Exercise

[hardrain]

I use eliptical machines and play handball.

 

[Klutz]

Dear Knowledgeable ones:

As I hurl towards that great abyss at breakneck speed, I have noticed as of late that my body no longer retains its rock solid character without need of some sort of daily exercise. As a result, I am being forced to drag myself kicking and screaming to a gym if I want to once again capture my Adonis like physique. That being said, I was wondering which of the following apparatuses currently residing in my gym would best transform my middle-aged body back into its fighting form?

Shoulder Press
Fly
Incline Press
Tricep Extension
Arm Curl
Row
Lateral Pull Down
Rotary Torso
Hip Adduction
Hip Abduction
Leg Press Seated Leg Curl
Leg Extension
Back Extension
Abdominal
Standing Calf


Thanks.

I hear ya....I'm going to be hitting the big 5oh this year! I've been doing cardio at home(eliptical machine-20-30min) 2 or 3 times a week, some strength training, and of course lots of streching. Seems like it's still not enough though. They say it takes just as long to take it off as it did putting it on.

Hubby and I used to do all of the above mentioned when we belonged to a gym, when we lived in the city. I did love to use most of the machines...the only ones that I didn't like that much were the Shoulder Press and the Fly they hurt my shoulder and the Leg Press Seated Leg Curl hurt my knee, so I avoided those. I didn't really use the Incline Press, the Row, and the Rotary Torso(I don't remember them having that one). I did love using the Hip Adduction and Hip Abduction, being a woman, those worked both the inside and outside of the hips and thighs.

I do like to be able to work out at home at my own leisure, maybe a little too leisure..... I sometimes do miss the socilizing at the gym, but not all the smelly, sweaty stuff..... ya know what I mean....

We also do all kinds of outdoor activities as much as we can like hiking, cross country skiing, snowshoeing, ice skating, biking, swimming, kayaking, whatever we can do when we have the time. You'd think we were in perfect shape with all of the things we do, but....the older ya get the harder it is to keep it up. Sometimes the muscles get a little sore and have to take some down time too.

So with all that being said, I guess you have to kinda make your own workout that works best for you, depending upon what your looking to do. Me, I'm just trying to maintain my weight, while trying to tone.

 

[Lawn Sale]

I work out 3-4 times a week and have a set regimen I use, which loosely follows Bill Phillips' book, "Body for Life". I worked out in past years at set intervals and didn't really see much improvement because I was just going through the motions. Since I started his technique (decreasing reps and increasing intensity), I'm amazed at how far I've gone so fast. I am working on specific muscle groups for ice climbing and backpacking, and the owner of my gym (free membership through work) guides people for specific muscle groups. He's even encouraging me to bring in a backpack for use on the stairmasters and elliptical machines. He said he's helped many people attain their goals for mountaineering, including one 58 year old guy who only had 1 year to train for 2 weeks on Mt. McKinley.

I do a lot of cardio, stairmaster forwards and backwards, elliptical machines, and Nordic Track, but find a balance that includes weight training does make a difference in stamina.

 

[Klutz]

Thanks Lawn Sale, I'll have to check that out....see if there's anything there I could use.

 

[BEUCS]

I think if your goal is to increase the over all tone of your body then doing exercises on "all" the machines you mentioned will help. If building strength and endurance for hiking is your goal then you'll have to customize your workout a bit in order to get the specific results you want. Most "machine" type exercises work the muscle used in isolation of of all the other muscle in your body. This can be a benifit when rehabing from an injury but can be counter productive when training for dynamic activity sports like hiking, sking,etc... Doing exercises that incorporate two or more joints of the body and where your doing the movements from a "standing" position greatly improves the effectiveness of the exercise. This is do to the body having to recruit multiple muscular systems at one time which also automatically activates some core muscle groups. Also incorporating "negative" or eccentric movements helps build strength and stability in the joints. Did anyone see the 60-Min segment on Bode Miller? He had built some torture chamber type device that allowed him to do negative squats, it looked brutal... I want one! Also training with weights once or twice a week should be plenty if enough effort is put into those workouts.

