Get Fit, Stay Fit, Feel Good - 2026

[Sharxfan]

@Ridley That sounds like an awesome Saturday of outdoors fun.

@Sharxfan how long is each day?? I am stuffing in a bunch of stuff all at once so to speak so upper body is a solid 90min. Lower is about the same, but includes 20 on the bike or combo with the treadmill which I just started after PT Lady suggested mixing it up.

I took yesterday off as Friday's leg day put a hurt on that specific bootie spot. I think the deadlifts (even though very light) and lunges took a toll. Still sore so hitting another upper body before lower tomorrow.

I usually strive to be at the gym at least 1.5 hours (about 1 lifting and 30 minutes treadmill) but have 2 hours open. Not sure how long the new routine will take, website says about 1 hour but I am figuring at least 1.5 for the first week or so based on getting the routine down and about 30 on treadmill until I get the lifting portion time lower then I will increase treadmill.

 

[stangmx13]

So seeing as I change my workout routines faster than some people change underwear here is the latest installment of I am bored let's switch things up.

been feeling like I am in a rut and not really making gains so I am going to switch this week to a 4 day routine doing two upper and two lower exercise sets per week. Going to do the weight pushing stuff then I am going to hit the treadmill for some high incline slow medium pace workouts. so without further ta-doo here it is....
Monday - upper

Bench Press	3	6-12
Barbell Row	3	6-12
Seated Overhead Dumbbell Press	3	8-12
Pec Dec - 3 sec negative	2	10-12
V-Bar Lat Pull Down - 3 sec negative	2	10-12
Side Lateral Raise	2	10-15
Cable Tricep Extensions - 3 sec negative	3	8-12
Cable Curls - 3 sec negative	3	8-12

Tuesday lower

Squats	3	6-12
Stiff Leg Deadlifts	3	8-12
Standing Calf Raise	3	10-15
Leg Extensions - 3 sec negative	2	10-12
Leg Curl - 3 sec negative	2	10-12
Seated Calf Raise - 3 sec negative	2	10-12
Cable Crunch - 3 sec negative	3	10-12
Cable Pull Through w/Rope	3	10-12

Wednesday - REST

Thursday upper

Incline Dumbbell Bench Press	3	8-12
Rack Deadlifts - 3" to 5" off ground	3	5-8
Military Press	3	8-12
Machine Chest Press - 3 sec negative	2	8-12
Pull Ups or Machine Rows - 3 sec negative	2	8-12
Machine Shoulder Press - 3 sec negative	2	8-12
Dumbbell Curls - 3 sec negative	3	8-12
Machine Tricep Dip - 3 sec negative	3	8-12

Friday Lower

Leg Press	3	10-20
Dumbbell Stiff Leg Deadlifts	3	8-12
Leg Press Calf Raise	3	10-15
Hack Squat	2	8-12
Seated Leg Curl - 3 sec negative	2	10-12
Seated Calf Raise - 3 sec negative	2	10-12
Planks	3	60 sec
Hyperextension	3	10-12

This was a four day split I found online that looks good for me. I can do most of the exercises on here so that should not be an issue. Looking forward to the change and to see if I can get myself out of the rut I seem to be in weight wise. I think the first 2 weeks will be getting to know the new routine and figuring out what weights work best for each exercise but after that probably a 12 week cycle then reevaluate and see where I am at with this thing.

Wow that's a big way to get off your plateau.

 

[Sharxfan]

Wow that's a big way to get off your plateau.

It looks like a lot of load but I usually do about 3 sets for like 4 exercises so adding maybe 2 or 3 more total. Hopefully I don't kill myself but it looks like I can group them to do more at one time.

 

[budman]

Hopefully not.

An OG went down in a cardio class at the gym today. Fire Department, paramedics etc. he looked to be OK but they bagged and tagged him for hospital delivery.

One dude asked me if I ever had to deal with someone in class getting hurt or hitting the floor. I never did. Very glad as it would be scary as an instructor.

 

[Sharxfan]

Hopefully not.

An OG went down in a cardio class at the gym today. Fire Department, paramedics etc. he looked to be OK but they bagged and tagged him for hospital delivery.

One dude asked me if I ever had to deal with someone in class getting hurt or hitting the floor. I never did. Very glad as it would be scary as an instructor.

