Use the Force - a discussion about excercise

While reading one of the other threads on the boards, it occured to me that a couple people here are currently involved in some form of excercise program. And I was looking to compare notes with about "Jedi training" as it were.

I've been going to Bally's for the last couple years. And after reading about some of the various fitness programs, and other schools of thought, I came up with a some things that seem to work for myself. Alot of this stuff came out of the book: Body for Life (with some of my own adjustments)

Upper Body
Hammer-Curls
Seated Dumbell Press
Dumbbell Flyes
Wide-Grip Pulldowns (with 1 set Reverse Grip)
Close-Grip Pushdowns or Dumbell Extensions
3-4 sets of "ball raise lifts" (see below)
20 Cardio (Crosstrainer/Tredmill/Bike)

Lower Body (alternating days)
Leg Press w/ 1 set Leg Extensions
Standing Calf Raises
Dumbbell Lunges of Lying Leg Curls
3-4 sets of "ball raise lifts"
20 minutes of cardio

Now, in case you were wondering, a great (and simple) workout for abs is what I call "ball raise lift"...this one needs a little description (so bear with me). Lying on your back, you place a ball (typically one of the "resist-a-balls" you see in stores, but even a soccer ball wil do the trick) between your ankles. Using your ankles to grab hold of the ball, you raise your legs straight up (or as high as possible) I tend to go straight up (sometimes slightly beyond). Hold the ball there for 1 second...and slowly bring it down; without touching the floor. Do that for sets of 5...then try to build up to sets of 10.

Believe me...you're going to feel it in your abdominal area the first couple times. But with some time, it gets easier...and if your doing it right, it stretches your back.

For both sets of excercise, I've found that a simple philosophy regarding weight and reps has been both effective, and avoids injury through "#### waving contests" of ego.

Control, control, you must learn control
As far as selecting a weight, I look for something that pushes my endurance, without breaking my concentration and more importantly technique. For pretty much everything, I do 3 sets of 10 reps...upper body using 25-30lbs on dumbbells (machines weight depending on "how I'm doing" that day). Lower body is almost 100% on the machines at the gym (although you can do them with dumbbells)

Well that's my take on things, if you've used something that works for ya, I'm curious what.

You refer to the discussion that will bring exercise to the FanForce... you believe it's

this thread?

Oh, everyone who is going to be exercising, you will be losing a lot of water through sweat and your breath. Drink LOTS of water. You can never get enough. Staying hydrated is important for safe lifting.

Water is good during the workout, but (natural) fruit juices better after. If you're still exercising and slam fruit juice during, the sugar can make you sick, but if you take in good natural fructose afterwards your body will properly use that sugar the replenish during recovery.

If you need energy during, well, try and choke down the nastiness of a PowerBar. Or indulge yourself in a not so sweet granola bar. They have protein as well as sugar that can keep you from bonking.

-b-

I've been drinking mainly water (sometimes Gatorade) during workouts; and apple or orange juice afterwards. I know it sounds cleche, but I've found that Gatorade seems to work great (before or after) ever since my hockey days.

As for energy bars, Gatorade makes a really good one, and there are a number of other companies that I like (can't remember their names, Amy uses them as well) I tend to look more for the level of protein (and less carbs) when choosing one of those.

How often do you guys work out? In my post, I mentioned that I do upper and lower body on alternating days. When I was on a consistant schedule, I was going 4-6 days a week (for about an hour)...but sometimes, that's been limited to 2 days a week (once per workout)...sometimes less

Can gals post here? I strained my back in 1998 while ice skating and had to have physical therapy. My back is better now but this place also has exercise equipment, free weights, and other stuff so I've been going there off and on since then--not enough on for my liking though. When I'm being "good," I go about three times a week for an hour each. My biggest problems are staying motivated and not getting bored! I listen to music, check out the guys (might as well admit it), etc. but sometimes it's just hard to stay motivated. I guess I still miss ice skating because I used to get that natural high while skating. Any suggestions for staying motivated?

I agree Geoff... Gatorade is also a good beverage to drink while working out. But I would still drink plenty of water as well. Gatorade replenishes electrolytes, which get used up when your muscles expand and contract during exercise, so in that respect Gatorade is good. But as B was saying, it has sugar in it, which may or may not be too pleasing. But if I'm drinking Gatorade, I'll generally use it as a supplement to a fair share of water. As for how frequently I work out, and how long: when I was in high school, I did it EVERY Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I'd still like to do that, but my schedule doesn't allow me to, so right now I'm doing Wednesdays and Fridays, for 2 hours generally. This is an important philosophy of working out: rest. I advise doing a full-body workout when you do work out, for 3 times a week. When you work out, your essentially tearing your muscles. They need to heal. It is the healing of them that makes you bigger, or "ripped." So it is important to allow yourself rest so that they can heal properly and make you bigger/stronger. So if you do a full-body work out Monday, then you don't have to exercise one area Monday, then another on Tuesday. You can just do Monday, then rest up til Wednesday. It will allow you the rest you need.

Skye, as for motivation... if checking out cute guys is what you do when working out, run with that and make that your motivation. I honestly use checking out hot girls at JCU's fitness center as motivation. Another thing to do, and you can all laugh (and say that I'm strange, and take roleplaying too far), but I was on a treadmill one day, and I just did not want to stay on it a full 45 minutes (which is recommended for burning fat), so I pretended that I was commanding a bunch of clonetroopers during the Clone Wars. I pretended that this was the defining battle of the Clone Wars. We landed on one side of the planet so as to avoid an enemy assault, and had to run to the other side of the planet in order to destroy the enemy base. We had a limited amount of time to cover the distance (in this case 40 minutes, I did a cool down the other 5), so I HAD to keep a certain pace or else I wouldn't reach my target, and the Republic would be screwed. You can all say it's strange, but it kept me motivated to stay on the treadmill and do it.

