My NROL Experience

[Lost Dog]

YOU should go to the Summit, Tom.

Hey, Stingo. Are you going to the Summit? You know, to celebrate?

[Kirjava]

Sounds like a nice relaxing workout. Congratulations on finishing the 300!

(Can one really say spinning class is relaxing? I guess when you say "open road ride" it evokes all sorts of pretty pictures.)

You should get a road bike! (if you don't have one already). That would be fun for the summer.

[stingo]

Originally Posted by Lost Dog

YOU should go to the Summit, Tom.

Hey, Stingo. Are you going to the Summit? You know, to celebrate?

Not sure - A different internet group I belong to (that is a lot more local) has a "summit" that same weekend.

Originally Posted by Kirjava

Sounds like a nice relaxing workout. Congratulations on finishing the 300!

(Can one really say spinning class is relaxing? I guess when you say "open road ride" it evokes all sorts of pretty pictures.)

You should get a road bike! (if you don't have one already). That would be fun for the summer.

Relaxing? Not hardly - instead of using resistance to get your heart rate up you use cadence. Although he used one of my favorites on the one hill we did too (and ran up it at the end). I'm not sure if I can go longer energy-wise, but my legs don't protest like they used to.

[dillytl]

Originally Posted by stingo

Relaxing? Not hardly - instead of using resistance to get your heart rate up you use cadence. Although he used one of my favorites on the one hill we did too (and ran up it at the end). I'm not sure if I can go longer energy-wise, but my legs don't protest like they used to.

That's progress!!!

[stingo]

Weights listed are total weight lifted, not per hand.

A1 Squat 1x8@95, 2x8@115
A2 T-Bar Row, 1x8@10, 2x8@20

B Stairs 1x5 flights

C1 Lat Pulldown 3x15
C2 Seated Chest Press 3x10

D Stairs 1x5 flights@18

E T plank 2x10 each side

F Walking Lunges w/Medicine Ball Rotation 3x10 each side@6

G Stairs 1x5 flights@18

H Treadmill 10 mins cooldown

A1 Squats - Got to use the squat rack for regular old back squats today. It was cool. I think I could've hit 135 though to use the 45lb plates.

A2 T-Bar Row - As best as I can describe it, I lied on an incline bench (45 degrees) which had a bar below it. The bar could hold olympic plates at the end (the end just under my head), and I rowed it as far up as I could. It really isolates the back muscles I thought, as I really couldn't move any other part of my body.

B Stairs - Tried and true, 2 at a time. But wait, there's more (see below).

C1 Lat Pulldown - Used a machine for this - Tim said he's trying to give me exercises that won't let the muscle regress, but at the same time won't antagonize it either. Hence, I'm guessing, the appearance of machines in my workouts of late.

C2 Chest Press - Same idea as C1 - this is the movement that would really set my shoulder off, so it's just as well to get some kind of movement on it.

D Stairs - It's no wonder this is exercise D, because D stands for Demonic, as it's purely evil. In this iteration, Tim had me hold weighted balls (one 10lb, one 8lb) so that I would not be able to hold onto the handrailing. I think the balancing was what made it so hard, rather than the extra weight. Still, I was sucking wind by the time I finished.

E T plank - If my shoulder was better, I'm sure this would've included pushups, but as it was I just did the T's.

F Walking Lunges w/Medicine Ball Rotation - I'm glad to see my right quad has healed up enough to be able to do lunges again. The difficult part was that Tim had me doing the rotations to the opposite side of the working leg (whereas NROL had the rotation toward the side of the working leg). Still, did enough of them to really feel them at the end.

G Stairs - This exercise is brought to you by the letter G as in "God damn, this is hard!" Again, not being able to hold on to the rails for balance makes a difference as does the extra weight.

H Treadmill - Used for a cooldown/stretch of the legs after F and G.

Overall - A good workout. I wish my shoulder would heal already so I can do a normal workout again. To help make this happen, I'm officially on rest week from lifting until I see Tim this coming Wednesday. That will be my last appointment in this package and I'll have to decide as to what to do next.

[tcoy777]

This man sounds down right evil! Killer workout and a very impressive job well done.

[Lost Dog]

You're seeing another forum? I feel so used.

[stingo]

Originally Posted by tcoy777

This man sounds down right evil! Killer workout and a very impressive job well done.

Thanks for that. Looking forward to my rest week for sure.

Originally Posted by Lost Dog

You're seeing another forum? I feel so used.

Actually this is the 2nd fitness forum I joined, and while I log workouts on the first, most of my posting takes place here. The forum that is having the gathering is a beer-related forum - one that I joined before my transition into a healthier lifestyle.

[tcoy777]

Enjoy the week off. Have a nice pint of beer to celebrate. I plan on doing just that on Saturday along with some incredible Indian food!

[Espi]

Tom.. can I be your fly in the ointment and ask you a question?

What do you want more?

1 fitness
2 being slimmer?

