Post your daily exercise routine

Exercise & Fitness Exercise & Fitness: Chat / Discussions
2681

The sun’s well up these days as I leave the house at six thirty for my early morning runs round the neighbourhood, that is if I could see it…It was obscured by an unbroken ceiling of grey cloud this morning and as I left the warmth of the house the cold North Westerly breeze almost took my breath away.

I’ve been trying to lose some clothing now that spring is here, “What!” I hear you say, I don’t wear all that much anyway, but I’m getting warm after the first mile or two and there is nowhere to put my gloves and I have to wear them until the end. I’ve already managed to ditch the hat, and the gloves are next but I could have done with them today…

So with cold hands I crossed the field and into the woods observing the mass of Bluebell leaves ready to flower in perhaps a week or two, it’s going to be quite a display this year…

Down the mile long drag of the main road with wall to wall traffic and miserable faces staring out at me while making their way to work, I wonder what they are thinking…“Daft Sod”…:smiley:

Struggling a bit now as I turned off and joined the lane, keep it going lad just one and a half to go. A couple of dog walkers came into view, blimey! that looks like Keith, one of my old running buddies out with his missus and the dog ‘Why aren’t you running you slacker?’ I thought as I jogged past. But I only ended up passing the time of day with a smile in the end…:wink:

I lumbered down the drive and was surprised to see the time was just 20 seconds outside a seasons best…Must be doing something right…:cool:

2682

Went to the gym and ended up chatting to an older man who was using the weight machines as well. I haven’t seen him before, so I think he’s just joined the gym. He’d tapped me on the arm, so I took my earbuds out and, somewhat baffled, he asked me if I could use the Shoulder Press machine ok, as he could “only” do 5Kg on it. I assured him that when I started in early January that 5Kg was about as much as I could shift as well, mainly due to stiffness in the shoulders, but that I could just about manage 20Kg now. He seemed relieved it wasn’t just him that had teething troubles with that particular machine, and I assured him he would soon be doing better. Nice guy, and at 74 he was really doing a very good workout for someone new to the gym. I hope I see him again, even if it is just to wave to as we train.

2683

My apologies for not keeping in touch in here but I thought it was a little unjust of me to pop in without any kind of workout to report, when you are all training hard and putting me to shame while I watched ‘Homeland’ :blush:
By the way, Seasons 6&7 have just arrived in the post but I’ll save them for the weekends. Promise! :009:

I have a bit of catching up to do it seems, both with my own training and reading back through your posts. I’m pleased to say I have now done both tasks. See below.:slight_smile:

Bob – Looking good as usual pounding those country roads and grassy knolls; you never cease to amaze and I relish your stories of what and who you encounter along the way. Consistently solid in your efforts mate :023:

Tachyon – Sorry to hear firstly that you have some family issues – getting yourself out of the way to the gym is the best way to give yourself some “me time” for a couple of hours :069:
Your training is going great guns. 60kgs on the pulldowns are some going and it’s great to see you too encouraging other people there to stick at it. As you say, it all comes with repeated training. You get stronger and more able to manage your breathing more. Good on yer buddy! :cool:

Suzie – Back on the beach for you again then. I must say that running on sand is hard work. I did a lot of that when I was stationed in Belize during my time in the forces and progressed to actually jogging through the sea up to my knees – now that is tough but it sure builds big legs!:lol:
Best wishes to your daughter’s continued improvement too :hug:

And Roxy – You got onto them about those swimming pool steps yet?:018:

Tuesday 26 March 2019
Upper body: Early week 1 hour.

Onwards now with my first session since a legs outing 10 days ago and my first upper body workout for almost FOUR weeks!:blush: Today was more of a refresher than anything solid to shout and scream about, but surprisingly I wasn’t as rusty as I thought I would be, though I am active at work so that must keep the muscles and joints pretty supple I guess. I mixed my exercises up a bit with different forms of training to get an all-round upper body workout and it went very well.:slight_smile:

I’ll continue with my write-up formula as I’m only doing this three days per week so time can be found easily enough, plus I know some people express an interest, so it’s at least something to warrant my posting.
To recap, the ‘pause’ annotations reflect training where I hold the weight still instead of starting a separate set. This is the ‘tension training’ I talk about, which puts good pressure on the muscles thereby keeping them solid and retaining their size.

(All weights in kgs)

Lat pulldown, hammer bar:
10x35 – pause – 10x35 – pause – 10x35
6x60, 4x70

DB press, incline bench:
6x24 – pause – 6x24 – pause – 6x24
6x30 – pause – 2x30

Smith flat bench press:
12x30 – pause – 12x30
6x50 – pause – 6x50

Shoulder press:
5x60, 5x70, 5x80

Chest press:
8x60, 8x75
6x85 – pause – 2x85

Seated row:
10x47, 10x59, 10x65

E-Z curl, standing:
10x18 – pause - 10x18 – pause - 10x18 – pause - 10x18 – pause - 10x18
*Despite using a very tiny weight on the bar, pausing the movement in between created huge stress on the biceps, especially lifting a total of 50 reps virtually non-stop making those guns return to form again.

