Never been serious about body-building, til now ;)

(Denise) #125

Hi Tony I so appreciate reading your reply every word and I’m real tired it’s late where I live on the West Coast and I will leave a message tomorrow morning when I’m more alert thank you so much for sharing your story and all the info I will get back to you in the a.m. thank you again and glad you’re here. Denise :+1:

(Tony) #126

Also, I forgot to mention that some machines give you a mechanical advantage, depending on how many pulleys are on the machine. A one pulley machine is pretty much a one for one ratio for weight. Pulley machines with more than one pulley give you a mechanical advantage, so the weight indicated on the machine doesn’t truthfully represent the effort required to lift it. You’re actually lifting with less effort. Nothing wrong with that, just wanted you to understand why you may be able to do more on a machine than with free weights.

Also, when I lifted, I focused on two muscle groups per day. This allows you to give your muscle groups 2 days to recover before working out on the third day.
Day 1-Back and biceps
Day 2-Chest and triceps
Day 3-Shoulders and legs
Abs: Daily

The muscle fibers in your abs are different than the muscle fibers in most other muscle groups. This difference allows your ab muscles to recover quicker than most of the rest of the muscles in your body.

Tony.

(Denise) #127

Edit: I just realized it’s “muscle-groups” which I think means that it works mainly the biceps, for example, but it has to be working other areas as well, so, bicep group, I think I understand, maybe :wink:

I knew it must be “different” with pulleys, but I didn’t know in what way until you explained it Tony, I really appreciate it.

Today is workout day so I think I’ll start just doing first on your list. I’ll just be using machines, so I’m not sure which to use for just biceps and back but I always have Google and will check it out. The machines also, as I’m sure your know, have little diagrams showing which muscles are worked. My problem might be finding machines that weren’t one since thing like my biceps.

One thing I didn’t mention or add to the thread earlier is that I did my hike on Monday. For the first time, I actually felt some pains in my calves. I was kind of surprised because I walked “up” the hill like I was 20, but when I turned around to go down, omg, pain in calves, not like cramps, and not just muscle aches. I actually had to sort limp down all the way. It scares me a bit to talk about it and realize, that was not at all normal for me. I stopped and massaged my calves a bit, as I knew I had to make it down.

Anyway, as soon as the ground leveled more, I was sort of back to normal but I’ve just rested ever since. The night before I went for my hike, and got poor sleep, and an anxiety attack over not being able to stop my smoke detectors in the apt. to stop chirping. Maybe TMI but I just thought I should mention that, and huge reason I went to for walk/hike was to relieve stress/anxiety.

Ok, I gotta get going now, but I’ll come back after I go do some upper body stuff at the gym, thanks again Tony, and yes, I’ll be careful :wink: I’m sure I just overdid the hike. I’ve rubbed magnesium citrate on my calves and they are almost free from any soreness now :wink: denise

(Tony) #128

Great! Yes, going down can be more painful than going up. We call that “working the negatives” which is resisting gravity while still succumbing to it. Lifting is overcoming gravity. My legs always feel like jello after hiking down hill since it’s not a common action we do in daily life, unless you walk down a lot of stairs for a living.

For the exercises listed below, google the exercise name and you’ll see an illustration of the exercise (e.g. Bent over tricep kickbacks).

When I say I worked a set of muscle groups, I would perform three to six sets of all the exercises listed under that group. All the shoulder exercises I listed work a different subset of shoulder muscles, so I targeted the individual muscles in the shoulders.

And again, that’s how I did it. You can pick and choose which exercises are right for you and tailor the weight and frequency to your own needs.

As for exercised for muscle groups:
Arms: (note for the general public: triceps make up 2/3rds of your arm size. Bigger triceps= bigger arms)
-Biceps: seated or standing curls with free weights, or seated at a weight machine
-Tricep: tricep extensions on a machine, or overhead extensions with a dumbbell, or bent over kickbacks with a dumbbell (these will kick your butt!)
-Forearm curls (dumbell)
-Grip/fingers: grip machine or squeeze a racquetball

Chest:
-Flat press (free weight or machine)
-Incline press (free weight)
-Decline press (free weight)
-Flys (My personal favorite! these will kick your butt!) Look up fly machine. Dumbbell flys are even harder

Back:
-Seated row machine
-Lat pull down machine
-Bent over rows (dumbbell)
-Lower back: back extensions. This is a reverse sit-up. You’re facing down on a machine

Shoulders (my specialty, I have large shoulders):
-Seated overhead press (dumbbell or machine)
-Shoulder extensions forward (dumbbell or machine)
-Shoulder flys (to the side) (dumbbell or machine)
-Reverse flys (same fly machine, but seated backwards and working the back of the shoulder)
-Shoulder shrugs (dumbbell or machine)
-Shoulder rotations, internal and external (rubber band). This is a fantastic workout to strengthen your shoulder stability or to recover from a dislocated shoulder (ask me how I know!)

