I’ve had to be more creative as the garage is full and I cannot get to my weight bench (that has been collecting dust for years). Part of what I’ve been doing this week has been strength training.
I am doing about half body-weight and half dumbbells. In this post I’ll talk about the exercises that are working as well as the cardio and diet. Here is a cool video I found of how to incorporate body weight and dumbbells into a workout.
I’ve been running for 30 minutes or doing 30 minutes of bag work for the cardio portion of my workouts about half of the time. Other days I just run for an hour if my muscles are still too sore. I find if I do an every other day approach it does not seem too bad. I can literally run slow for hours so that part of the workout seems easy to me.
I have been doing incline pushups, some standing rows (pulling my self up from a post on each arm), sit ups, squat thrusts, and various dumbbell exercises to work the upperbody. Again I’ve decided to do this about every other day.
I am still interposing bag workouts for running and boy let me tell you how fun it is! I have to light so I don’t end up injuring myself as I am generally overambitious but it is a nice change of pace. I can work feet, hands, boxing, kick-boxing, and point karate as well as self-defense moves.
The diet is back on until Christmas dinner and not a moment too soon. I somehow made it through all of the candy of Halloween and then got the flu. Thanksgiving was easier after the flu because I had gotten used to not eating for appetite! Eating for hunger is the easy way to hold an even keel.
So not that the thanksgiving leftovers are over and I am not tempted (I only went to town on the third day of temptation after thanksgiving), I am having a way easier time of it.
My guess is I will have a net loss for the holiday season this year which is fine by me! It will make buckling down in January so much easier because I won’t have to make up lost ground this year.
Hope all is well in your neck of the woods and let me know how your diet is going over the holidays.
Hey, great post as always! Been a long time I took a break but I’m back in bloggerland! Got a new site moved all my content. Can you change my link on your page to point at the new site. http://www.byebyebigguy.com/
Thank you sir!!!!!
Hi Freddy,
I updated the link and great looking site!
I’m a big fan of squats and how they’re helping to shape my lower half.
I (luckily) don’t have a problem with my middle, but my arms and legs are the areas that need the most work. I can’t use weights at the moment because I’ve got tennis elbow in both arms, but as soon as I can I will try this exercise! For a woman as heavy as me, I can manage 8 proper push-ups, so this should be a doddle! lol
.-= Patsy´s last blog ..At A Loss… =-.
I probably use dumbbells more than any other tool. I lift heavy barbells once a week, and do bodyweight stuff twice a week. The rest is dumbbell exercises. Great post, John!!
.-= Dr. J´s last blog ..Yikes, now they’ve put fruit juice on the dieter’s enemies list =-.
Thanks for stopping by my blog
I look forward to reading more of yours. Thanks for sharing the video – I am easing into the strength training after my shoulder injury – I’m looking forward to being able to do some of these workouts!
.-= Josie´s last blog ..“No one would ever know” =-.
Hi Patsy,
The exercise seems to help me a lot too. Hang in there while the injuries heal. I’m no stranger to that… I keep hoping I’ll get smarter and not have to creatively workout to favor my latest injury.
I’ll add in a link to your site.
Dr J!
Its cool how easy using dumbbells is compared to other lifting… a starter set with a few free weights will do just fine. I’m finding my body is starting to respond to weight loss faster now that I am working in the toning.
Hi Josie,
I’ve had to ease into bag workouts of late. Mostly because I get into a hurry and don’t want to take the time to wrap my hands. I liked your site and will add a link.