Cinny said:

CarrieMpls said:

I can honestly say how much exercise I get directly impacts my mood and overall well being.

Over the years I have learned there is a very close correlation to my physical health and my mental health and I always feel and perform better when I'm taking care of my body with eating healthy and exercising.

For years I considered my body just something I lived in, like a house. Now I know that my body is me and I am it - it's all one entity.

I've certainly attained the "runner's high" and "gym rush" but that's not even what it's about for me. I know my overall outlook on life and how I go about my days is dramtically better when I'm taking care of myself.

This is inspiring. I'm still on that body as a casing vibe.

Yoga! Yoga was one of the major things that helped me learn to love my body (flaws and all) and realize that me and my body are all the same - we're one. I'm sure it'a a fairly natural notion for athletes and other active types but it took yoga to help me learn to understand that mind/body connection.

Other exercise would work too, I started to get the sense of it when I started running but I had a really great yoga teacher and she would talk about how the first 50 minutes of class (which was all the physical work) was really just to prep you for the last 10 minutes of class where you lay on the ground in corpse pose and meditate. Once you're practicing that for a while, you can't help but start to see the connections.

Cinny said:

RodeoSchro said:

My workouts are generally something like this:

EVERY WORKOUT - Start with about 10 minutes of stretching

MONDAY

Three sets of lunges with 20-pound dumb bells in each hand. These get my heart rate up as much as any aerobic exercise I've ever done

Six sets of benchpresses, getting up to at least 225 - 250 pounds for the last couple sets

Six sets of shoulder work. I vary it each workout.

Six - ten sets of bicep exercises. Probably six sets of one exercise and four sets of another

Six sets of triceps exercises. I alternate between a dip machine (it uses weights) and the pressdown machine. I can do 3 reps of the whole stack in the pressdown machine. I've NEVER been able to do the whole stack on anything in my life!

WEDNESDAY

Three sets of lunges, or six sets of quad presses and six sets of leg bicep presses.

Eighteen sets of biceps stuff. Three different biceps exercises. At least one with dumb bells and one with a bar, and then one on some sort of machine. I can't do preacher curls any more because it hurts my elbows.

Six sets of triceps, sometimes ten sets. I use more weight on this day than the other days.

SATURDAY

Three sets of lunges or the other leg stuff above. I really, REALLY hate lunges, so logically I try to make myself do as many as possible.

MAX OUT on benchpress. I think I have a chance to get to 300 pounds here. I'm at 271 max right now.

Six sets of biceps.

Six sets of triceps

how much time do you set aside for this? like.. say.. from out your front door to back in your kitchen.

Door-to-door is two hours. Aabout 20 minutes of that is driving to/from the gym, and another 20 minutes is taking a shower and dressing after the workout.

From hitting the gym to hitting the shower, it's about 1 hour 20 minutes. And that includes 10 minutes of stretching. So the actual workout is a little over an hour.

I try not to rest too much inbetween sets, but I do rest a lot when switching from one exercise to the next.

I also make sure to drink water after every other set. I go through about 1 1/4 bottles of water per workout.

Shorty said:

I mow the lawn once a week in the summer. does that count?

Heck yeah, that counts!

I mow our yard every week, too. My lovely, lovely wife bought me a new mower last year. She neglected to buy a powered mover though, so I have to push the darn thing by myself.

I am FAR more tired after mowing the lawn than I ever am after a workout!

imago said:

The fact that rodeoschro is not gay, bi, and lacking in morals completely pisses me off right now.

You are the best, Dan!

Dave1992 said:

RodeoSchro said:

My workouts are generally something like this:

EVERY WORKOUT - Start with about 10 minutes of stretching

MONDAY

Three sets of lunges with 20-pound dumb bells in each hand. These get my heart rate up as much as any aerobic exercise I've ever done

Six sets of benchpresses, getting up to at least 225 - 250 pounds for the last couple sets

Six sets of shoulder work. I vary it each workout.

Six - ten sets of bicep exercises. Probably six sets of one exercise and four sets of another

Six sets of triceps exercises. I alternate between a dip machine (it uses weights) and the pressdown machine. I can do 3 reps of the whole stack in the pressdown machine. I've NEVER been able to do the whole stack on anything in my life!

WEDNESDAY

Three sets of lunges, or six sets of quad presses and six sets of leg bicep presses.