Hopefully I avoid that scenario I would definitely have to change gyms at that point.

 

[Holeshot]

It looks like a lot of load but I usually do about 3 sets for like 4 exercises so adding maybe 2 or 3 more total. Hopefully I don't kill myself but it looks like I can group them to do more at one time.

The circuit stuff is great, IMO. If you run a wearable and look at zones/ HR/ metrics, you'll notice how much of a cardio load you can get with non stop resistance programs. I use ab, low back, corrective exercises as fillers. In a 60 minute workout, I can mimic a stand-up race (which is only about 10-15 minutes) or road race (about 10-12 mins).

I've moved to a higher insanity resistance portion of my program where I'm blending heavier, less rep lifts (to MF Muscle failure) in the first half of the workout and shifting to 8-10 reps with 50% drop sets for the next two sets, until FF (form failure). My workout got really stagnant, and this helped a ton to push way more blood into the muscle. Harder and easier to not get distracted...the program is gnarly and I dig that about it. A bit harder to work the abs/corrective into it, but not impossible...just more fatigue, later in the program. Let us know how your program's going...change is hard cause the first few runs through a workout are inefficient and scattered (for me), but well needed.

 

[Sharxfan]

All I can say is holy shit. That upper workout for Monday wiped me out completely. Took about 1.5 hours to do but I am still working out the rotation and weights to do recommended reps per set. I went way down on weight per exercise but I feel more fatigued than I did with isolation exercises and way more weight. I mean every upper muscle is pooped out which feels awesome but sucks at the same time. The 3 second negative rep exercises made it so much more challenging. I also threw in some forearm exercises at the end to really kill those mofos which worked better than anticipated.

I think tonights lower exercises will preclude me doing treadmill work as I haven't worked on my lower body for a bit so I am anticipating major noodleage in my legs pretty quickly based on my upper set experience last night with muscles I work a lot more. I may be crawling to my car afterwards.

 

[stangmx13]

My last weekend of training was kind of a whirlwind.

Thurs was the final power test - 1min all out followed by 90sec all out intervals. I smashed the 1min, getting 589w & adding 40w to my lifetime PR. Then I died at the 90sec intervals. The first one I tried to pace over 500w but petered out to 400w. The second I tried to pace at 480w and absolutely died. I was panting after 60sec and had to give up with 15sec left. The 3rd I paced at 400w and survived. The 4th I managed 430w. This is probably the first interval set I've failed at in a long time. But maybe that was the point. My Functional Reserve Capacity ended up being 18.2kJ. (589-285)*60/1000 =18.2. So I can burn 19Cal over my FTP before my body gives up and I needs to recover.

Saturday was 3.5hrs with 5x 30sec sprints. It's kinda fun to sprinkle big sprints into a long ride. I look for an open rode with no lights or cars, hit my lap button to give myself a 10sec countdown, spin up 2-3sec, then hammer it. Perferrably it's a 2-3% uphill, but I did manage my best on dead flat. You can see my prev PR of 658w below. Every single one of my sprints was well over that. My lowest was 740w and the highest at 792w. Honestly, I felt superhuman doing these. So fun.

Then Sunday was a 4.5hr endurance ride... and I was dead. I had nothing left after 2 days of sprinting. My legs were slow and weak starting the ride. Most of the time I can ride at a chill pace and they wake up after 90min at most. No go. No amount of sugar, salt, or water accomplished anything. So I cut the ride a little short and "only" did 3.5hrs. My turn-around point was pretty far from home, otherwise I probably would have cut it even shorter.

So 2 wins and 2 failures for the training. Not bad at all. Up next is a little more short-track MTB racing on Thurs. Hopefully these workouts set me up well for that.

Most of the training software platforms have some comparisons between their users. Strava claims my 1min power is "World-class", which is categorically false. Intervals.icu seems to have better comparisons. If I compare to all their male 40+ athletes (39k people), my results in watts/kg are solid. I'm in the 95th percentile for quite a few of the durations.

If I compare to categories created by Dr Andy Coggan who is internationally well-known in this space, I'm a bit further down. I suspect this one is more valid when it comes to races, especially those that include elite athletes.

