muley69

All good advice Spyro, you and I are on the same page, except I eat Pizza on friday night, I found if you give up everything, it starts to suck, so I cheat every friday night, on Saturday after the game I will drink one beer. Other than that my diet is similiar to yours with several meals throughout the day. I also take MSM, Creatine, Glu-CHo, multi, and calcium. I noticed a lot of people jog and thats all good, I don't because my exercise is sport specific. As far as cardio I don't have a specific routine right now because football season is in progress, thats plenty of Cardio right there.

jones123

Yeah, all good advice, glad Brown asked. 'Cept I can't do the high protein thing seeing how I'm a vegetarian.

muley69

Sheeze jones123, perhaps your on the wrong site then.

charlie brown

Excellent information!!!

No need to worry about my health. The doctor has given me a full release, and my kidney function is just about as good as someone who has their native kidneys. The only problem really setting me back is the hours I work makes it hard to get a routine, and the town I live in has no full time gym or trainers or anyone who I can look up to for immediate advice and help with everything.

Alsatian

I have three components to my exercise program. (1) sit-ups, push-ups, and dumb-bell work five days a week; (2) running; and (3) stair climbing.

I think sit-ups and push-ups provide general body tone and strength for all other physical activities.

The dumb-bell work strengthens my arms. I focus on high numbers of repetitions rather than heavy weights. I do 60 curls with 15 LBS weights with each arm; 20 straight-arm lifts, palms down, out from my side up level with my head; and 30 straight-arm lifts out in front of me up level with my head. I am more interested in endurance than short term power, for hunting.

The running is to increase my aerobic capability and endurance and I do it three times a week. I don't run as far as others -- probably 1.5 miles to 2 miles -- but I try to work hard in this length. In particular, I start with a continuous run of about a mile or a bit more. But them I do the rest of the running as shorter, faster segments. I try to do some sprinting as one of these shorter segments. Different muscles get worked at these different paces.

I climb the stairs at work to increase my climbing strength. I work on the third floor -- only two flights of stairs up -- so I continue on up to the sixth floor and hope to increase this to the seventh floor. I don't just plod up the stairs, I semi-jog or semi-run up the stairs. This may seem a small matter, but I noticed a substantial difference climbing hills while deer hunting last year, the first time I had been following the stair climbing regime.

I don't consider this level of exercise intrusive or inhibitive of my life. The exercise I do when I first get up in the morning. The stair climbing is just part of getting in to my job. The running takes a little adjustment. In the summer I arrange to run in the morning, because the ozone level is too high in the afternoon here in North Texas (high levels of ozone make heavy exercise, such as running, bad practice). If I had a real challenging hunt before me I would dial-up my exercise program substantially. Probably more stair work and more aggressive aerobic work. I don't think the aerobic work really helps much with coping with altitude, but it does help with endurance -- being able to keep going all day long. There are alternatives to running, including swimming and bicycling. Running is kind of hard on your body, but it is convenient -- step outside your door and there is the running track! I injured my foot slightly a week ago and laid-off running for a week. Started again last night and it seemed to go well, though I could feel the injury. It happened because of poor placement of my foot. I have pulled a calf muscle before that was a long time healing. People say your joints can begin to rebel against running as you get older, but I have not yet experienced this.

After the big game season is over for me -- usually deer hunting is over the last of November -- I take a break from exercise and dieting until the new year. I then begin to get back into shape again. I'm not recommending this practice. It is an indulgence I grant myself -- to be lazy and eat without much constraint -- on the understanding that I'll have to pay the piper in January. The getting back into shape isn't too bad, but the shedding the pounds I put on in this period of time is tough. I'm 48 years old, 6' 2" tall, and try to keep my weight under 200 LBS, even better under 195 LBS (which gets me under the BMI threshold of normal/overweight).

I have gone back and read the other postings. Some very good information there, it seems to me, from people in some pretty serious exercise programs. One thing I would say for anyone reading is that it doesn't matter where you start from. I'm not at where some of these other guys are and I'm not proposing to go there. If you don't exercise, you can benefit from a little exercise. Where ever you are at, you can improve. For me it is sometimes disappointing to be working out at a level well below where I was at towards the end of the previous year (good or bad, I don't "train" continuously and hence have to build back up after my annual slacking off during December and January). But what I find is that I do my work until I can feel that the muscles have gotten a good work out -- even easier to discern this about 30 minutes after stopping the exercise -- and then I do a little more each time I work-out, or at the start of every week I do a little more. While I'm substantially below the physical levels of some of the other posts I read here, I feel good, I have energy, I can keep going all day long, and I'm in much better shape than I would have been without keeping my weight down and doing my workout, limited though it may be. Also, it is surprising how much benefit can be obtained from plain old walking. When I pulled a muscle in my calf I walked and found it gave my legs the worked feeling that indicates something is being accomplished. Park farther away and walk farther to get into the building at work or at the store.

shed33

I feel fortunate to live in mountainous country that is demanding. I am either hiking, shed hunting, turkey hunting or bear hunting from January to June, then I start my logging jobs in the summer when I am not teaching. I log alone and do all the felling, skidding and bucking myself. I also do a lot of hiking and scouting in the summer evenings. Oh I forgot to mention along with my health classes, I teach one weights class and work out with my students. This year around mixture of exercise keeps me in good cardiovascular shape. My resting heart rate is in the high 40's to mid 50's year around.

