Wellness

[DrKelli]

Some soreness is good.  I have had shoulder surgery, so I definitely modify certain exercises and use lighter weights for some too.  Your weights should be challenging.  The general rule of thumb is if you are doing high repetitions, use lighter weights.  If you are doing fewer reps, use heavier weights.  If you are struggling with form, your weight is too heavy.  

Your soreness is also a seque into this--you work different muscle groups on different days.  Leg day (s*cks), Back and Biceps, Chest and Triceps. This allows you to rest that muscle group and let it 'heal'.  

I've also been a gym rat for a long time and there are days that it hurts to move, but the alternative is worse.  

Good for you for taking charge of your health.  Talk to your trainer a lot and if they are not listening to you, get a new trainer.  Some of the young ones at my gym do not understand older people and think we should be able to do everything they can.  I've been lucky with the ones I've worked with because of the modifications I require.

[hckynut]

@Lipstickdiva

Straight forward reply as usual. Isn't that why you are paying your trainer? I don't expect any trainer to "know" how each person's body reacts to any type of exercise, that just can't. As you say, "it's a trial and error" with everyone, including well trained athletes.

A good trainer should be able to tell by seeing the effort their client has when doing, and right after any exercise. I am talking: Cardio/Resistance/Stretching, not Mental Imagery and things of that sort.

I could write a post here till tomorrow and not say everything I have learned about exercising, but only in generalities. For me the only body I can speak about specifically, is my own. When I reach certain points, I know it through experience. How does one get experience? That of course is a rhetorical question.

Always told those I helped train for running. "Runners do not get injured when they are having a bad day". It's the days "you feel like the ground is moving, not your feet, when most injuries occur". Unfortunately, most of the time, you don't know it while you are running. It shows up the next day or 2 later.

If workout or exercising injuries were felt while a person is doing them, that would be great. Unfortunately, unless a person hears a "pop" or suddenly has a big problem, they have no idea what they are doing will lead to injury.

Sure, muscles and connective tissues that are worked, that are first timers, or been a long period of time since being active? They are going to be sore. How sore, and when is it "good sore or bad sore", that is how a person learns to "read/hear" what their body is telling them.

One thing many that do a lot of cardio training overlook? It is called a Cool Down. With long sustained, especially cardio type training, the muscles accumulate Lactic Acid, which interferes with the contraction and extension of the muscles.

A Cool Down, done at an easy pace, helps move some of that lactic acid through and out of the body. I am not talking 30 seconds or a minute. If you had an elevated heart raten for 30-45 minutes? That Cool Down should be at least 10 minutes or more. You can feel because your muscles move easier.

When it comes to resistance(free weights/machines/Cords or Springs), less is always the better choice, for many. It is for me. I increase the number of repetitions, not the amount of resistance. To do otherwise for me? I am looking for a possible injury.

Talk candidly to your trainer. If it is too hard, say so, don't expect her to automatically know how you feel. If you think you can do more, same thing.

I currently am going to Physical Therapy to help my balance issues. Same thing, I tell the PT what is going on with my body, and believe me, many of the exercises they have me doing, are not ones that I have ever done before. I too have to listen to my body, and tell the PT what's going on with it.

With training and exercising, many times "less is more".

hckynut(john)

[VaBelle35]

When I was doing The New Rules of Lifting for Women, which is free weights, not machines, it's really trial and error to find your starting weight.  It's different for everyone.

Just keep adding 5 lbs at a time at each workout.  That's what I did and it worked out very well for me as I got through the program.

[noodleann]

I haven't read all the replies, but from what I've been taught and read, strength training requires a day of rest for the muscles, so strength training should be done every other day at most, not daily. Cardio/aerobics can be done daily.

The guidelines I've been given on adding weight in the StrongWomen class that I take, which were developed by Tufts, have been helpful to me. They are:

EXERCISE INTENSITY INDICATOR

1.  Were you able to complete two sets of ten repetitions in good form?       No:   Reduce the weight to an amount that you can lift ten items in good form; then repeat for a second set.       Yes:   Please continue to question two.

2.  After completing ten repetitions, do you need to rest because the weight is too heavy to complete more repetitions in good form?       Yes:   You are working at the proper intensity and should not increase weight.       No:   Please continue to questions three and four to determine how to safely increase the intensity of the workout.

3.  Could you have done a few more repetitions in good form without a break?       Yes:   If you can do only a few more repetitions (not the entire next set of ten without a break), at your next workout you should do the first set of repetitions with your current weight and your second set with the next weight up. For example, if you currently are using one-pound dumbbells, use two- or three-pound dumbbells for the second set.

4.  Could you have done all twenty repetitions at one time, without a break?       Yes:   At the next session, use heavier dumbbells for both sets of repetitions.

FIVE-POINT STRENGTH TRAINING INTENSITY SCALE

EXERCISE INTENSITY	DESCRIPTION OF EFFORT
1	Very easy: Too easy to be noticed—like lifting a pencil.
2	Easy: Can be felt but isn’t fatiguing—like carrying a book.
3	Moderate: Fatiguing only if prolonged—like carrying a full handbag that seems heavier as the day goes on.
4	Hard: More than moderate at first, and becoming difficult by the time you complete four or five repetitions. You can make the effort ten times in good form, but need to rest afterwards.
5	Extremely hard: Requires all your strength—like lifting a piece of heavy furniture that you can lift only once, if at all.

In our classes, which include older women, we increase our free weights in increments of 1, 2, and 3 pounds. If you're working with  machines, the increments are probably larger.

Congratulations and good luck on this impressive endeavor!

[Lipstickdiva]

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@SilleeMee wrote:

If you ever get tired of going to the gym @Lipstickdiva, I highly recommend the Nano Gym from Evine. I got one just a few months ago and it is a serious piece of equipment. No assembly required and you get a good burn. 