 

[Mike95060]

God damn, seeing "noob" on that chart is rather devastating. Really impressive work.

Robert, does your mental health yo-yo at all with your training? Any correlations you have noticed? I hope that question isn't too personal. If you want to PM an answer, or ignore the question totally, feel free.

In my own experience, how the thoughts feel vs how the body feels don't always line up. Ever find yourself asking the big, "why am I doing this?" and not getting a tremendously satisfying answer?

 

[stangmx13]

The mind and the body never line up for me. I tend to keep my expectations a little low so that my legs can surprise me. I blame a lot of the good surprises on my coach and the plan. We are doing things well, so there are far fewer bad days. For ex, I didnt feel that good going into the 20min FTP test. My legs were a little sore from lifting the Monday before and I was a little apprehensive. But we did my favorite warm-up and it went amazing. So ya.

I think I'm really good at explaining away the bad days and looking forward to the good days. If I can find a reason for the bad, I can fix it or not do it again or work on it. That helps me look forward to the next workout or next race. It keeps me sane, even when the bad days show up during a race. Sometimes I have a good cry after things go terribly during a race - it helps me get over the disappointment. And I always have a good cry when things go amazing at races, kinda like how ppl cry at weddings .

Perhaps one thing that helps in races is that I'm still mostly racing myself. I don't have a consistent frame of reference like the pros. That gives me more opportunity to inflate my perception of my results or explain away the bad, lol. And bike racing disappointment has not been as bad as moto racing disappointment. Some of those MotoAmerica crashes really messed with me. Perhaps it was because moto racing was so less frequent than riding my bike - way fewer highs to offset the potential lows. When I have a bad bicycle race, I can still enjoy riding my bike 2-3 days later*.

Sometimes the utter exhaustion gets to me. Sunday definitely had some moments of "why the f am i doing this". Some bad races have that. Burnout from racing too often has that as well. But I have yet to have that feeling for more than a few rest days. Dylan Johnson's downward spiral has not happened to me (yet, knock on wood). I've never had months of "getting weaker", just a few off days. I pop a few iron pills, I do a few chill rides, I open the legs up, and I get back to it.

*Except when I break myself. The last collarbone break was too many weeks of frustration.

 

[stangmx13]

New science for crampers…

Finally watched this. Cool to see more support for what I’ve heard and been passing on. It’s also cool to see more info about the mechanism and why pickle juice may work.

 

[Mike95060]

Same guy talking about cadence. So many ways to push pedals.

Am I crazy for being interested in track cycling?

 

[Sharxfan]

Why god do I hate myself so much. I hurt in places i have not hurt before and didn't know could hurt.

Lower day was about as bad as I expected. I hate squats because due to some shoulder injuries the bar resting across my back is painful normally. I put a pad on the bar for the middle of my back but that mofo hurt worse than just the bar did. So I did just the bar and tried rolling it a little lower down from the top of my shoulder and it seemed okay but am worried if I can sustain that form when I start doing heavier weights but I guess time will tell. Got through them barely with only like 30lbs on the bar I am such a squat weakling but figure it should ramp up quick once my body gets used to it.

Once again the negative rep sets really put the suck in suckage. Just walking from machine to machine was like the trials of Job but managed to not embarass myself to badly. Not sure I really did the cable crunch correctly will need to review some videos and correct my form as needed but got through it.

Last but not least was the cable pull through. Let me tell you if you ever wanted to feel like you are doing a pornstar tryout at the gym for all to see then the cable pull through is for you. I am just gald there are not any kids at my gym. I mean other than looking like you are doing a porn shoot it really does hit the glutes pretty hard but not gonna lie felt kind of dirty doing them.

So got through 2 days of the new workout really hope I can recover enought today to feel good about hitting the upper rotation again tomorrow. Wish me luck and a never ending supply of ibuprofen.

Oh yeah @budman no ambulance for me so I guess I get to stay at this gym.

 

[Mario]

New science for crampers…

Great share @Mike95060 ! More datapoints to fight cramping issues!

