Still working out regular here. Rode 27 miles on the bike Sunday.

I work out first thing in the morning and cardio is never a problem
but sometimes getting the weights in can be. I have about 30 to 40
minutes and it keeps me from doing extra and sometimes just rushing through the base routine.
It seems like I was holding in place and the gains have been very minimal but last
Friday I was off and got in a great upper body workout adding weight
in all areas and felt like I really pushed it for a change.

I've been at it for 5 months and most of the first 3 were beset with injuries
that would keep me from doing certain exercises or even upper body for
a month once. I feel very good now with only some slight discomfort occasionally.

I've made great gains in retrospect in weight, endurance and overall look and if I
could just stick to the diet a little better I would probably see alot more. I do balance
that thought with knowing that I don't want to do this to the point of being miserable either.

I eased up juuuuuust a bit last month but I'm still keeping a regular schedule. I haven't done any real runs lately, so I'm going to throw in a "long" one Wednesday night to make sure I still know how to do it. I also decided I'm doing abs every other day no matter what, instead of the two times a week I've been doing them.

I went to Karate 4 times last week and again tonight. Didn't do much else last week, but ran after class tonight, 2.5 miles in about 22 minutes or so.

i got that from spin class





I'm the total opposite i'd rather do weights than cardio

A few questions....

I did the same work out yesterday that I did Friday. On Fri, I did all the reps with no problem and was feeling great. Yesterday, I struggled to get my full 3x10 on a few of them. Is this common?

How long should I rest between sets?

When do you step up in weight?

Even with struggling last night, I'm not really sore today. Why not?

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/08/04/pennsylva...ting/index.html wow...crazy stuff. What kinda loser would do something like that?

dunno if this is convention but I rest about 1 min between sets and i step up in weight when I can do 10 to 12 reps of the previous weight.




crazy guy

That gym is about 1/4 mile from my office. Crazy.

Okay, I got a new magazine in the mail called Outside last month and it's a pretty cool magazine with
lots of cool Gear and articles. I don't know why they are mailing them to me other than the sucker
stamp on the packaging. I got 2 more last Friday and came across this article on their website. This
article along with some on the magazine have convinced me that I need to change things up and do more
core exercises instead of the circuit machine at my house.

He has a 5 month plan that I am pretty much intending to give a whirl. The mag has a ton of
exercises that don't entail heavy weights and minimal equipment.

The article
http://outside.away.com/outside/bodywork/2..._your_life.html

A new purchase to work on the core. ($79) on ebay.

https://www.bosu.com/scripts/cgiip.exe/WSer...bosu/story.html

Here is another link for the first month

http://outside.away.com/outside/bodywork/2...5_workout_2.adp

I also will have to switch up some of the exercises. I turn 49 in October and by the end of the year plan to be in the top shape ever.


avsfan, get ready i'm going to need help with this!

Functional Movements is a big thing for Paul Chek, who I have mentioned on here before. I have a friend who is way into this and working out with him is crazy. I am trying to getmy self ready for some workouts with him in the near future, but he does some of the craziest workouts that pick apart your body.

Here is a link to Paul Chek:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZosVp0bR_4...feature=related

The guy is awesome.

Yay, I weighed in just slightly below 200 lbs this morning for the first time in years. I'm going to see if I can get to 190 by the end of the year.

Do you ever get your bodyfat percentages?

guess i should at some point but I can still see where I need to lose fat. I can prob look more decent at 185.

I'm sure I could do it at the gym that I go to.

Muay thai today. It turns out that when people punch you in the face and kick you in the stomach, it hurts. Strange I know.

lololol. Its a good rush though eh?

It was alright, I mean I was more pissed off that I couldn't stop it from happening than I was in pain. Face is kind of sore today and I have some bruises and stuff but ya, mostly annoyed about not having good defense.

sweep the teep kick, left or right kick to back of leg, right or left hook, fatality

That's alright, you're just starting out, you will learn quickly. Seriously though, the best defense is a good offense.

I looked through a bunch of his stuff and it's pretty much what I'm going for. I have a bunch of good stuff from the articles above as well.

I added a squat workout and lunges. The lunges I did walking 2x20 steps while holding a 10 lb dumbell above my head with my arm straight.

My workout was

Lunges as described
Squats 4 exercises with no weights.
Leg curls 3x15x75
calves 3x15 x 150 (on leg press machine) angled
back exercises holding 25 lb plate 3x15 on the umm, what's it called seat.
2 x 25 janda situps

rode the bike 13 miles lst night as well.

