Why Go to the Gym?

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Originally Posted by crustychef

I love burpees!

If you want some real fun try doing a heavy deadlift and burpee combo. Heaviest deadlift you can touch and go for 7-10 reps.

5 rounds of
275 Deadlift x 5reps
10 burpees

Heavy weight cardio workouts melt off fat like no other.

It always seemed like a cruel cruel test to do a bunch of shuttle runs with 10-20 burpees inbetween runs. Often followed by scrumming up and pushing a couple tons of rock on a sled back and forth across the pitch. Great workout!

Don't think I could manage doing burpees and deadlifts mixed, I think I'd just end up in a heap on the floor!

Used to do some barbell circuit training, great cardio, even with relatively light weights.

[Pilgrim]

I hate working out. Never liked it, never will. Now I'm 62 and my muscle tone sucks, so I'm going to force myself to increase my activity level.

I've never ever been able to maintain a gym schedule. There is nothing attractive about it to me.

[crustychef]

Originally Posted by Pilgrim

I hate working out. Never liked it, never will. Now I'm 62 and my muscle tone sucks, so I'm going to force myself to increase my activity level.

I've never ever been able to maintain a gym schedule. There is nothing attractive about it to me.

You should give CrossFit a shot. It's plain old fun and hard work. You get to play again. I've trained 16-65 year olds and they love it. Imagine going to the gym and you don't know what the work out is, ever. One day could be row 5 sets of 500m. The next could be dodgeball. The next learning how to do a hand stand against a wall and then a light barbell circuit with assisted pull ups and sit ups. Or it could be run a mile for time. Or 3 rep max back squat. Or a team work out. It changed my life. I lost 70 pounds in 10 months, fixed my bad back and can crank out pull ups like its nothing.

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Originally Posted by Pilgrim

I hate working out. Never liked it, never will. Now I'm 62 and my muscle tone sucks, so I'm going to force myself to increase my activity level.

I've never ever been able to maintain a gym schedule. There is nothing attractive about it to me.

I didn't initially. Then saw it as part of training for competative lifting (which is something I'd love to go for). Some of what I did was about sport and the team spirit. Latterly, I found going to the gym solo to be incredibly calming, great for the mind.

All in all, so many different ways to end up enjoying it, you just need to find a reason that fits you :-)

[crustychef]

Check out this video of a women in her 60's
http://community.crossfit.com/video/...ossfit-her-60s

[1958Bassman]

Originally Posted by crustychef

You should give CrossFit a shot. It's plain old fun and hard work. You get to play again. I've trained 16-65 year olds and they love it. Imagine going to the gym and you don't know what the work out is, ever. One day could be row 5 sets of 500m. The next could be dodgeball. The next learning how to do a hand stand against a wall and then a light barbell circuit with assisted pull ups and sit ups. Or it could be run a mile for time. Or 3 rep max back squat. Or a team work out. It changed my life. I lost 70 pounds in 10 months, fixed my bad back and can crank out pull ups like its nothing.

What would you do with a training "victim" who screwed up both shoulders, a knee, an ankle, has occasional back problems and hates running? Right shoulder is good, left one still hurts when I push it- both rotated like a slot machine arm, only backward. Can't do surgery right now because of what I do for a living and since I'm the whole company, I'd be screwed if I had to stop working.

Started at the beginning of Feb at 297 lb/35% body fat and out of shape (other than being a blob- that's a shape, right?). I also stopped drinking diet soda at the same time and that made a huge difference in how much/what I eat.

Started out on machines and stopped most of them, using them mainly for pulling down- tricep pulldowns, kneeling pulldowns at 170-180 lb (one of my goals is to do pullups). If I do tricep pulldowns with too much weight, it hurts, so I'm doing 3-6 sets, 15 reps @ 55 lb. Doing barbell curls- 3-6 sets @ 75 lb, upright row- 3-6 sets @ 75-100 lb, body weight and gorilla squats with added weight, 2-6 sets/day of 20 pushups (when I do them, couldn't do those at all when I started), stationary bike & walk on the treadmill- 2-3.5MPH, 4%-20% incline (vary speed and incline, based on BPM with several intervals/session).

I was also using the stairs at the MKE lakefront- 70 steps, 6" high. I did one at a time the first time and decided it was a waste of time, so I started doing two at a time on the way up and single steps on the way down. Two sets the first few times, then worked up to 6 sets with a short break between sets 2&3 and 4&5. Later, I was doing two sets of three and a few times, I did 6 sets with minimal breaks. Before I started 3 sets before the break, I began running up- two sets, break, two sets, break, one set, short break and then the last set. Not balls out but it made a huge difference in wind and overall stamina.

I'm at 266 and last time they measured body fat, I was at 24% (over a month ago and I can definitely tell that I have lost more since then). Also, I'm on the high side of 55 years old.

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Do you definitely need surgery? Tried pyshio/physical therapy?

Good work on the weight loss!

[1958Bassman]

Originally Posted by i_got_a_mohawk

Do you definitely need surgery? Tried pyshio/physical therapy?

Good work on the weight loss!

If I press on the top of that shoulder, it stops making crunchy sounds and the pain is far less. OK, the crunchy sounds are reduced but it's pretty painful, at times. Not bad enough to take anything for it, but I either have a high pain tolerance or I'm just a sick bastige who must like pain, apparently. Most of my exercises are upper body but they involve almost everything including hanging from pullup bars and lifting my legs in all directions (it's like hanging crunches and lifting to the sides is a great workout for obliques). The upright and bent rowing, curls and chest exercises aren't so heavy that I do more damage but the added strength does help.

