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Am I doing 'too much'?
by Phil
Post workout
I’ve been into fitness for a very long time, since my wrestling days in high school and college (when Nixon, Ford & Carter were in office…). My current routine consists of running stairs and lifting weights. I’m very fortunate as we have a very good gym right here in the building, and a back stairwell (72 steps from floor to roof) that gets very little use, so I typically don’t “run into” anyone. So without getting into too much detail, I try to get in 5 workouts a week. They consist of running the stairs and then lifting. My stair routines will vary, some time I just run up and down for 25 to 30 minutes, other times I will mix sprints in, most times I will do some type of HIIT routine. Examples would be walk a flight, run a flight, sprint a flight (a flight consists of full 72 steps up and down, sprints are done taking 2 steps at a time), repeat. Typically do 6 sets which takes around 20 minutes. Another routine would be walk one, run one, sprint two, repeat… or run one sprint one, repeat. From the stairs I have to walk to the other side of the building, takes about 3 minutes, I use this as a cool down period. Once in the gym I cool down for another minute or so, then I begin my lifting routines. My lifting consists of almost all dumbbell exercises and I have 3 routines that I rotate – Chest/Calfs/Ticeps; Quads/Hamstrings/Shoulders & Back/Biceps/Abs. I time these and try to complete the routine in under 25 minutes. I will also change up the particular exercises every couple of weeks, for example I might do one arm dumbbell rows for 3 back routines, then pull-ups for the next 2, then pull overs (on the Nautilus machine) for the next 3, then bent over rows… you get the idea. Tuesday – September 28, 2010 Back / Biceps / Abs Run Stairs – X Minutes (walk-1, run-1, sprint-2 X5 sets) One Arm Rows 65lbs 1 set 12 Hammer Curls - 30lbs 1 set 12 One Arm Rows 70lbs 1 set 10 Standing Curls - 35lbs 1 set 10 12 Minutes Machine Curls 100/80/60lbs 1 set 7/5/5 Machine Pullovers – 180lbs 1 set 12 24 Total Bench Jack Knife 1 set 20 Plank = 1:00 Bench Jack Knife 1 set 20 9 Minutes Plank = 1:00 Abs 155lbs 1 Set 10 I prefer to lift after I do the stairs as opposed to the other way around. I’ve tried both, I actually feel better after, all warmed up and it allows me to keep a real good sweat while I’m lifting. Now my question is – Is this too much at once, should I spilt the workouts up and do stairs 3 days, lift 2? Lift 2 days do the stairs 3? I don’t feel any “ill effects”, it’s a great workout when I’m traveling (hotels have great stairwells, not always very good gyms…) there are times I’m only able to get in 4 days a week, never really stress out about it. And on days that for some reason I can only do one or the other, I choose the stairs and may hit them (no pun intended) a little harder adding more sprints, or more sprints in a row. There’s so much information out there and it gets very confusing. A lot of what I’ve read lately leads me to think that doing a HIIT routine than lifting is “bad”, but I’ve been doing it for a couple of years now, as I mentioned, mixing it up pretty frequently, and my 53 year old body doesn’t feel any ill effects. Any and all feedback is welcome. Look forward to hearing what folks have to say.
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