Oldtimer1

[IroNat]

While you're having your heart checked out, see if you can have your head checked out too. There must be a reason why you are such a slow learner.

 

[oldtimer1]

While you're having your heart checked out, see if you can have your head checked out too. There must be a reason why you are such a slow learner.

I check my pulse, oxygen saturation and blood pressure every morning within an hour of getting out of bed. Since I purchased a wrist cuff that reads blood pressure, pulse and any heartbeat irregularity, I have checked it consistently everyday. I use a finger device to check my oxygen saturation. I download the results to an app on the smart phone, so that there is a record. Everything was good this morning except my atrial fibrillation was acting up (irregular heart beat). Usually, I know if this is happening because it causes me to feel anxious, faint and dizzy...like I might pass out. It happens rarely, but is still concerning since people with A-Fib are more prone to strokes.

Have you ever been checked for atrial fibrillation or flutter? The symptoms you were having this morning mirror the one's I have when my heart valves is fibrillating/fluttering.

Oh btw, your workout looks good. Why are you stiff when you first get out of bed? The only stiffness I ever had after a good night's sleep was 'morning wood'.  Unfortunately, that's just a memory at this stage of my life.

I suffer from arthritis like my father and my sister. Very surprised at your age you don't feel stiff when you get up. So you wake up and go down the stairs  the same way as you do at 4PM? 

[IroNat]

Overnight you're muscles and tendons shorten also which causes that morning stiffness, especially after you workout.

Prime doesn't workout so maybe that's why he doesn't get stiff, however, it seems unusual for a late 70s man not to have any discomfort.

[Primemuscle]

Overnight you're muscles and tendons shorten also which causes that morning stiffness, especially after you workout.

Prime doesn't workout so maybe that's why he doesn't get stiff, however, it seems unusual for a late 70s man not to have any discomfort.

Prime does workout. When he doesn't go to the gym, he works out at home. He doesn't always lift weights. The only days does not exercise are Sundays, vacations and days when he is actually sick, which is rare. First thing this morning, he did 3 X 15 glute raises and 3 X 20 squats.

Yes, he sometimes gets sore, specially if he does something different. Yesterday, he worked in the garden for 3 hours pruning and raking. He was sore afterwards. This morning he was fine. Yes, sometimes he's stiff in the morning when he first gets up. More often than not, when he wakes up after a night's sleep his lower back doesn't function without giving mhim pain until he moves around some.

Right now, he still cannot raise his right elbow all the way to parallel with his shoulder. The pain hits at about 3/4 of the way up.

Prime was mostly kidding Oldtimer yesterday. But, he is concerned about Oldtimer being dizzy and faint during and after a morning workout. He has also noticed that Oldtimer just pushes through when something isn't right. Oldtimer's dedication to exercise is remarkable. Prime thinks that there are  occasions when Oldtimer should pay attention to what his body is telling him and take it easy for awhile. Prime has around 15 years more experience than Oldtimer and he sometimes likes to be a wise-ass.   

[IroNat]

Good one, Prime! 

[IroNat]

OT has not posted here since 10/5.

Most likely he just got sick of posting.

I can understand it. 

It becomes something that you feel you can't stop doing or you'd be giving up, even though you're still working out just the same.

Good on you, OT. 

[oldtimer1]

Still training. Never missed a workout. Just needed a break from all the negativity on this board.

Power cleans and push jerks 2 x 3 (light. Haven't done these in awhile. The jerks were a little scary with my bad form. For decades I always worked up to 225 to 230 with these. I couldn't imagine that right now.)
Pulldowns 2 x 12
Seated pulley lat pulls 2 x 12
Dumbbell row off a bench 2 x 10
Reverse grip pulldowns 2 x 10

Dumbbell shoulder press 2 x 10 ( all the way down. No typical half reps where the humerus is parallel to the ground)
Dumbbell delt laterals 2 x 12 ( thumbs up to avoid impingement.)
Dumbbell rear delt laterals 2 x 10
Face pulls for rear delts and traps 2 x 12 (these are really making my bad shoulder feel better)
Dumbbell shrugs 2 x 16

Weighted lower back hyper extensions 2 x 15

Weighted crunches 1 x 50
Pulley crunches 1 x 55

That work out was yesterday. Today I ran two miles on a trail near my house before work then hit the heavy bag. I first warmed up on the treadmill at home. I can't run cold anymore in the morning. Just too stiff from my arthritis. Developing a knob on one elbow like Dickerson.