As you have been doing a TON of strenuous exercise, but I don't hear much about you losing wt/fat.
After years of spinning my wheels because I'd not be able to eat less calories.. I came to the horrible conclusion

losing fat =
1 DIET DIET DIET DIET
2 just enough HEAVY lifting to retain muscle
3 just enough extra cardio or metabolic work to burn more calories

Too much of 3 and I"m SPENT and not able to function properly.. unless I overeat. Hence why I mentioned spinning my wheels.
So, I really have really cut way back on doing tons of work in the gym and let my diet do the work for me.
I'm feeling more alive at home and get more work done.

Once in a while I disobey my own rules and tend to overdo it in the gym.. within 2 weeks I end up overeating or feeling like a zombie and get reminded why simply eating less , and doing FAR less in the gym but try to be more active with relatively easy activities (simple walking/cycling, even just going up & down the stairs for futile things)

No, it's not sexy. But it's what WORKS.

if you're already where you want to be .. please do continue doing what you do.

Just trying to offer a different perspective.

[nutbar]

Originally Posted by stingo

Overall - A good workout. I wish my shoulder would heal already so I can do a normal workout again. To help make this happen, I'm officially on rest week from lifting until I see Tim this coming Wednesday. That will be my last appointment in this package and I'll have to decide as to what to do next.

Happy rest week! Got an inkling yet of what you'll do post-Tim?

[stingo]

Originally Posted by tcoy777

Enjoy the week off. Have a nice pint of beer to celebrate. I plan on doing just that on Saturday along with some incredible Indian food!

Thanks - actually now that you mention it, I'm going to Philadelphia to hear a concert tomorrow (and there's a good Indian restaurant near Verizon Hall)... The orchestra is playing the music used in the film 2001:A Space Odyssey. The program is:

Ligeti: Atmospheres
Brahms: Violin Concerto
Richard Strauss: Also Sprach Zarathustra
Johann Strauss, Jr.: Blue Danube Waltz

Originally Posted by nutbar

Happy rest week! Got an inkling yet of what you'll do post-Tim?

Thanks - I'm looking into something to do with kettlebells.

[stingo]

Originally Posted by Espi

Tom.. can I be your fly in the ointment and ask you a question?

What do you want more?

1 fitness
2 being slimmer?

As you have been doing a TON of strenuous exercise, but I don't hear much about you losing wt/fat.
After years of spinning my wheels because I'd not be able to eat less calories.. I came to the horrible conclusion

losing fat =
1 DIET DIET DIET DIET
2 just enough HEAVY lifting to retain muscle
3 just enough extra cardio or metabolic work to burn more calories

Too much of 3 and I"m SPENT and not able to function properly.. unless I overeat. Hence why I mentioned spinning my wheels.
So, I really have really cut way back on doing tons of work in the gym and let my diet do the work for me.
I'm feeling more alive at home and get more work done.

Once in a while I disobey my own rules and tend to overdo it in the gym.. within 2 weeks I end up overeating or feeling like a zombie and get reminded why simply eating less , and doing FAR less in the gym but try to be more active with relatively easy activities (simple walking/cycling, even just going up & down the stairs for futile things)

No, it's not sexy. But it's what WORKS.

if you're already where you want to be .. please do continue doing what you do.

Just trying to offer a different perspective.

Well, to answer your question, I want both - fitness and to lose weight. However you are correct in that I've not been losing weight at all - haven't for a long time even. I've since been experimenting with adding calories to my diet to hopefully rev my metabolism but so far it's not been working. (But then again I've only done it just under a week.) As it is, I do strength training 3x a week, and spinning class 2x a week for my workout schedule, so I'm not sure what I should I cut (if I understand your suggestions correctly).

[Espi]

Cut back on the intensity of your workouts (those have been insane) and you'll be able to cut back again on calories.
Yes, metabolic workouts DO burn a lot of calories, but it will rev up your appetite way more than it revs up metabolism.
Hence my question. What do you want more? Fitness or lower BW?
You have proven to have achieved excellent fitness levels. Why not put your nose to the 'grindstone' for a bit and cut back on the intensity for a bit and just lift heavy stuff in a seemingly boring way with a 5x5 or with a double wave (5-4-3-5-4-3) w/o fancy supersets?

It's not that I don't like doing interesting stuff, but especially complexes completely wear me out. Not just that it's tiresome physically, but it is draining. One of the antidotes is eating up. And generally like I said, one tends to eat more than is needed. So, the net effect is that these interesting workouts don't bring fat loss. Diet brings fat loss. Not being too exhausted makes it easier to stick to a diet.

You still have a spinning class to go all out. And can perhaps keep a metabolic workout for once every 2 weeks so you won't miss it too much?

[tcoy777]

Originally Posted by stingo

Thanks - actually now that you mention it, I'm going to Philadelphia to hear a concert tomorrow (and there's a good Indian restaurant near Verizon Hall)... The orchestra is playing the music used in the film 2001:A Space Odyssey. The program is:

Ligeti: Atmospheres
Brahms: Violin Concerto
Richard Strauss: Also Sprach Zarathustra
Johann Strauss, Jr.: Blue Danube Waltz


This sounds like a great program. Just started reading my first Rachmaniov book. I will post in your classical music section when I am done, but so far VERY interesting.




Thanks - I'm looking into something to do with kettlebells.

This sounds like a great program. Just started reading my first Rachmaniov book. I will post in your classical music section when I am done, but so far VERY interesting.
OH NO do I smell Crossfit????