Healthy Living in Connecticut Blog

I had a few set backs when I first set out to do the push-up challenge last December. First, I had a lower back pain from doing dead lifts in too much of a hurry. That lasted for about a week or two. Then I got a stomach bug, which knocked out another 5 days or so. Finally, last week I had golfer's tendinitis, an extremely painful condition where I couldn't move my arm without pain for a few days.

I rested my arm and it was getting better each day. I still continued to workout my legs, did the treadmill, ran the track, etc. I avoided any upper body workout for about a week. I slowly got back into it earlier this week. By yesterday, I was able to really get into the upper body workouts again. In fact, I was finally able to accomplish my goal of 50 push-ups! It may be a month later than I planned, but I got through it!

I'm not only writing this to remind others, but also to remind myself.

I just found out I have tendinitis from overuse of my biceps during exercise. This extremely painful condition is a wake up call. I need to not overdo it as I always want to put health first.

I just had my body fat checked again yesterday at Southern Connecticut State University. I had it tested a little over a month ago and wanted to see if there was a difference since then.

The numbers were good but it wasn't a big drop. I went from 13.35 down to 13.24 percent. That's okay, at least it's in the right direction! The woman who checked my body fat explained that it's a slow process as the body fat gets closer to 10 percent. I have patience though and I'm enjoying the results in my arms, chest and legs. I love having more muscle and I notice I have a lot more energy. Some other people have commented on that as well.

My motive is to build strength, and one way to help with this goal is the kettlebell swing.

I attended a workshop at the local YMCA yesterday and the instructor went through the process of how to do them properly. A lot of people do these exercises incorrectly at first, so it's important to find a class if you're interested in learning the technique.

I look forward to Wednesday evenings for the Tabata class at the Northwest CT YMCA in Torrington.

What is Tabata?

Tabata is a high-intensity workout that has fitness and weight-loss benefits. Is it like CrossFit? Is it like circuit training? It is a bit of both. Tabata training is intense and It offers maximum workouts in shorter periods of time. Tabata comes from the man who invented it - Dr. Izumi Tabata, a Japanese physician and researcher. He conducted a study using an interval-based training model. His objective was to see if athletes would benefit from a 20/10 session repeated eight times. 20/10 means 20 seconds of all-out exercise followed by 10 seconds of rest. This adds up to four minutes total.