Ho ho, I had springs like this and I used them the most when I was at university studying for exams and didnāt have the chance to go to the gym. I used to only do front chest curls, biceps curls with one leg stepping over the spring, and triceps curls behind the head in supersets. Contrary to all theories, the circumference of my arms grew by about 2 cm in one month.
I donāt know if it was sarcoplasmic or myofibrillar hypertrophy, but that was the result. Maybe the first.
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Iām not sure Iāve hit this point yet, but sometimes I feel like Iām getting close. Iāve tried to re-frame what I see as progress since it is certainly no longer the weight Iām lifting. For the last several years it has been losing weight and improving body comp. Iām about where I want to be on body comp (or I should say where I am willing to get from a diet sacrifice standpoint) and Iām happy with my bodyweight. So, Iām going to try to progress my cardiovascular fitness now ā more biking both outside and on my new Airdyne. When I tap that out or take it as far as Iām willing given other goals, Iāll find the next thing. At some point if Iām lucky Iāll get old enough that I canāt progress on anything (or even to be able to trick myself into thinking Iām progressing) but I expect at that point I wonāt much care.
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I think I had read it in this forum:
For the old man, every retention of the current burden is PR! 
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I donāt think so, haha. You never know how much something you need to lift in an emergency might be. Hopefully Iāll never need my strength for that, but Iāll do my best to be ready.
Yeah and it definitely sounds dramatic, and Iām not naĆÆve enough to think Iām a superhero or anything. Iāve always been kind of a gym rat and always kept myself āin shape.ā A few years ago I was involved in an industrial accident where some of my friends were crushed by equipment (Iām not looking for sympathy here haha, just explaining why I canāt do āmaintenanceā). I was the first one on the scene. Most likely me being stronger would not have made a difference in that scenario or saved anybody. But it got me thinking that āwhat if I was ever in that situation again, and my strength could help save somebody?ā That was the day that optimal strength became my focus. My āorigin story,ā maybe. And thatās probably why I donāt miss very many days of training; that āwhyā is always in the forefront of my mind, and Iām afraid of not being strong enough. (for the record, there are lots of people waaay stronger than me)
Sorry if this got too heavy. That was not my intent.
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(late to the party here so responding to initial post)
This post is timely for me coming out of the hospital from a fairly scary incident. For years I have focused so much on building muscle with really no other goal. However, no that I have a decent base of musculature, I need to switch into a more longevity based training approach. The specific goals being improve heart health and maintain current strength levels.
I donāt actually need to be any more muscular or stronger than I currently am.
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I see what you did there
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Bahaha. Yes. That is what I did. There. Intentionallyā¦
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Yeah, thatās a lot more important in my opinion, although looking muscular is great. But what routines are you thinking of using to achieve the new goals.
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Focusing a lot more on adding in cardio (treadmill work for heart health and lowering triglycerides) and then strength exercises that can also improve conditioning. KB swings, farmers walks, sleds (donāt have one yet), and yoga. I will still lift weights too, but not with the specific goal of gaining muscle. Itās just something I enjoy doing so pushing it constantly doesnāt need to be a thing.
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Sled on the beach!
That seems like the workout of my dreams.
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FIFY
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Absolutely! And Iāve noticed that people in my generation often give off the ātoo cool for schoolā vibe in the gym and itās funny because theyāre really not. The snotty mean mug just gives the impression that theyāre socially incompetent and insecure. So, because Iām delightful, I will say good morning to them anyway. I donāt care if itās obnoxious because Iām exposing them to adult social interaction. They need this.
Elderly people are the most fun to talk to! They donāt give a crap about being coolā¦ and that makes them more cool.
My dad used to have one of those when I was little! I never could figure out how to do it right.
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Definitely not too heavy. (Great pun!) I can see why you train the way you do. Experiencing what you went through would motivate me too!
It starts out tough. Then after a few weeks weāre hugging in the ocean.
