B/A pictures – 6 months - progresses and how to move on

[Deb]

May 16, 2016 1:59:08 GMT -5 gabyelle said:

G'day Deb,

I don't have the last PM. In any case I am not loaded for bear ( what does that mean!) as you say and I have NO axes to grind/agendas.

I think there is a cultural difference between Oz and US in that in Oz we are able to speak our mind and call a spade a spade and agree to disagree and be mates after that.

I have simply expressed my opinion publicly this time, rather than keeping it to myself.

Don't get mad at me when I say you are more on the forum now - it is true!

I don't know you personally as much as you don't know me so really don't hold any grudges whatsoever and hope you can work out a way to make the support available again.

ATB,

GE

Hi There,

I'm not trying to drag this out but by you saying "I don't have that last PM" I just want to make sure that you absolutely know I sent that PM to you.

BTW... All is good

Deb

All Flexers The email address you see in the photo has been closed for some time.

[pamomma21]

Hi Flower, so to confirm - u r saying that the pink shirt is the before photo and the white shirt is the after photo? 

[flower]

May 17, 2016 11:36:41 GMT -5 pamomma21 said:

Hi Flower, so to confirm - u r saying that the pink shirt is the before photo and the white shirt is the after photo? 

Yes!

[pamomma21]

Ok -  I think you have beautifully tight skin, no sagging or anything! What were your main concerns? I do notice an improvement in your neck area, as it looks smoother but I don't know if that's because of how you position in your first photo or because of the exercise. The cords are gone - do you see what I mean? The eyes may be improvement too but I can't tell for sure because you are looking in a slightly different direction in the second photo. 

You are lovely!

[flower]

Hi pamomma21, thank you for your kind words!

In fact I am doing FE more for maintaining that for addressing any specific issues, or better, I do hope I can reduce the signs of age as times goes by….

So, my first issue is: not to worsen the situation ;-)!

My main concerns, anyway, were and still are: 11’s, question lines, smile lines and some loose skin under the chin.

In the first 6 months I haven’t been really focusing much on these target areas, but tried to learn each exercise as best as I could.

To be fair, I haven’t done 30.Head Lift consistently (maybe once or twice a week) and had to avoid exercising and massaging when the lips where involved as I had 2 cold sores in the last 2 months…

When I had the cold sore I switched to the B (press) variation for the cheeks.

So, I ended massaging more the eyes then the rest… I think my eyes are better, now, but I cannot see the difference in the pictures, yet.

Anyway, after reading again the book and the forum to get inspired, this is what I have planned for this month:

-switching to negatives (C variation)

- trying to focus on the exercises for the target areas (mouth, forehead, chin/neck)
-
being consistent with Head Lift (ex.30)
-
being consistent with massage for the target areas
-
adding Jolting and Pressure Reps 2/week

-maybe sneaking in some Cross Stretching, as I already did some last weeks

Hope that the new pictures will show overall improvements!

[Deb]

May 18, 2016 3:28:54 GMT -5 flower said:

Hi pamomma21, thank you for your kind words!

In fact I am doing FE more for maintaining that for addressing any specific issues, or better, I do hope I can reduce the signs of age as times goes by….

So, my first issue is: not to worsen the situation ;-)!

My main concerns, anyway, were and still are: 11’s, question lines, smile lines and some loose skin under the chin.

In the first 6 months I haven’t been really focusing much on these target areas, but tried to learn each exercise as best as I could.

To be fair, I haven’t done 30.Head Lift consistently (maybe once or twice a week) and had to avoid exercising and massaging when the lips where involved as I had 2 cold sores in the last 2 months…

When I had the cold sore I switched to the B (press) variation for the cheeks.

So, I ended massaging more the eyes then the rest… I think my eyes are better, now, but I cannot see the difference in the pictures, yet.

Anyway, after reading again the book and the forum to get inspired, this is what I have planned for this month:

-switching to negatives (C variation)

- trying to focus on the exercises for the target areas (mouth, forehead, chin/neck)
-
being consistent with Head Lift (ex.30)
-
being consistent with massage for the target areas
-
adding Jolting and Pressure Reps 2/week

-maybe sneaking in some Cross Stretching, as I already did some last weeks

Hope that the new pictures will show overall improvements!

