late

Starting a thread on exercises I like. There will be no particular order, don't kill yourself. Gonna start with what I call Swoopies. You want to do this in socks on wood or lineoleum. You don't need a bar to go under, that is just plain silly. I think the guy wants to make an exercise that has it's roots in yoga to look more like it belongs in a gym. Anyway, here it is; start at 3 minutes 20 seconds:


That is a great exercise.

late

There is this guy, Ryan Hummiston. He does bodybuilding videos. He will do a warmup set, and then 3 sets of 20 reps. Yup, brutal.

My take is simple, it all works. If you want to get organized you can get a trainer to put together a schedule for you that alternates between heavy and light/high reps. When I say high reps, I mean 10-15. Your nervous system has a limited amount of energy, you don't want to burn yourself out with just a few exercises. If you're a pro on steroids, that's different. If you're just an old fart like me, that's real different.

I started doing partial Swoopies. Then I could go lower, and do a couple more, but we're still talking under 5 reps. Now I can get low enough, and keep reasonably good form for 4 or 5 times. I am really pleased with my progress, as I do it, my feet slowly slide further apart, and that adds another dimension to the exercise. Eventually I'd like to do it ten times. No rush.

Btw, when I do it I put my hands together, it helps.

The extra reps help get you ready to jump to the next level, and it depends. Sometimes once is enough, sometimes you can get stuck for a while..

Here's another vid I like:

canklecat

I watch and appreciate Jeff's videos for exercise and PT, but keep in mind they're for much younger folks. And he tends to ramble on a bit. Few videos of this type need to be longer than 3-5 minutes. Most of his go on for 15-30 minutes so I skip through them or don't finish watching.

I prefer the Bowflex channel for exercises and physical therapy drills that require no special equipment. Bowflex doesn't push their equipment or subscription programs through these succinct 3-5 minute videos.

Carbonfiberboy 

For all-round training, my fave is hiking in the mountains on rocky trails, using poles for upper body work. I wear trail runners which encourage ankle flexibility. When I was young, I loved trail running, but it's no fun anymore - I'm too slow.

Those swoopies get aerobic if you 20 or so of them. It is a good hip flexor workout. I should do more of them.

I like full depth barbell squats for my legs. If no gym, one-legged knee bends on a chair, two fingers on a wall, are a decent substitute, say 3 sets of 20, alternating legs. For my calves. if I can do 1 set of 30 of full range of motion one-legged calf raises on a stair, I'll never get a calf cramp. I work up to that doing 3 sets of fewer reps, but the one set is quicker and sufficient once I can get 30. Bent leg calf raises don't work all your calf muscles. Straight leg are better. The bending back until flat is a good trick. I'm not flexible enough to get all the way down and it's still quite difficult. I used my couch, perfect. A good inclusion for my morning stretches.

late

I loved hiking and backpacking. Eventually my feet and knees had had enough, but boy, do I ever miss it.

Trakhak

Three or four (or five) hours of riding the many hills of northern Baltimore County with my track bike and a 71-inch gear gives me what feels like enough of a whole-body workout.

Carbonfiberboy 

Prehab and rehab, well put, and exactly what my wife and I have been doing every since I met her, almost 50 years ago. Start early, and as it is said, "never quit."

Well, that's the trick of this forever-fit thing, isn't it? What have we done which might most influence our apparent resilience?

Gym member since '79. My wife and I have been pretty good about going for an hour twice a week except during the height of Covid. We're back at it now. For the past few years, we've done 3 sets of 9 exercises or lifts to exhaustion each of the 2 days and the two days don't duplicate any exercises. Our choices are designed like you say, as "prehab and rehab." I'm still rehabbing from a fall I took on our last 10-day. It's going very well. We follow a schedule of 4 gym programs in a periodized fashion from October to August.

We backpack and bike some in August, do our annual 10day backpack in September and take the rest of September mostly off. Then we start training for next July about the 1st of October.

We leave 1-2 days/week with no physical activity scheduled and we take a few 5-6 day minivacations during which we do non-sport, non-training activities.

