How to use this Page

Holy wow, am I in pain.

I know I've mentioned several time that I started taking Combat Aqua, which is sort of like kickboxing in the shallow end of the pool, this past spring. I really love the class. It's got great music, fun gear, and I honestly get a real workout from of it. And it's not just me; one of the bikini clad newbies that showed up to last Monday's class grumbled, "I can't believe I'm freaking sweating in the pool."

So.

Two weeks ago I decided to check out the Western Family Y's version of the deep water workout. For these classes, you're in the deep end, wearing a floatation belt and do things like try to balance on pool noodles and do bicep curls with foam weights under the water. The normal Thursday night teacher was on vacation, and his replacement apparently hadn't taught the class in a while. She spent most of the hour talking about how she hated Delaware and was interviewing for a different job in D.C. My heart rate? As still as it is when I'm watching TV. By the end I started swimming laps just to try to get a little bit of cardio in, which is the main reason I've been taking these water aerobics classes. Afterward, I told Joe that it had been the biggest waste of time ever. He confessed that he'd peeked in through the window and saw that we were all just sort of bobbing in place. I was so upset about this wasted hour that I ended up filling out a comment card for the first time ever. (To the Y's credit, someone emailed me within a week to apologize, and assured me that they'd speak to the sub instructor about what I'd said. I made sure to gush about Paula, our Combat Aqua instructor, who always tailors her workouts to who's there. Like, if when the bikini-clad newbies showed up, Paula used our warm up time to show them the basic moves. She rocks.)

Anyway, the week after Wendy attended a Tuesday night deep water class. The regular instructor, Richard, was still on vacay, so the Wednesday night teacher, Jess, filled in for him. Wendy's experience was the opposite of mine; in her class, Richard's Tuesday night regulars were complaining that Jess was too hard (whereas his Thursday night regulars that I encountered told me Richard's workouts were much more intense). So, Wendy and I agreed to take Jess's class this past Wednesday.

I should explain that this particular class is billed as a combination of Aqua Jog and Burdenko Water Walking, both of which emphasis using your own weight as well as the water for resistance. You still wear the floatation belt, but you rarely stop moving. Ten minutes into the class, as "Itty Bitty Pretty One" blasted from the portable speaker, Jess was screaming, "Level 8, Ladies! Push it harder! Go all out now!" Jess, I should explain, is an older woman, pretty tall and stick thin. She's also quite buff and a little bit of a drill seargant, but in a good way. I was grunting a bit as I cross-country skied cross the length of the pool, and I'm fairly certain my face turned purple when we were Level 10 "jogging." By the time we got the part of the class where we were using the foam dumbbells, I wanted to die - always the mark of a good workout, if you ask me. I told Jess I'd definitely be back, and I will.

Yesterday, though, I started to feel the effects of my first Jess-run Aqua Jog class. It started with a little bit of soreness in my hips and my bum. Not pain, just the kind of tender you feel after a new kind of workout, where you're moving muscles that haven't been moved in a while. The tenderness increased as the night went on. Then, today, I woke up in a world of hurt. Like, seriously, my butt hurts, my hips hurt, my upper back is sore, my arms are sore - I think the only part of my body that doesn't realize it received a workout is my forearm. Seriously.

Did I mention that I dropped two full pounds since I took the class? That's after ONE CLASS. I most certainly will become a devoted disciple of Jess.

Exercise is such a funny thing to me. I'm one o

Today is July 20th, which means it's my half birthday. It also means I have six months to complete the items on my "35 Things I Want to Do Before Turning 35" list, so I thought I'd take a quick peek and see where I'm at.

As of today, I have crossed off the following:

25. Take more ballroom dance classes
27. Learn Spanish
29. Watch the entire BATTLESTAR GALLACTICA series on DVD
30. Take an art class

Four. Items.

To be fair, I'm very close to crossing off #35, which was to see all of the 2009 Best Picture nominees. I've watched every one except AN EDUCATION. I'm also close to crossing off #20, which called for me to try five new restaurants in Delaware (so far we've hit three). And #6 (finish craft room) is literally a week or two away from completion.

But this means that I need to get moving on some other list items, and soon.

