Friday, February 1, 2013

Old Dog and New Tricks

It's coming close to that time of year again when the New Years Resolutionists will be leaving gyms all around the country. They won't return until next January... if they ever do return.

I've been working out for more than 30 years and I really do enjoy it. I look forward to getting up early and pushing some heavy weights and challenging myself in every workout. It's just fun. How else do explain that?

I've treated this part of my life as a journey and I've doen things differently over the years to improve performance, get stronger, get leaner, and ultimately to make my mescles keep growing.

I follow trends to see if they work. If they don't, I stop and move onto try something else. In the 1980s most bosybuilders trained 6 days a week like Arnold and Haney. Body parts were hit twice a week.

The Yates era was in the 1990s and it became normal for body parts to be trained just once a week with a lot less volume. I did that too... and got really sore all the time from forced reps and negatives.

In the early 2000s I started deadlifting again because Ronnie Coleman did them. Everyone started doing deadlifts again because of Ronnie. (I don't do them much any more because of the aches and pains I'd constantly live with when doing them. Life is easier when you can bend and move.)

Along the way I've discovered what works and what doesn't.

These days this old dog is  using some unique exercises and utilizing bands and having some really fun workouts and I'm gaining size and strength from those workouts. I've also concentrated on stretching my shoulders and I feel like I've breathed new life into my chest workouts because of that.

This journey has been fun. Can't wait for tomorrow. It's back and chest day. I haven't combined those two bodyparts in a workout for years. Reverse-band low-incline presses are the bomb. So are one-arm t-bar rows.

Should be fun!

And then legs on Monday. Oh, man! What a perfect way to start the week!

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