Eighteen sets of biceps stuff. Three different biceps exercises. At least one with dumb bells and one with a bar, and then one on some sort of machine. I can't do preacher curls any more because it hurts my elbows.

Six sets of triceps, sometimes ten sets. I use more weight on this day than the other days.

SATURDAY

Three sets of lunges or the other leg stuff above. I really, REALLY hate lunges, so logically I try to make myself do as many as possible.

MAX OUT on benchpress. I think I have a chance to get to 300 pounds here. I'm at 271 max right now.

Six sets of biceps.

Six sets of triceps

You START with stretching? You do know that's not only pointless, but also very dangerous until your muscles aren't warm and properly supplied with blood!

I live in Houston, Texas. My muscles are never NOT warm!

But honesty, that's an old wive's tale. I've worked out for almost 40 years, and seriously for the the last 20 or so. I've done it every way I can think of, including doing 20 minutes of hard cardio before stretching.

What I found was the cardio had absolutely no effect on stretching or pulling muscles. In other words, I never pulled a muscle because I or didn't do cardio before stretching. And I didn't stretch any better if I did cardio first.

Through painful trial and error, I know what causes injuries to myself. So here are my rules for avoiding injuries while working out with weights (especially heavy weights):

1. STRETCH before you work out. If cardio makes you feel better, great! Do it! I don't, but I do 200 crunches at the beginning of my stretch session, so I do get the blood flowing

2. CORRECT FORM is the most important thing. Never do more weight than you can handle while keeping correct form. Never, EVER "bounce" while doing an exercise (or a stretch). Never "cheat" by rocking back and forth to get up heavy weights. Always, always, ALWAYS keep correct form - ON EVERY SINGLE REP.

3. KNOW THE DANGEROUS MOVES. For some - including me - there are certain moves that lead to pulled muscles. My danger area is my lower back. I've learned that I cannot do rowing exercises without making it likely I'll pull the muscles in my lower back. So, I don't do ANY exercise EVER that has a motion anywhere near the rowing motion. I only do one exercise that has a bent back (dumb bell lifts from the floor for shoulders), and I'm extremely careful when I do that.

Cardio is great for some people. I just hate it, though. I'd rather do crunches for my abs. I'm under no illusion or desire to be able, at age 53, to run 10 miles either. Also, in my case I have found that if I run, I will probably screw up my lower back. For sure if I run on the ground, but not so much if I run on a treadmill, so I do a little treadmill from time to time.

Mostly I like to walk a 1/2 mile or so on the track inside the gym after a workout.

Also, I don't stretch after a workout. I probably should, but stretching takes the pump away and if you saw the Arnold Schwarzenegger video, you know why I wouldn't want to take the pump away!

SO LET ME BE CLEAR - this is what works for me, and what I enjoy. EVERYONE should consult a professional and/or a doctor before they embark on serious training.

.

[Edited 5/30/12 4:57am]

Just push ups and sit ups, sometimes I use the school workout room.

Finally, the BEST thing I ever did to increase productivity in my workouts was to QUIT COUNTING REPS. A bodybuilder told me this a couple years ago, and it's the best piece of advice I've ever received.

It's not that hard to not count reps, either. I always think in groups of 4, so even though I don't keep track of the reps, I get an idea of when I'm around 12 - 16 reps.

I also know how long it takes to to 12 reps of any exercise, so if I find myself doing a set for an abnormally long time, I know I can increase my weight.

Oh, and I forgot - in every set, I start off with a lighter weight first, one that I can do 20 reps with. I try to make the 3rd - 6th sets the ones that really test me. But I want to make sure I've done 2 sets/30+ reps first on the movement, so that the muscles are ready for the pain to come!

I do this even when I'm doing different exercises for the same muscle. So if I do barbell curls for the biceps, I'll do a couple lighter sets and then hit them hard for four sets. And then if I nect move to dumbell curls for biceps, I'll still do lighter sets for the first couple sets.

The reason for this is that even though I'm working the same muscle, the movement and posture are going to be different. So I take no chances and treat every exercise the same way.

I already posted my Monday workout. Here's what I do the rest of the week.

