Re: Post your daily exercise routine

Sometimes I think we must look like the old Grail Knight in Indiana Jones, hobbling about and struggling for speed, yet determined and faithful to the cause.

You soldiered on very well, OGF, I am not sure that I could do six quite yet. To avoid the direct sun in the 85% humidity and take advantage of the sea breezes, I went to the beach park to run. Clipping along at a good pace, I didn't like my form in the shadow that was accompanying me, so I was concentrating on my back when I came alongside an older woman with two young grandchildren who appeared to be working on her gas cap. Thinking she had run out of fuel, I asked her if she was ok, and she told me that she had locked her keys and phone in her car.

The park is attended by a single national park ranger who locks the entrance gate fifteen minutes after sunset and leaves for the night. With two miles left in my run, I told her I would try to catch the ranger, but that she should try to flag someone else down who might be leaving by car. I did ask one young couple heading towards the gate in their truck to tell the ranger as they left the park.

In a race against time, I gave it all I had, and raced to the entrance. Huffing and puffing, drenched in perspiration, and not all that sure I wouldn't need a paramedic , I reached the station just as the ranger was lowering the flag. The gates were locked and he was on his way home. The young couple had not informed him about the woman in trouble. Grrrr.

Surprisingly, he started shaking his head and said that there was nothing he could do other than give us a number, but that roadside assistance could walk the two miles to assist her. I asked if he could remain to let the worker inside the park...but he declined!!! Furious (but not making a issue of it since I was more focused on the problem), I ran the half mile back to my car, took the phone to the woman, and we called for assistance. I then left the park and returned with two bikes - one for me and one for the roadside guy so we could navigate around the gates and pedal our way back to the woman.

In all this time, trucks and cars had passed this woman and no one every stopped to help while I was out trying to solve the problem. It was growing darker, and there she was with two small children alone except for a few straggling fishermen who were slow in packing their poles and tackle.

The roadside assistance worker finally showed and between the lights on the bike and the bright quarter moon overhead, we were able to reach the car in a few minutes and he was able to pop the locks within a minute. He laughed that he had never had to ride a bike in a rescue before. It really was an unusual picture, I suppose .

I was more than happy to help having been in a similar situation a couple of times in my life, and I have my reasons to suspect why people drove by them in the twilight without helping, but isn't the reason we live in civilization is to help out one another? Especially women and children?

And what about the ranger? If he is only there to take money and hand out phone numbers in (relative) emergencies? Then isn't he dooming his own job?

Questions, questions, but it was a good run and I made some new friends. Not bad for an otherwise slow Saturday evening.

Re: Post your daily exercise routine

I love reading your posts in here. I may not post straight away, as I feel that I need something to say - and furthermore have my own exercise in tow too - otherwise I feel ashamed listening to your efforts without me actually having done anything! If you see what I mean.

Lion Queen - Gym 'n' swim - Just what you need in this heat. I bet that pool feels great after a sweatbox workout on the machines

Bob - You're coming to terms with your setbacks I think now bud. Where once you would be quite rightly irritated with yourself for not being able to run like you used to, I think now it's a matter of doing the best you can mate. Good days, bad days. We all get those. Listening to your recap of your run yesterday, no mate it probably didn't go as well as you'd have liked, but you know as well as we all do that next time it could well be a different story. The heat isn't helping either. Stick at it matey, your willpower is untouchable and you're still a legend at what you do

Same with you, Suzie. That poorly toe must be a real bugbear sometimes, but hey, you are back enjoying your first love, surfing and that must feel exhilarating. Even a relatively light jog must feel wonderful in your environment with all that wildlife and beauty around you. Keep at it

- - - - - - - - - - - -

There’s a lad on the bodybuilding site I’ve recently gone back to who recently did a workout of sets which were backwards way on, reverse sets; starting heavy and going lighter through each set. Game to try anything once, I thought I’d give my own version of this a go this week, my first effort taking place this afternoon. Big powerlifters lads like "Newcy" over there would p!ss all this, but for my waning frame I used my usual exercises, selecting a suitable variety of upper body ones that might work with this scenario.

The daunting area in this was actually beginning a set at the heaviest weight, as I would normally be building up to it as a finish in the normal swing of things. This was a tester for me but I gradually managed to get a grip with it all and decided that to have some kind of goal in all of this, I would make sure each subsequent set afterwards of decreasing weight would increase the reps of the previous set. In the event I managed this every time, although sometimes it was a gruelling task. Read on peeps…


Monday, 23/6/18: Reverse sets, part 1:
(All weights in kgs)

Tricep extensions:
25x30 warm-up
12x60, 15x50, 20x40, 50x30
*A suitably mediocre exercise to begin with. I knew I’d need to do a warm-up first to get a little more pumped up, so going straight to 60kg next wasn’t even trying to my triceps. Handled with ease.

