Preferred Exercises or Fitness Activities the Forum engages in

[Matausch]

I'm a full instructor for reality-based self-defense (Rich Dimitri's Senshido) and military combatives.

The approach to fitness I like best (and which I deem to be most effective) is "prison calisthenics" (hundreds of reps in basic exercises like pushups, squats, dips, pullups, Navy seals, etc) and old-school isometrics.

I'll be celebrating my 54th birthday this year, but I can honestly say that I can keep up (most of the time) with students that are 10 to 20 years younger. I attribute that to the methods I'm using.

[oggsmash]

 Did the BW routine for a very long time.  I found it caused me more inflammation and irritation of joints than just lifting a heavy weight, especially when combined with all the articulation from training.  So I suspect like many things what is best will vary from person to person.

[Jason Coplen]

I'm a full instructor for reality-based self-defense (Rich Dimitri's Senshido) and military combatives.

The approach to fitness I like best (and which I deem to be most effective) is "prison calisthenics" (hundreds of reps in basic exercises like pushups, squats, dips, pullups, Navy seals, etc) and old-school isometrics.

I'll be celebrating my 54th birthday this year, but I can honestly say that I can keep up (most of the time) with students that are 10 to 20 years younger. I attribute that to the methods I'm using.

Congrats! I'm finally getting back into calisthenics (not just endlessly talking about it) after the Army. So, it's been forever. I power lifted for a while, but never got really strong. I'm hoping calisthenics will be a nice addition to the walking/rucking/bicycling I do. I zone out when doing cardio (I think of the best setting ideas!) and feel great the rest of the day.

I can't do shit for pushups these days, but if I stick to it I should be okay in another month or two. If not, then I'll borrow doing pushups from Pavel's writing - basically do them all the time in small increments. Greasing the groove.

[oggsmash]

My son is rolling strong again.  Did a 300x5 squat yesterday and is on track to have a shot at a 4 plate 1rm DL by the end of May.  I think his goal for squat is 350 1RM by end of May and it looks like he is on track to hit that too.  Not bad at all for a 13 year old (he is not small though, at 5'9" and 167lbs).

[Jason Coplen]

My son is rolling strong again.  Did a 300x5 squat yesterday and is on track to have a shot at a 4 plate 1rm DL by the end of May.  I think his goal for squat is 350 1RM by end of May and it looks like he is on track to hit that too.  Not bad at all for a 13 year old (he is not small though, at 5'9" and 167lbs).

13!? Wow, man, congrats on having little Hercules for a son.

I'm off to weep in the corner for not being fit at all when I was that young.

[Tod13]

I discovered rowing machines at the hotel where we attended an author's conference.

I like the water based ones the best.

[oggsmash]

My son is rolling strong again.  Did a 300x5 squat yesterday and is on track to have a shot at a 4 plate 1rm DL by the end of May.  I think his goal for squat is 350 1RM by end of May and it looks like he is on track to hit that too.  Not bad at all for a 13 year old (he is not small though, at 5'9" and 167lbs).

13!? Wow, man, congrats on having little Hercules for a son.

I'm off to weep in the corner for not being fit at all when I was that young.

  Its conflicting for me.  I am reasonably strong for an old dude and I keep at the gym past rehab now to just try to set numbers for him to aspire to...my goal being him heading off to college still chasing whatever numbers I can set.  At the current rate though...even with a slow down in progression it looks like he is going to be beyond anything I can post up possibly before he is 3 months into his senior year (he is a 7th grader now).  It has been great for him regarding his confidence in sports though and a big turnaround on his speed and verticality... it was honestly a bit of a surprise for me as to the level of adaption and response he has had to strength training. 

[Jason Coplen]

My son is rolling strong again.  Did a 300x5 squat yesterday and is on track to have a shot at a 4 plate 1rm DL by the end of May.  I think his goal for squat is 350 1RM by end of May and it looks like he is on track to hit that too.  Not bad at all for a 13 year old (he is not small though, at 5'9" and 167lbs).

13!? Wow, man, congrats on having little Hercules for a son.

I'm off to weep in the corner for not being fit at all when I was that young.

