Back to the gym

“Let's go kids ... let's get fit!

http://www.daveross.com/songs/robertpreston.mp3”

“Is that the original chicken-fat song? Dang it's been years. I remember having the chicken-fat record, wore it out and demanded another.”

“Yes. We listened to it in gym in elementary school.”

“I learned this evening that our Health Club has 21,000 members in three locations, Melbourne, Palm Bay to the sourh and Merritt Island to the north, all in Brevard County. The one in Melbourne (close to me), is the most fully equipped and the most deluxe of the three. We can use any of the three facilities. Together, they have over 1,000 visits per day, which seems low to me - means an average less than 2 visits per month per member.”

“I actually got up early and worked out yesterday before work! yay me! I'm on a "rest and recovery" day according to my plan.”

“minimum of one hour at least three times a week. 30 mins of walking/running for at least 2. 5 miles at midlevel (8 of 15) incline.
Then 30 minutes of lifting.
Plus 4 hours of fire training once a week....usually works for me.”

“at the gym last night there was a thin-as-a-rail 18ish year old kid trying to lift weights. i say "trying" not because of his lack of muscle mass or anything, but b/c of his horrible form. he was grunting and straining, just throwing those dumbells around. ya see this all the time. for the first time i almost said to him, "hey man, can i help you a little bit?"

i mean this kid was workin hard but i fear is really gonna hurt himself. normally these kids with horrible form are more of the young punks trying to look tough by lifting way too much weight, but i didn't get that impression with him. i think he just had some bad advice and was clueless.

reminds me of the time sarge posted about the really fat people trying to do situps to lose the gut. people jumped on sarge, but i can identify. i feel bad for these people who are more likely to hurt themselves rather than make any progress.

so anybody (sarge?) ever actually try to help someone else at the gym?”

“sacco...I hear ya, I was at the weight room one night, these two kids came in, looked like POW survivors...they were flexing in the mirror...then went over and put (struggling two guys to a 45lb plate) 225 on a bar...and start to try and bench it.
I raced over and grabbed the bar as it dropped on one kid's chest.
I and a couple of other guys tried to offer advice but they knew everything...Hey you do what you can.
There is such a thing as knowing your limitations. Right now I am on high reps with 60%-70% of max. Looks stupid to some but I am trying to get ready to work up to the high weight.”

“yes sacco - One instance last year I helped a kid, about 15 years old. He was with his mom (yes, at the gym, the poor thing) and was doing one of the abdominal machines incorrectly. If you didn't know how to use it you probably wouldn't think twice about the way he was doing it (fast motions, too much weight, seat too low, etc.) - so I asked them if they wanted some assistance. They were extremely grateful.

I remember long ago (probably 13 years old or so), I was at the "Y" with a friend. I was doing the stack on the hamstring curls. An old guy (50s) came over and told me to do less weight so as not to hurt myself. At the time I was too immature to appreciate his advice and basically laughed it off, but I always regreted that. Looking back, I'm glad he came over. I think even if a kid doesn't appreciate the help now, he may someday.
last edited: 3/07/06 11:24:31 AM”

“XL - I cycle through 7 week phases based on how my body feels, one of which is a 40 rep phase. (I do those in my home gym, LOL)”

“Being on crutches for two months did me no good. It's back to GSMNP.”

“I helped this older asian guy at one of the Freemotion stations. He was just tuggin away with the wrong form, wrong direction, wrong muscle group,etc.. It was a bit of a challenge as he spoke no English and I spoke no Korean. I've also given a few pointers to some young guys when they look like they are trying to mimic what someone else has done. It's tricky to do it in a way that doesn't embarrass them.

By the way, I finally got back to lifting for the first time since my knee surgery.

I was weak, but it felt good.”

“I know what you mean by looking stupid doing the high rep work. I lift twice a week and it's all high rep work. All my upper body work is around 60lbs and 70lbs on the leg press. There are always the big muscle heads in there dead lifting twice their body weight then running over to the mirror to flex. It's quite amusing actually.

I used to try and give advice to people, especially the ones struggling at the pool, but I gave up. Way too many got snotty with me for trying to help.”

“i personally like it when pple offer assistance in the gym. I'm not too clueless in the weight room (as in I know what I can lift) but sometimes the positions of the machines get me. I sit and look at the diagrams...if they have them. lol.”

“this isn't weight related.

Outsdie mag this month had a good piece on sprint training.


warm up (well) Sprint for 30 seconds. max efffort, hard as you can. Cruise lightly for 90 seconds.

repeat for a total of 8 reps.


use the first three reps to get up to speed. Maybe 85% of your maximum 30 second effort, then go all out on reps 5 - 8.

Can be used for any workout, biking , running, swimming, rowing.

The high intensity, massive effort is supposed to release Human Growth hormone (as well as massive gobs of lactic acid).

Did it today at spin class.

Lot of fun.”

“i read that article. unfortunatly i can't run for a while longer so i just read it real fast over & over”

“2 very fast wheels to spin on. Still doing the yoga 7 days a week, added Pilate ball and ab wheel to the mix and am riding 3 times a week, 7-11 miles. I'll be adding a mountain bike to the club this weekend too. I gotta say, getting in shape has never been more fun and rewarding, mental attitude and soul/heart are making headway too.”

“i used to get sore the next day. seems like now-a-days i don't get sore until 2 or 3 days later, but the soreness lasts longer.

is this a sign of getting older or something?”

“Sacco --

Usually after a heavy lift (or first time in a long time) the soreness gets me two days later.

This week has been heavy all week, both in strength training and in cardio, so my legs really feel as though someone has been beating them.



i am trying to get geared up/right frame of mind for today's spin class.

I am going to do the 8 sprint workout that I described above. Only this time it'll probably just be me.