Here is an update since my last posts. First the result: success-ish at completing a coastal century! Last time I attempted this, stopped at 9hr mark and 80miles, had a friend pick me up. This time I was able to complete the ride at 100miles and ~8000ft elevation in 7:30hrs and no calling anyone to pick my up

The good: couple of things I did before attempting this ride, 1) I finally got a bike fit and it made a HUGE difference. My saddle was low, my bars too wide and too high, cleats in the wrong position, and a few more adjustments. During the bike fit, the lady that did the fit took a video from behind and tells me "do you know your butt is over an inch off the center of the saddle?" Once this was fixed, the pain on my left knee went away, imagine that! Bike fitting was worth every penny. 2) following @stangmx13 recommendation, added fueling to all rides over 1hr long and it made a significant difference in how far/hard I could go and cramping! For this ride I consumed 60gr/hr of maltodextrose/fructose starting at 1hr mark. What was difficult this time is the amount of fuel I had to consume: 8hr ride = 1lb of sugar!!! I premixed and split into little baggies that I stuffed in a bag and mixed with water along the ride. A bit hard on the stomach but no way I could have done 8hrs without fueling my legs/body.

The bad: while both fitting and fueling improved my riding significantly, it did not turn me in to an athlete overnight. This ride was 7:30hr moving, 8:45hr elapsed. Out of those 1hr 15min stopped, about half of the stops for water/fueling, and the other half were spent on stopping coming up on the last big climb on Alpine Rd. Here is where cramping came back and I had to dial it back, stopping every so often to let the muscles relax. I was still fueling at this point but it didn't seem to make much difference other than my stomach feeling all weird. After the final descent, I was left with 20 flat miles to complete and there was a lot of cramping to fight. Had to drop my effort/speed considerably just to be able to complete the ride. The interesting thing is that cramping came in waves, as in I would go for a few miles fighting cramps and then a few miles where I could go back to a normal pace and feel nothing. I took a few pointers from @Mike95060 's video and I will give them a try.

I really enjoy reading this thread, learning a lot from all of your posts.

 

[Climber]

The circuit stuff is great, IMO. If you run a wearable and look at zones/ HR/ metrics, you'll notice how much of a cardio load you can get with non stop resistance programs. I use ab, low back, corrective exercises as fillers. In a 60 minute workout, I can mimic a stand-up race (which is only about 10-15 minutes) or road race (about 10-12 mins).

I've moved to a higher insanity resistance portion of my program where I'm blending heavier, less rep lifts (to MF Muscle failure) in the first half of the workout and shifting to 8-10 reps with 50% drop sets for the next two sets, until FF (form failure). My workout got really stagnant, and this helped a ton to push way more blood into the muscle. Harder and easier to not get distracted...the program is gnarly and I dig that about it. A bit harder to work the abs/corrective into it, but not impossible...just more fatigue, later in the program. Let us know how your program's going...change is hard cause the first few runs through a workout are inefficient and scattered (for me), but well needed.

I've been doing circuits for years, no down time as I leave one and go to the next muscle group while the one just worked is recovering. I can get 26-28 sets done in close to 1/2 hour with a nice elevated heart rate.

 

[Climber]

Finally watched this. Cool to see more support for what I’ve heard and been passing on. It’s also cool to see more info about the mechanism and why pickle juice may work.

That is in line with my knowledge. In the track world, we follow the most common causes:
1. Low on electrolytes? Take Electrolytes
2.Dehydrated? Drink Water
3. Muscle fatigue? Give them a rest.

 

[Mike95060]

^ Outstanding Ride Mario! I don't think I could sustain that pace over 100 miles. With PR's!!! Nice Work.

@stangmx13 I really appreciate your input on the mental/emotional side of sports and training. I'll admit I have been struggling with the big, "Why am I doing this?" questions lately. For the first time in 6 years I didn't make the start for a triathlon. I was supposed to do Escape the Cape in my hometown this year. I couldn't get my life together enough to make it out. I keep asking myself, "why was it so difficult to get motivated for the event and pull it off?" Long distance travel is defiantly a factor but, if I'm being brutally honest with myself, I just didn't want it enough. When I first started, just completing a triathlon was enough of a draw for me to do the work. Race day emotions are amazing. Highest highs, verry low lows, anticipation, excitement, its EVERYTHING, including tears, all wrapped up into one moment. The realization that I probably won't have that this year is fucking with me a bit. I suppose I could find a local tri but again, it's not quite speaking to me the way it did. Now that I know I can complete them, there is only improvement in results that feels like it could be enough to make the work "worth it." I don't think that's enough for me. Maybe I need the risk of TOTAL failure and embarrassment to whip me into making the line. I dunno. I'm searching a bit to find the fix. Maybe it's bike races. Maybe it's trying something completely new. (looking at you track cyclists.) Maybe it's training with a group or getting a coach to see bigger improvements and that will make triathlon exciting again. Maybe I just need to blast PED's until I want to rip my own legs off. That's defiantly exciting!

