Since Davy and I started working out, I wanted to encourage symmetry. Some machines allow for a different weight for each arm. It made sense to start with the highest weight that either arm could handle. I don’t want to develop a lobster claw, where one arm is much stronger than the other. That might be a fiddler crab I’m thinking of.
Working in muscle pairs seemed like a good idea. The row goes with the bench press and the pull-down with military press.
One idea was to workout with the same weight on all stations. It’s a dumb idea. Starting out, my shoulders were weak, bench was reasonable and pulling was strong. Also, with machines, you really don’t know what actual resistance force is required. Nobody is calibrating those things.
My strength workout is six stations. That doesn’t sound challenging, but after a half-hour of cardio, that is all the juice I’ve got.
Here’s what it looked like when we started:
- Military press: 20 lbs per arm
- Row: 100 lbs
- Twist: 100 lbs
- Leg Press: Who knows? It depends on the machine.
- Bench: 110 lbs
- Pull-down: 100 lbs
After six months,
- Military press: 80 lbs per arm
- Row: 140 lbs
- Twist: 140 lbs
- Leg Press: 430 lbs
- Bench press: 145 lbs
- Pull-down: 140 lbs
With the improvement in the military press, I’m tempted to workout with 140 lbs across the board.
Some of the improvement is due to using a different station with a more comfortable motion. For the bench, we are using the Smith machine, so that is a real number. The leg press is all over the map because some machines move body weight along with supplemental weights and all are on an incline. The 430 lbs is with actual weights, but is on an incline. The twist machine is doable with almost any amount of weight, so that’s kind of phony.
We do a solid half-hour on cardio. I use the bike, and average about 130 bpm. I go harder or easier as the workout progresses. I’m all sweaty at the end, so that seems good.
