Re: Post your daily exercise routine

In all of sixty seconds after lacing up my shoes, I am accelerating out the door. I am the worst when it comes to stretching. Besides the rare days in which when my piriformis muscles or IT band are a tad inflamed, I will do some light yoga stretches in the evening, (like yoga one-legged pigeon pose with my head bent forward to the floor) but that's about it. I've never really trained my fast-twitch muscles, which explains why I am more of an endurance runner, but that annual mark on the calendar is telling me that I should probably apply a little more discipline when it comes to stretching. Yes, yes, I will definitely get to that...one of these days...

However this day, like the others, was stretch-free and satisfying. The rain returned late, but not until I managed a leisurely five miles with my daughter on the outskirts of town. There, I saw a father teaching his daughter how to drive and a doe watching keenly while her fawn grazed the spring grass along the side of the road. It seems that all of us parents were busy with our offspring today!

Re: Post your daily exercise routine

A full schedule permitted me me only four miles but I was able to get the new foster dog (who can be seen in the Pets section) out for a test run now that the sutures of his missing eye are healing and he has put on some weight.

He was so calm while I put on a leash, and he behaved so beautifully that I started to jog with him obediently alongside me. He trotted right along and I was convinced that he must have been trained, however that was before he spotted the pelican.

In the blink of an eye, I resembled the following, and all I could see as we flew past was the blurry shock and dropped jaws of the beachgoers as we flew past.

Re: Post your daily exercise routine

That will certainly do your 'Fast Twitch Muscles' good Surfermom.....That's if you can keep up with him.....

I chose something less strenuous this morning, after running down a seriously busy road for the last two Sunday's I decided to stick to some quiet country roads for a change. It's a route I used to run every Sunday but haven't run it for quite a while because it is eleven miles and because I'm not running competitively anymore I've been happy to stick to nine and a half along the canal bank.

The sun was still low in the sky at six thirty, and with occasional cloud cover it was still cool.
I set off at a very cautious pace and was soon running on quiet country roads with the village far behind me. I didn't even see a car for the first four miles until I arrived at the road junction where I would normally have turned right making it a six or eight miler.

I turned left at the point of no return 'It would now definitely be eleven miles' I thought, as I joined a slightly more busy road. It was at this point I became aware of the sounds of nature and the gentle padding of my running shoes on the tarmac, a sort of numbness had engulfed me and I felt I could run at this pace forever...And I realised why I love running.....

Following the winding road, sometimes under the cover of Oak and Chestnut trees as they mingled together above my head, and sometimes with precision trimmed Hawthorne hedges obscuring fields of ripe Corn and Barley. Still running cool and pain free it dawned on me that I might have been a little hasty when I thought I could run all day, the heavy feeling of tiredness was beginning to overcome my legs, but with just a mile and a half left to go I knew I would make it safely home.

This has been one of my better runs of late, and due to sensible pacing and a keen observation of the surrounding flora and fauna, I feel refreshed and stimulated enough to face the rest of Sunday.....Perhaps from the comfort of my couch (Sofa in English) though....

Re: Post your daily exercise routine

Ah, nothing better than the road less traveled, chosing the left when the right is the usual path... Which do I covet more: the feat of going eleven miles or the serenity of a country road on Sunday? As it turns out, jealousy is not the worst sin I committed today...

The toughest run for me is the one that rare one comes after I ignore one of the most important laws of physics and chemistry: "Thou shalt not break thy fast before running". Ugh. French toast was the sin, and my penance was served around noon beneath a punishing August sun. It was not unlike Lawrence crossing the Nefud in "Lawrence of Arabia" - only with an overly full stomach of confections. While pace was hardly a concern, finishing six was. Still, I managed it in decent time, knowing there would be a nice cool gulf swim at the end of it. Shedding socks and training shoes, I hopped right in, to almost immediately get stung by palm-sized luna jellyfish that start making their appearance in late summer. They are virtually transparent, except five rose-colored rings that form a clover shape in the body (that are actually reproductive organs), with stings that linger for about twenty minutes or so. Even in my melting, stinging state, I thoroughly enjoyed the visual feast of the silvery water beyond tufts of grassy oats anchoring the sugary sand. Every run is a victory!

With my sense on the sofa (no couch here, unless referring to one with a potato :P) before starting out this morning, I will do a much better job tomorrow. I vow to start with nary more than a glass of water, at a time in which the purple morning shadows are still streched long across the pavement. I think I will try a right turn rather than a left and see what another six miles will have in store...

Re: Post your daily exercise routine

First day ever of a spinning class, and while it was a great workout, why would anyone want to sit on a stationary bike indoors, in the dark, illuminated by only a black light when there are moving bicycles to be pedaled in the great outdoors? Well, there is that pesky man-colliding-against-moving-vehicles issue...

Problem solved with a slow and steady five mile run. Somehow feet on the ground felt so much better.. .