In other news, I haven't done a Summer Fitness Challenge update in a while, and here's why: I've completely lost track of who has done what and when. Also, there are a bunch of people who just don't check in. And since I didn't require anyone to put their $10 in up front, I'm not even sure if the people who are still competing have a crack at the $120 we thought we'd have at the end of the competition.

This is largely my fault, since I didn't have a good tracking system in place when the competition started. And I should've made everyone put their money in at the start. AND I should've been more on top of the e-mail reminders and such.

There are larger problems, though, like the point system. It confuses everyone and there's no way of checking the math unless people submit their starting weights and week-to-week weight loss.

So I'm at a bit of a loss. Trying to unravel the mess that has become the Summer Fitness Challenge is daunting. It requires me to weed through a ton of e-mails, set up a tracking system, ask people about their money, etc. It was on the list for today, but it's already 4:30 p.m. as I type this and I have to leave for my last Spanish class in two hours. Between now and then I have to practice telling time - son las cuatro y triente nueve ahora - AND make some dinner.

Can I get off the hamster wheel yet?

Recently, I read an article in GOOD HOUSEKEEPING about a trend in weight-loss bets. Meaning, people wagering money (or other goods/services) to see who can lose the most weight in a set period of time. Being the typical type-A overachiever that I am, this seemed like the most excellent idea. A lot of people in my world are struggling to take off weight, anywhere from 10 lbs. to 100 lbs. (or in some cases, more). Why not make a bet out of it? Why not tap into our competitive streaks and use that to keep us motivated all summer long?

And thus the 2010 First Annual Summer Fitness Bet was born.

HOW IT WORKS:

Like Celebrity Fit Club, the winner will be the person who, at the end of the bet, has the highest number of Fit Factor points. Fit Factor points will be calculated weekly based on weight lost (or gained) plus how many times you have (or haven’t) exercised. Because some of us are uncomfortable sharing the exact number of our weight, and since men tend to lose weight way faster than women, we’re going by percentage of body weight lost (or gained) each week. Participating in the bet also means committing to working out three days a week for 30+ minutes (more on this below). If you exercise more than three times on three different days, you get an additional Fit Factor point for each extra session of exercise.

And that’s pretty much it.

For the rest of the challenge's guidelines, click

WHAT YOU WIN:

Bragging rights, for starters. Oh, and some money. How much depends on how many people we recruit for the bet. Each participant commits to putting ten dollars into the communal pot, and the winner takes all.

WHEN IT STARTS:

Because we want to give people time to get the word out and plan ahead, the bet will begin Wednesday, June 23rd and run through Wednesday, September 1st (10 weeks). Why start on a Wednesday? Many of us have a tendency to veg over the weekend, so Wednesday weigh-ins give you a couple of days to get back on track.

WHAT YOU’LL DO:

1. On Wednesday, June 23rd, you will weigh yourself FIRST THING IN THE MORNING, NAKED. You will record this number in a notebook, a Word doc, or a website like SparkPeople.com.

2. You will track the number of workouts you do between June 23rd and Tuesday, June 29th.

3. On Wednesday, June 30th, and each subsequent Wednesday of the bet, you will report your Fit Factor number to the Record Keeper (i.e., Lara). Here’s an example of how you calculate that number:

Hugo weighs 350 pounds. The first week of the bet, he loses 10 pounds and works out four times.

10 / 350 = .028 à round up to 3% = 3 Fit Factor points. Hugo gets an extra Fit Factor point because he worked out four times instead of three. His Fit Factor for the week is 4.

The second week, Hugo gains 2 pounds and only works out twice.

2 / 340 = .005 à round up to 1% = -1 Fit Factor points. Hugo loses a second Fit Factor point for completing only two of the three required workouts. His Fit Factor for Week #2 is -2.

His overall Fit Factor at the end of Week #2 = 2 (4 Fit Factor points from Week #1 – 2 Fit Factor points from Week #2).

If the thought of having to calculate this number weekly overwhelms you, the Record Keeper (again, Lara) can do it for you. However, this means turning in your actual starting weight, pounds lost each week, and number of workouts completed.

4. Each Thursday, Lara will e-mail the group with each person’s Fit Factor for the week and their overall standing in the bet. The winner will be declared by Thursday, September 2nd.

5. One last incentive: the person with the highest Fit Factor the week of July 4th (weigh in on July 7th) will get an extra FIVE Fit Factor points added in. The