Five @ The Factory.

Day Five. Five exercises. Elliptical Trainer: 15 minutes at the beginning (ends in 5); 10 minutes at the end (multiple of 5): Total, 25 minutes Leg Lifts with a Ball, slowly:  10/10/10 (multiples of 5) Hip/Back Stretch with Leg Drop: Just 2, but for 50 seconds per side. Cat/Cow Stretch alternating with Upward Dog: 10 [...]

Day Four. Where optimism starts.

Day Four. The big day. The first time in weeks that I would actually hold a dumbbell. Ooh, the anticipation… Truthfully, I was a little bit excited. Yes, I’m a geek. I headed to The Factory, reviewing my plan in my head:  No more than 50 minutes weight-training. Baby-weights. Teeny-tiny baby weights… Only chest and shoulders. [...]

Live, from The Factory, a Muscle Girl progress report…

Okay, it’s not really live – that just sounds so much more dramatic. It is a progress report, though. Of sorts… It’s been quite a while since I announced that “Muscle Girl” was back in action, and yet I haven’t posted once since that earth-shattering proclamation! Kind of makes you think I’ve been slacking, doesn’t [...]

Wednesday Morning. A Little Bit of This, and a Little Bit of That.

I wasn’t sure that I would make it through a leg workout this morning. I was really dragging and as I’ve often pointed out, I’m really not much of a morning workout person to begin with. But, to quote Jae, I put on my big girl panties, met her and Todd for a 9 a.m. [...]

Tuesday. Back to my beloved stepmill.

I do love the stepmill. I was reminded of just how much tonight when, after completing one 15 minute round, followed by 10 minutes on the elliptical, and 25 minutes of core, I decided to head back into the cardio area for another 15 minute bout of stair-climbing. Just because I could. Devotion, indeed. It [...]

Meanwhile, back at The Factory…

… I finally managed to fit in a workout. And a morning workout, at that!  Monday morning, 10 a.m., Jae and I, back and chest, and a lot of laughs. Mike’s on vacation, and there are many changes brewing, but for the moment, it was nice to settle into something familiar with one of my [...]

Brazil 3, Cote d’Ivoire 1. Why Soccer Should “Cowboy Up”. And how I did.

This match was tagged “Drogba vs. Kaka”… That has got to be one of the best titles yet in this World Cup. It was so satisfying to see the Cote d’Ivoire team get a goal, making it the first African team to score against Brazil. Even if it was offside. (I’m a fan of the [...]

Denmark 2, Cameroon 1. TCU 8, Florida St. 1. My Cardio Companions.

In the gym, with the World Cup and the College World Series: Stepmill: Fatburner Level 8, 15 minutes. 1.3 miles. Upright Bike: Manual, Resistance Level 1 – 5, 15 minutes, 2.55 miles. (yeah, slow.) Treadmill: 4 mph, incline 2 -6, 15 minutes, 1 mile. Too bad, Cameroon. I was pulling for you (but what a [...]

Arms & shoulders…

.. but no toes, though I was close to being on my knees by the end of this workout, if that counts. Working shoulders is one my least favourite things to do. In the world. Not just in the gym. But I do it because I should, and today’s workout was paired with arms, which [...]

A Comfortable Companionship. And Chest & Legs.

I am loving this time in the gym. Next week, I will be back in Canada and back at Ultimate Fitness, and I will like that, too – I am a gym rat, after all, and it is a great gym in a totally different way. But this week, I am with people who mean [...]