My Plans for Traveling--Comments? Suggestions?
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