Exercise and Fitness!

[Mudguard]

That's a hell of a lot of water to carry for a day hike. :stunned: Do you that much on purpose, or have you ever considered getting a filter? Nice pics though.

Some of my former housemates just invited me to go on a week long trip from Kings Canyon on a ~45 mile loop with optional side hikes to Whitney summit and Caltech Peak--which some of my other friends hiked to last summer. It's sort of...ah...off the beaten path (aka in the middle of nowhere) but I'm kind of tempted to make this pilgrimage even though I really shouldn't. On the other hand, if I don't do it now, I'm not sure who else I'd be able to convince to go with me in the future. Hmmm.

I carried 6 liters, partly for training purposes, and partly because I didn't know how much I needed. There is one place up in the mountain to get water, so it would have been possible to carry less water. I ended up drinking about 4 liters I think (pack was 10lbs lighter at the end, and I had about 5 lbs of water left).

Sounds like a really cool trip. I've been to Sequoia National Park once, and really enjoyed it. Saw a mama bear and cub! Are you concerned about your fitness level for the trip? If you climb Whitney that would be a lot of hiking. If not, 45 miles doesn't seem too bad, although I'm guessing you'd be carry a lot of food and gear with you.

Edited to add: Whoah, Caltech peak looks pretty tough...and I forgot the part where you said that much of the hike is off trail...

[Kat]

I did a ~35 mile hike in Sequoia a few years ago. Also saw a bear (eek) although it wasn't very close to me. I was in pretty terrible shape for that trip and still managed to make it. I don't have problems at high altitudes, luckily, although I haven't hiked much above ~11k feet. But, some of my friends did this hike last year, and I would say both of them were in worse shape than I am now. Luckily, off-trail hiking doesn't bother me. I heard getting to the top of this peak is sort of a gnarly hike, but it's not technical. Trails are a luxury anyway. ;)

ETA: 6L sounds like a lot of water for me, but then again, my day pack isn't that big and I usually have it too full of other stuff to haul more than a gallon of water at a time. I guess I would probably want to carry more water than that if I were in Death Valley, say, right now, but even then, I'd probably just cache a liter or two and not carry it all the whole time. I admire you for wanting to carry extra weight though. I'm way too lazy to do that.

[Mudguard]

I did a ~35 mile hike in Sequoia a few years ago. Also saw a bear (eek) although it wasn't very close to me. I was in pretty terrible shape for that trip and still managed to make it. I don't have problems at high altitudes, luckily, although I haven't hiked much above ~11k feet. But, some of my friends did this hike last year, and I would say both of them were in worse shape than I am now. Luckily, off-trail hiking doesn't bother me. I heard getting to the top of this peak is sort of a gnarly hike, but it's not technical. Trails are a luxury anyway. ;)

The altitude is the only thing I can't train for down in Socal, but I've read that it's good to stay well hydrated, hence all the water. I don't mind off-trail hiking unless it involves lots of brush and bushwacking. At the lower elevations in the San Gabriels, much of the mountains are heavily covered with chapparal and other brush, which can be a real pain to get through, and will leave you scratched and bloody. Also, I don't have the best directions sense, so it requires more planning for me to go off route. I did get a gps recently, so that will help. Once I get bored of hiking all the trails, I might start planning my own routes. Too bad my maps don't show dense brush.

[Kat]

Of course, I tend to avoid hiking in places with plants. But I would recommend Google Maps for plotting a rough trail. You can see individual bushes on their imagery (although most of their stuff out of cities is from 2005). Assuming you don't care about silly little things like being able to see topography and bushes at the same time. :) (This is where being able to make your own maps comes in handy.)

[Mudguard]

Of course, I tend to avoid hiking in places with plants. But I would recommend Google Maps for plotting a rough trail. You can see individual bushes on their imagery (although most of their stuff out of cities is from 2005). Assuming you don't care about silly little things like being able to see topography and bushes at the same time. :) (This is where being able to make your own maps comes in handy.)

Google Maps is a great idea. Thanks for the tip! I can correlate points between maps by using the lat/long coordinates off my gps maps.

[lokisnow]

traps and back day, did lat pull downs, dead lifts and presses. :-p

didn't really add to my dead lift today, I was concentrating on form. Getting better, still have to really focus to keep my hips out of it til the end of the lift, but I've mostly got that down, the reverse motion is a lot harder to do correctly. Wasn't great, but improved through each set.

Presses, I did pretty well on, the only thing I really forgot on the form was really shrugging up at the top of the press. Still need work. Actually did presses today rather than the push presses I'd been 'cheating' with and calling them presses. :-p

[Whitestripe]

Well I have my helmet today. Actually I forgot it again, but I went back home and got it. Of course it's raining today. Should clear up by this afternoon though, so hopefully I can go for a ride.

[lessthanluke]

Good workout today. Lots of volume on squats and bench.

