I liked your rant, Frank! :-)

"where is my life going" bump....


times are tough, so is work, wish me luck, ...

i just had a monte 4 and 4 scotches..... i love you guys.

why is this in the workout thread lol :-)

because its hard to work out when you are stressed!!!

ah....ok, just looked like a banter post


anywho...getting used to doing lots of cardio lately. Looks like I got a lot of rehabbing on my shoulder ahead of me. Not sure how long it will be until I'm back to full strength. Thankfully the MRI showed no tear in the rotator cuff. Guess it's really time to concentrate on the core. You guys have any suggestions on working the biceps/chest without putting too much strain on the shoulder?

Chest/some tri today

DB Chest Press
55x12
65x12
70x8
75x4

DB Incline Press(u)
40x15x3

Pushups
75

Cable Fly - weights on this are kg, too late to do the math now...
20x15x2
25x15x2

Dips
12, 10, 10

OH Tri ex
35x12
40x10
40x10

Felt like crap at the beginning. Took a good while to get into the swing of things. Tired as heck after. tomorrow off, then legs sat.

Frank have you been to my gym? The only thing you missed was the chicks walking on the treadmill while chatting away on their cell. You described it to the "T." They even have pizza night and bagel mornings. :-). Anyways, I found weight clips today..I was shocked !

So uhm....3 quick miles today then threw the weights around concentrating on shoulders and back. I felt so good tonite!! Someday I will have the courage to throw up numbers on here and play with the big boys :-)
Posted via girly man Mobile Device

I had a really sore shoulder maybe some three years ago. No torn stuff though. At times it kept me awake at night. Motrin 800's were my salvation. I could barely lift a glass of water off the table.

So... I bought some girly dumbells. Six and ten pounders. Did lateral shoulder raises by the dozen. Did girly pushups, (knees on the floor). Light dumbell curls, 30 pounds, if memory serves.

It took a while to get back. Still can't bench like I used to (can't do anything like I used to :-)). Max out at 225. Incline bench is still a little painful and use minimal weight on that. Decline bench is the least painful, can load up the weight on that pretty good.

So basically what I have done is work around and avoid the painful joints, and give the rest of them hell. Deadlifts, rows, lat pull downs, tricep work, etc. Big hurdle was training myself to be patient, and slowly work back into it.

Just a reminder boiz and gurlz: if you tax your body through lifting a bunch to failure, be sure that you drink PLENTY of water and get LOTS of protein. I traveled yesterday and did neither. :-)

And Pete ... aside from buying my own DBs (which is a good idea), I've been doing exactly that. Once a wee or more, I do my rehab exercises and I've been working around it on the bench. Incline still gives me tons of trouble, too.

Personally, I don't worry about the size of my numbers. I look more to how I am progressing from week to week and month to month. I've only been lifting for a bit more than a year on a regular basis. There's no way I could even think about pushing the weights someone who's been doing it for 10 could.

I do track every workout in a notebook, writing down what exercise, weight and number of reps. If I am getting frustrated and/or need motivation, I pull out my starting months and look at the numbers and exercises there. That usually helps me quite a bit.

On a side note, I go to an LA Fitness and have been using their in-house trainers just because I came into this knowing basically nothing about it. I ran cross country and track in middle/high school and never went near a weight room outside of gym class. So, I'm just wondering where to go from here. I don't think the trainers there really have much to offer me at this point in terms of learning, more just changing up routines and checking form. I can do that myself. Where/how can I go about actually finding a good trainer who is going to actually be able to help me take this to the next level? Preferably one who doesn't cost me an arm and a leg...

You might actually be better off trying to find a more experienced lifting partner who can train at the same times you do. They could teach you more of the advanced routines and you could motivate each other. Personal training (beyond the in-house trainers at the L.A. Fitness type gyms) is usually pretty expensive.

Frank...can you elaborate on the "Core Strength" point of view you have?

I always thought of notebook jotting as tedious but using it as a motivation tool is a great idea! :-)

Ya I have been going, just been too lazy to post my workouts, plus last week was a deload week which was boring as hell and pointless to elaborate on. Imagine, going to the gym, and just going through the motions with weights that are not challenging but rather light to be honest.

Agreed here Tom. Get a friend, if ya have trouble finding a friend use the internet. There are so many things online now that you can use. Trainers are unreal expensive. If you were to pay for any advice, get a nutritionist. All other workout things you could ask here or search online.

I bash trainers because they focus WAY to much on "core" strength. The main method in which they train people to strengthen their core with oddball exercises, weird motions both of which are extremely hard to master and should only be recommended by people with a lot of workout experience.,and isolation type movements. Most of the time these are done with bodyweight type exercises.
Rather than teach people to use compound movements which are so much more effective. they are also excellent core strengthening exercises. trainers are scarred to let people use weights and perform compound movements, and people wonder why they dump tons of money on trainers and get **** workouts.
Bottom line I guess, you want good core strength? Stick to the basics.I guess my gripe isnt about core training, its more about the neo-douch trainers. I hate them.

Get a workout journal too.

Legs tonight.

Ok I'll bite...what would a wee little man like me be doing as compound movements to strengthen my keg.

Bao, for your core try Russian twists :-)

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/exer...=Russian+Twist

ahh...good ole BB.com :-)

yes it is :-)

another one would be flutter kicks:
Start by lying flat on your back on a mat with your arms by your sides and your palms down. Extend your legs fully with a slight bend in your knees. Lift your heels about 6 inches off the floor. Make small, rapid up and down scissor-like motions with your legs. The key is to focus on having your midsection do the work and to keep your abs constantly contracted throughout the exercise.

also Roman chair sit ups

With all due respect to Perry's suggestions, I think the kinds of compound movements Frank is talking about are more like real squats and deadlifts -- movements that involve more than body weight and develop your "core" when you're doing them right.