Rest Days don't always have to be planned. They should just be assumed for all workout routines. Today is Leg Day for me. I had an awesome leg work out last weekend, and I plan for this one to be even better.
Fitness is something that I've never quite hooked up with properly. I'm way too much of a foodie, way too much of a beer lover, and well, way too much of a couch potato. That said, I am now living The Summer of Fitness! We had a little financial windfall from a dead relative. Splurge #1: We bought me a new bike. I know it's not much, but I make a point to ride 2 miles a day around 5 days a week. I also haven't used my car to go to church, the store, work, or anywhere else that's accessible by bike since Memorial Day. People in town think I'm a bit nutty, but they've always thought that. Splurge #2: My daughter has been taking Karate lessons for the last three years. After a tournament last year, she asked me to take lessons so that we could compete in family events. Riiiight. Well, my wife signed us up for the adult class for the summer. I had my fourth class tonight, and I have to say that the Instructor does a nice job balancing everything between cardio, forms, and "age" of his class. It felt like the first class he was trying to "break me" by ramping up the fitness portion, but by surviving it and coming back, I've clearly earned his respect. I can't throw anyone yet, but I come home with a nice healthy "soreness." Although my wife and I are both teachers, her summer duties are a bit heavier than mine. In the two weeks since school let out, my daughter and I have spent an hour or more 10 of the 14 days in a swimming pool. It's a delightful bonding time for us, and it gets me off my couch and out of the house. Sadly, I don't know what to do with all this extra energy!
Everybody rests - even the military. In fact, in Marine Corps basic you only actually do PT 3 times a week. Granted the average daily routine is "PT" to the average person just by virtue of wearing/carrying 30 lbs of gear for 18 hours a day at a grueling pace but it's not PT. Rest is when you get growth, when you get recovery. You get nothing out of repetitive breakdown with no recovery.
Oh I tried to exercise and it kicked my butt. I got done the first go around without granny push-ups. But the second time I had to do granny push-ups the whole time and the third time I didn't get even get past the Push-ups and sit-ups part. The next day I was sore as a mofo, I couldn't straighten my arms, my sides felt heavy, I couldn't do a push-up if I tried. I am going to contuine this exercise program, but its going to be some time before I can reach a full 5 times repeated without assistance.
KJ, if it makes you feel any better, we have a brown belt in the adult karate class that I'm taking who cannot do a granny push-up correctly. Our instructor continues to correct her form, yet she's made it all the way to brown belt. And yes, she looks like she could be a granny.
Its not about pride. I can do regular push-ups just fine, even wide push-ups. I just need pratice on Diamond push-ups. Its weird, I am not sure if where my arms are going back is where they should be.
surprised myself today, did 6 reps of 80lb dumbbells on a decline bench. Also, few weeks ago I hurt my leg trying to leg press 710 up from 685 where I was comfortable, I took 2 weeks off my legs and steadily worked back up to 670 today. I may not try to push too much higher, too hard on the knees. I think I'll just start focusing more on single leg press at lower weights. Starting to really peak on bench, 240 today, but barely, like 2 sloppy reps.
Hey thought I'd post an update - I got some new equipment today. Well I was irritated because the Valeo weight belt I ordered from amazon, it didn't have a sizing chart so I just took a guess and got Large and the Large is just slightly too big for me. There's a sizing chart on the label ON the weightbelt, but obviously I already have it so it's too late! It's just slightly too big, I might just drill some extra holes. Second item was wrist straps. This is something I've been considering for some time, I think I may've even asked around here what they were for and if they were different than gloves with wrist support. Obviously they are. I got em primarily because I could tell that I was stuck on deadlift and single arm row by how much weight I could grip. So my first experience with wrist straps was interesting. The ones I got were cheap - $5 on amazon. They seem well made enough for the price but I sense they may come apart in a few months and require replacing. However, I'm going to have my GF go over the seams and reinforce them so that might make them last longer. In terms of use, it took looking up a YT video and a lot of trial and error to finally figure out the right way to wrap it to get the desired effect - relieving the hands from having to grip the weight by essentially being able to lift with the wrist as an anchor. I could see how you could injure your wrist if you saturation trained with these, I mean after about 3 sets at total max weight, your wrists are sore - but that's understandable. The second thing is that maybe I just haven't figured out the trick yet but getting the ideal wrap with BOTH HANDS on a bar, like for deadlift, is pretty tricky. It's kind of a two-handed affair, IMO. It worked brilliantly for single arm row. I took my single arm row max from being able to do the 80 lb DB and having to stop every rep to set the DB down to rest my fingers, to doing 100's today... and conceivably if my gym had them I could probably have done 105's, and I could see myself pushing to 110's. So that was a huge improvement. The deal is you gotta wrap em a certain way (it's hard to explain in words you really just gotta play around with it) so that you don't even have to grip it to hold the starps tight. It's not a knot but it's related. Anyway if you do it right, the pressure exerted just by squeezing your hand tight to your comfort level will hold the strap taut against the bar and essentially turn your wrist into one frictionless anchor for the entire arm. Works wonders for putting the weight on your back and not your hand in a workout like row. I also had some problems in that I have rather small hands and the nature of the wrap is that it wraps around the bar of course, well so the diameter of the object you need to wrap your fingers around gets a little bigger - You may not have to hold on as tight but you have a larger thing to hold onto. I think I found the ideal cross-over way to wrap it so that u get optimum tightness without having to do multiple layers of wrap over the same location (that made it impossible to grip, just too thick). In fact if you do it right, once you finish your set, you actually find that you can't just pull your hand loose, the wrap is so tight you have to lean down with your free hand and remove it.
Wrist straps definitely take some getting used to. I remember the first time I tried using them I could not for the life of me figure out what I was supposed to do.
yea I felt like a major retard at first . Is there a trick to getting the right wrap with two hands cuz I can do the first one, using both hands, but the second is tricky. I never quite got it right on deadlift.
Just play around with it a little more. I have absolutely no idea how to explain what I do, but I do know that I eventually figured it out.
I've been staying lean, I'm in the low 240s dropped some weight in the last month. Focusing on cutting!
I have turned into one of those people that carries around a gallon jug of water everywhere I go. Gotta stay hydrated!
I need some advice, or at least some recommendations. I'm starting to notice my gut (Belly fat) is getting to be kind of large and I don't think that is a good thing, especially since I'm 27 and a little overweight. What kind of workouts or diets should I adapt to work on this problem. I also need to build muscle, but I'm not as worried about that as I am about the whole gut thing. I started doing some research on this last night but if anyone has any advice, that would be great too.
I have another question for you all. If one were to start a program (Losing weight, body fat and gaining muscle), what would you guys suggest as a good starting point. I go to a Gym and I've done quite a bit of cardio with some lifting this week, but I do want to make the most of it. Any suggestions would be helpful.
Can you give us an idea of exactly what you've been doing lately? It'll be easier to give suggestions that way. How often do you work out? What kind of cardio are you doing and for how long? What kind of weight training do you do?