  Its conflicting for me.  I am reasonably strong for an old dude and I keep at the gym past rehab now to just try to set numbers for him to aspire to...my goal being him heading off to college still chasing whatever numbers I can set.  At the current rate though...even with a slow down in progression it looks like he is going to be beyond anything I can post up possibly before he is 3 months into his senior year (he is a 7th grader now).  It has been great for him regarding his confidence in sports though and a big turnaround on his speed and verticality... it was honestly a bit of a surprise for me as to the level of adaption and response he has had to strength training. 

I can imagine. I'd be proud as fuck of him and humbled at the same time. It's a reminder to yourself that yes, this son is going to surpass dad. We can only wish the best for our children. That sliver of regret you might have won't help you in anyway. You had your chance to get strong, now it's his turn.

Hopefully, he goes on to be great!

Sadly, in most ways, we screwed our youth up and threw it away doing dumb shit. Youth was really wasted on some of us, like me.

[oggsmash]

 How old are you?  I ask because I have managed to work to a standing press of 225x5 a below parallel squat of 480x5 and an incline press of 280x3 at age 52 (I am 225) after getting back after it for 1.75 years.  So I am not so sure there is an expiration date on getting stronger at all.  I did optimize my sleeping and protein intake this whole time but no drugs, no TRT, etc. 

  My brother who has a much less athletic youth than I did (he was a smoker for years and more on the party end for a long time) is 50 and since training with me his bench press (all lifts have gone way up) was never higher than 225x5.  He is hitting 260 for 5 sets of 5 now (and could probably hit 275 for one big set of 5 if we wanted to see red lines) and same thing, no drugs, no trt, has a fairly active/physical job.

  I think even if I were to manage something crazy like a 550x5 squat (which puts me in the 625-650 1rm range) in the next couple years the kid is STILL going to be past that before he is out of HS.  So I am not certain I can really regret that sort of thing.  I would have been impressed had he surpassed where I was as a kid (I was strong back then and a decent athlete) but this kid is going to pass me at a lifetime best before he is 19.   

[Jason Coplen]

How old are you?  I ask because I have managed to work to a standing press of 225x5 a below parallel squat of 480x5 and an incline press of 280x3 at age 52 (I am 225) after getting back after it for 1.75 years.  So I am not so sure there is an expiration date on getting stronger at all.  I did optimize my sleeping and protein intake this whole time but no drugs, no TRT, etc. 

  My brother who has a much less athletic youth than I did (he was a smoker for years and more on the party end for a long time) is 50 and since training with me his bench press (all lifts have gone way up) was never higher than 225x5.  He is hitting 260 for 5 sets of 5 now (and could probably hit 275 for one big set of 5 if we wanted to see red lines) and same thing, no drugs, no trt, has a fairly active/physical job.

  I think even if I were to manage something crazy like a 550x5 squat (which puts me in the 625-650 1rm range) in the next couple years the kid is STILL going to be past that before he is out of HS.  So I am not certain I can really regret that sort of thing.  I would have been impressed had he surpassed where I was as a kid (I was strong back then and a decent athlete) but this kid is going to pass me at a lifetime best before he is 19.   

You keep rocking! Your brother and your son, too.

I'm your age.

There's no local gym near me, so currently I'm not close to being strong. The nearest so so gym is a good half hour from me, sadly. I've been away from weights for several years now (since about 2019). Well, not entirely, I do have a couple kettlebells. But that's endurance lifting when I do it. With no gym I got, how do I say it? Lazier. Even weaker. I never got strong enough when I was trying to be a powerlifter. I was intermediate at best, except my bench was beginner level. I couldn't get past 3x5x190#. I switched to 531, but then the gym closed. This was 150 miles south of where I live now.

I walk/ruck/bicycle and have just begun calisthenics. My approach now is to tone up and get quicker rucking/walking. I learned that I like long walks even if I am a slow walker. I've shaved 8 minutes off my time since last month, so I am seeing slow improvement. I do a 5K when weather permits. If rucking I do about a mile right now - my shoulders/traps protest, telling me I have to build them back up. I want to do my 5K walk in 45 minutes or less.

I'm also fighting a nasty nicotine demon and it's winning, which annoys me. I seem to have a million excuses for it, but they're just excuses. I can recognize excuses - I've used so many over the years.

