Fitness, excercising, physical training

[Captain Maltese]

Um. My body seem to require some movement. Or maybe it is my brain, because my body has been the same for a long time now. Either way I am looking to set a few gears in motion again, and I am curious what other Elliquiyers are doing to at least stay in no worse shape than they already are in.

For my part I am trying to find the most basic things to get on with. I should mention that I hate gym studios with a vengeance and consider their memberships to be a trap - although if it works for you, go ahead! So I go with stuff I can do in my own home. Situps were an obvious start. Now I am blowing the dust off my adjustable dumbbells. There's also the stairs, which literally go up and down. In the depths of my storages I have a mat, which will be good for situps and pushups, and there is a lifting bench and a barbell down there too. I will give the jumping rope a pass for now. 

[midnightblack]

You can have a lot of fun with the stuff you got there. To be on the safe side, maybe you should first get a general medical check-up if it's been a while since your last one. Get some references on how to do a proper muscle warm-up and stick to it before undergoing any physical exercise. You'll also need a very healthy diet if you want to see results and not just end up exhausted and aching.

If you've good enough room on the floor to stretch yourself down, all you need is some kind of cushion or soft fabric to protect your fists and you can start pumping boxer push-ups which are an excellent work-out for your arms and chest. Once you get good with those you can attempt more exotic versions, like maltese (  :P ) push-ups that also work your back. If you become a beast, maybe you'll start doing tiger bends and come here to brag about them. If you find a place where you can fasten in a really tight and safe manner some kind of bar at a reasonable height, you can attempt pull-ups, which are another great work-out for your arms, chest and back. You can also do pull-ups starting from being stretched on the floor, if you have a really heavy and sturdy table to stretch under and hold on with your arms (just make sure it's heavy enough to keep a rhino in place; you don't want it to fall over you). If you have some sort of bar or support at a low level, to keep your wrists straight, you can hold on to that and perform dips that will work out your triceps.

An excellent work-out for your abs and core is readily available if you have a strong column or pillar in the house. I just use a very heavy nightstand as support and do things called dragon flags. They are a bit tricky to pull off at the start, but are way more efficient that basic sit-ups. If you do want to stick to sit-ups for a while, I'd say to look-up the technique that focuses more on the lateral muscles and keeps your back perfectly safe. When I was practicing martial arts, we used to do those all the time on hard floor surfaces.

Basic squats, or with dumbbells in your arms, are a very good start for working out your legs. Just make sure you research the proper technique so that you don't strain your back or knees. If you're aiming for beast legs, you'll attain perfection when you can perform about 500 hindu squats a day, or so it is said. A moderate amount of running would also serve you very well, if you live in an area where you have the proper conditions to do so.

There's a ton more stuff out on the internet, so just research and build some routines that you like. Have fun!

[Captain Maltese]

Good point about the medical checkup. I had one recently though, and there is no reason why a bit of exercising should be harmful to me. While I do have health issues I am not crippled yet. And my diet have steadily improved over the last couple of years; again I agree that is an important part of the path toward better health.

Heh. There is such a thing as Maltese pushups? I did look them up. I think I am sticking with the standard pushups for now.

Obviously you are in pretty good shape already. I am where I have been often enough; not currently doing any exercise but feeling a need to, and engaging in some light routines which I can do every day, slowly amping them up when the current level stops hurting. Over the years I have had several gym memberships where I started out hot and eager for a while, then petered off when the days got rough with other issues and my motivation dwindled away. Which means I have had the chance to learn about warming up, spreading the effort over various muscle groups and so on. The lesson I am leaning on this time is to remember what works for me; short bursts of activity that I can do when the whim takes me. It will take longer to get anywhere noticeable but the important thing, in my case, is to keep doing it. I won't get lean and mean that way but even just situps, if done regularly, means a tighter belt and getting to lift heavier things. And that is progress too. 

[midnightblack]

I completely agree with your general philosophy.

even just situps, if done regularly, means a tighter belt

They'll certainly develop your abs if you keep doing them. However, if you have fat over your stomach, they won't burn that and your muscle build-up will remain hidden under it. I think that a healthy diet and running regularly (or whatever other cardio work-out you find handy) are the most accessible solutions for burning fat over your entire body, if you happen to have that issue.

[Captain Maltese]

Over the years I have had access to, lent, various gym gear - stationary bicycle, treadmill, stationary row boat. All were fierce calorie burners but quickly became coat racks. The stationary bicycle was uncomfortable and unmotivating; I don't even have a normal bicycle because even if I have no car at hand, I would rather walk. The row boat was in a sense very familiar; I have rowed many a small boat in the past. But what used to be a pastoral activity is with this machine accompanied with the squeaks, creaks and bangs of a combined harvester driving over a heap of rocks. And adjustment options were lacking almost entirely. I did the thing twice and that was that. Things did go better with the treadmill; lots of adjustment possibilities and readouts on the electronic front board, and I found myself running longer and longer. Very motivating as such, and I could watch movies while running. But my interest in the thing came and went, came and went, and in the meanwhile the massive equipment was taking quite a lot of room in the living room. I eventually returned it.

