weight lifting

The Untimely End of The Great Rachel Cosgrove Fitness Experiment (II) [lighter weights/high reps vs heavier weights/low reps?]

May 20, 2013
duckthief

Someone stole my book. Right off the dumbbell rack on the weight floor where I’d left it propped open with a 2-pounder. (Because what else do you do with a 2-lb dumbbell? Use it to crack pecans? Roll out dough? Do that weird forearm exercise where you curl it backwards??) In all my years of Experimenting, I’ve left a lot of things at the gym, ranging from small stuff like lip gloss and wet towels to bigger stuff like my phone. Oh, and one of my kids. (Twice. Yes, same kid. We’ve already started a fund for his therapy.) But [...]

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The Great Rachel Cosgrove Fitness Experiment II [Yep, she's back with a brand new rap! And I Don't Quite Know What to Think]

April 25, 2013
kettlebells

My girl Rachel Cosgrove – author of The Female Body Breakthrough which was one of my top 3 favorite Great Fitness Experiments ever – is back with her hotly anticipated follow-up book. And because she was kind enough to send me a review copy the Gym Buddies and I have been testing it out. We’ve been lifting. We’ve been sweating. We’ve been foam rolling. (Lie: I still don’t feel anything when I foam roll. I try it half-heartedly about every third workout.) And it’s been… Okay, this is awkward. I don’t know how else to say this other than I’m kind of [...]

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Proprioceptive Exercises: It’s 10 p.m., do you know where your legs are? [My new favorite workout!]

February 7, 2013
owlet

This owlet has it nailed! Check out that proprioception – he can even sleep one one foot! Also: Awwwww!!!! Do this now. Yes, right now. It will just take a minute. Probably less. Whatever you are doing, drop it (okay not literally, especially if you’re doing dishes – but then how would you be reading this?) and take off your shoes. Do it! (I get bossy when I’m excited. You’re gonna love this!) Now stand up and lift up one leg at least 6 inches off the ground. Don’t rest your foot on your knee or anything else. Close your [...]

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Ryan Seacrest Afraid of Girlfriend Julianne Hough’s Muscles? [What is it exactly that makes strong women scary?]

February 5, 2013
scary-realistic-tattoos-06

Now THIS is what I call scary muscles. (Don’t worry, it’s only a tattoo) It was a bevy of blonds recently when dark blond Ryan Seacrest sat down with platinum blond Ellen Degeneres (married to honey blond Portia di Rossi) to talk about… something… and the conversation turned to his golden blond girlfriend, Julianne Hough. Specifically how he’s “afraid” of her because she’s so strong and tough. At least that’s how it got reported. What he actually said was, “‘She’s such an athlete. I’m afraid sometimes to do stuff with her because I know I’m going to get injured.” So [...]

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Your Health Teacher Was Right: Boys and Girls ARE Different, Even at Exercise [Or: Why I Still Suck at Pull-Ups]

October 10, 2012

Even babies do better pull-ups than I do! (And look way cuter doing them too! Awww!) This past Monday found New Gym Buddy Kari (everyone say “Hi Kari!”), trying her best to follow my weird directions, standing on a weight bench and doing jumping pull-ups, which if you’ve ever tried them, can be plenty hard. As she boinged up and down, a gentlemen (known for doing multiple sets of pike pull-ups) walked past her and commented, “Do those even count?!” I’m sure it was meant as a joke. Probably. But I snapped. “Not all of us can be dudes!!” I [...]

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Giant Veins and Other Unintended Side Effects of Exercise [Reader Question]

August 29, 2012

Neck veins: All the cool kids are wearing them these days! I’m so fashion forward! Image Source Pop quiz: What do Madonna, Angelina Jolie, me and a random dude off the Internet all have in common? No it’s not that we all have “Call Me Maybe” stuck in our heads. (Okay, that could possibly be true. Curse you Carly Rae Jeppson.) Actually we have all had our gardenhose veins called out by strangers. The first time it happened to me I was standing on my head at the gym basking in the glow of what I thought was the admiration [...]

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Unconventional Ways to Deal With Sore Muscles

May 10, 2012

I am so completely creeped out right now. The ‘stache, the look on his face, the fact that she looks 16. Plus jeans shorts? The mesh tank wasn’t enough of a statement on its own?! Last week found me kicking the laundry basket down the hallway with my foot. No, I’m not making my household chores into sports (although there’s an idea). It’s because my shoulders were too sore to lift the blasted thing. Of course it’s not just me who’s resorted to doing weird workarounds because of soreness. The DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness, also known as the reason [...]

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Swallowing My Pride In the Gym: Going Back to Basics (And Poking Random People in the Back)

May 7, 2012
perfect-squat-form

See this is why my squat form sucked! I forgot my lucite heels! Upon meeting me, the first thing my scary smart Lifetime Fitness trainer, Steve, did was have me stand in front of him facing a gigantic mirror. As he put his hands gently on my shoulders he said, “I want you to see what I see.” Now, lest you think this is going to turn into a touchy-feely after-school special where we talk about how awesome I am, Trainer Steve was actually assessing me for muscular imbalances. So what he saw was slightly flattened arches, a right knee that bends in when [...]

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Does Exercise Order Matter? [P90X Phase III and Final Review]

April 23, 2012

Chest, back, legs, shoulders, biceps, triceps. (Oh and calves. Stupid calves. Always skipped those.) For years whenever I lifted weights my exercises were done in this order. The actual exercises would vary – dumbbell flys one day and flying dumbbells the next (Kidding! Sorta!) – but the workout stayed the same. Why? Well because I was new and I didn’t know any better. But mostly it was because this was what my first trainer taught me. For reasons I cannot now recall she said that it was important to go from large muscles to small muscles and to alternate working [...]

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How To Prevent A Weight-Lifting Injury (And how to recover your pride when you do)

March 6, 2012

Um. Ow. Be afraid, be very afraid: There is a silent killer lurking in your gym. Oh you may think your daily sweat fests are protecting you from injury and disease but in reality those free weights are a ticking time bomb with your number on it. And not just because the last person to use them pooped and didn’t wash their hands before picking up that dumbbell. (Although that does happen too. That’s another downside of having the bathrooms right on the track at my Y. When you’re running by you can totally see if there is no pause [...]

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