Journey, Not A Destination

KeeseeD said:
Gotta love the quote "Success is not a destination, it is a journey!" - Not sure who. :)
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Arthur Ashe, Jr. said it :) and the remainder of it is even nicer :) The doing is usually more important than the outcome. Not everyone can be Number one. :D (said the guy who won a whole lot of tennis matches and died entirely too young :)
 
Hi Steve. I am a little late dropping in today. i had to babysit my sisters kids!:rolleyes: It was fun they are 1 and 2 and wow they can make you move. I would've got my workout even if I hadn't went to the gym!!:eek: Hope you have a great evening!!:)
 
Slight alterations..

Steve,

After reading your reply the other day, I have made some slight alterations to my resigme.. please feel free to provide some feedback and guidance;

40 minute walk/jog/sprint - (broken up; "cool downs" - walking, but mainly jogging with 30sec sprints); running off of the

I do this twice a day, 1 x morning and 1 x night. I go a little less harder in the morning, as I do it before I eat.

At night, after the 40 minute excersise.. I do the following things;

I have incorporated some Squats - 3 sets of 12, with;

2 x 12 db curls
2 x 12 db flys
2 x 12 db "hammers" (like a curl, except the db is held like a hammer)
2 x 20 crunches (at the moment, with lighter wieghts)
2 x 20 inclined situps
1 x 10 pushups
1 x 10 inclined pushups (with a chair)

A couple of others which I have forgotten to mention, but this should give you an idea.

Like you said, I dont have the same goals as you. I want to just loose a few Kg's but keep a little bit of mass.

Feedback would be great mate!!
 
Steve said:
Hi Anna! Sure you can ask questions here, that is pretty much what this journal is about.

I don't know much about you. Are you dieting? Your goals dictate how you should lift, so I need to know.

But in general, progressive overload to the muscle is the name of the game. That means, you constantly have to stimulate your muscle by stressing it with a weight it is not used to. Lifting the same weight over and over again becomes a futile process.

With most of my workouts, I set my sets and reps in advance. Then, each workout I try and increase the intensity by either A) increasing weight lifted in the given rep range or B) increase the number of reps completed if I could not increase weight.

Example:

Goal is 5 sets of 5 reps.

Week 1 I do this:

Set 1, 5 reps
Set 2, 5 reps
Set 3, 5 reps
Set 4, 5 reps
Set 5, 3 reps (muscles to fatigued to complete.

So, in week 2 I would not increase my weight. Instead, I would try my darndest to get 4 or 5 reps in that last set.

Follow me?

Short answer to your question. Yes, increase weight. No, if you have been doing 10 reps, stick with 10 reps.
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Hi Steve; thanks for the quick answer and I like the 5 sets of 5 reps method. That will be a good way to begin on my 8 pound weights.

My goal is to lose another 17 pounds with calorie reduction and exercise. I'm 5'9" and currently 152 pounds. Want to get to 135. At my current activity level, I need about 2200 calories to maintain, so I'm reducing to about 1500-1600. My workouts are usually 40 minutes of cardio (hill climbing on the elliptical trainer or jogging), sit-ups, heel raises, core exercises and the upper body free weights. At some point I hope to add lunges to my anaerobics, and skipping rope as an option for cardio. I take days off between weights and just walk to work and home (4 miles).

Tonight I increased from 5 pound to 8 pound weights and it felt right. It was hard, but not impossible and on some of them, I could only do 3 sets of 8 reps instead of 10 reps. Or I had to stop at 2 sets of 10 reps. But I think I'm going to try the 5 sets because that will be a real good way to ease into the 8 pounders. THANK you. :)
 
I didnt drop in here yesterday...it was a long day for me....but I wanted to make sure I sent a cheery "Good Morning Handsome" your way today :) :)


and...wow....your friend Noel is cut...but....why does that scare me?? lol, should girls really look like that?? :eek:
 
Ahhhh. I took the day off from work. Actually I didn't. I am working from home. I woke up at 4 in the morning pumped up to get a lot of work done today for some reason. It is also supposed to be beautiful. So, I said to myself, why not mix the two. :)

I packed up 2 meals, my laptop, and a few files, and road my bike to a park with internet access a few miles away from home.