Legs:
-Leg press
-Squats
-Lunges
-Calf extensions (standing on your tippie toes)

Abs/core:
-sit-ups
-crunches
-yoga
-pilates

Tony.

(Denise) #129

I decided not to go to gym today, but I have some heavy, for me, dumbells and my bench, and yoga mat so can try some things here at home.

I love the pulley rowing, and flies with pulley as well. I do like the pulley types, but that’s a busy area unless I hit it at the right time :wink: I hope you won’t mind me printing off your suggestions? Will you let me know?

Just walking around this a.m. I don’t want to do too much until I feel they are back to normal. So it will be home-exercise at least one more day, or as needed. Something you mentioned is another asset I have here in my apt. building, nice stairwells to use to walk up and down, and the hallways are also all inside, so no excuse about Winter weather :joy::+1:

I’ve lost some loose skin on and I attribute it to my doing a lot of tricep work, not the only thing I work hard on but it’s working great so far.

I am so glad you came by the thread Tony, I’m really learning more and more things to try, and seems like if I rest 2 days after a hard workout, I do much better. I will keep reading your stuff over again, and yes, I will just do what feels right for me my size and age, and listen to my body :wink:

(Tony) #130

Very good then! You may absolutely print off my posts if they help in any way! Keep up the good work and let us know how it continues to go!

Tony.

Creatine, going to test it out
(Edith) #131

A few articles on the importance of rest days.

(Denise) #132

Thanks so much for these Edith :+1::heart:

I really had to take another day to rest yesterday, so I did just that. I ate good as always drank lots of water, and this a.m. I’m feeling better. It’s hard for me to take it too easy because I know how good I can feel when I move my body with any form of exercise but my leg-pains worried me so I’m not hesitating to rest. I’m not bed-ridden, I’m just making sure everything is healed in my calve-muscles :wink:

(Denise) #133

Took a time-out from posting, got lazy, no excuses. I did manage to keep my lower body worked by doing our stairwells for 30 minutes. Did that every day for a time, and then I just laid off everything, more laziness.

I’m back “on-board” so to speak and started with some upper-body/dumbell workout. I plan to do my stairs later today.

No more gym membership as I just don’t want to drive up there. I like working out with what I have here at home the best.

So here’s the little dumbell workout I just finished. I didn’t like the bent over she does, I felt it too much in my lower back so I improvised. Never had a back-injury but I don’t want one either :wink:

Caroline Girvan, 10 min. Upper body

Hope others are doing good, denise

#134

I got lazy too but had a very bad back pain too, I was glad I could walk as much as I did (it wasn’t particularly much but the weather wasn’t so great either).
Every little thing helps me so I try to follow your example and go to do my workout now! It’s time for it anyway.
And I really need to strengthen my core, it’s horrible. At least the pain is gone, I better work to avoid it as I don’t want it again. When I had it now, the usual exercises didn’t help, I had to wait for several days.

(Denise) #135

yea, we used to call it “getting back on the horse”. I’ve been thrown off a horse a time or two and it wasn’t easy to climb back on at times, but you and I, and others will do it.

I start realizing how much worse I feel when I don’t do something. Walking is great I think, and it feels great. It’s wonderful, and even though I neglect even that at times, I still start it up again. Good to see you Shinita, Denise

(Denise) #136

omg, I just lost my whole post, nevermind what I said for now, I’m just back here hoping to get more inspired to do my weights. I follow Nick Norowitz on X so here’s his post I saw this a.m. and that led me to come back here:

nick%20norowitz%20caloric%20restriction%20post
nick norowitz caloric restriction post.JPG322×867 71.1 KB

#137

I’m back to the forum to join the bodybuilding quest! I start… Then stop. I need to stick to it!

How are you doing, @Goldengirl52?

