My Plans for Traveling--Comments? Suggestions?

[Comancheria]

Folks,

Just started Week # 2 of the novice program, starting out with just the bar (and 2 x 25 lb plates on the deadlift) for warmups. By the end of September, I will have completed 5 weeks, hopefully adhering strictly to the program.

At that point, I have to travel for nearly 3 weeks, in Europe and back to the East Coast before returning to God's Country here in South Texas. I will be staying in Hilton hotels the entire trip, and they all have their minimal workout rooms--no barbells, of course, a couple of treadmills and stationary bikes--and a fairly good selection of dumbbells and a bench--usually that describes them pretty well.

My schedule will simply not permit visits to any local gym that might have barbells--even if I could find any.

I have researched the site and found the recommendation that upon returning to my trusty home gym, after that length of relative inactivity, I should probably reduce my work weights by 20-30 percent--more toward the latter, given my age (74).

My plan is this: Continue with 3 workouts per week, doing EACH of the exercises each day--since I will be working with different movements and MUCH lighter dumbbell weights in the Squat and Deadlift: Dumbbell Squats; Dumbbell Presses; Dumbbell Bench; Dumbell Deadlifts. Forget trying to do anything resembling the power clean, and even if they have chinning bars, I'm not there yet. I figure to do three sets of each to at least near-exhaustion. I realize that such a program will not result in maintaining full strength--much less in achieving gains, but I am hoping to lose less, and to keep the old arthritic joints at least moving.

I would appreciate any comments or suggestions you might have, and thanks in advance.

Russ

[Philbert]

Suggestions:
Be careful of doing dumbbell bench to near exhaustion, if you lose control of the weight you can injure one of your shoulders.
Dumbbell deadlifts have a different range of motion from barbell lifts, make sure you are setting up well.
As you will be doing this for 9 workouts you could run a short progression with the weight. You will probably have to alternate between increasing weight and increasing reps though, as the increments on dumbbells will not support linear progression.

[Chris Homer]

I travel Europe a lot and am in the early stages of the novice program too. Most cities will have a good barbell gym open early til late with many cities now having 24 hour gyms too. So perhaps you can make it work. That’s obviously the best option.

My back up plan is usually a park or something similar for pull ups/chins, dips, push ups and attempting some handstand push ups. I find this is often better than mucking around with the light dumbbells most hotel gyms have to offer. And enjoying some rest and foreign food of course while you’re there, that’s important too!

[Comancheria]

Suggestions:
Be careful of doing dumbbell bench to near exhaustion, if you lose control of the weight you can injure one of your shoulders.
Dumbbell deadlifts have a different range of motion from barbell lifts, make sure you are setting up well.
As you will be doing this for 9 workouts you could run a short progression with the weight. You will probably have to alternate between increasing weight and increasing reps though, as the increments on dumbbells will not support linear progression.

Thanks, Phil. Good point about the consequence of losing control below the chest level that would limit a barbell. So not to exhaustion--just to work the kinda-sorta same musculature that a bar would--though not effectively. Maybe, given Rip's recommendation of the press over the bench press, should one have to perform only one--during the traveling, I may just do dumbbell presses. I also realize I am not going to get the same benefits from the dumbbells.

And thanks to you, Chris. Unfortunately, given the pace of all my visits (recreation with my wife and grandson in Dublin and visiting other relatives on the US East Coast) I will not be permitted time off to go to a gym even if I could locate one with barbells! And not able to do chins or pull-ups yet. But I'll get there! Thanks again.

Russ