 I've been thinking for a long time now about lifting lighter. Making a light weight heavy through a slower cadence and a shorter rest between sets. I've been reading a lot about guys that trained in the gym with the champs. I love these first hand accounts. The one I read the other night was great. A guy loved to train heavy and Bill Pearl said we have some serious champs working out at the gym this afternoon if you want to watch and learn something. What he saw was Lee Haney in his prime using 185lbs for barbell rows. He also observed him using 115lbs for the press behind the neck working up to 135lbs. Am I making light of those weights? No, just saying I'm sure they made a moderate weight heavy. I also heard about Tom Platz alternating 40lbs chest flies with a 135lbs barbell for benches.  Dickerson using 160lbs in the seated lat pulley rows. I could go on. What I'm trying to get at is so much of what we read is just straight out bull shit. No champ is doing 5 sets of 405 for ten reps in the bench  every time he works chest for twenty sets of four different exercises. Yes, the champ are strong. It doesn't mean they are doing crazy numbers every typical workout. Of course they are drug users. So many gym rats are one trick ponies.  They have their pet big lifts and in truth are very human in other lifts. Sometimes working the muscle instead of the ego will get you better results. Results are what matters and not stroking your ego.  Do a full range of motion. Don't rest too much between sets.  Do an exercise in the hardest way possible and not the easiest way to show off fake strength. Don't put the weight of a car on the leg press then do shallow leg dips grinding your knees to dust.

Vince use to push limiting your rest between sets to under 30 seconds for a quality workout.  He just might have been onto something. I was in an email correspondence with a guy that trained with Steve Davis.  Observing him train he thought what light weights he used. Then when he trained with him he had trouble keeping up. His back rows with 115lbs got really heavy with the high reps and short rests between sets. The work out felt like a hard distance run. 

[IroNat]

Some studies have been done that show even quite high reps cause hypertrophy as long as you go to failure.

Of course your max strength will go down a lot.

[oldtimer1]

Some studies have been done that show even quite high reps cause hypertrophy as long as you go to failure.

Of course your max strength will go down a lot.

True, Clarence Bass has some good research on that.  I never thought intensity meaning low sets to failure is the magic bullet for muscular development.  Always felt the best method is training for muscular endurance.  Not to be confused with cardio.  If intensity was the magic bullet we would all warm up and do sets of one rep because that's the most intense training anyone could do.  Four sets of one rep in the bench. Four sets of one rep in the curl.  Sounds insane because it is.  Intensity has never been the magic bullet. What comes close to the magic bullet is multiple sets with only the last set going to failure. I've been brain washed by the HIT religion to think the best productive way to train is low sets to failure.

Kennedy from Muscle Mag once addressed this topic. To digress for a second he's the first one to come up with pre fatigue super sets. It wasn't Mentzer or Arthur Jones. Jones took Kennedy's pre fatigue concept and ran with it not giving him credit. Getting back to the topic Kennedy said two sets is better than one set. Three sets is better than two sets. What he said is the benefit of an additional set goes down exponentially with each set. Making up percentages to make a point here but one set might be 70% of the return in benefit you can get.  Doing two sets might give you and additional 20%. Doing a third another 5%. A forth another 2.5 %. Of course the made up percentages are just to make a point.

In the end it's just lifting weights. It's not rocket science. Some of the most intelligent  trainer's physiques stink and some of the dumbest mother fuckers that walked the planet look amazing. They couldn't tell you what they had to eat for lunch the day before let alone how they trained their chest the week before. Like Jeff Everson said, "Until pigs learn how to fly bodybuilding will never be rocket science."

