I practice Bikram yoga 3 - 4 times a week. Some people love it, some people hate it. I love it.

so it's about two months from my last post and i've gotten down to just over 175 - like 176.2...

i've been slacking on going to the gym, and i've been eating whatever the hell i want (including a couple few beers on the weekend)...

the bike trainer is just melting and slaying my weight - doing 25 miles a day, every day (except when i'm out of town or hella sick). it's so fucking awesome - and my legs are straight-up granite.

this monday i'm going to start with the 100 crunches a day from gramsci's post to get rid of the potbelly that i've had since i was a little kid.

seriously, though, get one of the bike trainers.

Way to go, Hench!

hench wrote:so it's about two months from my last post and i've gotten down to just over 175 - like 176.2...

i've been slacking on going to the gym, and i've been eating whatever the hell i want (including a couple few beers on the weekend)...

the bike trainer is just melting and slaying my weight - doing 25 miles a day, every day (except when i'm out of town or hella sick). it's so fucking awesome - and my legs are straight-up granite.

this monday i'm going to start with the 100 crunches a day from gramsci's post to get rid of the potbelly that i've had since i was a little kid.

seriously, though, get one of the bike trainers.

good work, hench!! question: is the bike training the same thing as "spinning"? i've been thinking about going to spin class at my gym but am hesitant, as i am with all classes at the gym (although i'm pretty tempted by the hip hop dance class... if only it wasn't in a giant room with windows for walls and all the ellipticals and treadmills weren't facing it). i know it's supposed to be amazing at burning calories and i need to lose weight before summer, so the temptation has increased to where i think about it every day. last time i visited my mom she said i had gotten fat, and i have. did you talk to someone before using the bikes on your own, is it easy to figure out without talking to anyone, or do you do it in a class?

abs: my friend currently does 900 crunches a day. have i mentioned that somewhere? well, she does. 900 crunches. a day.

kenoki wrote:good work, hench!! question: is the bike training the same thing as "spinning"? i've been thinking about going to spin class at my gym but am hesitant, as i am with all classes at the gym (although i'm pretty tempted by the hip hop dance class... if only it wasn't in a giant room with windows for walls and all the ellipticals and treadmills weren't facing it). i know it's supposed to be amazing at burning calories and i need to lose weight before summer, so the temptation has increased to where i think about it every day. last time i visited my mom she said i had gotten fat, and i have. did you talk to someone before using the bikes on your own, is it easy to figure out without talking to anyone, or do you do it in a class?

abs: my friend currently does 900 crunches a day. have i mentioned that somewhere? well, she does. 900 crunches. a day.

i think that the bike trainer thing is similar to spinning, in that i'm pretty much staying in a single gear rather than doing a lot of shifting. the main difference (and i'm guessing here, so anybody who has firsthand knowledge of spinning please correct me) is that i actually get to use my own bike, so the seat/tension/everything all feel "correct" -- i've tried using the exercise bikes at the gym, but the angle is unnatural or i'm unable to adjust the gear or whatever - just kind of sucks.

also, it's in my house instead of the gym and i don't have anybody yelling at me except me and the cast of 'the wire.'

i can't imagine 900 crunches a day. i can barely imagine 90 crunches in a day. that's beyond a six pack... that's like some rambo shit right there...

i hear you re: being reticent to attend classes. i really want to take the breakdancing course at old town school, but i need to wait until i feel like i'm thin enough and fit enough. don't want to be trying to do the worm all huffypuffy and looking like chubb rock...

three pages & no moob reduction tips. for what it's worth, drinking them away isn't doing it for me.

i think for me the most basic tip would be connect yer exercise to something else, integrate it somehow with other stuff (or people) in yer life. that's basically what everybody's been saying in different ways.

i follow the stationary bike/tv regimen. if yer a series junky this is a good way to make the connection, i.e. you only let yerself watch an episode of "x" from the seat of the bike. works with podcasts too. (i got a stationary bike cheap off ebay, they're probably pretty widely available used).

i'll do anything otherwise to keep from starting. but once i start, i 'm so happy that i did.

now to figure out how to integrate those 100 crunches into my day. maybe i can do them on the train.

hench wrote:

kenoki wrote:good work, hench!! question: is the bike training the same thing as "spinning"? i've been thinking about going to spin class at my gym but am hesitant, as i am with all classes at the gym (although i'm pretty tempted by the hip hop dance class... if only it wasn't in a giant room with windows for walls and all the ellipticals and treadmills weren't facing it). i know it's supposed to be amazing at burning calories and i need to lose weight before summer, so the temptation has increased to where i think about it every day. last time i visited my mom she said i had gotten fat, and i have. did you talk to someone before using the bikes on your own, is it easy to figure out without talking to anyone, or do you do it in a class?

abs: my friend currently does 900 crunches a day. have i mentioned that somewhere? well, she does. 900 crunches. a day.

i think that the bike trainer thing is similar to spinning, in that i'm pretty much staying in a single gear rather than doing a lot of shifting. the main difference (and i'm guessing here, so anybody who has firsthand knowledge of spinning please correct me) is that i actually get to use my own bike, so the seat/tension/everything all feel "correct" -- i've tried using the exercise bikes at the gym, but the angle is unnatural or i'm unable to adjust the gear or whatever - just kind of sucks.