 

[WhiteMTHike]

screw gyms - they are social clubs

Yeah right, maybe for some but not for me. I put my headphones on, turn up the volume and workout hard and heavy, then take a shower and go home; real social ... so much for that theory.

I was wondering which of the following apparatuses currently residing in my gym would best transform my middle-aged body back into its fighting form?

Shoulder Press
Fly
Incline Press
Tricep Extension
Arm Curl
Row
Lateral Pull Down
Rotary Torso
Hip Adduction
Hip Abduction
Leg Press Seated Leg Curl
Leg Extension
Back Extension
Abdominal
Standing Calf

Simply put, all of them since they hit different muscle groups from various angles. Have fun!

 

[sapblatt]

Gym

Yeah right, maybe for some but not for me. I put my headphones on, turn up the volume and workout hard and heavy, then take a shower and go home; real social ... so much for that theory.

That is exactly what I do to...maybe a hello or two, but that is it...the 90 minutes from 4:30am-6am are all mine at the gym - the rest of the day I am owned...

As for what I do - I do 30-50 minutes of aerobic everyday I go (3-6 days/week). Everyday I do some core excercises(I do two sets of 25 on these) (which my hiking body appreciates) - this includes obliques, situps, back extensions - I also do quad presses every day to keep the legs in balance - the aerobic stuff is great for the hamstrings, but does not do a lot for the quads (biking aside)...
Every other day I hit the weights - I do low weight - high reps...try to do two sets of 15 on a full circuit...
I am not hikng as much, but all of this is helping me stay fit for when I get out...

 

[Mohamed Ellozy]

For strength training my absolute favorite book is Strength Training Past 50 by Wayne L. Westcott and Thomas R. Baechle. They cover both free weights and machines.

Westcott has an interesting web site: Wayne Westcott's Fitness Info. I take his advocacy (everyone should do strength training) with a grain of salt, but the articles on the site are well worth reading.

 

[king tut]

I don't have a gym membership right now, but i'll tell you what i used to do.
It looks like you're trying to remain skinny yet muscular. The exercise regimine that i started in college and kept going for several years was this..

I would start each day w/ cardio, usually a 20 minute hard bike ride on the stationary bike, lots of sweating and the heart rate is around 150-170, i think it was? You could run, but my knees don't like that anymore.

After that would be upper body. I followed a routine that my rugby friends used in college. I would do a three day cycle.

Day one would be chest. So that would include bench press, incline bench press, and decline bench press.
Day two would be biceps and triceps. That would include bicep curls w/ free weights and bars, and triceps by laying on your back on a bench w/ a bar and lifting the weights from near the floor above the head using the tri's.
Day 3 would work the back and shoulders w/ various free weights and machines.
The theory behind the 3 day cycle was to exhaust a muscle group each day and by the time you got back to it 3 workout days later it would have time to rebuild and strengthen.
I would also do at least 50 situps a day on the decline sit up machine. I would also throw in weights w/ the quads and hamstrings whenever i had time.
I've always had a very slow metabolism, so this workout was great at keeping my body fat percentage low.

 

[jmegillon149]

Its been interesting reading everyone's workouts, figured I'd share my workouts as well, I am probably more into lifting than most people (been doing it for 15 years, and I'm only 27)

my winter workout regimen tends to start with a half hour on one of the cardio machines, then onto weights, then I usually finish off with more cardio machine or the punching bag. Generally I lift four days a week, two bodyparts a workout; upper body, legs/abs, upper body, off, upper & lower

In the summer I do something outside for a few hours, usually mountain biking, or a short hike then lift after dark (why waste daylight), usually only three days a week

I also do DVD yoga in the morning before work, as many times a week as I can wake up early enough to do so(sometimes everyday, sometimes none!)

