Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Continuing to work

Phew! Just finished a killer workout!

Three sets of each, each set taken to muscle failure:
Flat bench press
Inclined bench press
Overhead Shoulder press
Neck lifts (with a head harness and chain that I can thread through weights)
Flies

I am SMOKED!!

Yesterday was:
Squats
Hamstring curl
Calf raises (weighted)
Preacher curls
Forearm curls

Tomorrow is:
Lat pulldowns
Seated row
Shrugs
Dead-lifts
Triceps pushdowns

By cycling these three workouts, I'm working my whole body in five days, and then taking weekends off to rest and recuperate. Of course, I have karate on Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, and on Mondays and Thursdays, we do a TON of core training, which is why it's pretty much absent from my workouts. I'm also constantly working on kata, kicks, punches, balance, and I'm looking into making a homemade makiwara.

Every morning, while it's still so freakin' hot, I've been walking a mile on the treadmill. When it cools down a little, I'll be taking The Bear with me, and walking a mile every morning and evening, with him. :-)

It's ironic that at the late age of 41, I've got the best body I've ever had, and I'm in nearly as good of shape as I was when I was in the Army, from the ages of 17-23.

4 comments:

  1. That's a fair old three day spilt you've got there Frank. My DH and I are just about to start on another 12 week training programme (clean eating, three day split weights and cardio every day). I'm trying to get myself into the mindset for Monday when we begin. You sound just like my DH with your last sentance. He's just turned 42 and has never been fitter or more toned (even when he served in the Navy from 19-23!!). I guess we can teach you old dogs new tricks after all ;)

    xMx

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  2. Awesome!! The only difference, is that I have to spend more time stretching and warming up, or else I run a higher risk of injuring myself. It's a real shame that we have to grow older. LOL

    Over the past couple of years, I've been sidelined by one injury or another, so I'm taking it slower and being more careful, but other than that, there's no real difference.

    Our bodies are amazing machines, and were designed to run, leap, climb trees, mountains, up through our sixties. The worst thing to ever happen to us, is that our work has become easier. The human body was never designed to sit behind a desk for eight hours a day! :-)

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  3. The only reason you can't yet out-perform your adolescent self is because you haven't hit that part of your training yet, Frank. :)

    Keep at it! It's so awesome, what you've been able to do. I'm jealous; serious back issues have kept me from training for about 2 weeks so I'll have a lot of work to do once I fully recover, but I'll be ready. I'm still doing what I can with flexibility and forms training in the meantime.

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  4. Thanks, Jimmy! Sorry to hear that your back is bothering you. A bad back injury sidelined me for about six months, and that seemed like the longest six months of my life. I've been healthy as a horse, my whole life, so learning how to cope with illness or injury is something that's still new to me, although between that back injury and then the tendinitis in my elbows, I got all the practice with being injured that I could ever want! Haha...

    Take your time with healing up, but I still hope it's quick for you.

    I hurt my back on Saturday, deadlifting, but I was already warmed up and stretched out pretty good, and it turned out to be very brief, and I'm back to 100%, again.

    In fact, today was my back workout, featuring the deadlift, again. This time, I lowered the amount of weight I was doing, and paid close attention to form, and I was able to do three sets to muscle failure, with no issues.

    I think that as I (gently) strengthen those muscles, stretch them a lot, and continue with the core training that we do in karate, I'll be less likely to injure it in the future.

    Good luck to you!

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