Gym Junkies, I need help!

[Aarondalf]

In 4 weeks 3 weeks I am going overseas. I need to organise how I am going to keep up my gym routine in my hotel rooms. I have a few options. I can buy some equipment or I can make some of my own.

I want to devise a system of weights that fill with water to help me do my workouts.

There is a system on the net that I could buy, but it's only 2 dumbells each 16lbs. I curl 50lbs and can press 200lbs. 16lbs is not enough.

I dont need it to be AS hard as my normal gym stuff, but I do want something that will challenge my muscles a bit. And something I can use for all muscle groups. It needs to have some division of weights (20lbs increments would be the most I'd use. 5lbs increments would be better).

It also has to be small enough to fit into a bag.

www.smartgym.com has something which might be ok, but I dont see anywhere which states just how much resistance the bands offer.

Please help me out, I have to get this done fairly soon and I really dont wanna go without some sort of travel 'gym'.

[Quailman]

It has been over 30 years since I travelled outside the US, so I can't speak for hotels there. In the US, nearly every hotel has some sort of exercise room with weights, treadmill, universal, stationary bike, etc. Call ahead.

[Aarondalf]

I'll do that but I want to cover all my bases, and its good to get into a routine. Each hotel doesnt have the same equiipment. If I wasnt a competitive sportsman, i wouldnt worry.

[Lepton]

Stock up on your favourite brand of extra-large condoms. Get a bag of hair elastics. Fill the condoms with water, then tie them off with the elastics. Use some strings to tie the condoms together in bunches, and then tie a few bunches to each end of a broomstick (or a bar, if you want to bring one).

Each condom should be able to hold ~1 litre of water without danger of exploding. That's about 2 lbs., so you'd only need to make up 100 of them to get your full-strength workout.

[Quailman]

[Dread Pirate Westley]

Or, if you don't want the weird looks you'd get when buying two dozen boxes of condoms, you could go with water balloons (Which have the added advantage of costing about a penny apiece).

[Huey]

Yeah, but no water balloons are ever ripped for her pleasure.

[Huey]

You can always wear really heavy jewelry on your ankles and wrists. Don't take them off for a year or so, even after your trip. Once you get so used to them that you don't even notice they're there, take 'em off. You'll be able to jump 2 feet higher and lift rocks with your pinky.

[Suspence]

Ripped for her pleasure? If that was intentional, that's hilarious. If that was unintentional, it's equally hilarious.

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I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature

[Vinny]

Whatever happen to good old fashion Push-Up and Sit-Up and Pull-Up and Jumping-Jack?

[Buzzsaw]

Those exercises are for amateurs, simply don't work, and are not performed by competitive sportsmen like Aarondalf.

[Buzzsaw]

I was being sarcastic there, Vinny. I was wondering that myself.

[wordcross]

conventional workouts that involve body-weight for resistence stop being really effective for more than toning after a certain point. Such as people who bench 200 lbs but only weigh 160.

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I blame the guy who invented bottles.

[Courk]

Call ahead when you reserve your rooms. Ask if they have any hotel employees who weigh ~200 pounds who wouldn't mind being bench pressed. If you just breathe into the phone for a while before you start speaking, and then only speak in a weird whisper, I'm sure your travel worries will be solved.

[Aarondalf]

Sit ups are good, pull ups are good, pushups place too much stress on the wrist for a tennis player. Jumping jacks are... bleh.

Thats abs, lats, and biceps. I have a bunch of other muscles that need to be worked out.

I've been thinking, anyone know of a water tight ballast bag that could hold 50liters or so? I could use two of them.

[MacadamiamaN]

Howabout trash bags? They're huge, water tight, and very compact. And you can throw them away when you're done - no need to pour out the water either!

[extropalopakettle]

Yes, a large trash bag (50 gallons or so) filled with water also makes a great chair - sort of like a cross between a water bed and a bean bag. Try it.

[jesternl]

Huey's comment almost made me snort out my coffee.

[stevebr]

First, while most of you may be able to fight your way free and the most fearsome videogame, you'll want to make sur that you step aside for the big dude walking down the middle of the street.
As far as aworkout goes, you can do puchups without putting pressure on your wrists by doing fingertip puships, something that will improve your hand strength as well. Adjust the level of your feet and positioning of your hands to work different muscle groups. To work back and biceps, get a pull-up bar that fits in a doorway. again, change your body positiona and grip to change musle groups. If it isn't enough weight, add small amounts of weight using basic principles of leverage to create the most resistance to the muscle group.
By the way, unless you are a world class player, you should start strengthening your wrists so they can hadle push-ups. What good are muscles if you can't move around your own body weight?