I have excellent options for walking and jogging; the beach is just the other side of a forest that starts almost at my doorstep. For now I will be focusing on the lifting and the other small activities though.

[Captain Maltese]

Well, why not, since I am already doing similar reviews in another thread. As most will have noticed there is a whole world of 'sports' food out there, from protein bars to drinks to powders for adding to your regular food. The serious sports people out there probably eats this by the bucket on a daily basis; indeed a frightening amount of these products are actually sold in buckets. I was in a big sports store today and there were whole aisles full of this stuff. I brought home a handful of bars and similar just to literally get a taste. I assume these are international products since the samples are all texted in English. I'll review them all as I work my way through them. Price range for them all was between 2 and 3 dollars per unit, and they could probably be bought cheaper in any other country on this planet.

Name: "Raw-Bite"
Type: damn if I can tell. I'll go with energy bar since the protein isn't too big
Taste: Spicy Lime.
Contents: Mostly dates, raisins, cashew nuts, almonds, some lime juice
Size: 50 grams
Total energy: 208 calories
Nutrition: 10 gram fat, 22 grams carbs, 5 grams protein
Opinion: no kidding with the lime taste. I can barely taste what else is in there. I like that the product is entirely made from fruit and nuts, with no added sugar. Definitely the healthiest thing I have eaten today. The limiest thing I have ever consumed that did not involve tequila, but I like it. I may be buying more of these.

[Captain Maltese]

Moving on to a different thing. And I use the word 'thing' intentionally.

Name: "Maxim Instant Energy Gel"
Type: Energy gel. Frankly this looks more like a tube of jam.
Taste: Orange.
Contents: Maltodextrin 43%, fructose 20%, water, and the usual etc. In the tongue of humans this means starch and fruit sugar.
Size: 33 grams
Total energy: 88 calories
Nutrition: 0 gram fat, 21 grams carbs, 0 grams protein
You are supposed to take this thing every half hour during training, followed by a couple of mouthfuls of water
Opinion: Brrr. I do understand that downing a bit of sugary liquid while you work out makes sense. All bees will agree. But I would rather have a bottle of mixed juice. Not only lets it retain more of my dignity than sucking a small plastic bag dry, but I get get more fluid and at a fraction of the price. And then we get to the texture of this thing...yuck.

[Captain Maltese]

I have noticed that doing my little daily workout routine is so much easier to do first thing after I get out of bed, than in the past when I have had to make a decision during the day that 'now is a good time'. Being too sleepy to notice much how it feels it probably just a bonus. I am cautiously considering adding a third activity to the situps and dumbell lifts. Maybe going up and down the stairs a few times?

[Captain Maltese]

I was putting in a few hours of physical work today so it seemed to be a good time to test another bar. This did not go well. 

Name: "Lift"
Type: claims to be a 'carb reduced protein bar'.
Taste: claims to be 'chocolate chip cookie dough'. In your dreams, buddy!
Contents: Even my hand magnifying glass struggled with the ingredients list. But it does seem to have a lot of milk derivates, corn starch and cocoa something. Milk and whey is mentioned on the front in bigger letters.
Size: 50 grams
Total energy: 173 calories
Nutrition: 17 grams protein, 6 gram fat, 8 grams fiber.  3.3 grams 'net carbs' but a total of 9.9 because the net carbs supposedly do not include the 'polyols'; I remain dubious.

Opinion: While the numbers are fine for a protein product, and the picture of the contents look tasty, the actual item is about as edible as a piece of mattress. Let's start with the consistence. It looks, feel, and crumbles like plastic. If the room lightning is so bad that you can't see the disconcertingly shiny surface then maybe it might look like... no. I am not going there. Imagine eating this with closed eyes. First of all you would notice how DENSE this product is. My kindest comparison is stale toffee caramel. As for the taste - remember that mattress I mentioned earlier? Even knowing there is supposed to be cocoa involved, I could find no reminder of it in the taste. But there is taste all right, and it lingers fiercely due to the way this product coats your entire mouth. While protein bars are known to fill you up pretty quick I found myself with a different problem. The thing grows in your mouth like quickly drying concrete. Not only could I not eat it all, I had to give up on swallowing it. This item literally got worse with every bite. I don't care how healthy this product is; I do not willingly eat it again.

[Mathim]

I bike my ass off. Great cardio, fun to do, gets you places so it's not like you're not accomplishing something at the same time, cheaper than a car (not safer by any means!)

[Captain Maltese]

I checked out another gel product today. Not that I was impressed after the first one, but there was a second sample in the batch of health food I brought home the last time.

Name: "High5 Isogel"
Type: Energy gel. More liquid than the Maxim one.
Taste: Berry.
Contents: Water, glucose, maltodextrin and fructose.
Size: 66 grams (there also seem to be 65 and 60 gram versions)
Total energy: 95 calories
Nutrition: 24 grams carbs and almost nothing else.
Opinion: On the bright side, this product tastes better and is more drinkable than the first one I tested, and you don't need to chase it down with extra water. But it still mean it is a berry drink rather than berry jam. And at 2 and a half dollar for a single mouthful of sweet drink, it's a pretty steep alternative to practically anything you can fill your drinking bottle with. Like... juice?