I did a great leg workout on Saturday as well

Rode bike to warm up for 5 minutes

Squats 3x12 at 135 intermingled with Deadlifts 3x12 at 135
Lunges as RR described but with 15lb overhead 3x20 alternate arm after 10
Hamstring Curls (is that what they're called) 3x12
Calves 3x15 at 100 (standing Calf Machine)
2x30 Janda Situps

Very Similar Randy .... maybe we are reading the same books

Damn, does look similar.

I did upper body Sunday.

dumbell chest press
cable chest flys
upright cable rows. (that doesn't sound right) for the shoulders.
bent over cable flys-delts
seated rows (back)
tricep extensions
bicep curls

taking the day off and hitting the treadmill Tuesday, lower body Wed, cardio Thurs, upper Fri, cardio Sat, lower Sunday

I'm adding this squat workout to the lower body regimen

http://outside.away.com/outside/bodywork/2...ct-squat-2.html

and should be getting the bosu sometime soon so I'll have to figure out how to do that.

My new goal is to enter a biathalon when i'm 50. (Bike and run). I have 15 months to train. The next three months
i'm going to focus on core and endurance more. I figure the only way I'll really get to where I want to physically
is to just go for the gusto and attempt to over-achieve.

Got back to it last night. Did the workout avsfan created for me. Did some light (walking) cardio over the weekend too.

I did much less weight this time, I did not want to burn out in two weeks again, even though last time I thought it was light enough.

Avs, have you kept up with the 3x3 thing?

Thoughts?

Starting Stronglifts 5x5 tonight. Probably going to throw in 20 minutes or so of cardio afterwards - I'm thinking rowing machine.

I ordered a bosu (which can be seen at www.bosu.com). I'm planning on using
it to do some core exercises and work on balance etc. It came in the mail yesterday
but half the damn thing was missing. Ugh, ebay. Anyway they did say they are shipping
the rest today so whatever.

I did get new running shoes, Adidas Supernova Sequence. They were a top rated running
shoe on outsideonline's reviews and I must say I really like them. My old ones were about
8 years old and driving me nuts.

Ran on the treadmill this morning and switched up the routine slightly adding more speed on a
couple levels and adding more incline earlier.

So far this week (all 2 days) i've done good on the diet and kept it good in the evenings.

Those are great for your core RR. I did a 3 mile walk/hike last night. My legs hurt.

My workout buddy bailed on me today so I mainly just ran on the treadmill.

I did a few sets of bench at 225 then ran about 5k on the treadmill. Took me 30 min, so it wasn't exceptionally fast but good enough for now.

Got up early to get some extra work in this morning.

Squat workout

20 walking lunges while holding 10lb dumbell
20 squats with empty barbell on my shoulder
(facing a couple inches from a wall to keep form good)
Leg curls- 3x15x70
calves on leg press 3x15x140
hyper extension bench 2x15 holding 25lb plate
planks 1st 2 minutes, 2nd 1 minute

Janda situps 25x1 20x1

wood chops with medicine ball 2x15

Stronglifts 5x5 day 2 tonight. Day 1 went well, although I think my form was a little sloppy on the inverted rows and the reverse crunches. I have a buddy who I'm trying to get to do this with me - having a spotter will be helpful as I go up in weight.

Tonight:

Bike/treadmill warm up
Squat 5x5
Overhead Press 5x5
Deadlift 1x5
Chin Up 3xF (this should be easy, since I've never been able to do a chin up in my weak chubby life)
Prone Bridges 3x30sec

Ran 5k, 28 min which included a 2 min walk/warmup in the beginning. So, prob, a titch over 26 min. to run the 5k. Getting easier now.
my workout buddy bailed again.
Did few sets of bench at 225 again with some random dude spotting me.
Going to Maui monday, so I guess it's good I focus more on cardio.

Very solid program, I've used it and the intermediate program with greater success than the standard 3x10 or 3x8 workouts. You might be rethinking that rowing after heavy squatting days, good luck with it though.


I've missed about a week of hard workouts due to a groin injury as well as being in Vegas. I made sure to rehab myself there in the best way I could though.

I'm either starting Texas this week or looking for a good Oly-hybrid type workout regimen with my jiu-jitsu.

Yeah, it had been a while since I squatted - with the speed weight adds on in this program, there won't be any cardio going on post workout pretty soon. I bowl Tuesdays and Thursdays and golf on weekends, so I figure that'll be a fair amount of low impact cardio, and maybe down the road, once I'm in a better routine, I'll add some medium impact stuff.

