https://liftvault.com/programs/bodybuilding/phat-spreadsheet/

I do a variation of this. I worked it down to a 4-day routine. Some exercises like heavy squats & deadlifts I had to eliminate.

Any recommendations for Prince workout listens (or indeed any other workout listens)? Been listening to Tokyo 1990, but wanting to change it up a bit.

maplenpg said:

Any recommendations for Prince workout listens (or indeed any other workout listens)? Been listening to Tokyo 1990, but wanting to change it up a bit.

For me, I listen to old school hip-hop or early-to-mid 90s grunge/alt-rock.

maplenpg said:

Any recommendations for Prince workout listens (or indeed any other workout listens)? Been listening to Tokyo 1990, but wanting to change it up a bit.

I put my favorite Prince songs for working out into a playlist and hit Shuffle. Best thing I've ever done!

I've also done this for non-Prince songs, for those off-days when I think I've got Prince overload.

maplenpg said:

Any recommendations for Prince workout listens (or indeed any other workout listens)? Been listening to Tokyo 1990, but wanting to change it up a bit.

So much of Prince music is great for a work out. You can't go wrong, though One Night Alone might be a stretch for aerobic exercise. I enjoy listening to his concerts too while working out. I even have water proof ear buds so I can listen to him (and others) while I do my aquatic boot camp.

I was wondering if anyone here does high intensity interval workouts and how do they feel about the results of doing this type of workout compared to other approaches?

gandorb said:

I was wondering if anyone here does high intensity interval workouts and how do they feel about the results of doing this type of workout compared to other approaches?

Do you mean Crossfit? Oh boy, do I have thoughts on Crossfit!

First, I will say that the Crossfit dudes who screw up my gym do look like they're in good shape. Except...and I don't know why this is...they all have horrible posture. Every single one of the guys stands with his shoulders hunched forward, and his neck kind of stretched out. Horrible, horrible posture which defeats the whole concept of working out.

I've said this before but you can make gigantic gains in your looks if you correct your posture. Generally it takes a picture or video of yourself to even understand what your posture is. Most of us probably think we have good posture, but we don't. I know I thought I had good posture, until I saw a picture someone had taken of me in a conversation with someone else. I looked like a turtle!

The old modeling trick of walking around the apartment with a book on my head solved that problem in less than 10 minutes. That was 35 years ago and to this day I get compliments on my posture.

Listen to your mother - stand up straight, and sit up straight! Mom knows best!

Now - Crossfit.

If you're going to do Crossfit, DO IT IN A CROSSFIT GYM. Please don't screw up an entire non-Crossfit gym for everyone else, just because you have six stations you need to tie up all at once. We hate that!

For those who don't know, using a station only once every 8 - 10 minutes yet tying it up for 45 minutes so that no one else can use it during the "interval training" is the heighth of rudeness. Tying up half the gym machines/benches/free weights is even worse.

If anyone wants to do a Crossfit-type exercise in a regular, non-Crossfit gym, first of all - just don't. Everyone else will get mad. But if you HAVE to do it, coordinate it with the gym manager or a gym trainer. Get them to outline what you can use, and how long you can tie it up, and what the protocol is if someone wants to work in a set on a machine while you're off doing other exercises.

The TL/DR recap of my ramblings is:

1. Crossfit dudes look like they are in shape
2. Crossfit dudes all seem to have horrible posture
3. Do not do Crossfit in a non-Crossfit gym

LOL, I guess that's enough motivation for now. Whatever you do, I hope you do it well and get great results!

RodeoSchro said:

gandorb said:

I was wondering if anyone here does high intensity interval workouts and how do they feel about the results of doing this type of workout compared to other approaches?

Do you mean Crossfit? Oh boy, do I have thoughts on Crossfit!

First, I will say that the Crossfit dudes who screw up my gym do look like they're in good shape. Except...and I don't know why this is...they all have horrible posture. Every single one of the guys stands with his shoulders hunched forward, and his neck kind of stretched out. Horrible, horrible posture which defeats the whole concept of working out.

I've said this before but you can make gigantic gains in your looks if you correct your posture. Generally it takes a picture or video of yourself to even understand what your posture is. Most of us probably think we have good posture, but we don't. I know I thought I had good posture, until I saw a picture someone had taken of me in a conversation with someone else. I looked like a turtle!

The old modeling trick of walking around the apartment with a book on my head solved that problem in less than 10 minutes. That was 35 years ago and to this day I get compliments on my posture.

Listen to your mother - stand up straight, and sit up straight! Mom knows best!

Now - Crossfit.