I take supplements. Everyone has to find what works for them. Thing is, at the age of many of us here, it's too late. Once things go blewy, there's a decent chance it's too late. For instance, my wife and I have been taking glucoasamine sulfate and MSM for maybe 40 years. As someone remarked in a different thread, our max design age is about 55. Everything that happens or has happened after that age is not significant evolutionarily. It should not be a surprise that our bodies' chemical factories start breaking down after that age and that the same nutrients which were perfect at age 40 aren't perfect anymore.

I don't just ride my bike. I never just skied., I never just climbed. I train with specific goals and always have. I started running a mile after school at 12. I had a huge foot-only paper route. Once I started running, I never got tired on my route.

I lucked into a career which kept me on my feet doing skilled manual work all day until I was about 55, when I started having to do more management and desk work. Even then, I was on my rollers in the shop at 5:15 and did another 30' before breakfast. It's just who I am. I like that, a lot.

Moderation: We've never raced or done any really extreme activity, other than the usual doubles, brevets, and that sort of thing. We've never tried to be the best at anything. Good enough to have fun has been good enough, though sometimes "good enough" has also been painful.

We have tried doing less, putting less mental and physical effort into training and sporting activities and taking more time off. We did not like the result and went back at it. Not only that but we had to make up for fitness lost. It's just punishment for bad behavior. We learned. That's our personal decision and obviously, not everyone's.

And it should go without saying, but "So far, so good." No one knows the future. It's been good so far.

late

If your shoulders get sore, here's something worth trying:

Carbonfiberboy 

Good points about shoulder exercises. I do go to the gym. Once a week, I do similar shoulder work to that video, but using dumbbells, sets of 12, all sets same weight: 1 set full range of motion side raises, 1 set single arm front raises, 1 set of bent-over rear raises, rest 1 minute, repeat the super-set, then once more, so 3 sets total of each. Works. Of course I do a lot of other upper body stuff, too.

Shoulder pain is quite commonly caused by a very simple thing: in our distant past, we were an arboreal species! Here are a couple of links about what's going on:
https://www.pennmedicine.org/for-pat.../shoulder-pain
https://www.cedars-sinai.org/health-...-shoulder.html

Impingement syndrome is really common and I think is what's being described in that first link also.

When we were kids, a very popular activity was monkey bars. Kids just love doing that. It's in our heritage. The problem is that as adults, we don't do that. As a result, over the years, our shoulders droop down and the acromion bone in our shoulders gradually remodels and pinches the nerves, tendons, and blood vessels which go through the small passage below it, as described in these links. The solution is simply to put up one of those cheapo chin-up bars in a doorway and instead of doing chin ups, just hang from them with straight arms for a couple (or more) one-minute intervals every day. Very quick. In maybe a month, pain all gone.

I went to the doctor, went to a PT sports rehab specialist, worked out as instructed in the gym, nothing worked. Hanging by my hands worked for me. No more pain. It's also a good thing to strengthen one's hands. Wielding knife and fork isn't really enough exercise to keep your hands strong.

OTOH, if one's shoulders get super painful in bed at night, and your back and hips are really stiff and sore in the morning, and then that all goes away or mostly does as you warm up, could be polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR). Had that, too. That's not a self-help thing - gotta see a doctor, get blood test, diagnosis, treatment, etc.

As we get older, stuff's going to go wrong, so we need to find ways to get that stuff fixed.

afm199

Well, riding is a big part of my regime. I'm 75

On weight days I do dumbbell curls. Light stuff, 20-25 pounds. I used to do a lot more, but that just gives me bursitis now.
I do six shoulder exercises with light dumb bells, to increase range of motion and strength.
Bench press starting 2/3 of my body weight and working up to 90% of it. My goal is to exceed my body weight.
Chinups, hope to get to ten, but kinda stuck at five. Apparently for us 75 year olds, that's supposed to be advanced. Used to do 25.
Pushups, 15-20 per set.
A whole set of knee exercises.
Sitting squats with a 25 pound weight, won't do full squats anymore, too hard on the knees.
Large numbers of crunches holding a 25 pound weight to my chest, and side crunches ditto.

late

This is the first thing I do on arm day. I do it slightly differently from the video. When the arms are angled, I make the motion gently curved. When his arms are angled, he points one arm straight up, I point at a 45 degree angle for both. Then the motion for both is a gentle curve. I said that to clearly explain my intent. The upper arm is a little less than 45, and the lower arm is a little higher than 45. Try it, see what works for you. Kick your feet back for more resistance.



