Oldtimer1

[oldtimer1]

Trained back today along with deadlifts. After I did some door repairs my wife wanted that took an hour. I then sat down with my lap top checking emails.

 I have pairs of 80lbs, 85, 90, 95 and 100lbs dumbbells for sale on craigs.  Someone responded they wanted them. I don't want strangers in my basement so I did a farmer's walk up the basment stairs with the dumbbells. Completly exhausted. When I got the two 100lbs I tripped on the second step and fell. Thank God the dumbbells weren't damaged falling on me.  Little birds were going around my head.  In the kitchen my wife said there is blood everywhere. Didn't realize my hand was bleeding. She wanted me to go for stiches but I patched it up. This guy better show up to buy them tomorrow. I have my eye on another piece of equipment. Beggining to think I'm not as young as I use to be.

[Primemuscle]

It is lucky you weren't injured worse than you were. It's probably a good thing that you carried them upstairs instead of having the purchaser do it, get injured and the sue you.

[IroNat]

Glad you are ok, OT.  It's easy to trip on stairs.

Two 100 hundred pounders at once?  That's a lot.

Maybe next time carry only one bell at a time and hang on to the handrail with the other?

Looked on Craiglist for your dumbbells but no luck.

There seems to be a lot more weights for sale since I last looked.

[The Scott]

Trained back today along with deadlifts. After I did some door repairs my wife wanted that took an hour. I then sat down with my lap top checking emails.

 I have pairs of 80lbs, 85, 90, 95 and 100lbs dumbbells for sale on craigs.  Someone responded they wanted them. I don't want strangers in my basement so I did a farmer's walk up the basment stairs with the dumbbells. Completly exhausted. When I got the two 100lbs I tripped on the second step and fell. Thank God the dumbbells weren't damaged falling on me.  Little birds were going around my head.  In the kitchen my wife said there is blood everywhere. Didn't realize my hand was bleeding. She wanted me to go for stiches but I patched it up. This guy better show up to buy them tomorrow. I have my eye on another piece of equipment. Beggining to think I'm not as young as I use to be.

Whew!  Glad you're okay, brother!

[oldtimer1]

A big kid showed up for the dumbbells. Slapped the cash in my hand and did most of the work loading his car. 

Trained delts and triceps: My right hand is sore. One finger is black and blue from the fall. Could have been bad but in the scheme of things I got off easy.

No warm up sets shown.

Standing dumbbell delt press 1 x 12
Dumbbell delt laterals 1 x 15
Rear dumbbell laterals 1 x 14
Face pulls 1 x 18
Barbell shrugs 1 x 12

Dips 1 x 15
Close grips 1 x 8
Two hand single dumbbell behind the head 1 x 12
Push downs 1 x 13
Single dumbbell on arm behind the head 1 x 12

Weighted crunches 1 x 60
Pulley crunhes 1 x 30 (I vary the weight from workout to workout with this. Lighter weight I get better form. When using heavier weight the form is looser. Both are good so I mix it up.)

[oldtimer1]

This 45 years plus of lifting weights has been an obsession.  Truth be told I have so much more potential in running and boxing than bodybuilding but I'm hooked. Just bought this glute kick back machine. Waiting for it to arrive. In the commercial gym I split my time with I saw a selectorized version of this kick back machine.  The guys stayed away from it and only the women used it. I was curious to try it. It was the best machine leg movement I have ever tried. Hits the quads and glutes hard. I remember gasping for breath the first time I used it.

 I noticed my sprinting speed went up rapidedly using this thing. To the point where my thigh power over powered my calf and I got a great injury out of it.  I was doing 40 yard sprints and in my 60's I felt almost as fast as in my youth. I was shocked by the spring in my steps and I attributed it to the addition of the kick back machine. My achilles didn't share my enthusiasm for my regained sprinting speed.

This is a sickness this bodybuilding crap. I would be healthier and more athletic if I did body weight stuff with the addition of running. When it gets here I'll give a review.

[IroNat]

Cool.  Reinvesting the dumbbells proceeds, bro. 

Take it easy in the beginning with it so you don't injure yourself.

[IroNat]

How are you structuring your workouts to accommodate your running?

I know you are posting the workouts but just give me cliff notes like what days you run and what days you train, rest days, etc.

