3X a week, during work hours...

30 minutes cardio, elliptical cross-trainer (hands free) interval training to simulate running hills and backpedaling (glutes, hams). Intervals are working heart between 150-180 bpm. 3 minute cooldown; heart's at around 110bpm.

Afterward, while nice and warmed up...

3 sets bench press (use a Smith machine so I don't get myself in trouble)
15 reps seated rows (back)
15 reps one-arm lat pulldowns (each arm)
3 sets squats
3 sets leg curls
15 kneeling cable extensions (triceps)
2 sets of barbell curls with ez-bar
3 sets alternating dumbbell curls
20 dips
40 reps cable crunches (trying to get the swiss ball back in when I get home!)
40 or so twists (15lb bar on shoulders)
...and about 5 minutes of stretching afterward.

Need to get back on the tennis court more regularly, too.

5'9 about 160lbs 46yo, feel great! Wife likes the way I'm taking care of myself, too. She's 49 and works out at home in our small gym - she's real yummy!

I am 57 years young and I lift 5 days a week!!! and love it. I do chest and tri on Monday and Thursday. I do back and bi on Tuesday and Friday. I devote Wednesday to an abs workout...I do around 500 reps of different ab exercises. I am 5'11" and 188 lbs. Around 6 years ago I weighed 225 and went down to 167 ..... since then my first wife died and I've remarried I gained about 20 lbs mostly muscle. I HATE cardio so I try and superset my workouts going as quickly as I can. My workouts last around an hour each day. Love life and love to workout!!!!! Most of all I love my wife. she is 9 years younger and she loves my "new" body!!!!

Hey all~ I have found one phenomenal truth, that if you diet(less fuel) when you increase exercise (work), you do indeed lose weight. You also, however, put you body in starvation mode, in that it perceives too few calories coming in. So even if you decrease the work level just a little your body will store whatever fuel you don't use as fat, plus in order to make up the difference in energy imbalance, it will catabolism muscle tissue, at the same rate as carbs and fat, thus you LOSE lean muscle mass.
Conversely, the opposite is also true, if you increase energy intake past that needed for work purposes, your body goes into 'glut' mode. It sends signals that tell you system you have excess energy reserves even after increasing work levels, there by not only stopping the fat storage process, but actually INCREASING the rate flushing out excesses. The moral here, is that if you really want to lose weight and gain lean muscle mass that you can SUSTAIN when you lay off for a while, eat more.
One big point here, if you look back at the 'OLD' timers of body building, they had the 'classic' V look of broad shoulders, very small waists, and large quads and calves. How? By being very selective about how they increased their energy consumption. All protein, very lean, NO Fat, and only complex carbohydrates and soluble and non-soluble fibre equaling 15% or less of energy taken in. These carbs and fibres provided slow release, long acting energy for exercise without spiking insulin (promotes fat storage) like simple carbs do (sugar, white bread, pasta, et al).
I am a 44 yrs old male, survived cancer at 25, a damn near fatal motorcycle accident in 1997, and I am almost back to pre-accident condition. Neck; 21 3/8", for my shoulders and lats, I take a 3x large shirt, I have a 31" waist and my combined quads are 36". How? 4 days at gym, never longer than 45 minutes, have your routine worked out a head of time, go heavy then, leave. Walking; moderate pace, 5-6 days a week, never more than hour. Food? Breakfasts and midmorning snack; fruit (3 kinds) in blender, 1 container fat free, sugar free yogurt, 2 scoops protein powder (55 grams protein.,), and 12 oz. skim Milk. Lunch; spinach with red leaf salad, with broccoli, asparagus, red and green bell peppers, navy beans, one can plain tuna spread evenly, fat free dressing. Afternoon snack; protein shake with veggies in blender, fat free sugar free yogurt, can tuna, or cooked boneless, skinless chicken breast cooked in olive or flax seed oil and red wine. Dinner; same or similar salad with chicken or broiled salmon steak with veggies. That's it. Oh, I'm 5'7" and 266 lbs., less than 14% body fat, and I am now off all blood pressure, cholesterol and tri-glyceride medications.

When it comes health, "the best thing to do, is the right thing. The next best, is the wrong thing. The worst, is do nothing" - Winston Churchill

The Coug


Message was edited by: solitarycougar

In the winter I try to ski 3-4 days a week (it's nice living 25 minutes from a ski hill). In the summers I like to hike (topped an 11,000 ft peak last summer, not Evertest, but hey!!!).

In between I either try to lift 3 days a week, or I Airdyne 4-5 days a week. However, I don't do strength training and aerobics on different days. I do one or the other for a period of time, and then switch.

Jon

Right now I have gone into a huge cardio/calisthenics mode...My goals are job-oriented and also I want to entire the IRONMAN Triathalon...
Everyday I at work I swim a mile and a half at the least...next i run at minimum 5 miles (mon/fri), 10 miles(tues/thurs), and 7 miles (wednes)...and thoughout the day i complete 15sets/15reps dead hang pull-ups, 15sets/60reps push-ups(hardest thing for me is the last 3 sets), and 15sets/60reps sit-ups...and to be able to do this at work i would have to say i have the greatest job on earth...
i take classes on tues/thurs over at ODU and after class i lift for a good hour and a half...
on the weekends i enjoy a good job...my day wouldn't be complete without it...
i urge everyone to develop a fitness routine...and never let an excuse stop you from completing your routine...ever...as soon as you let your mind tell your body to stop it will...so never tell yourself to stop...you'll only die sooner...
and i am a young buck so i won't say my age...

quote:

Originally posted by ChallengeMe:
We need to get some good discussion going here, so......

What do you want the direction of your fitness to be? Are you more into lifting, for a bigger body? Or just lifting to lose weight, Is it cardio, for speed or distance? What about arobics?