also, it's in my house instead of the gym and i don't have anybody yelling at me except me and the cast of 'the wire.'

i can't imagine 900 crunches a day. i can barely imagine 90 crunches in a day. that's beyond a six pack... that's like some rambo shit right there...

i hear you re: being reticent to attend classes. i really want to take the breakdancing course at old town school, but i need to wait until i feel like i'm thin enough and fit enough. don't want to be trying to do the worm all huffypuffy and looking like chubb rock...

well i took my first spin class this morning! i think you inadvertently inspired me to just do the damn thing. i thought it was going to be softcore, no penetration, but it was pretty hardcore and now my butt hurts (from the seat!). I think I lost 50 pounds in sweat. Kind of sad that the 70 year old guy next to me was way more fit and kept up with all the sprints; he kept looking at me i think because my eyes were closed, mouth agape, like i might die, but i didn't stop pedaling, at least, for the entire 45 minutes. it was awesome and i feel accomplished -- going back day after tomorrow. yay! skinny jackie is only months away! keep up the good work hench and i will see you on the other side.

kenoki wrote:well i took my first spin class this morning! i think you inadvertently inspired me to just do the damn thing. i thought it was going to be softcore, no penetration, but it was pretty hardcore and now my butt hurts (from the seat!). I think I lost 50 pounds in sweat. Kind of sad that the 70 year old guy next to me was way more fit and kept up with all the sprints; he kept looking at me i think because my eyes were closed, mouth agape, like i might die, but i didn't stop pedaling, at least, for the entire 45 minutes. it was awesome and i feel accomplished -- going back day after tomorrow. yay! skinny jackie is only months away! keep up the good work hench and i will see you on the other side.

hey! super congrats! did they have you cycle to music, or video, or what? and what was the top mph/cadence that they had you hit? tell all - i'm curious to learn how it compares to what i've been doing...

i've been meaning to weigh myself immediately before and immediately after going on the ride to see just how much weight i'm losing via sweat - definitely feels like it's in the 50-100 gallon range...

just started the ab training this morning - not going to be doing any frickafrackin' 900 crunches anytime soon, that's for sure.

bigc wrote:I practice Bikram yoga 3 - 4 times a week. Some people love it, some people hate it. I love it.

this is my kind of exercise as well . . . I can only get there one or two times most weeks but even that vastly improves how I feel.

hench wrote:hey! super congrats! did they have you cycle to music, or video, or what? and what was the top mph/cadence that they had you hit? tell all - i'm curious to learn how it compares to what i've been doing...

i've been meaning to weigh myself immediately before and immediately after going on the ride to see just how much weight i'm losing via sweat - definitely feels like it's in the 50-100 gallon range...

just started the ab training this morning - not going to be doing any frickafrackin' 900 crunches anytime soon, that's for sure.

here is the downlow: when we first went in I got a hold of the instructor; she taught me the basics: how you know your seat is in the right position and form (for instance, you shouldn't lean your elbows on the handle, you know your seat is high enough if, when your feet are parallel the front leg/shin is in a 90 degree angle, etc). then she turned the lights down low and turned on the jams (anything from the grease soundtrack to bad techno to the new janet jackson single... and actually i didn't mind any of it because the music really helps set your pace). man when she started spinning i couldn't believe how fast she was going (this was right before we started and she didn't expect us to go as fast) -- i mean, i think she could have whipped egg whites into mayonnaise with those legs, intense.

apparently we joined the class on a bad day, RACE DAY, so it was super insane but also good because now i know that it only gets easier. basically she guided us through a pretend race -- "now we're going uphill, adjust your resistance to 4/8/3/whatever number and stand up, make sure your seat is gently hitting your butt while you pedal" the "subjective resistance" is this little lever you adjust to make pedaling more tense or not (i guess that would be a gear... heh) - subjective because you ignore what gear it's actually in and create your own standard by feel since everyone is different. i rode about 20 miles in 45 minutes, my boyfriend did about 26 miles in 45 minutes and i think the average for most people there was around 30-35 (or more). she was all about getting our heart rates up to 150+ when doing 5 minutes sprints which is basically pedaling as fucking fast as you can until you "release the endorphines," or what she called "free morphine". the key seems to be alternating -- just casually (but not slowly) pedal at a low gear (let's say around 70-90 RPMs), then increase, stand up and be intense for a couple of minutes on a higher gear, then cool down for a minute with regular flat road pace, then sprint on a low gear (160+ RPM), etc. etc. but always keep your heart rate up, and keep pedaling. when your legs feel like spaghetti, you've still got a ways to go.

when you're doing those long sprints you're supposed to keep focus on either a point or a thought (my boyfriend said he imagined himself making amazing moves in soccer, i imagined i was the best dancer ever).

so that's what i learned today... i'm sure i'm missing something, but i can't remember what. oh yeah, everyone in my class were super nice and even though i wasn't particularly impressive or able to keep up with everyone, at the end we had lots of people say how well the new people did; nice people!! and really fun and motivating!! A++!