The quickest and easiest way to do this is with the heavy compound lifts; the squat, the deadlift, and the presses.

If your gym doesn't have a power rack, you should find another gym.

EnySpree wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:

EnySpree wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:

EnySpree wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:Right now I'm not. I do walk my dogs about 2 miles a day but I've got a bad right knee and haven't been doing any intense exercise. I just got new orthotics and I feel better balanced with them than I ever have. I'm really hoping they help my knee and I can play basketball again.

Good luck with the half marathon! How old are you?

I'm 32....I got knee and hip issues but I been fighting through it....i'm all about challenges from here on out

32 here too. How long does your knee stay sore for after playing bball? I'm talking about soreness in the joint not the muscles. Just wondering. For me, it's a few days, and I definitely feel it when I go up and down stairs. Doc says my knee cap does glide right when I move.

I tore my acl 6 years ago....I never rehabbed it the way I should have. I get sore on the sides of my knee. And my leg would just die before my other one would. It's hard to play when your leg just gets tired quick....i'm working on that now though. The training is helping build stamina in the bad leg. Just trying to get it better.

What does you're doctor recommend? Surgery? Physical therapy?

Physical therapy and strengthening exercises, which I've done before and they didn't help. If the orthotics don't help, then I'll try physical therapy again. I get soreness below the knee cap (the area your doctor hits to test your reflexes).

You got patella issues...ever try the runners strap that goes over the patella tendon?

NYKBocker wrote:I will be 43 in a couple of weeks and I am in pretty bad shape. 6'1" 250lbs. Taking hb pressure pills, high cholesterol pills and recently diabetic medicine. I need to get in shape but hard with my schedule. I need to do something soon.

NYKBocker, this website will save your life:

www.marksdailyapple.com

It will destroy everything you think you know about health, diet, and fitness.

I guarantee you that you can be off all those medicines and at a healthy weight within 6 months.

I post on their forum frequently and many of the members were in even worse shape than you and now they are enjoying the best health of their lives.

Not selling you anything bro, just want to share the good feelings that I experienced.

blkexec wrote:

EnySpree wrote:We talk fitness here time to time....

Right now i'm preparing to run a half marathon on March 24. Never ran that far in my adulthood. Im still training in the gym too in between pounding the pavement preparing for this race.

After the race I will be back to speed and power training, doing a lot of plyoetric training, playing basketball , mastering the 5k, and just kicking ass in the gym and the parks.....

Speak in it brothers...take it where you may

I guess I'm one of the few basketball fans that actually plays basketball for exercise. Right now, I'm rehabing from a torn Achilles......just turned 39.

I play, blk. At my local town league. I'm not excpetional but I enjoy it. But it's not my main exercise, more like a supplement.

MarburyAnd1Crossover wrote:I wouldn't run a marathon. Marathons are for lunatics. Guys drop dead from marathons.

I would focus on your strength and not bother with petty persuits such as marathons.

You ever see the guys who run marathons? Take a good look. They're all emaciated stick-figures.

Lift weights.

ed: Now I see you said half-marathon. I still go with the same response.

I would run one sixteens om marathon... but not more. It is boring to run so long...

EnySpree wrote:

MarburyAnd1Crossover wrote:
Eny, I go heavy on a progressive strength training program I started last summer. I'm up to a 240 lb deep-squat and a 300 lb deadlift; my bench press and overhead are lagging. I don't see why you should be getting hurt from lifting heavy things unless you are doing it incorrectly. There is very little injury risk with heavy squats and deadlifts.

I used to be a weak little bitch, now I am close to being the man I always to be.

can't say there's little risk on lifting heavy.....I seen guys on separate occasions blow out their knees squatting, their back deadlifting....i've seen a guys peck tear on the bench press.....**** happens when an enormous amount of weight is being pushed around. I caught a hernia pushing 225lbs....at that was the normal weight I trained with.

It's low risk when you move your own body weight. Lifting big weight is UN natural.

I disagree. If a guy injures himself squattnig or deadlifting, he's doing it improperly.

Lifting can be disasterous if performed incorrectly, but if you got the form down, I would go as far as to say it's the safest sport in the world. Maybe golf is safer.

Just because you see those guys in the gym lifting heavy ****, doesn't mean they know what they're doing.

A lot of it comes down to genetics; one guy can lift incorrectly for a year and then destroy himself, another guy can do it one time and destroy himself.

With proper form, and I really mean near-perfect form, you will NEVER get an injury from squatting or deadlifting. Bank on that.

Nalod got one of these to moniter output:http://www.scosche.com/mytrek

Nalod have 4 things I do on any given day other than talk in the third person:

1. Tennis. Nalod plays doubles, singles, and workout clinics. 90 minutes is a good work out. 2x indoor weekly in winter, 3x outdoor.

2. Elliptical/Row Machine. 32min on Eliptical, 20min on rower. Nalod got them in the basement in front of 50 inch plasma and surround sound. Good way to spend an hour before dinner.

3. Go to the Gym. Do a circuit train of free weights a machines. Core training with tennis in mind. Fuse in jump rope to keep heart rate up. Got the circuit to about an hour 10 min. The tennis and Gym are 7 min walk from my front door. or seconds away by car. No excuse.

4. My neighborhood has a series of trails thru the woods and around lakes. 3 mile walk with my dog is about an one hour 10 min. Lots of friends on the trail so it can take longer. Nice mix of socialize and a fair workout. Those are "off days".

Im 51 now and its all going my way because of the surgery and put this as a priority. My kids are on their own (high school senior and one a junior in college) so I have time now I never had. I used to work lots of 10-12 hour days but not any more. I am also standing at my desk now 3 hours a day than just sitting. Gotta get sleep also. Body likes 6.5-7 hrs.

This all works for me. Im 5-10 and 205. 3 years ago was 230. Was doing most of the above but was fighting against the wind of a artery stenosis in two major parts of my heart that I was born with. Runs in the family. Age, stress, diet and genetics all played roles in calcification of them thus making them problematic. My autoimmune system was crap and for a few years I was putting on weight, getting tired, was pre diabetic (did not know this), and thus was always getting sick and getting injured playing tennis. Now Im doing things I have not done in years and have not had a cold in over two years! My work outs are more consistent, able to really get a good workout instead of going thru the motions and being exhausted.

All the while having annual stress tests and seeing a cardiologist.

It would be better to be one of those stick figures. Would love to get it down another 20 lbs. I'd be quicker on the courts! Those of us in the famlily that get bypassed have lived well into their 80's! I have a cousin who had 3! He worked hard at it and did well. What got him was a stubborn streak that pushed him into having back surgery so he could play tennis again. Came down with an infection in his back and it killed him.

MarburyAnd1Crossover wrote:Nalod, and everyone else that is concerned with losing weight, the best way to lose weight is by lifting weights.

Lifting weights is what burns fat, cardio (running) just makes you more hungry, and it doesn't build muscle. You put on muscle, there is less room for the fat, right?

SMH at the wrongness of this post... but to each his own.

It's true that cardio increases appetite, especially swimming. But you got to pick the right foods so you don't add weight. Increase vegetables and legumes, eat whole grains (not white) to reduce bad carbs, and eat lean meats (but not too much). Drink water, lots of it. NEVER drink sugar drinks like soda. Cut way down on fruit juices, too.

But cardio is far more health-promoting than "lifting". Far more.