I spent last year lifting to build more upper body strength and lose weight. Both accomplished with my losing 36 pounds so far. But I quit lifting in December when I suffered a detached bicep. I am more into running now, trying to get back to five miles a day like I was in the 80's (before I quit and gained 72 pounds) I want to be able to run a 10k race by this summer.

I'm walking the stairs at work, doing situps and pushups at night. Will start to walk after work once the heat is gone.

I'm so out of shape that going to the gym at work seems embarassing, so I'll lose some weight before I do that.

I will start saving up for a new bike this winter. Running never appealed to me, but I love to bike.

I lift weights three times per week, full-body sessions each time. I try to get out on my bike for a couple of hours one to two times per week and also do some dragon boating in the summer. I have an elliptical machine at home in front of the T.V. but it bores me to death.

I am a police officer, so fitness is an absolute must for my profession. I work out at least 3 times a week for about 45-60 minutes on my BowFlex, plus I run a couple days a week. I am on my early 30's, so I am also starting the Testosterone Diet from Men's Health. So far it has been helping a lot. Just as a side note, for those who aren't sold on any home gyms, yet, I was always one to hit the gym and was very religious about free weights. Since I have had my BowFlex, (about 1 year), I have no interest to get back to free weights. The BowFlex is truly a work of art.

quote:

Originally posted by thedacop:
I am a police officer, so fitness is an absolute must for my profession. I work out at least 3 times a week for about 45-60 minutes on my BowFlex, plus I run a couple days a week. I am on my early 30's, so I am also starting the Testosterone Diet from Men's Health. So far it has been helping a lot. Just as a side note, for those who aren't sold on any home gyms, yet, I was always one to hit the gym and was very religious about free weights. Since I have had my BowFlex, (about 1 year), I have no interest to get back to free weights. The BowFlex is truly a work of art.

You have motivation that most of the rest of us don't have (your safety), but I'd say that fitness is an absolute must for all guys. You never know when it will be needed.

I've heard good things about the bowflex before, but wasn't there some sort of safety problem with the original design? If so, those looking for a used one should be careful.

By the way, some of the most overweight people I seen during the day are the deputies here at the courthouse I work in. I worry about them and those they serve with.

There was some sort of problem with the original design, yes, but the PowerRod System was just as effective as it is now. As with anything, looking for a used one, one should be skeptical, but I can assure you, the BowFlex is a wonderful home gym that is well worth the price.

quote:

Originally posted by thedacop:
There was some sort of problem with the original design, yes, but the PowerRod System was just as effective as it is now. As with anything, looking for a used one, one should be skeptical, but I can assure you, the BowFlex is a wonderful home gym that is well worth the price.

Hey, missed this reply for some reason.

Good to know that it's been fixed.

Last year, at age 44, I went in for a physical and was diagnosed with pre-diabetes. That woke me up and motivated me to do something about my health. I refuse to go on a "diet" -- they don't work long-term. Instead, I changed my lifestyle; something I could live with the rest of my life. I'm eating healthy (more fruits and vegetables; more whole grains, less simple carbs; lean protein; and sweets, chips, crackers on rare occassions) and exercising regularly.

I've slowly lost 50lbs so far, but need to lose at least another 70lbs. I cahnged up my workout program about 20 weeks ago, emphasizing cardio over strength training, but my weight plataued. I was doing 3 days of cardio only (1 hour); 2 days of cardio and about 20 minutes of strength training; 1 day of 1 hour strength and 1 hour cardio. As my weight leveled off, I increased the cardio but my weight didn't budge.

A few weeks ago, I read a couple of articles that claimed that to lose fat, intense strength training is more effective than cardio (for the same time spent). One study indicated that after intense strength training, the body continues to burn calories up to 36 hours (they stop timing after 36 hours, so it may be longer), effectively buring more calories than spending the same time doing cardio.

So, I changed my workout two weeks ago. Now I'm doing a 45 minute circuit of strength training three days a week and an hour of cardio three days a week. It's too soon to tell if this is working. I lost two pounds the first week, but that could have been the result of other things. I'll have to keep it up for a few more weeks to see if I'm getting good results.

Keep us up to date on your progress Gary.

I wonder if the strength training worked better because you're building more muscle, and muscle burns calories.

I have found that gyms don't work for me - I don't like the crowds nor the snotty 20-somethings that work the desks. So what happens is that if I get a membership, I use it for a while, then slowly stop going as often, and eventually stop altogether.

That means it's back to the old stand-bys: pushups, situps, running, etc. Well I was reading the Men's Health site the other day and came across two workouts that don't require equipment or other stuff at gyms.

The first one uses interval training (you remember running intervals in school, don't you?). You can read it here .

The second one is a bit different than others I've seen. You have to read it to see what I mean. Check it out here .

Don't know how well either one works, and don't know if I'll even try them, but I thought I'd mention them.

I have been working out all of my adult life, but got more systematic about it in 1979 when I discovered that it had a beneficial effect on my grades in Grad School. Now that I am almost 65 and retired, it is much easier to maintain a good balance of activities. Right now my schedule is:
Mon treadmill: 40 minutes
Tue weightlifting: 55 minutes
Wed swimming: 25 minutes
Thru treadmill: 40 minutes
Friday weightlifting: 55 minutes
Sat power (flow) yoga: 50 minutes

I keep a log of what I do and know that the 7 to 10 (proper) chinups that I do on weight days is less than the 12 that I typically did in my 40's. My running speed has also dropped to about 8 1/2 minutes per mile. At 162 pounds, I am also about 5 lbs heavier than I was when I 25 years ago. I have never been heavier than 167 lbs. I have also shrunk about 1/4 inch to 5ft 9in.

So far I have managed to stay in pretty good shape.

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