If you're going to do Crossfit, DO IT IN A CROSSFIT GYM. Please don't screw up an entire non-Crossfit gym for everyone else, just because you have six stations you need to tie up all at once. We hate that!

For those who don't know, using a station only once every 8 - 10 minutes yet tying it up for 45 minutes so that no one else can use it during the "interval training" is the heighth of rudeness. Tying up half the gym machines/benches/free weights is even worse.

If anyone wants to do a Crossfit-type exercise in a regular, non-Crossfit gym, first of all - just don't. Everyone else will get mad. But if you HAVE to do it, coordinate it with the gym manager or a gym trainer. Get them to outline what you can use, and how long you can tie it up, and what the protocol is if someone wants to work in a set on a machine while you're off doing other exercises.

The TL/DR recap of my ramblings is:

1. Crossfit dudes look like they are in shape
2. Crossfit dudes all seem to have horrible posture
3. Do not do Crossfit in a non-Crossfit gym

LOL, I guess that's enough motivation for now. Whatever you do, I hope you do it well and get great results!

Thanks for your reply. Too bad about the lousy posture for those crossfit types . I wasn't sure either about what the differences were between crossfit and high intensity interval training (HIIT), so I did some research. HIIT is usually done no longer than 30 minutes, as you go all out for a brief period followed by a shorter rest period in which you move but do not extend yourself (think of sprinting the track as fast as you could for 440 meters and then walking for the next 30 seconds before doing it again). You can vary the type of exercise each interval as long as you go full out, and that way it is easier to extend it to 30 minutes. There is some independent research to suggest that it is extremely effective for weight loss (more than regular aerobic), good at improving athleticism, but not as effective as some other fitness programs including crossfit training for building muscle mass. Crossfit includes some HIIT but also includes several other types of workouts as well.

It's been a great summer. We sold our company, which means I am gainfully unemployed. And that means I can hit the gym every other day - and I do! It's amazing what 10 workouts in a row can do for you.

But today I must tell you a story about failure. My failure. In my 35 years of working out, this has never happened before. And no, it's not something that can be cured by a little blue pill (unless that pill is steroids, in which case Orgnote me).

We moved March 1 and I had to change gyms. My new gym is nice, but it is missing the one machine that is my reason for living. This machine:



That is the Hammer Strength Bench Press machine. It's awesome! If you notice, the exercise starts on the floor, so that means you never need a spotter to get you out of a tight spot. If you can get it up, you can get it up. If not, no harm, just lower the bar to the floor.

By the way - a 25-pound plate on each side? Please! Your buddy RodeoSchro maxed out on this machine a couple years ago with three 45-pound plates; one 10-pound plate; and one 2 1/2-popund plate on each side. That's 295 pounds of plates, plus the 36 pounds for the two arms, which returns my career best of 331 pounds bench pressed.

So anyway - my new gym doesn't have this machine. It only has regular bench presses (which I don't do because for some reason the bench screws up my back), and an incline bench press. I use the incline press each workout.

Today, I was feeling REALLY spritely. Maybe it's because my wife took my movie reviewing gig. I don't know, all I know is that I was rocking out this morning. I got to my new max weight - 185 pounds. I knew I could get it up - the only question was, how many reps?

RULE #1 - If you're going to max out on a bar, have a spotter!

I didn't have a spotter. Stupid.

I did 9 reps and said, "I know I can do 10!" Well......I couldn't. And I knew I was in trouble the second I let the bar come down to my chest.

"OH #$&^%&$%@#!!!!!!" I thought. "I'd better roll this thing down to my lap and get it off". That was Bad Idea #2.

I got it down to my lap, whereupon I found out that I could now not breathe. Or move. I was cooked!

Now that I'm unemployed, I like to work out at 9:00 AM - 10:30 AM. I'm usually the only person in the gym, except for staff or maybe some other unemployed soul. So my shouts of "Hey!" were screamed in an almost-empty gym. The only two people in there were a staff person and a guy on a bike. They both had on headphones.

"HEYYYYYYYYYYY!" I shouted. I finally got the staff lady's attention. I seriously could not breathe. "HURRY!" She did. But...

She was not nearly strong enough to get the bar off me. Luckily, by that time both the guy on the bike and the male staff member on duty had come running over and they lifted the bar off me.

Dang! I was VERY embarrassed. But not hurt, which is the main thing. And I still squeezed off 9 reps, which is a personal best. So it was, all in all, a good day!

gandorb said:

RodeoSchro said:

Do you mean Crossfit? Oh boy, do I have thoughts on Crossfit!

