[Ragnar Ragnasson]

My workout routine now is garbage because despite surgery my knee is still shot. I can’t run really and I can’t jump rope which were my two favorite cardio exercises. I have a fan bike and a Concept 2 rower at home but it’s super boring.

Yesterday I walked down and up a steep hill, then 100 sit-ups, and some back lifts.

3 times a week I’m training boxing now but my movement is still really bad, not as bad as when I came back at the start of the year but still bad. I get pain and swelling in my bad knee.

Resistance I normally do either TRX or at home I have a barbell and dumbbells. I also do body weight stuff like dips, different push ups, pull ups, squats. I tried 5 lunges last week on TRX, so I’m starting to try and do more legs to see what happens to my knee.

I get you. Much of the free weights used are dumbbells and barbells used in four positions, sitting on an adjustable inclined plane benches, different days barbells same.

Core work is on machines, after my lower back disc fusion several years ago.

Also use the overhead adjustable arms and pulley machines to get the full stretch of overhead downward motion at multiple angles, repeat with upward motions.

At three reps of ten with the last rep dropping weight to pump until can't do any more, for endurance.

Laying flat and overhead curls floor to over chest to fully stretch back, shoulders ant triceps.

Next day shoulders, straight lats ant back, try to keep muscles up to take the strains off cartilage, especially to avoid rotator cuff damage.

My first goal do no harm, avoid injury, as I don't heal pulled muscles as fast as used to.

 

[Laurentium]

Any sane trainer would tell me to stop doing squats.

 

[Ragnar Ragnasson]

Any sane trainer would tell me to stop doing squats.

It's definitely a balance. I really do live by first do no harm when working out.

Torn cartilage or tendon damage, and lower back injury are serious concerns of mine.

 

[Laurentium]

Torn cartilage or tendon damage, and lower back injury are serious concerns of mine.

Yes, as I said above, if I have to spend a few weeks lying flat, that might literally be the beginning of the end of me

 

[Ragnar Ragnasson]

Yep. At times I feel 60. As I am .

I've got screws and plates in lower back. That I have to stay aware of.

 

[ccpowerslave]

I have access to guys who train elite athletes from boxing, so I asked them what I should be doing for my knee and the answer was TRX squats and lunges. Ah one other one they didn’t say that I have been doing is static skier sits on the wall at home. So instead of saying “don’t squat” it was more of do them but lighter than your body weight.

 

[BigDaddyNY]

I have access to guys who train elite athletes from boxing, so I asked them what I should be doing for my knee and the answer was TRX squats and lunges. Ah one other one they didn’t say that I have been doing is static skier sits on the wall at home. So instead of saying “don’t squat” it was more of do them but lighter than your body weight.

I was thinking something like this. Squats are the king of leg exercises as far as I'm concerned, but that doesn't mean you always have to load a heavy barbell on your back. I don't think the movement of deep squats can be beat. My dad, who is 72, still does squats, but I don't think he ever does more than 100lbs. He'll just do something like 50 deep breathing squats with a couple 25s on a barbell.

 

[ccpowerslave]

Yeah that is one more advantage of using a strap like a TRX, it makes it easier to go butt to floor. Been working back to that. I don’t count reps I do them for time.

 

[Mybabysgotit]

Damn I’m envious @Mybabysgotit !!!!

Im glad this topic got started as I’m in need of some advice. I’m also 48. I’ve been in good shape most of my life due to sports and manual work in my youth and Ironman triathlon later in life. Thats all behind me now and I became a little lazy. I’ve been back in the gym for a while now and cut some pounds but I need some real advice or tell me a program to buy that I can follow. I’m working out every day switching between lower body and upper body but I’m at times feeling weaker and not stronger.

Do supplements actually work??

The only program that works is consistency. On those days you don't want to train, just tell yourself your going to the gym to walk half mile on the treadmill then treating yourself to a nice lunch. If that's all you do, good for you, you made it to the gym. I would bet after you do that half mile, your ready for more and now that you trained hard, you're not that hungry so a protein shake hits the spot..

