Very out of shape, looking for advice

[Chris]

Hello,

I'm hoping someone can offer some guidance as I've let myself get very out of shape. Part of the reason is due to some shoulder, foot, and back issues which greatly limited my activities but was helped greatly by physical therapy. I'm excited about TB because of its well rounded approach but I'm not sure if I'm ready for the full programs as written. I'm hoping that if I describe where I'm at someone could offer some advice.

Strength - I find push-ups and squatting with an empty bar to be challenging, and I can do one solid chin-up. A strength workout for me is push ups, body weight rows and squats with an empty bar for several sets of 6. Ab and grip strength are actually pretty good.

Endurance - After reading TB II, I was motivated to start running. After two months I worked up to running one mile. More recently, I acquired access to one of those treadmills that can measure your heart rate. I found that I can't run slow enough to keep my heart rate in the lss range so my base building phase has consisted of walking on the treadmill at about 3.8mph and 2.0 incline. I worked up to 40 minutes (I'm on week three) but it leaves me pretty tired out and my hip muscles have been sore and fatigued for the last couple of weeks.

Equipment availability - I have no bench or squat rack so those exercises aren't realistic. I do have a barbell, dumbells, and kettlebells in the basement with a short ceiling. I can bring the dumbells or kettlebells upstairs where the ceiling is high enough for overhead pressing. I also have one of those pullup/dip stations.

Goals - Equal importance on increasing strength and endurance, and prevent the loss of muscle mass as I get older (I'm 47). There's also a local 5k in June that I hope to run in. Also, I love long, rugged hikes and my dream is to be able to do that again.

Thank you so much for any advice you can give.

[Aelian]

1. Have you read TB1 the strength book?

2. Do an 8 week Base Building block. Again.:

Don't walk. This has been discussed repeatedly on the forums. Go at a slow comfortable jog. If you can talk while you're jogging, then you're doing it right. Don't worry about getting your pace exactly perfectly right, and don't worry about a heart rate monitor. Just go slow and easy, stay comfortable. Your actual running speed may not be much faster than your walking speed, and that's ok.

Keep it simple. Do 3 x 30 minute slow jogs every week for the full 8 weeks. Don't follow the BB template, it sounds like it's too much for you at this point. The TB template was made for tactical athletes that have some existing decent strength & conditioning levels.

For the strength part, do the Alpha circuits found in TB1 3 x week. Use push-ups, airsquats, and other exercises you have the equipment for. Don't do more than 4-5 exercises.

So your schedule should look something like this:

Day 1 SE
Day 2 E x 30
Day 3 SE
Day 4 E x 30
Day 5 SE
Day 6 E x 30
Day 7 rest

That's it for the full 8 weeks. After you're done, come back and resurrect this thread with your results, and we'll talk Continuation.

[J-Madd]

Chris - Welcome aboard! Its great to see you take control and get back into the fitness game. These programs work, as long as you are consistent over the long-term. Don't rush this. Take small steps you can handle, and add elements incrementally. I think that what Aelian outlines is a great starting point for you. If I can be any help, let me know.

[Chris]

Thanks for the reply.

2. Do an 8 week Base Building block. Again.:

I'll start on Monday.

Don't walk. This has been discussed repeatedly on the forums.

I'd like to learn more about this. I'll have to do some searching and see if I can find it.

Go at a slow comfortable jog. If you can talk while you're jogging, then you're doing it right. Don't worry about getting your pace exactly perfectly right, and don't worry about a heart rate monitor. Just go slow and easy, stay comfortable. Your actual running speed may not be much faster than your walking speed, and that's ok.

That's part of the problem, there is no jog slow enough to be comfortable and allow me to talk. I actually was thinking of getting a heart rate monitor. I thought if I could set it to beep when it goes over or under the recommended training range I could do the run/walk thing and get a training effect. If I'm better off without one I won't bother.

Keep it simple. Do 3 x 30 minute slow jogs every week for the full 8 weeks. Don't follow the BB template, it sounds like it's too much for you at this point. The TB template was made for tactical athletes that have some existing decent strength & conditioning levels.

