Daily Workout - Arms at Home Gym

I got a nice full Arms workout in today. I even got some Cardio, Abs and Stretching in. I took it pretty easy on the Cardio as it's been a long time since I did any Elliptical work!!

• Biceps: Pulley Bar Curls - three sets
• Biceps: Dumbbell Curls - three sets
• Triceps: Pulley extensions - 3 sets
• Triceps narrow pushups - 3 sets
• Abs: Misc leg raises
• 6 Minutes of Elliptical at end of workout.

Total workout time: About 1 hour.

Daily Workout - Yoga at MMA Gym

I went to another Yoga Class at my MMA Gym, it felt better this time around. Things are starting to loosen up a bit, the trick with Yoga is that your body wants to fight the direction you are asking it to go. It knows that if you go too far in that direction it will get hurt, so it sends out pain messages not to go there. You have to gently work into the moves so your body understands that it won't get hurt, once this happens it starts too loosen up, the pain goes away and you get more stretch. You just have to take your time, relax and wait for your body to let go...

Daily Workout - Yoga at MMA Gym

My MMA gym is offering Yoga classes twice a week (Tuesdays & Thursdays) and as I am not so flexible, this gives me the opportunity to work on my flexibility and learn some new exercises I can incorporate during my home workouts.

Yoga is more than just stretching. It's also about relaxation, balance and body awareness. Our instructor summed it up nicely by thanking us at the end of our Yoga session for investing this time in our health. In fact any time you do some sort of exercise, you are investing in your health. And when you think about it, isn't your health the most important thing you can invest in. So why don't we all do this more? Oh yah, it takes time and energy! All I can say to that is it's time and energy well invested.

I found this particular Yoga session to be fairly low intensity and more focused on proper technique, which was good for me as I am not a Yoga regular by any means.

I think Yoga is for everyone, it improves your strength, flexibility, balance and breathing. If you are religious and maybe you have been tuned off by the meditation side of Yoga going against your religious beliefs, most Yoga these days is meditating for the relaxation side of things. You can meditate about whatever you want. Personally I was thinking about being able to do some of these moves one day.

By the way, here is a good Yoga YouTube Channel!

Update: I decided to do an evening Back Workout - I used my Smith Machine pulleys to do Wide Pull Downs, Narrow Pull Downs and Seated Rows. I worked in some of my Yoga hip stretching (I learned  this morning) between sets and I finished off with Abs. Total time about 35 minutes.

YouTube Video - Fitness Training Over 40

When you hit 40 and beyond you can't expect your body to react like it did when you where in your 20s or earlier.

That's not to say you can't get a great workout or even get in the best shape of your life after 40! You just need to make sure not to over-do-it, listen to what your body is telling you, give it plenty of rest and don't make an injury worse by aggravating it by doing the wrong exercises.

Try changing up your program and finding alternatives that are more comfortable for your body and its quirks. Always start out light, even if you have to add a few sets in before you move up to heavier weights. And make sure you don't go too heavy and cause an injury that could put you out of action for a few weeks or even months, it's just not worth it in the end. Pushing mid level weight can build muscle just as well.

Make sure to stretch and not before you workout, do it during. The best time is right after you have done a light warmup set. After you finish up an exercise, stretch that muscle a bit more.

You do need to push yourself but there will be times when you just need to take some time off, you'll know, just don't take to much time off or it can get really hard to get back in the routine. I like to take two to three days off when I'm felling burned out, any more and for me it gets hard to jump back in.

There are some other points in the video so make sure to listen to it all and keep coming back for more Vids and Blog Posts...