Day 3 is tomorrow. So far, so good.

Ran 3k. That's it for today. it's friday. didnt' drink any beer today so that's like running another 10k lol

The program you are on is ahead of this....keep with the program. keep increasing the weights ....if this does not work then question it. core trainning is a fad. I promise you randy I have given you a solid blue print that will work indefinitely.

you can do it!

I should let you all know my cat beans. the one of my four cats that was my daughter and best friend my little pride and joy passed away unexpectedly at 11 years old..i am having a tough time with this she was the one thing that made my life bearable...I am having a hard time and have not been feeling very communicative. I am not looking for sympathy.. I just thought you may like to know what happened to me.

fwiw i am going to do my best to catch up over the next few days.

the truth is that some exercises simply are the best exercises. the key is consistency and progression threw the weight. as j says progressive resistance.

skip the cable chest flys.

yep, still on my three day split program that i illustarted last. Perhaps you have a more specific question?

i am really missing beans. I am so sad tonight.

Randy, I would love to here what you are currently doing.

AVS, good to see you posting here again. I thought you gave up on all of us

Still doing the workouts that you helped me outline and they are feeling good. However, I have not lost any weight at all yet? Should this be concerning at all or should I just chalk it up to the first month and I'll start seeing weight results later. I have said before that I am looking better, ie I am starting to be able to see some muscle tone, however when I started the routine I was 220 and I am still 220.

Also, it seems that after the warmup my workout lasts about a half hour. Sometimes I still feel like doing some work, but I am unsure of what to do and also if it is a bad thing to try to do too much. I know your body will always tell you when you're done, but some days I don't feel like I am done and that I could do a few more exercises.

As always, thanks for your help in here

I am not giving that workout up, just going to add some balance and endurance exercises.



I just recently added them. It seemed that I wasn't getting rid of the um, flab from that area and my wife asked if I was doing them.
She has great muscles their and well, I just added them back as a throw in for a little extra chest exercise.




Okay, so i've been doing the rotation and exercises. Yesterday I rode the bicycle for 15 miles and took a bunch of hills
which are starting to get easier. This was really tough at first when you haven't rode a bike in 30 years, lol. I'm cranking it pretty good now.

I came home and my wife has been doing core exercises on a swiss ball for years so I told her I wanted to do it. It's about a 45 minute core workout
and well, I had her howling laughing. It's not so easy. I wasn't awful but some of the exercises were pretty tough keeping balance if you haven't done it.
My wife is 52 and looks like one of the models in the background doing the workout. My stomach and abs actually hurt today which never happens after
an ab workout.

Day off Monday.
Tuesday cardio.
Wednesday Upper body

avsfan, other than the cable flys, any other suggestions?

On the lower body, I just added some lunges and squats along with either leg press or leg extensions which i've been kinda rotating.

Also, it's slow but I am seeing more and more body definition. Weight is hanging at 166 to 168 which is my high school weight.
Stamina on cardio is slowly getting better and better as well.

I also sent a link to my wife this morning for a local triathlon in October which is 5 mile run/ 5mile canoe/15 mile bike ride and asked her
if she would think i'm crazy. She said, "No not crazy, you're an idiot."



S

Nah, Just dealing with my so called life.




weight loss is a result of calorie deficiency. You should always look too your diet first when it comes to fat loss. Notice how I say fat loss. You should be concerned with your body fat percentage and not your weight. It is a fact that muscle weighs more than fat. I would also put more value in how you look and feel. In the old days measuring body fat was a combursume expensive procedure. I luckily grew up in the gym of a pioneer in measuring body fat, Dr. Kenneth Cooper. They use to dunk you in water and do all these scientific things. Luckily you can now purchase equipment at reasonable prices to track your body fat percentage. I suggest; http://www.hammacher.com/Product/76163 that is the type of device you need to track your progress correctly.

of course there is the other route. which is to increase your caloric burn by adding volume to your exercise routine. this is bad because it will increase your appetite and you will be more likely to overtrain thus leading to plateaus in gains and frustration. You should look to and improve your diet for optimum results in getting the body fat percentage you desire. I also want to add that the ideal body fat percentage is not a universal thing. we are all different and have are own unique equilibrium. Do not look to the magazines or how others look for results. look to how you feel and perform. Real health is a quality of life issue not a look.



Science has identified 40 minutes as the ideal workout time. After 40 minutes your body starts releasing estrogen and cortisone into your body. That is a bad thing.