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This makes a lot of sense! One thing thatās weird/cool about training for less obvious goals (the ones outside of hypertrophy and strength) is that the side effects often lead to a better body composition and more relative strength.
Like your longevity goal, Iāve been focusing on optimal digestion. So making adjustments with my eating patterns has accidentally caused me to suddenly drop a few pounds and decrease inflammation. This will have a positive affect on workouts. Itās certainly changed the amount of pull-ups I can do.
I think that if someone has a better/healthier mind and body because of training and nutrition, then every day they live with a healthier mind and body is progress. It is an accumulation of quality of life. On one hand, my son was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, and due to my mentality of always trying to improve on things, I was never satisfied with blood sugar management during that first year, but after a year, I looked back on all the things that had been enabled by good management, I started to see progress in terms of days that we were able to do normal things as a family and that he was able to live as normally as possible. I also have a relative who had health issues and ended up over 330 pounds. When I talk to him about trying to get healthy, his only response is that he is so far from his goal of about 215 pounds that it seems pointless. He always crash diets and then fails. I tried to get him to focus on losing about 10% of his bodyweight and then just LIVING for 3 months at a much healthier state than he would have at 330. Every day he lives at 300 instead of 330 is progress and he needs to learn to take it slow and in stages and have a 2 year plan. Sometimes just living a day or week or 3 months healthier than you would have been should be considered progress.
I know from sports psychology BTW that men have been found to respond more to focusing on numbers, like reps and weight, while women tend to focus more on the way that training makes them feel. There is a lot of overlap, but definite tendencies. I personally went from training with weights to improve my quality of life and ability to participate in fun activities, to turning it into the end itself, and lifting weights is fun, but there is no good reason for me to try to bench 350 again, and my focus on numbers didnāt always improve quality of life as I do have shoulder pain and mobility issues and can throw a softball quite right to my daughter or move around on the tennis court with my son or wife.
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What specifically do you do for this? My wife has fibromyalgia and inflammation makes it a lot worse.
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I canāt lie, the gym is my escapism from my digestion. My life is so dominated by how my digestion is that without the gym I would just be wallowing and feeling sorry for myself over it. It affects how much I can push my workouts but if I can lift X amount and do X amount of work then I canāt be as weak as my body is trying to make me feel.
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Iām so sorry to hear that sheās experiencing that!
The main thing for me was avoiding irritating foods. When I had fibromyalgia, I went to a naturopathic doctor who put me on a very strict elimination diet for 9 months. It cured me of the SIBO and leaky gut, which was causing the burning pain in parts of my body.
And then I was able to gradually add back all foods. HOWEVER I still have a threshold for certain, more irritating foods. I now can get away with things as awful as sugar alcohols, but in much smaller amounts, and on rare occasions.
I also canāt eat big heaping servings of things like beans and cauliflower, but I can enjoy them in normal-person quantities. LOL
Lately Iāve been playing with limiting my meals and eating frequency. Over the past few years Iāve been eating several small meals a day because I thought they were easier to digest, but I may have been way wrong about that. 
So now Iām eating fewer meals and seeing how it works out.
If your wife is interested, Iād recommend watching videos from Dr. Berg on YouTube. He has quite a few on inflammation and some on fibromyalgia. I wish Iād known about his channel when I was going through the worst of it.
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It sounds like youāve been going through some serious shit. Iām so sorry, digestive problems are the worst and Iām sure youāve been trying to figure them out!
Forgive me if youāve already done this, but, sometimes going to a professional can help ā if for no other reason than getting the psychological relief that comes from someone else working on your problems.
It took me a few years, but my digestion is finally under control. That doesnāt mean itās perfect, it just means that when it acts up, I usually know why and how to course correct.
I posted a link to Dr. Bergās YouTube channel in a comment above and he seems to have a lot of videos on digestion. Heās a lot like the doctor I saw who finally helped me get results.
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