All well and good mate, have a good session at the gym.
Perhaps you can post today’s routine later on? 
Suzie - those little turtles are so sweet :grouphug: Nice to see you looked after them and hopefully they will be safe away from any birds.
Bob - Have a fantastic time tomorrow. My best wishes to your daughter and groom. I know you’ll all have a wonderful day and night 
Also, have a lovely time in Guernsey too. It’s a great place isn’t it? Don’t worry too much about the running, though I expect you already know whereabouts you’re heading in that area. Enjoy bud!
My extended, intensive Friday session is taking place this afternoon. I’ll report back after my hammering 
Beautiful day here after a rainy patch, off to surf, run, and report and respond to all later
With just a few minutes to spare, I just wanted to pop in to wish the father of the bride a wonderful few days. I hope you create many happy memories together as you expand your little family. Best of wishes for the bride and congratulations to the groom whom I am sure will be all more fortunate for joining the Fox family!
Oh, and 105 little hatchlings made it to the gulf :-D.
Cheers! :hug:
I don’t have one as such, mostly due to having to use whatever machine is free at the time. The little gym I use because it involves less walking to get to only has maybe 20 machines, half of which are bikes, treadmills, and steppers. I don’t use those. Out of the others, 2 are machines which are too much for my knees so I get to use around 8 that are left.
These are often occupied so I just jump onto whatever is free at the time. I just make sure I have a nice little sweat on and that I can feel the lungs working nicely. I keep that up for a couple of hours. I hope to get to the “big gym” tomorrow and see how I do now that I can walk well enough to get there.
In the “little gym” it’s hard to know what you are achieving because the TechnoGym hydraulic machines just have the settings -1, -2, 0, +1, and +2 on them. No indication to actual weight equivalents is given anywhere. A bit odd, eh! Of course the “big gym” has metal plates with the kilos marked on them, so I shall try and make a note tomorrow. 
Adapt, adapt, Tachyon, and you seem to be doing that well. I suspect that your positive attitude and flexibility account for your determination and results.
As promised, I went out and gave it all I had for six miles today. Tropical storm clouds take on a more vertical shape than their traditional cousins, and these hreatening, yet fluffy clouds lined up along the coast late this afternoon.
Deciding that it was better to take my chances than spend too much time fretting over the radar, I drove to a little know spot for today’s run. Lined with tall but little shade-bearing oaks, I made my way down the first half mile of winding path, struggling with each step to lift my feet out of the loose, quartzite sand that seemed to grab my feet like quicksand. With each step the sand said, “No!” but my determined feet responded, “Yes!”
Yes - no - yes -no - the rhythm echoed in my head until I reached a place where salty lake forms a quarter mile inland from the beach. Making my way past the lake and palmettos to my left and a viewing tower to my right, in another mile I faced towering dunes about twenty feet high in front of me.
Running around them would mean an extra mile, while running up them would mean exhaustion and a sand full of shoes.
Since we are alive once and for such a very short time, ,I decided to go up and over.
So with all I had, and even the occasional help of my arms and hands, I raced to the top ready to make up for the time with a fast descent - except something stopped me from that.
Atop the massive dunes with no sign of life save a few brown pelicans and shorebirds, all what heaven should be was suddenly around me. To the south was the majestic blue gulf covered with meringue white caps framed by the tropical clouds, to the north was a stand of back-straight oaks with Spanish moss hanging from their bows, to the east was the briny lake where herons and egrets were settling along the lake marsh for the night, and to the west a spectacular fiery red ball of a sunset lay before me.
I finally mustered the will to tear myself from the spectacular scene, but my pathetic little pace was worth the experience. OGF and Missy most likely beat my pace today, but sometimes we give our laurels up to experience the pleasures of being simple creatures in beautiful-beyond-words world.
My gosh it is so incredible to be alive.
That’s fine, Tachyon. I understand what you mean.
I wish I could just go into the gym myself and jump on whatever takes my fancy but I need my programme (i.e. a paper-based template) with me otherwise I can’t get myself motivated and I end up not sticking to a planned routine.