For the strength part, do the Alpha circuits found in TB1 3 x week. Use push-ups, airsquats, and other exercises you have the equipment for. Don't do more than 4-5 exercises.

So your schedule should look something like this:

Day 1 SE
Day 2 E x 30
Day 3 SE
Day 4 E x 30
Day 5 SE
Day 6 E x 30
Day 7 rest

That's it for the full 8 weeks. After you're done, come back and resurrect this thread with your results, and we'll talk Continuation.

Awesome! Thank you so much!

[Aelian]

Thanks for the reply.

2. Do an 8 week Base Building block. Again.:

I'll start on Monday.

Don't walk. This has been discussed repeatedly on the forums.

I'd like to learn more about this. I'll have to do some searching and see if I can find it.

Go at a slow comfortable jog. If you can talk while you're jogging, then you're doing it right. Don't worry about getting your pace exactly perfectly right, and don't worry about a heart rate monitor. Just go slow and easy, stay comfortable. Your actual running speed may not be much faster than your walking speed, and that's ok.

That's part of the problem, there is no jog slow enough to be comfortable and allow me to talk. I actually was thinking of getting a heart rate monitor. I thought if I could set it to beep when it goes over or under the recommended training range I could do the run/walk thing and get a training effect. If I'm better off without one I won't bother.

Keep it simple. Do 3 x 30 minute slow jogs every week for the full 8 weeks. Don't follow the BB template, it sounds like it's too much for you at this point. The TB template was made for tactical athletes that have some existing decent strength & conditioning levels.

For the strength part, do the Alpha circuits found in TB1 3 x week. Use push-ups, airsquats, and other exercises you have the equipment for. Don't do more than 4-5 exercises.

So your schedule should look something like this:

Day 1 SE
Day 2 E x 30
Day 3 SE
Day 4 E x 30
Day 5 SE
Day 6 E x 30
Day 7 rest

That's it for the full 8 weeks. After you're done, come back and resurrect this thread with your results, and we'll talk Continuation.

Awesome! Thank you so much!

Ok, if jogging continuously for 30 is too much right now, have a look at Grouchy's beginner Base Building template here:

http://tacticalbarbell.com/forum/viewto ... ?f=16&t=25

[Green2Blue]

I think using Couch to 5k in conjunction with Base Building should be considered if you really can't jog. Just use the Couch to 5k template on your E days; they're both 3 days a week of running.

Or the Grouchy method now that I've gone back and read the running portion.

[Gerryatric]

Apologies for hijacking your thread but I can't seem to find the reasons why I should jog instead of walking . Possibly not asking the right questions of the search engine

[Chris]

I was going to post this in the Strength section but decided to put it here to keep it in context with my above posts.

For the SE workouts, for me in particular - Instead of adding reps, would it work to add sets?

Reps have been very slow to increase for me on exercises like pushups and inverted rows. I've been trying to add 1 rep to my sets per week. So I started at 6 and worked up to 10 but by the third set it's really difficult and my form breaks down. I'm thinking of staying at 8 reps for a while and adding a fourth set, then maybe a fifth after a couple of weeks. After that it might be easier to go back to three sets with higher reps.

[Ten8]

I was going to post this in the Strength section but decided to put it here to keep it in context with my above posts.

For the SE workouts, for me in particular - Instead of adding reps, would it work to add sets?

Reps have been very slow to increase for me on exercises like pushups and inverted rows. I've been trying to add 1 rep to my sets per week. So I started at 6 and worked up to 10 but by the third set it's really difficult and my form breaks down. I'm thinking of staying at 8 reps for a while and adding a fourth set, then maybe a fifth after a couple of weeks. After that it might be easier to go back to three sets with higher reps.

Are you doing Alpha circuits? 3 x week?

[Chris]

Are you doing Alpha circuits? 3 x week?

Yes. I warm up with some light deads and getups and then I have a 4 exercise circuit on a MWF type schedule.