After a year made it to the gym

BlueFox

At the end of last October I ended up in the hospital until the Saturday before Thanksgiving. Even though my 'treatment' wasn't finished, I said enough of this, take these tubes out of my arms, and let me out of here. So, after a while I felt better, and was ready to start working out again. Then at the end of January I ended up in the hospital again for another reason. LOL.

Fortunately, this was only for five days. So after recovering from that I was ready to start working out again, and then the Covid lockdown started. So, all gyms were closed.

Well, not long ago the gyms in this area were allowed to reopen, and, after a year, I finally went today. While I had been working out at home with a pair of 25 pound dumbbells there is no substitute for gym gear. My poor hamstrings were especially happy since there is no way to really work them at home with no equipment. Anyway, I am now a bit tired, but feel good. Hopefully, I will be okay tomorrow and can go back. Knock on wood, but I hope my health is fine from here on out, and I can keep working out the rest of my life.

If you are going to drink beer and listen to music you need to stay in shape.

hochpt21

Good work and keep at it. The hardest part is getting back into that routine.

rooftop59

Good you're getting back at it, Bud! But just to be clear: there are MANY hamstring exercises you can do at home, especially with 25 lb dumbbells. Good mornings, kettle bell swings using one dumbbell, hip thrusts with a dumbbell on your lower waist, mountain climbers, lunges, and more. So don't me any more excuses lol!

BlueFox

LOL. Yes, those work the hamstrings, and I did some of them. However, for me, leg curls work best, and they sure felt good yesterday.

WagnerRC

congrats Bud. You will do well. It's all about routine. Hell when I say Tonys post about giving up bread , i thought what the hell. I've dropped 18 lbs giving up bread. I do walk 2.5 miles a day on the treadmill 7 days a week. Feel so much better dropping the weight and I still enjoy beer. Best wishes Bud.

BlueFox

Went again today, and used slightly heavier weight. Now, after two days in a row, I am exhausted. Fortunately, Tuesday night is a beer/music night, so I will recover tomorrow, and go back Thursday and Friday.

audioluvr

It's good that you are able to pace yourself when getting back to "fitness" I remember an episode of "Friends" where Chandler over does it and can't move. I've been there and it sucks. Lactic acid buildup takes days to recover from (don't ask me how I know). Now I avoid that sort of thing because my daily routine is quite active but when recovering from cancer surgery it took a lot of work to get back to "normal". Hang in there. You're doing good things!

pelhamplace

Keep at it! First few workouts are the toughest.

msg

It's a good kind of pain, I think.
Then again, I used to be a CIA operative, and would get myself caught on purpose just for the torture.

gyosa

12 oz curls !

Bk

Clipdat

msg wrote: »

It's a good kind of pain, I think.
Then again, I used to be a CIA operative, and would get myself caught on purpose just for the torture.

Why do I get the distinct feeling that you aren't joking?

tonyb

BlueFox wrote: »

Went again today, and used slightly heavier weight. Now, after two days in a row, I am exhausted. Fortunately, Tuesday night is a beer/music night, so I will recover tomorrow, and go back Thursday and Friday.

Wish you all the best Bud, but in my neck of the woods Gyms and bars are still the number one spreader of the virus. My wife wants to go back but every time she thinks it might be ok, a few more cases come out of her gym and they have to close for awhile. Just be careful, your in a high risk category, age, health conditions.

rooftop59

tonyb wrote: »

BlueFox wrote: »

Went again today, and used slightly heavier weight. Now, after two days in a row, I am exhausted. Fortunately, Tuesday night is a beer/music night, so I will recover tomorrow, and go back Thursday and Friday.

Wish you all the best Bud, but in my neck of the woods Gyms and bars are still the number one spreader of the virus. My wife wants to go back but every time she thinks it might be ok, a few more cases come out of her gym and they have to close for awhile. Just be careful, your in a high risk category, age, health conditions.

Have to agree with this. Get yourself a kettlebell, sandbag, and resistance bands and you can do it all at home...

BlueFox

I have to admit that Covid is on my mind, and I try to be careful, but you never know what you are touching. Even first wiping the gear down, while better, doesn't guarantee anything. Cases are rising in the area, and another shutdown is probably inevitable in the future. I think I will restrict myself to going twice a week versus four days a week. I have been working out at home for a long time now, but the equipment at the gym does have an appeal.

Milito

Yes, I would stay away from the Gym as I would think it would be very easy to catch the virus there. I agree with what tonyb said.

I've been doing 60 pushups or more each day MWF for the last 6 months or so at home. Don't need any special equipment for that and it helps the upper body. Feel better since I started doing them. Now I just need to get on the wife's treadmill which I hate doing.

msg

Yeah, that getting-started hurdle can be a B almost every single time. Sometimes I have to trick myself and keeping saying, "Don't think, just do." Just get my stuff on and start the motion.

Starting is the hardest part. I've never reached the end of a workout and said, "Well that sucked, what a waste of time that was. Wish I hadn't bothered."

tonyb

BlueFox wrote: »

I have to admit that Covid is on my mind, and I try to be careful, but you never know what you are touching. Even first wiping the gear down, while better, doesn't guarantee anything. Cases are rising in the area, and another shutdown is probably inevitable in the future. I think I will restrict myself to going twice a week versus four days a week. I have been working out at home for a long time now, but the equipment at the gym does have an appeal.

