This is why I don’t have physicals. That and I’m too lazy to organise one !!
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That tends to be my rule too. I like to skip my referrals because then it’s like I don’t have any issues!
Anyway, today I DC’ed it
A1
-
Assault bike x 5 minutes
-
DB Bench
30/20
45/12
60/8
75/4
90/3
100/11rp + 10-second static hold -
DB Flye Stretch
30/30 seconds -
Seated Military Press
45/15
95/8
135/20rp -
Shoulder BB stretch x 30 seconds
-
Dips
BW/5 x 2
BW + 45/16rp + 10-second static hold -
Triceps TRX stretch x 30 seconds
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Pull-up
BW/3 x 2
BW/15rp + 10-second static hold -
Deadlift
135/3
225/3
315/3
365/6
315/12 -
Pull-up Hang stretch x 30 seconds
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Did 4 sets of crunches and a 30-minute incline treadmill walk.
I absolutely hate this, but that’s also no excuse to ignore it.
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But laziness would count, right?
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If it didn’t, the last decade would be a paradox the scope of which would have torn the very fabric of the universe
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Which do you hate most, the crunches, treadmill walk, combination of them, or lack of far more enjoyable exercises?
A decade ago, I found a way to make abs and conditioning more enjoyable - 4-ish rounds of abs and forearms supersetted, four or five sets of whatever calf exercises, then a half-hour of LISS.
I call it “the Greek statue” workout, because all Greek statues of men have defined abs, calves, and forearms.
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Bingo!
I think this is pretty funny and maybe enough to get through!
Anyway, today I lifted a little, but I don’t care to write it down.
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Too boring? Makes you feel like a 70-year-old retiree in Sarasota?
Thanks! Once a decade, I have a burst of inspired wittiness.
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Yeah it’s super boring. But it is what it is
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Have you tried cranking up the incline to 75%-plus of the treadmill’s max setting? And walking quickly, whatever your pace may be? I find that obviates boredom plus the need for calf presses.
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That might kill me! So far, I set it in a 5 and walk at 3.5 and watch “The Good Place.” That ends in 22 minutes, so I have 8 minutes to contemplate death.
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Ha! Last winter, when I regularly treadmilled, I began with those exact settings. How many times per week are you going to?
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Honestly, man, I’m open to feedback. I need to get my blood pressure consistently down. I’ve completely neglected cardio, so I feel like it’s low-hanging fruit. The AHA seems to suggest 150 minutes a week. I’m happy to do whatever frequency and duration make sense with the goal being CV health.
I’d like to get back to actually lifting, but that’s a distant second.
Unless your PCP or a cardiologist advises otherwise, I see no reason to deviate from the AHA’s recommendation, which amounts to five 30-minute sessions each week. There are lots of ways to approach this; the key will be finding what works for your current life.
One approach would be to modify what you’ve been doing - lift four or five times a week on a Meadows-style program while reducing the number of lifts per session and doing 30 minutes of cardio after the lifting for a total of 60 minutes’ of exercise.
Another method would be doing some type of mutual accountability for weekly cardio sessions. I just discovered short jogs (quarter mile or so) loosen up my hip. I move at least 70 percent better the day after a treadmill walk-jog session, so for the next couple months, I’m going to do two treadmill-and-bike sessions and one lower body lifting day per week. If my ambitious plan doesn’t pan out, I’ll be satisfied with two upper body lifting days and two treadmill-and-bike sessions per week. We could challenge/encourage each other to do X number of treadmill sessions for Y minutes per week. Right now, I envision two 45-minute treadmill-and-bike days for me.
How often do you reasonably foresee yourself getting to the gym? What cardio options are available? What physical limitations do you have? I have to res my legs after two days of using them. Is swimming something you can or would do? Let’s brainstorm this.
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I really, really appreciate that. Sincerely.
I like the 5 x 30 minutes, because that’s where my head was at too. I also figured weekends can be bonuses where I get ahead, but I can’t use them to “make up” because that’s how I make excuses during the week and skip.
Right now, I can go whenever. We’re still in a hotel for another month or so until the house is done. So while I am here, I have a treadmill, elliptical, and indoor pool whenever I want. I’m not much is a swimmer, but it’s there!
At my gym, I have all the fun equipment in the world. I think that’s probably moot right now and I need to stick to the steady state stuff, though. There’s at least more variety, adding stair climbers, rowers, assault bikes, etc.
Once we move in, the pool is outdoors and it’s winter, so nope. The gym is 15 - 20 minutes from the house, so my realistic commitment is workday mornings: 5 days a week, once a day. That’s not to say I can’t walk the neighborhood as an additional lunchtime workout while we’re still working from home and we have a small gym at the office if we ever go back there, but I have not historically been good about that. Like everyone, the work days get unpredictable and sometimes I give myself excuses not to break away.
You also asked what I’d been doing. I do a little assault bike to warm up for lifting (although I haven’t been lifting real consistently the last week or so). I don’t know that my back would love that for long sessions, but maybe I’m wrong. I’ve been a big fan of the elliptical in the past and I’ve been doing treadmill walking this time. It’s worth noting I saw an enormous drop in my blood pressure just by cleaning up my eating (low salt/ sodium, cooking every meal), so that is good news; I’d let my diet get atrocious.
So, anyway, back to where we were: 150 minutes a week is more than doable as long as I don’t get behind, and I can certainly still lift. Right now, it really doesn’t even matter if my sessions are a bit over an hour - I don’t exactly have to shower and dress before conference calls start.
I’m extraordinarily happy for whatever accountability games we can play. I have a follow-up in a couple weeks and then another physical (unrelated, just happy coincidence) on Dec 9, so those are good effectiveness tests.
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Knocked out another half hour of incline treadmill this morning. BP has been 126/78 the last couple days, so things are doing what they’re supposed to
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Assuming this is driving? When you’re in the house, why not switch up and cycle to the gym, lift and cycle back, that gives you probably about 45/60 mins of steady state, saves you fuel and wear and tear and means you get lifting done without “wasting” time on cardio, only costing you an extra 30 mins per session whilst getting in more cardio than the AMA recommendation (very rough guess at cycling speed Vs driving).
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I love the idea. I’ll have to check out the roads - this is the US, so a lot of my drive times are based on interstate travel. I think this is extremely clever though - thanks!
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You are in OH right? We will need video of you cycling in snow up to the pedals…
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I like the LISS stuff and a sprinkle of HIIT. I think walking is probably more than fine but turn it up a notch with a weight vest and give that a go.
You are trying to get into fasting right? I listen to a lot of Dr. Peter Attia’s podcasts where he interviews different docs in their respective fields. But his specialty is longevity. He likes fasting quite a bit. But he recommends at the beginning of a fast to real bust your ass cardio wise to get atophogy really rocking early. I’ll see if I cant find his little video on it. Thing is with him is he likes multi-day fasts…but I believe studies have shown 16-8 and other smaller window fasts work as well.
This could be a good way to kick your health in the right direction. May be a bit overkill but worth a look.
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