How’s my little body?

For some time now I have maintained a fairly  steady routine of exercise, alternating between a set of exercises focusing on the core and another using weights (though both sets are a mixture). Generally, I try not to let more than a day intervene between workouts but recently I’ve seen a pattern of 2 days exercise then 2 off.

I definitely see growing strength. Around the beginning of September I added in rope exercises. The idea was to climb a rope and I figured it would take me a year of yanking and hauling to actually climb it like I couldn’t do in junior high gym class. It turns out that is not smart. Such tugging and yanking can damage joints, ligaments, etc. They (ubiquitous folk) offer what they call progressive exercises designed to prepare your body for climbing. The climbing I am speaking of is without legs, just a powerful hauling of yourself up a rope like the sailors in wooden ships. (Think Jack Aubrey flashing up shrouds and rat lines on the Surprise).

My question to readers with some knowledge of strength training is simple: How am I doing?

I am 79 years old, a bit under 5’7″ and weight 156 pounds before breakfast. My weight does not vary much although I have dropped from 160 to 156 in the last six months.

My work out for weights is as follows:

anyhows or one-arm dumb bell snatch= 20x @ 20# per side

one-legged or Bulgarian/Rumanian squats = 50″ per side

pull-ups 3 2 2 2 1

dumb bell curls 12 @ 30# x 2 sets

French curls 12 @ 35# x 2 sets

roll-ups 15# x 1 set

dips = 20 (not full dips b/c I have no rack. In the gym I was doing 10 x 2 sets full range

rope work = a variety of rope work e.g. pull-up from bridge position, hanging leg raises, pull-up from seated position legs out straight, hold with legs out-stretched, hold kicking legs out alternately.

For the CORE:

45 push-ups

1’20” plank on swiss ball

40″ side plank each side

prone cobra 40″

Russian twist 12 times @ 10#

twist without twisting torso 12 times @ 10#

V-up 12

jackknife on swiss ball 12 times

rope again as above

So anyone who can figure the energy expenditure, the effectiveness for building muscle, or anything else would be welcome to send that in to this blog. Anyone who could do that wants me to enroll them as my trainer at considerable cost and already I’m spending 4 t0 5 hours a week on exercising and I have other things to do and other things to spend my money on. When the gym opens again that will help and I will do yoga as well. I was doing yoga for a while but dropped off when my son left – he was my instructor.

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