Get Fit, Stay Fit, Feel Good - 2026

[Ridley]

@SVsick50, thank you for your honesty and sharing your experience

 

[900ss]

My life has been very good, and I’m happy and at peace. TRT really helped me with that. Yes, possible health consequences? So is riding motorcycles, bicycles, climbing trees.

Anyway, I thought I’d share and be open about something that has really helped me a lot. Peace out peeps! This was a waste of time.

Not a waste of time at all, Dion. Very informative actually, and well presented. Thank you for that.

 

[Mike95060]

Right on man! I’m totally open about it.

No you’re not. You are taking your ball and going hone at slightest pushback on your choices. I can find nowhere on the internet that says a test level of 1500ng/dl is healthy or beneficial. AI summary says that numbers higher than 1200 provides no benefit. From what you have posted you are not doing testosterone replacement therapy. You are taking a supraphysiologic dose of a hormone and it’s making you feel great. Yeah dude, drugs make us feel good. That isn’t health advice.

I really don’t care who put’s what in their body or why they do it. Just don’t try to bullshit everyone that your stack is safe or some kind of therapy you need when you ignore doctors and have hormone levels FAR beyond anything that’s considered therapeutic.

 

[two wheel tramp]

I had a lovely walk today. The flowers here are nuts!

I decided to walk up some slightly steeper stuff to walk by the farm where I saw a foal yesterday while pedaling. I got “attacked” by the cutest, sweetest doggy on my way home. She made my day.

My VO2 max is back in the shitter. It’s because I haven’t been pedaling as much but I feel like I am back in the saddle and capable of bringing it back up.

I think I need events to keep me on track.

 

[stangmx13]

I had a lovely walk today. The flowers here are nuts!

I decided to walk up some slightly steeper stuff to walk by the farm where I saw a foal yesterday while pedaling. I got “attacked” by the cutest, sweetest doggy on my way home. She made my day.

My VO2 max is back in the shitter. It’s because I haven’t been pedaling as much but I feel like I am back in the saddle and capable of bringing it back up.

I think I need events to keep me on track. View attachment 595231

Ya that’s somewhat normal if you are fresh. You don’t have much stress hormones floating around suppressing your HR (and that’s the whole point of rest). So the Vo2Max estimate goes down. Once you build some fatigue, get some stress hormones, and suppress your HR, your VO2 will go back up. The trend you want to see is 1 step down 3 steps up. But that might be hard to see if your Vo2-testing activities are infrequent.

And if you really want to game the system, do an activity when it’s chilly. Not cold, just that perfect temp where you aren’t hot at all and barely sweating. That’ll keep your HR lower and your power up.

I also wonder what the best way to get an estimate is with walking/running. Repeating the same course at the same intensity might make for better measurements. But what intensity? Hmm

 

[stangmx13]

Yep, my coach is trying to kill me for one more Thursday.

1min All Out
Chill 10min
4x 90sec almost all out with 5min chill in between

This is a test for Functional Reserve Capacity (FRC), a metric that shows how much work I can do over threshold before tiring. That capacity is useful for surges or attacks in races.

My modeled FRC is 12.2kJ. To get from watts to kJ, you multiply with time. 400w for 90sec is (400*90/1000) = 36kJ. So the model currently thinks I’d fail at that really bad after some number of reps lol.

My 1min PR is 549w. Let’s c what I can do.

 

[Ridley]

New article by Outside Magazine about the differences between men and women during long runs. There is some interesting differences between the sexes in physiology when it comes to ultra endurance endeavors. Then there is good old fashion mental toughness and women have that by the bucket loads. I will happily admit that my wife is way way way tougher than I am and can run my ass into the ground.

Men Burn Out Faster Than Women on Long Runs. A New Study Explores Why.

New evidence backs up the claim that female physiology is wired for endurance. But that’s not why Rachel Entrekin won the Cocodona 250.

www.outsideonline.com

 

[two wheel tramp]

New article by Outside Magazine about the differences between men and women during long runs. There is some interesting differences between the sexes in physiology when it comes to ultra endurance endeavors. Then there is good old fashion mental toughness and women have that by the bucket loads. I will happily admit that my wife is way way way tougher than I am and can run my ass into the ground.

Men Burn Out Faster Than Women on Long Runs. A New Study Explores Why.

New evidence backs up the claim that female physiology is wired for endurance. But that’s not why Rachel Entrekin won the Cocodona 250.

www.outsideonline.com

Ya that’s somewhat normal if you are fresh. You don’t have much stress hormones floating around suppressing your HR (and that’s the whole point of rest). So the Vo2Max estimate goes down. Once you build some fatigue, get some stress hormones, and suppress your HR, your VO2 will go back up. The trend you want to see is 1 step down 3 steps up. But that might be hard to see if your Vo2-testing activities are infrequent.

And if you really want to game the system, do an activity when it’s chilly. Not cold, just that perfect temp where you aren’t hot at all and barely sweating. That’ll keep your HR lower and your power up.

I also wonder what the best way to get an estimate is with walking/running. Repeating the same course at the same intensity might make for better measurements. But what intensity? Hmm

Thank you for that. For me, that VO2 has been one of the things I have cared about more than my excess fat and I have worked hard to get it back to a normal range. I have been slacking on the cycling this last month. I need to sign up for some kind of mid-summer fondo to keep my ass in gear until the metric century in Sept and the actual century in October.

