Universal Fitness

Wednesday August 31st 1 hour and 20 minute bike ride.  Then, did some hanging ab crunches from the parallel bars, 2 set of dips a couple of chin- ups and 1 set of push-ups ot failure.  Great workout today.  Felt really fast and relaxed on the bike portion.  Increased the length of my ride somewhat.  

Monday August 29th Long run today along with bodyweight exercise routine.  Ran about 5 miles.  Did high parallel bar pull-ups.  Did hanging ab crunches from high parallel bar, 2 sets till failure..keeping elbows flexed enitre time.  Then, walked across bar twice using arms only..with elbows flexed..pulling up slightly single arm, also added some reverse pull-ups to work lats. Next, did two sets of bicep curls till failure.  Then, 1 set of leg lifts till failure n the inclince bench...2 sets of tricep presses and 1 set of push-ups...ending with short or non-fully extended push-ups. Oh!! really felt my arms bulge after this one!!   Overall great workout today.  Had been eating more red-meat...i.e. ground beef and more chocolate chip cookies...plus lots of milk (2 %).   Perfect weather today....upper 70's or low 80's and not too humid. 

Basic rule of thumb is start with larger muscle groups first and then focus on smaller muscle groups / isolation exercises second. For instance, the chest press or bench press utilizes not only the chest but also the stabilizers su ch as triceps , shoulders and abdominals . It would be more efficient to start with the chest press first and triceps press / pull-down second. This is because the triceps have been pre-worked or warm-up during the chest press…therefore less time and eff ort would be needed to achieve overload during the triceps press / pull-down. Also, if smaller muscle groups are worked before larger muscle groups…i.e. arms before chest…the arms will tend to overcompensate for the chest and tire out or reach overload before the chest ever does. This gives the exerciser the illusion that they reached overload when in all actuality they have not. The chest would not be properly stimulated under such an exercise order. Exception: Large chest and small arms.