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Posted on 01/31/2004 9:52:08 AM PST by ecurbh
Oh, definitely, playing music can get muscles in the forearms and wrists! What do you play?
On the push-ups, to adjust the intensity or to target different muscle groups you can vary things like:
--Angle of hands
--Distance of hands from body
--Height (either by raising your hips higher off the floor or using handles that elevate you off the floor, like gymnasts use)
--Angle of body (using an incline)
--Number of hands (1 instead of 2)
You can experiment with that and notice how playing with those affects the way it feels. To give one application;
The pushup position stresses the pecs as the elbows move out to the sides, away from the body; it stresses the triceps when the elbows stay in close to the body. So if you want to work your triceps, instead of holding your hands in the regular pushup position, bring your hands in to within less than shoulder-length apart and lower your body to the floor, keeping your arms in against your body. In the "up" position, your arms should angle back towards your waist. As you lower yourself, pull your arms in against your sides. This will increase the tension in the triceps.
For a variation of that, point your fingers out instead of forward to shift the emphasis from your outer to your inner triceps.
That's one example; will send some more stuff on that after I get a chance to write it up. But meanwhile play around with that principle and see what you come up with.
If you've stuck with it four weeks, you're doing good! :) The effects aren't always visible at first, but they're there. Have you noticed if you can go longer without getting out of breath than when you started?
Me too! Though not necessarily the parts that I'd like to change most...heh. And seems like stuff like running upstairs is easier.
Plus - this is a huge improvement over where I was four weeks ago! By early summer, I should be able to do what I want, right?
Hopefully! I'm hoping to be at my first goal weight and fitness level by late summer. And for sure, I couldn't have done today's workout four weeks ago, so there's that!
Mostly mandolin; also some guitar, fiddle, and tenor banjo. Not that I'm all THAT great at any, mind you.
Thanks for the tips on push-ups. That helps a lot! I'm probably going to start with these tomorrow, most likely starting with just the basics and working in some variations over the next few weeks.
I've noticed this...also I seem to recover more quickly than I did at first. I still get out of breath running up several flights of stairs, but I catch my breath much quicker.
Excellent :) It's important to remind yourself of stuff like that so you know you're making progress. Otherwise you can feel like Bilbo in the middle of Mirkwood when he thought they were no closer to the end of the forest than they were at the beginning, because he didn't realize the tree he was on was in the middle of a bowl in the forest floor :)
Well, you're better than me, so I'm impressed :) I'm just learning the very basics of guitar. I'm a bit better at piano but have a lot to learn yet.
Thanks for the tips on push-ups. That helps a lot! I'm probably going to start with these tomorrow, most likely starting with just the basics and working in some variations over the next few weeks.
Yeah, that's a good approach. Work in new exercises as you get used to the ones you're already doing. If you do regular and tricep pushups it will help considerably with the shoulders and upper arms. One important thing that it won't get is the biceps, which you will need either weights, a strap, or pull-ups for. Do you have something you can do pull-ups on? You can vary pull-ups in the same way you vary push-ups, and pull-ups unlike push-ups can be used to target the biceps as well, if you use a reverse grip (palms facing towards you). If you're not strong enough to pull your whole body up that way, an easier variation is to find a stick that can support your weight, hang it between two chairs, sit on the floor under it, and pull yourself up from that position. Between pull-ups and push-ups you can get most of the muscle groups in the shoulders and upper arms.
Definitely--especially if you move to Colorado and you bike up the mountains! :)
Basically, any blackpowder repeater prior to the Colt revolver was a "suicide special" for the wealthy. Somewhere inside the gun was a hugh reservoir of black powder, just waiting to blow up when the flimsy sealing system failed.
Revolver designs had been around for ages, but Colt came along at the right time. The industrial revolution was able to make precision, high-strength revolvers. It took another 25-30 years to learn to make the brass cases that provided the quantum leap in weaponry.
Hey, everyone has to start somewhere! I don't know much about playing piano...that's something I should probably learn someday. It'd help with music theory, if nothing else.
Guitar is a lot of fun, though! Any particular style you're concentrating on?
Have a good time at church!
Wisconsin.
Read your mail--will answer in a few.
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