Concentration curl, alt.:
10x10
6x12 – pause – 6x12 – pause – 6x12

Sled press:
50x100
*Just a quick refresher for the legs to make them active once more for a full session later in the week.

Thanks for reading :cool:

2684

Hi, all. I still out here running, about 4-5 miles a day. I will spare you all the boring, gory details, but I am feeling a little biblically Job-ette, as things are well, challenging :lol:! Don’t worry though, I am reading and following - and very hopeful that everything will work out just fine.

http://www.sherv.net/cm/emoticons/fighting/hair-fire.gif

It’s SPRING! Yay!

2685

Keep on running Suzie, as the song goes! :048:

Not being into the Bible very much, I’m a little lost on the Job-thing, but I hope things are okay with you :hug:

2686

Didn’t Job (pronounced Jobe I believe) get swallowed by a whale?:shock:

2687

Jonah

2688

Thursday 28 Mar 2019: Legs: “Paused tension training” 1 hour.
(All weights in kgs)

So it’s back to topic :cool: and two full weeks to the day since I last did any legs training (save for a quick 50-rep blast on the sled yesterday), I decided to continue with this resistance training which has seen my legs take shape and fill out again like the good old days of bodybuilding. It’s tough work and occasionally I feel like I’m about to peg it, but the end results are very pleasing. I feel very fit, look really strong and that’s what it’s all about to keep oneself healthy and agile for the oncoming years of ageing.:069:

I have changed down some of the exercises; the paused sets are still my primary focus but I’ve set the limit to two sets on the first set as the initial lighter reps are too easy for me now. In their place are several extra reps following each set (although I do drop the weight at all) and this actually increases the tension thereby creating maximum stress on the muscles.
I’ll be adapting a similar routine to my second upper body session of the week which will take place tomorrow (Friday).

Incline press:
A: Outer, top & inner knee quads (Feet low on plate/heels close/toes pointing out). B: Hamstrings, glutes (Feet high/heels & toes centre plate).
A: 20x150-p-15x150
B: 15x200-p-5x200
A: 8x250 DEEP to failure
B: 50x150 ½-way reps (20-20-10)

Seated ham curl:
Hamstrings, glutes, calves (normal position).
20x45-p-12x45
12x55-p-6x55
7x65 to failure-p-3x65
50x35

Sled press:
A: Outer quads, top quads, hamstrings (Feet low on plate/heels close/toes pointing out). B: Glutes, hamstrings. (Feet high/heels & toes centre plate).
A: 20x150-p-15x150
B: 12x200-p-6x200-p-4x200
A: 6x200 DEEP to failure, -p-4x200
B: 50x120 (25-15-10)

Sled press: Calves
(Toe push only, bottom of plate).
20x100-p-15x100
20x120
16x140 to failure
25x80

Extensions:
Inner knee quads, top quads, outer quads, hip flexors (normal position).
20x40-p-12x40
12x80
8x100
20x60, 10x80, 8x100 (these three sets involved the legs being at full stretch and simply ‘bouncing’ the weight to flex the inner knee quad muscles).
25x35

Adductor:
Inner knee quad muscles, inner top quads. (Seated, pulling thighs inwards).
25x50, 15x55, 10x60

Abductor:
Hip flexors, outer glutes, outer quads. (Seated, pushing thighs outwards).
25x50, 15x55, 10x60

Hack squat:
Top and sides of thighs, glutes. (Standing against backrest pushing up with knees).
10x100
*An exercise I’ve re-introduced after a break of over a year due mainly to my blaming it for the knee issues I experienced last year. If I lift a max of 100kgs (instead of the previous 220!), I should be okay. Slow and cautious on this though! It’s a great exercise for all-round toning of the legs in the absence of the original squat stance which I ceased doing years ago due to a lower back injury.

I wanted to do some lying ham curls (the hack squat was initially performed as an extra exercise whilst waiting for the aforesaid apparatus), but a PT was showing a newbie the ropes on it which took some time, so in effect it was good that they were there as I wouldn’t have bothered with the hack at all.

Next time on the legs I need to split the programme into two days as there’s now too many exercises, so this will see the return of a Sunday legs session as well as the mid-week one. Plus, this will give my legs a rest too.

Thanks for reading :cool:

2689

:blush::blush: :-D:-D

What did Job do then?

2690

He didn’t participate in the exercise thread, Ruthio. Please stick to topic in here, it’s not a chit-chat thread. Thank you :cool:

2691

Well 'scuse me for breathing…:confused::frowning:
No more chat then…

2692

Come and see me after school in Bob’s Bits Ruthio…:cool:

2693

Put her on the naughty step Bob, or give her 100 lines: “I must not go off topic”. :lol:

2694

I see…trying to make a joke of it now are we???
I’ll attend to you two in the morning…:twisted:

2695

Ooo I hope so! :105:

It’s okay Ruthio, I’m just very protective of threads I start.
Some people tried to infiltrate my Top 1000 Albums thread once and I was virtually banging on their front doors with an axe :027:

2696

I’m here to say that all is well in the exercise thread, the sun is shining, the mood is mellow, and all axe murderers are banned :smiley: :grouphug:

2697

Sunday 31 March 2019: Full body quick blast. 1 hour.