[Captain Maltese]

Okay, I am learning something here. That buying different taste variations of the same product at the same time is not a good idea. Today I tested out another LIFT product, solely for that reason.

Name: "Lift"
Type: carb reduced protein bar.
Taste: 'chocolate almond'. No.
Contents: Milk derivates, corn starch and cocoa something. Milk and whey is mentioned on the front in bigger letters.
Size: 50 grams
Total energy: 173 calories
Nutrition: 17 grams protein, 6 gram fat, 8 grams fiber.  3.3 grams 'net carbs' but a total of 9.9 because the net carbs supposedly do not include the 'polyols'.

Opinion: This product differ from the "chocolate chip cookie dough" only in its color. It still tastes like nothing I want to be reminded of. After the previous one I was more cautious and only took two small nibbles of it. Yep, it is still like chewing on a mattress. The rest of this item goes in the trash. I hate to throw away food, especially when it is this expensive per volume, but this product is only food in the aspect that it is soluble. But so is cardboard.

[Deamonbane]

If you're living in Norway, I'd recommend one called Smartmeal by Nutrilet. A favorite is Dark Chocolate. Tough and chewy, tastes good, works as an energy bar for me when paired with coffee. Not sure how it would work as a protein bar. Mostly just a carb, vitamin and fiber rich bar.

I'd also increase my cardio if general health is the idea behind your exercise. Lifting is good for muscle concentration, but cardio-vascular exercise is very important, especially if you are trying to gain muscle mass and/or lose fat.

Due to a bum knee, doc has put me off impact exercises like jogging, mostly consigning me to biking or an elliptical machine when at the gym. They have some skiing and rowing machines at my gym, but they are rather more tough on the knees than I generally like, so just once a week on one of those.

Another trick taught to me by an former coach is rapid alternation in exercises. If you're only doing lifts, switching from one exercise to another with little to no rest in between does put some healthy strain on your muscles. I mostly do three reps of each exercise (preferably focusing on different areas) and then a one-minute rest once finished before starting again on two different exercises.

Due to some... ahem, difficulties with impulse control and chronic laziness, I haven't been as up to speed with my exercising or healthy eating, so I've been playing catch-up these past few months. The important thing is to never treat it as something special, but incorporate them into your weekly schedule, as much a chore (for me anyways) as laundry or dishes, but no less important.

[Captain Maltese]

Nutrilett is a brand I remember; their weight loss powder was one of the first of their kind on the market here. I'll look for that on my next shopping.

My dumbells have functioned well so far; tomorrow I will be upping the weight a bit. This week my lifting been mainly done with a chainsaw, which certainly have been heavy enough.

The effort over the last month have shown some results. For one thing I am down a pants size. The situps have increased in speed and numbers too; all of that is again having a positive effect on confidence. And best of all, I am not wearing of the daily exercise.

[Captain Maltese]

Strangely the daily pre-breakfast workout is still working out. But I do need to add some light cardio exercise. Running up and down the stairs ten times was worth a try, but it was hard on the knees and didn't get me sweaty. I am not putting another treadmill in my living room and indoor bikes are not for me, but there has to be other options. Jump ropes will leave marks all over my roof. Does anyone happen to know any vigorous dance or move I can do while still half asleep?

Edit: How the simplest answers can elude one. Hornpipe! I shall report on how that works out, later.

Edit 2: Well, I am definitely on to something here. Two minutes of testing on the floor to the piper's tune and I am sweating like a sailor.

[Captain Maltese]

Looks like I have found the daily formula that works for me. I have not bought one new item in the process.

First, I found inspiration to do some lumberjack work for a number of days. Didn't last long but that got me on to training at home before breakfast.
I started out with 5 situps per day. Now I am at 25.
I already had a number of dumbbell sets, allowing me to work my way up. Started out with 6 pounds per dumbbell. Now I am at 10. The morning routine is 20 lifts with each hand, 3 times.
The last added component is stationary dancing; 4 minutes of vigorous dancing - well, more like continuous jumps and kicks - is hard enough that I am glad when the music stops.

This stuff may sound rather puny to those doing real fitness training but it works. For one one, I am able to do it on a daily basis. For another, I lost one clothing size. For a third, I have also lost eight pounds. Fourth, I can still increase the dosage on all the the above. Slowly does it.

No point in getting too jubilant though. Now I should look into finding a fourth small activity to add; preferably one that works a different part of the body. Since I follow the morning routine with breakfast I am not messing around with nutrition other than for curiosity's sake.

[Pockets]

Alright, so you aren't really interested in going to the gym. I get that, but if you have a friend that goes regularly and has a membership that allows him to bring a friend I would suggest taking advantage of that. For a couple reasons, one you get a workout partner that will help make working out more fun as long as you don't stop and just gab. Second, he's getting the most out of his membership fee and third, you get free access to a gym.

