Weight Lifting Routine

This routine hits all the major muscles. It was adapted from a routine in the web site Stumptuous. Including warmup it should take about 40 minutes. It will also work your aerobic system if you do it correctly.

1. Be Consistent with lifting (2-3x) week.
2. It should feel as if you can perform one or two more reps in each set (maintaining good technique throughout)
3. Warmup before lifting, 5-10 minutes increasing intensity walking on treadmill or light bike, stretching, pushups, jumping jacks, etc.
4.Periodically choose one (and only one) exercise and go to failure.
5. If you are unsure how to correctly perform a lift, ask a trainer or someone with lots of experience. Have them watch you lift with a light weight until you have the movement ingrained.
6. You do NOT have to have a large weight system. Some barbells and dumbells can work just as well.
7. If you don't have access to those, let me know and I can design a program that involves no weights.

Need maximum weight can lift for the following exercises:
Bench Press, Leg Press, Row, Bicep Arm Curl, Tricep (machine or dumbells), Overhead Press, Chest Fly, Back Fly, Leg Curl-hamstring, Leg Curl-Quad, Lat Pulldowns
Abdominals (if machine available, if not, don't worry)

Your maximum lift should be measured once per month over a three month period. Figuring out your maximum lifts can be one workout or stretched over a week.

Circuits– Rest as little as possible between exercises (15 seconds is ideal). Rest 1 minute between circuits.

Day 1: Circuit 1, 8 reps each:
Leg Squats on machine
Row
Bench Press
Repeat above 2-3x in this order, lifting 80% of maximum

Circuit 2:
Leg Curls (Ham & Quad) 15 reps each
Cable (lat) Pulldown (8 reps)
Abs – alternate bench, machine, ball, floor (go until failure).
Repeat above 2-3x, lift 80% of max.


Day 2: Circuit 1, 8 reps each:
Squats – hold dumbbells
Chest Fly-80% max
Back Fly-80% max
Repeat circuit 2-3x

Circuit 2, 8 reps each:
Bicep Curls
Triceps
Dumbell Press
Abs – as in Day 1
Repeat circuit 2-3x

Sarcopenia

Sarcopenia is the overall weakening of the human body caused by a change in body composition in favor of fat and at the expense of muscle. (from the book, "Biomarkers: the 10 determinents of aging you can control" by William Evans) Many adults are suffering with this condition or, at least, heading towards this direction at a quick rate. Sarcopenia does not have to happen.

It is so easy for most of us to slip into a sedentary way of living which results in more muscle mass being replaced by fat. *This is not necessary or a normal part of aging! Each of us does possess the ability to alter our Biomarkers. The two primary biomarkers are muscle mass and strength. Scientific studies have shown remarkable gains even among nursing home patients aged 85+ who were involved in an exercise program.

The eight other biomarkers we can influence are; BMR-basal metabolic rate, % of body fat, aerobic capacity, blood sugar tolerance, cholesterol/HDL ratio, blood pressure, bone density and the ability to regulate your internal temperature.

We should look beyone the notion of losing weight and concentrate on building and maintaining muscle at the expense of fat. Strong muscle causes your metabolism to rise, increases your aerobic capacity because working muscles consume more oxygen, use more insulin which lowers your diabetes risk and aids in maintaining beneficial HDL levels.

This topic is important and will be examined more fully in a later blog article. Suffice to say, weightlifting and/or strength exercises, done on a regular basis with proper form is important, no matter what your age.