Using It - August 6 - 12

[Shadow]

Started my workout week off with a great weights/cardio workout :D. It was cooler here this morning - so that, combined with a "rest" day yesterday, had me raring to go. Now hopefully tomorrow I won't feel like something the cat drug in since it's been a couple of months since I've done such a long workout :lol: :rolleyes:....

So how is everyone elses' week getting started :)?

[Mitra]

I had a patchy week last week with a houseful of visitors. I did exercise, but not as much as usual.

I've not noticed any effect of exercising on my weight, but if I don't do a fairly strong half hour most days I feel more tired, have more back problems, and have more trouble with allergies and stuffy nose. My husband finds it affects his weight loss - he went from averaging just over 1 lb per week to just over two when he started exercising. He thinks of it as taking six months of the time to reach his goal. He does cardio (rowing machine) whereas I do mostly resistance-type yoga.

Back to normal this week :cool:

[banshee]

I had a non-existent week last week for exercise. I had a good excuse (sickness) early in the week, but none for the last half. I was just being lazy. :(

Hoping to do better this week.

[Shadow]

Okay, Mary, we'll keep track of your excuses and let you know when you've used up all of your absences :lol:!

[bigdawg_SLC]

I love the title of this thread " Use it or Lose it!" This week -- I'm losing it. We're getting ready to go on vacation for a week. To Flaming Gorge (What a beautiful, quiet place), which is a man made lake that spans between Wyoming and Utah... But needless to say -- I've been very slack with all the running around that I'm doing, getting the boat ready, getting the tents and the camping gear ready, working....ah...and don't forget I'm still painting the interior of the house (A project that my wife made me promise I would finish before we left!). Anyway, I haven't made it to the gym this week, and don't really plan on it. I'll start the momentum train when I get back in a couple of weeks. We're not leaving until Sunday...I'll be back the following Sunday.

[Ottawa]

Sunday - Biked Canal loop with wife (45 minutes), walked home from church with 10 lb. hand weights (35 minutes)
Monday - Bench Weights 30 minutes, 2 hours yard/Garden work and fixed eves troughs by cleaning, and refastening so that water runs toward drain end.
Tuesday - Volleyball at lunch, Youth activity in evening
Wednesday - Baseball 5:00-6:30. 100 situps/Crunches at home later to movie
Thursday - ???
Friday - Day Off PAcking for trip
Saturday Off to cottage rental - Swim Big Gull Lake 1.5 miles, Volleyball against Peterborough relatives

[Shadow]

Wow, Randy, what a great week for you :thumbsup:!

Bigdawg - Well, at least you're keeping busy this week and not just sitting around :lol:! In case you don't get back here before you leave, I hope you have a great vacation :D!

[banshee]

Thought you all might enjoy a laugh today. Saw this sig line in a low carb mailing list I belong to:

Every time I hear the dirty word "exercise", I wash my mouth out with chocolate. :D :evil: :p

Anyway, I AM going to the gym today. I think I might try to do a full body workout, and then another full body workout on Saturday for my 2 days this week.

[banshee]

Well, I did go to the gym yesterday, but my workout was heavy on upper body, and light on everything else. By the time I finished my UB workout and moved on to legs, I was almost wiped out, so I only got in 2 leg exercises. I also got in a set of ab vacuums. So while it was a full body workout, I think on Saturday I need to concentrate more on my leg workout to balance things out for the week.

It clearly was a good workout, though. My arms/shoulders are sore, my abs are sore, my thighs are sore... yep, I'm pretty much sore all over! :p

I was also surprised because yesterday was the first lower body workout since the surgery, so it's been over a month since I've done any leg work. I still haven't gotten back to my pre-surgery strength in my arms, and I was expecting similar results with legs. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that not only have I not lost any leg strength, I was actually able to increase the weights for one of the exercises I did. :eek: That seemed odd since I haven't even been using the stairs much at work in the past month, so I've gotten in almost no leg work. I'm not complaining, mind you, but it is puzzling. :confused:

I was also reviewing my exercises for the entire summer, and I found out something - on my bicep curls, I started out at 24 pounds, and I was only able to do 5 reps. The next session, I did 7 reps. I'm still at 24 pounds, and while I am doing 2 sets now instead of 1, I can still only do 7 reps maxat that weight. I would think that I should be able to do more than that after a couple months working out? Or is this just to be expected since I'm female? Is it really *that* hard to increase bicep strength for women? :( I've been able to steadily increase weights/reps for other arms exercises, but this one, I seem stuck on.

[LisaS]

If I had to guess,
it could be that now you have to actually start building strength/new muscle now.

Remember - at first, you gain the ability to move more weight not by getting more muscle but by training the neuromuscular system to do a better job of recruiting the muscle that you have. Beginners can get pretty good gains pretty fast. Then, in order to continue to improve, you have to actually build new muscle - that that is slower to come.
you're probably just crossing that point for your biceps.

Its kinda like weight loss - the first two weeks you lose some fat and a lot of water for a big number on the scale - then it settles down to the long, slow process of losing week by week.

If you've been doing curls like that for more than 2 months - change up your routine. Is this a machine - cuz 24# is a strange number for DB or BB?

Maybe try grabbing some DB instead - maybe 10# and see what you get for mex reps - and then do a 2nd set.
If you are getting > 12 reps - use 12# the next time. and work up until you get >12 reps with 12#.
If you are getting <8 reps - go down to 8# until you can get > 12 reps and then go back up to 10#.

You can also hit biceps in many different ways with free weights - just a few examples (there are many more) :
1) conventional DB curls
2) Hammer curls
3) screw curls
4) Preacher curls

These all hit a little differently and change up how the various muscles respond to the stress of flexing the elbow joint against resistance.

[banshee]

Lisa, thanks for the tips on other types of bicep exercises. I'll look into those and maybe I'll actually venture into the free weight area of the gym sometime. :rolleyes:

I guess it just bugs me because I never really saw the fast increase from efficiency with the bicep curls so it seems like I'm not going anywhere. (It's possible I had experienced those gains without noticing it using some of my TotalGym exercises at home.)

Edit: Hmmm... looking at the other types of curls, it looks like the machine I'm using is actually doing a preacher curl. They do have some pulley systems that would allow me to do some of the other types of curls without worrying about dropping a dumbbell on my toe. :p