Failing that I would get a Bodybuilding.com account (it's totally free) and their BodySpace app. The great thing about this is that you have an active environment of people who rarely knock you for getting off your duff and getting moving. Most are actively encouraging. The second great thing is with this website and app you can search for exercises by muscle group and the range of equipment you've got. For example, you want to hit shoulders with only body weight and dumbbells because those resistance bands you ordered off of Amazon haven't shown up yet. So you open up the App, select 'Exercise Database', then you can filter based off of Exercise type, Muscles Targetted, and Equipment available. In this example, I chose ALL Exercise types, Shoulders, and Dumbbells. It automatically drops any exercises that don't meet those criteria and I'm left with 41 exercises. I decide I want to do 'Standing Palm-In One Arm Dumbbell raises', so I touch it and it brings me to a place where not only does it give written step by step instructions, but it also has  link to a video that will show you how the video is done.

If you have the desire and the drive, this app will teach you a great deal. But it can only go so far. Which is why I suggest finding a knowledgeable workout partner.

[Captain Maltese]

Pockets, you may be quite correct that a more directly fitness-oriented forum than Elliquiy could provide more information and motivation. I will check out the Bodybuilding one and maybe a few other alternatives.

[Captain Maltese]

Digging up a couple of old links.

This shows 20 dumbbell exercises, animated.

Also a link to an old thread about dumbbells and fitness here on E.

[Captain Maltese]

So I seem to have gotten into juicing, or whatever you call throwing random fruit into a blender and make it liquid. I am posting this here because I now wonder if there is any health benefit or negative effect to it, beyond the same as eating fruit the normal way. Do the body take the vitamins and carbs in better or worse, or is everything just running faster through the digestive system?

[Nico]

From what I have heard about it, I get the impression that it's just another 'Lifestyle-Trend'. One of the many.

People who practice it, say that it 'cleans the body from the inside' and that it is good for the skin. I'm very skeptical about this, though. While I can see it being a good thing for Detox now and then (maybe 1 or two days), I wouldn't do that on a regular basis or leave out food because of. Some people even go as far as only drinking juiced fruit/veggie and quit solid food.

[Captain Maltese]

Ouch. Yeah, living solely on fruit and vegetables is not for me. And I do wonder how the juicing process affects the fiber amount.

[Captain Maltese]

Another three weeks later, and strangely enough the before-breakfast routine is STILL going every day. The payload in all exercises are still increasing slowly and so are the gains in strength, weight loss and belt size reduction.

So now I am looking for something new to add to my toy kit and morning routine. Today I blew 40 bucks at a supermarket and came home with a dumbbell set whose weight plates and locks fits my barbell, a chin bar, and a pair of grip trainers. Pretty good value for the investment, at least in kilos. The barbell will be used for shoulder presses and nothing else for now. The chin bar I am not ready for yet, but I might install it anyway as a motivation device. The grip trainers are a little more puzzling. How do I get any meaningful training with these?

[Captain Maltese]

*snerks* I found a whole bunch of fitness infographics. I am posting this one because it came from the left field  ;D

[Captain Maltese]

Also I was wrong about the pull-up bar. I might not be ready for chin-ups any time soon, but doing dead hangs while lifting my knees up is doable even for me.

[Captain Maltese]

Gah. I still needed more sweat from my morning sessions. So early this week I bit the bullet and broke a promise to myself, and went and bought a treadmill. No more dancing on the spot; instead I am for the moment on 15 minutes of milling per day. I have to admit that it is a lot more effective for sweat production and my feet and knees are happier - but wearing proper jogging shoes might be part of the reason for that. For the moment the goal is to increase the mileage rather than the time spent (meaning speeding up the jogging session), as the total session per morning is getting long enough that I am afraid an even longer session will be taking chances with my right-out-of-bed-every-morning motivation.

[Nico]

It is all about the right shoes. ~nodnod~ I'm doing long-distance running and if something is really essential, then it's the footwear. It goes a long way and usually helps avoid bad pain and this, in turn, helps to avoid frustration because of the wrong kind of pain. Threadmills are no bad things at all, we've got one at home as well.

[Captain Maltese]

Still at it. All pay loads keep increasing, and now I need a smaller belt. So all is well. However, now there are a few minor notes on diet. In general I have been keeping an eye on what I eat for years - not too difficult for someone living alone. 'Keeping an eye on' is not the same as keeping it in check, though. But at least it gets easy to notice when something changes. Ever since I started this round of exercising I have made sure to do the whole routine before breakfast. No surprise then that my breakfast appetite is sharper - but the meal is still the same size. What I have tried out a couple of mornings now is to have half an energy bar just as I get started; the energy increase was noticeably but I was not happy about eating and treadmilling at the same time. Instead I am now trying out an energy drink which is not filling the tummy in the same way but still gives a little buzz; it also means I get more water down which also helps - I am certainly sweating more. This I will explore further.

There is also an effect on dinner, which I did not expect. I am somehow less hungry, so the meal is smaller. And instead of having the leftovers for the evening they get put in the fridge for another day's dinner. Since I buy as much food as before, my fridge is bulging at this point - this habit needs to change. The evening meal is now scheduled for no later than 8 pm; until recently I'd have a good meal as late as 1am if I felt like. I seem to manage.