P E R F E C T !    Take a before shot.

[Deb]

Hi Gaby,

As you know from our exchanges I no longer train one-on-one  (for all Flexers to know)  but I seriously would really like to take a look at your up to date photos. I owe you that girl

BTW I don’t doubt you didn’t see my last post because when you said you had other posts from me (PMs) I too at first didn’t see them and had to go back in and find them.

Don't want to loose ya girl...you have much to offer.

Tootles

[flower]

Hi all,
here are some picture taken the 15th, the 23rd of May, and today, the 5th of June.

s1382.photobucket.com/user/FlowerXXXY/albums/

I have a cold sore just above the upper lip, but I decided to take the picture the same... No make up on. 


I am not seeing much of a progress,  though, but neither worsening, so that's fine!  


This is what I have been doing so far:

- switched to negatives (C variation)

- trying to focus on the exercises for the target areas (mouth, forehead, chin/neck)
- being consistent with Head Lift (ex.30)
- being consistent with massage for the target areas
- Jolting, Pressure Reps and Cross Stretching 2/weeks

Any thoughts?

[cm5597]

Jun 5, 2016 5:15:28 GMT -5 flower said:

Hi all,
here are some picture taken the 15th, the 23rd of May, and today, the 5th of June.

s1382.photobucket.com/user/FlowerXXXY/albums/

I have a cold sore just above the upper lip, but I decided to take the picture the same... No make up on. 


I am not seeing much of a progress,  though, but neither worsening, so that's fine!  


This is what I have been doing so far:

- switched to negatives (C variation)

- trying to focus on the exercises for the target areas (mouth, forehead, chin/neck)
- being consistent with Head Lift (ex.30)
- being consistent with massage for the target areas
- Jolting, Pressure Reps and Cross Stretching 2/weeks

Any thoughts?

Hey Flower,

I don't see any change either, but that is expected. 2-3 weeks is usually too short a time frame to see any progress. Just like if you were a bodybuilder, lifting weights to put on muscle, typical gains are only ~ 1 lb a month, so you can only see visible progress every several weeks or months. 2-3 weeks is definitely too short.

The only kinds of things that can usually change in 2-3 weeks are:

* A release in muscle tension, for example, the brow area could frown less or the eyelid (if chronically tight) could look more open
* A lessening of overbuild from stopping doing an exercise

In the meantime, I'd recommend taking photos every 3 months. That is perfect for taking photos frequent enough that you should (almost always) expect to see some progress each time, but not too frequent to discourage you if you don't.

In the meantime, focus hard on technique. Make sure you are engaging the muscle, moving slowly, etc.

My experience is that technique matters more than anything else you are doing; if you aren't 100% confident that you feel the contraction in the muscle, then that's where you need to focus your efforts. You can assess this:

* Through the pump (increase in circulation) in the area after the exercise
* The intensity you feel in the muscle during the exercise (hard to describe, but you'll know it when you feel it)
* You should be getting regular improvements in strength in the area every few weeks. If you're not gaining strength every few weeks or months in the beginning, you're not hitting the muscle effectively/
* The soreness test: If you're really not sure by all the above whether your technique is good, you can try to do the equivalent of 2-4 sets to "failure" to try to overwork the muscle. If you can make the muscle sore or tired the next day, you have good technique and good mind-muscle connection. Please note that this test does not work for everyone, nor for everyone's muscles. For example, I know I have great technique for the mouth muscles and this test doesn't really work for this muscle group on me. But this test is both easy for me to do and works great for my eye and cheek muscles.

Hope this helps

[flower]

Thank you, I will try your suggestions for sure, as you really are having great results!

[Sean]

I just clicked on the photos and the album is empty now, so not sure if you want to repost the photos and I can take a look.

