dman12’s BodyBlog

Every time I am on here reading blogs I read about someone who has an injury of some sort.

I also wonder how many of these folks stretch before and after their WO. Yes I am one of those before and after people. Now I am 54 and you think yeah he needs to stretch, but time and time again I see people come to the gym and start throwing weights around wo stretching.

Living in the midwest this time of year is even worse coming in from the cold and jumping into it is not practical. Should you have an injury keep stretching it to keep the blood moving (depending on the severity) you may want to consider some yoga. I don’t care if you lift for the big numbers or just staying toned and if you are 54 or 24. Stretching is the best insurance one can do for yourself. By the way I stretch with an HPL endless band mixed in with a few static stretches.

Being a fan of super setting I am going to try some uni. SSing to see how it works. I read some where that this is not a good super setting routine as it lets one limb rest. But am thinking it may be just all relative.

The Program Devlopement/ Trainer came up to me a while back and asked me to get a Group Certifation to teach a Kettlebell class. She brought some in and have been working with them 3 times a week….. And I am heading towards a new rung on the ladder of fitness, what an awesome tool! My younger gym cohorts are asking about them and are interested in trying them…. Gotta get this old ass in gear, so I can keep up!

I am now doing a large and small muscle group each lifting day (which is what I have been doing), but am not ramping up weights and no more 12, 10, and 8 reps. Will be doing 3 sets of 12-15 reps with a lower weight and super setting the small muscle group with the same reps, have done chest and tri’s Sunday and did Legs and shoulders today and back and bi’s Thursday, so far it appears to be pretty intense.

Today after the gym I stopped at the hospital to have my protime done (which is a finger prick to check how thin your blood is).

So when finished I thought I would go down to Cardiac Rehab to see the nurses that work there and they were the ones that got me started on this road to fitness. They taught me about Heart rates, Blood pressure,and exertion, not your typical looking fitness folks to say the least. I stop in once and while to say Hi but when I walked in, no familiar faces, they were at meetings. I introduced myself and said that I was a "Graduate" of this program and the one nurse looked at me and I could just tell she was thinking WTH this guy was in cardiac rehab 8 years ago as she was looking at me and said "It looks like your doing well for yourself". Now the other patients in there heard the conversation and were now looking at me too.

When I left I thought maybe one of those patients will "have the light go on".

Had my 6 month check up and Cholesterol was 114 lowest it has ever been! The weight well that is different, that was 226 up 10 pounds since last August, but I am not worried my belts are all used up including the extra hole I put in and jeans are getting looser.

Last week on Chest and tricep day I did 70 pound DB’s on DB press on my third set 8 times.

To see if it was a fluke I did it again today and put the DB press last of my chest exercises, 7 and 8 weren’t pretty but got them anyway. Now I am still stoked even though there was a guy next to me doing 85’s, I am thinking he was a bit younger than me, but he had more gray hair than me, hell he even had a lot more hair than me.

But I am pleased with my progress, it has been slow but everyday is an improvement , somewhere.

Oh my Doctor says it is time to have that 50 year old guy procedure done, oh boy.

I just wish I could eat a little better, I am just fortunate that I Work hard every day and work out even harder, now if I could just keep my hams and glutes from being so darn tight .

But this past week lifting was a good week, each day was good form and personal bests, for instance did DB bench press with the last set of 65’s 8 times now being a seasoned type person I was pleased and now have 70 and 75 in my cross hairs.

I am only posting this because my bride just can’t seem to get all that excited for me, she is concerned that my ticker will explode, but I do know what to do and how to do this.

Hoping the James Gang can get another victory tonight.

I often think about how much does all the heart meds that I take holds me back from how I want to look and what few supplements I take could be counteracted by them.

Yes it has taken me a long time to get where I am but, I will  continue this journey and jump those hurdles in slow motion.

I do ask my cardiologist about supplements but I get "the deer in headlights look".

This past week I had a couple visitors at the farm, people I have not seen for awhile, one said I’ve lost a lot of weight and the other commented on how good I look.

Now running a farm my work apparel is something comfortable, and that is bibs, which are not all that flattering at all, so I will take these as major compliments, hmmm, maybe they happened to be clean.

I am wondering because I rarely ever have it. So does that mean I don’t lift hard or heavy enough? If I am not super setting I am doing straight sets of three sets each for two body  parts, one large and one small muscle group. I probably could go a little heavier but do not want to prostitute form and technique for just a larger number and when lifting I like to keep it "out of out of my neck" when lifting this seems to dial in the muscle when it is being worked. I also stretch before and after working out for about 10 minutes using an HDL band, could this be contributing to lack of DOMS? I see a lot of people talking about and was thinking am I doing something wrong or am doing thing right?