Re: question about weightlifting

Lee said:

Mun_ Between The Stones <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

What she knows (as in "a lot"😉 is relative to what you know.

Absolutely true. I know very little about weight training, but I'm
learning. My PT knows quite a bit about weight training. That's why I
pay her for her time. I don't have to defend her. My results speak for
themselves.

Quoted message said:

If you have 4 days a month doing "biceps" and miss one of those days,
some other body part is going to get missed or bicep day gets skipped.

I've amde a committment to myself to get to the weight room 3x a week.
Doesn't have to be the same days every week, so I have lots of
flexibility. And, I really don't see the big deal if one week, I skip
biceps (or back, or chest, or tris..whatever). So far, it's been easy
for me to get in my 3 workouts, every week, for the past 10 weeks or
so. I'm not going to beat myself up if a week should come about that
has scheduling conflicts that prevent me from making it into the
weight room.

I'm not in training for a body building competition...lightning won't
strike me dead if I miss a workout. I'm just not that obsessed about
it as you are, apparently.

Quoted message said:

If you work the complete body every time in the gym, then NOTHING gets
missed.

Sure...lots gets missed, specifically time with my husband. It takes
me 45 minutes to an hour to do each of my workouts. Add to that the 5
minute warmup and 20 minutes of cardio I do on my chest/tricep &
back/bicep days. 15 minutes each way to the gym...that's two hours a
day, how many days a week? As it is, for work, I'm out of the house by
7:00am or 7:30 am, and don't get home until 7:00 pm or later. If I did
a full body workout each time, I'd be walking in at 11:00 at night -
time enough to take a quick shower and go to bed. Sorry...I need more
home time with my eyes open.

Not only that, but I'm exhausted after each of my workouts. I don't
think I could double up, much less triple up. I feel it's best to work
a muscle group thoroughly rather than superficially working it. One or
two chest exercises isn't going to produce the same results as the 4
or 5 that I do.

You could try doing fewer sets and working out your whole body. I do this
and do my whole body in about 1.5 hours, including stretching. However, I
also do supersets (no rest between sets) and only do 3-4 sets per bodypart
(and fewer sets for arms and the like). And, there's some evidence that
suggests that doing one or two sets per bodypart is as good or better as
doing say five sets per bodypart. Assuming you're warmed up, what's the
difference between jumping directly to your heaviest set or doing a number
of sets? I reached the conclusion long ago (a la Mike Mentzer) that more
sets aren't necessarily better. Now, I try to do a variety of sets for
parts of my body, but I don't get fixated on doing X number of sets per
bodypart. For instance, I think 3-4 sets for chest is all you really
need: one-two bench press sets, one incline bench press set, and one
additional set (dips, flyes, etc.). Check out the following links:

http://www.hypertrophy-specific.com/hst_index.html
http://www.mikementzer.com/

Remember, though, that warmup is essential.

--
Bob in CT
Remove ".x" to reply

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

What she knows (as in "a lot"😉 is relative to what you know.

(Lee) said:

Absolutely true. I know very little about weight training, but I'm
learning. My PT knows quite a bit about weight training. That's why I
pay her for her time. I don't have to defend her. My results speak for
themselves.

Your results can be wholly independent of her abilities.

How has she demonstrated her expertise? Is she certified? Anyone can
write a program that will hypertrophy; there are hundreds all over the
Internet.

What is her educational background?

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

If you have 4 days a month doing "biceps" and miss one of those days,
some other body part is going to get missed or bicep day gets skipped.

(Lee) said:

I've amde a committment to myself to get to the weight room 3x a week.
Doesn't have to be the same days every week, so I have lots of
flexibility. And, I really don't see the big deal if one week, I skip
biceps (or back, or chest, or tris..whatever).

It's no deal at all if you train all body parts every time you got to
the gym.

Quoted message said:

So far, it's been easy
for me to get in my 3 workouts, every week, for the past 10 weeks or
so. I'm not going to beat myself up if a week should come about that
has scheduling conflicts that prevent me from making it into the
weight room.

Nor should you. All I am doing is pointing out that by separating your
regimen into body parts per day has its definite drawbacks.

Quoted message said:

I'm not in training for a body building competition...lightning won't
strike me dead if I miss a workout. I'm just not that obsessed about
it as you are, apparently.

The obsession here seems to be in your consistent and constant
repeating of how you are not obsessed.

As for me, having a conversation with you classifies as being
obsessive?

Why all the defense mechanisms?

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

If you work the complete body every time in the gym, then NOTHING gets
missed.

Sure...lots gets missed, specifically time with my husband.

Incorrect; you spend no more time that you do normally.

Quoted message said:

It takes
me 45 minutes to an hour to do each of my workouts. Add to that the 5
minute warmup and 20 minutes of cardio I do on my chest/tricep &
back/bicep days. 15 minutes each way to the gym...that's two hours a
day, how many days a week? As it is, for work, I'm out of the house by
7:00am or 7:30 am, and don't get home until 7:00 pm or later. If I did
a full body workout each time, I'd be walking in at 11:00 at night -
time enough to take a quick shower and go to bed. Sorry...I need more
home time with my eyes open.

See above. No more time than this is required for a complete,
systematic approach to working out.

Quoted message said:

Not only that, but I'm exhausted after each of my workouts.

Then you are working out too strenuously. Your PT should have
immediately recognized this and changed loads or volumes or both.

Quoted message said:

I don't
think I could double up, much less triple up.

See above. You don't have to.

Quoted message said:

I feel it's best to work
a muscle group thoroughly rather than superficially working it.

Nothing is done superficially. You need to revisit your thoughts here.
You are being misled as to how much work is enough and being exhausted
is uncalled for.

The best neighbor injury has is fatigue especially neuromuscular
fatigue.