I then start in on a bunch of internal rotation exercises, and some other therapy related exercises. I use these bands:
https://www.amazon.com/Fit-Simplify-...NsaWNrPXRydWU=

I use them for the one where you hold your arms close to your sides, and rotate the upper arm outwards to the side.

You only need to watch 20 seconds of this video, the important bit is to rest your elbow on your knee.

This is strictly optional, but I use an Ab Wheel, so far just on the wall. You want to use both an underhand grip, and a regular grip with as many fingers off the edge as you can manage. Keep your elbows as close to each other as you can. If you don't have an abwheel, it's not a big deal. If your wife goes to yard sales, have her pick one up for you.

With a lot of these exercises form is important, I have to focus on using my shoulders or my arms will jump in.

This one is mine, but not by much. Hold light weights by your side, bend forward a few inches, as you raise the weight rotate your palms so that the palm is facing your ear, and the thumbs are pointing backwards. You can keep adding weight to this one, it's a regular type of exercise.

Last one today is the face pull. Which I got wrong for years, there is internal rotation, a little, and again thumbs end up pointing backwards. That's what I am about to do next.

Carbonfiberboy 

Thanks so much for this thread, late. I'm working on coming back as a rider after a couple of bad years, part from Covid and no gym and part from the saddle-sore-from-hell. My wife and I are going to lead our first group ride in many months on our tandem on Sunday.

I'll have to try that shoulder rotation workout when I go to the gym next week. I tried those workouts when I had impingement and they didn't help, but that doesn't mean they're not helpful in other ways.

I tried his level Zero (starting from scratch) knee workout series today for the first time. I sucked, even though I've been doing ATG squats with good form at the gym for years - though with little progress. Maybe his quick workout will help, we'll see. The reason I even messed with it though, is that yesterday I had a sharp pain in my left knee on a downhill run. I walked for a couple minutes and started running again and it worked itself out, no more pain. But something's wrong. Wasn't an arthritic of meniscus type of pain, more like all the tendons connecting to my kneecap got real unhappy, real fast. My guess is that his knee workout will fix this. I'll see. My tib raises were sort of OK, the split squats, not so much. I'll try the backwards walk on a treadmill at the gym.

late

You are welcome. Someone brought up hanging. I tried it, I wonder if it might help with impingement. I don't actually hang, I use a big band that has 30-40 pounds of resistance, and let that pull my shoulders up for a while.

You can walk against bands at home, and get more resistance than you would at the gym.

Carbonfiberboy 

I brought it up in post 2. I had impingement, did all the YT dumbbell work, same sort of stuff as the kotg shows, for weeks, did nothing, nada. Why? Because impingement has nothing to do with muscles. Finally, a poster here recommended this book: https://www.amazon.com/Shoulder-Solu.../dp/1589096428
I got the Kindle version and started hanging by my hands before every gym workout. Fixed me up in just a few weeks and it never came back, probably because I still hang by my hands from time to time. I do 2 X 1' X 1'. One has to hang with one's full weight to get the effect. My wife does 2 X 30" X 1' but OTOH, she doesn't have impingement. Just do what it says n the book. The author says you can get hooks go over the bars so you don't have to have strong forearms, but I like strong forearms, so I just put up with the pain the first couple weeks. Now it doesn't hurt at all.

I don't think bands would do the same thing at all like the ROKP the guy describes. One could walk backward up stairs, though I think one's knees would have to be pretty good already to do that.

gthomson

Just watching those shoulder exercise videos and I can hear my rotator cuff creaking and screaming from the tendonitis and bursitis I have, along with the torn muscle. Did a lot of bench press in the last decade and probably didn't have good form so that leaves me in the shape I'm in now.

That being said, I went to the gym almost every day for 15 years until COVID hit and haven't been back since so I gotta find a routine to do at home. I started doing a 30 minute upper body/core routine for a bit but stopped and just stuck to cycling at least 5 days/week figuring that was the best solution but now my back and neck are sore because I've lost the muscle I had to support them.