And here is the weirdest part. My intake of snacks is dropping like a stone. My weekly intake of salted chips and the like is down to a couple of crackers, and chocolate which I used with my coffee is way down in volume. The only thing that has increased some is fruit, which I am using in the smoothies I keep in the fridge. Even milk, which I always have been drinking like a calf, is down from a river to a brook. And after 30 years of light milk, I suddenly prefer the fat free skimmed type. Believe me - I do NOT have the kind of will power to make dietary changes like this happen. It is just happening. 

[Captain Maltese]

Well, it's now been two months with treadmilling and possibly three, maybe close to four months of daily exercising in total. Still sticking to the morning routine, which by now have ballooned to almost an hour. The daily sequence is now treadmill > biceps curl dumbbells > situps > barbell shoulder lifts. I'm pondering throwing in a new element but have not decided what yet, but it should preferably focus on other muscle groups. All is well and it is paying off in waistline and muscle. I have a new and shorter belt. Also I have an MP3 player with headphones with a mixed back of old and new music, which helps on keeping the feet going - it's 2 kilometers every day now. Another tool of keeping my steam up is the energy drink I have been testing out for a while, or actually two variants thereof. Reviews are coming next.

Also I have been continuing the study of various supplemental bars, and the variety in brands is becoming bewildering since I found as much as four grocery and sports stores with a considerable selection. I had no idea there was so much to choose between, and I am bringing home several bars every time I go shopping now. Some new and some I have decided I really like. Basically I avoid the basic meal bars and anything cereal, and I am not hot on energy bars either since I still eat normal food - it might be different if I was going to gyms. The type I mostly go for are variations of protein bars, which both fit with my exercising program and are somewhat filling and make small sized meals. There'll be a couple of reviews coming on that as well.

[Captain Maltese]

Name: Maxim Sports Drink
Price: about 10 dollars for a 480 grams can of powder
Contents (per single scoop): 17 grams of carbs, including 7 grams of sugar, 100 milligrams of potassium and 18 milligrams of magnesium. The actual contents are mostly maltodextrin and fructosis.
Energy: 70 calories.

This is the sports drink I am using currently. After buying and using the lemon version for a while, I also bought the orange flavored variation. Does not seem to differ much in anything but taste. There is also a tropical fruit version, which I have not sampled as yet.

My daily intake is one spoon of powder, diluted in half a bottle of water. I tried to up the dosage but it didn't really make a difference.

One of the more complicated things about this stuff is that once mixed, it need to be consumed fairly soon. I either mix this stuff right before I head to bed and put it in the fridge, or I mix it in the morning immediately before use. Any leftovers, which there usually isn't much of, are poured out.

Conclusion: how effective this stuff is for someone like me, is hard to say. I am not exactly a sports person and my body is not being worked to its last fiber on a daily basis. But it does beat drinking bland water and I do get an energy buzz out of a good mouthful while I'm on the treadmill, so I will be using it until I find something better. Considering how many spoons I get out of one can the cost can't be more than a few cents per day.

[Captain Maltese]

I could use a little help. About five years ago I found this one in a second hand store, at a grand price of seven dollars or so. I paid for it, brought it home, put it in a wardrobe and promptly forgot about it. Now I have brought it out however, and one question nags me.... exactly what am I supposed to be doing with this contraption?

[Nico]

I could use a little help. About five years ago I found this one in a second hand store, at a grand price of seven dollars or so. I paid for it, brought it home, put it in a wardrobe and promptly forgot about it. Now I have brought it out however, and one question nags me.... exactly what am I supposed to be doing with this contraption?

It's a good device for sit-ups.

[Captain Maltese]

It's a good device for sit-ups.

Hm. I tested it. By inserting my feet under the top crossbar(?), over the middle one and behind the bottom one, I could indeed lay my back down the bench plate, and then use the leg anchor to hoist my upper body back to a vertical position. Sure gets the blood flowing to the head. I'm not used to playing a bat but I can do this, for a few situps at least. What I really need to know next is what I am achieving with this, that isn't already happening in my regular situps. Perhaps it moves more strain to the legs?

[Nico]

Hm. I tested it. By inserting my feet under the top crossbar(?), over the middle one and behind the bottom one, I could indeed lay my back down the bench plate, and then use the leg anchor to hoist my upper body back to a vertical position. Sure gets the blood flowing to the head. I'm not used to playing a bat but I can do this, for a few situps at least. What I really need to know next is what I am achieving with this, that isn't already happening in my regular situps. Perhaps it moves more strain to the legs?

Yep, that's exactly it. It helps building up muscle in your legs, upper and lower. It also helps to keep the position without shifting back onad forth on the ground, which isn't really recommendable because it does nothing good for the spine.

[Captain Maltese]

Yep, that's exactly it. It helps building up muscle in your legs, upper and lower. It also helps to keep the position without shifting back onad forth on the ground, which isn't really recommendable because it does nothing good for the spine.

Right. I have been pleased with the treadmilling but I guess it has been better for general stamina and burn than for building muscles. I'll be trying this out for a few days. Does me good to do something new.

Anything else I can do with it? I've seen other gym benches be used for weight lifting and other things, but they did not look exactly like this one. And I am not going to add a lifting rig to my living room but I COULD perhaps juryrig something to make it a horizontal bench, like a wall hook for the free end.

