Am I doing okay?

[hayesb]

I'm new and need to know if I'm doing this program okay. I'd appreciate any advice.

Here are my basics. I'm mid-40s, female. Kids, full time job. Not overweight, but wouldn't mind loosing 10 pounds, or moving 10 pounds of fat to muscle. I've never been a gym person. I don't like to exercise for the sake of exercise, but am happy to garden, walk, even stack firewood to get a workout. My goal is to build some muscle, feel more fit, get stronger, and increase my resting metabolism. I'd love to show off my arms in sleeveless tops this summer. My husband is a gym lover. He gets up at 5:30 every morning, beats up the cardio machines and measures his strength by his bench press... He's in very good shape, weighs the same as he did in high school, and enjoys the stress relief that his workout provides. To each their own, right?

I found Pushing Yourself to Power about a month ago. Seems to be a good fit for me.

My routine 6 days out of 7:
even days
Warm-Up Exercises
Furey Push-up
Furey Squat
Atlas Push-up
Abs CR-1 and 2
The chest section CH1-9

odd days
Warm-Up Exercises
Furey Push-up
Furey Squat
Atlas Push-up
Abs CR-1 and 2
DVR routine 5 heavy reps, one set

I try out one new exercise each day to learn about it and see if I can fit it into my routine.

Plus I take an intermediate level yoga class once a week.

My questions....
Is this enough?
How long does it take to see results?
I can do 5 Furey Push-ups, 40 Furey Squats, and 10 Atlas Push-ups. That hasn't changed since I started. Should I push myself to increase the number of each? I am trying to do a second set of them each day. I seem to get less fatigued if I do them without the other exercises. Is the second set better than increasing t he number of reps? Should I do the DVR exercises first, or the push-ups and squats?
Other advice/encouragement?

[gs300tx]

Thats actually pretty good! Just keep at it and the results will come, and with the type of workout that you have adopted it can be in many forms.
1) increase in strength
2) increase in stamina
3)your ability to finish your current workout in less time.(Time your self and see how long it takes you to workout)
You want to push your self, but never to the point of exhaustion, always listen to your body. If you want to challenge your self, slowly increase the reps on the push ups/ squats and the results will come!
Keep us posted on how things workout.

[Nathan]

As Gs300Tx said everything looks pretty good but please do yourself a favor and don't worry about your repetitions they will increase in time. The best things you could do right now is to make sure you are getting enough rest (this is just as important as exercising), eating right, and making sure you don't overtrain (overtraining will do absolutely nothing for you but set you back). God bless and All the best.


---Nathan

P.S. Keep us posted on your progress. :)

[Alan_OldStudent]

I'm new and need to know if I'm doing this program okay. I'd appreciate any advice.

Here are my basics. I'm mid-40s, female. Kids, full time job. Not overweight, but wouldn't mind loosing 10 pounds, or moving 10 pounds of fat to muscle. I've never been a gym person. I don't like to exercise for the sake of exercise, but am happy to garden, walk, even stack firewood to get a workout. My goal is to build some muscle, feel more fit, get stronger, and increase my resting metabolism. I'd love to show off my arms in sleeveless tops this summer. My husband is a gym lover. He gets up at 5:30 every morning, beats up the cardio machines and measures his strength by his bench press... He's in very good shape, weighs the same as he did in high school, and enjoys the stress relief that his workout provides. To each their own, right?

I found Pushing Yourself to Power about a month ago. Seems to be a good fit for me.

My routine 6 days out of 7:
even days
Warm-Up Exercises
Furey Push-up
Furey Squat
Atlas Push-up
Abs CR-1 and 2
The chest section CH1-9

odd days
Warm-Up Exercises
Furey Push-up
Furey Squat
Atlas Push-up
Abs CR-1 and 2
DVR routine 5 heavy reps, one set

I try out one new exercise each day to learn about it and see if I can fit it into my routine.

