Fitness

July 16/03 Still going to Dalplex 2 or 3 times per week for a half hour to forty five minute weight routine. Also playing some table tennis and ocassional badminton. Haven't played squash for a few months but plan to get back into it, although the hips are not up to too much hard core court action. Have been going out for weekend hikes the past few weeks. The kids are getting to enjoy it too, so we'll try to make that a sure thing every weekend.

April 15/03 Still going to the gym when a very busy schedule allows. I find the weights are still light but have increased by about 20%, which is the whole point I suppose.

Feb 16/03 I've given up on the routine below. It's too hard to carry that big ball around the Dalplex. Getting through the rotating door with the big ball is like getting around with a huge jelly belly. What I am doing instead is working through a series of exercises on the free weights and machines. I'm learning to bench press properly but am still working with fairly light free weights. The most important thing is that I am still going to the gym at least three times a week.

What? This is my formal routine. It's augmented by walking back and forth to work each day, approximately 4kms each way for a total of 8km, plus squash approximately two times per week at 45 minutes per session. I also spend some time on the track, but am not conditioned enough or sophisticated enough in the running routine to keep records. It's not important. So long as it feels like a challenge there will be a benefit to aerobic fitness capacity.

Why? Having spent most of my adult life as a smoking, over drinking, underactive sports-spastic sedentary office worker I feel a sense of urgency to get in shape. As a result I have been steadily increasing my fitness knowledge and activity level. The routine below came out of a couple of meetings with personal trainer at Dalplex. He works with the varsity teams around Halifax and is a certified strenth and conditioning trainer.

Tip: At first I though the Swiss ball, or stability ball, was one of those goofy gimicks, but after using it during a workout I can see it gives a great advantage in exercising. It forces you to continually work the abdominals and back muscles with fine control-type flexing. The ball gives a very high quality edge to a workout. It forces you to train in an unstable environment and helps develop stabilizing technique in both muscalature and neural control mechanisms. Stanford University has a great page about the Swiss ball.

Routine:

• Minimum 3 times per week for 1 hour
• Optimized for light upper body strength training, lateral leg strength for squash
  
  

  	Exercise	Reps	Sets	Reps Max	Load (Feb 1)	March 15 Load
  1	lat pull down	12	3	15	49 lbs (7 plates)
  2	butterfly	12	3	15
  3	bench press dumbells on ball	12	3	15	25 lbs
  4	squat with barbell	12	3	15	20 lbs
  5	lunge with bicep curl	10	3	12	20 lbs
  6	ball - back static hold	30 sec	4		stability ball
  7	ball - front static hold	30 sec	4		stability ball
  7	ball - ab curl	12	3		stability ball
  	Stretches
  1	ball - leg side roll	10 per side	3		stability ball	pre and post squash
  2	step - hip flex and gluetus	10 per side			step or box
  3	curl up	10 per side + doubles			floor
  4	side lunge	10 per side			floor