best of any fitness site I've been on. Find something that looks interesting, start asking questions, and go for it. Not sure how old your kids are (my boys are 2 and 4), but find ways to work them into your workout routines. I think Steve recently posted a park bodyweight workout. Take your kids to the park to play, and you get your workout in - win, win! After this baby, I'm planning on starting with Steve's free bodyweight routines. There's a beginner and advanced, so you can try it and work your way up. I also like the book "New Rules of Lifting for Women" - great for home or gym free weights. If you miss dancing, I highly recommend Zumba. If you don't like running, don't do it.

Tons of great people around here, so welcome and enjoy!

[tigersheart]

Welcome Dani, and good luck! You definitely have a lot going on in life, and that does not make it easy.

I have one suggestion for you when dealing with a very busy schedule. Incorporate exercise into everything you do. Not sure if you saw the new Karate Kid movie with Jackie Chan back in 2010ish...but if you didn't it is a movie about Kung Fu, and Jackie Chan has a line that says something similar to...."everything we do is kung fu".

It is similar to exercise....everything we do is exercise, or can be if we are aware of what we are doing. So when you are at work and need to move something, try to pick up the 'heavy' things, but do it as if you were lifting weights, with proper technique. Going up a flight of stairs(probably best to do if you are alone or people will look at you weird!), take each step as if you are doing calf raises, etc. Picking up kids, or after the kids, lift them as if you were doing squats...concentrate on your technique even for the normal day to day stuff.

I know it sounds kind of dumb, but every little bit will help when you have a super busy schedule like yours.

good luck to you!

[dani]

Wow, only my second post! Here is where I am at so far:

-Steve's Beginner's Body Weight Workout. Love this! For some reason, the squats really kick my butt. Literally. The push ups aren't nearly as hard as I thought, and I need to get heavier weights for the arm rows. I only have 8 pounders and that is too easy.

-Running in a 5K in july! I have done 5Ks before but not in a long time, so I am going to be running/walking for 30 mins on days I don't do Bodyweight exercises.

-2 days of rest each week. I will probably add another run/walk day instead of a rest day soon.

-Inching toward primal....what is crazy to me is how much LESS hungry I am eating this way. So eye-opening. Not that I didn't realize that protein is filling, but we have "whole grains" rammed down our throats every 5 mins..... My diet consists of:

Breakfast: apple w/ almond butter, or sometimes a banana instead.

Snack: berries or cantaloupe or yogurt, or both

Lunch: Greens with either meat, tuna or hard boiled eggs and lots of other veg/fruit: cukes, carrots, tomatoes, grapes, whatever is around. Today it's carrots and broccoli.

Snack: depends, sometimes nothing if my lunch was big enough. Maybe more almond butter/fruit. If I worked out at lunch especially.

Dinner: Steak, salmon, or chicken with more salad and/or vegetable. Trying to make sure I add in sweet potatoes or something as well. Last night was chicken sausage with peppers and onions.

Snack: nuts, or often nothing. Last night had a rare tiny brownie. I adore brownies! I am not terribly strict about the diet: I usually have something very small every other day or so, whether it's a piece of chocolate or a small glass of wine or some cheese.

My one question about the Forums is...where do most of the conversations happen and questions get asked/answered, or does it depend? It seems like there are so many different places, but I assume that most people are grouped into a few? Maybe that is a faulty assumption.