Who says bent-over rows are less effective than lat pulldowns? The angle of pull is certainly different, but you're still building the muscles in your middle and upper back.
Thanks so much for the response, Lou! I didn't expect it on Super Bowl Sunday!
It's good to know I'm not missing out on anything by working out at home. I'll probably start going to a gym after work, once I outgrow my weights at home. But it's so convenient to do it at home, especially in the winter.
Lou--I have been rereading the book and I have to tell you it is the absolute best. I have already read it once and have been following the workouts for a month. You are such a great, entertaining writer. I love your style and your tidbits of information regarding exercise in your own life.
I especially like the last few sentences of your book, "Nobody can choose to be perfect, but all of us can choose to be better. So what's your choice?"
While I have been following the program for a month with little weight loss/inches lost, I know I am in better condition than I was a month ago. I can only get better if I continue on.
I will be traveling for a month right in the middle of my fitness program with no equipment regularly available. When I finaly get to a place where I can formally pick up again, should I start where I left off? Or maybe a two weeks before where I left off?
I don't have access to a chin up bar and I can't regularly get to the gym. What excercise should I do in place of the chin up?
You have about 5 months before you get to the chin-ups in this program. You could always install a chin-up bar at your home or maybe you will be getting to gym more regularly at that time.
Pull-overs
get a band, attach it to something against the wall or ceiling and do "pull-downs" using that.
Actually, Alwyn has us doing negative chin-ups in the later stage, and he has some pretty definite instructions on what we are to do. So, does that make a difference in what you just suggested?
I will be traveling for a month right in the middle of my fitness program with no equipment regularly available. When I finaly get to a place where I can formally pick up again, should I start where I left off? Or maybe a two weeks before where I left off?
If you do nothing for a month you'll prolly have a tough time just waltzing back in and doing your next workout as previously planned.
Be sure to try and get in some sort of work here and there, bodyweight is fine, and then either pick up a week or so back, or just continue on knowing you'll need to go a bit lighter on your first couple workouts. It's not gonna take forever to get back to it, just that it's usually not immediate for many.
I'm having trouble understanding and visualizing this exercise. Is there a demonstration of the exercise somewhere?
Which one? I'll assume band pull-downs.
I'd have to video a demo of what I'm visualizing, because I'm throwing out an idea that I've not ever done, but one must be inventive to overcome the lack of certain equipment.
I put my bar in the top most position of my rack for pull-ups/chin-ups. I use the blue band folded over twice to make a "rope" and loop that over the bar for neutral grip pull-ups at home.
I'm kind of limited on space, so rather than do dips, I'll probably do decline bench presses.
I am going to assume this is an error in publishing/editing but Stage 2, Workout B is the only one of all the workouts in the book that is listed as NOT alternating sets.
It just looks like they've left out or had covered the text saying "alternating sets" as that's how it's set up to work by the letters. Plus, it should be the same exercises/order as stage 4, just with different set/rep scheme.
Is there a substitute for the front squat/push press? I workout at home and I use a system that has the barbell attached to jet cables and pushing all the way up doesn't really work that well.
I've got two questions. I've got arthritis (though it's being handled fairly well with some good meds), so is there anything I should be more careful of or avoid? I'm very careful with knee stuff and making sure I've got the proper form for knee moves.
I'd also like to reiterate the question about having large amounts of weight to lose. I still need to lose 50-80 lbs. Should I just do the workout and diet as prescribed and work harder and longer, or is there something else I should do as well?
Thanks! The book is terrific! I'm going to start rereading it again this weekend.
Why would you need to work harder? Longer, prolly, simply because it'll take more than 6 months to lose the weight. So just do it till it's done, and evaluate if you want to go another time or switch to a different routine. Losing fat is about eating correctly while working out. The actual specifics of the workout aren't usually the determining factors. The diet is.
Donno about arthritis. You can search the forums and see if someone has asked or you may need to start a new thread if noone comes in here to answer you. However, I'd guess that it'll mostly be an individual thing and you'd be the best gauge of what you can and can't do. Try something and see.
Thanks Aoife! I was thinking that it was probably that (just taking longer to get to my goal), but that's ok with me. I'm in this for life and not just to get to swimsuit season, if you know what I mean.
I feel pretty good about my form (I worked out with a trainer for 3 months, so he watched my form pretty closely then), so I'll just keep working and keep being safe in mind.
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