Dani Chats: Fitness, Rants, Hobbies

Mating call.

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The problem with having elderly friends at the gym: When they go missing for a while, you don’t know if they’re playing pickle ball or if they died.

I was about to do an exercise yesterday when my friend Debbie rushed over and said that one of the men at our gym (80+ years old) passed away. This man was a regular on the stepmill, and he even climbed manitou incline at 80 years old. Super fit. I actually didn’t know him, but given the description: smaller gentleman with silver hair, I thought it was one of my other friends!

So yesterday on the way home from the gym, Chris and I mourned one of our friends who wasn’t actually dead.

Then when I saw him this morning I freaked out and gave hugs. Apparently he just decided to play pickle ball instead of going to the gym. I love these people so much. They’ve invited us to a little party at the end of this month.

Guess I won’t break out the edibles when I attend that.

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I worked at my town’s Y for a while and the older people were always the most consistent - they’d be there at the exact same time every single day (usually doing the exact same routine, too). I always felt the same way when they didn’t show up - “wait a minute…did something bad happen??”

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They are! And their complete lack of ego is so refreshing in the gym.

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Abs and Walking

NEPA: Not sure if I should even list our dog walks. The poopers won’t go to the bathroom in the back yard, which means we have to walk them twice a day.

That may sound like a pain; it is on days when the streets are icy or the weather is scary (remember the polar vortex?) but it’s actually been a blessing in disguise. There’s no skipping it. Walks happen every day whether we like it or not. If I’m sick or injured, Chris will take them, and if Chris is busy, I’ll take them, but the fluffers are so difficult for one person that we usually end up going together.


This is their soft rock 80s album cover.

Gym Time

Banded Ab Crunch: 2 sets of 12-15 each side

This is a one-armed exercise, but it hits the whole rectus abdominis regardless of what side you’re holding the band on. So 2 sets on each side is really just 4 sets.

You have to try this exercise. It’s probably the most effective thing I’ve ever done for abs. Here are a few tips:

  1. Make sure the band is super taut even when you’re in the extended position. Then when you pull the band into the crunched position it gives you enough resistance to force your abs to work.

  2. Keep lower back “glued” to floor the whole time.

  3. When you extend your working leg, don’t let it touch the ground. Extend it and allow it to hover just above the floor. If you really want to feel your abs, dorsiflex the foot of your working leg (toes toward shin).

  4. Use only the range of motion where your abs are feeling it. You don’t need to rest your shoulders all the way back down on the floor. Doing so makes you lose tension in the abs. So just rep out those crunches in the range where you can keep the tension. Then keep at it until the fire in your muscles causes you to make whimpering sounds.

Walk Time

I was going to zone out and listen to a podcast or tutorial on YouTube, but gym friends came over and I spent about 30-45 minutes chatting while walking. Way more enjoyable. I’m a firm believer that nothing is more health-promoting than talking to other people.

This is more true now than ever before. If you don’t interact with others in real life, you may start to think that social media is an accurate depiction of how people are. The mouse with the megaphone who’s always outraged is what’s most visible on social media. But that’s not a real reflection of most people.

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Friday’s workout didn’t get logged. That day and the whole weekend was a nonstop whirlwind of working, cleaning up after the contractor, assembling an IKEA closet, shipping mauve/pink dresses back for a return or exchange, and taking back unused tile and other supplies to various stores.

Friday was full-ish body though: leg press, chest press, hammy stuff, shoulders, glutes.

I finally have an appointment with a highly recommended deep tissue massage therapist.

And I thought I found THE perfect dress. Bride-approved, and even my mom approved too. But there’s one problem nobody else seems to care about but me. It’s SO pale pink that it looks almost white. And at an evening wedding, if pictures are taken (they will be), I’m going to look like the fool who wore white to someone else’s wedding.

I’d post the dress here, but I feel like I’ve already used up my quota of acceptable posts about dresses in a workout log.

Today’s gym session wasn’t a workout

Abs, mobility work, Pso-Rite stretching to loosen up my hip flexors.

Tomorrow I’ll crush it, but today I had to recover from assembling six, 7-foot tall “Pax” units.

Here’s me sun-burning my face off.

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Upper Body + Plus Leg Press

Tried to start the session with 100 unbroken leg presses, but the machines were all taken. So…

A. Chest Press
90 lbs: 15 reps + 10 partials at the top
140 lbs: 8 reps
150 lbs: 8 reps
160 lbs: 5 reps
160 lbs: 5 reps
Back-off set: 90 lbs for 15 full ROM reps

B. 100 Unbroken Leg Presses

The key is to acknowledge how terrible it feels and then press with intention… as if you want it to feel terrible. Explode up, control down, no pauses.