My rules for weightlifting are:
1. never do the same exercise two workouts in a row, ex: if you do dumbell bench press one workout, do barbell the next and machine the week after that; machines, barbells, dumbells all have different benefits, not one is truly better or worse than each other
2. Never do upper or lower body two days in a row
3. Switch bodypart pairings each week, if chest is done with triceps one week, the following week it is done with lats, etc.
4. Switch between regular and supersets(two exercises, no rest)
5. If you skip a day, don't skip the scheduled workout, pick up where you left off, some people say "monday is always chest", and if they miss monday, they miss chest for that week, with my schedule I sometimes have to spread my routine that could be done over 5 days over 7 or 8, like most people on this site, I will skip the gym to go hiking, skiing, rockclimbing, etc.(after all gym training is done to benefit these activities), then pick up where I left off

It may be anal, but to make sure I do all of the above I have a notebook of workouts that I bring to the gym each day, I generally lay out enough workouts that I don't repeat for over a month, I write down each exercise I do, the order, how much weight, and how many reps

 

[Klutz]

Sounds like quite a few people have a pretty set regimen going. I'm really bad at that....I usually do 20-30 on the elliptical machine, then into either streching or work on the Total Gym 1700 that we just recently purchased, which I absolutly love. Now I just need to figure out some kind of routine I can stick to. I tend to jump around a bit, that's probably why I'm not getting the results I'm looking for. Then I end up overdoing some things, get sore, and take time off. Like yesterday....I don't know what I did, but my lower back is kinda sore, so now I'll either not work out tonight or just do the cardio and some stretching. Anyone got any ideas on how to figure a routine that'll work?

 

[king tut]

Sounds like quite a few people have a pretty set regimen going. I'm really bad at that....I usually do 20-30 on the elliptical machine, then into either streching or work on the Total Gym 1700 that we just recently purchased, which I absolutly love. Now I just need to figure out some kind of routine I can stick to. I tend to jump around a bit, that's probably why I'm not getting the results I'm looking for. Then I end up overdoing some things, get sore, and take time off. Like yesterday....I don't know what I did, but my lower back is kinda sore, so now I'll either not work out tonight or just do the cardio and some stretching. Anyone got any ideas on how to figure a routine that'll work?

The routine depends on what you're looking for. Are you looking for a strong lower body for hiking, or looking to add some muscle on the upper body? The routine that i posted was a good all around body workout for most sports. Keep in mind that you can do lower weights at high reps to tone muscle and high weights at low reps to increase muscle. Always make sure you are doing the exercise correctly as well. Poor form can put strain on the back and other places. It's always good to see a personal trainer to establish a routine and learn the correct form in doing the exercise. It's also a good idea to switch the routine around once in a while and shock the system, as Artex stated.

 

[Klutz]

The routine depends on what you're looking for. Are you looking for a strong lower body for hiking, or looking to add some muscle on the upper body? The routine that i posted was a good all around body workout for most sports. Keep in mind that you can do lower weights at high reps to tone muscle and high weights at low reps to increase muscle. Always make sure you are doing the exercise correctly as well. Poor form can put strain on the back and other places. It's always good to see a personal trainer to establish a routine and learn the correct form in doing the exercise. It's also a good idea to switch the routine around once in a while and shock the system, as Artex stated.

Yes, pretty much all of the above....as well as trying to get rid of some fat around the mid section. I think I probably was over doing the sit ups or something like that, I also have an old injury that reoccurs occasionally...from leaning over and pulling up on a window....improper form. It sent me to the floor with muscle spasms and every now and then I get reminded of it......

 

[jbrown]

Just to amend my previous post referencing the article in Backpacker, here's a link to the article now posted online: Climb Like Ed

 

[Mac]

I pedal my 47 yr old body to work and return at least 3 times a week (22 km round trip). I also try to incorporate other activities such as xc skiing, wood chopping, etc.

I won't even pretend to be at Pete Hickey's level (with what seems to be daily bicycle trips to the 'States, combined with many thousands of vertical feet climbed) , but my level of activity does seem to keep me in reasonable shape.