Personalized Fitness Routine

Resistance training into older age will provide many positive factors for as long as you train. Here's the "why."

1. STRENGTH -- Always a good thing. Be able to pick stuff up off the floor.

2. BALANCE -- Vital as we age.

3. MOBILITY -- Do your own laundry.

4. FALL PREVENTION -- Vital as we age. Falls result in all manner of broken parts. Totally preventable.

OK, so how do we go about creating a lifestyle that works for us, regardless of how busy we are? And do we think about motivation, or do we prioritize discipline?

For me, and thousands of others, motivation is NOT a factor. DISCIPLINE is the key word here. By using discipline, we overcome everything that "gets in the way" of achieving our goals.

What about MINDSET? This is vital. Once we understand and incorporate knowledge into our daily routines, success "writes itself." Incorporation makes the idea a real thing, something we do because it's "who we are" and not "what we must be."

This system requires a chair, two dumbbells, and to get more advanced, a kettle bell.

Here's the prescription.

MONDAY

Goblet Squats. 4 x 12.

Overhead press. 4 x 12

Chair leg extensions. 4 x 12.

Bent rows. 4 x failure

TUESDAY

Seated bicep curls. 4 x 12.

Seated tricep extension. 4 x 12.

Kettlebell Swings. 4 x 12. 20 pounds kettlebell.

WEDNESDAY
Dumbbell deadlifts. 3 x 10.

Overhead Press. 4 x 12.

THURSDAY

Standing bicep cross body curls. 4 x 12.

Forward leaning tricep extensions. 4 x 12

Kettlebell swings. 4 x 12. 20 pounds kettlebell.

FRIDAY
Goblet squats. 4 x 12

Overhead Press. 4 x 12

Chair leg extensions 4 x Failure

Bent rows. 4 x failure

SATURDAY/SUNDAY

Rest, take a walk, hike, do some body weight work like pushups or body weight squats if you want. It's not required, though. 48 hours of rest from resistance training allows you reset and incorporate the week's work.

Repeat this cycle for 4 weeks.

Working to create a mind muscle connection. When a set/rep routine is achieved at a specific weight, you increase the resistance. Resistance is increased by adding weight, 5 pounds at a time. If no weight is available, then resistance can be increased by slowing down the repetitive movement.

Eccentric motion is the "lowering" motion. Muscle cells can ONLY contract. There is no such thing as muscle cell "expansion" or "pushing."

All motions in life are motions of muscle contraction.

Muscles must be FORCED to grow by stimulating protein synthesis.

Doing a set to "failure" means doing the repetitions to the point where you just can't lift the weight again. This is NOT neuromuscular failure. Neuromuscular failure is violent shaking when attempting to lift a weight.

You can increase the resistance by decreasing the amount of time you rest between sets. Starting with 90 seconds, then decreasing the time to 60 seconds.

Never rest less than 60 seconds between sets. You CAN, but it will not allow the muscle cells mitochondria time to regenerate through repolarization. That's why we wait. Think of muscle like a defibrilator -- "Charge to 300"... "Clear"... ZAP!!! Then the machine must recharge before it can delivery another shock. Resistance is the shock. Rest is the recharge.

Good form is an absolute. Never skimp on form. If you cannot use proper form, then you must reduce the weight, or reduce the number of reps for a given weight. Improper form is "cheating" and there is a place for this, but it's a more advanced technique.

Drink plenty of water. Eat well. Sleep well. You have the nutrition part down. Apply what you already know.

I'm ordering you a workout log book as well. It's the same one I use, and I'll put put up a picture of one of my routines so you can see how I fill mine out.

You must document all workouts. Remember this: "There is no progress without record of past accomplishment." How can you know where you are if you don't know where you've been, right? Pretty simple.

As I think of more, I will add it. Once you can do all of the work listed in the Daily Workout Planner above, we will modify things to create PRT for the rest of your life.

You should eventually graduate to a gym where you can do barbell deadlifts, barbell overhead press, and barbell deadlifts. 91 year old ladies are doing these exercises with heavy weights, and they have ZERO issues with mobility, balance, never fall, and are strong. Of course this is optional, and you can achieve similar results just working from home.

I follow this "religiously." My workouts are more advanced and very heavy, but still based on the underlying principles. If you have questions, call me.

What does "PRT" stand for? Progressive Resistance Training. That's what changes you.

"Tendons get stronger, muscles too, and you become a better you." Your brain controls everything, so there will be some serious mind over matter going on here as well.

If you aren't sure what a certain move looks like, just google it. There is LOT of info out there on "what not do" or "you're doing it wrong, do it this way" and the like. If you want an excellent YouTube source that's based on a physical therapists take, watch anything Jeff does on AthleanX. Here's his channel:

https://www.youtube.com/@athleanx

You can type "goblet squats" into the search bar and he'll show you everything you need to know. Do this for any exercise. Just don't get overwhelmed. He has thousands of videos. Dude is totally crazy, in a good way.