Smith flat bench press:
6x70, 10x60, 15x50, 20x35
*The 70 felt cool, I’ll start heavier next time.

Shoulder press:
8x70, 10x60, 12x50, 20x30
*No problems here also. As with the Smith above, I’d be looking for 80-90 tops on both these exercises normally but as a first time doing these reverse sets I deemed it foolish to attempt today.

Lat pulldown, hammer bar:
10x60, 12x50, 18x40, 25x35
*Again, no bother with these. The increase of reps on each set wasn’t a struggle at all. My programme for this routine will have a rough draft following this write-up and will be revised each session with heavier weights.

I never thought I’d wanna do this kind of madness again. I thought I’d be happy with the light high reps. Never give in, never give up. Never too old to rock ‘n’ roll, never too young to die lol.

Chest cables, downward pull:
10x35, 12x30, 14x25, 16x20

Hi-pull bicep cable curls:
10x35, 12x30, 16x25, 10x20

E-Z preacher curl, c/g, low pull:
7x50.5, 9x45.5, 11x40.5, 15x30.5, 25x23
*I knew this exercise above no other would be the ultimate test in this set structure. Starting off at over 50kgs on the biceps curl bar and working back was a terrifying apocalyptic vision of horror. Expecting to struggle even lifting the bar without having done any prior lighter sets, very oddly indeed the bar went up like a rocket and I continued fully to the shoulders for seven reps – that’s more than I would usually finish with! 3-4 is my normal max.
I had to have a sneaky peek at a bicep flex to make sure I wasn’t using somebody else’s arms!

Tricep pushdowns:
25x20, 50x15

Bicep stack curls:
20x20, 25x15

Ab crunch:
40x35, 50x30


Time: 1hr. 20mins.

After this workout I felt great and I still had energy in the tank despite the heat. A cold shower was absolutely wonderful, the first time I’ve been cold for two months. Loved it.

For the rest of this week I’ll be going through my exercise list and I’ll end up doing the full lot in this way by Friday if poss. Tomorrow, I’ll going to see how my legs fare using the same procedure.

Thanks for reading.

Re: Post your daily exercise routine

Good evening all here

Heck SM that sounds like some day you had there! Glad you were there to help and bet they were too! Also glad to hear you didn't end up needing a paramedic

Floydy, some workout yet again there, your stamina must be second to none, have you ever competed in body building? Not sure if I've asked that before.

So this is my evening.

After finishing work I went to my dads as usual then came home, I felt exhausted, sat down, watched some TV and next thing I knew I was waking up! I'd fallen asleep for almost an hour, I must have been tired.
When I woke my friend wanted me to go meet her (she's having marriage probs and wanted to offload) I decided to take my gym/swim gear just in case I felt like going after our meet up, deep down I was thinking, I'm too tired to go to the gym.

I left my friend at 6.45pm got in my car and thought "bugger it, I'm gonna go to the gym"

I did 20 minutes on treadmill fast/slow/fast slow/ 10 minutes cross trainer, some leg muscle work and arm muscle work then I went for a swim intending on doing 20 lengths of the pool, I ended up doing 32!

I've just got home at 9pm and I feel FABULOUS.

I'm sooooo glad I decided to go, I feel like I could go again!

Exercise really is good for body and mind.

I've lost another pound which I am delighted about because I had stalled for the last 4 weeks not losing a single pound which was a bit soul destroying. I've lost a lot of weight and I do keep reaching plateaus but I keep at it and then the weight starts shifting again. I've still got a way to go but I'll get there with this determination of mine!

Thanks for listening.

Re: Post your daily exercise routine

Lion Queen - Isn't it a fantastic feeling when at first perhaps you don't really feel like exercising, then you get started, get into it and thoroughly enjoy it. It's even better after a swim too (oh how I wish my gym had a pool!) and a shower afterwards. You honestly do feel like you have accomplished your aims and goals. Well done there!

Controlling the weight is a tricky one. Diet is of course the main factor, but I'm sure that this heat plays a double-edged sword in it too:
1. It's more difficult to get motivated and our exercise regime is slightly lacking in pace.
2. We eat less because it's too warm for hot meals. We often prefer a salad (or ice cream!).
I'm sure you are on a winner though with your efforts at the gym and the swimming

You asked about if I ever competed in bodybuilding?
I didn't to be honest. Whilst I had a physique in my younger days, I was in the RAF and never found time to take it further.
No matter though, it formed the basis for a long-term body shape which at the moment is probably in better shape than it has been for years. On and off!

