<p>We’re getting better, and we’re getting different. Things I couldn’t do before I can do now – and things I could do before I can’t do now. Not a single one of them is important, though.</p>
<p>Well, I’m a heck of a lot more mature now too, and that’s a good thing.</p>
<p>58 1/2! Will do better when I hit the 60 age group!</p>
<p>57 for me. But, I feel like I’m 39 again. Finally, this afternoon, I’ve stopped being tight and sore from Friday’s workout. A little foam rolling made me feel good as new…</p>
<p>I’ve gotta leave well enough alone for a week and stand pat on the weights for these workouts.</p>
<p>I can do more pushups now than I could in my 20s. But in my 20s I could do pullups unassisted and I haven’t gotten there yet… I didn’t do weights at all back then. My main exercise then was running about 10 miles a week.</p>
<p>Oh, wowie, I’m just a baby compared to the amazing DEHWST members - I’m not even 50 yet. You guys ROCK! I wanna be just like you when I grow up :)</p>
<p>So much for my recovery day today! Oh, dear… A good friend decided to sign up for a triathlon. She bought a fancy bike a few months ago, but was hesitating to start training because she did not want to ride alone, and all local tri training groups seemed to be a bit too much “hardcore” for a beginner. After hearing that, DH “volunteered” us to be her training group today! Instead of letting my muscles recover from the Friday night dancing and the Saturday run, I was riding my crappy discount mountain bike trying to keep up with my friend on her cost-a-small-fortune-super-duper-carbon-fiber-schmfiber-fancy-metal-alloy-hand-made-in-god-knows-what-country bike. Did I also mention the fact that my only “bike ride” in the past year was 40 minutes of pedaling DH’s exercise bike, and that my bike shorts flew to college with DD last fall? :eek: I did not do so badly on the trail, but I’m going to pay for it tomorrow! My legs already feel like they are stuffed with cotton.</p>
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<p>I may get there eventually 
My body may feel 50+ some days, but I’m still young enough that anyone over 30 is “old” ;)</p>
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<p>I hear ya. Pushups? Check. Pull ups? Not even close for me. That is primarily an upper back strength exercise and I think the difficulty we all have just shows how weak we are in the back as a general population. That almost certainly contributes to the widespread back pain.</p>
<p>Good Morning, everyone! Thanks for the suggestions upthread about possible causes for the pain I’m having. I know I need to drag myself to the doctor, but 4 weeks post-op, I’m kinda over the whole doctor thing.</p>
<p>I get to work out with my trainer tomorrow for the first time in a month! I’m very excited; I could feel my muscles atrophying. The only prohibition is no abdominal exercises for another month.</p>
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<p>What? No crunches? 
Oh my. Well, there’s always burpees.</p>
<p>It’s almost scary to think what the doc is imagining when it comes to “ab exercises”…</p>
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<p>My ab exercises on tap for today are plank and side plank while pulling on a resistance band with one arm. That plus the lovely stability ball prone jack knives. At least these are not painful like those Valslide pushaways. I’m not increasing any weights this week. Gonna stick with what I’ve done the last two workouts for the time being.</p>
<p>I guess that it’s always important to keep up with ab exercises so that they’re strong when you can’t do them.</p>
<p>So idad, what exercise could I do at home for the upper back? I don’t want to use one of those door pull up bar things.</p>
<p>The pull up and the inverted row – like an upside down push up, only pulling yourself up – are by far the two best upper back exercises. So I would be on the lookout for a way of doing those at home. Bar across two kitchen counters? Kid’s jungle gym monkey bars at the park down the road? Mount a bar in the basement? Hang TRX-style suspension straps from a door?</p>
<p>Other options are any number of pulling exercises using elastic resistance bands. WalMart sells a nice kit of three (Perfect Bands) for $20, complete with handles and door anchor. You can clip one, two, or three bands together to get whatever resistance you need.</p>