[oldtimer1]

I keep wanting to switch to volume but here I am again.  Workout took about 40-45 minutes.  Can't beat high intensity for a short workout but it's brutal to continue an exercise till you can't get another rep getting  blue in the face.

Chest and bicep day:  Watched a youtube of Yates training a guy for inspiration.  Warm up sets if needed are not listed.

Incline barbell bench 1 x 8
Decline dumbbell bench 1 x 9
Flat dumbbell flies 1 x 14
Weighted dips 1x 10
Push ups 1 x 24 (straight body and all the way down. The prior exercises kept the reps down.  Push ups is one of those exercises delusional or clueless guys do with a short range of motion.  I remember one police academy recruit didn't qualify for the academy and he sued saying guys were hired that didn't pass the push up requirement.  After that they filmed recruits and so many were shocked that their 60 push ups were counted as zero reps.

Barbell curl 1 x 14
Alternate dumbbell curls 1 x 10
concentration curl 1 x 15
Single arm pulley curls 1 x 14

Wrist curls 1 x 24
Reverse wrist extensions 1  x18

Incline sit ups 1 x 30 (Sit ups suck.  They are really hard.)
Pulley crunches 1 x 55

Ivanko gripper 2 x 20

Thinking about going for a run now. Beautiful sunny day in NJ today. Might can it. Can't decide.

[oldtimer1]

Leg day: Increased the weight in many exercises. These Yates inspired workouts are brutal. Comparing apples to oranges but single sets to failure is brutal compared to volume. Then again it's two different types of pain.

Leg press 1 x 15

Dumbbell squats 1 x 13 (Never seen anyone use this exercise. I read Frank Zane's training diaries and I found he used them.  He called them dumbbell hack squats. If you try them use straps for a grip. Upright back and concentrate on sinking your butt bending your legs. If you are deadlifting the dumbbells that's not the movement. )

Machine squats 1 x 10 (I always use to use machine squats but I have gotten away from them. I used a hammer strength squat machine on vacation and I thought it was a good movement. My tuffstuff squat machine feels like a cross between a hack and machine squat. Great movement. Just a little scary because the fixed safety catch is so low I can't even come close to it with a full squat. I just hope I don't blow out a knee because I will be fucked without a safety catch.)

Stiff deads 1 x 8 (I stand on a block so I can clear the 45lbs plates. In a commercial gym I use use a collection of 25lbs plates to get the stretch. )

leg extension 1 x 20
Seated leg curl 1 x 16

One dumbbell side bend 1 x 15

Hanging leg raise 1 x 25 ( try to really get my feet high curling my hips up)
Hip ups 1 x 30 ( on my back and push my hips toward the ceiling)

Standing calf raise 1 x 15
Seated calf 1 x 20

Tibalis work 1 x 20
Neck work 1 x all four sides. Finished with manual rotation using my hands for resistance.

[Primemuscle]

30 second rest between sets is the way to go. You get a great workout in less time and you are essentially getting your cardio by not letting your heart get completely down to a resting rate. The only time 30 second rests gets difficult is with squats and leg presses. At least that's how it is for me.

[oldtimer1]

30 second rest between sets is the way to go. You get a great workout in less time and you are essentially getting your cardio by not letting your heart get completely down to a resting rate. The only time 30 second rests gets difficult is with squats and leg presses. At least that's how it is for me.

30 seconds is great for volume and light to moderate weight. If you're pushing what is for you heavy weights it's not enough to recover from a set. You're right, minimum rest between sets is a great way to get into condition.

[oldtimer1]

I talked about doing an exercise in the hardest way possible and not the easiest to create the most stress on a muscle for adaptation. I just saw a video on youtube about a Marine corp chin up champion.  Their rules are you have to clear your chin and then extend fully as in a dead hang. His advice was always shorten the range of motion and do the the exercise in the easiest way possible. Here is some of his advice.  Look up at the sky and bend your head back so your chin is at the maximum height. That way it will shave off four inches or so of the range of motion. Second is to take a wide grip again to shorten the range of motion. Lastly was to ignore the eccentric or negative rep completely.  Go down as fast as you can under no resistance even pushing on the bar to increase the downward velocity. 

