I had a late night work-out at the gym today. I tend to procrastinate. But who cares. It's the summer.

I did 37 minutes on the Matrix stair climber because my favorite, the classic Stair Masters, were both in use. It's good to sometimes be pushed out of my comfort zone. Last time I was on the Matrix I just could not grasp how to work the technology for what I wanted. This time I did pretty well. I was next to an African American fellow who engaged me in conversation while we were stair climbing. I figured, why not. It was not a strenuous conversation. He said, "These stair climbers are the best work-out. Sweat starts pouring in minutes." The conversation continued with us saying kind of the same thing. It was all we had the energy for I think :blink:.

Then I did 30 minutes on the weight floor.

In the locker room I chatted with an older, white woman named Gayle who spends so long blow-drying her hair to perfection. She is a t.v. producer and worked on the Ricki Lake show way back. I also spoke with Hillary, a young gal who is friendly with the perfect mother and daughter. She sometimes does double morning/evening work-outs. Go Hill!

Happy weekend, exercisers! :)

Me too. Every once in a while I'll be still so wired at night that I do pound out a workout at 11pm to get the energy out but usually it just pumps me up more and I'd be like a squirrel on Jolt all night long.

Well, when I say late night, the latest I'm finishing is 9 pm. And it's the summer so I can go to bed late, since I work on a school year schedule.

Today I did 30 minutes on the stairmaster, and 30 minutes on the weight floor. I'm still doing the "Levels 5,4,3,2,1" x 2 min. x 3 repetitions" pattern. I've made it harder by now not leaning my arms on the stairmaster for "2,1." It's given the work-out an added challenge, and I could not avoid leaning by the third set. I also have been doing some backward walking. The back of the stairmaster (the two good ones) face a mirror so that helps. I was glad to get the classic stairmaster today and not the Matrix. Being on the Matrix is like the Wild West. I can get a good work-out but it's like I'm on a run away horse- I can't do patterns, I can barely keep it from bucking me off.

I chatted with Miriam today. I googled her yesterday and saw the preview of the documentary they are doing on her musical theater class for elderly folks. She just impresses me more and more. I also saw Judith who called out from the couch by the television, "Jenny, you are late!" Actually arriving at 4pm was earlier than usual. Anyway...

one hour on the treadmill and its showing on the scale :)

5mi...creating my reality
 

5mi run a bit later in the morning
as I daydreamed on my future
new wife, home, garden...strangely
exciting time it is...the eclipse and
full moon with endings and beginnings
...much gratitude.
Sundays is usually my long run
day, 10mi, but my body wanted 5mi
so 5 it was!

This past week walked with my talkie
friend 4.5mi every other day...she
is an incredibly interesting woman
and have been enjoying our walking
different roads all new to me in the
area.

keep on keepin' friends, Greco

I walked around for a couple hours downtown looking at sidewalk sales.

You know what the most relaxing part of my exercise routine is? Writing on this thread (f).

Yesterday I did 45 minutes on the stairmaster and then had to zip off to a wedding in Jersey.

Today I did 42 minutes on the stairmaster and 35 minutes on the weight floor. Slight variation on the pattern I've been doing on the stairmaster:

Level, 5,4, and 3- full lean, Level 2 and 1 -- 30 second lean, 30 not lean, and back and forth (each level for 2 minutes, with a sequence of 4 sets).

The gym sent out a survey. I told them they were great but also critiqued. I told them giving us one guest pass for year is annoying when guest passes are 35 dollars each! I mean, for Christ's sake! They surprisingly wrote me back (that's the surprising part) and told me that they disagree with me but in good faith will give me two passes! That's like 70 bucks! I just went ahead and thanked them! I also told them to please keep those two Stair Masters because the Matrix is a pain in the a**. They did not respond to that.

I ran into the size 0 house manager, Taylor, and she shared with me loads of drama as usual! She said that the guy from the gym who she slept with the first night she went out with him never called her back, so she texted him recently. She showed me the text she wrote to him, "Obviously you are not interested in me, but maybe we can jog together sometime." He wrote back, "Sorry, I've just been busy lately, do want to see you soon" or something like that. She was like, "Should I wait a few days to write back? OMG, straight girls!

Then she broke down in tears and told me that she's sleeping with her billionaire boss, the one whose home she manages. She said she's in love with him. She's 35, and he's 65. She said he's a womanizer (her exact word!) but that she's okay with that. She said that he said, "I think we need to disconnect. I'm doing some inner work on myself right now." Oh, Taylor, oh dear sweet naive Taylor, when will you get a clue? The pain of being stereotypically gorgeous. I just comforted her. I told her everything will be okay, because I'm sure it will.

Today I did 42 minutes on the stairmaster, integrating all my leaning and not leaning, very excited about small progress. Mid-way through my anti-Trump Netflix original ended! They seem to only have Season 1 out, so I was caught off-guard, assuming that Season 2 would also be out, but, nope, I was left hanging! Since I'm working out so intensely having to find something new to watch while in the midst of a work-out makes the work-out ten times harder and is just plain annoying. It puts me into an almost comical tizzy, as I push buttons like a maniac. I settled on a documentary by a POC about White Supremacy which is okay so far, certainly disturbing and angering.