Tuesday - lower body power

seated leg press(because of pain in my knee, I have to cut out heavy squats & hack squats for a while)

deadlifts

leg extensions

lying leg curls

standing calf raises

seated calf raises

Thursday - chest & arms light

incline dumbell or barbell bench press

hammer chest press

incline dumbell flys

superset 1 - preacher curls & standing cambered bar triceps extensions behind the neck

superset 2 - concentration curls & tricep pulldowns

superset 3 - incline bicep hammer curls & tricep kickbacks

Friday - legs, back & shoulders light

squats

hack squats

leg extensions

romanian deadlifts

lying leg curls

seated leg curls

standing calf raises

seated calf raises

bent-over, pendlay or t-bar rows

rack chins

seated cable rows

shoulder shrugs

seated lat pulldowns

seated dumbell or barbell shoulder press

cambered bar upright rows

side lat raises

veronikka said:

I workout 4 times a week for an hour each day. I find that when I workout I tend to stay more focused one eating healthy as well. I haven't worked out for about a week due to my fall a week ago, I still feel a little light headed but I so want to go back already! I miss working out, it makes me feel so good!

Are you okay? Doesn't sound good if you are still feeling it. I do hope you will be okay.

I try and do Zumba 4 nights a week and walk every morning. I also do robotic work outs.

RodeoSchro said:

Dave1992 said:

You START with stretching? You do know that's not only pointless, but also very dangerous until your muscles aren't warm and properly supplied with blood!

I live in Houston, Texas. My muscles are never NOT warm!

But honesty, that's an old wive's tale. I've worked out for almost 40 years, and seriously for the the last 20 or so. I've done it every way I can think of, including doing 20 minutes of hard cardio before stretching.

What I found was the cardio had absolutely no effect on stretching or pulling muscles. In other words, I never pulled a muscle because I or didn't do cardio before stretching. And I didn't stretch any better if I did cardio first.

Through painful trial and error, I know what causes injuries to myself. So here are my rules for avoiding injuries while working out with weights (especially heavy weights):

1. STRETCH before you work out. If cardio makes you feel better, great! Do it! I don't, but I do 200 crunches at the beginning of my stretch session, so I do get the blood flowing

2. CORRECT FORM is the most important thing. Never do more weight than you can handle while keeping correct form. Never, EVER "bounce" while doing an exercise (or a stretch). Never "cheat" by rocking back and forth to get up heavy weights. Always, always, ALWAYS keep correct form - ON EVERY SINGLE REP.

3. KNOW THE DANGEROUS MOVES. For some - including me - there are certain moves that lead to pulled muscles. My danger area is my lower back. I've learned that I cannot do rowing exercises without making it likely I'll pull the muscles in my lower back. So, I don't do ANY exercise EVER that has a motion anywhere near the rowing motion. I only do one exercise that has a bent back (dumb bell lifts from the floor for shoulders), and I'm extremely careful when I do that.

Cardio is great for some people. I just hate it, though. I'd rather do crunches for my abs. I'm under no illusion or desire to be able, at age 53, to run 10 miles either. Also, in my case I have found that if I run, I will probably screw up my lower back. For sure if I run on the ground, but not so much if I run on a treadmill, so I do a little treadmill from time to time.

Mostly I like to walk a 1/2 mile or so on the track inside the gym after a workout.

Also, I don't stretch after a workout. I probably should, but stretching takes the pump away and if you saw the Arnold Schwarzenegger video, you know why I wouldn't want to take the pump away!

SO LET ME BE CLEAR - this is what works for me, and what I enjoy. EVERYONE should consult a professional and/or a doctor before they embark on serious training.

.

[Edited 5/30/12 4:57am]

Interesting... Back when I was playing football for the national team, the coaches would have kicked the shit out of us if we had started stretching before having run at least for half an hour.

And, for me, I did feel the results of stretching after doing cardio. When trying to put the palm of my hand onto the floor, standing with stretched legs, I did it with easy after running. Before running, I could only touch it.

And, yeah, stretching does take the "pump" away, but whenever I did not spend at least 20 minutes on stretching my thighs and calves, they were seriously fucked for the next couple of days - horrible tension and cramps!

Dave1992 said:

RodeoSchro said:

I live in Houston, Texas. My muscles are never NOT warm!

But honesty, that's an old wive's tale. I've worked out for almost 40 years, and seriously for the the last 20 or so. I've done it every way I can think of, including doing 20 minutes of hard cardio before stretching.