I missed my late week upper body workout planned for Friday because I was very tired from work the night before and all I felt like doing was chilling out with a DVD. Yesterday morning would have been a possibility too but due to lack of sleep on Friday – a continuing hazard of working nights that doesn’t get any easier – I was out with Mrs. F shopping instead. In the afternoon it was social time with my friends, which is extremely important to me as my weekday life doesn’t permit this. With today’s session I therefore made it a double – some upper body work plus an extra legs session tagged on.

So it was a return to the house of steel today to do yet another different style of training I call “5-3-1”. In fact, no, it’s not my idea at all but a long-acknowledged and very effective take on the tension work I’ve been doing of late. The difference with this method is that it’s designed to take less time as there is only one set per each exercise but to get the maximum performance from it you pause three times following the initial set of reps. This taxes the muscles incredibly well and it’s very hard to concentrate on the breathing as the ‘pause’ is only for a max of two breaths, then you’re continuing with the set. Get the idea, read on…

(All weights in kgs)

Upper body

Arm curl, both arms simultaneously:
25kg: 20, 5, 3, 1

Lat pulldown, underarm grip:
40kg: 20, 5, 3, 1

Fly delt dec:
95kg: 20, 5, 3, 1

E-Z preacher curl:
38kg: 12, 5, 3, 1

DB preacher curl, each arm:
12.5kg: 6, 5, 3, 1

Tricep extensions:
40kg: 20, 5, 3, 1

Single DB press:
44kg: 25, 5, 3, 1

Legs

Incline press:
A: Outer, top & inner knee quads.
200kg: 12, 5, 3, 1
B: Hamstrings, glutes.
200kg: 10, 5, 3, 1

Hack squat: Top and sides of thighs, glutes.
150kg: 6, 5, 3, 1

Sled press:
A: Outer quads, top quads, hamstrings.
200kg: 12, 5, 3, 1
B: Glutes, hamstrings.
200kg: 12, 5, 3, 1
C: Calves.
150kg: 20, 5, 3, 1

Seated ham curl: Hamstrings, glutes, calves.
50kg: 12, 5, 3, 1

Lying ham curl: Hamstrings, glutes, calves.
25kg: 15, 5, 3, 1

Adductor: Inner knee quad muscles, inner top quads.
60kg: 20, 5, 3, 1

Abductor: Hip flexors, outer glutes, outer quads.
60kg: 15, 5, 3, 1

Extensions:
A: Upper knee quads, top quads, outer quads, hip flexors.
60kg: 12, 5, 3, 1
B: As above but legs outstretched with a ‘bounce’ to tone the upper knee quads to failure point.
100kg: 10, 5, 3, 1

As you can see the weights were on the moderate-low side with most of the equipment as it’s very difficult to hold the weight steady in between the set before you carry on again, but that’s what tones the muscles and it works a treat.
I’ll do the same training on some different exercises early in the week.

Thanks for reading :cool:

2698

Good session today, with 534 calories burnt and 1,268 moves completed, both personal bests. Still makes me smile when the gym console tells me I trained “like an athlete”. A grey-haired, creaky-kneed athlete, maybe! :smiley:

Arm Extension (tricep): 60 x 30Kg
Stomach Crunch: 150 x 45Kg
Back Extension: 150 x 45Kg
Vertical Press: 10 x 15Kg, 30 x 10Kg
Pec Deck: 30 x 40Kg, 20 x 30Kg, 45 x 25Kg
Pull-Down: 55 x 55Kg, 60 X 60Kg
Chest Press: 75 x 40Kg
Low Row 80 x 30Kg

reps are totals for the session. Did a bit of leg work but not worth recording, really. I did the reps but the weights are still too light for my liking. One day though… :wink:

2699

Great work again, Tachyon :023:

I’m just trying to root out what issues you have with your leg work buddy: Is it specifically your knees?
Do you try the full range of leg apparatus, even perhaps the free weights machines such as the incline leg press if there is one at your gym?
The full list of what I use is detailed in my session above if you need any ideas. If any of these look too difficult, just put the minim amount of weight on them and you’d be surprised how well you get used to them. A few sets 5-10 kgs each, maybe 1-2 sets. :cool:

2700

I don’t feel I dare use the Sled Press, but that might just be nerves I suppose. :smiley: I do use the Leg Curl and the Leg Extension, and can manage a couple of sets of around 20 to 25Kg on the Curl, but only around 15Kg on the Extension because that’s my weakest muscle and the knees really feel the strain on that one. It gets a bit painful sometimes and I don’t want to get pain like I had before.

I started out with 15Kg and 5Kg on the respective machines, so progress has been made, but I’m still frustrated that my arms can do more weight and reps than my legs. I’ll plod on with leg work, but it’s baby steps really. :slight_smile: