Little John's Penultimate Goal

Many moons ago the school where I was a teacher and coach was remodeling the weight room and I got to keep the rowing machine for the summer. Not sure what brand it was but it was a nice one. I used the heck outta that thing. An unexpected plus wat that it improved my posture. I guess it was from using the shoulders and the muscles between the shoulder blades. I might look into getting one when my stationary bike croaks.
 
My trainer now has me doing the rowing machine as my cardio in between resistance training exercises.

I can do a pace of 2:20 for 500 meters essentially forever. But once I go sub 2:00 for 500 meters, I tire out real quickly. One of these days I'm going to show up for training with an Evinrude and that should fix the "getting tired out problem."
 
I had a bit of a chocolate binge today too. It will probably put me 60 calories over my calorie goal. I wanted to buy myself ONE creme egg and of course could only find it in a pack of 3. 2 would have fit me in my goals... but not 3. Whoops haha.
 
Little John said:
Don, $800 for a Model E is a pretty good deal. At the end of CRASH-B they sell the rowers (which are pretty much brand new), and the Model E goes for $900-950 (compared to 1200 or so). If you end up looking at it, check to make sure the rollers aren't clicking (they could just be dirty, Windex fixes that), and that the chain/handle returns nicely. The previous owner should have maintained it regularly, which includes cleaning/lubing the chain every month or so.
Click to expand...

Great! Thanks for the tips, too, John. I may not pull the trigger yet... i want to try one out somehow. So I may go with a friend to a fitness center first. If that goes well, though, I am VERY interested in pursuing this. By the way, I like "It's just a re-entry burn" :) I may steal that one from you.
 
MrVee said:
My trainer now has me doing the rowing machine as my cardio in between resistance training exercises.

I can do a pace of 2:20 for 500 meters essentially forever. But once I go sub 2:00 for 500 meters, I tire out real quickly. One of these days I'm going to show up for training with an Evinrude and that should fix the "getting tired out problem."
Click to expand...

I was rowing a 1:45-1:50 for the 2K on Sunday, and I was D-E-D dead at the end of it. When I'm doing a 10K at home, I'm usually at 2:05 or 2:10, with the occasional slowdown to slow down my HR.

So anyway, I was under by calorie goal yesterday, thanks to rowing and skipping dessert (I had an unhealthy breakfast and they were handing out cupcakes for Engineer Week. Yep, I'm an engineer, and they gave me a cupcake for it). I was really jonesing for some ice cream after dinner, so I forced myself to brush my teeth early and ran to bed to read. And promptly fell asleep by 9. Partaaaaay!

I'm busy with meetings all day today, so the snack-wandering should be down. Tonight's my turn for dinner, no idea what I'm doing, but I'm in control! Not a rowing night, it's a lifting night, so the calories burned will be less, but they'll be there.

MR, your Cadbury Egg post reminds me of the "Paula Deen Healthy Cookbook":


I can't help but blurt out laughing at some of those ideas.
 
A nifty blue and white striped cap and cupcakes? Being an engineer must be fun!

Do you have one of ?
 
Don't you just love when your work colleagues bring all the yumminess to work & invite everyone to dig in?
Oh the temptation!!
In my previous work - there were about 40 ppl in the same office room. It was very international! Anyway, every time someone came back from vacation in a far away land or just from Italy (I lived in the UK back then) - they brought back sweets for the whole office...
Indian sweets, American Reese's peanut butter cups, Italian Baci, Belgian chocolate..it was impossible to go on a diet!

Well done for making up for the cup cake!
 
Really displeased with myself these days in terms of intake. I keep losing the afternoon battle... Maybe I need to come up with a hobby to come home to. Any ideas? I like working with my hands, don't like a lot of challenging thought in the afternoon (get enough of that at work). I can't usually do the exercise thing because I don't want to stop in the middle of it to do family time. If it was nice out I could putter around the house. Maybe I need to find things to fix inside.

OK, I'll stop whining now.
 
I've found two things that work for me: Remove the unhealthy choices from my immediate area, and/or PLAN a healthy snack (preferable a slow-to-process lean protein) that will hold me over until I can eat properly. I tend to be at my worst when I have NOT planned a healthy snack and unhealthy alternatives are readily available.

The only activity (in house) that I've found that keeps my mind off snacking is exercise... I lose my appetite when I exercise.
 
Hey I agree with Don. Make healthy snacks available - that's what I do....
I have pistachios, frozen berries that thaw fast, walnuts, broccoli n hummus...etc
Well if you have stuff to do around a house that's cool - go for it. Or go for a quick walk around where you live?
 
Exercise isn't really an option, I won't have the time between my arrival and the rest of the family, but I pinged a co-worker for some ideas, and she had some smart and obvious ideas:
  • Empty the litter box
  • Get a dinner salad ready or other healthy food prep (and snack on the veggies as you cut them up)
  • Tidy up the house a little bit
  • Stop at Home Depot and drool at the tools
  • Minor car maintenance.
  • Figure out what weekend projects can be planned
  • Read a book!
  • Do a puzzle.
  • Like Justina said, take a little walk.
  • Bring in firewood
  • Take out the trash
  • Load the dishwasher

Some of it's more fun that some of the other stuff, but you get the idea. I managed to make it home last night, avoid snacks, and do 45 minutes of intense rowing.
 
I have to be honest... if my wife came up with that list of things to do that would "help me" I would probably do a double-take, then say something like, "Yeah right!" A lot of that list looks suspiciously like a honey-do list... ;)

Great job on the rowing! I am deeply envious... for now.
 
Hey, great list!

I thought of something else: I do mini projects - researches.
Like next vacation, health stuff (I am really into naturopathic med thing) & I am also doing course (Physiology) - maybe you can do some sort of course? they have plenty of them for free @ coursera.org and they are from good unis- they don't all give you a certificate but they give you knowledge/something to do.
 
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A thought on a hobby, have your tried getting into rowing? It's good full body exercise.

:D

Sorry about that, I'm feeling a little goofy.
 
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