Then I did 30 minutes of a floor work-out, minus arms because I went up in weights yesterday and could still feel it. I added in some leg balance exercises that I used to do and definitely saw how off my balance was without doing them regularly. This is standing on one foot and balancing in different poses. I used to be so good at this and would even get comments from fellow gym goers. Well, in any case, it was a perfect thing to go back to with aching arm muscles.

Peace out, exercisers!

I did my 15 min cardio for beginners workout. Still feels hard to my beginner self.

Has had anyone here had the problem with being ravenously hungry ALL the time after starting exercising? I'm tracking my eating as well so I know I'm eating enough but I'm so hungry!

Thanks, Gemme!! I am hoping it will even out. I restrained myself from pigging out last night so that was good.

Today I walked 20 mins to my hair dresser's and will walk 20 mins back.

one hour on the treadmill it was so hard to get motivated but i did it :)

Today I did 42 minutes on the Stairmaster. When I am on the Stairmaster my face and eyes look like Jack Nicholson in the Shining. Just saying. I'm watching a so-so Hulu doc about a murderous couple. They killed her parents. Wish it was a tad more interesting.

Then I did 30 minutes of floor exercises and weights. I had a biopsy on a dark spot on my arm (yearly skin/body check) which Im not concerned about- don't think it will be anything, but I think it makes weight lifting a little sketchy with my arm for certain motions, so I'm just listening to my body, as they say. I tried a new weight exercise which is a score for me because I so often do the same routine. It always feels good when I finally try something new. And it worked!

There's a trainer who I think is after me, like wants me to be her bitch, her client, I mean. Her name is Janet, and I do like that's she's older (maybe late fifties). Also, she doesn't wear make-up and isn't all fashionable. She's not butch. I keep a friendly relationship with her but also set a bit of a wall because I believe she wants $$$. Today she plopped down beside me when I was doing my floor stretching, and I was like, "Holy shit." I didn't want to close my eyes (a way to give the message to others at the gym that I don't want to talk). Closing my eyes seemed too cold given that she literally threw herself down beside me. At the same time, I never want to be interrupted when I'm on the weight floor. I was like a deer in the headlights. She said, "You have good mobility." I said, "Thanks," and then went back to exercising. She took the hint. She is really the only trainer who is not young and fabulous, so I do exchange warm greetings with her. But, yo, give me my space when I am working out!

Today I did 42 minutes on the stairmaster (not easily!- more on that to follow) and 30 minutes on the weight floor.

Before I went to the gym, I'd gone out with a friend to a vegan restaurant and had a kale salad and a cup of gazpacho. Sounds healthy, but I think the gazpacho had a lot of salt in it. I thought that as I had it. Then on the stairmaster, I think that salt really got to me. I was sweating much more than usual and really having to push through the workout. Afterwards I had a ton of water and an energy bar before going to the weight floor. It's interesting how gym workouts can really let you know how you are doing inside your body. I've always been struck by that.

I spent a lot of time talking to the perfect mother (of the perfect mother and daughter). She told me that her son has struggled or struggles with drug addiction. I'm not sure if she told me that because I told her I call her the perfect mother. Sheesh, I really need to keep my mouth shut. We had a very meaningful conversation. We had a girly, giggly way of talking about the most serious of topics and afterwards, Judith summoned me over to the couch by the television and said, "You two were laughing so much. What were you laughing about? Let me in on it." Awk-ward. "Just life," I said. More and more I think Judith is totally on the spectrum and just doesn't get the intricacies of social interaction at all. I think she is envious of my ability to connect with others and really most people's ability to easily connect with others. I was leaving at 8pm, and she said, "You are leaving early! What will you be doing?" 8pm is not early. For Judith, the gym is her place to avoid loneliness. In certain ways, it is mine too. It will be hard to go back to work in the fall. I like it in the locker room.

I did my usual 42 minutes on the stairmaster and 30 minutes on the weight floor. Luckily I felt great today. I had been concerned about feeling off yesterday, so probably it was too much salt in the soup where I had lunch. Today I was easily about to do 4 sets of Levels 5 down to 1 (2 minutes for each level) on the stair master. That felt great. I'm watching a Hulu doc series (originally on A&E) where ex scientologist Leah Remini talks to people who have left scientology.

The gym was fairly empty since it was a Friday evening in the summer. I chatted with Taylor. She's still thinking about the guy from the gym who she went out with once and slept with, and how she's interested, but doesn't know if he is, because he hasn't gone out with her again. Duh. She texted him last night "after two drinks." I'm not sure what that said but she showed me his response because she wanted to get my feedback on what it meant. It was a really interesting text, kind of funny. Here's what it said:

"Taylor, I promise I do want to see you again. I'm just really busy training for the New York Marathon in December. I get up between 4 and 5 in the morning to train, then go to work, then get back home at 6:30, then have 1.5 or so hours to have dinner and do tasks, and then I am in bed between 8 and 9. Also, I'm not yet over my two ex-girlfriends, so I'm not ready for a relationship. When I see you, though, it won't be weird. We are good."

Omg. She took that as him being interested and was really upset when I said that it "could be" that he is trying to set the tone for things being cool between them. Who wants to have an enemy at the gym, especially when people know each other. Come on, Taylor, wake up.

Taylor also shared with me that she fasts 16-20 hours a day. She is a total size zero. She said that works very well for her. 20 hours a day!