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2024 Off-Season Getting/Staying In Shape Motivation Thread

Saturday was mostly weights, shoulders, bi's, abs and weighted lunges.

Yesterday did a half murph with a vest and finished at 20 minutes on the nose. Was very happy with that but also realized to have done the second half would have likely taken another hour lol.
 
Weekend was drainage pipe trenching and burying. Then it was cleaning out three years of leaf debris from my water hole and then prepped to put down some clover seed around it. Then on to removing the wood deck from my utility trailer. I’m not much of a weight lifting guy but ready to start some hiking miles for sheds!

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That pond muck was heavy for this old guy


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Exercise is important. Use it or lose it. Yet, I believe that it's ok, if not a healthy thing, to take a break from working out once in a while. It gives our joints a rest. For me, that's hunting season. After all, we still do some walking, and we aren't gonna fall apart in 2 months. My fitness year starts in Mid December cuz in PA, our season closes mid-December, and that's when I start up my running program after some time off. It's slow at first, but it comes back. I run outside a lot in winter a lot, training a few annual races, in the 5k, 5mi, 10k range. A race keeps me motivated. It's worth the money, and there's always a shirt and some beers and laughs after the race with friends. I am at an age now where I can't complete with my younger self, and it's hard to accept that my sub 9 min miles today feel like 8s from 10 yrs ago, but I do what I can. My annual running goal is 300mi. I have done it many times and have been close many times. Unfortunately, last year, I was on track, but I suffered a grade 2 hamstring pull in early June and couldn't run for 6 months. My climbing was really not affected, though: I just used my left leg only for a while. For strength, I have 3 workouts that I rotate when i can: upper body push, upper body pull, legs / lower back. I dropped the gym membership a few yrs ago and do them in my basement any time I can squeeze em in. I try to get all 3 workouts in every week but am only successful half the time... and so the cycle might be 10 or 14 days instead of 7, but we do what we can. Cheers
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JrbTreeClimbing.com, affiliated with RockNArbor.com
 
Put in another 10k on the treadmill today. Slow and steady wins the race. Or... Gets me prepared for the race lol. It's taken me a few months to come to terms with the fact that I'm not able to jump right back into the speeds I was running 10+ years ago, but I'll keep chipping away at it a bit at a time. 4 months ago I had to run 11:20 ish miles to keep my heart rate around 140 over 3 miles, today I was averaging about 10:30 at the same heart rate/double the total distance, so some signs of progress are nice to see, but still a long way to go to hit my goals.
 
Bigterp said:
Been 10 days on plan so far. My outside workouts have been tough. On office days I’ve been getting up at 5 & hiking 2-3 miles with the pups ( headlamp) then again at lunch. Only in the office 2 days a week so the other 5 days I’m going to the gym for my second workout. Not loving it yet but feels good to put in the work I’ll feel a lot better a month from now…….
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This is the reason I didn't jump right on two a days. I don't want to hate it.

Working out is my favorite part of the day at this point. Even had a guy ask me to spot his 300# bench the other day.....guess he figured I could handle it and he didn't die so...lol. He's my height, 29 yo, and weighs 205. I'm 47 and clocking 142....lol. Nice guy though. He has me looking into the Savage Run in Catonsville MD. Speed and agility is more my game.
 
kbetts said:
This is the reason I didn't jump right on two a days. I don't want to hate it.

Working out is my favorite part of the day at this point. Even had a guy ask me to spot his 300# bench the other day.....guess he figured I could handle it and he didn't die so...lol. He's my height, 29 yo, and weighs 205. I'm 47 and clocking 142....lol. Nice guy though. He has me looking into the Savage Run in Catonsville MD. Speed and agility is more my game.
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Yeah I agreed to commit to this for 2 reasons. I’ve been lacking in nutrition & excercise since right about when I joined this site ( I’d get it going for a season so I wouldn’t die on a big trip but not sustainably)
Second, my wife is my biggest weakness when it comes to modifying or altering a plan that I’m trying to stick to. It turns into 1 cheat meal too many & skip a few workouts & then that’s out the window.
Since this is so structured I’m able to cop out & say sorry not on plan……it’s just easier. My long term goal is for my whole family to improve their nutrition/wellness. But gotta lead by example so it’s not a fad….
Btw the 2 a days are the easy part it’s just an inconvenience on poor weather days. Plus I’ve been able to bring the pups on something most everyday & they love it so it’s not “alone”.
 