First, I will say that the Crossfit dudes who screw up my gym do look like they're in good shape. Except...and I don't know why this is...they all have horrible posture. Every single one of the guys stands with his shoulders hunched forward, and his neck kind of stretched out. Horrible, horrible posture which defeats the whole concept of working out.

I've said this before but you can make gigantic gains in your looks if you correct your posture. Generally it takes a picture or video of yourself to even understand what your posture is. Most of us probably think we have good posture, but we don't. I know I thought I had good posture, until I saw a picture someone had taken of me in a conversation with someone else. I looked like a turtle!

The old modeling trick of walking around the apartment with a book on my head solved that problem in less than 10 minutes. That was 35 years ago and to this day I get compliments on my posture.

Listen to your mother - stand up straight, and sit up straight! Mom knows best!

Now - Crossfit.

If you're going to do Crossfit, DO IT IN A CROSSFIT GYM. Please don't screw up an entire non-Crossfit gym for everyone else, just because you have six stations you need to tie up all at once. We hate that!

For those who don't know, using a station only once every 8 - 10 minutes yet tying it up for 45 minutes so that no one else can use it during the "interval training" is the heighth of rudeness. Tying up half the gym machines/benches/free weights is even worse.

If anyone wants to do a Crossfit-type exercise in a regular, non-Crossfit gym, first of all - just don't. Everyone else will get mad. But if you HAVE to do it, coordinate it with the gym manager or a gym trainer. Get them to outline what you can use, and how long you can tie it up, and what the protocol is if someone wants to work in a set on a machine while you're off doing other exercises.

The TL/DR recap of my ramblings is:

1. Crossfit dudes look like they are in shape
2. Crossfit dudes all seem to have horrible posture
3. Do not do Crossfit in a non-Crossfit gym

LOL, I guess that's enough motivation for now. Whatever you do, I hope you do it well and get great results!

Thanks for your reply. Too bad about the lousy posture for those crossfit types . I wasn't sure either about what the differences were between crossfit and high intensity interval training (HIIT), so I did some research. HIIT is usually done no longer than 30 minutes, as you go all out for a brief period followed by a shorter rest period in which you move but do not extend yourself (think of sprinting the track as fast as you could for 440 meters and then walking for the next 30 seconds before doing it again). You can vary the type of exercise each interval as long as you go full out, and that way it is easier to extend it to 30 minutes. There is some independent research to suggest that it is extremely effective for weight loss (more than regular aerobic), good at improving athleticism, but not as effective as some other fitness programs including crossfit training for building muscle mass. Crossfit includes some HIIT but also includes several other types of workouts as well.

I do HIIT once or twice a week at the gym. The class I do is called Monster Rig. It is a 45 min class, but this includes warm up and cool down, so in reality it is less than 30 mins of HIIT. There are 20 'stations' and you do each station for 1 minute then get a 20 second break to move to the next station. It is not done on the main gym equipment, but is more things like box jumps, slam balls, rope pulls, assault bike etc... I find it brilliant because the exercises, and the way they do them, change each session, plus you are absolutely knackered but know that 1 minute is not too long to have to survive each station.

My gym also does Tabata sessions, which is a 30 minute HIIT session, but I haven't tried that yet.

RodeoSchro said:

It's been a great summer. We sold our company, which means I am gainfully unemployed. And that means I can hit the gym every other day - and I do! It's amazing what 10 workouts in a row can do for you.

But today I must tell you a story about failure. My failure. In my 35 years of working out, this has never happened before. And no, it's not something that can be cured by a little blue pill (unless that pill is steroids, in which case Orgnote me).

We moved March 1 and I had to change gyms. My new gym is nice, but it is missing the one machine that is my reason for living. This machine:



That is the Hammer Strength Bench Press machine. It's awesome! If you notice, the exercise starts on the floor, so that means you never need a spotter to get you out of a tight spot. If you can get it up, you can get it up. If not, no harm, just lower the bar to the floor.

By the way - a 25-pound plate on each side? Please! Your buddy RodeoSchro maxed out on this machine a couple years ago with three 45-pound plates; one 10-pound plate; and one 2 1/2-popund plate on each side. That's 295 pounds of plates, plus the 36 pounds for the two arms, which returns my career best of 331 pounds bench pressed.

So anyway - my new gym doesn't have this machine. It only has regular bench presses (which I don't do because for some reason the bench screws up my back), and an incline bench press. I use the incline press each workout.

Today, I was feeling REALLY spritely. Maybe it's because my wife took my movie reviewing gig. I don't know, all I know is that I was rocking out this morning. I got to my new max weight - 185 pounds. I knew I could get it up - the only question was, how many reps?

RULE #1 - If you're going to max out on a bar, have a spotter!

I didn't have a spotter. Stupid.

