What Was Your Work Out Today?
Replies
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Another 30 min. walk on the treadmill at 3.0 mph.2
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Back to stationary bike, 15k at 113W, 3' CD at 96W. 82% Z3, nothing above.2
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Yesterday was a rest day, so 6 miles' walk and 750 metres relatively slow swim.3
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As a whole, without knowing your sets/reps/rest, I'd say your routine looks pretty good. You hit all the planes of motion, start with legs before moving to torso before moving to arms/shoulders, all very correct. Everything looks good...right up until you land on deadlift as the very last exercise. When you are tired across the body, that is when you try to perform an exercise which taxes the entire body? It should be the FIRST exercise done, or at the very worst following the leg press.
Thanks for the feedback. I wrote them in the order I do them. I will absolutely move the deadlift. That's actually something I had thought of a couple months ago. I think the only reason I do them last is I added them to the bottom of my list. Thanks for helping me realize it DOES make sense to move them to first or second. Duly noted!
I am working back up to three sets, but now just do two because... I don't know why. I'm striving for 15 reps, but sometimes can't complete them all. I've recently read about doing lower weight and higher reps for strength, and I'm considering that.
For what it's worth, the other routine I was doing was:
Cardio warm up
Three rounds each:
Goblet Squat
Right Lunge
Left Lunge
Deadlift
90 second rest
Three rounds each:
Pushup
Smith Machine Incline Reverse Pull-Up (that's what I call it)
Dumbbell curl to press
Assisted (weighted) pull-up
90 second rest
Three rounds each:
Triceps Press
Dead bug
Plank
Static Back Extension
Cardio cool down.
The person I worked with wanted to give me a routine that I could complete in an hour. What I didn't like about it is that I was running all over the workout floor from one place to another and back over and over. It felt silly, and while I really don't care what other people think, they often gave me a funny look. I felt funny actually.
I often do a short swim after. I like to swim on days when I don't do strength work.
I'm with @nossmf... The major compound lift should be first (i.e. Deadlift, barbell squats, bench) then move to the rest. Either way, the workout looks killer!
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Rest day but still went for a walk.2
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Back to the gym for weight machines.
This time deadlift first. I really had been wondering why I was doing it last since it was a compound movement focusing on legs and bigger muscles. Fixed. I went ahead and upped the weight and was still able to do more reps than my target. I was able to increase weight and/or reps on all other movements. There was one that I thought I had done fewer reps on my second set, but when I went to write it down.... Nope. Two more than last time.
Still just two sets.
I decided to utilize some of my rest time between sets by going ahead and working opposing muscles. I did let curls and leg extensions one after the other without a rest between. By the time one was over, that was rest for the other movement. I did the same with the dumbbell curl-to-press and triceps pull-down. I am a lazy person so wanted to speed things up. I think I used the "bonus" time in the sauna....3 -
Upper Hypertrophy
Incline Bench Press 3x10
DB Bench Press 3x10
BB Row 4x10
Pulldown 3x10 (1 set each hands over, under, neutral-grip)
Face Pull 3x10
Cable Lateral Raise 3x10
Preacher Curl 3x10 (3-second negatives)
Cable Pushdown 3x10 (5-second negatives)
Perloff Press 3x15sec2 -
I think I used the "bonus" time in the sauna....
At my age, I consider time spent in the hot tub after leg day as a mandatory part in my recovery process, lol.
Glad the workout worked out for you, including doing supersets to accelerate things. Just remember as the weights go up, you need to factor in adequate warmup for the first exercise per body part. As in warmup on deadlifts before going heavy deadlifts, then other leg exercises should be good to go without further warmup; but once you start your chest/back work, the first one for each needs warmup as well. No warmup needed for the shoulder or arm work, they already get adequate warming through the chest/back work which precedes it.
How much warmup needed? Depends greatly on the weights being used, but a good rule of thumb is 3 warmup sets at 25%, 50% and 75% of working weight. Once the weight is high enough that the 25% jumps are more than about 50 pounds, then break the warmup into as many 50 lb jumps as needed. In other words, since you deadlift first now, if you deadlift more than 200, your warmups will be 50, 100, 150, etc.
Not trying to brag, but my squat routine requires me to do 7 warmup sets as I slowly increase the weight, making sure my muscles are primed to work hard without the shock of suddenly working hard out of the blue.2 -
I think I used the "bonus" time in the sauna....