I remember you are alternating between contrasting movements. So you go from one movement to a contrasting movement with no rest in between the contrasting movements . That will shorten your workout time....but lets get down to brass tacks....and your tack of brasss here is something called intensity. You need to up the intensity. Not the volume ( if you want to go the volume route i will illustrate the path, just ask). What I would like you to do is make the exercise you are doing harder. You can do this by pushing the weight forward. when you can hit all three of you target exercises for max reps you need to push the weight up. Eventually this should get extremely challenging and intense. progression through the weights and intensity is the key to your program.



your very welcome it is my pleasure. and btw i am willing to show you more volume I just would prefer you to up the intensity.

This is the most overlooked part of my advice to ppl new to working out;

"when you can perform all three sets for the max of the rep range 15 with proper form increase your weight.
If you can not perform all three sets for the minimum of your rep range of 12 decrease your weight next time."

you can plug any rep range into the above formula, like;

popular rep ranges;

1-3
3-6 (strength standard)
6-8
8-10 (popular standard)
10-12
12-15 (my favorite) I f you push this range hard and to the max with intensity it can encompass all the others.

cool, can you link me to or list what you are doing.



Randy, there is no such thing as spot reduction. Working out an area/muscle more will not equal fat loss in that area. The human body takes fat/stored energy from indiscriminate places. Of course increasing your endurance trainning or decreasing your calorie intake will lead to fat loss. It is important to work all the muscles with equal sets and reps this leads to a symmetrical physique. Do not over emphasis an area of your body. Overemphasizing an area of your body will lead to an unbalanced physique.




Awesome Randy! I see nothing wrong with what you are doing. Have some fun with it!




Results that stay do take time. Excellent job Randy! Keep up the good work!




Go for it! Go For IT! You cAN DO IT!!!!

Great and thanks. Okay cardio question. I have really only run on the treadmill and do the 20 minute HIIT and as I said it is slowly getting better and better adding more speed and incline. For endurance I have pretty much been using the bicycle and long rides on weekends. To do the triathlon or a duathlon I need to be able to run 5K or 5 miles, (whatever) so I want to see if I can on the treadmill first (I guess) or should I just take a run in the morning. I did a steady run this morning but I was short on time at 5 mph for 20 minutes and I think I ended at 1.7 miles. I could have easily done alot more but how much is virgin territory so to speak. So, tips on doing this, or training or anything special I should know or look to do for a 5K?

Also, it is mentioned alot that muscle weighs more than fat which technically isn't true. 1 lb of fat and l lb of muscle weight the same. Muscle weighs more (per volume).

And avs I know I take weight of equally around the body but what I was going for is muscle increase in the chest area, specifically on the sides near the armpit by doing the cable flys or dumbell flys. Am I just wrong here, lol? I have been doing the dumbell press and recently added weight and still doing the 3x15's with possibly adding more sooner than I thought. I also am considering trying them on the Swiss ball instead of the bench, thoughts? I don't have a bench to do the regular chest press. (or a spotter or anything).

And I guess I should finally get more serious about the diet. Is there a good site to look or count calories to help get a grip on it. I pretty much know the food and what I like and do a decent job of planning meals but with my schedule I get home later in the evening and tend to just eat the wrong thing or to much. If I eat something good I'll likey then grab some ice cream or something. I really have no idea how many calories a day I take in.

Okay, so let's take what I will be doing tonight as an example. Tonight is Back / Chest

I warmup with 3 sets of Russian Twist

I go and do 3 sets of Max pullups (I usally get 7, then 5, then 4) alternating with Pushups (Usually rep out 3 x 15)

Next I do Bent over rows (3 x 12 with 25lb dumbbell) mixed in with one arm dumbbell press (3 x 12 with 25lbs)

I added in not sure what it is formally called but you lay down on a bench and hold a dumbbell over head with both hands and take it back over your head keeping your arms straight, this is a lat exercise (3 x 12 25lb) mixed with bench press (1 x 12 95, 1 x 10 115, 1 x 8 135)

One set of Janda situps x 35

Stretching

So when you say up the intensity do you mean that I should add weight to this when I can easily do 15 reps with a certain weight and drop down in weight when I can't get to 12? I guess I should start keeping a workout journal and mark down the weights and progress that I am doing each time? I have been just keeping it in my head.

www.fitday.com

You can track your daily caloric intake as well as your activities, set goals, etc. with fitday.com. It's not always exactly accurate but gives a basic idea of how many calories you burn vs. intake. If you want to get real strict, you can input your own foods to keep exact track. I've been using it for a couple of years now so if you have any questions I may be able to help just post them here.