<p>Or dumbbell rows. Bend over, put one hand on the arm of a sofa or the bottom of a chair. Hold the weight in the other hand hanging towards the floor. Pull it up to your side, bending at the elbow, and back down. You have to go pretty heavy with the weight as the “lats” doing the lifting are fairly big muscles.</p>
<p>There are a ton of great exercises if your gym has “cable pulley stations”.</p>
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<p>The TRX or Jungle Gym XT straps are really ideal. They allow you to progress from easy to hard, just like you can progress with pushups on a kitchen counter, then a lower step, then lower, and finally to the floor. Same thing with inverted rows on the straps.</p>
<p>Back to NROL4A workout today. Kept all the weights the same, so nothing terribly eventful except – man – those exercises are tough. I couldn’t do the 8 reps on the chin ups with the size bands I’m using. I got 7 in each set and that was all she wrote.</p>
<p>What a difference two months of core makes. Today included 12 reps of Swiss ball prone jack knife. Hands on floor, feet on ball, push up position. Roll the ball in, bending the knees and then back out. Much stronger now than when I last did it in an iPod nazi workout a couple months ago. Just for giggles, I got done with the 12 reps and decided to try the one-leg pushup from that position. Eureka. I could actually do it now – one on each leg. It’s all core stability – plus probably a lot more upper body strength from the burpees. It’s nice to see clear progress like that.</p>
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<h2>Great!</h2>
<p>I did a few minutes on the treadmill to warm up and 3x5 for parallel squat today. Hopefully that weight continues to get easier. Today it just seemed like so much although I should be doing quite a bit more… But it is what it is. I just have to keep working to improve. I’m laying on my bed here looking at the foam roller and my stretchband. Thinking I should probably get those both out and do a little more work on my IT band before heading for bed…</p>
<p>I hear ya on the weight. I’ve got all four strength exercises in today’s workout with as much weight as I can physically lift. So, every set of every exercise requires a real struggle to complete 8 reps.</p>
<p>Well with my 1RM being 260#, I should be able to do about 235# for a set of 5 reps. I did 205, 210, 210 today. Oh well; it is what it is.</p>
<p>Nothin’ too shabby about a 210 pound squat!</p>
<p>I’m doing this crazy assymetrical load front squat. One 35lb DB and one 25lb DB, held just in front of the shoulders. I can get down below parallel, but it’s all I do to drive back up.</p>
<p>I’m taking today off. Maybe 10 minutes of weights, but that’s it.</p>
<p>I found a couple of local races where the rules specifically stated that dogs were prohibited. For the half and the full marathons, that is. 10k and 5k seem to welcome canine runners as much as they welcome human runners. I wonder if I should push myself a bit and see if I can run 13 miles so I do not have to compete with teacup chihuahuas and Maltese dogs. 
Hmmmm…</p>
<p>idad, my goal is 325# by May 6th. We’ll see if it happens or not. That’d be a pretty good jump since I’ve only been squatting consistently since January 2. But I’ve gotten as high as 315# in high school so I think to some extent my legs are able to jump through the weight quicker because of it. </p>
<p>I did a quick session with the foam roller tonight. My left IT band is bad and I’m trying to loosen it up.</p>
<p>I’m working on my workout for tomorrow. It’s going to be another killer workout. I’m trying to do two super-intense workouts a week.</p>
<p>Just stumbled on this thread… I feel like I have turned into an oaf that just sits at her desk all day and does nothing! I bought a wii about a month ago and have been trying to do 30 minutes of random exercise on it each day. My goal was to try to lose a few lbs by my vacation in May. I mainly want to work on my abs but I’m not opposed to working everything. :)</p>
<p>Unfortunately I got very sick and lost all the pounds (and then some) that I had planned to lose over three months in less then a week! </p>
<p>Now that I am feeling better the goal is to keep them off and tone! I do crunches each morning when I wake up and the 30 minutes of exercise on my wii usually consists of strength training and yoga. </p>
<p>I did miss a few days over the past few weeks when I was sick but for the most part I have worked through it. Hopefully I can keep it up. </p>
<p>I have a weak right shoulder so I am hoping I can come across some exercises that will help me strengthen it. If anyone knows of any, let me know. :)</p>