Posted: 5/27/2010 5:01:01 AM EDT
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First time, this forum.
Here's my deal - I have the legs of a running back, the left knee of a cripple, and the upper body of the Michelin Man. I have heart disease in my family. Uncle died at 55. (I'm 42) Of course, the heavy drinking and smoking worked against him, but still... I'm looking for a dedicated upper body workout. I'm satisfied with my legs, and my left knee rules out alot of exercises. Can't take any impact. Abs, shoulders, arms, pecs, all that. For cardio, I do bike - road and mtn. Any ideas? Not particualrly interested in getting a gym membership to swim in their pool. Thanx for your help. |
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Quoted:
Need more info. Are you looking for exercises to do in a gym or are you wanting ideas of what you should get to do stuff at your home? Sounds like you want to do things at home. At home. I live on 7 acres, so I'd even be open to things like chopping wood (for no reason other than exercise) or hefting stones. But I'm thinking like P90X or the USMC training workout, or something with low cost, not a high entry cost. Free weights / push ups / pull ups / flys / etc. |
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Well with the new info in mind....
Most expensive is to get an olympic training bar and training bumpers and make a platfrom with some wafer board and stall mats. As an idea of cost, Werksan makes a 175kilo High School Training Set for $816.00. You can probably get a better deal if you look around but thats a good ballpark for good set up. The platform and stall mats are a good idea to do no matter what way you go as it gives you an area to workout on that protects the weights and your floor. Cheap ideas. Get 4 or 5 inner tubes and cut them in half, fill the halfs with sand and duct tape the ends up. Lift, toss, carry, go nuts. I like to treat them like bales of hay and toss them onto my truck or lift them overhead and throw them. 50 or 60 pound bags of sand are 3 or 4 bucks and I got the tubes from a local tire place I goto for free. Get a 10lb sledge hammer and set up an old tire, or what I'm doing is putting a several layers of rubber over a chunk of wood, and pound on that. I still not totally happy with how I'm doing this yet but I like the workout it gives. If you got a good tree around, or pole, you could set up a climbing rope. A good outdoor rope will cost about $200.00 but its a good workout. Go to Ironmind.com and look at the squat stands that they have and how they get it to do pullups and dips. I don't know the cost of them now, and I didn't buy one from them I had a friend of mine thats good at that type of thing make me one,  . Still wasn't cheap, but saved me some money.
I actually don't have a place to do dips yet, but I do have a couple of bars in doorways to do pullups when I go by. And I have a set of light dumb bells, 3lb-30lb. Those with the bar/rack/platform, sand bags and sledge are what I currently have at home and it works pretty well. I just need a dip stations and I'll be happy. Craidslist is good for finding deals on weight, check there for dumbells. |
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First of all, glad to see you back I guess my one question pertains to your knees. How do you know they are bad? For years before I got into weight lifting my knees would ache, I just knew I had problems, but after a series of tests the MD's concluded that I had no knee problems, once I started doing squats the pain went away. I've heard great things about P90X though. I'm guessing that all you are interested in is dropping weight and having a healthy heart, right? |
I've done a few of the P90x routines and was very impressed in the quality of the workout. Tony shows several different ways to do them according to your level of fitness. The only problem I had was keeping up with that one legged guy. 
I mainly run and bike with a low carb diet to keep healthy. |
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Quoted:
First of all, glad to see you back Thanx! Hope you and your family are well. I guess my one question pertains to your knees. How do you know they are bad? For years before I got into weight lifting my knees would ache, I just knew I had problems, but after a series of tests the MD's concluded that I had no knee problems, once I started doing squats the pain went away. First sign was a blown out knee playing basketbaal. Next sign was two knee surgeries, which got me back on the court. For a while. Now, I really can't run much at all - 50 yards maybe. Good reason for me to improve my aim. 
I've heard great things about P90X though.
I'm guessing that all you are interested in is dropping weight and having a healthy heart, right? Exactly. |
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Quoted: My advice is to eat within reason (cut out processed crap) and try some low impact cardio like an elliptical machine along with P90X and you should be able to reach your fitness goals. Quoted: First of all, glad to see you back Thanx! Hope you and your family are well. I guess my one question pertains to your knees. How do you know they are bad? For years before I got into weight lifting my knees would ache, I just knew I had problems, but after a series of tests the MD's concluded that I had no knee problems, once I started doing squats the pain went away. First sign was a blown out knee playing basketbaal. Next sign was two knee surgeries, which got me back on the court. For a while. Now, I really can't run much at all - 50 yards maybe. Good reason for me to improve my aim. I've heard great things about P90X though. I'm guessing that all you are interested in is dropping weight and having a healthy heart, right? Exactly. |