I did 9 reps and said, "I know I can do 10!" Well......I couldn't. And I knew I was in trouble the second I let the bar come down to my chest.

"OH #$&^%&$%@#!!!!!!" I thought. "I'd better roll this thing down to my lap and get it off". That was Bad Idea #2.

I got it down to my lap, whereupon I found out that I could now not breathe. Or move. I was cooked!

Now that I'm unemployed, I like to work out at 9:00 AM - 10:30 AM. I'm usually the only person in the gym, except for staff or maybe some other unemployed soul. So my shouts of "Hey!" were screamed in an almost-empty gym. The only two people in there were a staff person and a guy on a bike. They both had on headphones.

"HEYYYYYYYYYYY!" I shouted. I finally got the staff lady's attention. I seriously could not breathe. "HURRY!" She did. But...

She was not nearly strong enough to get the bar off me. Luckily, by that time both the guy on the bike and the male staff member on duty had come running over and they lifted the bar off me.

Dang! I was VERY embarrassed. But not hurt, which is the main thing. And I still squeezed off 9 reps, which is a personal best. So it was, all in all, a good day!

maplenpg said:

RodeoSchro said:

It's been a great summer. We sold our company, which means I am gainfully unemployed. And that means I can hit the gym every other day - and I do! It's amazing what 10 workouts in a row can do for you.

But today I must tell you a story about failure. My failure. In my 35 years of working out, this has never happened before. And no, it's not something that can be cured by a little blue pill (unless that pill is steroids, in which case Orgnote me).

We moved March 1 and I had to change gyms. My new gym is nice, but it is missing the one machine that is my reason for living. This machine:



That is the Hammer Strength Bench Press machine. It's awesome! If you notice, the exercise starts on the floor, so that means you never need a spotter to get you out of a tight spot. If you can get it up, you can get it up. If not, no harm, just lower the bar to the floor.

By the way - a 25-pound plate on each side? Please! Your buddy RodeoSchro maxed out on this machine a couple years ago with three 45-pound plates; one 10-pound plate; and one 2 1/2-popund plate on each side. That's 295 pounds of plates, plus the 36 pounds for the two arms, which returns my career best of 331 pounds bench pressed.

So anyway - my new gym doesn't have this machine. It only has regular bench presses (which I don't do because for some reason the bench screws up my back), and an incline bench press. I use the incline press each workout.

Today, I was feeling REALLY spritely. Maybe it's because my wife took my movie reviewing gig. I don't know, all I know is that I was rocking out this morning. I got to my new max weight - 185 pounds. I knew I could get it up - the only question was, how many reps?

RULE #1 - If you're going to max out on a bar, have a spotter!

I didn't have a spotter. Stupid.

I did 9 reps and said, "I know I can do 10!" Well......I couldn't. And I knew I was in trouble the second I let the bar come down to my chest.

"OH #$&^%&$%@#!!!!!!" I thought. "I'd better roll this thing down to my lap and get it off". That was Bad Idea #2.

I got it down to my lap, whereupon I found out that I could now not breathe. Or move. I was cooked!

Now that I'm unemployed, I like to work out at 9:00 AM - 10:30 AM. I'm usually the only person in the gym, except for staff or maybe some other unemployed soul. So my shouts of "Hey!" were screamed in an almost-empty gym. The only two people in there were a staff person and a guy on a bike. They both had on headphones.

"HEYYYYYYYYYYY!" I shouted. I finally got the staff lady's attention. I seriously could not breathe. "HURRY!" She did. But...

She was not nearly strong enough to get the bar off me. Luckily, by that time both the guy on the bike and the male staff member on duty had come running over and they lifted the bar off me.

Dang! I was VERY embarrassed. But not hurt, which is the main thing. And I still squeezed off 9 reps, which is a personal best. So it was, all in all, a good day!

I go back in the morning (Wednesday) for my next workout. I'll either get 10 reps or die trying. If I die, I just want you all to know that I love you.

Hey, I'm still alive! So you know what that means!

10 reps, no incidents. Yay me! And I still love you!

RodeoSchro said:

It's been a great summer. We sold our company, which means I am gainfully unemployed. And that means I can hit the gym every other day - and I do! It's amazing what 10 workouts in a row can do for you.

But today I must tell you a story about failure. My failure. In my 35 years of working out, this has never happened before. And no, it's not something that can be cured by a little blue pill (unless that pill is steroids, in which case Orgnote me).

We moved March 1 and I had to change gyms. My new gym is nice, but it is missing the one machine that is my reason for living. This machine:



That is the Hammer Strength Bench Press machine. It's awesome! If you notice, the exercise starts on the floor, so that means you never need a spotter to get you out of a tight spot. If you can get it up, you can get it up. If not, no harm, just lower the bar to the floor.