Quoted message said:

One or
two chest exercises isn't going to produce the same results as the 4
or 5 that I do.

It certainly can depending on the number of sets/reps, the exercises
etc.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Go for it. Days, weeks will come where you will miss. It is
inevitable.

So what??? What's going to happen to me if I miss a workout?

Nothing perhaps. Didn't say it would. All I sid was it is inevitable
you will.

Quoted message said:

Will I
lose all of the muscle and strength that I gained over the previous
months? Will I lose my priveleges to work-in with the friends I've
made at the gym? Will I never achieve my fitness goals? Tell
me....what will happen if I miss?

See above; why all of these defense mechanisms? Including adding
conclusions to what I post that are not there.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

When your PT asked for your goals, and you medical histories, what did
you say to her?

I told her I wanted to be bikini-ready by August 14th, the day my
husband and I leave on a cruise with a large group of people.
Bikini-ready means I don't want and flab wiggling about, I want a flat
stomach, toned arms, legs - I want to look fit, not fat.

And what about your medical histories. What did she ask about those?
What did you respond?

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Define "tone."

Showing muscle tone when my body is in a relaxed state. I want there
to be the contour of biceps even when I'm not doing curls. I want
there to be visible musculature in my legs (when I sit, I want my
thighs to stand up, not spread out). I want my abs to be flat
(six-pack ain't gonna happen by August...need a few more months, but
the belly is flat right now). I want to have shoulders that'll look
great when I wear my slinky sleeveless cocktail dress on formal night.
I want calf muscles that show, when I wear high heels. I want my
cellulite to go bye-bye (almost all gone!!!). That's what I mean by
tone.

Ok. A better term would be definition. "Tone" is a very loose term. At
best.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Decreased body fat is a nutritional.caloric issue,

In part. Don't we also "burn fat" during some exercise?

No, not directly.

Quoted message said:

Don't I
increase my metabolism by building muscle?

Not significantly.

Quoted message said:

My diet really hasn't
chnged much since I started weight lifting. I'm still, essentially, a
low-fat LCer. I have added, probably, another 50-60 grams of carbs a
day. Yet, my body fat % keeps coming down. Weight has probably come
down 5 pounds, the most, since starting weights. So, it's gotta be, in
part, my exercise program that's helping to decrease my body fat.

It is the caloric deficit which has decreased your overfat of which
exercise is not a major component.

Quoted message said:

Why do I want to strengthen? What an odd question to ask.

Why so? Specifically, what is it that makes you want to be stronger?

Quoted message said:

I'm sorry,
but who wouldn't want to be stronger? Ever hear of anyone striving to
be weak?

Yes, more people strive and are weak especially as older age
approaches. It is the norm to be weaker over time.

Quoted message said:

Just having added strength helps in so many ways, every day
of my life. Trying to hold back my 90 pound German Sheperd (just got
him a week ago...he's still learning manners) so he doesn't leap up
onto every person he meets. Hauling 50 pound bags of top soil all over
my garden. Being able to keep up with the pup when we take hikes in
the woods. Opening stubborn jars of tomato sauce..who know how my
greater strength helps me every day.

It took you two paragraphs to answer the original question. So, now we
have a functional reason to be stronger. Good. When you get past the
hypertrophy stage, then you can start addressing directly these
functional issues.

You are a Life Athlete; train like one.

Quoted message said:

But, to ask why one would want to
be stronger? Makes no sense to me.

That's because yo have never trained anyone. To me,it is a perfectly
reasonable question.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

It's a warmup set(s). That is what is accomplished, warmup utilizing
the exercise itself to prepare you for the loaded worksets you will be
doing.

I do do a warm-up set. I had a feeling you never really read my first
post...

I read it and disagree with the way you warmup.

Btw, why the 20 minutes of cardio?

Quoted message said:

You're full of criticism, but none of it constructive.

I am full of criticism and the only reason you do not see it as
constructive is that you have, from the get-go, become extremely
defensive. Why is that?

Quoted message said:

I know I asked
for comments on my program, and I appreciate what you've offered
(although for the most part, I've found what you've contributed to be
worthless).

Then why do you appreciate it?

You know, two things never happened here.

One, you never even asked where my own personal expertise comes from (
a huge mistake one that you made with your PT as well) and two, you
never asked to see a design for a complete body workout (that you
roundly criticized from the outset).

Why is that? Why the defensive posture when YOU are the one asking for
comments.

My take is that you were looking for confirmation not criticism and
when you didn't get it from me, you blew apart.

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960222.html
Lift well, Eat less, Walk fast, Live long.

Mun_ Between The Stones <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

My take is that you were looking for confirmation not criticism

That may be true. Although, the results I'm seeing are really all the
confirmation I need at this point.

and

Quoted message said:

when you didn't get it from me, you blew apart.

I've hardly blown apart. Would I be laughing and smiling as I read
your responses if what you have said has had any affect on me other
than total amusement?

Puhlease. Takes a lot more than anything you've written to make me
blow apart.

Lee

Quoted message said:

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960222.html
Lift well, Eat less, Walk fast, Live long.

(Lee) said:

Mun_ Between The Stones <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

My take is that you were looking for confirmation not criticism

That may be true. Although, the results I'm seeing are really all the
confirmation I need at this point.

and

Quoted message said:

when you didn't get it from me, you blew apart.

I've hardly blown apart. Would I be laughing and smiling as I read
your responses if what you have said has had any affect on me other
than total amusement?

Puhlease. Takes a lot more than anything you've written to make me
blow apart.

You know, two things never happened here.

One, you never even asked where my own personal expertise comes from
(a huge mistake one that you made with your PT as well) and two, you
never asked to see a design for a complete body workout (that you
roundly criticized from the outset).

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960222.html
Lift well, Eat less, Walk fast, Live long.