Plus I take an intermediate level yoga class once a week.

My questions....
Is this enough?
How long does it take to see results?
I can do 5 Furey Push-ups, 40 Furey Squats, and 10 Atlas Push-ups. That hasn't changed since I started. Should I push myself to increase the number of each? I am trying to do a second set of them each day. I seem to get less fatigued if I do them without the other exercises. Is the second set better than increasing t he number of reps? Should I do the DVR exercises first, or the push-ups and squats?
Other advice/encouragement?

Welcome Sister,

It sounds to me like you're doing great.

The only thing I could add is to make sure your workouts are enjoyable instead of an irksome chore.

That way, it will become a lifelong habit.

Regards,

Alan OldStudent

[Nathan]

The only thing I could add is to make sure your workouts are enjoyable instead of an irksome chore.

That way, it will become a lifelong habit.


This is so true Alan!

Hayesb,

When you exercise you need to enjoy it and not think of it as a chore. This way you are more likely to stick with and stay motivated. God bless.

---Nate

[hayesb]

Well, I am enjoying it, so that's good. Thanks for your encouragement! It will keep me going...

[kelbiz]

hayesb;
You're doing awesome! In a short time don't be suprised if your husband sees your great results and drops the weights (but not on his feet). There are quite a few ex-lifters here and we are very pleased with the results from this method of training. It would be cool for you both to train together. I wish you well.

Jack

[hayesb]

I agree with you Jack. He's got a bad shoulder that would benefit from Furley Push-ups. He's pretty tied into that he-man competitivness of the gym, though. Maybe someday he'll come around. Oh, and he did drop a weight on his big toe and lost the nail permanently! Ouch.

Go Yankees!

[April]

I'm new and need to know if I'm doing this program okay. I'd appreciate any advice.

Here are my basics. I'm mid-40s, female. Kids, full time job. Not overweight, but wouldn't mind loosing 10 pounds, or moving 10 pounds of fat to muscle. I've never been a gym person. I don't like to exercise for the sake of exercise, but am happy to garden, walk, even stack firewood to get a workout. My goal is to build some muscle, feel more fit, get stronger, and increase my resting metabolism. I'd love to show off my arms in sleeveless tops this summer. My husband is a gym lover. He gets up at 5:30 every morning, beats up the cardio machines and measures his strength by his bench press... He's in very good shape, weighs the same as he did in high school, and enjoys the stress relief that his workout provides. To each their own, right?

I found Pushing Yourself to Power about a month ago. Seems to be a good fit for me.

My routine 6 days out of 7:
even days
Warm-Up Exercises
Furley Push-up
Furley Squat
Atlas Push-up
Abs CR-1 and 2
The chest section CH1-9

odd days
Warm-Up Exercises
Furley Push-up
Furley Squat
Atlas Push-up
Abs CR-1 and 2
DVR routine 5 heavy reps, one set

I try out one new exercise each day to learn about it and see if I can fit it into my routine.

Plus I take an intermediate level yoga class once a week.

My questions....
Is this enough?
How long does it take to see results?
I can do 5 Furley Push-ups, 40 Furley Squats, and 10 Atlas Push-ups. That hasn't changed since I started. Should I push myself to increase the number of each? I am trying to do a second set of them each day. I seem to get less fatigued if I do them without the other exercises. Is the second set better than increasing t he number of reps? Should I do the DVR exercises first, or the push-ups and squats?
Other advice/encouragement?

hayesb,
Welcome! Welcome! There are a few other women in the forum besides myself, but I wish there were more. I am so glad you have joined. It is great that you have found PYTP and this site! A little about me - I am 49, married with 5 kids, also work 7 hours/day (sometimes more).