Supplements have their place but no supplement is going to make your body look any different, with the exception of exogenous hormones. I take a lot of fish oil but that's about it.

 

[Mybabysgotit]

Good stuff everyone!

Defenitely impressed with babystillgotit! Jeez... thats exactly what I am after... looks like I only got 10 years to go haha! (I hope his wife is holding down the fort if you know what I mean... otherwise he must be wading through the chicks at the beach like a combine through a wheat field.)

Supplement wise... seems like someone was asking... I keep it pretty basic-

A whey protein shake after lifting. (Isolate/ concentrate doesn't seem to matter.)
A good multi vitamin- daily
Krill oil- daily
2.5 grams of creatine- daily (5, typical maintenace dose, kills my stomach no matter how much water I drink.)

Try to get all/ most macros through normal food.

Only thing I would do different is that multi-vitamin. When you take that, a lot of those vitamins interact with one another, negatively impacting the efficacy. Also some are fat soluble like A, E and K, while others need to be taken on an empty stomach, etc. The bioavailability doesn't really work when they're all taken together.

 

[ccpowerslave]

I take

Jocko: Joint Warfare and Super Krill
One a day men’s multi
Super beets chews

 

[Mybabysgotit]

This is my basic routine. I try to hit the gym 3 days a week, MWF. I do some other core work, cardio and "pre-hab" exercises on inbetween days. Right now I'm doing it as full body, but about every 8 weeks I will rearrange the exercises into an Upper/Lower split. I typically do 4x12 for sets/reps, but every 4 weeks I'll go heavier and drop to something like 4x8 or 4x6.

Full Body 1
Incline press
Decline Dumbbell Press
Single Arm Pec Deck Double arm last set
One Arm Lat Pull-In
Seated Scapular Retraction w/ cables
Reverse Pec Deck
Leg Extensions
Seated Leg Curl
Standing Calf Raises

Full Body 2
Squats/Leg Press
Seated Calf Raises
Wide Grip Pull Down
Seated Scapular Retraction w/ cables
Decline BP
OH Press
Upright Cable Rows
Seated Alternate DB Curls
Seated DB Wrist Curls
Cable Pushdowns

Full Body 3
Leg Press
Calf Raises
Glute Bridge Machine
Shrugs
Lateral Raises
Front Raises
Seated Alternate DB Hammer Curls
Skull Crushers

That's awesome, I wish my body held up that long. I'm good for about 8-12 sets total, looks like you do about 20-30 sets per workout.

 

[BigDaddyNY]

That's awesome, I wish my body held up that long. I'm good for about 8-12 sets total, looks like you do about 20-30 sets per workout.

Yes, about that many. Keep in mind I use the first set as a warmup using a lighter weight. These days I have to prep my body for every motion it is about to do, lol.

I do a timed break of 60 seconds between sets and I'm usually done in 60-90 minutes. That is my limit before I burn out.

 

[heather42]

I found out today I'm in really bad shape.

The weather was nice and I got to spend about two hours in the garden. Clearing, prepping, getting it ready for spring bulb planting and mulch dumping.

It was a full body workout and I'm totally out of shape.

The garden is my personal trainer. Killer workout.

 

[Rooster Cogburn]

Only thing I would do different is that multi-vitamin. When you take that, a lot of those vitamins interact with one another, negatively impacting the efficacy. Also some are fat soluble like A, E and K, while others need to be taken on an empty stomach, etc. The bioavailability doesn't really work when they're all taken together.

Intetesting... I didnt know that but makes sense.

Is there anything I should take... IE- product name... or just vitamins by their lonesome (like vitamin D)? I take GNC mega men if that helps.

 

[BigDaddyNY]

Intetesting... I didnt know that but makes sense.

Is there anything I should take... IE- product name... or just vitamins by their lonesome (like vitamin D)? I take GNC mega men if that helps.