[oldtimer1]

How are you structuring your workouts to accommodate your running?

I know you are posting the workouts but just give me cliff notes like what days you run and what days you train, rest days, etc.

Last two weeks I only ran once. I concentrated on lifting.  Today is a day off. Tomorrow I get back.  I was looking over my training logs. I have a stack on my dresser.  Wow, have I gone down hill quick, lol. Looking over old training note books have given me some clues to how to get back.  I guess I'm ahead of the curve for my age. I want to get my VO2 back. If can't make significant progress by concentrating on it I will see a cardiologist to see if I have a problem.  One thing I read clicked with me with a guy that is an amazing runner and lifter.  He said if you want to be a better runner you have to be consistent with training. I am with lifting but I throw in running as an after thought.

Hope your training is going well.  Heading to the boardwalk to eat crap and drink cheap beer in Seaside.   

[IroNat]

Bruce Lee said in one his books that aerobic capacity declines very rapidly if you lay off.

I guess that means you have to run often to maintain or improve your running.

Keeping training logs is something I do too.  I write down each day's workout in a notebook.  More detail than what I post here.

Went through a few in the past days and can see my strength has declined over the last couple years.  Of course I dropped twenty pounds this year and lost muscle which is probably the cause.

This is why I am cleaning and pressing a lot to get strength back hopefully.  I don't want to regain the weight and fat.

It's hell to get old.

[oldtimer1]

Bruce Lee said in one his books that aerobic capacity declines very rapidly if you lay off.

I guess that means you have to run often to maintain or improve your running.

Keeping training logs is something I do too.  I write down each day's workout in a notebook.  More detail than what I post here.

Went through a few in the past days and can see my strength has declined over the last couple years.  Of course I dropped twenty pounds this year and lost muscle which is probably the cause.

This is why I am cleaning and pressing a lot to get strength back hopefully.  I don't want to regain the weight and fat.

It's hell to get old.

The clean and press might be the best exercise. As we age strength is one of the last things to to.  Power goes quick. After 40 is goes down. As you know strength is a separate entity from strength.  Always include some kind of Olympic lifting, jumping or sprinting.  Endurance goes down with age. Not as fast as power. There are many old guys doing the high singles in the weight room but in the scheme of things are not in shape or doing well physically.

[oldtimer1]

It is only a sickness and crap if you make it so. Bodybuilding is a form of exercise. Everyone benefits from moderate exercise. Anything, including exercise done in excess can be harmful to one's health. What types of exercise we do is a choice. If one thing isn't working (maintaining or improving your health and wellbeing), try something else. Variety is preferable to stagnation.

Activities such as walking, running or jumping places stress on the Achilles tendon. This contradicts your claim that running would make you healthier. Doing something you enjoy and then complaining about it doesn't make much sense.

Wow are you passive then hostile aggressive.  Complaining?  Really? If my posts offend you don't read them.  All exercise carries risk.  You would be hard pressed to find an individual that worked out hard for decades that doesn't have injuries. Yes, cardio  when weighted against benefit to risk is worth it.  It has prevented more heart attacks than it has caused. That's why after a heart attack for the majority  doctors want you doing cardio during rehab. Yes, I injured my Achilles.  My Achilles is better now. I bet now in my sixties I could beat anything cardio wise you could have done in your 20's at my current age.  Tell me how fast you could run a 100 yards , 440 yards or mile.   

[Primemuscle]

Wow are you passive then hostile aggressive.  Complaining?  Really? If my posts offend you don't read them.  All exercise carries risk.  You would be hard pressed to find an individual that worked out hard for decades that doesn't have injuries. Yes, cardio  when weighted against benefit to risk is worth it.  It has prevented more heart attacks than it has caused. That's why after a heart attack for the majority  doctors want you doing cardio during rehab. Yes, I injured my Achilles.  My Achilles is better now. I bet now in my sixties I could beat anything cardio wise you could have done in your 20's at my current age.  Tell me how fast you could run a 100 yards , 440 yards or mile.

I'd have to check, but I don't believe in my reply I even suggested your post offended me. Really, why would I? You were speaking generally and not specifically to me. 