You can all say it's strange..."it's strange" You asked!

This raised another question I had regarding "motivation" for workouts: How many of you listen to music while working out, and what do you listen to? I tend to call mine "The John Williams Workout" because I listen to SW, Indiana Jones, and other soundtracks while at the gym.

EDIT: For a 20 minute cardio workout (bike/tredmill) play the TPM SE soundtrack (at the begining of the Naboo battle) when you start, and you should be finishing right around the celebration scene...with the Gungan drum-line march (what a way to end your workout

At JCU I can't really control the radio, but when I do aerobics, I generally put on MTV. (The radio is in the weight room part of the fitness center, the TVs are in the aerobic machine part of it)

When I work out at home, however, I will generally listen to Nine Inch Nails, Eminem, and D-12. Also, generally anything that is "hard" music, whether that be rock or rap. Anything that sets me off to get me amped to lift the weight. I love John Williams, but he probably wouldn't be my music of choice for a lifting session. Just not aggressive enough to get me in the right mental state to lift.

Random, You wrote: "Anything that sets me off to get me amped." I think, Geoff, that's the key to finding good work-out music. It has to be music that makes you personally want to get moving or that stirs or inspires you personally. For me, it's dance music. I love my SW and LOTR soundtracks and my jazz but they wouldn't pump me up enough so that I would keep moving. And, Random, I don't think you're strange because sometimes when I'm exercising I think something like: "This would be a piece of cake for Luminara so you better keep moving!"

I work out at Balieys(spelling?) too.

That's alright, Amy doesn't understand why I listen to John Williams at the gym. I used to listen to stuff like Metallica and Aerosmith; Amy is more into everyone else's style music (Wednesday it was the Daredevil soundtrack). I found that my workouts seem to go better when I'm...calm, at peace, passive... and JW seems to do the trick for me. It's kinda like bench-pressing with Yoda standing next to you saying:

"Size matters not, look at me...judge me by my size do you?" Who's gonna quit trying on that?

Believe me, my old hockey coaches would be going crazy if they found me in the gym; (I hated it in high school) because I couldn't get into the "jock" mentality. I've never been very good at the whole "pumped up" mentlity, but going in with a clear mind, seems to help my focus on what I'm doing.

On of the things I like doing at Bally's is after 30 mins workout...with 20 minutes cardio, I go into the swimming pool area and spend some time in the steam room. I'll stay in there, sometimes meditate...sometimes do some simple streatches (or lightsaber-esque moves) until I feel tired...cool off, get some water and go for 5 -10 more minutes (DON'T try that right off the start!!)

There's a difference between a "steam room" and "sauna." In a sauna, I used to get nosebleeds (dry air)...so I avoid that. But a steam room is a great way to sweat off some extra pounds (and helps my skin look better)

Silly Krash... the only pounds you sweat off in the steam room is water. Just know that the pounds you sweat out are replaced with whatever fluid you drink when you're finished.

BTW Krash, when Larry hits the sauna/steam room/whichever... he drops about 150 sit-ups/variations while getting steamed. I've never seen so many people look at a guy so wierd.

-b-

Like I said, it started off as a way to relax for a "moment of clearity" after a good workout. It's kinda grown into an excercise of it's own: working arms/shoulders doing some basic "lightsaber-esque" Tae-Bo style routines. I've tried sit-ups, but the seats in there are too narrow, and I feel like I'm hanging off the edge of a bed.

Plus, even during hockey...I used to sweat off a couple lbs (per game/practice), and still made sure to take in the regular amount of fluids. Apparently, I've got plenty to go around.

See for me excercise never can be calm and peace full because right now I trying not to get kill with vollyballs!!!


And they can that leisure sports!

It's leisure when you're the one doing the aiming! Just get some hops and a good setter and shove it right back down their throat...

-b-

Don't worry my young padawan, I told you that I'd show you somethings to get you started; but more importantly, I've recruited your other "master/padawan" mentor...AMY! When it comes to excercise, she's done alot more study of the subject then I have.

Yoga...Kickboxing...Weight-training...she's been learning alot of different things (I'm trying to learn from her as well) that she's going to show you some of the basics.

So get ready for some serious jedi-training...cause Aeryn Sun is on the job

EDIT: For those of you who don't know who Aeryn Sun is...watch "Farscape" and if you know Amy...you'll understand.

I like playing volleyball...granted my skills could use some work; and the fact that I'm lacking in the ability to get some hops.

Good news is, my hockey background has saved what little game I have...I'm good at "deflections" and dropping little tips into the gaps in the other team.

Speaking of "trying not to get killed" I tried some new excercises (that Amy does) at the gym...my arms are still hurting (but in a good way) from doing 2 different sets for: curls, bi-ceps, shoulders, and dips!!! This girl's fitness goals are what you see on people like Jennifer Garner (and when she's "on program"...she can do it)

Oh, and last night...I listened to the Daredevil soundtrack (it's good...we'll see if it's in the movie) but I still like working to John Williams' soundtracks.

Usually to be able to do the things Amy showed me I would have to remember them!


Plus I can tell why the Daredevil soundtrack would be perfect work out music.