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Health, Good Practises, and Exercise
- Thread starter Huntn
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I wish I could claim consistency... I try to focus on different parts (Chest/Shoulders/Biceps, Back, Abs, triceps, etc.) but depending on schedule, tiredness, and equipment availability I kind of workout what I can.
My schedule is usually as follows:
M- Morning Lifting, Lunchtime Run(30/45 mins), 20 min yoga, Evening Martial Arts (60 mins)
T- Morning Lifting, 20 min yoga, Evening Martial Arts (90 mins)
W- Morning Lifting, Lunchtime Run(30/45 mins), 20 min yoga, Evening Martial Arts (60 mins)
Th- Morning Lifting, Lunchtime Run(30/45 mins), 20 min yoga
F- Light Workout or rest
Sat- Morning Full Body Workout (about 120 mins), and sometimes 6.2mile run, 20 min yoga.
Sun- Light workout or rest and maybe 20 min yoga.
I'd be lying if I said that I accomplish the above every time. For example, this morning no workout...
Progressive overload. I usually do 4 sets for each exercise (plus warmup reps), increasing weight trying to increase total volume by at least 1% (I use an app to calculate it). Rest between sets is usually 1 minute.
My biggest problem at the moment is leg day. I work out my legs a lot due to martial arts and running (I am testing this fall so I have to increase my cardio a lot)... I truly don't know how to fit it into my schedule because if I do leg day and there isn't enough rest before I start using the legs again, esp. for kicking, I am at risk of a bad injury... as I found out by experience.
I might think about that, problem is that I only have about 45 mins to 1 hour for lifting except on Saturday.
Sounds like you’re getting plenty of cardio, especially with the martial arts. I tried a five day training schedule about a month ago, and I found it wasn’t necessary, I can accomplish everything within four training days, and an extra day it’s absolutely monumental in terms of allowing my body to recover. I used to train five days a week back in 2018/2019 when I started B.B, and even then, that was too much. My intensity is high in the gym during those four days, with very little rest in between sets, But it’s all worth it, if you push towards earning those rest days.
You know what I really want to do? Schedule a deep tissue massage. There’s so much built-up tension into those muscles, and it’s not just the relaxation side of things, but breaking up all that dense muscle tissue, also allows more blood flow to make its way into those areas that are really tight.
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Ok so as we are going to have the fall semesters go ahead I have begun heading back into the office for work. My normal breakfast consists of some fruit (either a banana, apple, or something seasonal) and oatmeal. Sometimes need to rush so fruit is fine but I wish to avoid the Euro thing of a croissant, pain au chocolat which are fine once a week but always leave me hungry. So any other ideas for quick portable breakfasts that are not too expensive??
Are you sure that you're not over-training? Mon.-Thu. seems pretty intense. You may end up having to go easier all around to be able to get through (aka survive!) those workouts. Would a day's break between the 4 not work for you? Although I'm 46, if I training seriously for four days in a row...I'll be crying on the 5th day and/or battling on the 4th. Possibly you're training in this way as part of an x-week cycle.
High overall training volume can be taxing mentally as well.
Just my 2c
It's actually very possible but, as I mentioned, the above is more aspirational than my actual schedule. Sometimes I can do the full schedule, but often something (work, family etc.) stops me from doing the complete routine. To be honest, I feel less tired now that I am doing more than less.Are you sure that you're not over-training? Mon.-Thu. seems pretty intense. You may end up having to go easier all around to be able to get through (aka survive!) those workouts. Would a day's break between the 4 not work for you? Although I'm 46, if I training seriously for four days in a row...I'll be crying on the 5th day and/or battling on the 4th. Possibly you're training in this way as part of an x-week cycle.
High overall training volume can be taxing mentally as well.
Just my 2c
I also plan to change my routine to something less schedule-intensive after I do my black belt test this fall.
I purchased a massage gun. It's a game changer. Not the same of a deep massage but hey, it does the job it's supposed to do.
We picked up one of the cheaper ones from Marshals a few months ago. It really does help.
We also have a TENS unit for working out particularly sore spots.