Seems like every so often you get really defensive when it doesn't seem called for. Nothing in my post was meant to criticize you or how you choose to exercise. Maybe I read what you wrote wrongly or maybe you didn't realize how what you said would be perceived. Seems to me, you were criticizing yourself for pursuing bodybuilding type routines as opposed to more athletically oriented ones.

I hope you and I are friends. Friends are honest with one another. 

[oldtimer1]

Still training. Too lazy to keep up with this journal. Maybe I will start again soon.  I've been reading and looking at youtubes for different training ideologies. I have always been interested in how others train. Lately here are some observations of a couple of volume variations.

1. Ryan Humiston's youtube has exploded. He has an interesting take on working out. Besides using exercise variations I have never seen before he loves high reps.  Very typical of him to do four sets of 20.  He also does century sets too, drop sets, super sets and giant sets.  If I got his philosophy down if he is doing four sets of 20 the first set he takes to failure. He might get 25 reps.  The second after a short rest maybe 18 to failure. The third 15 reps and the fourth 12 reps to failure. All with some forced or cheat reps at the end. Check out his youtube channel. He went from nothing to over a million people watching his stuff.

2. This is the Steve Holman 4x (X stands for sets with his codes)  take on volume. Nothing new to his take. So many pros use it. He will do  4 sets of 10.  He tries to stay away from failure unlike Ryan above who chases it every set. On the 4x the first set will end at 10 even though he could have gotten 15. The second after a short rest he gets 10 but could have gotten 12. Third set he gets 10 but could have gotten 11. Fourth and final set he fails at 8.  Danny Padilla trained like this. Used the same weight every set but he liked 5 sets of 12 in general. Steve Davis too and a host of others trained like this.


3. Then you got Bill Pearl's version of volume. He wanted to avoid failure for every set.  He liked lower reps like 6 to 8 but that wasn't written in stone. He wanted to complete every set without failure in general. He said you can't make training so hellish that you can't keep training longevity because of needed breaks for exhaustion. I'm sure he hit failure but it wasn't something he was aiming for.

[oldtimer1]

Trained chest and bicep Monday then had a hard treadmill work out after. Trained legs early yesterday Tuesday and felt in a fog but I got my reps in.  Started feeling under the weather toward the end of my job shift that day. Came home sick as dog and seeing the doc today.

 I think our immunities are compromised. I have been washing my hands, sterilizing my work desk and door. In general trying to avoid close contact with people the best I can. The immune system works by getting stronger from fighting germs. Now we have 8 months plus of avoiding germs.  Our defenses are weakened.  Now that we a back to just about normal we are being exposed to people and the germs are spreading. One example of this was a day care place near me closing for two weeks. They thought it was covid but over half of the kids came down with a bad cold. In my job I'm constantly surrounded by people from all different countries.  It's like the United Nations. Just a few to mention are Mexicans, Africans and Muslims come into my office and judging by their English are fresh from those countries. I wonder what germs they have that I haven't been exposed to? 

[IroNat]

What line of work are you in?

[oldtimer1]

What line of work are you in?

I'm retired. I work part time now for a government agency that works with the State Department. It's like the United nations of people. Exposed to a lot of foreigners.

[IroNat]

Did you get the glute kick back machine?

Do you like it?

[Primemuscle]

Last night was one of the two consecutive nights off on the current Elite 3 bands routine, (yes, still doing bands). Anyway, I took advantage of the freed up time and did 4 sets of 25 BW squats, leg raises and calf raises. Why did I do this? Because my legs are lagging lately. I am not doing enough regular exercise including walking to keep them in shape. Tonight I may use the extra time to work my core including abs.   

[oldtimer1]

Did you get the glute kick back machine?

Do you like it?

It's sitting on a cargo ship container in the Pacific ocean waiting to unload. I hope it wasn't in one of the many of the containers they dumped in the ocean for insurance claims. I'll let it go a month or two then contact American Express for a refund.

[oldtimer1]

Last night was one of the two consecutive nights off on the current Elite 3 bands routine, (yes, still doing bands). Anyway, I took advantage of the freed up time and did 4 sets of 25 BW squats, leg raises and calf raises. Why did I do this? Because my legs are lagging lately. I am not doing enough regular exercise including walking to keep them in shape. Tonight I may use the extra time to work my core including abs.

Walking is a great addition to a strength exercise routine.  Bodyweight squats are great. 

