<p>Finally back at the gym today. There’s no doubt in my mind that the weight machines are going to do me in – tomorrow. (That’s when I’m going to be sore.) The luxury of taking time off is NOT worth the pain of restarting. (This is a lesson I had already “learned,” but managed to ignore anyway.)</p>
<p>Whew! Back in the gym this morning after four days off. I did walk on Saturday. Ate what I wanted and probably had too much wine. Weight was up the normal weekend amount so hopefully will drop off during the week. It was really hard for me to have a house full of guests and not indulge in things I had totally given up. At least I was able to keep everything in moderation. Did the bike, dreadmill, push ups, dips and weights this morning to kickstart my week! Now if I could only motivate myself to do those silly core exercises! ;)</p>
<p>Do you exercise everyday? Since I’ve been doing everything so slowly and since it feels great to get the pressure off my back, I currently am. The last time I was in a serious exercise routine the conventional wisdom seemed to be that rest days were essential. I’m curious what you do. </p>
<p>idad, The link to that back doctor was very interesting. Do you have any of his books or videos? If so, would you recommend one of them?</p>
<p>I like to exercise every day but really do need the rest days when life is stressful. At some point, the exercise adds to stress if the body can’t heal workout-related damage fast enough.</p>
<p>Amesie, I have seen programs out there that basically use your own body weight to build up strength. A basic example would be doing modified push-ups, then regular, then with your feet elevated, etc. Have you consider something like that? I typically stay far away from gyms as well but that’s where the pool is, so that’s that for now.</p>
<p>I do TRY to exercise every day as it makes my knee feel better but usually take one day a week off from the gym for rest and try to walk on that day. I do weights 3 times a week . The recumbent bike keeps my knee from screaming at me. Since I count calories that daily exercise helps me eat what I want and still lose weight.</p>
<p>PMK I think it is just fantastic that you are swimming and doing water exercise. (I used to post on the parents of the class of 2014 thread but it just doesn’t keep my attention but I do know about all of your terrible problems with your back from my lurking!) Swimming is my main form of exercise too (along with yoga and walking). It is still a struggle to get to the pool, but once I am there it feels so great and as long as I have set days for it, I make it there (kind of like Idad’s MWF routine). If I were you I would work on making your exercise routine really solid, so you are never in danger of quitting of missing too many days and then think more about diet (if you decide you want to). It seems doing too much at once never works for me - baby steps are the way to go and they do add up!</p>
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<p>And they keep your bike cleaner, and they keep you drier. Also they keep you from spraying mud in the faces of your riding companions.</p>
<p>If your bike is spraying lubrication when you ride it indoors on a trainer, you put too much oil on your chain and should wipe it down.</p>
<p>–Fang, big fan of fenders</p>
<p>[Reebok</a> Square Dumbbells - Black(20 lbs) : Target](<a href=“http://www.target.com/Reebok-Square-Dumbbells-Black-lbs/dp/B003PATBCU/ref=sr_1_18?ie=UTF8&keywords=dumbbells&searchSize=30&searchView=grid5&searchNodeID=1038576|1287991011&searchPage=1&fromGsearch=true&sr=1-18&qid=1291054125&rh=&searchBinNameList=subjectbin%2Cprice%2Ctarget_com_primary_color-bin%2Ctarget_com_size-bin%2Ctarget_com_brand-bin&searchRank=target104545&frombrowse=0]Reebok”>http://www.target.com/Reebok-Square-Dumbbells-Black-lbs/dp/B003PATBCU/ref=sr_1_18?ie=UTF8&keywords=dumbbells&searchSize=30&searchView=grid5&searchNodeID=1038576|1287991011&searchPage=1&fromGsearch=true&sr=1-18&qid=1291054125&rh=&searchBinNameList=subjectbin%2Cprice%2Ctarget_com_primary_color-bin%2Ctarget_com_size-bin%2Ctarget_com_brand-bin&searchRank=target104545&frombrowse=0)</p>
<p>$23.66.</p>
<p>I used WD-40; not oil. I think that stuff got attracted to the WD-40 and then spun off.</p>
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<p>I don’t have his books as I don’t have any particular back issues these days. All of the “fitness gurus” I follow pay attention to Stuart McGill and his back research. All of them have either completely eliminated back flexion exercises (such as crunches) or have modified them in keeping with McGill’s recommendations. All the crunches and ab machines you see advertising on QVC are out the window.</p>
<p>Here’s a NYTIIMES article on McGill with a short video of him explaining four core exercises.</p>
<p><a href=“http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/17/core-myths/[/url]”>http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/17/core-myths/</a></p>
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<p>I haven’t set foot in a gym. Well, that’s not true. I did get the quickie tour of the nearby $10 a month no frills gym a mile from my house, but I haven’t joined. And, when we were dropping off my wife’s car for service in the same parking lot, I asked her to show me her fancy gym. She had tried for ten years to get me to go there with her. To show you the dynamics of this exercise stuff, she refused saying that if were really interested, I would have gone before now (meaning, I guess, back when I was a big 'ol fat guy). :)</p>
<p>The workout programs I have folllowed are all bodyweight circuits, although they do start adding dumbbells for additional load or combination exercises. Even the NFL/NHL weight lifter trainers (like Mike Boyle here in Boston) start with body weight (or even assisted bodyweight) and only add weights as a progression with increasing strength. He starts his NFL players with many of the same exercises I started with as an ol’ fat guy: Plank. Side plank. Body weight squats. Pushups. Etc.</p>
