@abasket count me in! I have dumbells and do some routines built for barbells (eg bodypump) with them but I really like having a program to follow.
Although I don’t see myself ever doing much stuff with barbells (especially if I don’t go to a gym), I am interested in other home excercises for upper body strength and core strength.
I didn’t do any exercise yesterday, except for some watering and weeding in the garden. Today I did my new-normal of bike to the lake, run 5k. I have a better (but still light) bike lock now, but oops… forgot helmet today.
@calmom Thank you for the explanation. The owners of my gym may accept Silver Sneakers, I have no idea, but what I was pointing out is that while there are a few older men, including me, there are zero older women. And it may because of the type of gym. It’s not a 24 hour/PF/Anytime type of gym.
I agree with @Midwest67 All of us, men and women, should be training with weights (dumbbells are great, barbells are better) and/or doing body weight movements/workouts. We’re all just losing muscle and bone density. We know what can happen later in life, including bone breaks, back trouble, difficulty with simple daily tasks, etc.
I’d be up for learning about weight training. I know it’s something I should be doing. I have some different weights of dumbbells, but really don’t know where to begin.
I started out with DBs.
IIRC, the routine was DB press (like a bench press), one arm DB rows, seated OHP, & assisted chins, plus deadlifts (I had a low quality barbell & had to put it on blocks so the height would be correct).
I have some light weights and I follow strength routines on line (Fitness Blender has a lot of free ones).
8 mile run today. Due to injuries/other commitments/out of town) there were only 3 of us and 1 had to drop out 2 miles in as her IT band was acting up. So just 2 of us for most of the run. We have decided that after a hot,humid summer of longer runs we want to keep it up. We know now that we can run longer and drop time.
I’d be up for weights. I miss the gym and my boutique spin place. I used to love the half spin half DBs classes. I lack the discipline to do it on my own. I will run, walk, and swim by myself, but lifting I can’t seem to do.
Meanwhile, the spin place is holding an outdoor fundraiser and I signed up. Wish they had more outdoor classes. I am not ready for heavy breathing inside.
And our loose group of running swimmers may have access to a Dexa scanner to do some baseline body fat measures. In my thirties, I was very lean, 18% body fat, due to genes as much as running. Today? Hoo boy! I am afraid to see. My weight hasn’t changed, but I am sure my composition has.
I had a friend accompany me on my walk/run this morning. It was muggy, but I enjoyed the company. We managed 90 minutes with about a minute of slow running every 10 minutes. We were partly out in the country, so it was quite pleasant. Saw some deer and turkeys.
I miss the gym. I miss my trainer too; she had breast cancer surgery and finished her treatments (successfully) last December and isn’t going to see clients again until the fall (maybe)?
Anyway, I’d be up for a challenge. I do better when I am motivated by an external challenge. For the last six months, I have basically done yoga 5 days a week, some bike riding, and walking. I was motivated by a week-long yoga camp in Costa Rica (went in January before the epidemic).
Since March, I’ve worked with weights a handful of times–can’t get motivated to do a full-on workout online. I don’t think I’ve found the right online program. I do have hand weights, kettlebells, and a weighted bar (not sure what it’s called). I used to be pretty strong–I once bench pressed 100 pounds. Couldn’t do that now. Also, I’m probably the oldest person here. (I’m actually able to collect social security). Reading about RBG inspired me (this isn’t going to be political–so don’t delete) with her 20 pushups at 80!! Also, I want her trainer!!!
Since a lot of people aren’t going to a gym during the pandemic, I’d start with learning a proper squat, deadlift and bench. The three powerlifts.
There are bazillions of videos out there, but I really like the CF versions because they’re 1 minute ish long and hit all the highlights with on-screen bullet points. The alternative is to subscribe to a starting strength or beginners program. Here’s a marketplace of programs.
https://www.trainheroic.com/marketplace/
You can choose beginners female only or they have at least one for cancer survivors. The programs have videos and coaches where you send them videos for analysis and correction. And usually there’s a community of members that offer motivation and support.
I’ll throw some ideas out here for a weight challenge.
Like @FallGirl mentioned, there are plenty of online freebies for not too long, easy to follow weight workouts. I only am familiar with hand weights. I have not ever done a kettle ball workout. Maybe someone can weigh in there.
- So we could make a list of online weight workouts we like and tag that post number each Wednesday (?) or Monday (beginning of week) to refresh our minds. I would volunteer to have people message me their fav online work out link - then I'll compile for posting. So if I post the list in post #3200, then once a week I'll try and repost the list or reference that post # so people can access it easily.
- We could do a "Weights Wednesday". Or "Mighty Monday". Or both and try and get at least one of the days each each week. Commit to doing 15 minutes or more weight work. (is 15 too much?)