[Nico]

Right. I have been pleased with the treadmilling but I guess it has been better for general stamina and burn than for building muscles. I'll be trying this out for a few days. Does me good to do something new.

Anything else I can do with it? I've seen other gym benches be used for weight lifting and other things, but they did not look exactly like this one. And I am not going to add a lifting rig to my living room but I COULD perhaps juryrig something to make it a horizontal bench, like a wall hook for the free end.

I suppose you also can use it for weight lifting. My husband does that. Hooking his legs, keeping them in place and then lifting the weights with his arms.  But it's really best for sit-ups, I'd say.

[Captain Maltese]

I suppose you also can use it for weight lifting. My husband does that. Hooking his legs, keeping them in place and then lifting the weights with his arms.  But it's really best for sit-ups, I'd say.

He is lying down at an angle like that while lifting? Or is the bench flat at the time? I admit that the first version there worries me, bloodflow-wise.

[Nico]

He is lying down at an angle like that while lifting? Or is the bench flat at the time? I admit that the first version there worries me, bloodflow-wise.

He's doing both. The first one not so long of course. I've tried it. It's difficult! The latter is easier, more comfortable and better for beginners.

[Captain Maltese]

He's doing both. The first one not so long of course. I've tried it. It's difficult! The latter is easier, more comfortable and better for beginners.

Yeah, I won't be leaving the rookie level any time soon so it will have to be the second option for now. Now I have several new things to try out. Thank you Nico.

[Nico]

Yeah, I won't be leaving the rookie level any time soon so it will have to be the second option for now. Now I have several new things to try out. Thank you Nico.

You're quite welcome. :-) Good luck and have fun!

[Sirius]

I could use a little help. About five years ago I found this one in a second hand store, at a grand price of seven dollars or so. I paid for it, brought it home, put it in a wardrobe and promptly forgot about it. Now I have brought it out however, and one question nags me.... exactly what am I supposed to be doing with this contraption?

So, I saw this thread and thought I'd play catch up, because fitness is something that interests me. I've been out of the game for a few years, and I'm getting myself back into it. I gained 60lbs since I left the military and I'm looking to lose every single pound of it haha.

To answer your question, this is a decline bench. At face value, Nico is right, it is designed for sit ups and crunches. But it can also be used for decline dumbbell press, or bench press (assuming you have a rack to set the bar on). Those are two very simple and upfront workouts you can do. The decline dumbbell/benchpress works the lower parts of your chest, primarily. I've never looked into this particular bench, but I'm sure if you google it, there is a world of creative workouts you can do using it. You can use the angle for push ups if that is a weak area for you, but setting your feet at the bottom near where your head would typically lie, and place your hands somewhere along the bench (adjust your feet as necessary). The higher up your hands, the easier the push up, the further down you go, the harder they become. I'm sure there is plenty that you can use it for, but it is getting to be fairly late at night for me, and after my own work out, so I'm starting to hear my bed calling me.

One thing that I noticed, and maybe I missed something or just don't know, but are you doing the same workouts every day? That can pose a problem for your body. Abs is one thing, you still want to give them proper rest and a break, but you use those for just about everything in some way shape or form anyway. However, if you're working your arms daily, that can cause some issues. Your muscles need time to recover, usually about a 24-48hr period. That's why body builders and weight lifters have specific days, IE: Chest day, leg day, arm day, back day or Back/Bi's, Chest/Tris, Shoulders, Legs, Cardio, whatever their preference on how they break it up. It's to ensure they don't over work or over use the muscles.

I forget who said it, but signing up for something like Bodybuilder or Men's Fitness is a good way to learn more work outs, or even find specific routines to help with your daily workouts. The communities tend to be very helpful, and positive. I joined a website called Superhero Academy, and it was created by personal trainer who researched different celebrity/superhero workouts, and created routines from them. He puts in a lot of work to developing everything from dieting to specific types of training, such as body building, fighting, yoga, bodyweight exercising, running, etc...

To answer your original question. I swim, and weightlift primarily. Swimming is a wonderful workout, great cardio, and gives a good solid warm up to my muscles for when I go to lift. I have to lift lighter to be safer after I swim, but it creates a stronger muscle in my experience.

[Captain Maltese]

It's good to hear from you Sirius. From your descriptions it sounds like you are doing heavier lifts than I am.

I have been keeping up a daily routine, with some gradual addons, since the start of last October. This has meant 7 days a week every week the whole winter, excepting days when I have woken up achy or weary, so in reality the average batting score has been closer to 6. But now, FINALLY, the longest and gloomiest and snowiest winter in decades is turning into spring and I am looking for activities that actually bring me outdoors. Yesterday  I went for a hour long walk to the beach instead. And once a little more snow and ice goes away the outdoors season at my cabin starts, which means forest walks and firewood work and so on. I am happy that my gym machines have kept me active during the winter but I look forward to giving them a rest too.

Your muscles need time to recover, usually about a 24-48hr period.

This do interest me. I thought that since I am not lifting that intensely and make sure to eat protein sources, I was doing fine with a once-per-day regime. Now I think of it, I guess that is 23 hours of recovery. Is there a direct benefit to exercising every second day instead?