By the way - a 25-pound plate on each side? Please! Your buddy RodeoSchro maxed out on this machine a couple years ago with three 45-pound plates; one 10-pound plate; and one 2 1/2-popund plate on each side. That's 295 pounds of plates, plus the 36 pounds for the two arms, which returns my career best of 331 pounds bench pressed.

So anyway - my new gym doesn't have this machine. It only has regular bench presses (which I don't do because for some reason the bench screws up my back), and an incline bench press. I use the incline press each workout.

Today, I was feeling REALLY spritely. Maybe it's because my wife took my movie reviewing gig. I don't know, all I know is that I was rocking out this morning. I got to my new max weight - 185 pounds. I knew I could get it up - the only question was, how many reps?

RULE #1 - If you're going to max out on a bar, have a spotter!

I didn't have a spotter. Stupid.

I did 9 reps and said, "I know I can do 10!" Well......I couldn't. And I knew I was in trouble the second I let the bar come down to my chest.

"OH #$&^%&$%@#!!!!!!" I thought. "I'd better roll this thing down to my lap and get it off". That was Bad Idea #2.

I got it down to my lap, whereupon I found out that I could now not breathe. Or move. I was cooked!

Now that I'm unemployed, I like to work out at 9:00 AM - 10:30 AM. I'm usually the only person in the gym, except for staff or maybe some other unemployed soul. So my shouts of "Hey!" were screamed in an almost-empty gym. The only two people in there were a staff person and a guy on a bike. They both had on headphones.

"HEYYYYYYYYYYY!" I shouted. I finally got the staff lady's attention. I seriously could not breathe. "HURRY!" She did. But...

She was not nearly strong enough to get the bar off me. Luckily, by that time both the guy on the bike and the male staff member on duty had come running over and they lifted the bar off me.

Dang! I was VERY embarrassed. But not hurt, which is the main thing. And I still squeezed off 9 reps, which is a personal best. So it was, all in all, a good day!

Another reason I home train now ... when I'm pushing for that one rep beyond failure, I'm dribbling like a baby, farting like a trucker, and shaking like a sh*tting dog, there's no one there to point and laugh.

Also, when I don't make said rep and I gotta do that awkward slide-the-bar-down-myself move, my pride is only slightly dented

Thanks for your input. That sounds like classic HIIT. As I mentioned way early in this thread, I am do aquatic bootcamp using that same model. I find it amazing, yet struggle with feeling too tired afterwards when I have others to do. Do you ever get so used to getting knackered that you have your normal energy later that day and the following day?

maplenpg said:

gandorb said:

Thanks for your reply. Too bad about the lousy posture for those crossfit types . I wasn't sure either about what the differences were between crossfit and high intensity interval training (HIIT), so I did some research. HIIT is usually done no longer than 30 minutes, as you go all out for a brief period followed by a shorter rest period in which you move but do not extend yourself (think of sprinting the track as fast as you could for 440 meters and then walking for the next 30 seconds before doing it again). You can vary the type of exercise each interval as long as you go full out, and that way it is easier to extend it to 30 minutes. There is some independent research to suggest that it is extremely effective for weight loss (more than regular aerobic), good at improving athleticism, but not as effective as some other fitness programs including crossfit training for building muscle mass. Crossfit includes some HIIT but also includes several other types of workouts as well.

I do HIIT once or twice a week at the gym. The class I do is called Monster Rig. It is a 45 min class, but this includes warm up and cool down, so in reality it is less than 30 mins of HIIT. There are 20 'stations' and you do each station for 1 minute then get a 20 second break to move to the next station. It is not done on the main gym equipment, but is more things like box jumps, slam balls, rope pulls, assault bike etc... I find it brilliant because the exercises, and the way they do them, change each session, plus you are absolutely knackered but know that 1 minute is not too long to have to survive each station.

My gym also does Tabata sessions, which is a 30 minute HIIT session, but I haven't tried that yet.

DaveT said:

RodeoSchro said:

It's been a great summer. We sold our company, which means I am gainfully unemployed. And that means I can hit the gym every other day - and I do! It's amazing what 10 workouts in a row can do for you.

But today I must tell you a story about failure. My failure. In my 35 years of working out, this has never happened before. And no, it's not something that can be cured by a little blue pill (unless that pill is steroids, in which case Orgnote me).