Re: Post your daily exercise routine

Its never too late lad.

Re: Post your daily exercise routine

Not any more, LQ. It would take too much time and besides, it's a young man's game competitive bodybuilding, unless you live on your own with no life.
I'm happy keeping fit, with a bit of the heavy stuff thrown in for good measure

Re: Post your daily exercise routine

I suppose it's like Marathon Running Floydy, training takes up half of your time and for the other half you're too tired to do anything.....My family were very tolerant of my running back in the day, jobs not done and running while on holiday.. Come to think of it, nothing much has changed, except I don't run marathons anymore......

You were right about good and bad runs Floydy, went out for a five this morning and had a fabulous run. Despite the heat (23*C at six thirty this morning) and 40% humidity, I powered round with speed to spare by the time I arrived home.
This was taken just after I finished, notice Maddie the cat coming out to meet me, as she does after every run......

Re: Post your daily exercise routine

Congrats on your run today, Bob. Like the days of old again. Keep it going mate, you're on a roll now
Looking great there, Bob. Very cool and suave. Good pecs too!


Rising at 1pm feeling completely drained after six hours sweat-drenched broken sleep I had to get out of the house pronto and move it to the gym where I knew the air con would be like heaven on earth. Immediately I walked in I felt refreshed and ready for the onslaught.

Normally I do legs on a Sunday of course but that was postponed at the weekend, so I made up for it today with a pretty swell attempt. The method I was using yesterday by beginning at heavy weight and working back down the scale didn’t look to practical for the legs…how could anyone realistically begin with a leg press of 250? – you need to build up to that kind of weight… so it was a volume-laden, but very controlled workout instead.


Tuesday, 24/6/18:
(All weights in kgs)

Incline press:
25x150
25x200
25x250
25x200
25x150
*Up and down the weights, nice big reps without going like the clappers.

Horizontal ‘sled’ press:
25x100
25x120
25x140
25x160
25x180
10x200
10x200
10x200
10x200
10x200
*When I reached the full stack of 200, I decided to ease off the reps and stick to ten slow burning reps. I didn’t drop the stack as in the other sets, instead holding the weight for a few seconds and carrying on. In other words, it was almost a very precise and strength-laden set of 50 reps done really slowly. My quads on fire after this lot.

Ham curls, seated:
15x40,
15x50
10x60
10x70
5x80
25x40

Adductor:
20x60
20x60

Abductor:
20x50
20x50


Time: 40mins. – yes, that’s all it took.

Walking back to changing rooms my legs were as heavy as lead balloons, looking very worked indeed but I was surprisingly light on my feet. Sadly though, no cold shower was available today but an ice cream was very welcome followed by a tall cool glass of iced tea when I got home


Thanks for reading

Re: Post your daily exercise routine

Hi, everyone! This Tuesday is akin to a Friday for me, a fair amount astronomical work wrapped up neatly and sent off with a ribbon and a kiss - and not one drop of working out. After running with all I had the other day, I took a bit of a setback. With resolve, and OGF knows exactly what I mean, with all of my might, I willed myself not to run, not to do step, and not to surf .

A good day to catch up with all of you. LQ, I am really happy for you about that pound. I am a believer in set point theory in which our bodies "decide" on a certain equilibrium weight and will do anything to hang on to it. When you can break through that plateau, it's a big thing. Your attitude is so admirable and feeling the rewards of shutting down that lazy gremlin on your shoulder must be wa.

Floydy, I couldn't help but laugh about your remark about 250 lbs for a leg press. You are so right! I sneak up behind that machine and tiptoe around to the front so my knees don't see what I am doing, I start with a pathetically low weight of 50 and then increase by ten lbs at a time. Reps are the name of the game for me, but I do believe that, done right, leg work is what prevents knee injury, so I just don't tell my knees, or my orthopedic surgeon . Nice workout.

OGF, that is just adorable! The runner is too ! How sweet that Maddie the Cat comes to greet you. What a good dog! I mean cat.... For someone who had to lay off for some time, you are looking very fit. If I had to take off that much time, I would look like Winston Churchill.

So, now that I am gelatinous, lazy, and without strength after a recovery day (or at least I feel that way ) I am wringing my hands with a promising surf report tomorrow morning. Hopefully the jellyfish, which have been a problem of late, will be taking their own version of a recovery.

Go forth and use muscle.

Re: Post your daily exercise routine

250lbs?. That's for lightweights, Suzie. I work in kilogrammes....not that I'm boasting, mind

An extra day for rest = an extra day for recovery. That surf is beckoning you. Go for it