Quote Originally Posted by LBTC
Do it!! Start buying dumbells. And an exercise ball, maybe. And/or a wobble board. And don't hide it in the basement. Mine is in the living room. A set of cast weights of 5-8-10-12-15-20-25-30. I'd still like to get a medicine ball, and a bosuball (you're right, I don't have room in my living room for all of that). As for what reps to do the basic thought is: lots of reps is for endurance, medium reps and medium reps are for strength, low reps and high weight is for power. It seems that after all the research they've done, any approach really works. Even one set of reps will make a difference to strengthen bones and muscle. More just does more. Unless you're using HUGE weights, I don't think you're going to do any damage. oh, and as a side-note - it's important to push as much weight when you do tricep exercises and when you do biceps. they are 1:1 balanced, or should be.
I keep trying to litter the living room with sports equipment, but DH doesn't like it. And honestly, I agree with him. The basement isn't a bad place to work out; I brought some old computer speakers down there, so I can plug in my iPod and listen to my music while I'm doing stuff. Right now I have a carpet remnant with a stand-alone 6' punching bag. I'm looking into replacing the carpet with a nice mat, but that will be around $400 ... yikes! Money is tight right now.

I got some dumbbells for free, but they weren't quite what I hoped for. I have an exercise ball and would like to do bench presses (two dumbbells rather than a single bar) using the exercise ball as the bench, which a PT showed me and I really enjoyed. I figure bench press is closest to doing pushups. Martial arts classes love pushups, and I have enormous trouble with them.

Do you have any recommendations as to where and what to buy as a dumbbell set? I know that I would like to do bench press and military press; beyond that I hadn't really thought about it. I like using dumbbells instead of the bar because both sides get a good workout and all the stabilizing muscles get involved. I'm pretty sure I'd start out using two 12-lb dumbbells for bench press; probably less for military.

Quote Originally Posted by LBTC
I'm sorry you were sick. I was out with strep throat last week. I'm almost back to normal now, and back to kickboxing, so my butt and thighs are super sore today. YAY! I'm still not going full tilt, but I know what you mean about the switch in your brain. I can take it easy in the warm up, (walk, don't run....half jumping jacks, etc), but once we're kicking and punching I don't know how to go halfway!!

You'll get there with Mountain Biking! Have you had many serious crashes? The more times you crash without serious consequences, the less you'll be afraid of them!! Do you ride with riders who are better than you? I try to keep up with the guys. It has forced me to be faster, which has translated into stronger and in better shape and less fat. Do you have enough sustenance with you when you ride to go all out? Mountain biking isn't like an hour session of anything else....I can't do with just water on anything more than about an hour (and mid-season rides average 3 hours!), so I have water in one bag and watered down gatorade or red bull or monster or whatever in another bag.

Keep trying, but don't forget to rest and get completely well before you push too hard!!

You can do it!!

Namaste,
~T~
Thanks for all of your encouragement!

Part of the reason I have trouble going easy in a martial arts workout is because of my rank. Even though I took a long hiatus and am way out of shape, I do hold a second degree black belt in TKD, meaning I outrank even my instructor right now! It's hard for me to take it easy when I feel that I need to set an example. Anyway, I missed today's class, so I won't have one till Monday, by which time I should hopefully feel better. There's an ice hockey game tomorrow, but I'll probably skip it and work on some little things at my own pace this weekend. Strep is much worse than what I'm dealing with! Strep is evil! I just have the cold from h*ll.

As for mountain biking, I have never had a really serious accident; plenty of blood and bruising, but nothing dangerous. I had some false starts with clipless pedals, though, before I got comfortable with them at all. I got my bike in July of 2003 and rode it a little that year; last year I rode a lot and got much better, but I still consider myself to be a newbie. Everybody I ever ride with is better and faster than I am, so that's not a concern =P I've definitely found that if I wait until I get hungry to eat on the trail, I've waited too long. The big problem is hydration; it never seems to be the right time to take a sip, even though I have a camelbak. I'm still very much addicted to having both hands on the bars as much as possible. All in due time, I suppose.