Timing of workouts

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Saturday, March 6. 2021

The Maggie's Fitness for Life Program is of course somewhat controversial. All fitness programs are.

Our program is 2 days/wk of heavy weights, 2 days of calisthenics, and 2 days of cardio (meaning heart stress - HIIT, jump rope, stair machine, etc).

Besides plain obsessionalism, I do heavy weights twice/week with a trainer, and no need for a trainer for the other things. Right now, I need to be pushed hard with heavy and he is needed for that. Rightly or wrongly, he pushes me past my limits.

We do not prefer tough calis on the day before weights because tough calis need a bit of recovery too, and for the over-40 crowd maybe a bit more than 24 hrs.

Anybody with a touch of gray, I believe, needs 2 days of recovery after lifting heavy. Calis and cardio more or less count for that.

What are your views?

Posted by Bird Dog in Physical Fitness at 14:34 | Comments (12) | Trackbacks (0)

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Dear Bird Dog:

Thank you for keeping me motivated. I am way past 70 and still fairly healthy. However, I do have asthma so COVID has pretty much kept me indoors. I have worked out with my 7 pound dumbbells and do leg exercises. I can't wait to get back into the gym. FWIW--I have kept up my payments trying to help keep my gym open even though I have not been able to go since last May. I will start again this coming week. I have not yet had my shot, but can't stand to be this weak any more. Please keep up your good posts about exercising. Thank you

#1 Apple Pie on 2021-03-06 15:55 (Reply)

If your HIIT day counts as a recovery day, either what you call HIIT isn't HIIT or what you call recovery isn't really recovery.

#2 mike on 2021-03-06 20:39 (Reply)

At 63 I call that a day's work.
Five days a week.
Very physical work.

#3 jim commerford on 2021-03-06 22:26 (Reply)

I'm 2 months shy of 50 yrs and have been lifting since high school. Mark Rippetoe's axiom that one does not get stronger from lifting weights, but by recovering from lifting weights holds truer each passing year. I have cut back to 2 days/week on lifting. Other days are stationary bike, elliptical or stairs (timed intervals), and I get in 5 workouts/week. John Sullivan's book, The Barbell Prescription, along with Starting Strength, is helpful.

Proper technique on deadlifts and squats has really improved my quality of life due to reduced back injuries. Thanks, Rippetoe.

#4 Anon on 2021-03-07 06:33 (Reply)

i'm 57 and only found Starting strength when I was 50. Always had back injuries before, haven't since. Stronger at 57 than I have ever been. I'll take that. But can't recover like I could at 25, so only lift 3 days per week, rest the others. YMMV

#4.1 Mr. Bingley (Link) on 2021-03-07 08:22 (Reply)

Agree with mike in #2 - interval training is not a recovery from anything, it is primarily a strength workout with some cardio benefits too.

I do stadium stairs for my HIIT workouts this winter - my only exercise other than walking - and it is exhausting. 20-25 minutes of climbing 60 stairs, one at a time and two at a time. It’s a greak workout and you can easily vary the length of time of the exertion and rest intervals to change it up. Legs, core, balance, cardio, outside in fresh air and sunshine for vitamin D, it checks a lot of boxes and 2-3x a week is good enough.

I’ve done many kinds of exercise over the last 45 years and working out 6 days a week (not including walking, etc) seems a bit extreme to me.

#5 Jeff Brokaw (Link) on 2021-03-07 10:16 (Reply)

Yes. It depends on what you do. Progress does occur, though.

#5.1 BD on 2021-03-07 11:44 (Reply)

BD, how do you measure progress for your cali and cardio days? Are you still making progress there? How much progress have you made on your weights in the past year?

#5.1.1 RJP on 2021-03-07 11:59 (Reply)

SARCASM ALERT

It's not about making progress. It's about being part of something....you know, the thing.

#5.1.1.1 mike on 2021-03-08 15:15 (Reply)

"Progress does occur, though."

In a very tangential manner, that reminds me of a remark made by the late Milton Friedman while visiting Argentina.

Friedman spotted scores of road builders moving earth with shovels instead of modern machinery. When he asked why powerful equipment wasn’t used instead of so many laborers, his host told him it was to keep employment high in the construction industry. If they used tractors or modern road building equipment, fewer people would have jobs was his host’s logic.

“Then instead of shovels, why don’t you give them spoons and create even more jobs?” Friedman inquired.

My (obvious) point is that if strength/endurance/speed/power is your goals, you should employ the most efficient and effective means of attaining those goals. If your goal is simply to burn a bunch of calories or hang out in the gym...well, that's a different set of goals. People need to figure out their goal and execute the best plan to get there. This usually means focusing on progressing one goal for x weeks/months while maintaining other facets and then rotating instead of focusing on too many areas all at once.

#5.1.2 mike on 2021-03-08 15:32 (Reply)

I've seen many claims about what exercise program is best for long term health, but I've never seen any real data on it. Something like analyzing healthy people at 60 on different types of programs (strength only, cardio only, various combinations, etc) and see how they do over time in comparison to non-exercisers.

#6 bk on 2021-03-07 20:51 (Reply)

Related but not exactly covering that topic, here's a review of a study done in Norway that supposedly looked into the "relative benefits of HIIT for older adults and all-cause mortality": RESEARCH REVIEW: HIIT and Mortality-The Generation 100 Study

For general fitness and aging topics:

A review of a study looking into the benefits of "Omega-3 FAs, Vitamin D, or Strength Training in a large population of European seniors": RESEARCH REVIEW: Why Didn't "Strength Training" Work?

A general review of many topics related to diet and exercise: AGING STRONG RESEARCH REVIEW: Oct '19 w. Robert Santana MS, RD, SSC (Full disclosure, I get occasional training and advice from Robert and am a member of his gym.)

And from a few years ago, 2015 to be exact, a three part series of exercise science literature review:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Lots of valuable information there. Enjoy!

#6.1 RJP on 2021-03-07 21:52 (Reply)

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Saturday, March 6. 2021

Timing of workouts