Wednesday, Mar 04, 2015 at 01:15
Hi Michelle
Pumping iron is always rewarding!
I wouldn’t worry about the dress code too much, unless you want to start running in military issue.
For ropes, I have a rope suspended over a tree branch and climb it, and if it isn’t doing this I loop it around the base of the tree and take one end in each hand and move it up and down alternative arms for about 30/40 seconds, rest 20 seconds and go again (arms are guaranteed to drop off after 10 sets! – seriously this routine has the HR elevated and arms falling off).
Heaves are basically a chin-up.
So a circuit that I do goes like this, with 2 minutes rest, aiming for 5-6 times.
Push-ups 20
Dips 20
Chin-ups 10 (slow process working up to this)
Squats 20 (80kg)
Shoulder press 20 (40kg)
Sit-ups 20 (weighted 20kg)
Leg-raises 15
But I will frequently take one of these exercises and do them continually for 40-60 minutes. Or 20 sets of 20 push-ups (probably takes me almost an hour!)
The other routine I currently use is sets of 30, 20, 10, 5 (increasing weights by 2.5kg each session). It can be stressful on the nervous system so I might do it every 3rd day. If I fail a weight/rep range I immediately drop the weight by 15%, and start from there. So currently squats are 80/90/110/130kg
Squats
Deadlift
Bench Press
Bent-over Row
I don’t change the exercise at all, but I will rotate between that rep range and 5 sets of 5 which is done at much higher weights overall. Both programs I do for 8 weeks each time.
As for pack-walks, interesting you bring it up, as over the past 6 weeks I have been walking between 7-10 klm (shorter walk has more hills) with a 32kg pack. Great exercise for endurance, but I found that I became very sore in the shoulders (especially the traps) and this was working its way down to the biceps muscles via the bicep tendons. I have scaled this back because it was affecting other exercises. I asked my sport doctor how do the army guys gets on – he said they have lots of problems!
I spoke recently with a ‘
young’ bloke who was heading off for SAS trail and was following this program – twice a day with little in the way of rest. Having said that I think the program does suggest to rest if you need it. But keeping it in some context, this program is designed to push these trainees to the absolute maximum.
What I like about these routines is they are very functional exercises, the big core muscles being worked regularly.
I do row almost everyday and use that for cardio, so it all becomes a bit of a juggling act, but I will usually do two sessions a day, but try and contain both to 1 hour.
And on age, you’d be fitter than half of these blokes, truly! And remember age is merely a statistic we all have to have, and other than for a social security card it is useless...
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