If you want to increase the strength of your arms and lats optimally you should ignore that advice. Yes you will get less reps. Take a  shoulder width grip. Use the negative stroke as part of the rep by going down under control. Don't stop the positive or concentric portion of the rep when your hit your chin. Stop when your elbows are completely down. Often that is way past your chin. The goal is to increase work and not to  decrease work. Getting 10 chins in this manner is more effective than getting 20 partial range junk pull ups.


Don't get me going on push ups.

[oldtimer1]

Ran two miles then hit the bag today. Thought I was going fast but I was running a little over 9 minutes  miles. I guess slow for a young man but okay for me?  I have to pick up the pace. This is embarrassing. Anyway I felt great psychologically most of the day because of the run. It's a great antidepressant.

[oldtimer1]

Back day: No warms ups listed. Increased weight in almost all exercises.

Power cleans and push jerks 3 x 3

Pulldown with a M.A.G bar 1 x 13
Seated lat cable rows 1 x 14
One arm Dumbbell row with a knee on the bench 1 x 12
Reverse grip pulldown 1 x 11

Weighted lower back hyper extensions 1 x20

Weighted crunches 1 x 60
Pulley crunches 1 x 55

Power cleans are fun to do but I feel they are a time bomb waiting to go off for me.  I will continue using them till I drop the bar on my head.    I like the explosive lifts. They build power and athleticism. Using moderate weight for now.  On a side note I was talking to a cross fit girl at my job.  She said she competes nationally. She might have weighed 155lbs.  She was a  pretty girl but had a thick neck. I asked her what she could clean and jerk and she said 230lbs if my memory serves me. Cross fit is really into the Olympic lifts. Impressive lift for a girl that size.

After lifting I went to the Seaside Heights boardwalk here in NJ with the wife. It was 74 and sunny. The boardwalk was packed.  The restaurants and bars were hopping. Looking out over the ocean there were many boats. A couple of sail boats went by or should I say Yachts? If you don't know Seaside it's not a place for Harvard preppies. Bike gangs gangs walk among some dregs of society but don't get me wrong, plenty of decent people too. Hung out at the Beach Comber roof top bar. It was packed like summer.  They must have called in a ton of staff for this beautiful day.  Even the bouncers were there.  Another bar called Spicy's was rocking with live music.  Pretty girls were everywhere. During the summer dogs are not allowed on the boardwalk but today I lost count of the dogs. One last observation. Does every girl working as a bartender or waitress have fake giant bouncing boobs?  I guess they are tip makers.

[oldtimer1]

Finished out my training week with Delt and triceps. Again no warm ups sets listed.

Clean and military press 1 x9
Dumbbell delt laterals 1 x 15
Rear delt dumbbell laterals 1 x 14
Rope pulls 1 x 16
Barbell shrugs 1 x 16

Tricep push downs 1 x 11
Seated tricep extensions leaning against a scott curl pad 1 x 10
Rope tricep 1 x 15
Reverse grip single arm tricep pulley 1 x 13

Weighted crunches 1 x 60
Pulley crunches 1 x 40

I remember reading every thing I could about Yates one set to failure routine. The best gains I ever made with it was around the year 2000 in my early 40's.  I made one modification that I think really made the routine work great. I would start the routine with a moderate weight which meant I would fail at a fairly high rep count. Every week I would increase the weight and the reps for failure would come down.  An example is I would use a weight in squats that would have me failing at around 20 reps. The next week I would add weight and fail at 15.  Next again I would add weight. Usually it would bring my rep count down but to my surprise as a long time trainer I would get the same amount of reps or just a little under for some exercises. Anyway I would keep doing that until I was in the 8 to 12 rep range for all exercises. During that time I  was doing cardio four times a week.  This routine really got me in great condition. Every week I seemed to get tighter and more muscular. This type of training to failure for one set is brutal.  No one wants to do exercise after exercise to failure. It's mentally draining and physically draining. One mistake I made but how can it be a mistake if I got results was I did to many exercises per body part. I guess I was younger then and I would never do the same today. Here's an example of what I did for back at a body weight of around 180lbs while running hard four days a week.