[oldtimer1]

Under the weather this week but I woke up feeling better. I decided to try to experiment with Ryan Humiston type high rep workout. Just a back ground. In my training I try to make a moderate weight heavy by doing a full range of motion and moderate rep speed. I chase failure with somewhat moderate weight. 

Today I went into my basement gym without the thought of working out. Just wanted to do a brief experiment. I did two arm dumbbell curls. It wasn't alternating but curled at the same time. I used a really light weight and the first set I failed at 30 reps. I then went to rope push downs for triceps. Again a light weight. I gutted out about 30 reps again. I went back to the dumbbells for curls. I failed at around 25 reps. I took a very brief rest and got the 5 remaining reps. I went to rope triceps and dropped the weight 10lbs. I failed at 20 reps. I then rest paused it to 30.

I rarely take measurements but I did today. My arms measured the biggest I have ever taped them.  I have taped them after my usual 8 to 12 rep arm workout on occasion so I know my measurements. This added a quarter inch. I know many will say a pump isn't growth. I question this because sarcoplasmic hypertrophy might increase muscular size in the long run.

 Think of it this way. A muscle fiber contracts on or off. With high reps a couple of fibers are contracting at the beginning of the set and toward the end they all are. Danny Padilla said something to the effect that increasing muscular endurance is the key to increasing size. He might be right. If intensity is the key to muscle growth we would be doing sets of single reps after warm up. That would be the most intense way you could train.

 Off on another tangent; I read about a guy that was doing  4 sets of 10 in the leg press with the heaviest weight he could for a long time. For a change he loaded the leg press with a weight for 4 sets of 25 plus. He said his thighs started growing quickly.

[Primemuscle]

Under the weather this week but I woke up feeling better. I decided to try to experiment with Ryan Humiston type high rep workout. Just a back ground. In my training I try to make a moderate weight heavy by doing a full range of motion and moderate rep speed. I chase failure with somewhat moderate weight. 

Today I went into my basement gym without the thought of working out. Just wanted to do a brief experiment. I did two arm dumbbell curls. It wasn't alternating but curled at the same time. I used a really light weight and the first set I failed at 30 reps. I then went to rope push downs for triceps. Again a light weight. I gutted out about 30 reps again. I went back to the dumbbells for curls. I failed at around 25 reps. I took a very brief rest and got the 5 remaining reps. I went to rope triceps and dropped the weight 10lbs. I failed at 20 reps. I then rest paused it to 30.

I rarely take measurements but I did today. My arms measured the biggest I have ever taped them.  I have taped them after my usual 8 to 12 rep arm workout on occasion so I know my measurements. This added a quarter inch. I know many will say a pump isn't growth. I question this because sarcoplasmic hypertrophy might increase muscular size in the long run.

 Think of it this way. A muscle fiber contracts on or off. With high reps a couple of fibers are contracting at the beginning of the set and toward the end they all are. Danny Padilla said something to the effect that increasing muscular endurance is the key to increasing size. He might be right. If intensity is the key to muscle growth we would be doing sets of single reps after warm up. That would be the most intense way you could train.

 Off on another tangent; I read about a guy that was doing  4 sets of 10 in the leg press with the heaviest weight he could for a long time. For a change he loaded the leg press with a weight for 4 sets of 25 plus. He said his thighs started growing quickly.

I bet he dropped the poundage to something he could handle @ 25 reps. Less resistance often results in better control of the exercise. Varying the range of motion supposedly increases muscle growth.

[oldtimer1]

I bet he dropped the poundage to something he could handle @ 25 reps. Less resistance often results in better control of the exercise. Varying the range of motion supposedly increases muscle growth.

Yes, that's the point. He used lighter weights and increased the reps drastically.  I'm just looking into different protocols and theories of training.  Lately there has been a lot of chatter on videos and the internet about the value of high reps. I'm not a fan of really high reps but they do make their debate points for the benefits of high reps.

[oldtimer1]

I didn't lift or do cardio for a week while I was under the weather. Today I was going to lift but I just had power clean day for a little break in. I did 3 x 3 then 1 x 1. Very light weights. Stayed around 165lbs. Didn't want to tax myself.  Tomorrow I hope I will be firing on all cylinders. I was pretty sick. I wonder how much strength and endurance I lost. Tomorrow is time to get back to work in the gym.