When I think about where my body was when I first started dabbling in endurance sports vs where it is now I do feel proud. I don't want to lose the meager fitness I have worked for. I know I won't keep at it hard enough without something that excites me to work for though. I'm currently looking for that. This thread series (we can call it a series right? One a year?) is pure internet gold IMHO. I appreciate everyone who posts about their struggles and their successes.

 

[stangmx13]

That is in line with my knowledge. In the track world, we follow the most common causes:
1. Low on electrolytes? Take Electrolytes
2.Dehydrated? Drink Water
3. Muscle fatigue? Give them a rest.

That’s not what the video portrayed. Your list is dated.

 

[Ridley]

@Mike95060, I’d volunteer to come to your house and whip you in the ass with a wet towel if that will help with motivation.

 

[stangmx13]

Great share @Mike95060 ! More datapoints to fight cramping issues!

Here is an update since my last posts. First the result: success-ish at completing a coastal century! Last time I attempted this, stopped at 9hr mark and 80miles, had a friend pick me up. This time I was able to complete the ride at 100miles and ~8000ft elevation in 7:30hrs and no calling anyone to pick my up

The good: couple of things I did before attempting this ride, 1) I finally got a bike fit and it made a HUGE difference. My saddle was low, my bars too wide and too high, cleats in the wrong position, and a few more adjustments. During the bike fit, the lady that did the fit took a video from behind and tells me "do you know your butt is over an inch off the center of the saddle?" Once this was fixed, the pain on my left knee went away, imagine that! Bike fitting was worth every penny. 2) following @stangmx13 recommendation, added fueling to all rides over 1hr long and it made a significant difference in how far/hard I could go and cramping! For this ride I consumed 60gr/hr of maltodextrose/fructose starting at 1hr mark. What was difficult this time is the amount of fuel I had to consume: 8hr ride = 1lb of sugar!!! I premixed and split into little baggies that I stuffed in a bag and mixed with water along the ride. A bit hard on the stomach but no way I could have done 8hrs without fueling my legs/body.

The bad: while both fitting and fueling improved my riding significantly, it did not turn me in to an athlete overnight. This ride was 7:30hr moving, 8:45hr elapsed. Out of those 1hr 15min stopped, about half of the stops for water/fueling, and the other half were spent on stopping coming up on the last big climb on Alpine Rd. Here is where cramping came back and I had to dial it back, stopping every so often to let the muscles relax. I was still fueling at this point but it didn't seem to make much difference other than my stomach feeling all weird. After the final descent, I was left with 20 flat miles to complete and there was a lot of cramping to fight. Had to drop my effort/speed considerably just to be able to complete the ride. The interesting thing is that cramping came in waves, as in I would go for a few miles fighting cramps and then a few miles where I could go back to a normal pace and feel nothing. I took a few pointers from @Mike95060 's video and I will give them a try.

I really enjoy reading this thread, learning a lot from all of your posts.

View attachment 595828

Way to go!

Ya the bike fit is huge, especially if you have any pain.

It’s kinda a funny cycle with fueling and cramps. Now that you are fueling better, you can/will push harder. Pushing harder will add to the fatigue that causes the cramps. Just remember - cycling never gets easier, you just get faster. The major thing that can help your cramps now is getting stronger at that effort level… which you can do because you are eating.

I tend to stay on the bike and soft pedal when cramping. My cramps don’t subside any faster if I stop. It does hurt more though to keep pedaling

60g/hr is solid. Fueling gets harder with stronger efforts, longer durations, heat, and anything that makes you fatigued. My highest intake for 8hr is only 75g/hr. You may need more water to push past 60g and keep your stomach happy. TdF pros do 1L/hr . Or you may need to reduce the fructose. Keep experimenting.