Almost pushing 50kg again at the gym. Going again tonight after work. Hope all goes well.

#pv4runs

Week 8 diary:

2018-01-29 - rest day. 
2018-01-30 - rest day. Was meant to be an 8km run but had a lot of bullshit in my personal and work life happen and just couldn't be arsed running!
2018-01-31 - 8km run. Was meant to be my Cross train day but had to make up for the missed day previous. Was stitched up by mrs v4, she told me if I ran to one of the local set of shops it was 4km exactly away and so i could do there and back. But they're only 3km away, so had to make an extra km up haha! That was morally deflating :lol: I ended up setting a pace far quicker than I expected to.
2018-02-01 - rest day. Was meant to be a 10km run but due to previously mentioned home&work issues I was once again deflated. 
2018-02-02 - 10.8km run. I made up for the missed day previously. I set a pretty decent pace, particularly with the hills on the course I chose. 
2018-02-03 - 5km parkrun! Touristed to a parkrun I hadn't done before (Fingal Bay), and it is actually the second last on my list to becoming a Newcastle Regionaire! The course was great, people lovely, and to top it all off I got disturbingly close to my global PB! Really had a great day driving all the way there and back for it!
2018-02-04 - 10km run. Well, actually a 9.7km run! My first official running event during my training program, the Summer Run City in Newcastle. The organisers of this event are notorious around town for being disorganised. I hadn't experienced anything noticeably bad in the 2-3 runs I'd done under them though. But this one pissed some people off - the course was short, the running bib numbers were all out of whack, and it ended up on a shared course which for an actual event I'm not used to. Highlight of the day for me though was Olympic Marathon runner & Novocastrian Scott Westcott was the Lead Bike, and yelled at me at one stage :lol: 

This week is going to be interesting. Thursdays midweek run is 11km, which is the longest midweek I've had planned to date. And this upcoming Sunday I have the 29km run, which I'm planning to actually do 30km by doing the Fernleigh Track out-and-back. There's not too many weeks I'm running less than 40km in the near future! 

Oh and it's 12 weeks until my marathon! Woohoo!

Are you finding you are losing weight from all the running?

How much weight have you lost?

Yes, absolutely. Somewhere in the vicinity of 8-10kg since November. And the running pace is getting better and easier as a byproduct.

One theory that  was put into practice with a mate who only ran, by testing his mates, is that with only distance running upper body strength decreases.

That'd be difficult for me to achieve, due to the fact I had very little upper body strength to begin with!

You'd have to have a fair bit of upper body strength as you've played high level football in probably the most physical position!

You'd have to have a strong core at least.

Hey Guys,

I"m looking at getting the TRX workout bands. Just wondering if anyone of you have ever use them and if you have any feedback for me.

Cheers

I don't do squats and dead lifts, due to a dodgy back, but I've recently bench pressed:

12 reps at 75kg

15 reps at 68kg

25 reps at 52kg.


I'm not willing to lift bigger weights, due to possibility of injury and slow injury recovery at 61 years of age, so I do very high reps. 

I don't know much about them.

Why are you so keen on them?

Cause i injured myself using wieghts and these are suppose to be good for injuries.

I hope this is a bit of helpful advice from somebody who has lifted weights for 43 years.

From ages 16 - 25 I often pulled muscles from lifting heavy weights, often doing 5 - 8 reps. Each rep required a lot of effort. It may have increased muscle mass and strength fairly quickly though.

In a martial  arts book I read in my mid twenties, it recommended power weight training. This involves doing 12 - 20 reps and is a combination of strength and speed, which equates to power.

I have done the increased reps, lighter weights routines since. I've never pulled a muscle doing the higher reps. At times I've even gone up to 25 - 30 reps. if one does circuit training,  which includes using different body exercises ( sit ups, ex bike, cross trainer, tuck jumps, etc) between weight sets, one also gets fitter. Also, no time is wasted in the gym resting between weight sets.

A couple of new highs at 61 years of age for Bench P.

*20 reps at 61kg. ( It felt easy too, whereas when I previously did 16 at 63.5kg it was hard). 

*25 reps at 54k.

* New mark of 20 reps at 63.5kg for Bench Press.




63.5kg is circa 140 pounds in the old scale.

Free weight or machine?

Dumb question - do people count the bar when they list their bench press weight?I never counted the bar, but it’s 20kg so I’m not sure if I should?

Dumb question - do people count the bar when they list their bench press weight?I never counted the bar, but it’s 20kg so I’m not sure if I should?

Dumb question - do people count the bar when they list their bench press weight?I never counted the bar, but it’s 20kg so I’m not sure if I should?

After avoiding injury for 20-30 odd years, I've strained muscles just below  the trapezius in my back.

So much for higher reps, lower weights, to avoid injury!

One of the huge changes in working out in gyms has been the number of women who train in  them .

In Australia 16% of men train in gyms as opposed to 19% of women.

25% of women jog for fitness, whilst 22% of men jog.

In  a bookshop I visited the other day, most of the books for weight training were specifically for women. Most exercises I've learnt from fellow gym trainers have been from women as most seem to work the core a lot  on average.

I know most people viewing this are males, but it would be interesting to view the Youtube video, Icelandic Cross Trainers Are Awesome.

Given what look like enormous weights they are lifting in snatches, clean and jerks, presses and squats, plus their gymnastic exercises, they have little upper body muscular development. They are absolutely ripped, and, are serious eye candy too.


Comparatively, if one views Cassie Martin body building You tube videos, using more conventional body building /weight training methods, she is probably  as muscular as a women can get, before one looks  masculine. She is using much lighter weights in exercises  like Bench Press, than the Icelandic cross trainers. Cassie Martin is also serious eye candy.

There is also a steroid look of women who get very muscular, which makes them look like men, who are much more muscular than Cassie Martin. The female competitive bodybuilders I know don't have Cassie Martin's upper body musculature., but probably have her core and lower body physique.

There is also a great deal of stigma telling people one is a bodybuilder, with connotations of narcissism.

Thoughts?

Gym folk are among the nicest people in the world because they are hardworking and at one point or another they would have been picked on. Thats a generalisation but its generally true.

40 years ago, I'd agree many were very nice, but they hadn't been picked on. Gyms were very friendly places.


In this era, there are many on steroids, and others, who are quite unsociable. They don't want any contact with anyone else in the gym.