And here I sit. Life is good.
 
the_a_train said:
Steve,

After reading your reply the other day, I have made some slight alterations to my resigme.. please feel free to provide some feedback and guidance;

40 minute walk/jog/sprint - (broken up; "cool downs" - walking, but mainly jogging with 30sec sprints); running off of the

I do this twice a day, 1 x morning and 1 x night. I go a little less harder in the morning, as I do it before I eat.

At night, after the 40 minute excersise.. I do the following things;

I have incorporated some Squats - 3 sets of 12, with;

2 x 12 db curls
2 x 12 db flys
2 x 12 db "hammers" (like a curl, except the db is held like a hammer)
2 x 20 crunches (at the moment, with lighter wieghts)
2 x 20 inclined situps
1 x 10 pushups
1 x 10 inclined pushups (with a chair)

A couple of others which I have forgotten to mention, but this should give you an idea.

Like you said, I dont have the same goals as you. I want to just loose a few Kg's but keep a little bit of mass.

Feedback would be great mate!!
Click to expand...

I don't know anyone on here with the same goals as me. So you don't have to keep telling me that. I think you have a fear that my recommendations are going to include exercises for muscle building. Guess what? There aren't any.

Building muscle depends entirely on nutrition and your energy balance.

Your program includes far too many isolation exercises. Get rid of all the arm work and crunches. Are you doing this every single day?

And it has been insane in my life the last day or two, so sorry if I asked this already. What are you current stats and your exact goal weight-wise?

How many cals are you consuming?
 
Hi Steve!

Wow, I've been flicking through your diary, you really are like the site's health guru aren't you! Looking after everyone :)

Have a nice day in the sun!
Kez
 
2Skinny said:
Hi Steve; thanks for the quick answer and I like the 5 sets of 5 reps method. That will be a good way to begin on my 8 pound weights.

My goal is to lose another 17 pounds with calorie reduction and exercise. I'm 5'9" and currently 152 pounds. Want to get to 135. At my current activity level, I need about 2200 calories to maintain, so I'm reducing to about 1500-1600. My workouts are usually 40 minutes of cardio (hill climbing on the elliptical trainer or jogging), sit-ups, heel raises, core exercises and the upper body free weights. At some point I hope to add lunges to my anaerobics, and skipping rope as an option for cardio. I take days off between weights and just walk to work and home (4 miles).

Tonight I increased from 5 pound to 8 pound weights and it felt right. It was hard, but not impossible and on some of them, I could only do 3 sets of 8 reps instead of 10 reps. Or I had to stop at 2 sets of 10 reps. But I think I'm going to try the 5 sets because that will be a real good way to ease into the 8 pounders. THANK you. :)
Click to expand...

Good luck with the 5 sets of 5. I would do your weights before cardio if you are doing them all in one session. Also, exercise selection is critical when resistance training for muscle maintenance. I'd def. like to see you add more compound work in there such as squats, lunges, step-ups, rows, pushups, etc.
 
LynnZ said:
I didnt drop in here yesterday...it was a long day for me....but I wanted to make sure I sent a cheery "Good Morning Handsome" your way today :) :)


and...wow....your friend Noel is cut...but....why does that scare me?? lol, should girls really look like that?? :eek:
Click to expand...

Good morning wonderful. :)

Who is to dictate what any man or woman should look like? Conformity is stupid IMO. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And being who and how YOU want to be is critical to happiness IMO.

That said, Noel is one of the most beautiful people I have ever met in my life. Honest to goodness. Most amazing, heart felt personality out there. And stunning in looks. I give her my props, I'll tell ya that.
 
kezzypear said:
Hi Steve!

Wow, I've been flicking through your diary, you really are like the site's health guru aren't you! Looking after everyone :)

Have a nice day in the sun!
Kez
Click to expand...

I offer a helping hand where I can. I am certainly NOT a guru. I hate gurus, LOL.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Don't be a stranger. :)
 
Hi Steve -- quick question for you.

When you're stuck on a weight, like I am on the incline dumbbell press, do you try to increase it anyway and just fail on the last set, or do you wait until you can do all the sets properly before increasing?

I did get your post about the magnets, but I don't have those yet.

Today is Weights B day, where I do the incline dumbbell press, and I'm getting sick of those 60 pounders!
 
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