I can only test VO2 when walking, hiking or running. (Unless a T. rex is behind me, I am not running, and even then, I'd be like the best marbled human ever for that dinosaur.) When I realized this, I started walking more so it could be measured more frequently.

In other news, had a lovely pedal yesterday.

 

[Holeshot]

Twt, are you still doing resistance training a few times a week as well?

 

[Mike95060]

New science for crampers…

 

[two wheel tramp]

Twt, are you still doing resistance training a few times a week as well?

No. I finally just bought enough mirrors to spot myself and do exercises correctly.

Don't hate me! It took me a bit to get it set up so I can feel like i won't wind up hurting myself having bad form.

 

[budman]

So... First moto Rally was had. Today was my PT session so a big check in on status and impact from the event. I will call it that because it was 5 days so to speak.

Wednesday and Thursday the day before I left I did not do resistance training on upper or lower body. I did my light PT exercises and stretching only. That meant I really had 4 days of leg rest before riding.
An extra day for the shoulder too. Not a bad thing.

Destination was Mariposa. Close at 165 miles. I knew getting on and off the bike was really the only challenge as riding has been pretty easy. There were minor challenges to make sure the injured leg did not have to do major support for DU CAT. Different thread. First thing I noted was the shoulder did not bother me at all while riding. Good.

130 miles in we stopped in Coulterville to meet a couple guys. My plan to just stay on the bike got balked as I ended up ready to take a leak. The restroom was actually in a school and about a 50 yard walk which included a lot of bumpy lawn.

On the way back I noted "the bootie break spot" did a little clicking and hurt a tiny tick. I slowed my pace and the click disappeared. Not a big deal... right?

Back on the bike and HWY 49 to Mariposa was grand. Big twisty smiles for sure. I had taken some Ibuprofen so hopefully that would help.

Arrived

After getting showered I noted the leg was tired... felt weak too. Bummer.

Decided to hang around on Saturday to try to get the stuff settled.
Leg felt weakish compared to the weak normal and I was a bit more tender while walking. Lucky to get a ride to dinner and back in a cage. Even .6 miles would have sucked.

Sunday rolled and it was time for me to roll too. Road home with Enchanter.. and enjoyed 49 again before sauntering thru the Valley.

After getting the gear off I noted the leg did not feel as tired as the Friday and while it was still a bit more weak, it was not as noticable.

Monday came and that would normally have been a gym day, but cluster work crap kept me away. Another day to rest was rationalize as OK.

Tuesday was upper body day and with the extra rest I felt extra strong. Sweet.

Yesterday was leg day and it was solid. The only exercise that noted any discomfort was the one leg mini squats which are PT movement to focus exactly where the booty was sore.

So the shake out from PT.

Bend range of crossing the leg off 2 degrees, but with some help actually an improvement. PT Woman said - Could be from the gym yesterday or riding.
Hip range of motion. Off 4 degrees but still well above normal (I was 10 above normal and the good leg was 15 above normal)
Quad range of motion off 6 degrees. PT Woman said - I am pretty sure that is from the work out and if I stretched you it would be back quickly.

Discussed using leg weights for walking, doing more walking and a possible 4 - 5 day trip coming up in two and 1/2 weeks.

Bottom line was no apparent negative fall out from riding and just stay the course and stay being smart about getting a rest day in there and breaking really long miles into a couple of day.

Happy about that.

 

[Holeshot]

Solid report and progress Bud. I wouldn't worry about the breaks, especially if extended. The consistent mistake everyone makes with resistance training programs is not taking enough time for recovery. If you're not on Creatine and coconut water, it might be worth a look. We're all potassium deficient.

 

[stangmx13]

No. I finally just bought enough mirrors to spot myself and do exercises correctly.

Don't hate me! It took me a bit to get it set up so I can feel like i won't wind up hurting myself having bad form.

What are you planning? There are tons of bodyweight exercises that you probably don’t need mirrors (or weight) to feel safe. Push ups, squats, lunges, hip thrusts, planks, and more.

 

[Mike95060]

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[stangmx13]

Broadcasting the Enhanced Games should be illegal with the same reasoning used to make tobacco ads illegal. But I won’t hold my breath on that one.

 

[Ridley]

Today was busy. Kiddo had time trials for swim this morning. Afterwards I did a 3 hour ride. Once I got back the wife, kiddo, one of our dogs (we have two) and I grabbed our kayaks and paddle board and went on the lake for almost 2 hours. We took fishing poles and caught a few nice bass. The dog just hangs out on the paddle board as my wife scoots around. Once we got home the wife grabbed our other dog and headed to the American river canyon to run with one of her friends. Whew, what should we do tomorrow.

 

[Holeshot]

Broadcasting the Enhanced Games should be illegal with the same reasoning used to make tobacco ads illegal. But I won’t hold my breath on that one.

Probably gonna infringe on the 1A if that was attempted. The enhanced games are actually a good thing for regulated events. This gives a place for those who want to use PED's to compete, which should keep events that ban PED's; pure.

 

[Sharxfan]

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.

 

[budman]

@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.