2020 Health & Fitness Thread

[Bill D]

I still walk for four miles every day. Tomorrow I’ll be at it again. I have weights that I can use to do a little bit of training but haven’t started yet.

[mc2hill]

Heh heh, this thread is dying of neglect.

I had a couple-week setback over a tick bite, but I saw it as a (force ) lay-off, and of course it didn`t really matter.

Also, I haven`t had the time to do as much (treadmill) hiking as I`d like...just can`t spend an hour or so walking to nowhere very often. I do miss that, almost as much as I miss the dog-outings (which is still probably less then *they* miss them).

I`ve decided that I`m *now* (finally) at the point I wanted to be about 17 months ago: dialed-in well enough that OK I can just keep doing this. Hard for me to believe how significant it is to *not* eat those Denny`s bfasts, but then they were one of only 3 less-than-optimal meals/week and that`s a big %.

The daily (yes, *daily) Roman Chair Let Raises are working *great* for the lowermost portion of my abs. Pavel`s "grease the groove" approach...glad I started doing those, wish I`d stared earlier.

I`m setting the next goalpost at age 65; over the next ~40 months I`ll fine-tune things and hit 65 just the way I want to. (Says the guy who`d planned to do that for 60 )

Glad to hear you have are continuing with your workouts. I have not returned to the gym yet, and am only doing some `brisk` walking a few days a week.

I turn 59 in a few weeks, and I have been telling myself that I will be in better shape for my speed-limit B-Day next year! I really need to start lifting some weights - planning to start with Plate workouts, then move on to real stuff. And back to the stair machines too - I can`t believe how out of breath I am after going up a few floors at work.

I did not get the full Covid 19 (pounds), but did put back on the weight I had lost from the end of last year.

[Accumulator]

Bill D- Man I *so* envy you the time for that! Four miles would take me well over an hour that I just can`t spare. Guess that`ll be easier (somehow) when our dog situation gets closer to normal...at least I`ll be walking a lot more if not doing it as vigorously as on the treadmill.

mc2hill- Hey, you`re taking the crucial steps of recognizing that you need to do something and formulating a plan! As you probably noted, I just turned 60 this spring so I`m right there on the same page as you age-wise

Yeah, if climbing stairs IRL gets ya winded, getting back to some kind of stair machine oughta be the ticket. Easy for me to say with the Stairmaster in the basement...the pandemic`s gotta be *murder* on everybody who goes to a gym and I sure sympathize with that.

Heh heh, with one year until your 60th, you`ve really put yourself under the gun! I spent ~3 years droping ~3lbs of bodyfat, and here I am whining about how I hit my goal all those months late I always find that lasting change takes me forever, but maybe you can do better

[Accumulator]

Gee, where`s jrock645? I want to know whether the HRT made a big diff....and to hear about whatever training program he`s on now.

[Bill D]

My walk consistently takes me an hour and five minutes. Wish I could shave more time off that but I’m not going to begin mixing jogging with my walking

[Accumulator]

I`ve upped the volume of my workouts a bit for some bodyparts (without identically duplicating any movements) while decreasing the frequency even more(!).

E.g., volume: I`ll emphasize/not either the stretch or contracted portion of the movement, add/delete additional (*progressive*) resistance to accommodate the strength curve of the muscles involved (i.e., something like the Nautilus cam provides).

E.g., frequency: I didn`t feel my quads/hams were fully recovered and ready for RT until nearly *4 weeks* had passed, which had me expecting a downgrade in performance. But no, I added both weight (hey, the warmup sets seemed easy..) and reps.

I`m still flummoxed by the Q of how to balance my RT/SIIT cardio/chores so they don`t interfere with each other! After my RT Leg workouts, I can`t do effective cardio for days; after some of the groundskeeping chores I can`t do *any* exercise at all for days. Very tricky balancing act given my seemingly extreme need for recovery.

Perhaps even more polyphenols would help, but everything known to be therapeutic is awfully pricey.

[Accumulator]

I still walk for four miles every day..

-AND-

Four miles would take me well over an hour..

Well, maybe not after all

After working up to a quick 94 sec sprint on the Stair, I rested for a minute and hopped on the Tread. 60 minutes, three (virtual) hills via the incline/decline buttons = 4.07mi.

To accomplish that, I had to do ~19min at 4.4mph, which I had to do with it level, that would`ve been too much for up/down another hill, I can only do those at 4.2 max so far.

But at least I did the 4mi in an hour! Now maybe I won`t feel like I oughta reach that particular goal (at least for a while) and I can dial it back a bit to where my "go long" day hikes are still somewhat pleasant. I was *working* for some of this one, not my idea of "fun" by a long shot.

[Bill D]

I guess if you can reach 4 mi in an hour with inclines, I should be able to do it just walking flat. I’ll make it my goal to eliminate those five minutes and do 4 mi in an hour starting tomorrow

[Accumulator]

I guess if you can reach 4 mi in an hour with inclines, I should be able to do it just walking flat. I’ll make it my goal to eliminate those five minutes and do 4 mi in an hour starting tomorrow

I`m OK on the inclines up to 4.2, although that`s *working* at the peak. My "pump arms" probably contributes to that though.

I found the tricky part was dealing with the need for a warm-up/cool-down as I have to start out around 3.2mph and spend a few min working up to 3.8 for the first hill. Then I need a bit of time at ~3.4 near the end so it`s not an abrupt halt, and today I only got one minute...not much of a cool-down having just spent so long at 4.4, wouldn`t surprise me if most people want more than that.

[jrock645]

Gee, where`s jrock645? I want to know whether the HRT made a big diff....and to hear about whatever training program he`s on now.

still loving the trt. Training isnt much different than what menno drew up for me. Switched out a couple exercises and added a set here and there to raise volume, but its still fundamentally the same with each exercise bwing done twice a week and each muscle being hit 3-4x’s a week. Progress continues to be good.

[Accumulator]

jrock645- Ah, that`s great! I was hoping that you were making progress. I sure find it interesting how you and I do well with such differing frequency, just goes to show how different different people can be.

Bill D- Note that walking on the Tread might be very different from walking in the Real World, I just don`t know. I *DO* know that it sure took me a long time to build up to the speeds I`m doing on it now, never woulda thunk it a year or two ago.

[maurofc70]

I just came by this thread....I am 79 year sold..I walk 1-1/2 mile a day...lift weighted bars 10 to 30 lbs...LOL my big problem is its 5 o`clock some where and have two Southern comforts at night...I thank god.for giving me good health...

[Accumulator]

maurofc70- Hey, glad you found this thread

That`s *GREAT* that you`re doing that at 79! Heh heh, IMO that good health you`re enjoying oughta keep going with the exercise you`re doing.

I myself wouldn`t see those Southern Comforts as a "problem"

Do you do your walking outdoors/indoors/?where?

[Accumulator]

My lengthy recovery periods are getting crazy...guess it`s because of the (very demanding) chores I`m doing all the time.

Yesterday was my first Upper Leg workout in..!!27days!.. and I expected to be detrained. But no..more weight, more reps, good form..genuine progress. Gee...

Flip-side frequency-wise is that my daily very easy/"far from going to failure" sets of Leg Raises on the Roman Chair) are really improving the definition of my abs/etc. I might start trying the same thing for my Inner Obliques.

[BMWWW]

Happy to report that the terrible condo gym has reopened
Going to utilize as few pieces of equipment as necessary and just run circuits in the now "private 1 hour gym session, 3x a week" that I have access to.

Any tips?
Obviously disinfecting all equipment that I use before/after
Probably splitting it into upper/lower body days so I`m not disinfecting as much equipment.