[Sirius]

I may or may not be, to be honest haha. I am a heavy lifter, but remember, I only just got back into everything. So, I'm not too pleased with how much I'm lifting at the moment haha. It's a work in progress, but I don't think I'm lifting much more than you if I even am at all. You kept it up during the summer, which is impressive in and of itself. I commend you for that, a lot of people (myself included) struggle to maintain a solid routine.

If you are changing up the muscle groups every day, or if you do your routine one day, then cardio the next, that is a good bout. But this is something to where you need to know your limits. Now the Rock can lift a 25lbs weight, and have no issues, it's like a pen to him, so if he's lifting 25 lbs, he's not getting anything out of it, so he could lift it daily. However, I imagine people like you and I both, 25 lbs is a significant amount of weight. When you lift, you can get lactic acid buildup, which is good, and does what it's supposed to do, but if it's in excess it can cause problems. I'll have to look further into those details for you, but if I'm wrong I'll let you know haha. It's been a while since I have looked into muscle overuse. But the other issues that can arise is muscle exhaustion, muscle strain, stress fractions, and joint pain. With muscle exhaustion, you run a risk of hyperextending a muscle as well.

These are surface answers, and there are A LOT of good articles out there about the importance of resting your muscles, I'm looking into some of them now as a matter of fact because I want to have better answers for people, but safety is paramount when working out. It's good you're adding workouts to your routines. It keeps it interesting.

That's another thing that I'd recommend, is switching up your routine now and again. That is if you are prone to get bored, because boredom is a killer to routine.

[Shores]

Here is an article that sort of explains why.



The important part I want to highlight is the graph above. As we get older, we should devote more time to recovery, because if we do not give more than 24 hours of recovery time for a muscle, we will not reach full performance recovery. This leads to less than optimal performance over a long period of time, and may even lead to an injury in the future, even though you might feel fine now. Proper diet and sleep are extremely important for muscle recovery.

Also, the graph above depicts a hypothetical scenario, where the muscle is fatigued the same amount every time. In most cases, if a muscle is not allowed to reach full recovery, and someone unknowingly does the same routine, the muscle fatigue will be even greater or amplified the second time, since more force has to be exerted by the fatigued muscle just to keep up.

[Captain Maltese]

I am not entirely sure how to understand this. Norway, where I live, is into sports big time. Especially winter sports but a large part of our population is doing sports regularly on some level. And it seems to me a lot of the biggest names are fairly old and well beyond the normal physical age peak (which is about 20 iirc).

Case in point; Marit Bjørgen (39) who retired just weeks ago from the skiing sport, and is the most successful winter sports person in history - world wide. 114 personal wins says something.







I am not sure I have a point to make with this. But Marit Bjørgen ends her career this year with a string of Olympic medals.

[Shores]

Marit Bjørgen has her rest days too. My point is that 24 hours of rest for a muscle group might not be enough, especially the older you get. It is better to let the muscle group rest 48 hours. You can stagger it by doing upper body one day, then lower body the next, then cardio. Or even isolate the muscle you want to work with gym equipment.

In this case, I am referring to overloading the muscle, and not exercise that is well within your personal limits.

[Captain Maltese]

I have listened, and made changes to my daily routine. The treadmill, which has clocked in something like 200 kms during the winter, is now resting and might become dormant until autumn gets snowy. Instead of doing the daily two kilometers I am now walking to the beach, which takes about twice the time - every second day. Jogging is not an option, not until the forest route thaws and dries up anyway. I am considering other routes but I am not eager to walk through suburbia or along the highway on a regular basis.

With the treadmill element gone my lifting schedule is going a bit haywire, but I am trying to do the weights on the days I am not walking. Also things are getting complicated with me branching out to do activities in the garden, garage, rearranging rooms and so on. It takes enough muscle that I get sweaty occasionally but I use my body differently. I choose to believe that this is a good thing and will proceed for now, but I guess it will be a sign if the weights start feeling heavier than before.

[Captain Maltese]

Here's an odd question. How often do you get hungry, and how long can you go hungry before you absolutely HAVE to have something to eat? Is there an ideal time and a bad-idea time? I am of course referring to people who do not spend their days with sledgehammers in quarries and other such heavy duty calorie burners.

[TheScarletBlade]

Wht not do your cardio after lifting? Focus on your weight training for the first portion of your workout after stretching for 10 minutes. After completing your muscle group for the day, hit the treadmill or whatever your preferred cardio method is?

[Captain Maltese]

Wht not do your cardio after lifting? Focus on your weight training for the first portion of your workout after stretching for 10 minutes. After completing your muscle group for the day, hit the treadmill or whatever your preferred cardio method is?

That is a very interesting question. Ever since I got the treadmill I have done the cardio first. Is there a benefit to doing the cardio last?

[TheScarletBlade]

Yeah. Cardio uses glycogen in your muscle to sustain itself. Thing is, it's easy to  run those glycogen stores with weight lifting prior to cardio. Then, to fuel your run, your body will use fat stores for energy. Also if you want to see results in muscular size, using that glycogen to fuel your size rather than burning it out on cardio will make a difference.

