<p>The big Boston Sports Club, NY Sports Club, and Washington Sports Club chains all have Smith machines. They are grouped with the cable columns in the yellow “intermediate” category on their floor plans:</p>
<p>The Planet Fitness I looked at didn’t have any barbells. The only squatting was a Smith machine. They don’t want the liability (and grunting!) of people lifting heavy barbells. It think it’s more the functional training and athletic training oriented gyms that don’t have them, but they will be more likely to have cable columns.</p>
<p>Oh… I found another deal today. Long sleeve black addidas tech shirt (with white stripes on the sleeves) in my size on the clearance rack. $10. That’s three long-sleeve tech-t’s I’ve found in the last two weeks for $8 to $10 – one Champion C9, one ACSIS, and one addidas.</p>
<p>20 minute easy run today, as scheduled. I am looking for a race to sign up for in order to make sure I keep my running up. There were so many days that I know I would have skipped if I didn’t have my turkey trot looming in front of me. I’m debating between trying to do a faster 5k or trying a 10k, but I’m not sure about fitting the longer runs into my schedule. On the other hand, I don’t really enjoy speed workouts, so I might be more likely to do longer runs. Decisions, decisions…</p>
4.5 miles, 9:16 pace. I had to grind it out today - wasn’t feeling all that great. It was probably due to recovering from tennis over the weekend. The goal this week is 4 x 4.5 miles during the week and a little extra on the weekend. I’m pretty sure that I have another tennis day and don’t think that I can do another 4.5 miles on that day as it’s singles.
<p>It is, but it actually would have worked out OK for me. $10 a month and they have a full rack of DBs, weight benches, and cable columns. From what I could see, it actually would a workable solution for someone trying to do the kinds of workouts I do in a commercial faciility.</p>
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<p>Speaking of “ghetto” fitness, I’ve got another home-brew alternative to buying Mike Boyle’s rear foot elevated [split</a> squat bench](<a href=“http://www.performbetter.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product1_10151_10752_2215987_-1]split”>http://www.performbetter.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product1_10151_10752_2215987_-1). I put a foam roller on top of my Reebok step, with a couple of small 10 lb DBs behind the roller to keep it from rolling backwards. It’s perfect for rear foot elevated split squats and it really does feel a lot better to have a round support. I’ve tried it at 16 inches and 14 inches. 16 is a right at my limit for stretching the rear leg while stopped with my knee on the Airex pad. 14 inches is perfect.</p>
<p>I can have the top of it at 16 inches or 14 or 12 inches, depending on how tall I’ve got the step.</p>
<p>Wow. New Rules of Lifting for Abs kicked my butt again. The four strength exercises leave me bent over panting like a dog. There’s something about these 1 1/4 squats that just gets the heart pounding.</p>
<p>Good chin ups. 5 in the first set. 4.5 in the second set (my chin was at least close to the bar). 3 in the third set.</p>
<p>I did 45 seconds in the pushup bottom position hold during the warm up, but I was shaking like a leaf.</p>
20 minutes on the Elliptical doing a hills workout. I was moving pretty good the entire time with little “rest” intervals. Then 5 minutes running on the treadmill.
3x3 Goblet Squats with 20 pound kettlebell and 3x9 KB Swings with 40 pound kettlebell.
3x9 TRX Bridges and 3x9 TRX Hamstring Curls. The Hamstring Curls are a new variation I found recently. I am holding the handles like an inverted row with my feet away from the anchor point and my knees straight. I pull my bodyweight as I bend my knees. It is in the video that I posted a couple weeks ago with my Exercise of the Week…
Then I did 15 minutes on the recumbent bike to finish out.
