I thought it would be interesting if I kept track of my progress for a few basic exercises that I can do at home.  I am going to include the 1 1/2 run in this progression also.

I don't run very much at all anymore since there is better equipment available and it is gentler on the body.

You can keep track of the weekly progression by going over to the sidebar and then seeing the overall progression by clicking on it.

The entries will be made once a week.  If I don't start it during the week, I'll start over the weekend.

Here is what the chart will look like:

The pull-ups will be a bit of a challenge not only because I suck at them but I don't have easy access to a bar.  I'll have to find the time to go to the playground for that.  Incidentally, I have never in my life done more than 8 pull-ups at one time.

Push-ups and sit-ups will be consecutive for a one minute period starting out.

In the future I may at other exercises on this progression if I think of something.  Then again I may delete it.  Just kidding.

Start following me on this if you can.  And please make comments or suggestions

What would make me happier than walking out into the garage one morning and see this beauty below out there.  Besides eliminating world hunger and all the more important things in life, Nothing!

This baby seems to have it all.  A way to do all the different presses (safely since it is a Smith), pull down, extensions, a squat rack, lat pulls, and who knows what else.

And take a look where the arrow points.  Yea!  Even a pull up bar.  Plus I would be able to do inverted rows.  How about that Craig Ballantyne.

This would take working out a home to an all new level.  No need to go to the gym ever again.  Boy, I would like to have one of these.

I really need to find one of these and personally take a look at it.  Just to make sure it has everything I think it does.  The one thing that is important to check out is if it is big enough for a tall person.  A lot of gym equipment is more tailored for the person that is average height.  Remember the older universal gyms?  If you were a big person you were out of luck. 

The only specs I could find on the Smith Trainer are below.  Not a very good description in terms of detail.

It looks like the only extra stuff I would need to get would be an Olympic bar, some free weights, and an adjustable bench.

This is cool and I want one.  But I will just have to put it on my wish list for now.  At around $700 there are a few other things I need first.

To give credit where credit is due, I found this piece of equipment at Fat Man Unleashed.  It's a great site and you should visit it.

Should you add supplements to your workout or not?  The answer for me is to not get all hung up with all the additives for getting big muscles or for losing fat.  I prefer to do my fitness program all natural without supplements.  Of course I am not trying to get huge anymore, just really fit.  If the big arms go along with what I am doing that's great.  If not, no problem.  But then I have never been one to take off my shirt unless I am at the beach.  In fact when I go to the gym I usually wear a lose, long sleeve shirt.

My interest in the high powered supplements ended pretty much in college when I ask a fellow athlete about them, who was built like the incredible hulk.  he said taking things like steroids would make my balls shrink and I would lose interest in sex.  That was enough to stop asking questions.

The only so called supplements that I have taken are protein shakes and creatine.  But only if I am working out very hard.  The results have been very positive and I wouldn't hesitate to take them again under the right conditions.  In fact there are positive effects from taking creatine as you get older.

if you have questions about what supplements are okay to take, read the report by Jon Benson called the 7 Super Supplements.  It is a well written report on the top 7 supplements recommended by Jon.  Of course this is his personal opinion but he does back up the report with good data. 

The decision to take supplements or not is naturally yours.  Unless you have established a quality and consistent workout program I wouldn't consider it.

To get the free report, 7 Super Supplements, just click here.

Know ahead of time though that this report by Jon is a way for him to promote his latest program called 7 Minute Muscle.  If I didn't think that 7 Minute Muscle was worth looking at I wouldn't even mention it

Undergoing MyBlogLog Verification

My first thought when I saw that Jon Benson was coming out with a 7 minute workout program was "you've got to be kidding me".  I can't even get dressed in the morning in seven minutes.  Well, that's really not true but you get my point.  What can be done in 7 minutes other than a warm-up?

You see I'm the kind of gym guy that was brought up thinking that more is better and if you didn't spend at least an hour in the gym 5 or more days a week you weren't working very hard.  As hard as i would try to shorten my gym time down I could never get below 1 hour.  I think it is called an addiction.

Now I am going to have to eat a little crow.  I went ahead and got the 7MinuteMuscle because the curiosity was killing me.  Thank goodness I'm not a cat, huh.

This is the first fitness program that I have read completely.  Not just a few pages and then skip to the routines, but every word until I got to the routines.  Besides it's only around 83 pages.  Not 300-500 pages of information that I don't need to know.  But 83 pages of good content.

Reading the program and watching the videos that came with it have sold me that it works. 

How can I be so sure?  Because not everything Jon presents is new.  There are many exercises that he recommends that I have done before myself.  I just had never thought to put them all into a full blown workout program.  I can tell they will put me on the floor.

The only bad part for me is that I no longer have a gym membership and you need to go to the gym for this program to work.  While I am still on my home workout program though I am going to implement some of his ideas into my home workout program.  I'll let you know how that goes.

I do recommend that you give the 7MinuteMuscle a spin.  Especially if you are like me and a lot of other people where time constraints are holding you back from starting your fitness program.

PS-Jon has a great guarantee if it doesn't work out for you.

Take a look at the video Jon made.

 Here is that link again if you are interested in 7MinuteMuscle.

Since I am not finding the time or the energy to do a long workout in the evening when I get home, I have started getting up about 15 minutes early in the morning to do a short series of exercises. 

I figure what's the difference between getting up at 3:30 and 3:15.  Either time sucks, but it only sucks for a couple of minutes.  Once I am up and my feet have hit the floor everything starts improving.  It's getting my legs to swing off the bed and raise my body from the dead that is miserable.

I have been doing just T-squats, pushups, and some situps for now, but after watching the video by Craig Ballantyne I am going to switch to his recommendation for a while and see how it works.

Fortunately I have a couple of sets of dumbells that I can use, 10lbs., 20lbs., and 45lbs.  They aren't quite enough weight but I'll just increase the reps a little.  This isn't meant to be a full blown workout so I should be fine.

And I don't have a bench for the chest presses.  Maybe someday but for now I'll have to be creative. 

If you don't have the time to do a full workout, check out the video below.  You should have no excuse for reaching a decent level of fitness.
 

 Discover more great exercises for losing fat and building muscle that you can do in your home at Turbulence Training.com.