Diddlee's Journal, 04 Sep 19

Yay, found some muscles that was not too sore. Attach those today, and get to feel hot and good today too. :) Roughly two hours in at this point. 

Be careful. You can over train and end up losing muscle and/or hurting yourself. Everything I’ve read says it takes 48-72 hours for a muscle to recover so it’s best to only work them every 2-3 days. That’s why people talk about arm day and leg day etc. once you’ve been at it a few years your body gets better at recovery and you can start working muscles every 24-48 hours. 

peeperjj Thank you. I stay afraid, and hope to avoid damage.  

Rowing is my favorite exercise. Your body can take more repetitive punishment than people give it credit for. My grandpa worked his fields every day, that little man was solid muscle, I've got a picture of him from WWII carrying a Browning .50 cal on his shoulders, tripod and all.  

Phil, did your grandfather just start working fields all day every day or did he work up to it as most farm kids do? We can do more as time progresses. No way could I even workout 3x a week lifting at the beginning. Now I can do 3x easily. I could probably do 5x if I lifted lighter and wanted endurance, but my goal is growth so I lift heavy and less often. Perhaps some of the guys who lift daily with years of experience could weigh in. More varied advice and all that ;).  

I will say the row machine is one of my favorite exercises and I do it every gym day that I have time. I don’t care if I’m not supposed to lol. I do notice I can do more weight 2x a week vs 3x or 4x a week. The lat pull down is pretty awesome too.  

When I started working out around 2005, I had been out of the gym since high school (I graduated in '92). I went every day, twice a day, for an hour at a time. I purposely took it slow, but hit it every day. I'm not saying lift/workout beyond your experience level, but getting in there and moving won't cause any harm. And yes, my grandfather had been working the fields since he was big enough to pull cotton.  

Not an expert, bu if you're lifting heavy weights you (your muscles) need sufficient time for recovery (i.e., repair and rebuild bigger and stronger). "Sufficient time" varies from person to person, but if you're older "sufficient" will be a day or two longer than when younger. Cutting rest short, cuts the recovery and muscle building and increases the risk of injury. Doug McGuff in Body by Science, talks about this, plus guys like Mike Mentzer were big into down time. But, whatever works for you! Way to go! 

HDK is right. If your putting significant tension on your muscles and maxing out, recovery is essential. If you’re doing repetitive activity without any increased load, you can probably work out every day. It’s more of an aerobic workout at that point. 

When I was lifting I weighed 280 pounds wearing the same size clothes at 220 pounds not lifting.  

I use a 66 pound set of dumbbells. Rely on that study that proved that repeating till failure is what really counts. If I should get bored with this loew weight, I'll have to invest in a heavier set. Injury is not so much of an issue with this kind of weights. Wish I would use my Concept 2 more often. Tend to prefer the bike right now. Get fresh air and get to see what's going on in the neighborhood.