- Post a summary of your workout - or at least note here that you did it! For yourself, track your workouts and your # weight usage.
These are just off the top of my head. Please add other ideas or why something above might not work. Again, they are just ideas!
@my2sonsfromca – If you just want to get started with dumbbells – there is all sorts of stuff on YouTube to guide you. Basically, with the pandemic, YouTube is my new gym – I stream the videos on my t.v. and pretty much unlimited options. Also, there are a lot of options to combine weights with dance exercise, barre or even pilates or yoga. Generally with the dance + weights it is working with very light weights, but a lot of reps. (I find that the combination is somewhat more motivating for me).
I finished up another week of training.
Sets of eight for deadlifts & squats are so different from what I’m used to!
This week I focused on squat — feeling the weight of the bar on my back and NOT in my hands.
If I don’t get out of work too late, I’ll hike with the club tomorrow.
Food was good all week. Hit my daily protein goals of 150 grams or more, and stayed under 2000 calories. I’m enjoying every bite of fresh garden tomatoes before the first hard freeze.
I was an active participant on running forums for years and saw a lot of women get started with lifting. I know it can be intimidating. There were a couple of books that they swore by. I THINK one of them was The New Rules of Lifting for Women. It had a lot of explanation and workout routines. Granted this was in the day before youtube!
I find that I like having a calendar of xx weeks that I can check off and see progress. Then move on to something different. I really like beachbody’s programs, but hesitate to recommend since it does cost $$$ and I’m currently irritated with their app and tech support. (Programs good, app/tech support blows) and I’m not a fan of shakology/nutrition stuff. It might be fine, but I don’t like getting pushed into that kind of thing. their eating plans with the programs do seem to be pretty decent and balanced, but I prefer to do my own thing. It’s worked for 20+ years.
I was trying to find similar free programs online, but was coming up short. Random workouts could possibly work at least for beginners, and the way @abasket recommended with Mighty Monday, Etc sounds a good way to keep people on track and motivated without a defined schedule. Comcast/xfinity I believe also has a number of freebie workouts. That is how I got started in yoga 8 years ago.
I’ve also done push-up/pull-up challenges over the years, but I’m guessing most wouldn’t be into that. I also like Jeff Cavaliere’s free 7 min ab routines on YouTube, but they are pretty tough.
Today, I first built to a heavy squat. After that the 1st HIIT was a 200m run (treadmill) followed by a set of 10 squats at roughly 60% of today’s heavy squat. Repeat 4 more times.
After a short break, my 2nd HIIT was a benchmark CF WOD called the The Chief, which consists of a 3-min AMRAP of 3 power cleans, 6 push-ups and 9 air squats. Repeat 4 more times with a 1-minute break between rounds.
I finished up with several sets of rope climbs and glute ham raises.
You can find a lot of CF workouts here: https://wodwell.com/ They have progressions and scaling available.
You can specify the type of equipment that you have access to at home (dumbbell, kettlebell, barbell, jump rope, box, etc.) and/or what type of movement you desire in your workout (burpees, squats, deadlifts, push-ups, etc.).
Maybe - even for the “light weight” or hand weights people (me!) just start posting wheat you ARE doing. Give some specifics of what video you follow or how long you do it for or what is working or not working - and then we will all learn by reading more content about it. That would be a good start.
Beautiful day hiking with the club!
10 miles on mostly (blessedly) flat trails. Sunny, but not hot.
I’m getting my hiking legs back, little by little.
And Sunday is filet mignon night! Yum!
90 degrees here. And for a 2nd Sunday in row, 7.5 miles (3 laps) on the Bayfront trail.
I went to the gym after for about 30 minutes of core work (planks, side planks w/ KB’s, V-ups, weighted oblique crunches).
Kinda funny, but one of my gym buddies was there and since I’ve known him, he’s gone from 151 lbs (thin) to 163 (bulky). I was walking by him and he says to me “Sometimes when I wake up the morning, I kinda have a 4-pack.” Awesome? But why are you telling me that? :lol:
Hopefully, tonight is BBQ night, where we pick up yummy ribs and chicken.
An hour mid-day on my home bike while I caught up on some TV shows. By the time I got rolling this morning it was too warm outside for me to want to go out. Tomorrow is another day.
Would a separate thread topic for fitness-lite and beginners make more sense? I actually find this thread quite intimidating and daunting— it’s the same thing that kept me away from gyms for many years.
I found for myself it works best to set very small goals and I look for SHORT videos on YouTube – simply because that pretty much eliminates the “don’t have time” excuse.
So when you ask, “what is working or not working” — we all have very different goals. With the Covid situation and current politics, a big part of me simply wants to stay in bed all day and binge on Ben & Jerry’s. Obviously not what I am doing – but the point is that what “works” is very different from one person to another.