The gym was full of post-Thanksgiving exercisers today. It hadn’t really occurred to me when I headed out to the gym that it was the day after Thanksgiving. But, I guess folks are trying to work off their excesses. I, on the other hand, am proud of my excesses (for dessert: pumpkin pie, chocolate-chocolate cake, 2 kinds of chocolate pudding pie, a cookie, and banana pudding), but went to the gym anyway.
I saw a couple of folks reading books on the exercise bike. I can see being able to do that while you’re warming up or something. But I have to wonder how much you’re really getting out of your workout when you can read for an hour while you’re on the bike. Maybe these folks either don’t move around as much when they’re riding or have a higher tolerance for motion while reading. Probably, I’m too quick to judge.
As for myself, I think I found a workout routine that will bust me out of a plateau I was in. Sort of a pyramid scheme where I lift about 80% of a weight that I can do 6 to 8 reps. Then I do two sets at 100%, then I do two sets with quick reps at about 30-40%. We’ll see. I’m only about a week into it. But, so far I’m feeling that nice muscle ache I felt regularly when I first started lifting weights.
Just a few random thoughts.
I never go to the gym. And I weigh only 10 pounds more than I did when I graduated high school; I’m 46 now. Possibly this is because I have a somewhat physical job and don’t sit on my butt stuffing my face all day. Possibly I have an unusually high metabolism. Probably, though, I can’t afford the membership.
Just rubbing in my superior physique! Ha Ha!
I’ve started reading on the stairmaster. Makes the time go by quicker.
Doug, if you’re looking for new lifting ideas/routines I would recommend T-Nation. Any of the stuff by Chad Waterbuty, Dan John or Eric Cressey is good…
Thanks Jeff. I’m relatively new to it, so I figure I’m just scratching the surface.
Weight’s not really an issue. I’ve always been pretty skinny — just an irate metabolism. But, just because I don’t have a lot of extra weight, doesn’t mean I’m healthy. I figure a good mix of weights and cardio should help me with a little more energy and can’t hurt my longterm health prospects.
I can relate to that. I went to a get together yesterday with some friends and ate out the wazoo. I went to the gym this morning, to try to work off yesterday’s turkey, dressing, (believe it or not, someone yesterday brought dressing made with White Castles!), pumpkin and sweet potato pie. I usually try to hit the gym 3 times a week with a combination of weight lifting and the exercise bikes. It’s a great stress reliever and does help to make you feel good. I always eat like a maniac, it felt good to work out this morning, am heading up to my sister and brother-in-laws in Pendleton, IN tomorrow for another Thanksgiving dinner. Hopefully this morning’s workout will help to counterbalance the Thanksgiving pig out. I am 48 yrs. old and if I didn’t work out, I’d be the Good Year Blimp.
When I was in high school, I had a couple semesters of advanced P.E. which was simply school sanctioned weight lifting for the jocks. (Basically, giving the football players and wrestlers a “class” to continue to bulk up in.) I was not a jock, but I had a friend who was, so I signed up. It was a very good thing back then. (and it was NOT an easy class)
Anyway, what our coach did was had us do different lifts on different days, and then do a rotating list of sets. So, first week was 3-3-3, meaning three sets of three. Second week was 5-5-5. Another was 6-4-2, and then we had the dreaded 10-6-4-2. There were more to the list, but I think we went through the list every six weeks.
Obviously, the coach would push us to keep lifting more, and we’d learn where to slack off where we could. But just by the setup of the reps you learned pretty quick how to change the weight to match the sets. 3-3-3 would be a steady progression, where as 10-6-4-2 would be light, light, light, then “bend the bar.”
I definitely felt every workout. And put on about 40 pounds of muscle in my sophomore year.