Yeah, I saw your post mentioning that a page or two back about the massage gun. Honestly, I purchased an expensive one back in May, and to me, it really doesn’t massage anything, it’s more of a vibration controller that uses pulsation to actually target muscles. I think this type of massage gun would really be more suitable for like the lower lumbar at best, however; I just didn’t find it comfortable, even though I can understand everybody’s different with what works and what doesn’t. And that was my first experience with a massage gun, but what I’m really looking for, is something that actually kneads into the muscle tissue —v.s—vibrate.
I was Super impressed with how strong the motor is and the battery life was excellent, but it just didn’t work for me personally.
This was the one I purchased:
Went and purchased this instead:
What I really like about this massage chair, is it actually kneads the muscle into different variant patterns that break apart that tissue versus sending a vibration pulse, huge difference in terms of the outcome.
Vanilla flavored Granola mixed with almond pieces. That transitions to an easy, quick carbohydrate with the almonds being a healthy fat source. You can add dried cranberries for the fruit/antioxidant. That’s cheap and a highly customizable food source.
******************************
I just love grillin’ season.
Grilled turkey burgers. [93% lean].
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1) Purchased an air fryer. Will try it tonight (french fries, obviously)
2) My 15yo kid has been coming to the gym with me lately, even at 5am. He's the skinny type and he wants to build some muscles. The main downside is that I have to follow him, so I am always in a time crunch, but it's a small price to pay for his well being and for encouraging a teen in doing more work. In addition, I purchased the Jocko Molk protein shake designed for kids, he likes it!
2) My 15yo kid has been coming to the gym with me lately, even at 5am. He's the skinny type and he wants to build some muscles. The main downside is that I have to follow him, so I am always in a time crunch, but it's a small price to pay for his well being and for encouraging a teen in doing more work. In addition, I purchased the Jocko Molk protein shake designed for kids, he likes it!
Physique update (four months in)—
First off...Life is good.
Secondly, this is a long post with no TLDR...so now read it.😁
I don’t want to make this technical, because it’s more about just kind of gauging where I’m at physically since I started back March 1 into the bodybuilding world. I train four days a week, with three days off. As I mentioned before, I actually used to train five days a week back in 2018/19, but I’m finding that by training four days a week, with an extra third day off, it’s really been beneficial for recovery, and I can push the calories to promote growth.
So my weight is about the same, where I weigh in at the beginning of the day, at ~230lb, and end at about ~233lb [I’m about 5’8] . I average five meals a day, and my last meal is at 3 AM post workout, which I actually think has really helped reserve those calories for muscle growth when I go to bed shortly after.If I had to guess where I am at with my body fat percentage, I think I’m somewhere around 19%, but without a DEXA scan, it’s difficult to say with water retention.
As far as cardio is concerned, I do as much swimming as I can in our pool with warm days, but I don’t generally don’t do a whole lot of cardio other than that, and of course if you include like mowing the lawn or something.
My diet consists primarily of chicken, salmon, eggs, tuna, bananas, lots of Greek yogurt w/dark chocolate and 2% milk, I’m actually using less red meat then what I did when I first started and I’ve also been on a turkey burger hype for about over a week now (Absolutely amazing with Himalayan pink sea salt and an egg on top). I average probably about ~2 pounds of meat per day into my daily diet. I also like to achieve at least get two bowls of cereal just for the carbs and sugar to mix in my diet. {I’m probably averaging close to ~115g of protein per day.} The foods/liquids I absolutely avoid is no alcohol, no saturated fats like deep-fried foods, no heavy cream or oils, no chips, no ice cream. To be perfectly honest, some of those things do sound appealing to me, but my body generally just doesn’t like those types of ingredients, because I’m not used to consuming them. Also, I never snack, I only eat ‘staged meals’, so that helps avoid the snacking that would be an easy fix like potato chips.
I still find it I can eat almost anytime I want to, which is a good sign, that my metabolism is on a constant cycle and pushing those calories where they need to be for muscle growth.
