what is happening with my thighs???

[SharMarie]

Hi all,

I am taking up T-Tapp again. I used it for a time last year and am trying again to become a daily user. I keep thinking of Charlotte and how her consistency was rewarded!

Here's the thing. In addition to restarting T-Tapp last week, I have been going to the gym since early May. I do weights 2 - 3 times a week and cardio (elliptical, cross ramp or a gazelle-type machine) 3 - 4 times/week (usually 3).

I don't know if it's the effects of aging (will be 48 in 4 weeks) or what, but I am not feeling stronger from my exercise. I think I overdid it at first. I tried to follow Jillian Michaels' instructions to really push on the cardio. I have slowed down now, going from 45 min at maybe 145 bpm to 30 min at around 133 bpm on cardio. But my body is not responding like it used to. I know I have to diet to lose weight, but exercise at least used to make me feel stronger! It's been about 3 weeks since I slowed down on the cardio - surely enough time to recover if my muscles were getting overtired.

Last year when I did T-Tapp I had no trouble getting through the whole thing. It took a bit to be able to do two whole sets of Hoe Downs right after, but not more than a week or so. But this year, I just cannot get through the workout without long breaks! My thighs are just screaming for oxygen, or something! Today I had to stop before doing T-Tapp twists. After waiting about 5 min I did the first set, but had to wait another three or so before doing the other side. It is physically just not possible to keep my knees bent any longer without a break. Any thoughts on why this is happening? I weigh about what I did when I started T-Tapping last year. Thanks for any help!

[BlessedMama]

I'm sure a trainer will offer more advice, but my first thought is yes, you might be overtraining. Weights plus cardio plus T-Tapp seems like an awful lot to try to do at the same time.

As for T-Tapp being harder, as a trainer told me, you are bringing a whole new level of muscle awareness into it this time!!!

Finally, lower body weakness can be a sign of thyroid issues. Get hold of Mary Shomon's books or "Solved: The Riddle of Illness "by Dr. Stephen Langer.


One last thought is to make sure you are eating well and eating enough quality food. Otherwise your body will think it is starving and hang onto the fat and sacrifice muscle!

Oh, one other "last thought" --weight doesn't matter!

Hopefully you'll get a trainer's input soon!

[SharMarie]

Thanks, Trisch! I remember your messages from last year, and how you've lost so many inches and sizes (congrats on a size 8!!!) without a big scale change. Well, 38 is a great change but still!

I would worry about my thyroid except I did have a physical last October. I asked them to be sure to check my thyroid level because I was having memory issues. I assume they did, and the only negative result they told me was that my vitamin d was low so I've been supplementing.

Could it also be that those cardio machines unevenly work the thighs? How does an exerciser know if the hamstrings are getting as worked out as the quads are?

[BlessedMama]

Weeellll....I'm learning that even the best health care providers sometimes don't really get it on the thyroid. I'm going to be discussing with mine to quit using the TSH as a guide. I have misplaced my notebook where I took notes at Safety Harbor last year, but Dr. Rob Carlson shared a BUNCH on thyroid, as did Mary Shomon. Too many drs. use the TSH as the guideline, and mine is obviously not showing the whole picture.

I'm not saying you definitely have a thyroid issue, but Dr. Langer's book might be worth a read. As I read it, I was seeing myself ever since puberty! My acne, my cycles being whacked out, my miscarriages, my hair loss, my sluggishness were all SCREAMING thyroid, but no one caught it. And my blood levels showed normal way back when, even though it's obvious I had many, many symptoms!

Well, I best not get started on that soapbox just yet! LOL!

I can't answer your question about the machines--I only T-Tapp. And walk. How many days off do you take a week? What would a typical week of weights, cardio and T-Tapp look like? Just curious!

Forums might be a bit slower here on the weekend, so if you don't get more answers, bump this up on Monday!

HUGS!

[NeonJungle]

Hi, SharMarie, I'm not a trainer, but also wonder if you are over-doing it. Would you mind posting your workout schedule, like what days you do gym work with the cardio machines, which days you do weights and what type of weight work you do, and also which days you are T-Tapping?

T-Tapp itself works 5-7 muscle groups at a time from both ends of the muscle attachment to your skeletal frame; from what I understand with weight work, lifting uses the belly of the muscle you are working, rather than the extension of the entire muscle, as deeply as T-Tapp does when you are using the moves. Part of that is that is, in addition to the way the moves are designed, T-Tapp works the whole extension of those 5-7 muscles at a time, so you can feel it more.

For example, I can do bicep curls for much longer than I can do the moves in the arm sequence. (Makes me glad T. uses only 8 reps at a time! LOL!)

For the machines, I would think an eliptical and a gazelle would work each leg the same, because of the way they are calibrated. A treadmill depends on you, so ...

One thing we find is that we tend to be "dominant" on one side. I'm right handed, so even though I tend to step with my left leg first, have found that I am right-legged dominant. Which means that by the time, say in a Jillian workout with lunges, and I've done the right leg, my body is tired and I don't give enough "work" into the left leg lunge, if that makes sense. So with those workouts, my right leg responds more quickly. So on other workouts, knowing this, I will start with the left leg first to make sure "equal" work gets done.