We moved March 1 and I had to change gyms. My new gym is nice, but it is missing the one machine that is my reason for living. This machine:



That is the Hammer Strength Bench Press machine. It's awesome! If you notice, the exercise starts on the floor, so that means you never need a spotter to get you out of a tight spot. If you can get it up, you can get it up. If not, no harm, just lower the bar to the floor.

By the way - a 25-pound plate on each side? Please! Your buddy RodeoSchro maxed out on this machine a couple years ago with three 45-pound plates; one 10-pound plate; and one 2 1/2-popund plate on each side. That's 295 pounds of plates, plus the 36 pounds for the two arms, which returns my career best of 331 pounds bench pressed.

So anyway - my new gym doesn't have this machine. It only has regular bench presses (which I don't do because for some reason the bench screws up my back), and an incline bench press. I use the incline press each workout.

Today, I was feeling REALLY spritely. Maybe it's because my wife took my movie reviewing gig. I don't know, all I know is that I was rocking out this morning. I got to my new max weight - 185 pounds. I knew I could get it up - the only question was, how many reps?

RULE #1 - If you're going to max out on a bar, have a spotter!

I didn't have a spotter. Stupid.

I did 9 reps and said, "I know I can do 10!" Well......I couldn't. And I knew I was in trouble the second I let the bar come down to my chest.

"OH #$&^%&$%@#!!!!!!" I thought. "I'd better roll this thing down to my lap and get it off". That was Bad Idea #2.

I got it down to my lap, whereupon I found out that I could now not breathe. Or move. I was cooked!

Now that I'm unemployed, I like to work out at 9:00 AM - 10:30 AM. I'm usually the only person in the gym, except for staff or maybe some other unemployed soul. So my shouts of "Hey!" were screamed in an almost-empty gym. The only two people in there were a staff person and a guy on a bike. They both had on headphones.

"HEYYYYYYYYYYY!" I shouted. I finally got the staff lady's attention. I seriously could not breathe. "HURRY!" She did. But...

She was not nearly strong enough to get the bar off me. Luckily, by that time both the guy on the bike and the male staff member on duty had come running over and they lifted the bar off me.

Dang! I was VERY embarrassed. But not hurt, which is the main thing. And I still squeezed off 9 reps, which is a personal best. So it was, all in all, a good day!

Another reason I home train now ... when I'm pushing for that one rep beyond failure, I'm dribbling like a baby, farting like a trucker, and shaking like a sh*tting dog, there's no one there to point and laugh.

Also, when I don't make said rep and I gotta do that awkward slide-the-bar-down-myself move, my pride is only slightly dented

gandorb said:

Thanks for your input. That sounds like classic HIIT. As I mentioned way early in this thread, I am do aquatic bootcamp using that same model. I find it amazing, yet struggle with feeling too tired afterwards when I have others to do. Do you ever get so used to getting knackered that you have your normal energy later that day and the following day?

maplenpg said:

I do HIIT once or twice a week at the gym. The class I do is called Monster Rig. It is a 45 min class, but this includes warm up and cool down, so in reality it is less than 30 mins of HIIT. There are 20 'stations' and you do each station for 1 minute then get a 20 second break to move to the next station. It is not done on the main gym equipment, but is more things like box jumps, slam balls, rope pulls, assault bike etc... I find it brilliant because the exercises, and the way they do them, change each session, plus you are absolutely knackered but know that 1 minute is not too long to have to survive each station.

My gym also does Tabata sessions, which is a 30 minute HIIT session, but I haven't tried that yet.

Sorry...I missed this post. I feel permanently knackered all the time as my iron levels are fucked, so it's hard to tell. I just push through. I do tend to have normal energy (for me) by the afternoon, though immediately following I don't do much other than enjoy a cuppa and check the org

Aquatic bootcamp sounds amazing, sadly there's nothing like that round here.

EDIT to add: Obviously I don't know your size, but today one of the really big built male bodybuilders joined in with us (three little females). He REALLY struggled with it, especially the cardio bits. So I think with HIIT, obviously depending on the exercise, it's harder for those that usually do strength training, than it is for someone like me that does more cardio. Having said that, though it about killed him - he loved it!

[Edited 9/5/19 3:52am]

I haven't posted much - two reasons. One, as you might know if you read P&R, is that I am really concerned about the epidemic of mass murders in the USA. Read up on any P&R thread if you want to know more.

But reason two is that we sold our company on August 1 and now I'm gainfully unemployed! The sales process took a few months and my workouts suffered somewhat.

Now that I'm jobless, however, I'm able to hit the gym three days a week for full, 1 1/2 workouts. I. Am. In. HEAVEN.

And also the best shape I've been in for quite some time! It's been AWESOME.

I'm out of town now, and have another two weeks before I get back home. But I've found what I need up here, so it's all good!

