Spin. I've been on a spin kick again.

PS Nice gams!

Thanks Mtn, that makes me feel good considering how disgusted I am with myself for having to start over. Why oh why did I not at least do two days at the gym. Okay, I hate the gym but I shouldn't have been so unmotivated.

Glad you are spinning again!

Perhaps you can brace it so that it doesn't move. It;s moving because you're so strong.

Love the shoes.

I can brace it against the two bunching coffee tables in the evening. In the morning I wouldn't be able to reach my tea cup so that wouldn't do. I find not using the strap-ins work the best as I can just move it in closer with my feet which only takes a second. Hmmm, I could even manage a glass of wine at night with that technique hehe. I do like multi-purposing my time.

A friend told me about pilates on You Tube... you can find it by searching for The Balanced Life Pilates or maybe just Robin Long. She has a 30-day pilates challenge that's quite easy -- I think each one is around 10 minutes. I decided to get through the remainder of the messy, cold winter by doing 1/2 hour on treadmill (brisk walking) followed by the pilates daily challenge. I have only done it 3 times in the last week, but it's something. Usually I TELL myself "only 1/2 hour" on the treadmill but once I get going, I'll do 45-50 minutes.

Yesterday the ice thawed enough that I was able to get an hour-long walk outside. So much more refreshing than my basement treadmill!

I was doing yoga regularly but fell out of it...I need to get back into a routine because I do love it. Just hard to plan classes these days with the weather and new puppy and, you know, Life.

I don't know why it's so hard for me to take one hour out of 24 and devote it to exercise!

Sue, I love Pilates! My favorite quick workouts are Noelle's PowerHouse Pilates Method and Jennifer Kries Precision Pilates (Pilates Method). Jennifer has a few but this is the only one I love because it has three 20 minute workouts, upper, lower and flow & fexability. I also like QuickFix Total Pilates 3 ten minute workouts. This one goes a bit slower.

Normally when I have been negligent with my exercise I always start back up with Pilates. I actually think it's smarter to strengthen your inner connecter muscles first, plus, it helps one with being more aware of how to properly set your body up for other exercises.

I just feel like a change of my usual. Whatever it takes to get me going again.

Get a big athletic dog that needs lots of exercise ... you can slack off for one day at the most and then the dog will let you know that you need to get off the couch! My big dog makes me hike up and down LA hills/mountains every day.

I walked by a lady yesterday and she made a comment about how fast I was hiking ... I'm just trying to keep up with the dog!

I wish I had a dog without a crippled back end. I used to walk with my Rottie but he's very arthritic now. Every big dog I've ever had...

Cool little device for $19. Hey, whatever works!

I’m way behind the curve too. Late November and December did me in. I did a little walking and jogging but not near enough. My walking buddy had foot surgery a couple of weeks ago so she’s out for a few more weeks, but that shouldn’t be my excuse. It’s been freezing outside, and we just joined a new gym a couple of weeks ago. You would think that being retired, I could find 30 minutes to do something. Like Sueb said, why is it so hard?

I thought you were going to show using your laptop while on a treadmill.

I have been attending a yoga class regularly and have recently (as of last week), added 2 more exercise classes at our park district - core conditioning and pilates. I also want to get back on the treadmill at the park district during these cold winter months. At one time, I was doing a lot of reading while on the treadmill.

I have a treadmill workstation in my home office. Helps me get my step counts!

Peaceofmind, that is awesome to hear!! Congrats!!

DH got me the new Fitbit Ionic smartwatch for Christmas. I like it, but there is definitely a learning curve with it. I could not decide between Fitbit and the Apple watch. The Fitbit does stay charged for about 4-5 days, so that is a good feature. It does not pick up my treadmill desk activity so I have to put it in my pocket because my arm is still.

These are all the reasons why I will never retire. I would stop exercising so fast my head would spin. Maybe that would be exercise in and of itself...;). I do have a rule at home and that's that I can't sit around. I clean and have my standing computer and walk my dogs.

For my "career" I chose the most exercising things in my limited Arsenal that I could. I walk dogs, garden for people and clean houses. Also I am a mother's helper which means I cook, look after children, clean etc etc. I all the things that mothers do. Except have their children of course. ;-)

See, I am the opposite. I would spend the morning at the Y with Zumba, Spin, weights, Pilates, etc.

Time to revive this exercise thread. Sorry, due to a glitch I couldn't do a new post.

............................................................

I have had a bad month and a half. As I have mentioned before I work around a few issues so I'm always playing catch-up. No matter...I will not give up. It's ok that I will never be in the advanced catagory. It's ok that I have to make several modificationS. My new dog added to the usual with throwing my back every which way possible while leash training. I was sitting in misery stuffing my face. Things are better now.

Anyway, thought I would share some of my favorite "new" workout dvd's. I like these because they are more intermediate but can be modified to more beginner for my bad days or harder for rare good days. Two are short with one only twenty minutes (the 20 min. DVD kicks my butt). One is longer but it goes by fast. I just need light/med hand weights and a mat. There is a suggestion of a small ball for abb work but I modify.

Share your workouts , obstacles and DVD recommendations (if you have any) and why you like them.

My new to me fav's!