At my age, I consider time spent in the hot tub after leg day as a mandatory part in my recovery process, lol.
Glad the workout worked out for you, including doing supersets to accelerate things. Just remember as the weights go up, you need to factor in adequate warmup for the first exercise per body part. As in warmup on deadlifts before going heavy deadlifts, then other leg exercises should be good to go without further warmup; but once you start your chest/back work, the first one for each needs warmup as well. No warmup needed for the shoulder or arm work, they already get adequate warming through the chest/back work which precedes it.
How much warmup needed? Depends greatly on the weights being used, but a good rule of thumb is 3 warmup sets at 25%, 50% and 75% of working weight. Once the weight is high enough that the 25% jumps are more than about 50 pounds, then break the warmup into as many 50 lb jumps as needed. In other words, since you deadlift first now, if you deadlift more than 200, your warmups will be 50, 100, 150, etc.
Not trying to brag, but my squat routine requires me to do 7 warmup sets as I slowly increase the weight, making sure my muscles are primed to work hard without the shock of suddenly working hard out of the blue.1 -
@nossmf
I had not thought about specific warm-ups. That's an interesting concept, and I will certainly give it some thought as to how I could incorporate it. I usually just try to get my whole body warmed up and then get after it. I am considering moving from the Freemotion cable machine for deadlifts to actually picking something up and putting it back down. I might also go back to using the squats and lunges instead of leg presses. Just trying to change up and do more things that aren't machines. Slow and steady.
I stay out of the spa for a couple reasons. Most people love it. My gym has a steam out in the pool area, and if I'm swimming I for sure take advantage of it. Sometimes I put on swim trunks and go out even if I'm not doing a swim workout. Other times I just do 18 minutes in the sauna, a shower, and sometimes another six minutes. I think we're of a similar age. For sure the sauna is part of my routine. When I first went back to the gym after being away for the summer, all I did was the "executive workout" just to get used to showing up. Steam AND sauna. Only one set of each, and only one rep per set
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Today's workout was fruit tree pruning. I got the last two of my fig trees and filled up the green waste cart. All I have left are two pear trees (Bartlett and Chojuro), a plum tree, a cherry tree, the raspberries, the blueberries, and the grapes. I should be done before spring.
I might still go out and get in a swim, or I might just take it easy. I will say that I noticed my body when pulling on the saw more than usual. No pain. No real soreness. Just some fatigue. That's not a bad thing; just a reminder that I did something yesterday.3 -
@mtaratoot
While I remain a proponent of free weights, I see zero need to completely eliminate machines. In fact, I still use them myself. If you look at my four routines I cycle between, my ratio of free to machine is 10:16, meaning I actually use more machines than free. (The ratio changes over time as my routine changes every few months, but there are almost always at least a third machines. I can, and have, put together routines with 100% free weights, but so long as the machines exist and can hit a muscle from a certain angle which is hard to achieve with free, why not take advantage of the machine?)
I'm 46, for your reference.
As far as specific warmups, they may not apply to somebody doing very light weights. My wife, for example, never had to worry about warming up her lifts since she never moved beyond using 5# dumbbells. She just did a general warmup, as you mention. But if you ever get to start using weights heavy enough to make you grunt getting them into position, or start doing sets of five instead of ten plus, you'll definitely want to look into specific warmups.3 -
@nossmf
It's unlikely I'll be lifting "heavy," but I"m not discounting that I might. I guess that depends what "heavy" means. I'm focusing on maintaining strength and bone density. I also try to work on keeping form correct rather than increase weights. I still consider myself a novice, and I always find it odd to see people heaving on machines for all their reps when they've got what I'd think of as "too much weight" and they have to make up for it by compromising form. Coming out of the seat on a seated machine. Jerking away at a pull-down machine or row machine rather than slow and steady pulls.
I like the Freemotion machines most since they do allow stabilizer muscles to be used more than machines that only have one plane of motion. I think the machines are probably safer. In reality, if I keep taking summers away from the gym do go out and do fun stuff, I will always be cycling back to rebuilding lost strength. We'll see if I make a decision to try and maintain more this summer.
I think what I ~WILL~ do at some point soon is hire a trainer for at least one or two sessions to go back over where I'm at and offer specific suggestions.
I have a decade on you as it turns out. I retired young; best thing I've done in years. My workplace was extremely dysfunctional, and our leadership ... I will just use the term "clowns" because it's nicer and won't invoke the "kitten" filter.