I was wondering where the fitness thread went! Congrats to ALL who are doing YOU. Hmm...maybe that didn't come out the way I intended!

I've been going through some massive life changes in the past 2 years (that I will spare all details to this lovely family) and because of this I have been forced(?) to focus on ME--my physical, emotional, spiritual and yes mental health.

==============================================================

My physical addiction is the FitBit and I am in challenges weekly. 15,500 is my daily goal and this includes walking and/or hula hooping. Do some planking daily--work yourself up for 10 seconds to 2 minutes. All of this is my maintenance.

==============================================================

My marathon is in China. Last October my son got his (for now) dream job of teaching at a University there. He speaks, reads, and writes Mandarin, Spanish, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese and is working on Cantonese. Thus the above GIF of me being greatest Mom of all Time (MOAT). I see you are beginning to question the mental health progress!!!!

===============================================================

January and February of this year was spent in southern China from Shanghai to Dali and 21 destination cities inbetween. We travel like locals, eat like locals, and hotel like locals....therefore the $$ involved are way lower than anyone can imagine.

===============================================================

Anyway--when I am there I am doing 25K-35K steps daily and equivalent of 50 flights of stairs daily--unless we are doing some moutaintop buddas or temples. July and August we did Shanghai to Dunhuang and 20 cities inbetween. I went up Grandfather mountain (200 flights), some other mountain in Lanzhou (150 flights). Holy crap, I can crack a walnut with my thighs now (TMI???) But rest assured I was bitching the whole way up and down!

================================================================

My point is: Do what works for YOU!!! Sometimes it take a while to figure it out. Don't try to live up to anyone else's standard. Start small if you've not started at all. It takes about 6 weeks to make a process a habit to where your body will then want it.

==============================================================

And ALWAYS remember it is the JOURNEY, not the DESTINATION that is important. That said, I will leave you with this (no, I'm not gong anywhere!)

LadyLayla said:

I was wondering where the fitness thread went! Congrats to ALL who are doing YOU. Hmm...maybe that didn't come out the way I intended!

I've been going through some massive life changes in the past 2 years (that I will spare all details to this lovely family) and because of this I have been forced(?) to focus on ME--my physical, emotional, spiritual and yes mental health.

==============================================================

My physical addiction is the FitBit and I am in challenges weekly. 15,500 is my daily goal and this includes walking and/or hula hooping. Do some planking daily--work yourself up for 10 seconds to 2 minutes. All of this is my maintenance.

==============================================================

My marathon is in China. Last October my son got his (for now) dream job of teaching at a University there. He speaks, reads, and writes Mandarin, Spanish, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese and is working on Cantonese. Thus the above GIF of me being greatest Mom of all Time (MOAT). I see you are beginning to question the mental health progress!!!!

===============================================================

January and February of this year was spent in southern China from Shanghai to Dali and 21 destination cities inbetween. We travel like locals, eat like locals, and hotel like locals....therefore the $$ involved are way lower than anyone can imagine.

===============================================================

Anyway--when I am there I am doing 25K-35K steps daily and equivalent of 50 flights of stairs daily--unless we are doing some moutaintop buddas or temples. July and August we did Shanghai to Dunhuang and 20 cities inbetween. I went up Grandfather mountain (200 flights), some other mountain in Lanzhou (150 flights). Holy crap, I can crack a walnut with my thighs now (TMI???) But rest assured I was bitching the whole way up and down!

================================================================

My point is: Do what works for YOU!!! Sometimes it take a while to figure it out. Don't try to live up to anyone else's standard. Start small if you've not started at all. It takes about 6 weeks to make a process a habit to where your body will then want it.

==============================================================

And ALWAYS remember it is the JOURNEY, not the DESTINATION that is important. That said, I will leave you with this (no, I'm not gong anywhere!)

This is an AWESOME post. Sounds like you're doing great

LadyLayla said:

I was wondering where the fitness thread went! Congrats to ALL who are doing YOU. Hmm...maybe that didn't come out the way I intended!

I've been going through some massive life changes in the past 2 years (that I will spare all details to this lovely family) and because of this I have been forced(?) to focus on ME--my physical, emotional, spiritual and yes mental health.

==============================================================

My physical addiction is the FitBit and I am in challenges weekly. 15,500 is my daily goal and this includes walking and/or hula hooping. Do some planking daily--work yourself up for 10 seconds to 2 minutes. All of this is my maintenance.

==============================================================

My marathon is in China. Last October my son got his (for now) dream job of teaching at a University there. He speaks, reads, and writes Mandarin, Spanish, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese and is working on Cantonese. Thus the above GIF of me being greatest Mom of all Time (MOAT). I see you are beginning to question the mental health progress!!!!

