Posted on 08/17/2009 10:30:29 AM PDT by BellStar
As I write this, tomorrow is Tuesday, which is a cardio day. I'll spend five minutes warming up on the VersaClimber, a towering machine that requires you to move your arms and legs simultaneously. Then I'll do 30 minutes on a stair mill. On Wednesday a personal trainer will work me like a farm animal for an hour, sometimes to the point that I am dizzy an abuse for which I pay as much as I spend on groceries in a week. Thursday is "body wedge" class, which involves another exercise contraption, this one a large foam wedge from which I will push myself up in various hateful ways for an hour. Friday will bring a 5.5-mile run, the extra half-mile my grueling expiation of any gastronomical indulgences during the week.
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Omagosh, I completely missed it. I guess having a middle-aged, graying, winded body causes jellying of the hanging-lob-over-the-center-of-the-plate portion of my mind.
Good laugh.
Keep up the great work!
Yeah, I had the advantage of NFL coaches, albeit years ago.
Single joint lift? Never done one unless I’ve been hurt.
Does anyone know the formula for toning up, rather than bulking up? Reps, length of time?
A chaw will help also.
“If an average person like a powerlifter and with the intensity of a powerlifter the US wouldn’t have to worry about the obesity problem.”
It’s true.
I am, by no means, “svelt,” but I can throw a pretty boy through a wall -— and I don’t get short of wind going up stairs, either.
I am occassionaly tempted to see what my best deadlift would be, but, for safety reasons, I don’t drop below what I can do for 5 reps (which is in the mid 400s somewhere, depending on the day).
I also don’t use straps. I figure if I can’t hold it up, I don’t need to be picking it up.
Don’t use a belt, either. Just me.
I don’t want to compete; if I did, I’d get way too serious and start roiding, I know me.
My best buddy, also 67, is 5'9", weighs about 150, smokes three packs a day, eats like a horse - eggs, bacon, cheese - pastries, and drinks a LOT of red wine. To the best of my knowledge, he's never exercised in his life, or been on any kind of diet. Nobody ever said life was fair.
It may be the red wine.
Start eating grapes, and take a resveratrol supplement and see if that helps.
Also, you might try coenzyme q10
I’ll stick with the red wine, thanks. If it works for Vince....
Here’s the straight dope: There are no masculine and feminine patters of muscle growth. There are no exercises that specifically encourage definition. You can build muscle mass, and you can lose fat. That’s it.
http://randomfit.blogspot.com/2007/06/bulking-vs-toning.html
I am so proud of you! Thank you for sharing your really great and oh so encouraging story.
First, a correction - I was 65, not 60, in early 2005.
I had a LOT of trouble getting started. I wore prescription “diabetic shoes with accommodative inserts” to prevent blisters and other such problems with my feet, but just the initial, minimal treadmill walking quickly wore the soft lining out of them. I got a new pair of “diabetic walking shoes,” but they were no better - for the same reason. And after just a few weeks, not only were the linings worn, but I was developing layers of blisters on the ball of both feet, as well as where the lining was worn and on 4 toes.
I would find the blisters only when I examined my feet, because I could NOT feel them. I saw a Orthopedic Dr, who told me that If I kept doing this I would soon be doing it on prosthetic feet - and gave me a new prescription for the same kind of shoes. I also saw a podiatrist, who gave me the same grim prediction - and prescription. And I also saw 3 different PEDORTHISTS - people who actually make the inserts.
The last one told me to visit a running shoe store and get running shoes with adequate soft lining, the best shock absorbtion I could find, and enough room to accept the diabetic inserts I needed. He recommended “Fleet Feet” because they actually put me on a treadmill in the store and took a movie of my feet.
Turned out I needed a LOT of support, as well, and that Nike “Structure II” was what I needed, along with “Balgo” sox, that NEVER wrinkle. I also needed a thin Spenco insole over the inserts, because the bare inserts would not allow the sox to slip - so they would wrinkle.
Not a single blister since then, and I have already told the rest of the story.
I hope it is better than the NFL; those were easy to trick.
(Yes, like all pro players, I was roided to the gills. 750 sostenon and deca was a typical week.)
Thanks for the information and excellent article.
Thanks for your account of the barriers that someone who WANTS to exercise but already has limitations might face. It’s good to keep in mind.
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