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OK, since you asked, (and you are likely to regret it. ) Here's my new regimen that I've been doing for the last 2+months after I recovered enough from the vascular bypass surgery I had in November on my leg.Ken, what's your training regimen?
I do 2 days of upper body exercises (Monday and Thursday) - 6 exercises and 2 sets each
Benchpress, bicep curls on the machine, triceps on the machine, shoulder presses, and Lats and Rows.
I do 2 days of Lower body exercises ( Tuesday and Friday) Leg press, thigh curls, hamstring curls, and then I go do the "girly machines" and do the hip abduction and flexors, and the one I call the ballet machine where you push out with each leg. Again I do 2 sets each 20-22 reps
I lift lighter weights and do a minimum 20-22 reps. I do Ron Laura's matrix approach. (google it) In that, each exercise is lifted in this way. 5 full reps, 5 half downs, 5 half ups, 5 full. It's designed to fatigue the muscle quickly and efficiently. When you get stronger instead of adding weight you change the motion. 7 full, 6 half downs, 5 half ups, 4 fulls. You only added 2 reps but it fatigues the muscle more than you think. At the 3rd break, as you get stronger you simply reverse it. 4 fulls, 5 half up, 6 half downs, 7 full. It's the same number of reps as you did in part 2 but its surprisingly incrementally harder.
Right now I graduated from doing one set for the first month. Then I did 2 sets of the 5 full, 5 half up.....etc in the 2nd month. And now this month I do the 7 fulls, 6 half downs....etc. The goal is to do the 4,5, 6, 7 motion in May, and graduate to 3 sets of each in June
I walk 200 yds between each set (that's twice around the gym to recover and get some cario. Eventually, it comes to about a mile and a half, so I don't have to do it on the treadmill, which I find incredibly boring.
Wednesdays I do 6 core exercises including various planks, and on the weekends I do absolutely nothing. At least 3 times I week I go on a walk. Before the bypass I couldn't walk 50 yds without stopping and was in danger of losing the foot. Now, I still have some discomfort, but I'm up to about 33 minutes (just over a mile and a half). I'd like to build that up to an hour (3 miles) over the next couple of months
I have to tell you that it's helped a lot. I was originally scheduled to have the left leg done as well but given my current mobility, we called it off. Good thing too since I've already had a coronary bypass done 10 years ago and have no more usable veins in my legs. They'd have to mine them in my arms to do another leg.
The more I go, the more disciplined I become. I mean you HAVE to go because you don't want to waste all the effort you made to get you this far. It's hard. I'm feeling my age. I don't recover as well between sets. I have to do a stretching regimen about half way through, but its really just an excuse to lay on a rubber mat and rest while occasionally stretching a leg here and there.
I also don't deal as well with the pain that accompanies the lactic acid build up as you break down the muscle as i used to. I mean the only competition I do now is poker and the cards are relatively light. So its hard to justify the pain that is so critical to process.. So, in the end, my favorite part of the workout is when I walk out the door... (that and the tootsie rolls they give away for free at planet fitness.. )
I know. More than you needed to know, but what did you expect from me. Well off to the Gym.