===============================================================

January and February of this year was spent in southern China from Shanghai to Dali and 21 destination cities inbetween. We travel like locals, eat like locals, and hotel like locals....therefore the $$ involved are way lower than anyone can imagine.

===============================================================

Anyway--when I am there I am doing 25K-35K steps daily and equivalent of 50 flights of stairs daily--unless we are doing some moutaintop buddas or temples. July and August we did Shanghai to Dunhuang and 20 cities inbetween. I went up Grandfather mountain (200 flights), some other mountain in Lanzhou (150 flights). Holy crap, I can crack a walnut with my thighs now (TMI???) But rest assured I was bitching the whole way up and down!

================================================================

My point is: Do what works for YOU!!! Sometimes it take a while to figure it out. Don't try to live up to anyone else's standard. Start small if you've not started at all. It takes about 6 weeks to make a process a habit to where your body will then want it.

==============================================================

And ALWAYS remember it is the JOURNEY, not the DESTINATION that is important. That said, I will leave you with this (no, I'm not gong anywhere!)

Everything about that post is absolutely AWESOME! Have fun on your incredible journey!

Bragging time!

I'm about to wrap up my time here in the mountains of Northern New Mexico. I made a deal with the resort to use their "fitness center" while I'm here. And I use the term "fitness center" loosely - it's got machines alright, but they're Nautilus machines that saw their better days 10 years ago or more. However, they all work!

There's a Nautilus benchpress machine. If you remember the Nautilus principle, you'll remember that their machines are designed to add resistance as you progress through the mahcine's movement. I don't remember how the plates are calibrated - for instance, if you're doing a plate marked "150" does that mean you're doing 150 initially and more as you press upward? Or are you starting lower than 150 and only reaching it when you complete the movement?

Who cares!

The benchpress machine plates go up to 250 pounds. And I did the whole stack! As I said on one of my movie reviews - Yippee!!!!

This is good because my gym in Houston does not have a benchpress machine or bench that I can use. So I'm stuck doing incline presses or seated chest presses. Those are OK but they aren't the Manly Bench Press. Even though there are better, newer gyms here in the mountains, I like the resort gym because of that Nautilus machine.

Which leads me to Brag #2.......

I've played baseball and softball most of my life. As a kid, I was the best homerun hitter in the neighborhood, although that just meant I could hit it over everyones' heads. We didn't have any fences. When I got to Little League, I was OK but again - I never hit a ball over the fence.

I didn't play baseball in high school, but took up softball in college. I was a good hitter, but once again never hit one over the fence.

Have you guessed where I'm going with this?

We have a great softball field up here, and there are some older people like me that meet a couple times a week to play, practice, hit balls, whatever. Depends on how many people show up.

The outfield is fenced. We have one guy - a 25-year-old - that can hit it over the fence. Well, we HAD one guy that could leave the yard.

Now we have two!

I realized at the end of last summer that my swing was a baseball swing - the same baseball swing I'd taught tons of kids when I coached Little League. Which, if we were playing baseball, was great. But softball demands a different swing if you want to hit it a long way. You have to swing UP on the ball. I realized that last year on my last day, during my last at-bat.

When I got to town this year, my first two practices were rained out. Yesterday was my last and only practice of the year. I was eager to see if my new swing was going to work! Keep in mind - I hadn't swung a bat in more than a year.

And I am 60. An Old!

I stepped into the batter's box and hit a couple decent shots, but was striking the ball too far down the barrell, closer to the handle. So I scooted back in the batter's box a couple inches.

BOOM goes the dynamite!

Once I started putting the barrell on the ball, it flew. I hit the fence on a bounce. Then, I hit the fence in the air. But...still not OVER the fence.

"OK, one more pitch" said our coach. Here it comes....great pitch....swing UP.....swing HARD....YEAH! It was OUTTA HERE!

I'm not sure I've ever been prouder of anything I've ever done, LOL.

How far did it go, you ask?

Well, I stepped it off twice. It was 306 feet from home plate to the fence; the fence is 5 feet high, and I hit it about 15 feet past the fence. I'm going to go with 320 feet.

Now, I have a dilemma. That was my last swing of the day, of the trip, and maybe ever. I think we're going to sell our house here, so I probably won't be back next year. Certainly not in the summer. And I don't play softball anywhere in Houston.

So........do I retire as a softball player, having hit the only ball over the fence in my entire life on my final swing ever? Or do I take my new-found ability and rake it in the Houston leagues?

I'm leaning toward the former. Going out on a high note sounds right!