First of all Props to you. Secondly no don’t worry it’s not too much.
My mom is 60 and still goes to the gym for 1 to 2 hours, lifting weights and cardio, sometimes we workout together!
However I think if you wanna drop body fat, you’re better of doing a bit longer cardio than 15 mins, maybe 30? At moderate pace, a bit of exertion at least.
The way you train now is more focused on gaining muscle.
Just wanted to talk a bit more about plyos and keeping your HR up
As @chris_ottawa mentioned, plyos have very little use outside of making you better at plyos/explosive activities. In fact, plyos were first applied to help athletes conserve energy in explosive/power movements by training the ability of the tendons to work as springs.
On top of that, plyos are generally somewhat more high-risk than generic strength exercises. When you land, you ankles and knees need to absorb forces of 3-7x your body weight. I’m not at all saying that scare you, just making sure you’re aware of the costs and benefits associated with that style of exercise.
If your goal is to use an exercise to keep your heart-rate up between sets, I’d probably recommend a short (<60s) piece on a rowing ergometer or a stationary bike, or some type of loaded carry exercise.
Finally, there’s nothing that’s technically wrong with keeping your heart-rate up, but also consider that the heart’s ability to rapidly increase heart rate, then bring it right back down to resting rate is also important when it comes to long-term health.
Thanks & good for your mom (and for you for giving her a shout out). : )
Thanks for the response and the link @j4gga2 . I like the idea of loaded carries to mix things up and am definitely wary of injury now that I’m a little older. There was a woman box jumping on the bench yesterday and I was nervous just watching her.
I’m getting my head around the fact that this is a long term process - and trial and error is key. The amount of information available is overwhelming at times.
The good news is, as evidenced by probably almost everyone on this forum, you will end up loving it if you keep at it. I would hate not being able to do this stuff regularly.
Okay! So today was a mix of some of my usual leg day exercises along with some trials of the things you all are doing. The gym was dead so I could play around with weights and not feel like a complete fool. No eye rolling please…
Squats
1 x bar x 12 reps
2 x 65 x 10 reps
2 x 75 x 10 reps
(This seems to be more reps than what you all do (5’s?) but again, I’m just getting a feel for things and haven’t decided on a program yet).
Bulgarian SS on the smith (how much does the smith bar weigh?)
1 x Bar + 30 x 10 reps
2 x bar + 30 x 8 reps
1 x bar + 40 x 8 reps
Then 1 x bar + 40x8 dropping down to 1x20x8, 1x10x8, 1x bar x 8 (all with no rest between)
Leg Press
Low & narrow 85x8x2
High and plie 85x8x2
Low & narrow 90x8x2
High and plie 85x8x2
Landmine up to full press
1x Bar (45 lbs?) + 15 x 10
3 x bar+20 x 8
Bike 15 mins level 13 / up to level 23
Tried out the following:
DL - BB 55 lbs x 10 x 4 okay, these felt good but I’m watching a video and realize that I didn’t drop the BB to the floor (just went down to my mid shins). Is that okay?
Clean and press - BB 35 lbs
Bench press - I’m good with just the bar for now, thanks. Good Lord.
OH press - 35 lbs
Loaded carry - waiter walk kettlebells (shoot didn’t record the weight).
Farmer walk 50lbs (25 lb kettlebells)
5’s are just a decent all-round. They tend to be a good compromise for technique, strength development and Hypertrophy.
That said, 5’s are not the perfect number, and truly, there isn’t a perfect number. As long as form is good and intent is there, any number from 1-30 will return benefits
The program that I am following at the moment as rep range from 8 to 20. Left to me own device I would live in the 3 to 8. But the coach and physio have a plan, so for once I am following instruction.
Changing from my comfort zone is a love hate thing. But I am doing it. And I see and feel the improvement.
I love being at the gym. It’s therapeutic for me. I’m usually walking around with 10 tabs open in my head and when I’m at the gym it’s all focus.
@j4gga2 is on it with his last couple posts. I’m interested in the longevity concept of heart rate returning to baseline. Is there somewhere you could point me to learn? Not doubting, genuinely curious.
In terms of rep ranges, like The others said, they’re all good. I actually like higher reps for legs. There’s so much muscle there, they don’t fatigue as quickly or completely as upper body muscles. I also find it’s too easy to use joint instead of muscle if I go too heavy/ low weight for squats. There’s also quite a bit of data that shows women can just plain handle more reps at a higher percentage of their one-rep max than men, so you’re just able to outwork us at similar relative intensities - that’s all good stuff!
To be honest, that didn’t come from a textbook or a study, just heard from a couple of coaches (Cal Dietz talked about briefly on Mark Bell’s podcast). The concept is that by encouraging the HR to drop you encourage yourself to move into a more parasympathetic state. This will improve recovery between sets, allowing you to push every individual set harder and doing more total work sets. Outside the workout, by encouraging and training the ability to shift out of sympathetic to parasympathetic we can improve sleep quality, digestion and focus whilst reducing cortisol and anxiety.
HR recovery is also a good marker for overall aerobic fitness / VO2Max
EDIT: had a quick search on the uni database and the journal articles talking about heart-recovery agree that heart rate recovery = parasympathetic, so Cal wasn’t bullshitting us (thank God)
Excellent stuff - thanks!
I have a side question – my teenage daughter plays competitive tennis and frequently runs out of gas towards the end of a match. She’s tried sipping on sports drinks but hates the taste (and no cajoling from me can convince her otherwise). I know she would benefit from a mid-match carb but am stumped on what to suggest. It can’t be heavy on her stomach and has to consumed in less than 2 minutes during the rest between sets. Any ideas out there? Thanks!
I would go with fruit and tell her to eat fast
Fruit, as @timber said, would be a great option.
You can also go with something less conventional if you’re not trying to have her feel full, you can give her something like starbursts. Tennis is super, super, super high intensity. The sugar and carbs would probably help her. @Frank_C used to eat them during workouts to keep his energy up. Just a couple of them have a lot of sugar, which normally would be a bad thing, but in a situation where she’s burning out, it’s pretty useful.
Thanks for the suggestion. Her match last night lasted 2 1/2 hours and she drank so much water that any food would have made her vomit. She’s going to try less water and clementine wedges (even just to suck on) or banana.
Also keep in mind hydration for up to 2 days before the match is more important than the hydration during it - she should not have to be drinking so much water during a match, AND, if she’s not consuming any sports drinks, meaning no salt/electrolytes, she can literally flush the nutrients out of her system and go into hyponatremia. I saw it happen in the Marines to a kid. Seizures, full on heat stroke, not pretty.
Thanks @flappinit. Yeah, it’s pretty high intensity. She also had another match that finished an hour before the 2 1/2 hour one started. So 2 matches yesterday. She was fried by the end of the second match. They were indoors at least & not in hot sun.
I’ve tried to give her life savers but she can’t stomach those either. She’s not really a candy/sweets person. Me on the other hand …
Good point re the water and electrolytes. That’s why I’ve been pushing for the sports drinks. She goes crazy (and I mean crazy) for pickles/pickle juice when she gets home from practice.
Has anyone tried the carb gels? There is a chocolate flavor that she might try.
Also wanted to say thank you to everyone for their input. I’m grateful.
I know full well that teenagers can be difficult and stubborn, but on some level, if your daughter actually wants to be a competitive athlete…she’s going to need to get over herself a little bit. You may just need to find more creative way to say it to her.