Thanks for all the feedback. I sincerely appreciate it.
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Today's workout: walking for 36 minutes on the treadmill, the first 30 min. at 3.2 mph, then the last cooldown section at 2.7 mph. I increased my speed by .2 and distance by 10 minutes. I've also been walking back-to-back days this week rather than every other day.
Today marks 5 weeks since the surgery to remove the cancerous mass in my colon.4 -
I haven't maintained a great eating routine lately, but this week has been pretty good. A big plus has been a return to both Zwift indoor cycling with my tri club friends and joining a yoga practice led by my favorite instructor.
The tri club ride was a Sufferfest that I needed. We had ten strong riders and I had to work my tail off for 70 minutes to hang in for the climbing. We use the Discord app to chat during the ride, which is fun, though I was mostly just gasping on the hilly route.
This yoga class is very popular since the leader is also a ballet instructor. In addition to all the traditional yoga poses, she incorporates some great flow by including movement patterns that really help with balance. Bottom line for me is always leaving feeling WAY better, both physically and mentally, after the class. Yesterday's session was no exception.
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Cardio: Shoveling snow from driveway/sidewalk before I can even go to the gym - 30 minutes
Weights: Lower Hypertrophy
Squats 4x10, 11, 12, 15
BB Step-Ups 3x12
Leg Extension 3x12
Lying Leg Curl 3x12
Calves Extend 4x15
Cable Crunch 4x10
Finally increased squat weight enough to be a challenge again. Been doing 4x15 for months, even when increased weight, but today the first few sets were a surprise to the system. Set four proved I can do it, I just have to want to earn it.
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Retiring early...nice dream. But my total money in the bank for retirement equals about two years of salary, with no guaranteed income from anywhere other than what I save, so I'll be working until my mid-60's at least.3
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@nossmf
I was always very frugal and squirreled away a good chunk of my salary. Being child-free helped. In later years I took advantage of a Deferred Compensation program and put over a third of my salary away to grow over time. This not only set aside funds for later, it taught me to live on less. It was a good lesson. I'm not sure that I'll actually be OK, but I think there's a 90% chance I will. My career was with a couple employers who participate in the same public employee retirement system, and I got in right at the tail end of the more generous first tier, so I get a "paycheck" every month. It's not a lot, and I can't live on it. I wouldn't have been able to retire if I hadn't been working on saving for decades. I bought a new truck once. In 1997. I still drive it. I bought an old mill-house. My lender wanted me to "buy more house." I can afford taxes on this one, and I paid off the mortgage in November. I recognize that I am better off than 90% of people in this country and 99.9% of people in the world. I had very little debt when I left graduate school and paid that off. My vacations are cheap - I like to go to the forests and rivers and sleep in the dirt.
I'm actually trying to learn how to spend just a little bit more. My gym helps drain my wallet a little bit, but it's worth it.3 -
I changed things up today just a little. We'll see what I do next time. Tomorrow is the hands-on portion of my first aid, CPR, AED, and emergency oxygen for dive accidents class. It took six or eight hours of homework over the last couple weeks. The certification is good for two years. So tomorrow's workout will be sets of 15 compressions at 120 beats per minute followed by two rescue breaths and repeat
Today was:- Warm up on treadmill ten minutes.
- Deadlifts on the Freemotion machine - 3 sets, increased weight for each set
- Goblet squats - 2 sets, increased weight for second set
- Right and left lunges - 2 sets
- Chest press machine - 2 sets
- Row machine - 2 sets. The freemotion machine was in process of being moved and unavailable, so I used a different one. I could use a lot more "weight" with the other machine.
- Pec fly machine - 2 sets. The freemotion machine was in process of being moved and unavailable, so I used a different one. I could use a lot more "weight" with the other machine.
- Lat pull-down, freemotion machine, 2 sets.
- Dumbbell curl to overhead press - 2 sets.
- Triceps pulldown - 2 sets
- Lat raise machine - 2 sets
- Cool down on treadmill for closer to a half hour so I could listen to the end of a radio show.
- Relax in the steam room - 1 set followed by a set in the sauna
I think I'll probably use this as a routine for a while. I might try to add something for my core like planks.
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Chest compression practice.
Then a simulation of getting an unresponsive diver out of an exhibit. It's actually a life-sized realisticly weighted mannequin. We had to get her BCD and wights off, extract her, cut off her drysuit, and provide first aid.