I still need to improve my water intake, I should be averaging close to a gallon a day, and I’m falling short of that.
My sleep cycle has been solid, I’m over eight hours, which is more than optimal. I’m also finding that now that my body has adapted to my workout regiment, I’m recovering much faster from when I first started, meaning that I really don’t experience a lot of muscle fatigue that recovers after the following day, which helps with adequate sleep and a high calorie diet.
I do experience some back tightness, but I find out once I’m doing a lat pulldown of some variant, that quickly is resolved, and the stretch feels really nice if you’re ever experiencing lower lumbar tightness.
So, overall how do I feel about myself and where I’m at in terms of trying to put on muscle? To be honest, I sometimes can’t even tell if I have put on a lot of muscle, because I see myself every day. And at times, I feel like I haven’t progressed, but then you have to use other sources around you to determine where you are at physically. So for example, and I kid you not, none of my dress shirts fit me, like I can’t even reach around to put them on, because they won’t even fit over my shoulders. and that’s not to boast or anything, that’s just to use this as a metric that clearly those shirts fit me six months ago and now I couldn’t even put them on if I tried my hardest.
I think the best source that I found in terms of somebody that actually took notice, was my brother. I haven’t seen him in over nine months because he travels the world for business, and I saw him last weekend for the first time since August 2020, and he saw me and he pulled me aside at a family event, and he asked me if I was on ‘gear’ (As in steroids..Hahaha). And of course the answer is no, it’s just good genetics and hard work with lots of food. So for him to say that, then I know I’m on the right path.
I think what really helps to keep the goal you want when you’re a weightlifter, Stay consistent to all the pieces to the puzzle, and everything will come together if you stay the course.
I think the most important thing about any type of physical fitness, rather it be bodybuilding, marathon running, gymnastics, whatever, it’s about appreciating how you look and nothing else. For me, I have achieved that look that I want of being an off-season bodybuilder and it when you have a passion in life when it comes to physical fitness, go after it, because the older you get, your body is going to use those physical attributes you developed for a healthier lifestyle.
There’s always room for lots of improvement for me, areas of weakness that I can improve, and that is something I can use to push forward every day, but everything else now that I’ve developed the groundwork, is like a well oiled machine.
Press On!
First off...Life is good.
Secondly, this is a long post with no TLDR...so now read it.😁
I don’t want to make this technical, because it’s more about just kind of gauging where I’m at physically since I started back March 1 into the bodybuilding world. I train four days a week, with three days off. As I mentioned before, I actually used to train five days a week back in 2018/19, but I’m finding that by training four days a week, with an extra third day off, it’s really been beneficial for recovery, and I can push the calories to promote growth.
So my weight is about the same, where I weigh in at the beginning of the day, at ~230lb, and end at about ~233lb [I’m about 5’8] . I average five meals a day, and my last meal is at 3 AM post workout, which I actually think has really helped reserve those calories for muscle growth when I go to bed shortly after.If I had to guess where I am at with my body fat percentage, I think I’m somewhere around 19%, but without a DEXA scan, it’s difficult to say with water retention.
As far as cardio is concerned, I do as much swimming as I can in our pool with warm days, but I don’t generally don’t do a whole lot of cardio other than that, and of course if you include like mowing the lawn or something.
My diet consists primarily of chicken, salmon, eggs, tuna, bananas, lots of Greek yogurt w/dark chocolate and 2% milk, I’m actually using less red meat then what I did when I first started and I’ve also been on a turkey burger hype for about over a week now (Absolutely amazing with Himalayan pink sea salt and an egg on top). I average probably about ~2 pounds of meat per day into my daily diet. I also like to achieve at least get two bowls of cereal just for the carbs and sugar to mix in my diet. {I’m probably averaging close to ~115g of protein per day.} The foods/liquids I absolutely avoid is no alcohol, no saturated fats like deep-fried foods, no heavy cream or oils, no chips, no ice cream. To be perfectly honest, some of those things do sound appealing to me, but my body generally just doesn’t like those types of ingredients, because I’m not used to consuming them. Also, I never snack, I only eat ‘staged meals’, so that helps avoid the snacking that would be an easy fix like potato chips.