But with T-Tapp, I never noticed a difference, and think it's because of two things for me -- the workout is structured to be right/left brain/body with the connections it makes, so in my experience, it works both sides of the body evenly, and the way the lunge sequence is put together, because I'm not holding weights, I can work both legs with the same amount of intensity/engergy/force, whatever the right term would be. Plus, the arm position helps with balance on both sides during the lunges, and so you get a little extra upper body too!

I hope this helps; I think if we could see an example of a week's workouts, it'd better help say for sure, "Oh, yay. You may be over doing it...give that bod a rest, chica!"

Take care,
Harper

[sweetlikecandy]

Hi SharMarie,

I am not a trainer or a doctor. I have read that 'less is more' with t-tapp and that walking can be introduced with t-tapp. You have been exercising consistently... are you not getting the results you want from the gym training? I didn't and trained at the gym one and a half hours a day five times a week... with personal trainers! When I have experienced thigh pain like you mention it was due to rock climbing and alternating with pilates. I was doing too many hard workouts without allowing my body appropriate rest and it hurt! Less is more was music to my ears!

I would like to share a thyroid experience I am having... due to thyroid like symptoms doctors have ordered thyroid labs up to 3 times a year and would tell me everything was great and no cause of my symptoms. Three labs ago came back hyperthyroid so I was sent to an endocrinologist. During the exam she felt a firm lump in one wing and that the thyroid was enlarged. I got an ultrasound and my entire thyroid is enlarged with two very large and suspicious nodules... I am getting thyroidectomy in two weeks. My last thyroid lab after the ultrasound was 'perfect'. In my case, the gland is extremely abnormal and diseased... but still manages to choke out a perfect lab.

Please persist if you feel that you are not being listened to by your team of medical professionals. I know personally how hard that is but you owe it to yourself!

Take care and I look forward to seeing the replies you get and how your results go!

Jeanie

[SharMarie]

Thanks, Trisch, Harper and Jeanie!

I have been using weights 3 times per week, following advice in Sculpting Her Body Perfect. I'm in the Body Conditioning phase, where the author recommends doing one exercise per muscle group. I do three sets of 15-20 reps, with weights that make it somewhat challenging by the last rep. Basically I work on the chest with chest flies or incline chest press, lats with the lat pulldown or rows, delts with Arnold presses, bicep curls, overhead triceps press or other triceps exercise, presses for my quads, curls on a machine for my hamstrings and seated or standing lifts for my calves.

For cardio, I was following Jillian Michaels' recommendation to really push it. The author of SHBP (above) recommends the same. I was doing 45 min at about 140 or so bpm, but have dropped down to 30 min at around 133 bpm, three times per week. My thighs really have felt worn out from the cardio, and I don't really see why.

So then I added BWO+ and have been having this trouble with my thighs. There is no way I could complete the whole routine without those breaks during the t-tapp twist - my thighs are giving out during oil rigs. It is just puzzling to me that there is such a big difference for me in doing the workout now as compared to last summer. I'd blame my weight but I also weigh about the same as last year.

I will follow up with my doctor and find out what kind of results they saw on my thyroid and what they think of the trouble I'm having with my thighs. I'm hoping that as I continue daily use of BWO+ it will get easier. I hope it's not age that is causing my body to react so differently, or maybe it's the combination of weights, cardio and t-tapp. I'd like to continue with all of it unless it's a bad idea.

[MargieK]

Teresa says that when you're first starting T-Tapp you should forgo (i.e., eliminate) all other exercise (except walking) for a month. I know you said you're "coming back" to it -- implying that you did T-Tapp in the past, but after this long an absence, it might be a good idea to let the weights and the intense cardio slide for a while, giving your muscles a better chance to "relearn" T-Tapp as well as giving them adequate recovery time between workouts. If you're wedging additional cardio and strength workouts (T-Tapp is already both cardio and strength) in between the T-Tapp, I can see where it would be easy to overtrain.

Why not take a break from the extra cardio and weights, and focus on T-Tapp, with a little walking (or treadmill, elliptical) on "off" days if you feel the need?

I can definitely relate to wanting to do other workouts. Cardio can be fun! I include yoga and swimming in my regular routine and have seen a few trainers mention doing other types of workouts in addition to T-Tapp -- but I think they all followed Teresa's advice in the beginning, to only do T-Tapp for the first month.

Some exercises are complementary to T-Tapp and do not compete with what T-Tapp is trying to accomplish. Others, like weight training, may impede your progress and should probably be done sparingly, if at all (and on "off" days, with sufficient rest/recovery time before another T-Tapp workout). I used to do Pilates, but gave that up when I took up T-Tapp, because it seemed like Pilates, which works the core, was going to interfere with T-Tapp or lead to overtraining. Plus, there are so many hours in a day, and I can only devote a certain amount of time to working out. Something had to go. I LOVE the efficiency of T-Tapp!