Training Bits and Bytes...

I'm able to do 25 consecutive chins and could do more, but I sweat like crazy. Give me a can of Stick'em, and I could probably crank out 30.

I'm starting to train in the morning before going to work. Too much work and too much time with the little lad equals not enough time to train with weights. I still do the bodyweight stuff, but I do a max of 120 reps for each of my 8 exercises: chins, HSPU, pushups, one-arm bench pullups, v-crunches, crossleg crunches, hyperextensions, and one-leg calfraises.

Training in the morning is hard, but easier on the weekends. I'm also cutting at least a cord or two of firewood each week, loading it onto my truck from a lot, off-loading it, cutting up the logs, and splitting them.

 

What's your drive, Buddy? I am always interested to hear another man's origin of will, in regards to his mindset & physical state. The answers are more varied than people realise.

 

Good stuff Buddy!

I've been training at night, after the kids go to bed o do cardio and bodyweight stuff some at night and first thing every morning

 

Well, all my uncles were strong men but they didn't do anything to develop or maintain it, and then around the age of 40 or so, they would invariably start to decline, losing strength, speed, and power.

Men in my family are long-lived even though they treat their bodies like crap. Part of my motivation stems from wanting to be able to play sports with my son 20 years from now, and part of my motivation is seeing how long I can keep improving.

Even though I'm stocky as hell, I'm fairly nimble. Last night, just messing around, I did something I haven't done in at least 20 years---a front flip on a trampoline, landing on my feet (I did 4 or 5 of them in total). Not too shabby for an old man. ::

 

Yep, I'm starting to do daily morning workouts because it's the only real time to get things done.

 

Im training more more like yourself these days, Buddy. I was drifting that way anyway, but being a bit of an over thinker I didn't fully commit to it until I started reading on bulgarian training methods and realised that overtraining is a total f'n myth. And thinking up 'programs' is dumb as shit. If you can't recover from training it's because you don't train enough! And if you feel like training more you should and if you feel like doing a bit less you should. Just train. Once I had a theoretical explanation for what I naturally wanted to do anyway, I felt like i kinda had 'permission', as stupid as that sounds.

Right now Im doing chin ups, push ups, barbell squats, hammer curls and strict sit ups every day. I started at 10 reps a day for each and Im working up to 70 a day (basically at that now). Once i get to 70 I'll add weight to each (I'll switch to plyo push ups, then 1 arm push ups etc=) and just start at 10 reps a day again. And Im gonna add clean & presses, I think.

No thinking, no 'work outs', no changing weights or deciding how much weight to lift in a given day. Just reps per day, done at any time I feel like when im in the house, gradually progressing over time.

I think I've found the way I'll train for the rest of my life with this. No big deal, just integrated into my life, something i do.:Thumbs:

 

For me, I wanna be stronger at 50 than I am at 25. It's mainly about longevity & feeling fully alive & functional. And just because if I don't exercise regularly I feel like absolute crap. It's just the natural thing to do, we're designed to move.

 

One thing I'm definitely getting back into is the ropeclimbing and treeclimbing. Sometimes the simplest ways of gaining strength are the best.

 

this is how i do it, no real thought of "i need to workout" i just do it daily

i'm 37 and in better shape than when i was 21

 

It's a challenge finding time to train, but one of the things I can do for fun is pushups with the little lad on my back. If I keep doing them everyday, he's eventually gonna be a considerable weight to use.

I'm gonna ropeclimb with my weightvest as well. I've done that before, and my grip strength instantly gets better.

 

what the hell is "Bulgarian Training" hut?

 

That's a hell of a goal. For what it's worth, desire is everything. My father is 62 &, without a shade of exaggeration, trains with the motivation of an 18-year-old with a head full of thoughts surrounding the fairer sex. Training, as he likes to put it, got him through every rough patch in life to date.

It can be done.

 

How do you think you will react to it when you realise you're starting to decline in spite of your best efforts, owing to Father Time? Will it dent you, in your best guess?