Your right Bud, the equipment at the gym does have an appeal. This is why I went out and found the exact same commercial rowing machine my wife was using at the gym. Now we both row at home.

Don't get me wrong, eventually she will go back to the gym, just not yet. Just trying as best we can to mimic the gym experience. She has kettle balls, dumbbells', resistance bands, etc. You can find commercial grade gym gear at second hand shops. Usually every4-6 months most gyms trade in their stuff for newer models. With them being closed for so long with virus mandates, nobody is buying new gear and these second hand stores are having trouble unloading what they already have. Warehouses full of commercial grade gear at half retail or better. Check it out in your area, look for your favorite machine at the gym and see if it might be cost effective to bring one in house.

jeremymarcinko

I do like going to a real gym and did for a long time until life got too busy with work and kids. No substitute for all that commercial equipment. For the last five years though I’ve made my home gym work for me.

msg

That's a really nice setup, Jeremy. What do you have going there? Is that a heavy bag?

jeremymarcinko

Thanks it serves us well. Lots of dumbbells from 5-105lbs. Bench with 300+ of plates. Pull-up/Dip bar and a dip belt. Treadmill and a heavy bag. Couple of other things ab wheel, resistance bands, and a few different bars.

Just been adding pieces over time and the wife uses some of it too.

I’d like to get a decline bench sometime and maybe a squat rack.

msg

Cool. Oooh, yeah, a squat rack would be great. Like Bud was saying about gym gear, there are some things you just can't easily replicate at home without going all out on equipment.

A squat rack and leg curls are the two main exercises I can't quite find replacements for, but like Paul was saying, there are exercises that hit these areas. It's not quite the same, but I found the same as you, Jeremy - it was just too difficult to be able to get to the gym consistently as life got busier, and doing something at home was better than doing nothing at all.

I use a combination of a glideboard trainer (kinda like a Total Gym), quick-adjust dumbbells, pushup blocks, a pull-up bar, a swiss ball, and my bike. Jump rope too, but haven't done that in a while. Also have some foam mats from Harbor Freight that I set a double layer with for jump squats and stretches.

I was never one for home workouts when I was younger because I saw that most people would buy that stuff, use it for a few weeks and then it would just collect dust.
This combination, though, works pretty well overall, and it's quick and convenient. My fitness goals have changed now too. It's more about energy and well being now.

BlueFox

I would like to have a nice home gym, but, other than the garage, there is no place for it. I do have a treadmill I bought in the 90s, but it's broken now. I need to have some junk company haul it away, and then buy a new a new one.

rooftop59

BlueFox wrote: »

I would like to have a nice home gym, but, other than the garage, there is no place for it. I do have a treadmill I bought in the 90s, but it's broken now. I need to have some junk company haul it away, and then buy a new a new one.

Get rid of it, Sell a speaker cable and buy a peloton Bud (or something similar). You really can get a pretty killer workout doing a spin type bike exercise. That was an important part of my ACL recovery...

jeremymarcinko

Yeah any way you can get your heart pumping for a good 30minutes or more each day is most important.

Strength training is great and I love it, but cardiovascular fitness is key.

audioluvr

I used to go to the gym but it was too much work.

motorstereo

jeremymarcinko wrote: »

Yeah any way you can get your heart pumping for a good 30minutes or more each day is most important.

Strength training is great and I love it, but cardiovascular fitness is key.

Agreed; my favorite cardio machine is the 4000pt stair stepper. I liked it so much at the local gym that I hunted one down for home use. 30 minutes at level 7 gets the blood pumping and then some

jeremymarcinko

motorstereo wrote: »

jeremymarcinko wrote: »

Yeah any way you can get your heart pumping for a good 30minutes or more each day is most important.

Strength training is great and I love it, but cardiovascular fitness is key.

Agreed; my favorite cardio machine is the 4000pt stair stepper. I liked it so much at the local gym that I hunted one down for home use. 30 minutes at level 7 gets the blood pumping and then some

Nice. One machine I really miss from the gym is the Jacob’s ladder. That thing wore me out like no other.

gyosa

I swim 4 miles a day , 5 day a week at my local Y ...
The pool is the safest place to be in Dallas ... submerged in liquid sanitizer ... 😂

Bk

jeremymarcinko

gyosa wrote: »

I swim 4 miles a day , 5 day a week at my local Y ...
The pool is the safest place to be in Dallas ... submerged in liquid sanitizer ... 😂

Bk

Wow that’s awesome. Seems like it would be very challenging.

BlueFox

At this point I am rethinking my decision to go back to the gym. Covid is increasing here and I wouldn't be surprised if gyms are shutdown again. I will think about it over the weekend, but now am ready to cancel. I'm pretty tired now since I hit the weights pretty hard today in the garage.

motorstereo

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Nice. One machine I really miss from the gym is the Jacob’s ladder. That thing wore me out like no other.


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Our gym didn't have one of those but I can bet that's a total body workout.