I still find it I can eat almost anytime I want to, which is a good sign, that my metabolism is on a constant cycle and pushing those calories where they need to be for muscle growth.
I still need to improve my water intake, I should be averaging close to a gallon a day, and I’m falling short of that.
My sleep cycle has been solid, I’m over eight hours, which is more than optimal. I’m also finding that now that my body has adapted to my workout regiment, I’m recovering much faster from when I first started, meaning that I really don’t experience a lot of muscle fatigue that recovers after the following day, which helps with adequate sleep and a high calorie diet.
I do experience some back tightness, but I find out once I’m doing a lat pulldown of some variant, that quickly is resolved, and the stretch feels really nice if you’re ever experiencing lower lumbar tightness.
So, overall how do I feel about myself and where I’m at in terms of trying to put on muscle? To be honest, I sometimes can’t even tell if I have put on a lot of muscle, because I see myself every day. And at times, I feel like I haven’t progressed, but then you have to use other sources around you to determine where you are at physically. So for example, and I kid you not, none of my dress shirts fit me, like I can’t even reach around to put them on, because they won’t even fit over my shoulders. and that’s not to boast or anything, that’s just to use this as a metric that clearly those shirts fit me six months ago and now I couldn’t even put them on if I tried my hardest.
I think the best source that I found in terms of somebody that actually took notice, was my brother. I haven’t seen him in over nine months because he travels the world for business, and I saw him last weekend for the first time since August 2020, and he saw me and he pulled me aside at a family event, and he asked me if I was on ‘gear’ (As in steroids..Hahaha). And of course the answer is no, it’s just good genetics and hard work with lots of food. So for him to say that, then I know I’m on the right path.
I think what really helps to keep the goal you want when you’re a weightlifter, Stay consistent to all the pieces to the puzzle, and everything will come together if you stay the course.
I think the most important thing about any type of physical fitness, rather it be bodybuilding, marathon running, gymnastics, whatever, it’s about appreciating how you look and nothing else. For me, I have achieved that look that I want of being an off-season bodybuilder and it when you have a passion in life when it comes to physical fitness, go after it, because the older you get, your body is going to use those physical attributes you developed for a healthier lifestyle.
There’s always room for lots of improvement for me, areas of weakness that I can improve, and that is something I can use to push forward every day, but everything else now that I’ve developed the groundwork, is like a well oiled machine.
Press On!
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I ran outside throughout the winter despite colder than normal temps (a few runs were in single digit (F) temps) because I wasn't comfortable going to the rec center and learned to love it. Now, I'm running outside in the humid, hot weather and am reminded how much I hate it. I have to complete a 5k tomorrow (morning – at 5:30 – to avoid the heat) to continue my streak of 50 mile months. For my runs, I would much rather it be 30°F outside than even 70°F, especially with this humidity.
I hear you on those hot, humid runs. Not sure about 30°F, but 40-50°F is where it’s at for me.
Jdechko lives in WI, so that should be the norm for 30° from Nov-March. When I used to run, it was 30° (or below) weather all the time. I found the most beneficial thing to do, was a lot of indoor stretching and joint warm-up in that type of temperature, which makes it much more transitional into a colder climate. Oh, and a pair of Yak Trax for grip onto icy climates. The problem with running I find in colder climates, is some of the roadways outside Detroit are absolutely terrible, which the infrastructure needs overhauling.
50°F and overcast is just about perfect to me.
In years past, I'd always have access to either a treadmill or the rec center to do runs when the roads weren't in good enough shape, but with the pandemic (and the sale of the treadmill a year prior), I had to get my run in a couple days with several inches of snow on the ground. As such, I didn't have any spikes for grip, so I just took it slow and easy and made it through. I will say, though, that I love my Nike Pegasus Turbo Shield, a high-top, neoprene covered version of the training shoe. It was toasty warm and dry, even in the coldest, wettest conditions.
Off by about 700 miles give or take. ?
it’s just that 40-50 seems to be a sweet spot where my lungs aren’t burning from the cold air, but I’m also not dying from heat/humidity.