What I found was the cardio had absolutely no effect on stretching or pulling muscles. In other words, I never pulled a muscle because I or didn't do cardio before stretching. And I didn't stretch any better if I did cardio first.

Through painful trial and error, I know what causes injuries to myself. So here are my rules for avoiding injuries while working out with weights (especially heavy weights):

1. STRETCH before you work out. If cardio makes you feel better, great! Do it! I don't, but I do 200 crunches at the beginning of my stretch session, so I do get the blood flowing

2. CORRECT FORM is the most important thing. Never do more weight than you can handle while keeping correct form. Never, EVER "bounce" while doing an exercise (or a stretch). Never "cheat" by rocking back and forth to get up heavy weights. Always, always, ALWAYS keep correct form - ON EVERY SINGLE REP.

3. KNOW THE DANGEROUS MOVES. For some - including me - there are certain moves that lead to pulled muscles. My danger area is my lower back. I've learned that I cannot do rowing exercises without making it likely I'll pull the muscles in my lower back. So, I don't do ANY exercise EVER that has a motion anywhere near the rowing motion. I only do one exercise that has a bent back (dumb bell lifts from the floor for shoulders), and I'm extremely careful when I do that.

Cardio is great for some people. I just hate it, though. I'd rather do crunches for my abs. I'm under no illusion or desire to be able, at age 53, to run 10 miles either. Also, in my case I have found that if I run, I will probably screw up my lower back. For sure if I run on the ground, but not so much if I run on a treadmill, so I do a little treadmill from time to time.

Mostly I like to walk a 1/2 mile or so on the track inside the gym after a workout.

Also, I don't stretch after a workout. I probably should, but stretching takes the pump away and if you saw the Arnold Schwarzenegger video, you know why I wouldn't want to take the pump away!

SO LET ME BE CLEAR - this is what works for me, and what I enjoy. EVERYONE should consult a professional and/or a doctor before they embark on serious training.

.

[Edited 5/30/12 4:57am]

Interesting... Back when I was playing football for the national team, the coaches would have kicked the shit out of us if we had started stretching before having run at least for half an hour.

And, for me, I did feel the results of stretching after doing cardio. When trying to put the palm of my hand onto the floor, standing with stretched legs, I did it with easy after running. Before running, I could only touch it.

And, yeah, stretching does take the "pump" away, but whenever I did not spend at least 20 minutes on stretching my thighs and calves, they were seriously fucked for the next couple of days - horrible tension and cramps!

Just a thought - I've never gone on a walk or jog at the beginning of a yoga class. And that's almost ALL stretching. You start with stretching, stretch in the middle and finish with stretching. There's balancing and breath work too.

If you're stretching correctly there's no need to "warm up" first.

Also, stretching to avoid injury is kind of a personal thing. Some folks prefer it, some don't. The year I took up running and eventually trained for a 10 mile race I didn't stretch at all before or after runs and never injured myself.

CarrieMpls said:

Dave1992 said:

Interesting... Back when I was playing football for the national team, the coaches would have kicked the shit out of us if we had started stretching before having run at least for half an hour.

And, for me, I did feel the results of stretching after doing cardio. When trying to put the palm of my hand onto the floor, standing with stretched legs, I did it with easy after running. Before running, I could only touch it.

And, yeah, stretching does take the "pump" away, but whenever I did not spend at least 20 minutes on stretching my thighs and calves, they were seriously fucked for the next couple of days - horrible tension and cramps!

Just a thought - I've never gone on a walk or jog at the beginning of a yoga class. And that's almost ALL stretching. You start with stretching, stretch in the middle and finish with stretching. There's balancing and breath work too.

If you're stretching correctly there's no need to "warm up" first.

Also, stretching to avoid injury is kind of a personal thing. Some folks prefer it, some don't. The year I took up running and eventually trained for a 10 mile race I didn't stretch at all before or after runs and never injured myself.

I never tried yoga, but the kind of stretching you usually do without cardio is "static stretching" (and I'm quite sure that's what you do when you do yoga). However, this is very different to the highly muscle- and performance-concentrated "dynamic stretching". The big basic difference is that in "static stretching" you try to hold a certain position as long as possible and try breathing properly while you do it. In "dynamic stretching" you "pump" and test the stretching point of your muscle and try to push it further by doing a quick succession of "strain, strech, relax" etc.

