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Fitness Weekly Discussion
What have you been doing lately for your own fitness? Try out any new programs or exercises? Have any questions for others about your training? Want to vent about poor behavior in the gym? Started a new diet or have a new recipe you want to share? Anything else health and wellness related?
Have been doing a lot of cardio lately, mostly the stair machine at the gym. I work from home and it's right down the street so I usually try to go during my lunch break. Can't stand the gym in the mornings/evenings when it's super crowded.
I got a Galaxy Watch7 when they were having what seemed like a good deal last year. Never really had a fitness tracker but I'd recommend it for sure. I was on the stair machine one day I accidentally tapped it on the NFC reader and got prompted to pair, had no idea that was even a thing 😅. Tracks the whole workout like floors climbed, avg watts, heart rate throughout, and a bunch of other stuff. The real game changer for me was I can set a heart rate target on the actual machine and the watch reports my heart rate to it without having to grab the handle sensors. The stairs will go faster or slower depending on my current heart rate vs the target rate. Now I can just pop in the headphones and drone out to an audiobook or podcast. No stair screen fiddling required, just mindless climbing.
I try to go every weekday and usually end up doing 100~150 floors, 30~60 min, and try to keep it in zone 3 or 4 heartrate-wise depending on work schedule and energy level. (Plus walking the dog a mile or two after work) Definitely the most consistent I've ever been with working out. Seems silly but I feel so much more accomplished and motivated when I know it's all getting tracked to my fitness app and I can see a little graph, track my improvements, etc.
Want to try and add some kind of upper body and core workouts as well. I used to try and do strength training and lifting but would always get impatient and end up sore and burn myself out. Really interested in rowing machines since they are supposed to be a proper full body workout. Just hoping I can figure out good enough form that I can eventually drone out like on the stairs lol
As I’m getting older (mid 40s), I’m thinking more and more about TRT and other hormone level adjustments. I’m definitely feeling like I’m running low on stamina, despite being in the gym training basically every day, multiple times a day. Anyone have any experiences with that, good or bad?
It's entirely possible supplemental testosterone is needed in your case, obviously I don't have access to your blood.
However, I would also suggest proper rest.
You mentioned working out a bunch. Are you getting good sleep?
I like to follow the 3/2/1 rule, though the 1 sometimes doesn't always make it, haha!
No eating or working out 3 hours before bed.
No drinking any liquid 2 hours before bed.
No screens 1 hour before bed.
And have a set sleep schedule.
I'm usually in bed by 9, wake at 5.
That means dinner is at 5:30, but lunch is my biggest meal of the day anyway.
I make sure to drink my 16-20 cups of water by 7pm. This is actually difficult without being intentional about drinking throughout the day. However, I'm hydrated and I don't have to pee in the middle of the night.
I find my sleep is very restorative on nights I follow this, compared to the occasional night I don't. Helps keep my energy levels up the next day and I feel much better!
Sleep's a challenging one. I can't get out of the gym until 8:30 anyway just due to class schedules, and I have kids. I try to balance it out by napping in the middle of the day.
How does one go about testosterone level testing?
I've read that testosterone supplementation is generally frowned upon by doctors. At least in the US, my understanding is that diminishing testosterone levels is considered "normal aging" resulting in supplementation being contraindicated.
Have others found different?
Ask your doctor for a measurement. If it’s under a certain amount, it can be considered medically necessary. Some doctors would recommend that almost everybody be on TRT — that’s a more controversial position.
Who do you see for this testing? My GP said he lacks the background to handle this. He suggested my urologist? Seemed a strange choice. I figured endocrinologist but I'm not an MD so...
My family doctor sent me for blood tests — no specialist needed. I haven’t gotten my results back yet though, so I don’t know what he will recommend. Maybe he will forward me to a specialist for analysis.
Huh. I thought it odd that mine wouldn't just order the test.
I watched this hour and half long conversation about weight lifting yesterday. It's from an internet/culture/politics podcast, but it's 90% about fitness. Nothing too crazy in there.
https://youtu.be/Ld2Jr0KUCPw?si=LEGn7g6Z8cHhSCt-
I never took weight lifting seriously enough to really change my body type, so it was interesting to hear this guy talk about diet, and bulking, and cutting, and also the risks of disordered eating, and drug use. Just kind of a whole world I never got into. But it makes me want to set some higher goals for myself. He sounds like he's doing it right.
I started doing a custom upper body resistance workout on my Tonal that was designed by my PT for muscle growth. I got in 2 of my desired 3 weekly workouts; however, I tell myself 2 is better than the zero I was doing before.
I tried drop sets on the first workout this week. I immediately found that drop sets are for more advanced athletes than me. Ow.
The second day, I did the 10/10/8s (warmup/normal weight/ditto) that my PT prescribed. Solid workout with good fatigue at the end and little DOMs the next day.
Hoping to keep it up this week!
The half-marathon I've been training for was yesterday! It's all over. My target was under 2:00:00; my chip time was 2:01:45. Lots of little things conspired against me: I entered the port-o-potty line 20 minutes before the start--it ended up taking 18 minutes. So I started far in the back of the pack and spent two miles dodging people trying to find the pacer I planned to keep up with (which clearly I never did). I retied a shoe that was too tight. The weather was not the greatest, and the course was more hilly than I was expecting. But anyways the goal served its purpose, which was to give me a reason to exercise. I'm a little sore, but I'm happy to be done with running, at least until I come up with a new fitness goal (which may or may not be running--I'm of two minds).