I recently picked up a treadmill for indoor running since summer brings thunderstorms, and for the winter when there’s not as much daylight.
Given the fact that I couldn’t go to the gym during COVID, I’m headed towards a pretty nice gym in the garage. Space for a couple of bike trainers, a treadmill, rowing machine, some smaller dumbbells (for now) and a small weight bench, resistance bands, medicine ball, exercise ball and a decent TV on the wall. ?
That’s what I tell my wife whenever some questionable Safari tab isn’t closed in time.
The only problem I have with indoor running, is that it becomes really mindless for me, as I enjoy the fresh air and scenery with outdoors. Plus, it’s when you create your own resistance from running outside —versus— on a track that is motorized. But still, the benefits is we have loads of trails, and if you have a decent pair of trail running shoes and are willing to make the drive, it’s pretty challenging on its own, but rewarding in its own right. Plus you do get to see quite a few wild animals throughout the woods.
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I vastly prefer running outdoors as well. I honestly think it’s more difficult to run on a treadmill than outside just because of that constant, monotonous pace on the treadmill. Even 3-4 min/mi slower pace on the treadmill feels harder.
It’s like it’s forced rather than fluid. My stride shortens by about 20% and I tend to bounce more on the treadmill as a result.
My mind also wanders a lot during outdoor runs even though I’m aware of the run (it’s weird). But on the treadmill I can only focus on the run and I get too tied up with the metrics and it feels constrained, even almost claustrophobic.
It’s hard to describe. I’m very data-driven during training, but the treadmill feels too focused, and I feel like I need a separate set of metrics for treadmill
100% agree. My rec center has a very small indoor track, but as I'd mentioned, I haven't been there in a year and a half. I did use the treadmill a few days in a row while I was on vacation a couple weeks ago. Even the struggles with the treadmill were better than the intense Fort Worth heat.
My brother-in-law is a doctor, and he’s told me many times over that actually running on a treadmill is counter-productive (Due to reverse tracking), because it’s terrible for your hip joints, especially if you’re older like in your 40s or 50s, it can actually do more long-term damage to the labrum/joint cartilage. Now, I’ve always been an outdoor runner and I’m young, but it makes sense if you think about it, there’s actually quite a few external threads of people discussing their hip injuries due to treadmill running, especially on the incline.
Anyways, before bodybuilding, my theory in life for running, was ‘If you work in it, you train it’. I trained/ran outside no matter what the weather was, and there’s no excuse for it, as long as it didn’t pose any safety hazards with major traffic or white out conditions where a driver has poor visibility on the road.
And thats where trail running is in place, it’s more challenging, it is a safer environment, you see way _more_ in terms of nature, and fortunately, where I live, we have over ~135 different trails within an 80 mile radius.
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Yeah. The treadmill is really there as a backup for me, though other family members use it for walking/ jogging. It’s nice to have and it has gotten the kids off the d**n couch this summer.
I like your training theory. I have 3 mantras that I keep for training (all shamelessly stolen)
1. “Success is a little like wrestling a gorilla. You don't quit when you're tired. You quit when the gorilla is tired.” - Robert Strauss
2. It never gets easier, you just go faster.
3. Harden the f*** up.
As far as trail running, I get that the varied terrain can be nice, but since I’m largely using pace as a training metric, it’s sometimes difficult to substitute intensity for pace.
Great point about the intensity that can hinder with trail running where the continual momentum is needed when using metrics for the likes of running, walking, ect. You know what else I really like to do to? Is rowing, it’s a great way to increase the cardio, but you get a great arm pump.
That quote above from Strauss is completely accurate. When you want to achieve success, [especially when it comes to being an athlete], you have to actually ‘want it’, not just go through the motions of what a lot of people do. I always try to ‘work smarter, not harder’, that means I temper myself in terms of what I’m able to push for weight the muscle-mind connection, but not to the point where it’s unsafe. It’s all about a marathon, it’s not a race, when it comes to achieving the best version of yourself.