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Have you seen anyone about it? Is it a fairly recent occurance? Might be able to help it with some simple rehab work (which would also mean it getting better sooner as you wouldn't need to take time off work, plus surgery can end up leaving you with more limited ranges of motion.

[Chebass88]

Originally Posted by crustychef

I love burpees!

If you want some real fun try doing a heavy deadlift and burpee combo. Heaviest deadlift you can touch and go for 7-10 reps.

5 rounds of
275 Deadlift x 5reps
10 burpees

Heavy weight cardio workouts melt off fat like no other.

I feel the need to chime in here. Before popping off & doing something like this - make sure you can deadlift 4 wheels (405lb) easily. 5 wheels is even better (495lb). If your maximum deadlift if only 315, you are going to attempt to do 25 total reps at 87% of maximum. Add the timed aspect of XFit, and you have a prefect recipe for an injured lower back. A good rule of thumb is to use approximately 50% of your max single for "conditioning" workouts such as this.

I agree - it produces some great results - just be REALLY careful about the weight selected & sacrificing perfect form for the ability to write your name first on the whiteboard.

[1958Bassman]

Originally Posted by i_got_a_mohawk

Have you seen anyone about it? Is it a fairly recent occurance? Might be able to help it with some simple rehab work (which would also mean it getting better sooner as you wouldn't need to take time off work, plus surgery can end up leaving you with more limited ranges of motion.

I did the right one in '07 and the left one in '08. I do home theater, A/V sales & install- I'm it, in my company and hiring someone means I have to A) trust them enough to hire, B) find out what they do well, or not, and train them to make sure they do things to my liking, C) pay them well enough to do the job and D) charge for the additional wages/insurance, etc.

I plan to talk to some specialists to get the details about recovery time/therapy/options soon- I have been doing rotator cuff exercises and it's not really helping much.

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Probably better seeing them sooner than later, at least you can see if it can be treated without surgery (I read your comment earlier so saw that taking time off isn't really an option).

I was in that kinda line of work briefly in my late teens, worked for one of the two B&O retailers in the country (at the time).

[Ziltoid]

Originally Posted by Chebass88

I feel the need to chime in here. Before popping off & doing something like this - make sure you can deadlift 4 wheels (405lb) easily. 5 wheels is even better (495lb). If your maximum deadlift if only 315, you are going to attempt to do 25 total reps at 87% of maximum. Add the timed aspect of XFit, and you have a prefect recipe for an injured lower back. A good rule of thumb is to use approximately 50% of your max single for "conditioning" workouts such as this.

I agree - it produces some great results - just be REALLY careful about the weight selected & sacrificing perfect form for the ability to write your name first on the whiteboard.

You have to be careful with deadlifts in any workout imo.

[MatticusMania]

Why go to the gym?


Well, you dont see women in yoga pants just anywhere.

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Originally Posted by Ziltoid

You have to be careful with deadlifts in any workout imo.

While good form is a must for any lift, the powerlifting lifts tend to be the ones where the worst form is really going to hurt you (literally). Though, I'd say bench and squats are higher risk if you're doing them wrong!

[rtslinger]

Used to workout in a hardcore Body Building gym own by John Kemper called Diamond Gym in Maplewood, NJ but, bought my house in 99 and put in my home gym so no need to go to a outside gym. Still working out 3 times a week and now I am training my 18 year old who has recently become interested in weight training. goal Stay fit into my golden years whatever they are ha ha ha.

[crustychef]

Originally Posted by Chebass88

I feel the need to chime in here. Before popping off & doing something like this - make sure you can deadlift 4 wheels (405lb) easily. 5 wheels is even better (495lb). If your maximum deadlift if only 315, you are going to attempt to do 25 total reps at 87% of maximum. Add the timed aspect of XFit, and you have a prefect recipe for an injured lower back. A good rule of thumb is to use approximately 50% of your max single for "conditioning" workouts such as this.

I agree - it produces some great results - just be REALLY careful about the weight selected & sacrificing perfect form for the ability to write your name first on the whiteboard.

It should go without saying that form is paramount. I'm a professional trainer. I'm not advocating slop and "grip it and rip it" mentality. It is all scalable to anyone's level of strength, fitness, and mobility.

[crustychef]

Originally Posted by Ziltoid

You have to be careful with deadlifts in any workout imo.

You have to be careful with any lift in every work out. People just don't bother to have anyone show them proper way to do things and then get hurt as a result of their own pride and ignorance about technique. Deadlift get's a bad rap in my opinion. If my senior citizens can do it safely anyone can.

[Ziltoid]

Originally Posted by crustychef

You have to be careful with any lift in every work out. People just don't bother to have anyone show them proper way to do things and then get hurt as a result of their own pride and ignorance about technique. Deadlift get's a bad rap in my opinion. If my senior citizens can do it safely anyone can.

It just always seemed to me that powerlifts, like mohawk said, are something to be extra careful about. Not that you don't have to be careful with other lifts. I'm not bashing on deadlifts, they are great.

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Originally Posted by Ziltoid

It just always seemed to me that powerlifts, like mohawk said, are something to be extra careful about. Not that you don't have to be careful with other lifts. I'm not bashing on deadlifts, they are great.

I suspect that it could be the mentality of some of the folks who are into the bigger lifts. Where it becomes all about ego and adding more weight/looking like a clown/hurting yourself.