Bigterp said:
Yeah I agreed to commit to this for 2 reasons. I’ve been lacking in nutrition & excercise since right about when I joined this site ( I’d get it going for a season so I wouldn’t die on a big trip but not sustainably)
Second, my wife is my biggest weakness when it comes to modifying or altering a plan that I’m trying to stick to. It turns into 1 cheat meal too many & skip a few workouts & then that’s out the window.
Since this is so structured I’m able to cop out & say sorry not on plan……it’s just easier. My long term goal is for my whole family to improve their nutrition/wellness. But gotta lead by example so it’s not a fad….
Btw the 2 a days are the easy part it’s just an inconvenience on poor weather days. Plus I’ve been able to bring the pups on something most everyday & they love it so it’s not “alone”.
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I agree that the spouse can be a hurdle. I get hit with the same type thing. Luckily food isn't the issue as she's a nutritionist. She's just not much on the everyday workouts.

Now that I (we) are seeing results, she's backed off. There's an understanding that I feel better because of it and as a side effect, I'm much more energetic and motivated to tackle my domestic duties.

#dieseldads
 
Yesterday was a 5k on the eliptical set at 60% resistance. Finished right on 30 minutes.

I am lucky that my wife is the consistent pusher on staying on training. She has worked out 5-6 days a week for pretty much her entire life. I have been consistent for about 5-6 years now after 20+ avoiding the gym like the plague but would be lying if I said there werent days where it would be easy to skip if it werent for her consistency in going.
 
So todays workouts were 45 mins outside
Splitting wood then after dinner ( venison roast btw) went to the gym & got 5k on the rower & then wrapped up my last 20 mins on the elliptical. Not a fan of that thing…..
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Yesterday we did a progression sorta thing, each movement goes straight into the next. Prolly has a name, I dont know it. 2x45# db's for 10 rounds. 1 high pull, 2 hang cleans, 3 push press, 4 squats, 5 push ups, 6 sit ups. Then did 10 minutes on the treadmill 15% incline at a moderate walk, 2.5 mph, to finish.
 
I managed a 4.5 mile run yesterday but I was just feeling lousy. I think I've been pushing a bit too hard with exercise and doing a bunch of other stuff/not sleeping well, so today's a rest day for me. Hoping for a stronger Thursday, keep it up everyone, you're doing great.
 
That looks delicious @BTaylor. I keep telling myself that I'm exercising for time/distance goals, not weight, so I don't pay as much attention to my diet. I eat relatively healthy but I could stand to lose a few lbs (and it would make the running easier too), but my inner fat kid keeps me right at the border of the Clydesdale category lol. Put in another 4 and a half miles today... still not feeling great, I just feel sluggish/ heavy for lack of a better way to describe it. I need to sleep more and keep taking it a day at a time. Hoping to catch up on that this weekend.
 
thedutchtouch said:
That looks delicious @BTaylor. I keep telling myself that I'm exercising for time/distance goals, not weight, so I don't pay as much attention to my diet. I eat relatively healthy but I could stand to lose a few lbs (and it would make the running easier too), but my inner fat kid keeps me right at the border of the Clydesdale category lol. Put in another 4 and a half miles today... still not feeling great, I just feel sluggish/ heavy for lack of a better way to describe it. I need to sleep more and keep taking it a day at a time. Hoping to catch up on that this weekend.
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Man it takes a bit to get well don’t be too hard on yourself just putting in the work when you’re not feeling up to par……
 
The main thing for me in a public gym is to remove any ego. I am there only for my health. I've learned as a middle aged guy that it is best to make the lightweights look heavy. That is lift with perfect form but don't go to absolute failure but instead stop once the next rep will be one with less than ideal form. Also, now, instead of trying to add weight, I try to add reps and sets. I do not consider adding additional weight until I can do 4 sets of 12 reps with a weight.

I struggled with front shoulder/bicep tendinitis related to bench press for years. This was partly due to not always setting up and retracting my shoulder blades correctly. However, the most underrated chest exercise, I believe is the decline bench press. Gym bro science has it wrong. The decline bench uses more of your chest (according to EMG studies) than any other bench variation and actually hits your upper pecs better than flat bench (the angle of the decline stretches every fiber in your pec). Lastly, the geometry actually pulls the humerus head slightly out of the socket to avoid impingement. It was Dorian Yates main chest movement (6 times Mr. Olympia) because it did not hurt his shoulders and so he could do it all the time without injury.

For a squat movement, sometimes I'll just hold a 30 lbs weight like a goblet and just 5 or 6 sets to near failure. You will get muscle growth without compressing your back with all that weight doing traditional squats.
 
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