20 minute

https://www.amazon.com/Jillian-Michaels-30-Day-Shred/dp/B00127RAJY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1539109104&sr=8-2&keywords=Jillian+30+day+shred

30 minute & you can use a chair or furniture instead of a bar. Great for legs!!!!

https://www.amazon.com/Physique-Cardio-Blast-Minute-Workout/dp/B00OP4QU92/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1539109264&sr=8-1&keywords=physique+cardio+blast+30+minute+workout

This last one I like a lot. It's very doable. Longer but the time seems short.

https://www.amazon.com/BarreAmped-Bootcamp-Suzanne-Bowen/dp/B00GVHA04C

I have an AFG 7.2 Elliptical machine ([I posted a photo of it in my living when I bought it[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/the-elephant-in-the-room-exercise-dilemma-dsvw-vd~5100058?n=21)), and lately I've been using it in 22-24 minutes sessions, two of them with about a 10 minute rest between the two. The machine says that in 45 minutes I have burned only 150 calories or so, but I'm not buy that. It has to be significantly more than that because I am not using the lowest resistance. It has Bluetooth and will send info to my MyFitnessPal account - providing it does not lose Bluetooth connection while I am using it, which happens all too often. It also works with my tablet, which has a music program called Musicolet (or something like that), and I plug my headphones into the AFG machine to listen to the music. The tablet also records my workout, as long as I do not lose Bluetooth. I use it at least six days a week, and combined with my diet, I do lose weight. I'm planning to add free weights 2-3 days a week to my exercise routine. I tried doing push-ups, but I found that after five, I didn't want to do any more of those. Maybe when I'm lighter they will be easier to do.

Prices have really come down for the elliptical machines. I like the one I have, and it was marked down from $2500 to $1300 when I bought it, but it is now listed at $900. I think this may be partly due to the bad reviews people gave it for its problems with Bluetooth. I tried out a bunch of different machines before I picked the AFG - it was the quietest and the most ergonomic for me.

justerri I'm glad you revived this as I need a kick in the butt but sorry to hear you're having back issues. I understand from experience how that can derail the best fitness plans. Have you tried any of the workouts available on Amazon Prime or through Netflix? I try not to buy DVDs because I get tired of routines and don't want a library of things I'm bored with.

Lars, for push-ups (a new way) start with the beginner style on your knees ...go forward in a controlled manner into your pushup. Instead of coming all the way back up go back into a child's pose. Do that combo in a continuous motion keeping some tension. Repeat. Beginner pushup -childpose-pushup- childspose. One continous smooth motion. That's how I finally moved into regular push-ups. I used to hate hate push-ups because I was so bad at it. Also, If you ever want a day off the elliptical and want cardio and weights at the same time, that twenty minute dvd I posted above is a (for me) kick butt. There are three different levels.

DLM, thank you! Don't we all have back issues though lol. I don't mind buying DVD's . I do a lot of research and reading of reviews before picking something suitable. Back in the day of VCR I had I think close to two hundred. With a workout library there is always something to suit your mood. It's always good to have a few easy ones. When you really don't want to exercise you've got those. Better than nothing. I need to add to my DVD stock. Soon my pool water will be too cold. Even when I'm doing little else I can always talk myself into a swim.

On my treadmill desk now! Trying to finish some online grading.

Thanks for the reminder about the baby push-ups. I'll try starting with those. I used to be able to do a lot of push-ups, and I have a pair of handles that I use for my hands so that I do not put undue stress on my wrists when doing them. I used to take these handles with me when I would travel, and so I've had them for decades.

When we get a pool (and it will have to be in Palm Springs/Cathedral City), I will heat it during the winter so that I can use it then. We should have the money to start shopping in that area in November. We already have a Palm Springs real estate agent. I wanted a pool in our Los Angeles house, but our yard is really not big enough, and the pool could not be longer than 24', which I decided was too small.

I'm not supposed to do push-ups anymore. I do the childspose to pushup (baby push-up) instead and haven't died yet lol. Luckily I know all kinds of exercise modifications. It's all good though. We want to add a few more hurricane windows and sliders so the pool heater is not a priority . I have seven more double sliders to go ( one will turn into a hurricane glassed single door). I also have to replace a garden style window in a special order hurricane glass and two other windows..one of which needs a size change. So, $$$$$$ no pool heater for me right now.

We're not doing any updates in our house until we look at property in PS, and we still don't know how much money we are going to have to spend. If we don't have enough, we may have to rent out the new property we buy for a while. We're also putting major vacations on hold for a year, but we might visit Texas in March or April. Kevin's birthday is in March, but we have to avoid going to Austin during SXSW. I would not mind going to San Antonio again for Festival, however. I actually prefer San Antonio to Austin, but Austin is where my relatives live. When I'm in Austin, I like to visit the Hill Country, and I would like to tour some of the wineries and olive ranches there, to compare them to what we have here. Our sister took us to San Antonio the last time we visited, but that was because she had to go there on business. It was fun. As children, we frequently went to San Antonio on family outings. I won't go any later in the year than April, however, as it gets too hot, and April can be hot enough.

I'm having better luck now with getting Bluetooth to work with my elliptical machine. I have next week off from work and will start on weights during that time.

I've never been to San Antonio but my husband went for a conference and loved it.

I'm about to do this DVD but just the upper body parts with weights, I GREW those weeks my back was bad. In the menu section you can pick the exercises you want ...after doing the warmup of course. Anyway, I don't do the plusing anymore (shame, very effective) and I'm doing light weights. Still, the high reps are good for sculpting. Each segment is around 10 minutes so very doable. I also like the abb section on this.

ETA: my new dog thinks everything of mine is his lol

I don’t have my dogs anymore, but when they got older and had arthritis or sore feet, I got an Outward Hound stroller that fit two of them at a time so we could continue our brisk walks. They would walk for a while,and when one got tired, I popped them into the stroller for a while. They loved it, and would sit up straight with the wind in their ears, sniffing the air and enjoying the passing scenery while I got my walk in. The third one could walk all day so he stayed on his leash and trotted alongside. I still have the stroller, guess I haven’t given up on the idea of getting another dog one day. I’m looking at the fit bit myself As a motivator.