<p>Ran 2.25 miles and did some weights. Benched 115. Yeah, not very much for folks around here but I don’t do max weight. I don’t like to do weights unless I can do at least ten reps so that I don’t have worry about hurting myself on a set. It’s pretty intimidating to have a lot of weights a few inches above you. I even worry a little about getting out from under the weight after it is supported as an accident could mean it lands on your neck.</p>
<p>The run didn’t feel that good. I have some chest congestion and trying to expel it while running is not fun on the throat. People are coughing all over the building so it appears that there is a low-grade cold or flu running around. I checked with my son and he said that a lot of people are coughing at his uni.</p>
<p>Yes, and that is why weight alone should not be seen as the only measure of progress.</p>
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<p>Is it possible to do the bench press with a spotter, or in a power cage with the catch bars set to keep the barbell bar off your face/neck/chest if you drop it?</p>
<p>It is possible but I don’t feel a need to be able to do the max on an exercise. I just work at a level for a while and then move up a little if I think that I can do it.</p>
<p>So, I’ve got a cute birthday package for my daughter. I’ve been spending some time at a strength and conditioning forum with some hard core trainers. So I asked what they would recommend for my daughter working out in a big chain commercial gym. I’ve now got her personal advice from Mike Boyle, the owner of the #1 ranked gym in the United States, and Alwyn Cosgrove, owner of the #2 ranked gym in the country.</p>
<p>Boyle says:</p>
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<p>These Valslides are sold by Valerie Waters, Hollywood celebrity trainer best known for training Richard Gere and Jennifer Garner. So, I went searching for instructions on the exercises Mike Boyle recommends and found [Valerie</a> Water’s 3 best exercies for your butt](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/user/valeriewaters#p/u/46/Fa1AakA_Ilo]Valerie”>http://www.youtube.com/user/valeriewaters#p/u/46/Fa1AakA_Ilo) featuring the exact two things he had in mind, plus a bonus that I know he would love (the single leg Romanian deadlift). Glute activation, split squats, and a single leg deadlift as taught by a celebrity trainer who says “oopsie” when she loses her balance… Is this a great country or what? :)</p>
<p>So, it’s gonna be a green package with a green bow, with green Valslides, a green miniband, and instructions from Mike Boyle and Valerie Waters.</p>
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<p>Alwyn Cosgrove is torturing me with Valslides in New Rules of Lifting for Abs. Pushup position, hands on Valslides. Slowly slide one hand forward about 18 inches and slowly back. Then, slowly slide the other hand forward and slowly back. OMG, after about six reps it feels like somebody is poking you in the abs with a red hot branding iron.</p>
<p>I’m getting ready to place an order for some equipment. Not sure what all I’m going to purchase yet, but I’m thinking about getting a kettlebell tonight :)</p>
<p>You’ve got me beat. My butt is so sore from bench pressing that I had nightmares about it it. Head and shoulders on a stabilty ball, legs and torso forming a “virtual” weight bench. Press two dumbbells up, then hold one up while doing reps with the other arm. Then, switch arms. My butt and abs are the only thing keeping me on the ball. You are so focused on not dropping the dumbbells on your head that you don’t even realize how hard the butt muscles are woking – until about an hour later when you try to walk.</p>
<p>These workouts I’m doing call for 12 reps in the first phase, 8 reps in phase II. The idea is to pick a weight where you are really struggling with the final rep in the last set – which I certainly was, today.</p>
<p>“I quit smoking cigarettes about a year ago. I gained 18 pounds. So, now I have to wear a lot of black so no one knows what a big hunk of pig I turned into. No matter what I do, I cannot lose this 18 pounds. It’s really starting to kick my ass. I mean I have tried everything short of diet and exercise.” Gene Pompa</p>
<p>Back in the gym after several days off…:eek: Rode the bike, did pushups, worked out on machines and then did exercises with the stretchy bands. idad …I did a cool one on a raised step where you slide the band under the step and attach the handles to your feet, lay down and bicycle with legs. Killer on the legs, hips and core! Then moved on to another new exercise…attach the mini stretchy bands to legs and do butt kicks from wide stance squat position. Then did a sliding side walk with mini bands. Killer again. The bands and the core ball swings are my new addition so I can try to move the scale in the right direction. We shall see!</p>
<p>2nd day in a row to get out the door at 0:dark30 to run. Did one of my hilly routes (not the worst one) for a 6 mile run. I’m slow, but I made it without cratering. Sitting is still not comfortable. I hope someday I am actually over this stupid injury.</p>
<p>MOWC…Oh,no! I was so hoping you were headed in the right direction with your runs! Is the discomfort only when sitting or is it hurting when you run, too?</p>