I often ask my self this. I'm 27 & I have promised myself to never mis a beat with training for the remainder of my life (I grew up under a fanatical-training father, so I have the great fortune of it being a part of me from a young age), but I still wonder what will be when I'm venturing into my 40's & beyond.

 

Bulgarians olympic weight lifting. They train all the major lifts to a max every day or at least 6 a week, including slow lifts like the squat and overhead press. And they train about 3 times a day.

Basically they act as if overtraining doesn't exist and eventually their bodies just give up fighting and admit they're right ::

Beyond that, they believe 'overtraining' is basically a result of stress & mental arousal, rather than training volume generally, so they make sure not to get pumped up for training sets. And that your strength varies from day to day so listen to your body and don't try to go beyond what you're capable of on a given day.

 

interesting...but don't olympic weight lifters juice to the max? so of course they can train like freaks

 

Yeah mate true, but the bulgarians don't/didnt juice any more than anyone else. They can definitely train more than Joe/hut average ever will (time if nothing else), but they showed that even other elite, drugged lifters were setting limits on themselves way below what they were actually capable of in terms of frequency/volume. And from there everythings scaleable. Look at the success of the 'sheiko' program in drug free powerlifting, even, which everyone in America thought was completely mental when they first heard about it.

Basically .....you can do anything you feel like if you build up to it and you don't get too psychologically aroused during training. And if it's too much you won't wanna do it anyway. Stuff like 'a muscle needs 'x' days recovery, if you do 'y' you'll definitely overtrain etc. Stuff Joe Weider pulled out his well serviced ass to sell magazines and garbage protein powders. Just do whatever stuff you like as much as possible & don't fucking worry about it.:34:::

That Bruce Lee quote about a punch just being a punch etc comes to mind. I'm sure you're not neurotic enough to need this stuff explained to you, but I totally was ::

 

I can't see it bothering me that much. My uncles and even my father are still very strong, and dad's 60. I just plan to stay healthy and active as long as I can. Some days you're stronger than others, and I doubt I've reached the top yet.

 

Well, pissing around on the incline bench, I used 100s for dumbbell incline presses. It's all those handstand pushups because I've only started back doing incline presses in the past three or four chest workouts.

The gym only has dumbbells going up to 115lbs, so I'll probably use those in a few weeks. The hardest part is getting the dumbbells to the initial pressing position when you're doing it by yourself.

That's my bits and bytes for the morning.

 

i got good at sitting back, then putting them on my knee and POPPING them up using my leg to help

 

I put a little footstool just in front of the bench. Dumbbells up to knees, knees on bench, roll back, and pop up in a rolling motion that gets the weights up right away.

 

Let's have a competition. Let's see who can hold a 50lb dumbbell in your right hand with fully stretched out arm directly in front of you for the longest period of time.

 

You've probably worked it out already mate but the best way's to waddle back up to the bench with the DBs resting against your thighs then rock back in one movement and use your legs to help push them up to chest level kinda like a leg raise (knees bent obv). Then on the way off bring your thighs back up while the weights locked out with your arms extended and use the weight of your legs to rock back off the way you came. It's pretty easy as long as you make sure you never fail a rep. Save's stretching your shoulders out putting to weight on the ground or dropping the DBs.

 

::

Even Bruce Lee's boast was a 75lb barbell with TWO hands. I tried a 25lb dumbell with one hand and held it up for a count of 9, but the count was probably fast. I bet buddy could easily outdo whatever Bruce Lee did.

 

i'm down

i gave my 50's away though..

i'd like to do this

we can do 25s , i have some of those..

or what else could we use that we'd all have?

 

I'm sure we can do it at the gym or something.

 

i'm gonna do it with a 25 and see

 

Fuck no, I have more will than I have common sense. I'd wind up tearing something in my shoulder permanently.

 

Buddy don't be a pussy. Lets see you do it

 

I used 30 pound dumbell . Did it for 28 minutes. Could have went on longer but phone rang. What about you guys ?

 

:: Damn! You beat me. I got bored after 27 minutes and 59 seconds!