I will pack a performance drink . .. .and a recovery drink.

I already fueled up, having eaten lunch at 11:30. Class is at 2:00. I will try to get some dynamic stretching (not static, which robs power) in before class and get on the bike by 1:55 or so. A god solid 15 minute warm up with some lactic acid drills to flush my legs.


Then 8 x 30 second flat out nausea inducing sprints.

It becomes mind over legs very quickly.

Seconds 25, 26, 27 28 29 and 30 become very very hard.”

“I can't wait to get back to the gym next week. This bronchitis set me back”

“it's pronounced "thpin" class”

“LMAO.

I get sh't from folks about the spandex.


There's not a day in the week you could hang with me on a bike.”

“There's not a day in the week you could hang with me on a bike. - lee

Ok. This is a fight I will not try to win.”

“One of my work buddies asked me to join him and a few other folks from the office at a spin class over at the 'Y'. I told him if I wanted to ride a bike for a workout I'd actually get on a bicycle and actually ride it. He hasn't asked me again....”

“hehe”

“It sucked a little more than it did on Wednesday. My legs were pre-loaded from Wednesday's effort and lifting yesterday.


Bowlder . .. you're a runner right? Try the workout. Warm up. Sprint 3 times at 85% of your 30 second max effort. Cruise gently, just to keep your legs moving, for 90 seconds between efforts.

Then for the next 5 sprints go all out. 30 seconds as hard as you can. You should not be able to run another step after you finish. You should dread the next effort. By the time you finish with the 8th you should be choking back vomit.

Its fun. Trust me.

As for riding outside. I set up a rode ride for tomorrow. From 9:30 am . .about 2 1/2 hours. We should cover +/-45 miles.”

“Oh . ..as for your comment

"If I wanted to ride a bike for a workout I'd actually get on a bicycle and actually ride it."

Today's thpin class was led by a Category 3 professional racer who placed 6 in the pro Category 1,2 3 in a Criterium last saturday.

The women's second place finisher was in today's class ($30 in prize money!!!) and the other racers in various men's divisions.

All of whom are racing tomorrow.

They were doing simple sprint work while I did my workout.

So i guess your off the cuff observation is right . . .hard to get a good workout in spin class.”

“Here's the part where I agree with you.


MOST thpin classes are run as "aerobic" classes on bikes.


They can burn a lot of calories, but aren't much good for cycling.”

“about 2 1/2 hours. We should cover +/-45 miles

lee - Soon after my knee surgery I was doing a much faster pace than that, and I'm not a biker. This can't be right considering your boasting. Is this a pleasure ride?”

“You must be an awesome biker!

let's see.. ..45 miles in 2 1/2 hours is 18 mph.


I certainly average that on flats and small rollers.


Flats probably 21-23 sustained over an hour or two.

Rollers is more like 18.

Hills . ..well hills I have to slow down a little.

For instance. Saturdays ride was 8 mile of flats just chatting and warming up with the gang . .maybe 20 mph down tothe next town south.

From there we climbed a 6 mile hill . .and from there into pretty steep rollers. All told it was a 40 mile ride at an average speed of just over 15 mph.


Sarge --

You should consider joining some local races!!”

“Biking is boring. Thanks anyways.”

“With your self-touted raw talent . ..I imagine you'd shape up to be quite a wonder in spandex.”

“I'm joining a gym at lunchtime today, YAY! They even have an indoor heated pool...I'm going to have to block out the thought of all the kids' classes held in there and...you know...pee. LOL! They also have spinning, but you have to pay extra, and also it would probably literally kill me. HA. Cycling has always been a really hard exercise for me.”

“Pennsy already peed in that pool.”

“bump for Pennsy”

“Damn you to hell, Buddha Bear! ;o)

to remain on topic, 5 weeks ago I went back to the gym after a 12 year absence. It's a mile from work and I'm there everyday at 3:40. I lost 10lbs and getting stronger. Lookout trails!”

“dude, you are the LAST person who needed to go to a gym. A gym rat, born.

It's addictive, isn't it?”

“yeah, kinda like hiking and doing foul things to springs.”

“on the treadmill, as of this morning. That's 353 days of running, and before that 276 days of walking.”

“holy crap.”

“Aside from a recumbant stationary bike, picked up the concept2 rower for my home gym.

zenlike

This thing is great!

Anybody use it?”

“Rowing and Underground-Railroading ...”

“I have a stationary bike, and a pilates machine. Call me a woman, but that thing will kick your a$$ when used properly. Now if I only spent more time on it...”

“Why we anybody call you a woman for having a pilates machine???

”

“LOL! Mine is very different from that. It kinda looks like a rowing machine, except the seat has been replaced by a bench, then you move your body along the track by pulling cables with your hands or feet. Sorta like Chuck Norris' info-mercial machine - total gym I think.”

“and still doing my 2 hours of Yoga every day, I use my stability ball for all sorts of core training and I ride my bike as much as I can and its now canoe season...The mental, physical and emotional house is well in order...I hope you all are too.”

“i've been able to workout twice a day a lot of days lately. i had to drop to half time at work because of school scheduling issues and im lovin it. i don't want to ever graduate because i have the life i want now. i just wish i had the money i want. it's nice to be able to break up lifting and cardio into two sessions.

i just wanted to bring this thread up, it hasn't been getting enough love this year. im off, i think i heard they're playing dodgeball in the cardio cinema room today. i love that movie.”

“Wow. Even though I have reduced the amount of weight I lift to make sure the tendonitis in my shoulder doesn't come back, I lifted more weight in July than in any previous month!”

“I resumed active participation in aikijutsu this evening. It felt good. Last Wednesday I attended, but just watched. (It is possible to learn from watching.)”

“I reached and surpassed 100,000 crunches today. Yay for me.”