Arms on "Off Day?"

Training Over 35 Lifter
1

K under “Fat Old Man Shrinking” you can revue my workouts if desired, but my question is for that 7th day I’m taking off and doing treadmill, 5% incline at 5-8mph for 8-12 minutes and doing a little ab work.
I need to strengthen my arms, especially biceps, so what do u guys think about me adding some biceps work on that "off"day ?

I’m trying to find a balance between under/over training.

What I’m going to do today is light dumbbell curls at higher, focused reps. Should I leave my arms alone except for the scheduled workouts ? Is this an individual thing that requires me to experiment as I’ll do today?

I just figure since tomorrow isa push day, I’ve got two days for my biceps to recover and figure some work today can’t hurt.

I know u guys will have input for me on this!

Laterz,

2

K just got back from gym.

Did treadmill 8mph @ 5% incline X 4 mins (yeh, frickin can’t find my tennies so my shoes were all “floppy” and I got tired of that shit.

Light Biceps Stuff:

Hammer Curl: 15/12, 10/20, 5/50

Seated Alternating DB Curls (full rotation from palms front to back on up and reverse going down,. 2 up, 4 down tempo:
15/9, 10/20, 5/50

???Yes that’s it - off day dammit! Just wanted to get the blood flowing a bit.

3

You could do curls just about anywhere anytime and it won’t really affect things. Don’t do them before a pull workout but the day before a push or legs it won’t matter. If I were you I’d do them when training other things at the end of a workout unless you want to go to the gym and curl away then do as you please.

4

I needed to strengthen my biceps, too, to handle the lowering phase of dips and Olympic training lifts (my gym doesn’t have the kind of barbells that can be just dropped), but it didn’t take a whole training day. Instead I did bicep or forearm curls slowly in both directions, 5 sets of 5, at the end of my pulling days. The bicep curls were curl and presses (curl the dumbbell up, press it over my head, lower slowly, because lowering from a height was the specific issue).

5

Right now I’m doing a push/pull thing:
day 1-Push
day 2-Pull
day 3-Push
day 4-Pull
day 5 - push
day 6- pull
day 7 - off

At present, biceps are at the end of the pull workouts, so that’s 3 times/week. You think it’s fine to do them at the end of push days too?

I"ve done those movements and like them. Not at present though.

I’m thinking I’ll just do biceps at the end of each workout this week and see how they feel. It’s not like I’m moving enough weight that it’d be a problem IMO, just don’t want to “over train.” Am thinking my biceps themselves will let me know if it’s too much.

Thanks for the replies ya all :slight_smile:
Laterz,

6

3 times a week is enough. Doing them more than that seems pedantic. Just take the off day to relax.

7

I kinda figured that…

Funny thing about an ‘off day’ is that not going to the gym probably stresses me more than going and just doing a bit of cardio and very light stuff does.

There was a period in my life when resting seemed more ok. Nowadays I seem to be going into an almost deployment mode and stay at a faster pace every day. It’s weird as hell but at 47 being still while awake is sometimes challenging. For instance, it’s 0723 right now, I’ve been up a while and am chomping at the bit to get out of the house, whereas 7+ years ago I’d have stil been asleep and had zero motivation to even get up, much less do anything.

Aging has seemingly taken my attitude back to having a desire to go full bore every waking moment. I miss the service sooooo bad! If I was still in, there’d always be something to do and a pace that I like better than civilian stuff. By now I’d be hearing jet engines running, maybe some rifle fire, and the people around me would be up and moving…the current atmosphe is almost boring.

Of course none of that is lifting related. Just talking about the “over 35” part of this forum name…if only my damn hand hadn’t been F’d up I swear I’d be trying to renter active duty. But as it stands, there’s no mission to do a damn thing given by someone else,so to keep things interesting, so I have to come up with something constructive to do myself, which ok, a lot of people would like to have so much freedom in planning their day, but I swear people who covet retirement and taking it easy don’t realize how boring taking it easy can get. A fast paced life is something I miss the hell out of.

The greatest thing about daily activity for me now is getting to the gym, and my wife’s days off…being a 47 yo man without peers is a frickin’ boring existence. Hence my getting to the gym daily being pretty desirable.

Actually, yesterday was an anomaly because I was surprised when I looked at my watch and it was 2113…I’d spent the day with my wife after my workout and the day went very fast. LI felt like I’d accomplished something good by escorting her to get groceries and we bought each other presents for our upcoming (28th) anniversary.

Otherwise I’d have been going shooting preferably, or elsewhere. One problem I have is frickin’ ammo cost. If I could afford a few hundred rounds per day I’d stay happy! Need to buy a reloading press so I could shoot twice as much for the same price and would have something to do that I enjoy more often…oh well, Uncle Sam doesn’t pay me enough and sure as hell doesn’t cover my ammo now :confused: That reminds me of an amusing graphic I saw:
“I buy ammo for the same reason you buy toilet paper.”
Meaning when you need it…ya know?!

Ok so now I’m chatty online with people I don’t even know - sorry.

Thanks for the replies and I’ll just keep biceps at the current frequency.

Later,
~Smiddy

1 Like
8

Do you have any other hobbies aside from the gym and shooting occasionally?

9

No not really. I do volunteer work with the Knights of Columbus and help with technical support for our council mobile app and website.

10

Getting a inexpensive hobby is what I’d do in your situation because:

Not sure what I’d choose however. Maybe get a dog.

11

Yeh I hear u. A new hobby probably would help

12

Today’s session:

Ham Curl
70/12, 90/10, 110/8
***gauged weight/reps right for a change. The last rep was just challenging enough

Calf Extensions
130/12, 140/10, 160/8
***same as ham curls - just right

Cable Row
70/12, 100/10, 140/6
***tge set w/140 took all I had

Wide Lat Pulldown
55/12, 85/10, 100/8
***May need to add reps instead of weight next few times

Ez Curl
40/12, 50/10, 20/20
*60lb set was being used so I did 20/20 instead of 60/8. I think next time I’ll start at 50 and try reps of 10, 8 and 6

Standing Alt DB Curl
10/12
**can certainly try more weight next time

Seated DB Curl (3)
5/50
**These two curls were just to be sure. Next time will use 10’s or 15’s

Crunch Machine
60/50
**had planned more but this is what I got. Not real big on ab work at oresent and did these just to do them