2013-2014 Exercise Challenge

I've completed the spreadsheet for the 2013-2014 TE Member general exercise challenge and posted it here. Anyone who has the link can participate and add/edit their own record. Hopefully it is straightforward, I provided a column for each month so you can track your monthly hours of exercise, along with a cumulative and an "hours left" column at the end. I copied the formulas down for the first 29 records, it is an easy thing to copy the formula down for more records of needed. Just enter you name, desired start date, and the total number of exercise hours you would like to shoot for from 12/1 (or whenever you start) until March 1.

If someone sees how to make the spreadsheet better please feel free to make edits, especially if you would like to add anything it. To be clear, this is for whatever you would like it to be - cycling related only or more general exercise. For me it will be general exercise, I want to get 6-7 hours a week - which is just a little more than my norm. I would like to bump it up just a bit this winter.

We could also use this thread to discuss our efforts if we like :)

I added a stretch goal. I don't think I'll manage it, but we'll see.

Started out with about an hour this morning on a bike ride with DBF and his parents.

I'm wondering how to denote partial hours... like today I did 45 minutes of treadmill hill walking and strength/stretches. I'm assuming .5, .7, etc. Catrin, maybe my poor math skills are showing, but if you want to do 6 hours a week, that's 12X6==72. You really want to do 165 hours??? I put down 100, knowing that some weeks, I'll do more, but it might be closer to 70.

Crankin - I've no idea how I came up with 165, I knocked it down to 100. I can't blame it on a typo either, I was counting weeks on my calendar and probably put the wrong # in my calculator. :o It's been a busy day but thanks for pointing this out. Your question was a good one, I hadn't thought about that. I changed the display to show 2 decimal points and added .75 to your December column as a test. The cumulative field is a formula - you CAN calculate that manually if you wish - but it will also add the numbers entered in the 3 monthly columns if you wish.


Owlie, I don't see the stretch goal - did you want that in a separate column? If you do and it isn't working for you let me know and I will take care of it.

I'm in with a goal of 60 hours. Owlie, that is my stretch goal.

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Originally Posted by Catrin

Crankin - I've no idea how I came up with 165, I knocked it down to 100. I can't blame it on a typo either, I was counting weeks on my calendar and probably put the wrong # in my calculator. :o It's been a busy day but thanks for pointing this out. Your question was a good one, I hadn't thought about that. I changed the display to show 2 decimal points and added .75 to your December column as a test. The cumulative field is a formula - you CAN calculate that manually if you wish - but it will also add the numbers entered in the 3 monthly columns if you wish.


Owlie, I don't see the stretch goal - did you want that in a separate column? If you do and it isn't working for you let me know and I will take care of it.

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That was what I originally put in. I edited it to a more realistic number and put the stretch one off to the side. Now to figure out how to do this...

I am in! I usually do between 7-8 hours in a normal non-training week, so I went for 100 hours as my goal. This will be fun.

Catrin,

Thanks for starting this. I spent an hour on the spin bike today and didn't quit after 32 minutes just so I could post a full hour on the spreadsheet. Hey, whatever works, right?

Whatever it takes - I did this for me as much as for other members ;)

My goal is 6 hours a week, which may be a reach now that I've cancelled my gym membership. I'm not exactly off with a bang either.

Thanks for putting this together, Catrin :)

I've edited the spreadsheet to make it more clear that you just need to enter your hours in the monthly column. The cumulative column is a formula field that will do the rest of the math for you. I've also added a couple of columns to the right to allow for a separate goal if desired. I've decided that I want to track my mobility/correctives work separately from my exercise. I didn't add monthly columns for this so there is no formula, but I DID add a formula column to the right that will sum both your regular and "other" totals together.

Have fun!

I am counting my PT stretch and strengthening stuff as regular, because it is... some of it is stuff I do in other venues, but now I do it daily. And, it's working. My issue is that some days I don't do a full hour, espeially on a run day, but when I add the stretching, it gets to an hour. I am having a dental procedure Wed. PM, and he told me last summer I shouldn't exercise for a week after... no way. I will wait until Saturday and I will forgo any impact until next Monday, but I have no history of bleeding problems, so be it. I asked my friend who had the same thing and he said he was riding the next day.