Kinda reminds me of long distance running; you can trudge up a steep hill hating it the whole way, or you can grin and go faster out of spite.

Muscle gives us that control. You don’t have to trudge. But you do have to wake up and realize that.

Today was an upper body day, but since my knees were feeling great I decided just to add a little load to the leg press and do 5x5.

C. Leg Press: 5x5
90
140
150
160
170

Going by the numbers of the first two exercises, it appears as though my chest is as strong as my legs. :grimacing:

D1. Seated Cable Row: 4x10-15
D2. Arnold Press: 4x10-15
D3. Seated Bent-Over Lateral Raise: 4x10

This giant set did not include much rest. Weight was low, tension in the muscles was high, reps controlled. Every minute on the 3 minutes mark.

E. Lateral Raise Machine:

4x long pause at the top, then full ROM reps, then partials, then a drop set to failure.

Instead of counting reps for this one, I use the fire in my delts as a gauge.

Also, can we talk about why a machine may be superior to dumbbells for the lateral raise? It is for some at least. Why? Because it removes your grip. You’re not holding dumbbells and you don’t even have to hold the handles.

That means, if you have elbow or forearm pain, you won’t trigger it with this machine. You can hit your delts and nothing else.

Also, if you remove other muscles from helping out, you’ll feel that target muscle working immediately. An instant mind-muscle connection is a win.

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Leggies

100 unbroken leg presses + 25 bonus reps

Okay, so since this challenge has gotten completely doable, I’ll probably start adding load. Quad Queen and I chose Feb 20th to end this challenge, but since it makes my knees feel good and my quads feel pumped, I might keep at it and add some weight. How much should I go with: 10 pounds? 20?

Glen the bodybuilder is now doing 100 leg presses every workout too, but he says they must go at the end of his session or it interferes with the rest of his training day.

Also, he loads two 45-pound plates on his 100 rep leg presses. :dizzy_face:

Leg Press: 4x10 using 140 pounds

I really want to own the weight for higher reps before moving up. I can comfortably do 5 reps using 160, but if I do 5x5 with that load, my knees will ache. So I’m not going to worry about adding load until what I’m already using feels laughably easy at higher reps.

Butt Lifter Machine: 4x15, then partials, then drop set

I’m just calling it this now. It looks completely stupid, but works wonders.

Ham Curls on Ball 3 x 15, 12, 8

So leg day is now basically down to just three lifts and two of them are isolation. To an outsider this seems ineffective. And for many goals it is. I’m not going to PR in any major lift with this routine.

But my gait is better, my joints feel amazing, I have strength and energy in my legs that’ve been missing for years. And I don’t feel like more volume would do me more good. My body feels pretty spent after just three lifts. Why add more right now?

In the future, I’ll probably go back to some deadlift variation, and maybe a front squat, but right now this is working. My jeans and dress sizes are both smaller now than they were when I was competing in figure, and that’s saying something because that’s when my competition coaches gave me marathon-length workouts that would last 2 hours.

More work isn’t always better. :woman_shrugging:

Since pictures make logs more fun, here’s an image of the extra vertebra in my spine. Doc says it’s the one right above the tailbone.

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To quote famed 20th century philosopher Robert Hill

Sounds like you have one to sacrifice to the deadlift gods!

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HA! I’ve been told that it’s rare to have a 6th lumbar vertebra. Most people have just 5. But when I shared that fun fact on instagram a couple months ago, a few people said that they also had a 6th one. It may be why I’ve always hated back squats.

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POST THE PIC!!! Getting dressed is a workout, right? I feel like it’s related. :rofl:

But for real, would love to see what you landed on.

You are almost done! LUCKY!! I just restarted on the 10th - so, I’m back in! I was thinking about the “after” too, because I actually kind of like it. I was thinking once I hit a month of throwing 10 on each side and seeing how it felt - if good, I’ll try more. So, maybe feel it out??

HA! I seriously love your friendship! You’re delightful!

So I sent back the dress that looked perfect. It was just so close to white that it felt almost disrespectful to wear at an evening wedding. And I didn’t want to be uncomfortable in that color all night.

I ended up finding one that’s a dark mauve. It’s getting altered right now so that it’s not baggy around my microscopic boobies.

Well I’ll continue with you for however long you want to keep doing it. How’s your back doing? If it’s even slightly still on the mend, I don’t want you to re-injure it.

Keep in mind, I’ve only been lifting like 2-3 times a week lately. So this 100-rep challenge is easier on me if I’m lifting less often than you. It might be more stressful on the body if you’re lifting 5-6 times a week.