Power cleans and jerks 3 x 3 175lbs, 180  and 185lb then 1 x 1 with 225lbs. My jerk was more of a push press like on the Superstars competition. Meaning sloppy.
Deadlifts 1 x 6 300lbs
Stiff deads 1 x 6 225lbs
Pull ups 1 x max
Seated lat pulley 1 x 12 190lbs
Dumbbells row with knee on bench 1 x 15 90lbs
Reverse grip pulldowns 1 x 12
Weighted back hyper extension 1 x 15 35lbs plate behind head
Ab work

[oldtimer1]

Getting into a rut with these two mile runs before work.  Shockingly I recorded the same time three runs in a row. How is that mathematically possible? I guess it's the same math used to count ballots after midnight. My young neighbor who is about 45 and on the local police swat team said after I told him I'm slowing up, "At least you're still doing it."  Going to hit the heavy bag for a while after I stop dripping sweat all over my key board.

[IroNat]

Getting into a rut with these two mile runs before work.  Shockingly I recorded the same time three runs in a row. How is that mathematically possible? I guess it's the same math used to count ballots after midnight. My young neighbor who is about 45 and on the local police swat team said after I told him I'm slowing up, "At least you're still doing it."  Going to hit the heavy bag for a while after I stop dripping sweat all over my key board.

Interesting.

Have you tried running faster or slower?

Walk the two miles and check your time?  If it's the same something is definitely up.

Is your watch broken?

[oldtimer1]

Just a freak coincidence. I can’t win the lottery but this happened.  The watch works perfect. A $350 dollar GPS watch.  Bet that won’t happen for the rest of my life. Couldn’t do that without watching the watch for a million bucks. 

[IroNat]

You're getting close to the line. 

60 minutes / 9 = 6.67 minutes per mile.

Don't feel too badly.  I'm trying to just keep walking.

>

Is it jogging or running?

https://www.healthline.com/health/average-jogging-speed#at-a-jog

"Jogging is slower and less intense than running. The main differences are pace and effort. One definition of jogging speed is 4 to 6 miles per hour (mph), while running can be defined as 6 mph or more."

[oldtimer1]

I certainly run faster than 6 miles an hour which is a ten minute mile.  No runner uses miles per hour unless they are on a cheap or old treadmill that doesn’t have a toggle switch to go from MPH to pace. Ran two miles today.  They have conversion tables for those interested in mph and the conversion to miles per minute/seconds.

[oldtimer1]

11-10-2020: Ran two mile and I'm finally improving.

[oldtimer1]

11-11-2020: Today was a scheduled training day. Felt really washed out. I started chest and half way through it I called it quits. Pretty rare for me. Instead I went to the park with my granddaughter and watched her on the play ground. After I watched a movie with the wife with some cold ones. I think all this training to failure is working on my nerves. 

[oldtimer1]

11-12-2020: Taking this day off too. In about 5 years I rarely have started a weight workout then quit after a few exercises. I bet I haven't done that three times in five years. Since I did that yesterday I'm doing nothing today. Maybe tomorrow. That's a real sign of my body saying take a breather and chill.  So I will. 

Might have to cut back the drinking. I don't think I have a problem but I bet I have a few cold ones three to four days out of the week.  That's  too much. Years back I tore my bicep off my arm and had to have surgery. I didn't drink for five to six weeks and I remember thinking how good I was feeling. I could only do cardio for about 6 weeks.  I didn't want to do anything in the weight room with my compromised arm. My running took off without the booze. I was running with guys whose only exercise was running I was beating them.