Gaolee
Official leathers tester and crash dummy
It sounds like you are getting back to it in a good way. Once you are back at it, it will amaze you how your metabolism ramps back up, most likely.
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Exercise enthusiasts and wannabees only !!!
- Thread starter Joe Nerve
- Start date
Funny you should ask...I was just looking back on my log and seen that I hadn't taken a day off since October, and even then it was only one day when I had some obligations come up that I couldn't work around. I'm the kind of personality that beats myself up mentally if I slack off. Because if I miss a day, it makes it easy to miss a second day, and a third day, etc. Not that that happens often, but I know it can happen.
I may skip the strength training here and there but I always manage to get in a minimum of 35-40 minutes (usually 45-60) of moderate-to-vigorous cardio each day, whether I feel like it or not. (Last night was a great example...I'd have given anything for someone else to run and bike in my place.) I probably SHOULD take a day off now and then.
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Yes - Sundays off from exercising and practicing the bass, unless I feel like jumping on a bike or playing that day.
My pandemic routine didn't change because we built a workout room on our 3rd floor years ago. Each workout involves a very simple form of middle aged circuit training. Whichever cardio I do is broken up into 4 sets dividing the time equally, with weight bearing stuff broken up the same way. So the routine is:
Monday: Elliptical 28 minutes-->Total Gym 100 pull down crunches
Tuesday: Water rower 24 min--> 100 reps bench with 50lb. dumbbells
Wednesday: Elliptical 28 minutes-->MacKenzie pushups/stretches
Thursday: Water rower 24 minutes-->Total Gym 100 pull down crunches
Friday: Elliptical 28 minutes--> 100 reps bench with 50lb. dumbbells
Saturday: Water rower 24 minutes-->MacKenzie pushups/stretches
I'm on year 3 of this routine now, and it seems to fit because even though it's boring, it's all cardio/core and I actually get up there and do it every morning!
- Oct 7, 2000
- 18,619
- 38,941
- Disclosures
- Endorsing artist: Musicman basses
For the past 5 years, not committing to any set routine has worked best for me. I know that backfires for many
, but here's how/why I'm finding it helpful...My schedule is CRAZY. I've been working 60 hour weeks, plus trying to take care of other commitments. If I had a routine I'd be failing - miserably. What I do instead is work out and exercise when I can, and take it in stride when I can't. That means I might go 5 or 6 days in a row (changing up my exercises), and then not exercise for a week, sometimes even 2 or 3. If I can work a single workout into those weeks when its impossible to work out regularly, I do, and I make it a dang good one. It keeps me going, and its working really well.
When summer comes around I'll most likely be exercising 2 days on, 1 day off. Our bodies get damaged when we're exercising. They heal and get stronger when we rest.
I've just been motivated to be a little more rigorous about this.
I have NFI how, but I've wrenched the muscles under and around my left shoulder-blade - pretty much exactly where a bass strap sits. I can't play until it's healed, for fear of making it worse!
You'd think I'd have noticed at the time, but I'm gifted like that. In a way, it doesn't matter just how I did it, because I need to make the same adjustment regardless: build up all the supporting muscles.
So guess who's just fired off a pre-sales query to a local-ish company selling cable machines?
As is so often lamented, getting older sucks... but it beats the alternative.
I have NFI how, but I've wrenched the muscles under and around my left shoulder-blade - pretty much exactly where a bass strap sits. I can't play until it's healed, for fear of making it worse!
You'd think I'd have noticed at the time, but I'm gifted like that. In a way, it doesn't matter just how I did it, because I need to make the same adjustment regardless: build up all the supporting muscles.
So guess who's just fired off a pre-sales query to a local-ish company selling cable machines?
As is so often lamented, getting older sucks... but it beats the alternative.
I too suffer from the dreaded bass player shoulder. I got one of these last year and it really helps:
Invalid Link Removed
Man, many years ago I figured I'd lose some weight and tone up. Checked out a few gyms. Never joined 'cause not one of 'em had a cigarette dispensing machine.
Mustering some self discipline, figured I'd do it myself. Started running 2 miles a day. A week later I'm 14 miles from my house calling my wife to give me a ride home.
Aaaaand, I'm outta here...
Mustering some self discipline, figured I'd do it myself. Started running 2 miles a day. A week later I'm 14 miles from my house calling my wife to give me a ride home.
Aaaaand, I'm outta here...
Updates:
-down 15 lbs since 2/21, and diet still super clean. I know this isn't a diet/weight thread, but I find they're interconnected. I have more motivation and better mood when I focus on both.
-push-up plan is so/so. Logged over 700 since 3/8, 77 in the last session (5 sets). But I've got days where I feel strained, and it's starting to feel monotonous. Now I can get outside, but I'll shift to a more well-rounded body weight plan when the weather is crummy.
-really getting into mobility work. Yoga, bear crawls and crab walks, Invalid Link Removed, MovNat, GMB... focus on joyful, safe movement, and quality over quantity. Sometimes the best movement can't be measured (like chasing my son around a playground, for example.)
-I really like jogging! I've been getting probably 4 days a week, 2 miles a day or so (walk/run intervals) with my almost-5 YO on his bike (and he's fast, it's a workout!) using Link Removed principles for guidance on safety and sustainability.
thanks for reading, be well TB!
-down 15 lbs since 2/21, and diet still super clean. I know this isn't a diet/weight thread, but I find they're interconnected. I have more motivation and better mood when I focus on both.
-push-up plan is so/so. Logged over 700 since 3/8, 77 in the last session (5 sets). But I've got days where I feel strained, and it's starting to feel monotonous. Now I can get outside, but I'll shift to a more well-rounded body weight plan when the weather is crummy.