Dave1992 said:

CarrieMpls said:

Just a thought - I've never gone on a walk or jog at the beginning of a yoga class. And that's almost ALL stretching. You start with stretching, stretch in the middle and finish with stretching. There's balancing and breath work too.

If you're stretching correctly there's no need to "warm up" first.

Also, stretching to avoid injury is kind of a personal thing. Some folks prefer it, some don't. The year I took up running and eventually trained for a 10 mile race I didn't stretch at all before or after runs and never injured myself.

I never tried yoga, but the kind of stretching you usually do without cardio is "static stretching" (and I'm quite sure that's what you do when you do yoga). However, this is very different to the highly muscle- and performance-concentrated "dynamic stretching". The big basic difference is that in "static stretching" you try to hold a certain position as long as possible and try breathing properly while you do it. In "dynamic stretching" you "pump" and test the stretching point of your muscle and try to push it further by doing a quick succession of "strain, strech, relax" etc.

...the REAL question of any relevance, (this being the Org and all), is whether or not "Static stretching" or "Dynamic stretching" is best before sex.

Dave1992 said:

Interesting... Back when I was playing football for the national team, the coaches would have kicked the shit out of us if we had started stretching before having run at least for half an hour.

And, for me, I did feel the results of stretching after doing cardio. When trying to put the palm of my hand onto the floor, standing with stretched legs, I did it with easy after running. Before running, I could only touch it.

And, yeah, stretching does take the "pump" away, but whenever I did not spend at least 20 minutes on stretching my thighs and calves, they were seriously fucked for the next couple of days - horrible tension and cramps!

Is there anything you can't do?!?!?

The stretching differences probably have as much to do with what we're doing (me, weights; you, running/athletic activity) and our ages (me, old; you, young) as anything else.

RodeoSchro said:

Dave1992 said:

Interesting... Back when I was playing football for the national team, the coaches would have kicked the shit out of us if we had started stretching before having run at least for half an hour.

And, for me, I did feel the results of stretching after doing cardio. When trying to put the palm of my hand onto the floor, standing with stretched legs, I did it with easy after running. Before running, I could only touch it.

And, yeah, stretching does take the "pump" away, but whenever I did not spend at least 20 minutes on stretching my thighs and calves, they were seriously fucked for the next couple of days - horrible tension and cramps!

Is there anything you can't do?!?!?

The stretching differences probably have as much to do with what we're doing (me, weights; you, running/athletic activity) and our ages (me, old; you, young) as anything else.

It was the youth team, mind you, and the injuries I suffered at that time would make it absolutely impossible for me to play anywhere near the top, let alone at the level I played at back then.

Maybe my career-ending injuries came from not stretching before training!

And, yeah, you're probably right.

Dave1992 said:

RodeoSchro said:

Is there anything you can't do?!?!?

The stretching differences probably have as much to do with what we're doing (me, weights; you, running/athletic activity) and our ages (me, old; you, young) as anything else.

It was the youth team, mind you, and the injuries I suffered at that time would make it absolutely impossible for me to play anywhere near the top, let alone at the level I played at back then.

Maybe my career-ending injuries came from not stretching before training!

And, yeah, you're probably right.

LOL.

Sounds like you're on Rod Stewart's career path!

KoolEaze said:

Let Arnold explain the secrets of the "pump" to you around the 0.32 mins. mark:

Is this where he says working out is like coming constantly?

RodeoSchro said:

Dave1992 said:

It was the youth team, mind you, and the injuries I suffered at that time would make it absolutely impossible for me to play anywhere near the top, let alone at the level I played at back then.

Maybe my career-ending injuries came from not stretching before training!

And, yeah, you're probably right.

LOL.

Sounds like you're on Rod Stewart's career path!

You're right!!

CarrieMpls said:

Cinny said:

This is inspiring. I'm still on that body as a casing vibe.

Yoga! Yoga was one of the major things that helped me learn to love my body (flaws and all) and realize that me and my body are all the same - we're one. I'm sure it'a a fairly natural notion for athletes and other active types but it took yoga to help me learn to understand that mind/body connection.