I started on this program a few months ago. I had been working out with dumbbells for about 5 years and wondered why I wasn't seeing any change in my figure. The long and short of it is that when I found John's book The Miracle Seven and started doing the Tiger moves I saw an amazingly rapid change in my shape. Doing the moves while at the same time flexing very hard is what I think made all the difference. Now I am doing one set of 10 reps every day at high tension and that seems to work well in terms of maintaining muscle mass. I won't list my entire routine here, but I'll just say that I do the Tiger moves every day along with the Furey push-ups, Atlas push-ups, Panther Stretch push-ups, and half-squats, then I add in another bunch of exercises from one of the sections in the book. It sounds to me like if you continue with what you are doing and really focus on the tension, both in the arms and legs, you will start seeing results. For a while I was overtraining. After I stopped pushing myself so hard, I actually could do better at many things. I would say, do what is comfortable and if something starts to hurt, then ease up. I actually have slightly pulled muscles in my neck from tensing up too much, so I am careful to not cross that threshold.

Also, without trying I lost a few pounds and lost so many inches on my waist and hips that I need a belt with my slacks and had to buy new skirts. I think I didn't lose more weight because what I was losing in fat I was gaining in muscle. The main thing to focus on is not what the scale says, but how you are fitting into your clothes and how you feel about how you look in the mirror.

Is this enough?

For starters, it looks great. See how you feel as you go along. You will learn new exercises in this forum too which you may want to incorporate into your routine. John just posted an exercise called the Table-top push-up, which I have found hits muscles like nothing else does, so I have added that to my every-day routine.

How long does it take to see results?

As I mentioned above, work on the tension and let us know how that goes for you.

I can do 5 Furey Push-ups, 40 Furley Squats, and 10 Atlas Push-ups. That hasn't changed since I started. Should I push myself to increase the number of each? I am trying to do a second set of them each day. I seem to get less fatigued if I do them without the other exercises. Is the second set better than increasing t he number of reps? Should I do the DVR exercises first, or the push-ups and squats?

For myself, I like to do sets of push-ups throughout the day. There is one day a week that is my "push-up" day when I do all the kinds of push-ups as my extra exercises, then I do more sets throughout the day. On that day I might try to see what my max is per set. But generally I try to do more sets than more reps/set. I have not been able to ascertain on this forum whether, for example, one set of 100 is better than 10 sets of 10 in terms of building muscle. Maybe someone can answer that for us. I could never do a set of 100, so I do more sets with lesser reps. In any case, whatever I am doing is working because I have more muscle than I've ever had before.

I think that as you go along and do these exercises, you will find that with time your reps will increase. My experience is that it takes time - and don't worry about how long it takes - but you will see increases in what you are capable of. Yesterday, for example, I really surprised myself by being able to do an isometric wall sit for 1 minute 15 seconds. I could have done more but my legs were starting to hurt and I don't like to go until my legs are shaking. But just a few weeks ago, I could hardly do 15 seconds. So you will see gains as you faithfully do what you can each day. Also, when I started I could only do push-ups from the knees, and now I can do full-body push-ups of all the different sorts, minimum 10 reps/set, or for some variations 15 is more the norm, although not the max. For me, that is something I have never been able to do and never thought I would be able to do.

Some days are better than others. It is disappointing to have a lower achievement day after setting some new records, but I have gotten used to that.

I personally start with the DVR exercises before moving on to the push-ups and squats. I have no reason for doing it in that order. Maybe I just like to get my blood flowing with the high tension and the deep breathing in the Tiger Moves. Then I feel energized for the rest of the routine.

Let us know how it is going for you and if you have any other questions. And again, welcome, and I wish you much success.

[Kevin Nickerson]

hayesb I have nothing really to add,I just think it's great that more ladies are joining the forum.Welcome aboard this is a great place to be and learn from everyone-Kevin

[Aaron Hoot]

Welcome sis! I am Stacy and my husband's name is Aaron. I post every once in a while but we share the same username. April and I are sort of in the same boat. I have 9 children and we as a family like to do this workout together almost everyday. Keep us posted on your progress!

Stacy