These ads for 'Charles Atlas' were ubiquitous in comic books in the old days. I was always a big guy, so I was not picked on too much that I can remember. But now that I have started to get involved at the YMCA with 'weight training' equipment... I have discovered that my entire upper body is very weak. Dynamic Tension was the name Charles Atlas gave to the system of exercises that he first popularized in the 1920s. I don't think that I am planning to hunt down the 'Charles Atlas Dynamic Tension Program' but I clearly have lots of work to do!
Thursday, was only the second day that I made an effort to do some 'strength training.' I have a plan for my cardio workout before I get involved with the CYBEX machines. I set the elliptical machine for 4:3 INTERVAL TRAINING SESSION, RESISTANCE=15, and INCLINE=15. A short 15 minutes workout, plus a 5 minute cooldown generated an output of 269 calories. As this becomes easier, I will continue to 'turn it up a notch.'
Thursday, I purposely tried three new machines that I had not sampled the day before: ARM CURL, ARM EXTENSION and LEG PRESS. Each machine was set to 50 lbs. The LEG PRESS was the easiest - I think my legs have the strongest most well-developed muscles in my body. For nearly 3 months, they have been benefitting from the walking and elliptical workouts. Before that, they were managing to support me when I was 309 lb. The ARM CURL and ARM EXTENSION machines were a different story. If I had any doubts about my upper body strength, they have been dispelled. I am very weak. I could barely finish my third set on either of these two machines. I did try very hard, I am simply not strong enough. In fact, after I (barely) finished my third repetition and got off the second machine, my arm was twitching and somewhat painful. That signaled to me that 'strength training' for the day was complete. OK, then, plenty of room to improve!
THURSDAY MENU
breakfast two poached eggs, oatmeal w/prune, two strips turkey 'bacon' 355 calories
lunch spinach salad w/roma tomato, BOWL OF CABBAGE SOUP 118 calories
dinner turkey sausage, spinach salad w/roma tomato, BOWL CABBAGE SOUP 283 calories
total calories 756 CALORIES
CALORIES BURNED
20 MINUTES ELLIPTICAL (incline 15, resistance 15) 4:3 interval session 269 CALORIES
weight training 3 machines, 3 sets of 10 reps CALORIES=?
NET CALORIES THURSDAY 487 CALORIES
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