SpyroAndes

I'll have my cheats but it won't be pizza or anything like that because I am limiting my carb intake. I'll toss a nice 8oz elk steak on the grill or maybe even do a little old school pulled pork (13 hours on my weber bullet).

I am not a big Glucosamine Chondroitin fan because of one thing... It is expensive because of the Chondroitin and, according to Consumer Labs testers, half of them don't give you the amount of Chondroitin claimed on the bottle. None of the Chondroitin only supplements passed the test. A couple of different joint disease organizations recommend using Glucosamine Sulfate only or Glucosamine Sulfate and Glucosamine HCL. According to the Consumer Labs testers, ALL of the Glucosamine Sulfate products passed.

When I was playing, all I did during the season was maintainance cardio and lifting. My bulking cycles (e.g. heavy lifting to produce muscle mass and a 6K calorie diet to provide the fuel to grow it) were from Jan 4 to Mar 1 and then April 1 to June 1.

My cardio during bulking phases was limited to speed training.

Good deal because to do it right... you need to drink alot of fluids. Ideally you'll want to drink 1 ounce of fluids, mostly water, for each pound of body weight (non-fat) and makes the kidneys work over time.

Second, I highly recommend that you have a physician monitor your blood work... Have it done every 4 weeks. Have a VAP test done before you start and then another at the end of your 12 week cycle. Have your body fat % measured at the begining and end of each 12 week cycle.

Doing all this excercise and diet without having all of the tests done is like trying to develop a load for your rifle and all you have are some potential powders but you don't know what they specifically are and you have no chronograph... just a scale.

You need to know EXACTLY how your body is reacting to the work that you are putting in.

What I would recommend is heading up to Elko or over to Ely a couple of saturdays a month especially in the begining. Have them teach you the correct free weight excercises and make sure that you are performing them correctly. Have them tell you what you should be feeling... where the burn should be coming from... what else should be burning... that you are performing the excercise at the correct speed... that you are getting a good extenstion/contraction.

Go light for the first 2 weeks to get your body accustomed to the new stress and focus on performing the correct montions for each excercise.

After the first 2-3 weeks... Go Heavy... (still maintain correct form)

Weight Training is for building muscle mass. To build muscle mass most effectively, you need to go heavy. You need that muscle to fail.

Cardio is for stamina. Diet is for definition. High reps does neither... It just builds muscle mass ineffectively.

Oh and one last thing, everyone has room for a simple bench and a set of dumbbells.

SA

charlie brown

Yup, already ahead of you there to Spyro, lol!! I get my blood draw about every three weeks. I also see my doctor every three months who does a normal physical exam on me. With the blood getting drawn, I have Basic, CBC, Magnesium, and another to test the level of Prograf (an anti-rejection med) in my system. Actually, everything is leveled off very well. If you look in my fridge, you will find orange juice, mild, and water. That's all I drink, totaling about 4 litres of water per day or more, depending on my direct activity level, plus a large glass milk or orange juice. My diet consists mainly of FRESH pork, steak, and chicken, farm fresh eggs, wheat bread, fresh vegetables like tomatoes, carrots, and celery. I don't eat as much fruit as I should, which is one thing I do need to change. I try not to eat boxed foods such as mac&cheese, rice-r-roni and such, though every couple of months, it will get thrown into a recipe, depending on what I am cooking. Fried foods are about illiminated, leaving whenever I catch fresh brook trout or maybe once a month, I indulge myself in sliced potatoes. I do not put salt in any food I cook, or add salt to my food AFTER it is cooked. I wake up between 10 and 11 usually, and work from 3 to 11, then go to bed around 1 to 2 in the morning. Another advantage for me, is there are very few restaraunts in town, so I cook my own food every morning and every night. Because of when I wake up, that only allows me to eat two meals. Either way, I have maintained my weight very well. When I went into my transplant, I had 145 lbs on this 5'8" frame. I was absolutely miserable. No energy, I literally looked like skin and bones. I got up to a high of about 175 in November, and that didn't feel right either. I have sustained my weight between 162 and 165 weight in the morning (since about mid December), and feel great. My only chalenge now is just building up a little more muscle mass, adding a few more healthy things to my diet, and getting my lungs in a little better shape than they are, though they are still in better shape than a lot of people I know, which I have never had a problem with. Also, one last thing, the only supplement I take is magnesium because it is prescribed to me. I don't take any other supplements.

Edit - Just read that about going to Elko or Ely a couple times a month. I do go up there fairly often, I just need to actually get in one of the gyms there, instead of spending the little money I do have on a movie.
Yeah, so go ahead, bash me all you want. I don't own TV!! Actually there is one here. An old one that I can get like 3 channels on, but I have decided I would rather do other things than sit on my butt and watch TV, so I spend an hour or two on the net every day instead!. Along with time out in the yard, out 4 wheeling in my jeep, and other things like that.

charlie brown

As for the bench. I probably could find a place for one around here somewhere, though it would be pretty cramped. I don't have too much furniture, so I should be able to make it work. I guess the one thing that is really keeping me from getting one is not knowing exactly what to do as far as excercises go. I will have to figure something out. Thanks for all of the ideas!!!

muley69

First establish what you want out of your lifting regime. PM me and I will help you all I can. Try the Westside program, but before you do I would do some lifting for a month or so to prepare your body.