[Captain Maltese]

Yeah. Cardio uses glycogen in your muscle to sustain itself. Thing is, it's easy to  run those glycogen stores with weight lifting prior to cardio. Then, to fuel your run, your body will use fat stores for energy. Also if you want to see results in muscular size, using that glycogen to fuel your size rather than burning it out on cardio will make a difference.

Your posts prompted me to look for more information. What I have found initially is challenging to understand with my lack of biology teaching. At the more advanced end I found so called 'carbohydrate loading', which does not apply to my activity level. Nor am I concerned with the need to build more muscle volume; I just want more strength for strenuous activities like lumberjacking and other field activities.

However, I completely see your point. And my cardio activities, walking and jogging, are far easier for my brittle patience and questionable back to stretch out in time than the weight lifting. So I am following your suggestion for the next few weeks while measuring for changes. I'll be back with a report on this eventually. In the meanwhile I'd love to hear what others do in the matter of activity distribution.

My sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycogen

https://www.livestrong.com/article/438810-how-is-glycogen-used-during-exercise/

https://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/mohr114.htm

[Captain Maltese]

My Narnia wardrobe divulged yet another sports item I had completely forgot I owned. This time it is, um, a bending bar? It looks suspiciously like a car's suspension spring that someone mounted grips on. I can bend it until the handle tips touch and keep it like that for a while. But I don't really see the point. Are there any exercise worth doing with this thing? Unfortunately there is no text on it to indicate its pressure. Resistance. Weight. Torque. Something?



Picture is some online pic I found, that looks more or less like the one I have.

[Blank]

Back when I was in the dark times of grad school, usually 30 minutes of walking a day was what I did.  The CDC recommends about 75 minutes of vigorous or 140 of moderate cardio.  Then twice a week strength training for all muscle groups.

To satisfy the latter most, I did the "cards workout."  Take a deck of cards, shuffle, and associate each suit with a type of exercise.  What I did was crunches, squats, push ups (half value), and burpees (half value).  You flip one card, do a set of the exercise associated with the face value.  Try to get through as many cards in 30 minutes.

At the peak of my fitness then, I could get through all the cards in about 28 minutes.

Now I do the elliptical (but you are adverse to that), swimming (can be done at a local pool or unpolluted body of water), or yoga (I finally found a good class where I'm working hard during the class then feel super refreshed afterwards).

[Lowfoam]

Oh shi-

Let's get fit together, people.

Right now Lowfoam - as some people know - is a pole dancer. This means on Thursday, Saturday, and Sundays, I don't do anything other than pole class because doing something before it is suicide. Cardio, sure, but not weight. You have no idea how easy it is to overtax a muscle you never knew you had because you just tried to lift yourself up. . .

Source: I could not take off my own shirts for a solid week and had to have my fiance do it for me.

Sexy-taboos aside, several of our instructors are pretty buff for women and sport washboard abs and several other amazing muscle groups because they work it. But a lot of them say that doing pullups, chinups, whatever-ups at home can only get you so far because as Athena put it, "Sure, you get beefy lats. But there's some moves that require you to MOVE them in a certain way and that's a whole different beast."

So. Long intro aside, some fitness from Lowfoam:

I once weighed ~220+lbs but slimmed down to 145lbs. Bounced back up to (currently) 156 because what is portion control when you just come back from overseas for two years lol. I ate an entire pumpkin pie by myself and I'm not sorry.

As it stands, my workout routine right now is roughly this:

Monday: rest day
Tuesday: 40 minutes cardio / 20 minutes strength (arms+back)
Wednesday: 40 minutes cardio / 20 minutes strength (core)
Thursday: 40 minutes + 1 hour of dance class
Friday: 40 minutes cardio / 20 minutes strength (legs)
Sat: 2 hours of class
Sun: 2 hours of class (although 1 hour is a contortion/flexibility class so that just involves twisting myself into a pretzel).

I aim to eat ~1.3k calories a day.

My reward for eating clean this month is to get one or two cinnamon rolls from Cinnabon since it's what I've been craving hardcore for the month.

[Captain Maltese]

New year, and like a zillion others I got started on a new round of fitness. Been adding a few more items every week so now my daily includes vertical situps, dumbbells, treadmill, barbells and straight situps. Now however I am doing something different as well. We had a mighty snowfall that turned my surroundings solid white, and I got a strange urge to try skiing again. Might not sound like a big deal but I haven't had skis on my feet in a decade. Even had to round up skis, poles and shoes from the nearest recycling shops since my old kit is in the snowed down cabin but I found what I was looking for. Hopefully we get a bit more snow again soon but I get a two mile walk (through flat-as-a-billiard-table terrain) by going to the beach and back. I have done this a few times now and this is having an effect; there are muscles hurting in places I had completely forgotten I have. The plan is to find a longer nearby skiing trail, but I will have to drive there. My current one allows me to put the skis on right outside my front door. While I don't get the weight training the indoor set offers, it IS nice to get fresh crisp air in the lungs. Okay. It isn't quiiite as strenous as the photo indicates.