My gym had some of those hydraulic machines a while ago but they were all taken out when people used to unplug them from the walls. The whole place would sound like a chemical works with air lines making a hell of a racket! Plus, I don’t trust the actual weights on those either because they are not a sustained lift all the way through the movement (if you see what I’m trying to say!)
Yep, stick to your general flitting from one machine to another I’d say bud, at least you don’t have the anxiety I face when I’m trying to fit everything into a short space of time
Surfermom - That description of your latest run sounds absolutely fantastic 
What a wonderful part of the world who are lucky enough to be part of. I think if I was over there with all the nature and beauty to see I would even take up running myself again - if the knees could be relied upon that is!
Whilst Bob’s no doubt getting up early making some finishing touches to his tuxedo and polishing his brogues for the big day ahead - have a good one mate 
- I have a confession to make…
yesterday’s training session, the usual Friday main session at that, didn’t take place in the end. 
For some very strange reason I was so incredibly tires, nay exhausted, when I woke up after my morning sleep that all I wanted to do was relax in the garden.
I tried to get some motivation going by having a strong black coffee and even packing my gym bag, but the intense humidity just drained me. I knew if I’d have actually managed to get into my car I would have made it work, but I was just utterly worn out even to walk down the drive.
In the event, I decided to grab my current book (the autobiography “What does this button do?” by Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson) and sit in the sweltering sun outside enjoying my read, perhaps for an hour until I felt ready enough for a workout.
But then something happened which scuppered my plans completely - I opened a bottle of beer and that was that! I even had enough of being outside so I went to my man cave and watched the excellent movie “Insomnia” with Al Pacino (he was in the film, not on my sofa!).
So today, following a more or less decent sleep overnight (the humidity still rife though) I am up and ready - it’s only 5.30 am though as yet - for the gym to catch up. I’ll have a quick bowl of cereal to get an energy burst and hit the gym for 8 when it opens. This time I promise I’ll be back with my write-up!
Don’t be too hard on yourself Floydy, had I not gone for my run early in the morning I would have probably done the same. Even early, the humidity coupled with a high temperature was overpowering, and later in the day it got even worse.
Thanks for the good wishes Floydy, and you’ve just reminded me; I haven’t polished my shoes yet…:shock: Catch you all later…
Today’s exercise:
Stamina Walking to Sainsbury’s and back - a 2 mile round trip. Followed by walking to farm shop and back - another 2 mile round trip.
Weight lifting 3 bags of shopping from Sainsbury’s, and 2 from farm shop.
Flexibility Pruning Holly tree, clearing a patch of brambles, picking up all the bits and adding to the heap in the skip.
Mental agility Done the Times crossword, and read two chapters of Edward Rutherfurd’s “Dublin”.
Need toast and tea now to recover!
Love it, Tabby. The domestic housewife’s version of bodybuilding 
Today then, following a sweltering, broken sleep I was up and ready and after a quick bowl of fruit and fibre I was more than ready for the gym and a catch up. My session was shorter than I’d have liked as I have things to do later, but this will suffice nicely for now.
For the sake of having to meticulously amend every intricate detail on my write-ups, which takes forever, I’ve decided to revert back to my original basic format. It does what it says on the tin:
Saturday 4/8/18
Bench:
10x50, 6x60, 6x80
DB bench press:
15° incline – 10x28’s, 6x32’s, 6x34’s
Flat – 6x36’s, 5x38’s, 3x40’s
*Very happy with reaching 40kg today. I was going for the 38, but exceeded that. Bloody hard work though.
Chest press:
10x80, 6x95, 6x105, 6x110
*Again, anything over 100kg was unexpected but rather welcome.
Pec dec (reverse sets):
10x60, 12x50, 15x40
Barbell curl, seated, 60° bench, wide grip:
10x30, 10x30, 10x30, 10x30, 10x30
*These were a great pump-up for the biceps. Five straight sets all the same curling from waist to shoulders with only a few seconds rest between sets.
E-Z preacher curl, low pull, close grip:
10x38, 8x43
*Didn’t spend too long on this apparatus today. A group of idiots were hovering around it wanting to use it and I couldn’t be bothered resting between sets and hanging around.