Other exercise would work too, I started to get the sense of it when I started running but I had a really great yoga teacher and she would talk about how the first 50 minutes of class (which was all the physical work) was really just to prep you for the last 10 minutes of class where you lay on the ground in corpse pose and meditate. Once you're practicing that for a while, you can't help but start to see the connections.

mind and body together, 2 become 1 peace to spice girls

RodeoSchro said:

Cinny said:

how much time do you set aside for this? like.. say.. from out your front door to back in your kitchen.

Door-to-door is two hours. Aabout 20 minutes of that is driving to/from the gym, and another 20 minutes is taking a shower and dressing after the workout.

From hitting the gym to hitting the shower, it's about 1 hour 20 minutes. And that includes 10 minutes of stretching. So the actual workout is a little over an hour.

I try not to rest too much inbetween sets, but I do rest a lot when switching from one exercise to the next.

I also make sure to drink water after every other set. I go through about 1 1/4 bottles of water per workout.

Thanks for a genuine picture. I think alotting time for all of this is part of the effort before you even do anything.

I finally - after maybe 4 weeks? - went to the gym last night.

Just did 30 mins on the treadmill, hit 2 machines, and headed home.

For some reason it was PACKED with college-age kids, standing around watching basketball and hockey on the TVs as they hogged up all the good machines.

PurpleJedi said:

I finally - after maybe 4 weeks? - went to the gym last night.

Just did 30 mins on the treadmill, hit 2 machines, and headed home.

For some reason it was PACKED with college-age kids, standing around watching basketball and hockey on the TVs as they hogged up all the good machines.

Great! And you did the right thing by taking it easy at first.

My feeling is that if you get sore from exercising, you're doing it wrong, or doing too much too soon.

Especially when starting or resuming after a layoff. Getting sore then usually only leads to quitting, IMO.

I've found that after a layoff, it takes me about two weeks of light-to-moderate work before I can really work out hard and not get sore.

Good luck!

RodeoSchro said:

PurpleJedi said:

I finally - after maybe 4 weeks? - went to the gym last night.

Just did 30 mins on the treadmill, hit 2 machines, and headed home.

For some reason it was PACKED with college-age kids, standing around watching basketball and hockey on the TVs as they hogged up all the good machines.

Great! And you did the right thing by taking it easy at first.

My feeling is that if you get sore from exercising, you're doing it wrong, or doing too much too soon.

Especially when starting or resuming after a layoff. Getting sore then usually only leads to quitting, IMO.

I've found that after a layoff, it takes me about two weeks of light-to-moderate work before I can really work out hard and not get sore.

Good luck!

Thanks!

I'm gonna try to stick to a Mon/Wed/Fri schedule...I really am.

Every damn time I see this thread I hear this song in my head!

As far as my exercise as of late.

I was walking the neighbourhood in the mornings until my sinuses decided to go crazy and the heat got unbearable.

Hubby just bought me a treadmill for my birthday.

I was doing 2 miles so I am still doing that for now then hope to step it up as I get back in to it.

I also chase a toddler so that should count for something.

Gonna be 41 next week, need to step up the exercising and get back in to yoga and pilates.

PurpleJedi said: I finally - after maybe 4 weeks? - went to the gym last night.

Just did 30 mins on the treadmill, hit 2 machines, and headed home.

For some reason it was PACKED with college-age kids, standing around watching basketball and hockey on the TVs as they hogged up all the good machines.

There are morons like that at my gym. After a while, you can tell who knows what they're doing and who doesn't.

uPtoWnNY said:

There are morons like that at my gym. After a while, you can tell who knows what they're doing and who doesn't.

Makes you wanna punch somebody in the face

Seriously. Don't you have a 50" LCD TV at home to watch the game on? WTF?!?!

I'd like to punch the mfers who leave an ocean of sweat on the treadmill or exercise bench. Wipe that shit off!

uPtoWnNY said:

I'd like to punch the mfers who leave an ocean of sweat on the treadmill or exercise bench. Wipe that shit off!

At Synergy, EVERYONE wiped down the machines...at XSport, NO ONE does it. NO ONE.

PurpleJedi said:

uPtoWnNY said:

I'd like to punch the mfers who leave an ocean of sweat on the treadmill or exercise bench. Wipe that shit off!

At Synergy, EVERYONE wiped down the machines...at XSport, NO ONE does it. NO ONE.

Ewwww just another reason I prefer to work out at home.

Ack!