Yeah, that's gonna be good exercise!  Be careful with you back (and shoulders). How many chin ups? 

Are those chins bodyweight? If so, not shabby...

Had another good workout yesterday evening- and I found that the first exercises are what I'm strongest on.  I did chin-ups after dumbbell pullovers and Smith Machine bench presses- and on my first set of chin-ups, I barely eked out 12. 

Was able to up the weight on the dumbbell pullovers- used 35 lbs to warm up for 12 reps, then did 60 lbs for 15 reps!  That was previously my best weight, for about 12 reps.  But it seemed easy, so on the next set, I used a 70-lb dumbbell and did 7 reps.  Then 60x6 and 50x8.  Whew!   I hope to work up to 100 lbs on this exercise by the end of the year. 

Didn't do quite as well on the Smith Machine bench presses- if I remember correctly, I did 120x10 and 110x12, and then a couple more sets at 90.  Next time I'll do this for the first exercise of the workout; I'll put 140 lbs on the bar and push out as many as I can. 

Overall, this was a good workout, though, because I did plenty of volume, kept the inter-set rest times down to about 60 seconds, and had good muscle pumps.  I went for about 50 minutes on this one. 

No, it's more like 100 degrees and humid in Florida, trust me.

[One question- I see that most of the lower-body exercises hit the quadriceps, and only one works the hamstrings.. but I can't think of an exercise other than the leg curls to hit the hams- any ideas?   

Deadlift, deadlift, deadlift...!
Sumo style, narrow, bent knee & straight.
Make sure ou finish the movement all the way through, locking the hips forward and the shoulders back [remember to keep your chin slightly above neutral]

Knew an old timer who came to a gym i managed many moons ago- little fella, only about 5'6" and a buck forty [140#]-- very vital dude with much to teach the young bucks.
His workouts consisted of pull-ups, dips, hindu squats [freehand butt to the floor squats], hanging leg raises and on old school exercise he caled the "health lift", essentially a modified deadlift from knee height in a power rack-- the little guy would oad that bad boyup with 405# and just start banging out reps...- all at over 80 years old!

Work that rear chain [heels to base of the skull] aggressively.

Pax & Lux
andro

Quote from: 21st-century caveman on June 25, 2007, 12:22:28 PM

[One question- I see that most of the lower-body exercises hit the quadriceps, and only one works the hamstrings.. but I can't think of an exercise other than the leg curls to hit the hams- any ideas?   

Deadlift, deadlift, deadlift...!
Sumo style, narrow, bent knee & straight.
Make sure ou finish the movement all the way through, locking the hips forward and the shoulders back [remember to keep your chin slightly above neutral]

Knew an old timer who came to a gym i managed many moons ago- little fella, only about 5'6" and a buck forty [140#]-- very vital dude with much to teach the young bucks.
His workouts consisted of pull-ups, dips, hindu squats [freehand butt to the floor squats], hanging leg raises and on old school exercise he caled the "health lift", essentially a modified deadlift from knee height in a power rack-- the little guy would oad that bad boyup with 405# and just start banging out reps...- all at over 80 years old!

Work that rear chain [heels to base of the skull] aggressively.

Pax & Lux
andro

Yep- I've been working on that rear chain, but it has been slow progress.  Thanks for your thoughts, Andro.  And it's always inspiring to hear about the old-timers who are still strong and putting guys half their age to shame in the gym.

I need to improve my ankle flexibility to allow me to effectively do squats & deadlifts.  With my tight achilles tendons & calves, I don't get enough angle between my feet and lower legs, and it tends to make me shift too far backward, which makes me flex at the hip more than I should to balance the bar (when doing squats).  I've started working on fixing that problem- this morning I did a workout, and the first exercise I did was some seated calf raises on the machine- and at the end of each set, I would lower the weight almost all the way, holding it, and getting a good stretch in the gastrocs and achilles tendons..  Then I did some squats, and I felt my form was a little better than last time.  I think if I do the calf/achilles stretches for a warm-up in my leg workouts, (and do some stretching between leg workouts) I'll eventually have enough ankle flexibility to have good form in squats/deadlifts. 

I didn't do any lunges today, but I know that they are also good work for the hamstrings.. I'll add some of those to subsequent workouts.

One exercise I like is farmer's walks with dumbbells.  Just picking them up and walking around the gym for as long a time as my grip allows.  This morning I used two 100# dumbbells (up from the 80 lb dbs I used last time) and I definitely felt like I was doing some work!  I carried the dumbbells for two sets of 30 seconds, with 60 seconds inter-set rest time.  This is great for gripping strength, which seems to be the limiting factor for me, currently.  100# dumbbells are the heaviest ones in my gym, but when I want to step up from 200# total, to a higher weight, I can use a trap bar that's available and load it up with 45# plates as needed.  I think I'll work with the 100# dumbbells up to the point that I can do 3 or 4 sets of carrying them 60 seconds. 

I also did a few sets of leg curls and leg extensions on the machines, at the end of the workout.  I know that these are isolation exercises, but I keep the load heavy; 12 reps max before failure.  All in all, my legs felt rubbery when I left the gym- good workout.

Well, friends, it's been over two years!      But it's time to get my health and fitness back.   Ya think?!?   

A few times, in the interim, I have gone out wogging (my neologism for a walking/jogging combination) but these were all short-lived attempts, and all of them were done without going back to the paleo way of eating (which may be why these efforts were short-lived).  Yesterday, Oct. 4, 2009, I re-started my physical activity with a 4-mile wog, over the same route I had done in the past.  I had been eating exclusively paleo over the past week, and I felt it was time to start exercising again. 

I took a nice, easy pace, taking between 50 and 55 minutes to complete the 4 miles.  I felt great just about the entire way!  It doesn't take long after starting paleo eating to get an energy boost and a sense of well-being.  Which really helps when starting an exercise program.  And the cardio exercise makes you feel great, too and as long as you don't overdo it, gives you more energy.  So the exercise and paleo eating complement each other. 

I will probably start some light weight training (easing back into it) this week or maybe next week.  I'm going to be very careful to not injure myself with the weights, because that's a real physical and emotional downer which can contribute to going off paleo eating, as I found out a couple of years ago.   It's good to be back and feeling much better already, after only a week of eating paleo foods and one exercise session!