<p>My entire “fitness center” consists of a stability ball and some dumbells and an exercise bike for cardio intervals. I added a $7 plastic ab wheel from Marshalls yesterday – for ab rollouts, a very advanced core strength exercise. I’ve bought a couple packages of iPod workouts and interval soundtracks (basically a guy saying when to start exercising and when to rest, so you don’t have to look at a stop watch). I’ve got a few more things on my list – a stretchy band for one of Mike Boyle’s warmup exercises and something to start doing pullups (probably like the TRX straps). You don’t need a gym to get a great workout. For example, you can fill a napsack or gym bag with books (or bags of rice) and have all the weight you need for many exercises.</p>
<p>Back from a hectic long holiday weekend and trying to catch up. blankmind, congrats on your 5k time. Just awesome! I did my 4.7 mile Turkey Day run with 15,000 of my closest friends. Yikes! The hunky firemen wearing pants, suspenders, and no shirts kept my sister and me going.</p>
<p>idad, Svetlana is mistaken. Burpees are not forever. They are for 60 seconds, then 911 must be on speed dial. Oh, and sign me up for one of those “I survived Thanksgiving” (and the day after, and a lasagna dinner party, and a football tailgate) t-shirts. My weight has been boinging between 132 and 136 for two weeks. This morning I was pleasantly surprised to have broken the 132 mark. I’m not counting on it being permanent yet, but it was nice to see.</p>
<p>I’m thrilled to hear that crunches are no longer recommended! I could never understand the point of 6 pack abs anyway. With all the yoga I do, I have a pretty strong core, but could never do crunches for some reason. Still can’t. And now I won’t even bother. Yay!</p>
<p>I tried my first few burpees over the weekend. My. God. I thought I was pretty fit, but – My. God. The push up is one thing, but the jumping up from a squatting position – My. God.</p>
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<p>You know you are in trouble when the pushup is the part of the exercise you look forward to because it’s “easy” and you can “catch your breath”!</p>
<p>Burpees are the ultimate demonstration of how a simple bodyweight exercise, involving all of the large muscles (legs, thighs, core, shoulders, arms) can consume mega calories and burn up fat. They look so simple. I was stunned by how quickly they gas me.</p>
<p>I finally found a solution to the dumb bell issue that’s cost-effective. My dumbbells have a bar and locking caps that weigh 2.5 pounds so the granularity isn’t very good. I can do 2.5, 7.5, 12.5 pounds, etc. if I want to keep the ends balanced. I could get multiples of five but the ends would be unbalanced.</p>
<p>Today I ordered a set of four 1.25 pound weight plates. So I can do increments of 2.5 pounds with balanced weights. I suppose that I could also do 1.25 pound increments. Being unbalanced by 1.25 pounds might not be noticeable. I do notice a 2.5 pound difference.</p>
<p>These weights are mainly used by my son while my arm is recovering. So now I won’t have to bother with buying specific weights for 20 and 25 pounds. 20 pounds isn’t so bad but the price for 25 pounds goes up to almost $1.50 per pound.</p>
<p>Did running and a few lunges today on the Smith Machine. Bumped up the weight five or ten pounds (don’t remember what the barbell is at at home). Will probably go to the YMCA for weights tonight and do some stretching later on as the family is away.</p>
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<p>Yeah, but you still have to do plank and side plank and eat your peas…</p>
<p>Yeah, the five pound jump in dumbbell weight is a lot, especially in the smaller sizes. Going from 10 to 15 pounds is a 50% jump in weight. I’m noticing it most on lateral raises where I have gone from the neoprene 8 pounders to 10 pounders. I diddn’t think about there being much difference, but the 10 pounders get really tough with arms stretched out to the sides. Oh, well. I’ll just keep plugging away. I’m not seeing 15 pounders in my future any time soon on those.</p>
<p>I expect the jump from 10 lbs to 15 pounds on T-pushups and pushup position rows to be really tough. I’ll probably have to cut my reps way back at first.</p>
<p>Thank you for that link, idad. I’m going to add the first one to my “dry land” stretch routine. I think the other three are not going to be realistic for some time, but it’s great to have a safe way to start. </p>
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Chintzy, This completely cracked me up!</p>
<p>Journey, Thank you for the encouraging words. I still cannot believe that my four day trip to Boston turned into nearly a month in Massachusetts. I was so incredibly lucky to injure my back 2 1/2 hours from my sister and her family. Plus my parents took care of me when everyone was at work. It’s very humbling to need so much help. I have new sympathy for those who cannot drive as I can hardly wait to get the okay on that again. I’m so lucky that we can afford for me to be home. It’s interesting how one unlucky injury has put into focus how much I have to be grateful for!</p>
<p>There’s a water aerobics class at the gym tonight but I’m just going to observe while I do my regular routine. I’m not up for that yet but want to see what they are like. The last time I took water aerobics I was pregnant with PMKjr!</p>
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<p>That’s the crazy part. Crunches won’t give you six pack abs. Everyone does “ab exercises” because they think it’s “burning belly fat”. Alas, there’s no such thing as spot reducing fat. All you can do is lower your overall body fat percentage and that requires exercise that burns mega calories and raises your metabolism. Because abs are relatively small muscles, doing “ab exercises” doesn’t even burn many calories, so it’s a fruitless exercise for “losing belly fat”.</p>
<p>There are plenty of good reasons to strenghten the abs and the other core muscles, but burning belly fat isn’t one of them. It takes single-digit body fat percentages to see “six pack abs”. You have to be very, very lean and you aren’t going to get that lean wasting your time on ab exercises. Crank up those burpees and the high intensity intervals and the weight lifting to burn serious calories if you want to get that lean.</p>
<p>Speaking of abs, I gave my new $7 plastic ab wheel another go this afternoon. Wow. That is one tough exercise. I understand why Mike Boyle cautions to be really, really careful with that. It would be really easy to hurt yourself. I don’t think a torn ab muscle would be very pleasant! Roll that thing out, hold it for about 3 seconds, and my lower abs were burning. Another one of those exercises that looks so simple.</p>