[VikingBeard]

Did 30 minutes cardio this morning

[Minaku]

School is over. I am looking forward to a good workout tomorrow morning - gonna get on the treadmill and do some walking, and start with light weights, probably will do chest and back tomorrow with some lunges thrown in, assuming I can still do lunges.

[Lucky Pierre]

Did chest and back per schedule yesterday. Today I should be doing wk2, day2 of the pushup plan... but I failed on Sunday and didn't do wk2 day 1... so... I guess I will just kind of do the day 2 plan this afternoon and carry on from here...

[Eponine]

Mostly walked 3 miles yesterday, my lower legs were extremely tight from all the moving and driving. Haven't noticed feeling the altitude, but haven't tried a hard run yet either.

The park didn't have any trees and that was very odd.

[ztemhead]

dear thread,

my bench (along with some other exercises) hasn't been improving as well as I'd like. Here's a typical chest day:

-- flat bench, 1 set warm up, 2 sets X 8 at 80% 1 rep max, 2 sets X 12 at 65% 1 rep max

-- seated cable rows, 2 sets X 8, 2 sets X 12

-- some other exercise, say situps

-- decline dumbell press, same dealy; 2 sets low rep, high weight, 2 sets high rep, low weight

-- lat pulldown

-- some other exercise, yesterday I it was squats. {squats interlude for 15 minutes}

-- incline dumbell flys, 4 sets X 10 reps

-- incline dumbell back stuff, reverse flys and rows, done as a superset; 3 X 10 each.

-- finish with something random like curls or tricep extension

this isn't a set routine, though the overall amount of work is typical. I'd say the above takes a little over an hour to complete. the concept is to go chest, back, other; chest, back, other so as to maximize the amount of work I can put in before everything gets sore. Also, to combine calorie burning with strength training, I do the 2 sets big/ low rep, 2 sets little, high rep combo.

my diet before and after is okay, though not as good as it could be. I usually do a little protein/ carb for energy beforehand, and protein afterwards, though not always. I suspect this is the missing piece- proper adherance to a training diet. Also, for someone with pencil stick arms like I have, how hard is it to keep gaining strength without adding muscle mass?

So anyone want to pimp my workout? Stego you've got to be chomping at the bit. Let 'er rip.

ETA, I've been steady with 3X per week weights workouts. 1 day chest/ back, 1 day arms/ shoulders, 1 day legs; and mix in abs/ core here and there.

Also, the seven days of exercising every day goeth well. today is day 5. I'm scaling back a little on duration in order to minimize soreness. Been running a bit too, which is a nice shift from that stupid boredom device cross trainer. It's just so beastly hot out, arrrgh.

[lessthanluke]

First thing ztem. 8 reps is high reps in my book.

[Stego]

I'm with Luke here. 8 reps is pretty close to the most you want to be doing. Ten is acceptable if you are going nuts. 12? Your weight is not close to heavy enough. I like to stay in the 6-8 range. Enough weight and enough exertion to spark hypertrophy is what you want.

Secondly, you are doing WAY too many exercises, and some are borderline useless.

Here's what I do on an upper body day. (I do not specialize.)

-10 minutes cardio warmup.

-Overhand, wide grip pullups to failure. (4 sets, last 2-3 reps are assisted)

-Bench press 80% to failure, 85% to failure, 90% to failure, 95% to failure

-Underhand, close grip chinups to failure. (4 sets, last 2-3 reps assisted)

-Incline dumbbell press 80% to failure, 85% to failure, 90% to failure, 95% to failure

-Seated Rows

-Dips to failure. (4 sets, last 2-3 reps are assisted)

-Military press 80% to failure, 85% to failure, 90% to failure, 95% to failure

I'm still in the very beginner stage of my bodybuilding, so I feel that specialized movements such as curls are absolutely useless. And they probably are for you, too. Compound movements are key. I suggest you give this a try and tell me how you feel the next day. :P I do this every fifth day.

Never more than 90 seconds between sets, btw. Not more than 3 mins between exercises.

[lessthanluke]

I'm with Luke here. 8 reps is pretty close to the most you want to be doing. Ten is acceptable if you are going nuts. 12? Your weight is not close to heavy enough. I like to stay in the 6-8 range. Enough weight and enough exertion to spark hypertrophy is what you want.

Secondly, you are doing WAY too many exercises, and some are borderline useless.

Here's what I do on an upper body day. (I do not specialize.)

-10 minutes cardio warmup.

-Overhand, wide grip pullups to failure. (4 sets, last 2-3 reps are assisted)

-Bench press 80% to failure, 85% to failure, 90% to failure, 95% to failure

-Underhand, close grip chinups to failure. (4 sets, last 2-3 reps assisted)

-Incline dumbbell press 80% to failure, 85% to failure, 90% to failure, 95% to failure

-Seated Rows

-Dips to failure. (4 sets, last 2-3 reps are assisted)

-Military press 80% to failure, 85% to failure, 90% to failure, 95% to failure

I'm still in the very beginner stage of my bodybuilding, so I feel that specialized movements such as curls are absolutely useless. And they probably are for you, too. Compound movements are key. I suggest you give this a try and tell me how you feel the next day. :P I do this every fifth day.