[Aarondalf]

I have an oedema of the humerous. I had an operation in which they put a metal rod inside the bone. I'm just coming back from surgery and the stretching on the elbow joint it making my wrist tight. It has nothing to do with wrist strength. My wrist is actually plenty strong enough, but extra strain on a joint that already takes a pounding and is being pulled tighter than normal by my elbow is just stupid.

And anyways, push-ups will NEVER be as affective as a benchpress motion. I already mentioned that I can do the chin up motion.

[Quailman]

What workout routine did you use last year at Wimbledon?

[Aarondalf]

I've never played at Wimbledon. I'll assume that wasnt a jibe, so I'll explain what I mean about competitive sportsman.

As a junior I was ranked 48 in the world. That was at 16 year old in the under 18's. I was also ranked 5 in Australia at that time (juniors of course). Since then I've been badly injured to the point where I couldnt play. I have just undergone a surgical procedure that has never been done before. It seems to have worked and so now I have to build up my game to the point where I can play at Wimbledon.

That could take as long as 3 years. Most players take 4 years from first points till they reach 100 in the world. Even though I dont have first points I think I'm a little better than average (I just havent been able to show it).

So no, I've never played at Wimbledon. Or the French, US or Australian Opens. You caught me. But I do regard myself as a competitive sportsman in the strictest sense of the word. I've just never had to travel since I've been old enough to do heavy weights. The reason for this thread was to get some 'outside the square' solutions that didnt involve a lot of money. I've gotten that. I'll try the trash bags and try to make some handles.

I have a solid workout, I've just never had to do it in a hotel. Last time I went overseas to play tennis I was 16 and I was *very* imature. I was still in puberty (very bad time to do weights) and so it wasnt really a problem.

Incidentally, look up my dad's results at Wimbledon. His name is Kim Warwick.

[stevebr]

I understand why push-ups won't work, however, bench press is highly over-rated as an effective exercise. Sure the gym monkeys are impressed by "How much ya bench," but in fact, if you look at the design of the pectoral muscle, it pulls the arms from the outside of the body to the inside, therefore, dumbell presses on the flat bench or incline bench will isolate and strengthen your chest more effectively. I'll never forget how suprised I was to find out that Herschel Walker's workout consisted of push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups and sprints through college. If you ever look at pictures of him, youd be hard pressed to tell me it didn't work effectively. Again, consider how you can isolate the muscle groups, that way it takes less weight to make it work.
Good luck

[Quailman]

Kim Warwick, huh? There used to be a really good tennis player with that same name. Has your dad ever met him?

[Buzzsaw]

I don't think garbage bags are a good idea, at least experiment with them plenty in an area that will be unharmed if spillage occurs. It's difficult to find polyethlene bags thicker that 6 mil - no where nearly strong enough to hold water. I have been filling various containers with water for several yrs now, experimenting with creating or enhancing micro climates with thermal mass - in this case for plant growth.

Water is heavy stuff to handle. Thermal mass can become dangerous for example, if it tips over on you. Because they are so darn heavy, you must be alert when dealing with water filled containers. Why do you think there's a warning on water filled containers that says, "handling when pregnant or under the influence of alcohol may result in injury or death". "This is water, damnit. Watch out."

The fact that the maker of the container is trying to cover their ass should emphasise to you the danger involved with what you are thinking of attempting. Be careful. Those water containers 'll get you, man.

Collapsible water jugs for campers will work, Aaron. They have tote handles, come in various sizes, are plenty strong enough. If you only had a pole, (perhaps a telescoping one but I fear you'll have difficulty finding one strong enough) you could hang a jug at each end of the pole and do curls and presses.

They are common in up to 5 gallon sizes, Aaron - this is about 39 liters or so - less than what you wanted. However, you might be able to find them in larger sizes.

Good luck, though - your average person doesn't want to, or is unable to lug a container that heavy so you might have trouble finding one bigger than the 5 gallon one.

What do you plan on using as a bench?



[This message has been edited by Buzzsaw (edited 04-14-2004 01:51 PM).]

[Aarondalf]

I have a 'fit ball'. It's like a huge bouncy ball, sorta.

Quailman - I guess you could say he meets him everytime he looks in the mirror. You could say I have a decent coach.

Steve - I agree, my wording was bad. When I said 'bench' I meant the bench type motion. I just assumed I would have to use a bar while I was going away. I still need to think about exactly what I'll do, but if I can do 'dumbell' bench then I'll do that for sure. Machine = suck. Bar = ok. Dumbell = great.