Re: Post your daily exercise routine

It was pittling it down here in South Yorkshire this morning, but did it deter Foxy from going out for his early morning six mile run?.......No Way!.......Stuck on me shorts and tee shirt and foraged around in the wardrobe for a waterproof top and just stepped out into the rain....It was better than I expected, the rain wasn't all that heavy anyway, and for some unexplained reason my legs felt strong and did everything I asked of them....Very few cars due to all the schools being closed, and not much standing water yet....So it went very well, except the waterproof top wasn't as waterproof as I thought it would be............as you can see from this example......

Re: Post your daily exercise routine

Just an update on my knee problem then.
Yesterday I went to the NHS physio, and against my guarded expectations I was very impressed as she was very thorough (apparently she does a lot of work for Hull City's ladies team as their sports physio).

It appears that I do have some mild Osteoarthritis, which is age-related coupled with perhaps a little too much "overdoing it" in the past as well. But apart from monitoring it with stretched and other various exercises, I'm fine to continue with most gym work, avoiding any 'hard surface' running i.e. jogging on concrete (i.e. outside) or treadmill work. In fact she encouraged me to get back into heavier weights, though she nearly fainted when I suggested returning to 400kg leg presses! Finishing off with a few minutes on the static bike would help a great deal after each session too.

So that gives me a huge incentive to recommence my training later on today (Wednesday). What I do from now on will be a mixture of moderate to heavy weights but with additional leg work such as high reps just to keep the mobilisation going (similar to those in my last training post on here).

So it's nothing out of the ordinary as long as I'm more careful. Time to crack on again!

Re: Post your daily exercise routine

Floydy, I wish you well with your knees. I had one sports physician tell me that I should stop running because of some knee problems I was having, but a second told me that the opposite was true. I was given the same advice as you - build up the surrounding muscles so they put less work on the joints. Three years later, that has been exactly the case, and I am running about 30-35 miles per week without any pain aside from a bit of stiffness when I sit too long.

OGF, as our rain is usually sporadic, most people stay indoors during the rain, but not me! I suppose it's years in the water. Thankfully I haven't dissolved yet! However, I do run with sports glasses so my vision isn't terribly affected in a downpour.

It seems I look a lot like your photo after a long run this time of year, but it's not so much rain as perspiration. (Holy cow, you are fit!) I am down to minerals and dust by the end of seven miles, which of course is the time I like to weigh myself, that with luck reveals a number that reads, " Congratulations! You win today's prize ofmay having plenty of bread with dinner!" Alas, I confess I am a cheater in this way.

Re: Post your daily exercise routine

Thanks, Surfermom, wise words there
I don't run anymore anyway. I used to be out running up the hills of Lincoln every night when I was in the RAF, but that was 20 years ago and with the subsequent bodybuilding I added another 4-5 stone to my frame, so my build wasn't so suitable for jogging anymore.
I'll still keep the cardio up though, but mainly on the bike. Plus I must walk about 8 miles each night at work, so there's plenty of limbering up there to keep the old knees supple!

Re: Post your daily exercise routine

There comes a time when you begin to slow down. I noticed this a couple of years ago when I began to get more complacent with my training. It’s easy to say that the root cause is because I work nights get tired more easily during the day, coupled with the lack of time I have to focus fully on my training, but I started putting in less sessions per week and that was concerning to me.

I’ve been getting to the stage where I’ve been deciding that visits to the gym will be treated like any other activity, such as a visit to the cinema or going for a swim; becoming a ‘casual lifter’. But that’s not for me, this type of training is built-into my psyche and pending any major injuries or health issues I will do it. And it’s all because of this problem with my knees, the arthritis. That is irreversible but with regular and carefully judged training I should be able to keep that at bay for some time.

Anyway, and moving on, my ‘session’ today was a little forced upon me because of the happening of yesterday’s physio visit, and I haven’t had enough time to get a revised programme worked out yet, which will see me employing more medium-to-high reps with moderate-to-heavy weights, though nothing’s set in stone yet, so I basically just decided on an extremely mellow effort. And what’s more, I didn’t even train my legs, which was the precise reason for returning. Ho hum, that will be tomorrow then!


Bench, c/g:
20x35
20x35

DB press:
10x20’s
10x20’s

Tricep extensions:
25x30
20x40
12x50
10x60
8x70

SUPERSET:
E-Z bar preacher curls / BB forearm reverse curls:
8x30 / 8x15
8x30 / 8x15
8x30 / 8x15

Shoulder press:
10x60
10x60
5x70
12x40

Ab crunch:
10x50
10x50
10x50
10x60
10x70
25x35

5 mins bike.


Time: 50 mins.

I’ve lost a hell of a lot of strength, despite feeling pretty energetic whilst I’ve been off. Those weights are really pathetic. My diet hasn’t been too good either and the first thing I did today after the gym was devour two pork pies. Not ideal really.
But I’m back again – for how long, who knows? – but back all the same and I can only improve.

Thanks for reading.