Never more than 90 seconds between sets, btw. Not more than 3 mins between exercises.

This looks good to me. Don't know if I would take all those sets to failure but thats just personal preference.

I find decline pretty useless if you're all ready doing flat bench.

Regarding rep ranges. 1-5 is low rep. 6+ is high rep to me. 5-6 rep sets is a good balance between strength and hypertrophy training I think.

[ztemhead]

k good, so if I'm reading you right, my action points are these:

-- less cables, more compound movements such as dips/ chins (I do these now, just not every workout)

-- lower reps, more weight

-- increasing weight with each set. I'll give this a try- I don't usually do it that way.

as for curls, I simply have to do them, even though I hate it. my bicep strength is laughable. or to put it more seriously, it's seriously lacking so as to be an impediment to the overall plan. doing monster sized dumbells for incline press is great and all, but it's kinda useless if I can't lift the weights up to my chest. I can just imagine asking for help every time I want to start a set.

oh hey, question about wide grip pullups- do you go all the way chin over the bar like with a chin up? if so, those last few inches are really tough.

5/5 days down, couple more to go. I'm planning a mild legs day tommorrow, and a beastly cardio/ upper body day for a finish.

[lokisnow]

I'll agree with Stego and Luke, you're doing too many reps, and I'll throw in that you're not warming up properly.

I don't know what my 1RM is, because I never max out on a single rep. I have my 5-6RM which I try to increase every week by at least five pounds. If you can't increase by five pounds a week, see if you can find some 1lb weights and increase by 2lbs every week.

Here's my chest/arm day.

1 set with just the bar, 12 reps, focus on form, grip, breathing right, finding a place on the ceiling to lock into, not bouncing off my chest, making sure forearms are vertical at the bottom of the press etc etc.

1 set 10 reps with 60% last weeks 5-6RM

1 set 6 reps with about 70% last weeks 5-6RM

1 set 3 reps with about 80% last weeks 5-6RM

1 set 1 rep with about 90% last weeks 5-6RM

3 sets of 4-6RM starting with at least 5lbs more than last weeks 5-6RM, if I can get six, I add five lbs, if I can't get four I take away five lbs, If I fail between 4-6 reps I keep the weight the same.

I rest about 1 minute between the warmup/acclimation sets, and 2-3 minutes between the heavy sets.

other exercises I do after bench include

two heavy sets of incline dumbbell presses,

two heavy sets decline dumbbell presses (going to either drop this rather useless exercise or switch to weighted dips when I get a belt for them).

2 set of tricep press downs

a set of lying tricep extensions,

2 heavy sets of barbell curls (why not, even if they're useless they're more fun to do than most of these other exercises),

two sets of wrist barbell curls

1 set of dumbbell wrist curls.

This day is by far my longest workout and I've been trimming back on the more useless exercises to get a better balance. and two weeks from now I'll switch to Rippetoe's method and do each day with three of the five main lifts with mixing in one or two of the accessory lifts.

[lessthanluke]

Yeh full range of motion on the pull ups.

[Stego]

k good, so if I'm reading you right, my action points are these:

-- less cables, more compound movements such as dips/ chins (I do these now, just not every workout)

-- lower reps, more weight

-- increasing weight with each set. I'll give this a try- I don't usually do it that way.

as for curls, I simply have to do them, even though I hate it. my bicep strength is laughable. or to put it more seriously, it's seriously lacking so as to be an impediment to the overall plan. doing monster sized dumbells for incline press is great and all, but it's kinda useless if I can't lift the weights up to my chest. I can just imagine asking for help every time I want to start a set.

oh hey, question about wide grip pullups- do you go all the way chin over the bar like with a chin up? if so, those last few inches are really tough.

5/5 days down, couple more to go. I'm planning a mild legs day tommorrow, and a beastly cardio/ upper body day for a finish.

-No reason for cables.

-ABSOLUTELY no reason for curls. Do the pullups like I explained and you will get a serious bicep workout. Compound, compound, compound.

-For incline dumbbell presses, kick the dumbbellls up with your knees. There is no one on the planet who can curl the same amount as they press. Think about it for a second.

-On pullups and chinups, forget about your chin -- try to touch your sternum to the bar. Flex your biceps hard at the top.

-Never do legs the same day as upper body. That's some silly shit. Your central nervous system is not your liver. Don't abuse it.

-Do the workout exactly as I have it lined out and see if you need cardio after. I guarantee you do not.

ETA: I think it was Charles Poliquin who said anyone who can't do 10 dead hang pullups has no reason to EVER do curls.