Dave Draper — Another Week Older

Another week older and deeper in December. Repeat after me: I am not selfish and I will not miss my workouts throughout the holiday season. I am a caring person and I will not miss my workouts throughout the holiday season. For the sake of others I will enjoy myself and not miss my workouts throughout the holiday season. I will encourage others and not miss my workouts throughout the holiday season. I will spread my joy and not miss my workouts throughout the holiday season. There. Doesn't that make you tingle all over? Sort of like a mantra pump, a meditative burn. I have a similar incantation that concludes, "I will not eat like a wild and hungry hog throughout the holiday season." Very effective when muttered at parties and the dinner table with family and friends. Try it... or not.

Let's get down to business, shall we? Last week we circled the sober and pervasive problem of squeezing exercise and well being into our over-booked lives. Who out there in the thin air, convinced of the importance of one's health, has taken steps to alter his or her poor eating habits and is resolved to setting his or her shoulder to the task of exercise? Who has, quote-unquote, committed? What do you mean you forgot, it slipped your mind, you got busy? Grab the stool, the pointy cap inscribed "dunce" and drag them to any conspicuous corner. Have a seat. Think fat, lazy and weak. Don't think muscle, spirited and strong. We have no time to lose. Small steps are significant steps, no steps are futility.

Here's what we're gonna do: For those of you who have stalled out completely we need to re-introduce a scheme of exercise that is not imposing yet has regularity. As IronOnline subscribers I expect that training is not foreign to you but has lost its place of priority due to circumstances. You would rather blast it or nothing at all. Wrong. Nothing-at-all is an infectious disease for which there are not enough antibodies. We need to be in motion and if you are not already, start today. Walk and run splits are a wonderful initiator and motivator. They are done totally to entertain and occupy you for fifteen minutes every other day. Break out your training gear and affectionately stroke your training psyche. Crunches and leg raises on alternate days for fifteen minutes will condition the mid-section while athletically extending your workout investment. As you arrange all consequential matters in your life, schedule your training for the same time everyday. Let there be no room for decision. Life's a bully.

Notice your input. Is it perfunctory and lackadaisical? Is your attitude limp and tentative? This is typical of a loser. You must for our plan to work gather up genuine internal enthusiasm and apply yourself with confidence and conviction. Void of these life supporting gems and your efforts will be somewhere near miserable and the returns meager and short-lived. Let the time go by as it may, you are in control and on your way. Sooner or later we can add specific freehand movements to the sufficient foundations. For now, relax and let the momentum build and your unseen plan unfold. You're in action. You're safe.

Your gym, if not in your garage or basement, is across town. The decision, the travel distance, the locker room and small talk all take time... time... time. Go twice a week unfailingly (for example, Tuesdays and Thursdays) and eliminate decision. Go to the gym ready for action in your sweats and sneaks (5 minute resourceful change at work) and shower at home. No dull locker room snag or loss of impetus. Let your friendly, calm determination be evident on the gym floor as you move to your equipment with assertion and knowing. Dig in and keep moving till the job is done. Give yourself thirty, forty-five or ninety minutes depending on you and the outside world. You're there; perhaps the world will understand, forgive and allow you to live. You are such a better person, after all. Someday you can negotiate a Saturday morning or Sunday afternoon. Life is good.

What to do in your favorite palace when time is short has been tossed around these pages before. Sweet Laree has a few links listed below to remind you of some cool approaches. My years of crawling around the iron and steel have provided occasion for me to try by accident or curiosity routines of odd proportions — clawed and fanged, one-eyed monsters. I'll outline five favorites that in spite of their apparent incongruity homogenize well once a trainee has reached an intermediate level of development and an acute sense of muscle connection. These are dart-workouts that serve us well, to teach, to perpetuate and yield relief on hard-pressed days. They don't stand alone to build the mass or introduce the novice to the basic truths of weight training.

Six Three Six Buster:
Dumbbell incline press -- 6 sets x 6 reps
superset with
Dumbbell pullover (straight arm) -- 6 x 6
and
Seated lat row -- 6 x 6

Bulldog:
Rope tuck -- 5 sets x 20 reps
Hyperextension -- 5 x 15-20
superset with
Hanging leg raise -- 5 x 15-20
and
Full squat -- 5 x 15-20

Thirty-six lashes:
Barbell curl (heavy, allow thrust) -- 5 sets x 6 reps
superset with
Machine dips -- 5 x 12
and
Close grip, under grip pulldowns -- 5 x 6
and
Tricep pulley pushdown -- 5 x 12

Mother of Madness:
Leg press -- 4 sets x 20 reps
superset with
Lunge -- 4 x 10
and
Bent leg deadlift (power-style) -- 4 x 10
and
DB pullover -- 4 x 8

Survival:
Low, low incline dumbbell curl -- 4 sets x 6 reps
superset with
Low, low incline fly -- 4 x 6
and
Bent over lateral raise -- 4 x 6
and
DB shoulder shrugs -- 4 x 6
and
Pulldowns -- 4 x 6

This should get you started. The movements go off in different directions but work with precision toward the common goal: your involvement and improvement for the years to come, for the days to come. Live it up and be grateful you have the facility and faculty and freedom. You're born to aspire.

It's Wednesday morning and I'm off to the gym — my launching pad — to fly one of these strange contraptions. Stand back. Blast off is scheduled in spite of inclement weather or loose parts.

Cap'n Draper

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Laree here, as instructed, with a few training links to get you started:

Dave's Quick Fit Routine

Getting Started At Home

SlumpBuster Workouts

As I regularly mention, if you're looking for more information or particularly if you're looking for camaraderie in your new workout project, sign yourself up to receive our IOL group email. Visit the link below, check out the message archive and if you're interested, hit the subscribe button:
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ANOTHER WEEK OLDER AND DEEPER IN DEBT