Now cold sores are a challenge for me too at times and when they appear its usually because the body is feeling physically run down because of stress and strains.  So if you have one that appeared at the time of the photo its likely that you were feeling run down.  They always appear on me when I've been exerting myself too much and trying to do 101 things.  So with that in mind, especially as these are a virus its great because it means that they can be a really good signal from your body when your doing too much and thus you can take remedial steps by meditating or relaxing.  I opt for meditation over many other activities simply because we know that it strengthens the immune system, relaxes the nervous system and there are many studies proving that meditation has many antiaging benefits.  So its a really great thing to do because it helps the body, and mind, to be calmer and healthier all at the same time and releases stress and stops it building up.

Now you say you are not seeing much progress, but I imagine you are actually getting benefits you aren't recognizing.  For one, often what happens is skin when it looks like its doing nothing it can be thickening and strengthening.  So I'd encourage you to notice your skin thickness now and think back to how it was when you started.  Often times changes are happening but they start from the inside out. 

Now you say you switched to the C variations.  Are you alternating on a weekly basis between the variations? 

Jun 5, 2016 5:15:28 GMT -5 flower said:

Hi all,
here are some picture taken the 15th, the 23rd of May, and today, the 5th of June.

s1382.photobucket.com/user/FlowerXXXY/albums/

I have a cold sore just above the upper lip, but I decided to take the picture the same... No make up on. 


I am not seeing much of a progress,  though, but neither worsening, so that's fine!  


This is what I have been doing so far:

- switched to negatives (C variation)

- trying to focus on the exercises for the target areas (mouth, forehead, chin/neck)
- being consistent with Head Lift (ex.30)
- being consistent with massage for the target areas
- Jolting, Pressure Reps and Cross Stretching 2/weeks

Any thoughts?

[Sean]

I have to give credit here where credit is due and Gabyelle was one of the reasons why I removed my posts and left this forum originally. 

As to my tirades - I devoted so much of my own personal time and without pay to helping people and answering questions and queries.  Whilst I'm happy to be back - I do not agree with the comment and attacks here. 

May 9, 2016 0:59:24 GMT -5 gabyelle said:

There used to be Loli who was a godsend and I kept hoping she would come back whilst having to put up with Sean's tirades.

[gabyelle]

OMG Sean - I am glad to see you back in the forum - but where does this jab come from?

You were not very kind to me at the time therefore I expressed my thoughts in that comment - I am not sure it is very professional of you to single me out this way though.

How can I possibly be responsible for your departure from the forum in any way - I thought your explanation was that you studied for a degree?

In any event, I trust the forum has not been deprived of your contribution solely because of my expressing my opinion. any suggestion of the contrary is rather preposterous.

I stand by my comment as it was true at the time for me and have never attempted to discredit your knowledge or contribution to the forum.

I hope you accept that I am entitled to my feelings and opinions and hope that I I won't have to defend myself in an escalation or retaliation.

ATB
G


Read more: flexeffectworkshop.proboards.com/thread/866/pictures-months-progresses-move-on?page=4#ixzz4oatg7y46

[Sean]

This is not a jab, but in fact a sharing of the facts. Your behaviour was precisely what drove me to the decision to leave the forum. I had not been unkind to you far from it, but was attempting to assist you (as I do with everyone who has issues in their training). You took a personal dislike to my asking you questions about what you were doing to try and discover what factors were going wrong for you in your training and you launched a personal attack on me as a result. I have to ask questions to determine what factors stop people from progressing (and this was evident at the time, but not just myself other trainers too would ask questions) but you took an instant dislike to that and you were very vocal in your sharing of your dislike of me.

I was indeed studying for my degree during my time on the forum, and I did leave to focus on that for sure – no questions there but also to be free of criticisms from you. I have to give credit where credit is due.

Whilst I fully accept you are entitled to your feelings and opinions – likewise so am. To see a comment that I was making “tirades” rattles me because it was not and is not true. Whilst I did choose to focus on my degree it was done after an exchange whereby your comments were forwarded to me and after all I had done it was a slap in the face.

Aug 2, 2017 5:53:46 GMT -5 gabyelle said:

[gabyelle]

Unbelievable.

You have not offered any more advice to me than what is in the forum - 3 posts at most.

Happy to agree to disagree then!

I have nothing else to add to this thread.

Have a great day

G