Maggie's Farm

There are many unspoken rules in gyms. One is that you do not look at other people whether in the locker rooms or in the gym.  Except furtively. Minimize eye contact mostly.

Another is that you do not talk to people you don't know. The exceptions are with people you see all the time in a class or using the weights, etc.  Over the years, I have several friendly acquaintances from the gym, and one new pal.

Another is that you should not hog equipment or space. Do some pushups  or leg press and let another person use the pullup machine for five minutes. Politeness and consideration.

What is on your list of unspoken gym rules?  

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It's the basic reference: The Deluxe Food Lover's Companion

My entire daily program is designed and updated (and monitored - "Whatcha do yesterday?") by my genius trainer. I do what I am told by him. As Mrs. BD says, he is the only person I obey besides God.

My current program is 2 days of heavy weights with trainer, one day of accessory weights mostly by myself, one or two conditioning classes at the gym (tough and fun in a sick way) or replace one of those with an hour of my own calisthenics, one day of endurance cardio and one day of misc HIIT cardio. Everything is progressing nicely but slowly of course. I'm not 18 anymore.

Speaking of which, have you noticed so many people checking their iphones at the gym? They aren't looking at texts. They have their exercise plans du jour on their phones, and are checking what their next circuit should be. Luddite that I am, I write them on paper. 

But to my issue of 5 vs 3 sets of resistance work.  

My approach with the powerlifts is one light warm-up set of 5-8 reps, then 5 working sets of 5-8 reps of increasingly heavy weights. 5 is my favorite number,  but some days my boss pisses me off by making me do 8s. When we go near my max, say, with deads or barbell squats, only 3 reps. My modest one-rep goal is 300 for deads. I am not a big strong dude.

With accessory resistance work which I do on my own once weekly, I generally do one warm-up and 3 working sets. It's partly a matter of time (because 60-90 seconds rests between sets), and to fit in everything on my list with 60-75 minutes. It's rare than I can fit in everything on my plan.

What sorts of things do I do on my accessory weights days?  It's below the fold -

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