The only thing I can say to that is....

Having a partner that doesn't have the same goals or abilities of you isn't that great if it hinders your success.

If you're willing to give up on that for the sake of keeping this parter.... so be it.

Or, we can try and build a work around.... we'll see when you highlight what it is you do.

Talk soon!

Just as something to think on...we have the same goals and as far as abilities, the only restriction he has is the knee thing so I am more likely to work around that...w/o sounding like a total 'girl' he has been pivotal in what I have accomplished to day and I enjoy working w/him...hence my leaning towards working around his 'limitation'.

That being said, I am not opposed to coming up with things I can do on my own, at home. I will work on my descriptions and get them to you, just try not to laugh too hard, ok?

Understandable.

And I promise not to laugh....

Too hard!

Steve -

Here is my routine, I do this Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Sometimes I have to shorten the workout due to time constraints but on Sundays I will do all of these moves, not necessarily in this order - this is the order I remembered them but is roughly the order I move through the workout...

Remember - no laughing (at least do it so I can't hear it )

Everything I do is 2 x 10 - I will leave the actual weight out for now, if you need/want to know I can add it later.

Squats
Chin ups/dips using the assist machine
Chest press
Lat pulldown
Shoulder raise
Incline press
Decline press
Ok, this one I don't know what it is called but it is basically a split rope that is above my head with rubber stoppers on the end. I grab the rope right above the stoppers, pull it down to chest level and starting from that point, pull it down to my hips, pulling each side out a little at the end. It workes the triceps, I believe.
Seated row
Wrist curls
Bicep curls
Shoulder shrugs
This on is an inverted situp, you lean over a 'machine' bent over at the waist, bend down and back up again.
The last thing I do is what I would call a standing leg lift, I brace my arms on a rest above the floor and raise my legs to waist level.


I know it isn't the best but I have been having success with it so far...thanks for your input

Oh ya, this is a great thread! I learned alot thanks!!

You're welcome.

Well I've decided to give this routine a shot, starting friday. I made up my own routine I've been doing for the past 2 weeks but its stuff Ive thrown together that SHOULD use every muscle and I need to be honest, I don't know if it does.

My only question is do you know of any replacements for chin-ups PULL-ups? I can't always make it to the gym and I can't actually do chin-ups or PULL-ups. I remember on full assistance on the machine It was possible but... i prefer to do my weight training at home.

I honeslty don't know whats used in a pull up and chin up. I assume shoulders/chest/biceps/triceps. So if I worked my biceps and triceps would that help get up to doing chin-ups/push-ups?

Thanks!

Jeff, what's up man.

You say pushups and pullups in that above post. I assume you are talking about pullups and threw pushups in there by accident... am I right?

Do you have a pullup bar at home?

Do you mean you don't have the equipment? Or arent able to do an unassisted pull up? If you dont have a place to do them, like steve said you can get a bar, or get creative. I thought the same thing for months and one day in the back yard I noticed I had a swing out there. I can take the swing off in just a sec and do PUs on the bar. I also do towel pull ups with a tree. If you look I'm sure you can find a place. If you have a bar but just can't quite do them then I would buy some bands. You can do assisted PU's with bands. Or just do negatives for a few weeks until you can manage 1. Once you get one, your off to the races.

I 've had a lot of experience with knee problems over the years.
Mine stems for 25 years of competitive judo.
Torn cartilage, torn ligaments, dislocation, & finally a total knee replacement 6 years ago.
If you have pain or inflamation after an exercise : stop doing that exercise.
Pain is your body's signal:"Something is wrong, stop!"
Based on your description I recommend to see an arthropedic specialist.
Not a GP, they don't do much for you but prescribe rest, pain killer's or anti-inflamitory drugs. The rest is sometimes helpfull, and so can the the anti-inflamatoy drugs. But for the most part they don't treat the problem, just the symptoms. Get a referal to a specialist. Knees tend to be an athlete's weakness (achilles tendon), and a dancer's to (it would appear). Once damaged they are never the same. Sometimes surgery can improve things, but they are never a good as they were before the injury.

Mike D

I meant pull-up and chin-up. I can do push-ups unassisted push-ups now. Editing previous post now that I'm not zonked out.

I also do not have equipment unless I goto gym and thats not something I wanna try at gym considering how last time it was pretty bad.

What is a negative? I think I might try the bands. How much are they? I have a stair well I can set them up in and if I work the muscles eventually I guess I can do a pullup/chinup.

Right? Or am I confused.

Ed gave you advice that would have matched my own. If I were you, I'd pick up a pullup bar and install it in your home. They're cheap and easy to install. Or, if you have the setting, find something like a tree branch or something. I too, have done pullups in many places.

If you get yourself a bar, you can do negatives, which is the portion of the exercise where our muscles (primarily lats and biceps) are stretching out or lowering our body. We're stronger in the eccentric than we are in the concentric phase (shortening, raising).

That said, you could put a chair or something under the bar and assist yourself to the up position, then accentuate the lowering phase.

Or you could do assisted pullups with bands, as Ed recommended. They would look something like this:

YouTube - Assisted Band Pull Up

You could put the band around both knees. I would actually suggest putting them under your feet instead of your knees (less likely to slip and slap you!)

I purchase all of my bands from either jumpstretch.com or ironwoodyfitness.com. They're relatively cheap.

Other things you can do at home for lats are as follows:

YouTube - DeFrancosTraining.com - Timed band lat pulldowns

YouTube - Exercise of the Day: Lying Swimmer Lat Pulldown

Basic rowing will also work and strengthen your lats.

Thanks! I rent so I'd rather not install anything, but I saw a tv ad for a 35 dollar thing you put in the doorway and you can do pull ups. Seems cheap if it works. It like wraps around the door frame.

The lying swimmer lat pulldown would be easy I can use the railing right by where I do my workouts in the hall. I'll check out those sites, but probably just goto dicks to see if they have any reasonable bands.

I haven't check Dick's for bands. I'm sure they have them. But I'm guessing they're universal in terms of resistance. The nice thing about those links I sent you is the quality of the bands and the varying resistances.

But Dick's is worth a check.

Good luck.