bluestetson

I'm a 23 year old female at 5'4" and 160 lbs. My ultimate goal is regaining the strength and flexibility I had as a dancer, and I'd also like to get back down to 120 lbs in the process. I had shoulder surgery this past June to repair a torn labrum, and I'm still working on getting it back to full strength and flexibility, though it has improved immensely over the past 7 months.

Current exercise:

Per week, I do about 3 hours of pilates and 6-8 hours of yoga, including 3-3.5 hours of relatively intensive Astanga Vinyasa yoga. I know I need to add cardio back in, but I'm just sort of getting used to this routine for now.

Here's the question:

Apart from adding cardio, what should I do to improve my overall level of fitness? How much weight training would be appropriate given the fact that I'm already doing a fair amount of resistance training using my own body weight? What muscle groups would be the most beneficial to work on? I do not have access to a gym and can't afford a membership at this point, though I do have some dumbbells at home.

I know weight training is important to achieve and maintain desirable body composition, I'm just not sure how to incorporate it with what I'm already doing. I'm only asking about how to improve my exercise regimen, as I have already looked at my diet and made improvements where necessary.

Thanks for any advice, I appreciate it!

Okay, so, I hate how thick my hair is and how expensive it is to go get it cut properly at a salon. I used to buzz the back of my head down to a quarter inch or so every month or two and just wear bangs (like this: http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v260/1... ). Only problem is, now I work in a pretty conservative office, so I can't wear my hair like that.

Solution: a wig! Unfortunately I don't know anything about wigs and I was hoping someone here would be able to help me. What should I look for in a good wig? What can I absolutely not cut corners on? Where is a reputable place to buy wigs? Any advice on wigs in general?

I really appreciate any help, I'm dying to cut my hair off and I really don't want to spend $50 on a haircut every 6 weeks any more. Thanks!

I was wondering what you guys thought were the most important things to consider before getting a tattoo. I'm kind of curious about the way people are so obsessed with their tattoos having these deep, philosophical meanings.

For me, the two most important things that go into deciding on a tattoo are 1) you have to love the design and 2) you have to have a good artist. If you love it because it's meaningful, that's great. I have a couple of tattoos that mean a lot to me. But, I see no problems with loving a tattoo design because it's awesome or beautiful or sick or whatever. I've got a lot of tattoos that just plain look good, and that's why I got them.

I'm not trying to attack anyone, I promise, I just want to know why people feel it's so incredibly necessary (to the point of insulting and putting down other people) for tattoos to have some deeper meaning. I'm really just curious, and I'll listen to whatever anyone has to say.

Starting at some point yesterday, the bottoms of my feet have been hurting really strangely. It's difficult to walk or stand, and even sitting causes them to hurt. The pain is especially bad, and at times excruciating when I am lifting my feet off the floor while walking. It's difficult to explain, but it's like when I'm pointing my foot, but my toes are flat on the ground. It's incredibly painful. Wearing shoes makes it worse, whether they're tight, loose, supportive, or flat.

I do have an appointment on Friday with the doctor, so I'll get something out of that, I'm sure. However, it's just such a weird pain. It's this line of pain between the ball and the heel of my food, right in the middle, and then there is also some pain in the ball of my foot when I move my toes a certain way.

I've tried wearing supports, I've tried icing them, I've taken aleve, and I can't find anything that helps apart from just lying on the couch and not standing up. Massaging them makes it worse, even. Given that I have class from 11am - 6pm tomorrow, lying on the couch isn't really an option.

Does anybody have any ideas or has anybody ever dealt with this kind of pain? I'm a 22 year old female, relatively healthy otherwise, with no family history of diabetes and no risk factors for it either.

Now, I have seen people answering questions saying they pay $75 or even $60 an hour for tattoo work, and I am having a super hard time figuring this out. I've never talked to a tattoo artist who charged less than $125 an hour!

I live in Georgia, and I'm not sure if it's because I go to more well known, accomplished artists and studios, but if anybody can show me the portfolio of someone who charges $75-$100 an hour, I would be mad interested to see it.

I'm not saying the artists some of you have been talking about are bad, necessarily, but I really can't grasp prices that cheap! Please don't just make stuff up, and if you could let me know at least the name of the shop you went to and either got a tattoo or asked about prices, that'd be sweet.

I am having a horrible day. I've got the worst cramps in the world, and on top of that, I have some problems with my pelvic floor muscles cramping really painfully due to some issues with interstitial cystitis. It feels like this horrible stabbing pain that comes on suddenly and is so bad it makes me gasp. Everybody's had a bad day of cramps, but I cannot get the pain to stop. I've been in bed for the past 8 hours since the cramps started and I've gotten no peace.

The big problem is how bad heat makes me hurt down there. It just makes everything cramp up something terrible if there's already pain, so heating pads and baths are out, which is just awful. Even just having my laptop in my lap starts to make me hurt pretty quick.

Is there anything else I can do? Aleve and Advil and Tylenol aren't helping, and I'm dying to just have an hour without cramps. Help!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_M79oHouqk

Really though, listen to it. Do you think that's what would happen if Christ came back today?

Why do some people think that all nudity is obscene, or that even an implication of nudity is disgusting?

I am honestly confused by this.

I know it has something to do with Tacitus and his writings about the Germanic peoples, but I'm still so confused as to where they come up with the term Ingvaeonic in reference to the North Sea Germanic peoples, and my books about it are giving me a headache.

Does anybody know anything about historical Germanic linguistics?

I see a lot of people saying 'oh don't get a tattoo unless it's really meaningful or you're going to regret it!' and I'm just curious as to how many people really think that's true. I only have maybe three? tattoos (out of ten) that mean anything apart from 'hey that's rad, let's do it' or whatever crap I made up afterwards to confuse people.

I've had some of these tattoos for a year or two now, and I still love them just as much as the day I got them. I don't see ever not loving them. I just think it's kind of odd that so many people feel so strongly about tattoos having deeper meanings.

Someone explain to me what I'm missing.

(If you ask, I may post some of my tattoos.)