On the way home I swung by the gym for what I thought would be a short jaunt on the dreadmill to beef up my daily steps. Oops. I was enjoying my podcast to much, so ran and walked for a bit over an hour for about four and a quarter miles. Maybe swim tomorrow.3 -
Catch-up reporting:
I mismanaged my schedule Thursday, didn't get in a workout before some errands and dinner with friends. But very late in the evening, I did a silly-trivial 500m on the rowing machine because of the January Revolutions challenge at C2. A grand total of 2 minutes and 19 seconds of effort.
Friday was stationary bike, the usual 15K + 3' CD, 103W average including the CD, took around 40 minutes, mostly Z3.
Today, Saturday, back to rowing machine, the usual 3 x 2k with 2' between (row out, drink, row in) + 3' CD. For amusement, in addition to the usual technical work, I decided to see if I could hold pace very close to 3:00 average on all 3 2ks, got paces of 2:29.9, 2:29.8, 2:29.9. Total 7,112m including the row out/in and CD. Mostly Z3.
Ended today with the mostly upper-body push dumbbell circuit, very slow with light weights.3 -
A beautiful January day here in NW Arkansas, so the hubs, son, dog, and I took a nice stroll through our neighborhood, about half an hour. It was good to see the sun again.1
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No gym today; no swim today. I think I saw our closest star Sol shining through the clouds. I think I even saw something up there that looked distinctly blue. When it's the end of January in western Oregon and it's nearly t-shirt weather, it's not raining, and there's the threat of "sun breaks," going inside to put my face underwater and look at artificial lights for an hour sounded untenable. So that will just have to wait.
It as a much better day to get out an orchard ladder and practice going up and down and up and down and up and down. I didn't count reps. I did some dynamic movements with a long-handled lopping shear, some hand exercises with a hand-pruner, and did some "pull" exercises with a pruning saw.
I got four trees complete - the Bartlett pear, the Chojuro Asian pear, the Stella dark red cherry, and the Italian Prune plum. I got all the branches from the pears and a lot from the cherry into the green waste bin. The rest will get processed after it's emptied again on Friday. The branches from the plum are laying where they fell. I took advantage of the continued good weather, and the fact that I was already muddy and already had the shears in my pocket, to go ahead and do annual maintenance on the raspberries. Last years primacanes and the excess of last year's floracanes (this year's primacanes) are in a pile at the end of the row. We'll see how much of all that can fit in the cart when it's empty. I still have to get to the grapes and the blueberries as well as a few shrubs and, if I want, the flowering cherry. The flowering cherry can wait until after the bloom is done, and now that I think about it, I will start bringing branches inside to force in about a week or so.
I still had time for a walk before it got dark. Just about two miles, but that star did make one last appearance to give a nice colorful sunset while I was out.2 -
Friday was climbing. I was not in good form, Ialthough I was OK at slab. (Slab is not real climbing .)
Saturday was domestic nonsense, which entailed moving loads of furniture.
Sunday was a day off exercise, so I did a 10 mile walk around Frensham Little Pond. It is a bit of Surrey that looks like the Highlands of Scotland; absolutely stunning.
Today was climbing. It was my best session in ages; I got three v4s. Vaux East had been setting relatively tough recently; I assume this means the new set is soft.
Here is Frensham:
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Upper Power
Bench Press 5x5
Cable Row 5x5
Machine Decline Press 5x5
Machine High Row 5x5
Seated BB OHP 5x5
Cable Woodchoppers 3x10 (High, Cross, Low)3 -
It was another nice day. Warmer than normal. Once the fog lifted (later than forecast), it was even light out. Not blue sky by any means, but our little star was out behind the clouds.
I took two walks. First downtown to drop off mail and pick up mail with a stop at the thrift shop and then later another walk down through the flooded park. Too nice out to go inside for exercise. Looks like another nice day tomorrow, but I'm due to go move some heavy things. Maybe I'll just try to keep it short.2 -
4 mile 🏃🏾 to kick off the week. Ran it in ma underwear…. On tread 😝 didn’t need to kick off the week by getting tossed into the pokey..5
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Stationary bike, the usual 15k + 3' CD, takes about 40 minutes. Average 105 watts overall, about half and half Z2/Z3 with less than a minute below that at the start.3
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Push outside in my wheelchair4
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wheels1872 wrote: »Push outside in my wheelchair
Well done Wheels1872. We all do whatever we can. And it all counts buddy. 0
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