<p>I am heading in the right direction, but it’s a slow process. It does not hurt when I run, but I suspect the weakness in the hamstring does cause me to be slower. The PT is really working with me on strengthening my core and glutes to unload the hamstrings, and wants me to change up my form when I run. Changing running form is not an easy task and even when I try to concentrate, it just doesn’t seem to click.</p>
<p>It is a pay site. $10 a month. Geared towards gym owners, trainers, and sports strength and conditioning pros. I think I’ll get what I can out of it in a couple of months and move on. In the meantime, it is the place where a lot of the top guys participate – a lot of college and pro strength coaches, etc. These are primarily the fitness guys interested in athletic performance and training – for pro golfers, NFL draft prospects, college teams, Olympic teams, etc. There is, however, a lot of crossover with general fitness and these are the guys writing the books for the most part.</p>
<p>Here’s a link to a page of free articles at the site, which will give a good sense of the direction.</p>
<p>Also, the best part is the StrengthCoach podcast, which is free and available at iTunes:</p>
<p>Mike Boyle, Alwyn Cosgrove, and an iconic sports physical therapist Gray Cook are weekly contributors to each podcast. Then, the podcasts feature the top guys in the field. For example, you can go through the archives and find and episode with the back guru Stuart McGill, or Rachel Cosgrove, or Valerie Waters. These are great to download to the iPod if you are looking for something fitness oriented to listen to while lifting weights.</p>
<p>All those mini-band walking exercises are fantastic for the butt. The “glutes” (big muscles in the butt) are probably the muscle most in need of work and most contributing to a range of other issues as a result of underuse. For example, MOWC’s running injuries are widespread do to very high development of the muscles of the front of the leg for runners and a resulting imbalance with weak muscles in the back of the hips. The trainers see the same problems with football players who spent all their time strenght training the muslces along the front of the body, which completely overpower the undertrained muscles in the back of the legs and torso. These are all aggravated by sitting. The reason that MOWC and I have both struggled so mightily with the hip raises and roll-ins on the stability ball is weak “glutes”. </p>
<p>Anytime you do an exercise where you are pushing your legs apart against the resistance of a band while walking forwards or sideways, you are working those big butt muscles like crazy. Most of us are so weak there that these exercises produce extreme soreness in no time at all.</p>
<p>Really important for the lower back as these glutes in the back of the hips really serve as the anchor for the alignment of the lower spine.</p>
<p>Just made a purchase through Perform Better:
-GymBoss Timer
-A couple of Minibands for lateral activities
-36" foam roller
-Stretching Band
-30# kettlebell</p>
<p>My mom is going to give me some money for my birthday that will pay for some of it… :)</p>
<p>Sounds like tennis is a good exercise all around here. You have to use adductors and abductors in side-to-side movement, and both the front and back of the legs to move forwards and backwards.</p>
<p>I don’t think there’s any question that tennis is a fantastic all around conditioning sport. There have never been many fat slow guys at the top levels of tennis! Even back in the day when pro tennis players were small and quick, they were often among the best conditioned athletes you would ever see.</p>
<p>Well, there was Bill Tilden. Used to smoke while he was playing tennis.</p>
<p>Can’t you just do floorwork for glutes? I think that we have tapes and videos for adductor, abductor, front legs and back legs. I think that you can find this stuff on YouTube. If you have a Mac, you can download the YouTube stuff and then put together your own video using iMovie and then put it on your iPad for working out. The nice thing about the iPad is that you can bring it down at floor level or put it somewhere higher. I can do this with my iPod Nano too but it’s pretty hard to see a 3 inch screen.</p>
<p>Ran 2.25 miles and did weights again. I could get used to this routine with a bit more mileage.</p>
<p>We have four 50 pound weight plates on the Smith Machine. I have never seen anyone use them. I asked the fitness center manager about them and she said that she’s never seen anyone use them but she knows that people have. Or at least they tried. She’s found them on the floor in the morning. Apparently someone has taken them off the pegs but it appears that they weren’t able to put them on the barbell so they just left them on the floor.</p>
<p>The machine has 2x35, 8x25, 8x10, 4x5, and 2x2.5. I can’t see why anyone would need the 50s in a building of engineers.</p>
<p>The challenge is that we tend to use the other leg muscles (quads on the front of the leg especially) instead of the glutes. For example, the first place people get sore when starting to squat is the quads just above the knee. It’s only later with better technique that the glutes start to get involved.</p>
<p>The deadlift and the kettle bell swing are the classic glute exercises.</p>