I am only separating mine out because on non-gym days I tend to slack on it. For some reason in my head it is different when I am home :rolleyes:

Kind of cool, I was just in the spreadsheet adding my work for today, and saw someone else in there doing the same thing at the same time :) Apparently I am easily amused :D

OK, I lost some days here, as I couldn't exercise for 3 days, because of my dental surgery. Today is the 3d day, so I just did 30 minutes on the trainer, with 5 sets of one legged drills, and 4 sets of ascending and descending intervals, all in pretty easy gears. Then I did *all* of my exercises prescribed by the PT, which has sort of changed from rehabbing my back (which is much better, but still working on it) to specific strengthening work for cycling. Working on my azz and quads, basically.
Monday is my annual exam with my gyn. My weight is up, right below the danger zone, need to lose 2, really 3 lbs., which just seems to be impossible right now. My eating has been quite good, actually. We are getting a huge storm tonight, so tomorrow will be either x country skiing or snow shoeing, both of which make me ravenous, but I won't give in! I'll be back on track, hopefully, with the exercise.
The periodontist who did my surgery is someone I know from my synagogue. I don't know him well, but his daughter was in the same class with my older son. He is a really nice guy, and not particularly out of shape looking. He always is talking to me (I go there 2X a year) about the "danger" of cycling, how he is afraid of riding on the road, and he was really shocked to hear that I do the same things as my DH, when I first started going there. DH often rides to his appointments there, as it's about 3.5 miles away. Last winter he was shocked to hear that when you x country ski, you are out on the trails, in the woods... "you could get lost" kind of talk. Even when I explained we don't do real back country stuff, we have trail maps, it's marked, we have a GPS, he thought it was too risky. Wednesday he told me winter scares him, as even though he doesn't mind snow, he slipped on ice a couple of years ago. Oy, I finally told him he sounds like an old Jewish guy and that life would be quite boring for me without the stuff I do. This guy is my age, and it seems so sad. It kept me laughing through the surgery.

Rest day today outside of some stretching, yesterday was a butt kicking! Saturday, however, I actually got my on trainer for an entire 15 minutes...which is the most I've been on that bike since early October :o I did some kettlebell and jungle gym work, the trainer was my warmup.

Crankin, your doc sounds like a friend of mine. She literally won't go anywhere by herself to exercise because she is convinced that someone is going to attack a woman on her own. The venue matters little to her, she is totally convinced that it will happen. Sad, really, but I respect her fear and I don't try to persuade her too strongly. Occasionally we do discuss it, and agree to disagree. This means that she won't go out with anyone else either because they might get separated and she would be alone and vulnerable to attack. I do wonder if there is something in her past that causes this level of fear, but I won't push.

I really want to workout today...but my "less bad" shoulder is complaining. I've the "12 Days of Christmas" workout planned for Thursday so to prepare for that particular azz-kicking I am taking two rest days. It really is more for fun than anything, I've an odd idea of what "fun" is ;) I might hit the trainer later today, perhaps.

Wishing everyone a great holiday!

I am resting, too. I usually have Tuesday as a rest, but had thought I might go to boot camp this AM. However, there were predictions of black ice maybe for early this morning and I felt horrible last night, so I slept until 6. Didn't go yesterday, either (weather), but I did work out at home. I will probably go for a brisk walk when I get home later, around 2. We are going to friends' for dinner tonight, to our neighbors' tomorrow, and Thursday meeting my cousin for dinner at a pub. Sigh. No amount of exercise seems to be helping my weight loss. Two pounds feels impossible to lose. My clothes feel a teeny bit looser, but really, I am starting to get a muffin top and I have never had that. Not sure how else to change up stuff; I've been varying my eating and exercise, which usually works. As my DH says, why can't we be like regular people? That is, ones who don't care!

I think you are regular people. I find the ones who don't care odd. :eek:

Veronica

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Originally Posted by Veronica

I think you are regular people. I find the ones who don't care odd. :eek:

Veronica

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What Veronica said!

What is personally frustrating for me is that no matter what I do, my composition isn't changing and neither is the scale. I am already skirting on the edge of not enough calories...and my lack of ability to lift above my shoulders/full ROM doesn't help. I keep at it though, and make little changes here and there to see if it helps. Recently I added more carbs into my diet (starchy veggies), and immediately gained a bit so will work with that some more. It is balancing things out for our specific bodies but our bodies do change over time and what works at one age may not at another. I hear your frustration!

Well, I get what you mean, Veronica, but I sometimes feel like being so disciplined may not be the best for my mental health.
Carry on, as they say.

Just bumping this up to see how everyone is doing. What I notice is that I hardly ever do any exercise that is more than an hour, except maybe once a week.

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Originally Posted by Crankin

Just bumping this up to see how everyone is doing. What I notice is that I hardly ever do any exercise that is more than an hour, except maybe once a week.

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Thanks for bumping this up Crankin, and for the reminder to do my own spreadsheet update, hadn't updated it for a week! I typically get more than an hour when mobility work is factored in. I've chosen to separate that out however, it is a reminder to myself that I need to do mobility work EVERY day, not just exercise days. I have decreased the number of days I exercise however. I used to work 5-6 days a week, and that is just too much - I've the over-use injuries to prove it. My coach started talking to me about over-training, and I've dropped to 4 days a week with the occasional 5th day. I can tell a difference with the additional rest/recovery - given the intensity of much of what I do it is important. It is humbling to admit that I need more rest/recovery than I once did, but I do.