Tricep extensions:
25x40 high reps
Tricep pushdowns (reverse sets):
25x20, 25x15, 25x10
Bicep stack curls (reverse sets):
25x20, 25x15, 25x10
*Two final light exercises to pump up triceps and biceps to the max!
1 hour.
Quite a good session which did me the world of good following my sojourn into Lazytown yesterday. Feeling invigorated, I left the house of iron with a sprightly spring in my step.
This afternoon I’m out with my pals for a few drinks and taking a friend who is suffering badly with cancer out with us as well. It’s a while since he’s been able to go out with us but it will do him good.
Thanks for reading
I’m feeling pretty pleased with myself for being able to get to the “big gym” this morning, which is the first time in many months I have managed the walk there and back. It’s only a mile or so each way but my legs were just too painful for the job until the doc worked his miracle a couple of days ago. 
I looked at some of the weights I was doing (I don’t know what most of them are called, lol) and on the sit-up machine I’m doing about 35 kilos with sets of 50 reps, and on the sitting-back machine I’m doing around 40 kilos for about 30 reps. Sitting back puts pressure on the legs so I have to go easier on that machine for now. There’s a machine where you sit and push weights down behind your back and that’s another 40 kilos or so, for sets of 20 reps.
Arms/chest are quite disappointing, with the pec deck a puny 20 kilos for 20 reps a time. I must do better than that!! In the “little gym” the pec deck machine is way too easy to do, so even though I do a lot on it it isn’t really helping me. 
I did manage 10 minutes on an exercise bike + a 5 minute cool-down, but I was on a very low setting to avoid knee problems. The knees were much more flexible during and after the 15 minutes of pedalling though. I finished with 15 minutes on the arm-bike, a machine I really like.
All in all a decent exploratory hour, and after a year of not being able to get there I felt like I had achieved something worthwhile on a personal front. That’s 11 hours in the gym this week! I must try and transition over to the “big gym” though, because I need the heavier machines if I am going to show any improvement.
What made the session very pleasant was a lady a bit younger than me who was obviously new to the gym and she was asking how certain machines worked and I was happy to show her. I think she was glad of a bit of company in a strange place, but it was nice to socialise a bit during training - everyone (including myself) usually seems to stay solo in the gym, listening to their music as they train! 
Domestic Goddess if you please! :-D:-D:-D
Tachyon, I love reading all this! At last there’s somebody else in the thread who is on a similar wavelength where we can swap tips and advice on weight training issues. Not to diss any of the others in here at all, mind, but I have somewhat alone in my worship of the heavier stuff 
I know Surfermom dabbles a little on the machines from time to time, so other members do share their training notes. I just wish I could run these day, but like yourself I have knee issues in that department which ease off virtually altogether when I’m using the weights but affects me more doing very simple things such as walking down stairs. Ho hum, maybe I’ll try it again someday.
I like the idea of a “big gym” and a “little gym”. Are they both in the same building, as I know these places are split into four mainly different areas:
- Free weights
- Resistance machines
- Cardio machines
- Core and stability work
- Aerobics classes
Anyway, it’s fantastic that you’re spending so many hours at the gym, you’re easily putting me to shame. You’re doing a great job, Tachyon. keep up the good, hard work but remember to train those body parts to your ability without too much on the same areas on successive days. They will need rest, that is a big part of anyone’s exercise agenda.
The leg machines you speak of should be among the thread of apparatus listed in the link below if you’re interested, along with others you may want to try out.
No, the “little gym” is in my local Age UK and the “big gym” is the local Council Sport Centre and Swimming Pool. The Age UK gym as about 20 or so machines, with all the weight machines being the hydraulic piston type. Not much resistance on those at all, but then it is for older people. It only costs £1 per visit though, so I can’t complain!
The “big gym” has at least 10 exercise bikes, 10 treadmills, 10 cross-trainers and about 20 other sundry machines for carious muscle groups. They have quite a lot of free weights too, but training solo I don’t risk using those, lol. The buddy system works best with those I think. With my £7 discount card because of my age, a visit there costs £2.75 which isn’t bad really.