(Denise) #138

I have the same progress, or lack thereof :wink: @Corals. I appreciated seeing your reply this a.m. because I am trying to get on with it as well. I feel encouraged to get out today and have a good work-out :wink: no excuses :wink: sending hope and encouragement right backatya!! denise:grin::+1:

#139

I appreciated it too :smiley: I got back to do my workouts! Last week was weird, all my “standing up and doing something” while being at home was garden work, a lot of that is needed now.
I am a tad weaker than before but it’s normal for me after a “break”. Even my willpower is worse. I have a tendency not to do hard things but when lifting, it can’t be helped. Sometimes it’s fun, of course, challenges can be nice but other times it’s just too hard. But I definitely won’t go back to 9kg for my biceps, I have been waiting for 2x10kg for AGES! :smiley: It’s the right weight for me now, it’s just hard and I need the right mindset to do as many reps as I can.

(Denise) #140

I really admire those that are regular at lifting, and any exercise that builds muscle. I always think I will stick with it, but so far, I just go in spurts. I just got a bit worse on my osteo progression, and the weather is way better here so I’m encouraged to try again to make it a good habit :wink:

Good luck to all, denise :heart_eyes:

(Denise) #141

I’ll try to bring this thread back to life, as I didn’t want to put another thread in. I think this one can be brought along about my new attempt at building muscle/strength/bone-loss prevention, etc. with using my weighted-vest I got yesterday.

I finally got found one the right weight at 4 lbs which is all I could find, or I may have gone lower. 4 is ok, if feels ok but at 73 I’m going to just try it around the house for now. I will not push myself too hard. My goal is to add the 4 lbs to my 30-40 minute slight uphill, residential, that makes my walks like a hike.

Right now we woke up to a couple of inches of snow, so it will be the stairwell of my apartment building until better weather.

Question?? Anyone else do walking/hiking wearing a weighted vest, and if your older, maybe near my age, any tips?

I’ll put in a snip of the one I have. I can add weight, “if” I work up to that and still feel good:

I went for less expensive yes, but I like the way it fits me, and seem made well enough, a bit surprised at the quality it seems to have. Some sort of iron granules, not just sand, not that I know if that’s better than the sand :wink: Weighted Vest @ 4 lbs, up to 10 lbs extra

#142

Oh I didn’t know weighted vests were so light! I am pretty much against using weights (I have more than enough extra fat, thank you…) but if I just have a backpack, that is heavier… Often much heavier and there is some elevation… I really dislike that though but it’s important to be able to do that in need.

I really need to resume my workouts. At some point they just disappeared again, had some reason to stop for 1-2 days and… IDK. Need some core exercises too, my back pain is more serious now, it was always my weak point, even at 20 but it’s more frequent now and the last 2 weeks were worse than normal. I can’t let it continue like this!

(Denise) #143

I think mostly about “losing nutrients and muscle” especially when aging. I’m 73, and glad I woke up when I did. I have a minimal amount of bone-loss comparatively speaking, and Keto is the best I’ve ever eaten. I know I can’t stop the aging process, but I have more muscle now than I had 7 years ago.

The way I eat is way more important to me than the exercise, and I try to remember to share that with folks just starting out on Keto. I think it was at least a couple of months before I got “physical” with some real, regular exercise. That had to do with the knowledge I’d gained here, and other places, on losing lean, muscle-mass. I had to make sure it was fat I was burning, not lean muscle.

I guess looking ahead, realistically, the pros and cons of what I do today that might “improve” my life, and what might make it worse. I suppose someone could call me a “pleasure seeker” but not just “instant gratification” seeker. I want something that can last as long as possible.

(Denise) #144

I invite all ages to this discussion of course :nerd_face:

I’m watching a video on Weighted Vests “specifically” for Seniors. I’m glad to see that it suggests “already” being into some type of exercise. For me it’s Walking Uphill. Not super strenuous, easy does it. It’s not real hiking as I live in “hill’y” residential area, so all pavement.

I am looking at the video to show me more than I “think” I know to do. I am thinking of posture first and foremost. Also, balance of weight, and where the weight should be situated, front, back etc.

I haven’t watched all of this vid, but will put it in here, and encourage anyone to share their personal knowledge of using a Weight vest, or new folks with questions on using weighted-vests.

Here’s my first video: https://youtu.be/RqR8q4x99t8