Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Work your age


This 54-year young middle-age man has been told more than once to act his age. Seems like I’m a rebel in remission and a 16-year old kid in remission, capable of relapse on a moment’s notice in response to an opportunity to sink to the lowest common denominator. It’s something for me to work on in my lifelong journey of personal development.

Well I got this bright idea inspired from the reminder to act my age and that is to work my age in a workout; that’s what I did on Monday afternoon at my gym. My workout consisted of a flexibility and stretching warm-up, followed by a strength workout and concluded with a cardio closer. All three components consisted of 54 reps. Here’s a recap of what I did:

Flexibility and stretching warm-up – shoulder dislocates/overhead squat combo using a PVC pipe x 54 reps followed by 4-count cherry pickers x 54 reps.

Strength – squat cleans for 18 sets x 3 reps with these weight (in lbs.) - 95-95-115-115-135-145-145-145-145-145-145-145-145-135-115-115-95-95.

Cardio closer – 2-handed kettlebell swings with a 24kg kettlebell – 3 sets of 18 reps completed in 3:28.

This workout took a little longer than one hour to complete because some gym chit-chat got in the way and slowed things down. I suppose in keeping with my workout theme that I should have tried to complete it in 54 minutes.

I like this work my age workout and will probably do more of them in the future. The trick is to pick the right combination of exercises and loads to make it challenging yet achievable so for a 20-something that means heavier loads and greater intensities because you are only doing 20-something reps.

Give it a try and tell me what you think, and don’t forget to act your age and work your age.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

5 comments:

Charles Long said...

I refuse to act my age. I'm still 22 at heart.

Pierini Fitness said...

Look in the mirror Charles and you'll see a 16-year old kid.

Anonymous said...

pierini is an inspiration to all of us middle-aged fitness enthusiasts.

MBS

Pierini Fitness said...

Well thank you MBS and thanks for the visit. What a pleasant surprise and a joy to read at 5:10 a.m. in the morning while still carrying some early-morning middle-age man brain fog from a great night's sleep.

Have a great day!

JME said...

I have made a similar recommendation many times to those needing to get into (or back into) shape.

Everyday do:
Your age in push-ups
Your age in sit-ups/crunches
Your age in minutes walking/running
(or Double your age in squats)

Break up into sets as necessary.

It's basic, but effective.

Joel