I recently discussed vitamins with my doc. His take on it is they aren't needed unless you have a measurable deficiency or at least symptoms of a deficiency. He thinks that not only are they a waste of money otherwise, he thinks they do harm because of the oxidation and the processing by the body.

We have a healthy diet, so we've cut way back in vitamins. My wife takes a couple recommended for menopause symptoms and I take just a couple herbal supplements, turmeric, black pepper extract and red yeast rice. Just for general joint and cardiac health.

 

[Laurentium]

Oh, another thing. I take 150mg of aspirin daily, because it has many health benefits. But it probably blocks the muscle growth response to exercise. I don't tend to gain visible muscle even if I work hard.

 

[ccpowerslave]

So I didn’t have a lot of time today because of work:

4x25 situps
4 sets bicep curls
3 rounds mamba bag
2 rounds shadow boxing

Total time ~30m

 

[Griswold]

I'm relieved to see the range of lifting folks are doing. I started perhaps 4 years ago - but mostly with machines. I've lifted in the past (astoundingly a track coach made me a shot putter freshman year in HS. If you saw me then, you'd pull a muscle laughing). But I had to lift. So off and on I'd go to free weights ...and always wound up hurting myself somehow. I resolved to stop lifting. I shifted to cardio only for 20+ years. My sibling was a body builder and always pushed me to lift. I smugly resisted (cardio is better blah blah. idiot) . Sibling designed a machine based workout with some kettles for me (knowing how skittish I was about injury). Dang it, it worked. I'm totally hooked. I know free weights would be more effective, but even my doc, who is a lifter, said that I should stick with the machines. Apparently I have 2 discs in my back that are in a risky position. he says with free weights, if I'm off form even once I risk those discs. I feel nothing back there - so I'm sticking with the various machines and the kettles for my arms.

I lift for weight. So I increase weight steadily over time. I do low reps (8 per set). I do 3 sets of 8 at the heaviest weight I can bear. I lift 4x per week (1 is leg day). I run 3 miles or spin after each lifting session to keep the cardio at a decent level . The Mr. Universe pageant has not called yet. So I don't look terribly ripped. But when people used to talk about "core" I never quite understood. Now I do. When I tighten my core, I feel like I could take a shot from Creed.

After 20+ years of running, spinning, and doing planks/pushups - I was an achy mess. I have arthritis in both shoulders and both knees and was feeling it. I chalked it up to age. Dang was I wrong. I feel like I'm 25. I have zero knee or shoulder pain. My sibling kept telling me that building up the muscles around the knee would make my arthritis feel better. That sounded plain stupid to me. Stupid is as stupid does apparently. Sibling was dead on.

Maybe I'm getting too cocky but I'm thinking about starting on the smith machine for benching and squats. Still gives me some nerves. And maybe when I start maxing out on the machine weights (I can't believe how much weight I can move now compared to when I started) I'll have to look at free weights.

 

[ccpowerslave]

Maybe I'm getting too cocky but I'm thinking about starting on the smith machine for benching and squats. Still gives me some nerves. And maybe when I start maxing out on the machine weights (I can't believe how much weight I can move now compared to when I started) I'll have to look at free weights.

I don’t like machines because the motion is too limited. I get the injury aspect but I think the way to avoid it is to not go too heavy.

Lighter and more unstable is better than heavier and super stable.

I have seen crazy stuff lately in the gym with some of the pro fighters doing their strength workout. They’re using a different kind of barbell which is really bendy, they get on a Swiss ball and then you can hang kettlebells on it instead of plates. As soon as they put the weight on it wobbles, then they do one handed presses on it. So it’s completely unstable and wobbling everywhere and then their shoulders are on a Swiss ball which is also unstable. Those guys are all crazy strong and if you set them up with a barbell they can generally do 1.5-2x body weight but none of them ever lift anything heavy.

Edit: Barbell is called an Earthquake bar. Never seen one until last two months.