Will get back at it but need to find the motivation. Hopefully this helps.

Carbonfiberboy 

Tendonitis and bursitis can be fixed with exercise. If one doesn't fix tendonitis it can become tendinosis. That's not good. Google. These 3 exercises should help. I do them in this order, super-setting them, 3 supersets of 12, 1' between supersets.


You can start with no weight, then add weight gradually. Light is good. I've been doing these for years and only use 10-15 lbs. A couple times a week is enough to have the effect over time. Takes a while. If you can get the shoulders loosened up, you can try pushups and dumbbell shrugs.. This is really all you need for bike upper body work.

gthomson

I used to do these exercises but with heavier weights but would need to go down to no weights at this stage. Thanks for the reminder and the videos which have some new repetitions I haven't done.

late

I ordered a pullup bar today, so I should be able to hang around in a few days.

late

I started a 4 day upper/lower push/pull split today. I usually run into trouble doing that, by screwing up, or overcooking some muscle.

Anyway, found a new one today. You get your upper body horizontal, and rotate at the hips. Start at 4 minutes, 48 seconds in (too much yak):


My piriformis has gotten tight and sore, and this is me trying to work on that.

Carbonfiberboy 

I'm still back there at about post 2 in this thread with the KNOTG (ikneeovertoesguy). My left ankle and knee still need some more rehab from a hiking fall, so I thought I'd try some KNOTG exercises, starting in at the very lowest, right off the couch, Zero level. Turns out that in spite of a lifetime of exercise, Zero level is plenty hard.

For beginners at level Zero, my understanding is that he says do: 10' of walking backwards, 3 X 25 toe lifts, 5 X 5 ATG split squats. IMO walking backwards outdoors is just asking for a falling injury. Our place has 2 floors with a set of steepish stairs between them. So I walk up the stairs backwards, down forwards, for 10'. Then the 3 X 25 toe lifts. I'm trying to do the 5 X 5 split squats with my forward foot on the second stair, an indoor imitation of his concrete blocks, and even that is too hard for me right now. I'm only up to 5 X 2. It's a heckuva stretch. I'm adding this routine, every other day, to my usual workout schedule, as there's essentially no aerobic stress.

It's thus obvious to me that in spite of doing my gym and cycling work, I'm not really in good enough condition. I kind of knew that, but didn't know what more to do. Skiing season is right around the corner and my goal for this season is to bend my knees more, i.e. further, get lower. This is going to help for sure. I admit to watching a lot of Mikaela.

pbass

I hear ya - I consider my singlespeed gravel bike, ridden on the singletrack and fire roads in the SoCal mountains, my "gym on wheels".

late

So... my pullup bar and exercise band showed up today. The band is a Perform Better Superband. Costs a little more than the Amazon bands, but I've never had one break, and one of them I got maybe 20 years ago.

Anyway, I set up the bar, and figured out how to hang it on the door, eventually. And then I put the resistance band on it. Have I ever mentioned that I am 5' 8"?

And stiff.

Couldn't get my leg high enough. So I tied one of my old bands to the bar, and got my new band lower. Prob had 40 pounds of resistance at that point. Prob need another 100 pounds of assistance to get off the ground.

So... if you were thinking I am some sort of workout god, got some bad news. I see a lot of pulldowns in my future.

Carbonfiberboy 

You're saying that you can't hang by your hands, not al all, not even 10 seconds? I lift my feet up behind me. I do lat pulls at the gym, both pulldowns and horizontal rows, have done them for decades. That probably does help, though I'm only doing 85 lbs, also not being a workout god. That said, being a graybeard, I do get some cred at the gym. I'm getting better at walking up stairs backwards.

jppe

Ah heck. I play golf and walk 18 holes 5 days a week. Helps with flexibility and the scenery is always changing. Nothing like being out with nature!!

late

I'm going to try hanging. Just set it up an hour ago.. My feebleness was something of a shock, I thought I had made more progress.

There is a PT version of walking up backwards. Stand sideways to some steps, and just go up and down without putting any weight on the moving foot. You can also do the same thing facing the steps.