That stands to reason to me. Strength when fatigued seems to be seriously undervalued among modern gym users. I know i always overestimate my strength and endurance when the only exercise I’m getting is in a gym instead of the real world.
7/29/20, Wednesday, Cardio
Arc Trainer, aka real elliptical
30 minutes, 25-30/100 resistance, 4-18/20 incline, 1.37 miles
- I pedaled (ellipticated?) In 5-minute blocks, going forward for 3 minutes, backwards 2, then increasing the height by 3, from 6 to 18, then a final block at 4. Felt great, once I caught my breath and wiped the puddles of sweat from my eyes.
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Oh yeah, makes sense. What happens with the pups that don’t have high aptitude for patrol work?
Here in the states you can adopt some of them. Gus ( a friend’s dog) was a drug dog reject. He was a sweet boy. He liked people too much and didn’t cut the mustard. Randy adopted him from a government site.
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If/when I’m in the market for another pooch, I might look into that. I had one purebred, a Newfoundland (my avatar pic) that I bought from a local breeder. My current dog is a shelter rescue, and I’ll probably only have rescue dogs from here on.
They adopt them on it as pets. As the foster career you get first option. There is a 18 month waiting list to adopt. The cost is quite low considering the pedigree of the dogs.
I think my kids are already hoping that Joey will fail !!
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What? I feel like I’m riding the gazelle when I use those.
Man, that dude was creepy! The Cybex Arc Trainer at my local Planet Fitness has fixed handles, and its steps adjust to different heights. Kinda like this:
Haha I’m sure they are, and can you blame them?
8/2/20, Sunday, HIIT
4 rounds of:
- 500m rows
- 20 push-ups
- 2:30 elliptical
Mah fave HIIT session. First time in a half year of doing it. Next time, will track total elapsed time, distance on elliptical, and will increase push-ups by one rep per set. I might squat later tonight.
This is the start of my third week since returning to the gym. Some things people have said in the Principles of Training thread resonated with me, one being @ChongLordUno’s observation that cardio makes him feel (and function) better. That’s been my experience since starting at Planet last winter.
In the past two weeks, instead of a bro split, I’ve found myself gravitating towards push-pull-legs with a couple of dedicated cardio days. I’m kinda thinking “why fight it? Go with what your body’s wanting right now.” I really like the pulling day I did last week, and the pushing day is easily recoverable and straight-up fun. I’m hammering out whether I want to do free weight lifts at home for legs or some machines 'n stuff at Planet. I don’t know what I’ll stick with yet.
As @Frank_C said, my real goals should inform my exercise choices. Like he and others, I have an eye towards “functionalizing” my legs and core, bodybuilding my upper, and greatly improved cardio conditioning. As such, leg day needs to blend strength, endurance, and unilateral work, so perhaps this week I’ll do a backyard leg day and see how it feels. Back squats, RDLs, walking lunges, single leg calf raises, and long-distance farmer walks of around 150 meters per trip will cover all the bases.
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8/4/20, Tuesday, back again!
Warm-up
treadmill - 5 mins, 4d walking, 5.0 incl
Seated leg curls
115 x 11
130 x 9
145 x 7
115 x 10
supersetted with
Pull-ups
bw x 4 sets x 6
Smith low rack pulls
135 x 8
185 x 5
225 x 5
265 x 3
295 x 1
315 x 4 sets x 3
Seated cable rows, wide neutral grip
140 x 4 sets x 7
DB curls
30 x 4 sets x 9
The deadlifts and pullups were harder than I expected. Definitely need to do RDLs, which means not skipping leg day!
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Did you feel this in your late or mid-back? There’s been lots of discussion about this in my log.
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I’ve meant to reply in your log but kept getting busy.
I feel the wide neutral grip in my middle back, which is why I use that grip.
Three years ago, I jacked up my shoulder and couldn’t do upper body exercises for a few months. A physical therapist found I had a strength imbalance between my upper traps and lower and middle back muscles. I had to not do overhead work, neither pushing nor pulling, for a couple months and do only wide-grip rows to strengthen my middle back muscles.
It worked fantastically, to the extent that I have no shoulder problems and row almost exclusively with a wide, non-pronated grip. Nowadays, around 75 percent of my rows are with a wide neutral grip, and the remainder is a combo of unsupported dumbbell rows (not leaning on a bench), semi-supinated rows with an EZ curl bar, or supinated rows on a machine at Planet. I’ve also noticed a correlation between using the rower once a week and doing cable rows with 20+ more pounds than when I’m not using the rower.
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I find myself doing neutral grip for pulls as much as possible.
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Likewise. It’s much more comfortable on my shoulders and feels like it creates a more natural range of motion. What do you like about a neutral grip?
Oh yeah, for a wide grip to target my middle back, I use a handle that positions my hands just outside of/wide than my shoulders.
It’s just natural. Pronated grip seems to lead to me flexing my wrists. Supinated (underhand) can allow for too much biceps involvement. I even occasionally let my hands go to neutral on pressing movements.
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The only non-neutral pressing movements I do are low incline Smith bench and push presses - and I cycle out of those, so much other time, I use a neutral grip for 90 percent of all my pushinh and pulling exercises.
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8/6/20, Thursday, UB Push
Warm-up supersets
Face pulls 15 x 3 x 15
Tri ext, lateral raises, curls - 10lbs x 15
Low incline Smith press
45 x 15
95 x 8
115 x 5
130 x 5
145 x 5
160 x 5
Low incline DB press
70 x 2 x 8
Seated dip machine
130, 145, 160, 175, 190 x 8 each
- I’m really liking this machine. It feels good on all my pressing muscles, and I’m hoping it translates to healthily doing real dips.
Rear delt machine flyes / pec deck
85 x 12, 13, 14 / 95 x 10, 11, 12
Lateral raises
15 x 3 x 12
Standing DB OHP
45 x 3 x 7
- humbling
Conditioning
1 mile treadmill walk-jog, 12:10
- TnT bringing up the caboose on this one. @Frank_C @TrainForPain @alex_uk @ChongLordUno indirectly persuaded me to start jogging again, at least a mile on chest day.
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The cardio love is spreading!
Well not quite - it’s mostly a forum of people who hate cardio doing 10 mins and moaning - but hey at least everyone’s doing some haha.
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