I can't remember the last time I updated the spreadsheet. Unless I record it right away, I forget...and with the holidays. I did manage to put in a good 12 hours or so over break. But that's a guesstimate at best.

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Originally Posted by Becky

I can't remember the last time I updated the spreadsheet. Unless I record it right away, I forget...and with the holidays. I did manage to put in a good 12 hours or so over break. But that's a guesstimate at best.

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I keep the same weekly schedule, and add to it on holiday weeks. It makes it easy to record if I forget to do so on the day of.

I took 2 full days off, except for my "correctives/stretching." Still have not been back to the gym and it's a good break. Did a brutal ladder workout on the trainer this morning, and proud of myself that I didn't quit after the first set, without DH here to talk to! Tomorrow I will be back at bootcamp.

Just bringing this back to the top. I finally got in the trainer the other day - the second time I've been on anything that looks like a bike since the incident in October - and it was my beloved Gunnar. We won't talk about how long, but I did ride her indoors :) Right now the metabolic conditioning, lifting, running conditioning is filling my exercise needs but I've not given up on riding, just taking a break. Given the weather, it would likely have been that way for at least December and January anyway, given our crazy weather this year!

I'm doing a bunch of different stuff, but alas, there is no snow! It's snowing up north, so maybe next weekend.
In past years, I would have gone outside on my bike today. It was 43, sunny, little wind. It just seems too much prep for a short ride, so I went on a 3 mile walk.

I'm halfway there, but only 5 weeks to go. I will be doing a few days of more than 1 hour of exercise a day when I go to VT, but I think I'm going to end up with about 80-85 based on what I've done.

I didn't sign up for this since I keep my own spreadsheet. But as of today, I am at 32.7 hours for the month. That includes trainer sessions, mountain bike rides, running, hiking, Spinervals and yoga. I'm on this "kick" of an hour a day. Of course some days I get way more than hour and some days less.

Veronica

I definitely will not get there.... the lack of snow has meant for less 2-4 hour days of nordic skiing/snow shoeing. One long ride/ski a week would bump me up. It's interesting, though, I've never tracked it.

I am up to 52 hours, 68.3 counting my additional mobility/stretching goals. Counting both I won't have any problems breaking 100, but like you, I won't make my 100 hour exercise goal. That is fine. While I seem to only update the actual sheet 1-2 times a week, I've learned my workout schedule is consistent enough that it isn't a problem to do it that way. My coach has just added something to my schedule so I will be adding roughly 45 minutes to 1 hour a week.

Good job Veronica on the min of 1-hour a day! That used to be my goal, but I had to finally work in a couple of rest days a week. I hate taking 3 days off, but my body has really responded to the rest. Guess being over the half-century mark does make a difference in rest requirements.

That is part of it for me, too. I take one full day off a week. Sometimes 2, but usually the second day is yoga, or a walk, or a short ride. I count that.
Right now I am fighting myself not to go to the gym, to a boot camp class, so I called a friend and made plans for coffee. I will do yoga at home this morning and then take a walk later. My SI joint is getting frozen from overdoing it, and I have to get this solved before I go on my ski trip. I am sick of going to the PT every week.

I had to take today off, maybe tomorrow, too. I have a sinus infection. Already went to the doctor, as I will *not* be sick for my ski trip this year!

Bumping this back to the top. I've not edited my record for 2 weeks so took care of that. I've worked out a but more than usual this past week and I can feel it! It doesn't hurt to do that from time to time.

Starting to itch to ride my bike for the first time in a long time :)

OK, my total was 17.5 hours less than my goal. Not too bad, 82.47 hours for 3 months. I was sick part of the time, which accounted for some missed days and I did not have the opportunity for as many long ski/snow shoe days as in snowier winters. But, I am not sure I could do 100 hours in 3 months at this time of the year. I am also taking a full 2 rest days some weeks.
I think I can do 100 at the peak of the cycling season, though.

Crankin thanks for the reminder to update my sheet! I actually started keeping two sheets, and I noted when I last updated the online version so it was easy. I've been breaking it down by activity since I've such a variety of fitness activities. I completed 80 of 100 hours in three months, and 28 hours of mobility work out of the 30 I wanted to do in the three month time period. Not bad, especially since I take more rest days than I once did. You got closer to your goal than I did, but we, and all of us, did great! It has/still is such a bad winter that everything must be done indoors. At least where I am it does... I've not exercised outside since Thanksgiving :eek: I did learn that I seem to average about the same number of hours in exercise each month - at least during the winter.