As a teen I was very weak. I was malnourished and at 6 feet tall I weighed 128# for graduation. I did get in better shape when in the Army for my short stint - I have bad feet. I kept at PT for a while afterwards, but then that fell off. I was never the "jock" type, and now that irks me because I love exercising. The endorphin release has helped my mood tremendously.

I don't have the money to build my own gym. I might be able to, but getting the equipment to do the basics would take me a good decade or more. Yes, I'm also broke as Hell. But I am looking to move to a small town and get myself out of the sticks where everything is at least 5.5 miles from me. I hope wherever I go has some sort of gym.

[Daztur]

You don't need much of a home gym to get decently strong. I just have a chin-up bar and a pair of 7 kg dumbells and am in good enough shape to do five sets of twenty chin-ups. Not bad for being 43. Mostly focus on running though...

[Jason Coplen]

That's a good amount of chin ups.

If I build a gym a chin up bar is first even if I suck at them. I was referring to weights for the cost - good olympic bar is what? $500? Then you need weight for it. But I might be over complicating matters.

[oggsmash]

I think the "power tower" is around a couple hundred dollars and it allows deficit pushups, pullups, chin ups, dips and a few other calisthenics.  Even so, chin ups/pull ups bars are cheap and if you have a means to do dips (even if its balanced on the backs of chairs) are going to have an amazing bang for the buck in return on time and effort invested.
   I think having a full olympic set of weights at home is way down the road and probably not necessary at all for you to get waaaay stronger over the next couple of years.

  Worst case finding a natural place to do a pull up/chin up exist all over the place as well as the means to do dips (well built chairs allow full ROM dips).  Legs of course are harder without full resistance but air squats/rucking/sprinting go a long ways to building that strength to a very much improved degree. 

  For older people Strength should be their number one priority on any physical attribute until a baseline is reached.  Strength takes the longest to build and the longest to leave you.  It makes all other endeavors easier and more sustainable once a baseline is reached.  Point being hitting a few chins, air squats and dips 3 times a week and taking no more than 15-20 mins to get them in will be sustainable, build momentum and allow more dynamic/endurance based things (like running, rucking for distance, endurance activities) to be much easier to take on and sustain and build after a base of strength is developed.  ALL sport requires strength as a baseline component and the sport we are all in for the longest is Life.  Get the hard to develop attribute first and it builds momentum for all the other attributes that are easier to build (flexibility, endurance).  Pick something small and start sustainable.  The best time to start strength training was 5 years ago.  The second best time is today.

[Jason Coplen]

After I get my dogs spayed I'll look into a power tower. I didn't consider that in my thinking. I appreciate you mentioning it.

3 times a week is very doable. I'm disabled so I have tons of free time. I'll find some basic program online and stick to it for at least 6 months, then I can look back on my progress and decide if I want to change it up. When I started lifting I changed program so much I never knew what was what until one of the guys at the gym and I discussed it. He noticed I was changing it up too often. He kept to his plans for at least 3 months, usually 6 - he was doing German volume training at the time we had our discussion. That is some crazy volume.

Bing showed me a 6 month program on the first page, so I'm opening it in a browser. For weights, I know a lot of plans, but calisthenics I didn't pay attention to. Huh, it says I need a chin up bar - I'll hit home depot for the wood I need and get that all worked out. The dip bar I don't have, but someone told me basic benches for sitting/step up work aren't expensive. I believe you can do dips off them.

https://www.drworkout.fitness/calisthenics-workout-plan-for-beginners/

That's what I'm going to do. We'll see in 6 months how much I progress.

I also decided I'll work harder with the cardio. I got thinking what I'm doing might be me just doing what's comfortable.

I appreciate the help, good sir!

[Brad]

I got a "power tower" for $30 at an auction, basically it was some Amazon return. Also got a power rack for $100. You don't need to spend a ton of money at all. I also have a Planet Fitness membership solely for the stairclimber and water bed massage thing; they also have dumbbells up to 85# which is good for most stuff if you need a decent, quick workout. I've sort of given up on powerlifting for the most part, though, because every time I squat or press with a decent amount of weight my slipped disc manages to find some way to rear its ugly head. Mr. oggsmash here and his mutant son are making me lament the bygone days of being actually competitive...