Surprisingly I wasn’t too sore this evening. I happened to be looking at my calendar on my phone as I was riding the bike and realized I had a basketball game to work tonight! I thought my legs would kill me standing up through that, but they didn’t…
<p>hops – I meant to say D said the BMI measurement on that gizmo had a margin of error of 12%.</p>
<p>Not sure if this place has a Smith machine – they certainly have lots of stuff I’ve never used before. The PT showed me some stuff using the TRX – felt that the next day!</p>
<p>When I was looking for gyms/fitness centers, I first searched on Yelp. The Planet Fitness at Porter Square is in the basement; terrible reviews. So, in spite of the low cost, I didn’t even go look. I don’t need a place that’s like a luxury spa, but if it’s too disgusting, I’d end up just not going.</p>
<p>Feel a cold coming on but hoping it doesn’t get too bad.</p>
If your gym has a TRX setup, they’ll have everything you need to get a great workout. That’s even better than the Smith maching for inverted rows. It’s also fantastic for easing into all kinds of lunges. I wish that I had one early on.
<p>I’ve had a cold for about a month but it’s pretty low-level but it shows up when I run with coughing and runny nose. I think that I’d be doing about 20% more mileage without it. I got a lot of rest this past weekend and I think that I need more of those to recover.</p>
<p>Just had someone ask me about tennis tonight (probably just an hour of hitting). Should make for a good set of workouts today. Unfortunately I haven’t done my fitness/weight workouts for a while and I need to get back to those.</p>
<p>An hour walk/run with neighborhood friends this morning. Lots of hills. They move fast! About ten years younger than me. I’m keeping up okay.</p>
<p>I thought this guy’s approach sounded pretty sensible. Made my DH read the article. I also am intrigued by the “vibration plate”? Anyone here use one?</p>
<p>Just biked today at the gym. Listened to Christmas music and really enjoyed the 15 miles! A little stiff and sore from yesterday’s lengthy workout but feel so much better after today’s routine. Got my tickets for the winter vacation last night. That should motivate me!</p>
<p>MOWC…D2 sent me her Christmas wish list. It included asking for the entry fee for the local Twin Cities Marathon, a subscription to Runner’s World and a “running” book. Have no clue what kind of book might be interesting. Any suggestions?</p>
<p>That sounds just about perfect! You’ll probably get a lot of benefit from that.</p>
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<p>I don’t think the vibration plate had much to do with it. Reading between the lines, this guy got on a very good workout program that mixed several days a week of complete stretching, core, and strength exercises with several days a week of cardio conditioning. That’s a very effective approach and I’m living proof of it.</p>
<p>It does appear that training on these vibration plates may improve athletic performance – jumping slightly higher, lifting slightly more weight, etc. However, these peformance improvements would pale in comparison to the benefits of someone in poor condition starting a good solid program. It’s kind of like trying to mimic Tiger Wood’s golf training program before you’ve learned to hold a golf club!</p>
<p>The cheapest one (24 inches by 24 inches) is $1900:</p>
Not something I’d spend money on either. We have them in two of our PT clinics, but they are seldom used. Our therapists have told me before that there are so many contraindications for using them that they don’t bother with it normally. And I’ll bet our company spent a lot more than $1900 on each one!
NMinn- Once a Runner is the “classic” of running novels. It’s based on the Florida State track/CC team back in the Frank Shorter days. It’s sort of a cult thing. I, personally, find Kristin Armstrong’s books very inspiring and interesting, but they might be too “mommy” oriented for a young person. Mile Markers is a good one by her. I like Roy Benson’s heart rate training books, too.
Oh- and Meb’s (Keflezighi) autobiography. Run to Overcome. A must read.
<p>This is the kind of the attitude that keeps those of us who aren’t naturally athletic away from working out in general. I have no vested interest in Planet Fitness (I work out at my town’s park district plus another studio where I take pilates) but if that is what is most convenient and / or comfortable for someone, what’s wrong with that? Better for someone to partake of exercise at a PF than not at all. The perfect can be the enemy of the good.</p>
<p>4.5 miles, 9:12 pace. It was a little easier than yesterday but still a grind. A lot of great songs made the grind easier.</p>
<p>The problem with doing more miles is that I don’t feel like hitting the weights after the run - no problem, I can do them at home; except that I may have other stuff to do at home. I need to squeeze in my fitness routine at least twice a week and that’s hard to do between running and tennis.</p>
I thought my legs would kill me standing up through that, but they didn’t…