Nano Gym

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@SilleeMee, thanks.  I did consider getting this but I have stuff at home and I just don't do it.  It's sad to say if I don't get out to go to the gym, I find every excuse not to do what I have at home. 

There is something about the fact that I pay monthly, although not a lot, that is getting me to the gym.  We'll see how I feel come January when it's 5 degrees and pitch black when I have to go.  LOL

[Lipstickdiva]

@hckynut, thank you for your post.  I'm not actually paying a trainer.  The gym that I belong to offers the services of a personal trainer to meet with members and put together a program.  The day I met with her, it wasn't a one on one experience. There were 3 of us who had an appointment/class with her. We filled out a questionnaire and then she put together a program based on that.  If she is in the gym and available when I'm there, I can ask her questions.  Most of the time in the evening she is teaching a class or meeting with other people.

[Tinkrbl44]

@Lipstickdiva

Good for you!    

The only concern I have is that you are brand new to this, and this trainer wants you starting the program  for five days a week ......  if the weights are too challenging, you won't make it through the whole 5 days!    

[MKR14]

I agree with "Silleemee" about the Nano Gym. I have to exercise as much as I feel comfortable doing during the week due to heart issues. The Nano Gym has three different resistant cords and is an amazing piece of equipment for a beginner and for someone someone more advanced at a reasonable price. I have had this several months and am amazed as the resistance this has. I have not been further than using the first grey resistant cord. You can do so many things just sitting down. The seat can swivel to use for turning left to right and pulling the cord the opposite way to really work your waist. When I feel my muscles start to tire I stop and go on my Tony Little Gazelle and walk for a while. My secret to getting 30 minutes a day in 3-4 times a week is setting a timer that I can watch run down as I exercise. The time goes by rather quickly to me that way. I do take a few minutes and stretch my muscles before and after also. I also have the Wonder Core from HSN and like it better than what QVC offers similar to it. I do feel better and my heart doctor is very pleased. I started at 5 minutes a day and slowly added time as I felt stronger. You do what is the best for you as any exercise is better than not doing any at all. Let us know what works for you.

[hckynut]

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@MKR14 wrote:

I agree with "Silleemee" about the Nano Gym. I have to exercise as much as I feel comfortable doing during the week due to heart issues. The Nano Gym has three different resistant cords and is an amazing piece of equipment for a beginner and for someone someone more advanced at a reasonable price.

I have had this several months and am amazed as the resistance this has. I have not been further than using the first grey resistant cord. You can do so many things just sitting down. The seat can swivel to use for turning left to right and pulling the cord the opposite way to really work your waist.

When I feel my muscles start to tire I stop and go on my Tony Little Gazelle and walk for a while. My secret to getting 30 minutes a day in 3-4 times a week is setting a timer that I can watch run down as I exercise. The time goes by rather quickly to me that way. I do take a few minutes and stretch my muscles before and after also.

I also have the Wonder Core from HSN and like it better than what QVC offers similar to it. I do feel better and my heart doctor is very pleased. I started at 5 minutes a day and slowly added time as I felt stronger. You do what is the best for you as any exercise is better than not doing any at all. Let us know what works for you.

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[hckynut]

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@hckynut wrote:

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@MKR14 wrote:

I agree with "Silleemee" about the Nano Gym. I have to exercise as much as I feel comfortable doing during the week due to heart issues. The Nano Gym has three different resistant cords and is an amazing piece of equipment for a beginner and for someone someone more advanced at a reasonable price.

I have had this several months and am amazed as the resistance this has. I have not been further than using the first grey resistant cord. You can do so many things just sitting down. The seat can swivel to use for turning left to right and pulling the cord the opposite way to really work your waist.

When I feel my muscles start to tire I stop and go on my Tony Little Gazelle and walk for a while. My secret to getting 30 minutes a day in 3-4 times a week is setting a timer that I can watch run down as I exercise. The time goes by rather quickly to me that way. I do take a few minutes and stretch my muscles before and after also.

I also have the Wonder Core from HSN and like it better than what QVC offers similar to it. I do feel better and my heart doctor is very pleased. I started at 5 minutes a day and slowly added time as I felt stronger. You do what is the best for you as any exercise is better than not doing any at all. Let us know what works for you.

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@MKR14

It's too bad more people in our country do not want to exercise. The term "I have to exercise because of xyz", is still a choice, regardless of what a person "should do". Your choice is a wise one, I however, with a similar issue, look at my heart problems differently. I look forward to being able to exercise, and the more the better for my mind and body.

For the first time in many years now, I have been well enough, for a long enough period of time, to actually be able to exercise at a level to which as an athlete are  more accustomed. I have never looked at exercise as a, "having to do", because of any of my myriad of serious health issues.

I am happy you found the things that work for you with whatever device makes you feel comfortable/satisfied, and can actually feel the benefits you have gained by using them. Too many look at machines/devices or exercise gadgets as being a savior, when what they actually are is just a tool.

Without the desire to want to do the things that most know are good for their body, and their minds, millions plus $$$ are wasted by those looking for some device that will give them that desire, if only more have gotten the same gratification as you mention in your post.

I have 1 suggestion for you and anyone else that may be interested. It is never wise to stretch cold muscles and connective tissue. Better to do a slow warm up on any device, or any kind of movement that increases the blood temperature running through these specific body parts.

I separated your post to make it easier for myself, maybe others to read, and then added this post.

My best to you with your heart issues. I am dealing with mine the way I know is best, and also now in a length of time that allows me to still keep improving my physical fitness level, which in turn is very beneficial to my heart and pulmonary issues.

hckynut(john)