As for throwing on some weight, I’ll probably ease in really slowly and see how 10 pounds feels. If it’s terrible, then I’ll back down to just 5 measly pounds for a while. If it’s doable, I’ll stick with it. And if it’s easy, then I’ll add an additional 5-pound plate to one side, and stick with that until that becomes relatively doable without any pauses.

If I jump up in weight too fast, it’ll have a negative affect on my hips and knees. So I’ve gotta make super gradual increases in weight. Maybe I should change this log title to, “Dani Works Out Like a Grandma.”

Last week was kinda crazy, physically. I only did two real lifting sessions, but spent so much time on my feet assembling crap and putting stuff together and hauling stuff around that I was famished. Absolutely starving all the time. My body was burning everything I gave it, and asking for more.

Never underestimate the power of non-exercise physical activity. Especially if you have a decent amount of muscle. Why? Because muscle is expensive calorie-wise. And you put all that muscle to use even when you’re not thinking about it.

Lifters always talk about how good walking is for leanness, but what about odd jobs around the house? How about cleaning? Or yard work? Bathing dogs? Shooting rifles? Shopping and trying on clothes? Dancing in the kitchen when your husband bakes cookies?

It all adds up. It all counts. Walking is fantastic, but there’s more than one way to move your body.

Always love when I can use a power tool.

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Yep, a day at home pottering in the shed/garden easily hits over 10k steps here without even thinking about it. Power tools ftw!

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Exactly! Plus you end up accomplishing something that needed to get done!

:heart: And - SAME!!

Well, I’m sure it looks great. Also, I feel the “microscopic boobies”, but on the bright side, they’ll never sag! lol.

I am being VERY cautious - no squatting/deadlifting for at least 3-6 months for sure. I’m only doing what feels good and at a reduced volume. I do not want to ever feel the kind of pain I felt a few weeks ago. It was soul crushing.

I’m only lifting 3-4 times/week - so nothing crazy here either. Keep me posted on your progression strategy for if/when I ever get to that point.

Maybe I should start one with the same title expect Amy in place of Dani. Your hips and knees are my hips and back. It’s ridiculous!!

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True! :rofl:

Good! And don’t feel any pressure to start leg pressing again. Certain leg press machines can be harder on the low back than others.

I’m so sorry to hear you went through that pain. When the low back is messed up it’s hard to walk, stand, lay down, or even sit for too long… let alone lift weights!

Oh nooo! Aren’t we a pair!? :sob::joy:

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ATTENTION: Leg press machines are not all the same.

Yesterday I had an alteration appointment and needed to get a lot of work done, so I skipped a normal training session, and instead just did a mini-leg press workout at T Nation HQ.

So anyway, the leg press machine at HQ is amazing you guys. It hits your glutes and quads in all the right places. And you can load it up with waaaay more than you think.

I ended up doing 100 unbroken reps with two, 45-pound plates. It hurt but was totally doable. Next time I use that machine I’ll do 100 reps with 100 pounds.

Video is sped up, but total time took around 4 minutes.

Then after that, I did 4 sets of 6-8 reps using 225.

I think my target muscles (quads and butt) feel this more when I go lighter.

This is the best leg press machine EVER. Here’s the brand in case you want to buy this for your own home gym.

Here’s the link to Christian Thibaudeau’s 100-Rep Leg Press Method if you missed it:
https://forums.t-nation.com/t/the-100-rep-method-for-big-legs/

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Upper Body Day!

A1. Dips: 4 sets: 15, 5, 5, 5

I wanted to test myself and see how many total dips I could do on that first set. I got to twelve, paused at the top, and then did the last three reps. So unfortunately I can’t brag about being able to get 15 unbroken reps. Maybe someday though!

A2. Banded one arm pulldowns: Random amount of reps (held at peak contraction) to activate the triceps and lats between sets of dips.

B1. Hammer Strength Chest Press: 3 sets of 8 using 140 pounds

My chest was a little fatigued after the dips. I probably should have gone lighter and aimed for more time under tension with some set-extending techniques. But my ego got the best of me and instead I went heavy-ish for fewer reps.

B2. Banded shoulder external rotations: I love these between sets of chest presses. It hits the rear delts and I think it trains you to have better posture.

C. Lateral raise machine: 3 sets of full ROM reps, followed by partials and a drop in weight.

D. Seated Abduction Machine: 5 sets of a million reps with partials and drop sets.

Why do a glute exercise on upper body day? Because this particular machine doesn’t just make the butt perky, it also makes my knees feel better. Activating the glute medius has that affect, and my knees were kinda hurting from using 225 pounds on the leg press yesterday. I probably wasn’t ready to use that much weight.

E. Rear Delt Cable Flyes: 4 sets of tons of reps until my shoulders felt like they were on fire. I didn’t go to failure, just spent time in those burning reps.

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