I’ve had a day off today but I think I’ll go to the “big gym” tomorrow for a while. I have to get used to using the heavier loads, really.
Dragged around the neighbourhood by hyper active dog.3 hours.
Dragged around for three hours by two hyper twenty-year-old college students. 
Does that count?
It’s been a jam-packed weekend, but it was wrapped up with a sunset surf session, so while I did a little something, it was not as impressive as Silver Tabby!
It’s still Sunday evening her, but in a few hours I’ll be off to North Carolina in with plenty of time to respond to the great work here. This thread makes my day!
Have a good start to Monday whether lifting weights or groceries 
!
Update.
My apologies for my absence in here lately, but things tend to crop up when you least expect them too.
I will have more time now it’s school holidays for the kids and even when they are back the school run won’t need to be done anymore by me (or by my wife) as all three will be going to the same school (instead of two different ones, plus a nursery), which will free up so much time. I didn’t mind picking up my granddaughter twice a week as I love to see her, but on the other hand, it will be good to have my afternoons back after so long trying to find time to fit everything into those precious three short hours I am left with between waking up and getting ready for bloody work again!
But now I am finding that some of my time is being spent by doing those DIY jobs around the house that have been neglected for so long. Okay, the weekends are available for such tasks, but I prefer to keep them largely free for gym time, spending some quality time with Mrs. Floydy and also I have my Saturday social afternoons.
Friday is only half a day due to sleeping off my final night of the week and Sunday is mostly spent relaxing before the onslaught of another week. Saturday is my only full day I have.
Anyway, I do intend to go to the gym on Monday and Tuesday but we had a catastrophe with our toilet cistern. It is a very old unit and I have been constantly trying to repair leaks on it over the years. There has always been a plastic jug at the back of it collecting a steady stream of water: drip, drip, drip.
While I was in the garden for a few minutes hanging out some washing, I returned to find the kitchen had water pouring through the ceiling!! I rushed upstairs and saw that water was spurting out from the base of the cistern where the brass nut was supposed to be attached to the plastic inflow pipe - which I had loosened the previous day to try to stop the dripping.
Flying down the stairs, I turned the water off and grabbed lots of towels to try to soak up some of the water, at the same time going upstairs again to plug the hole in the inner pipe to stop the cistern draining altogether.
After an hour or so of cleaning up, I then tried to find a plumber, which was impossible. In the end I rand my boiler insurance supplier who said I was in fact covered for general leaks too. They sent someone round to fit a stopper to the external pipe for a temporary measure so at least we had the water back on. The toilet has to have a bucket of water thrown down it as a manual temporary flush alternative. I managed about 10 minutes sleep before going to work all night on Tuesday and was shattered by the morning.
So yesterday they were supposed to be coming to fit some new insides to the cistern, so I awoke early after five hours sleep, the heat not helping matters either. They eventually rang at 2pm to say that they couldn’t get the parts until Wednesday but suggested we actually had a new complete toilet supplied and fitted instead on Thursday. Expensive, but we agreed that it the best solution and they will be coming at 12pm to do that.
So that brings me to today (Wednesday) and I will at last have some time for the gym this afternoon, though the kids will be coming around too, so I’ll have to see them too.
I have had about twelve hours broken sleep in the past three days I think, but I’ll get over it!
Isn’t life grand?! 
Well I’m housebound again for the third day in a row. They are fitting the toilet today instead of tomorrow now after all. If I don’t get to the gym soon I’ll waste away to nothing! :shock::shock::shock:
I didn’t get to the gym either. I planned to go on Monday, but things conspired against me. I managed Tuesday, plus had a good walk on my almost pain-free knees, and I’d hoped to go today as well but one of my strange “sleep sessions” came along. I don’t know why but sometimes I just have no choice but to sleep until my body has had enough, because I go so sleepy. This sleep only lasted about 14 hours, but recently I went to bed feeling tired and woke up 34 hours later! 
Definitely going to the gym tomorrow though! I hope they fix that toilet, Floydy.