-really getting into mobility work. Yoga, bear crawls and crab walks, Invalid Link Removed, MovNat, GMB... focus on joyful, safe movement, and quality over quantity. Sometimes the best movement can't be measured (like chasing my son around a playground, for example.)
-I really like jogging! I've been getting probably 4 days a week, 2 miles a day or so (walk/run intervals) with my almost-5 YO on his bike (and he's fast, it's a workout!) using Link Removed principles for guidance on safety and sustainability.
thanks for reading, be well TB!
PS this really struck me, thanks Joe. I actually wrote this down and stuck it on the wall!
Got my second vaccine on Monday the side effects hammered me Monday night and most of Tuesday felt a little better Tuesday night but my arm was sore at the injection sight, and yes I worked out anyway
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I work out with moderately heavy weights, with two body parts usual per workout to failure, so it is a listen to what my body tells me. I have tried to the 3 day on 2 day off , but if you are going for failure even with forced reps you are not going to be able to stick to it very long
What I do, do is use resistant bands and daily pushups to move out the lactic acid buildup on the off time
What is a "water rower"? As an avid kayaker, I'm very curious about this.
My family thinks I'm nuts (and they're right). But recently I've been standing in the shallow end of our pool rowing nowhere. It's a GREAT upper-body/trunk workout. I have to put one foot way out front to keep my balance. I even flip the paddle around and do push rowing (rowing backwards?). THAT will work your shoulders like crazy!
Man, my upper body has really tightened up and I've only been doing it a couple of weeks.
Sunday we went kayaking and (even with my 8 year old daughter on the front....who is ZERO help) I found it easier to get around already. (She's so stinking cute I don't care if she helps.)
But I would love an off-season way of rowing in water.
It's a rowing machine where you pull a cable and slide on a track, but instead of mechanical resistance, the resistance comes from a blade turning through a water tank at the front of the machine. It makes a satisfying whoosh of sound with every stroke.
WaterRower Rowing Machine - Indoor Rowing
Pros: Well built, long lasting, can stand up in a corner when not in use, smooth operation with smooth and "organic" transmission chain. My son uses it every day at like 5 in the morning, and that sound blends with my morning dreams since I get up at 6 or 6:30.
Cons: very little variable resistance - to add resistance, you need to add more water, but it only goes up to a certain point. Also, the bar is narrower than I would like, but since I row with Monkey Grip and a weightlifting strap on each wrist to spare the joints on the hands and wrists for music, I can get around that just fine.
This is fine for us, because we are basically looking for a cardio/core alternative to the Elliptical. Also, for me, after a herniated L4-L5 episode a few years back my McKenzie therapist noted that I looked like my front was way more developed than my back and suggested rowing as a way to get better balance. After some research, we bought the water rower and all three of us use it regularly. We love it, but it's not the same as rowing in a body of water!
Here are some pics of our little 3rd floor workout room. There were taken at night, but the windows face east and in the morning the room is full of natural light.
EDIT: But again, I'm not trying to "gain" anything at this point...just trying to slow the descent while the inevitable human "coming down the mountain" paradigm of physical decline plays itself out. Thankfully, I have a few more years to still gain in terms of musical chops, so I'll try to content myself with that.
- Oct 7, 2000
- 18,619
- 38,941
- Disclosures
- Endorsing artist: Musicman basses
@Joe Nerve The room got turned into a dedicated workout room in 2013 after a catastrophic ACL injury during BJJ training. We bought the elliptical then because my surgeon told me that I should never stop my rehab after the surgery, and I have never stopped. I made it back to the Dojo, but after a few months of training I realized that my legs had aged out; every session became more about "did I manage to train without injury today?" than "what did I learn?" So I retired from that with sadness but knowing it was the right thing.
The rest of the room just kind of grew from there. We felt incredibly fortunate to have it all in place when the pandemic hit. And yeah, the Total gym is great! The Christy/Chuck commercials almost put me off, but I had a trainer friend who recommended it and I love it. My wife uses it for slow squats, I use it for overhead pulldown crunches, and my son uses it for all kinds of stuff. We've replace the cables once and the wheels 3 times.
The rest of the room just kind of grew from there. We felt incredibly fortunate to have it all in place when the pandemic hit. And yeah, the Total gym is great! The Christy/Chuck commercials almost put me off, but I had a trainer friend who recommended it and I love it. My wife uses it for slow squats, I use it for overhead pulldown crunches, and my son uses it for all kinds of stuff. We've replace the cables once and the wheels 3 times.
- Oct 7, 2000
- 18,619
- 38,941
- Disclosures
- Endorsing artist: Musicman basses
Same here. Not sure what it is about those informercials, but they DID put me off, completely. I've known about the Total Gym since it first came out and thought it was just a BS piece of workout equipment that wouldn't do anything. I bought it during the pandemic and was completely blown away.
Just watched the infomercial again the other morning, and still think they don't do it any kind of justice. Might have something to do with the, "I lost 60 lbs with only 10 minutes a day," type testimonials.
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Gaolee
Official leathers tester and crash dummy
I have come to really like rowing machines. The gym I go to is only a half mile from home, and I walk or run there on a regular basis. It's nice having so much different equipment available and not having to maintain it. The thing that has surprised me most is lifting free weights. I never did that before and always assumed I just wasn't all that strong. I'm not all that strong, really, but doing a bit of Olympic lifting means I'm stronger now than I was a a kid. I'm certainly nowhere near as fast as I was, and that wasn't especially fast. I don't think there's a solution to that.
