Moving forward is better than moving backward. And you have doubled the weight that you use.
At this pace, we’ll have a champion powerlifter in a fortnight!
I feel heard. (Read?)
Congrats! That’s great. It’s really hard to get back from a major setback like you had, and you are doing well.
Thanks! I was hoping to add another pound before I hit my 70th birthday, but that’s next month. Maybe by summer. 
In case anyone doubted you on this, they are pretty accurate -
- Among all adults aged 18 and over, 24.2% met the guidelines for both aerobic and muscle-strengthening activities, 22.7% met only the guidelines for aerobic activity, 6.8% met only the guidelines for muscle-strengthening activity, and 46.3% did not meet the guidelines for either type of activity (Figure 1).
…
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The percentage of men who met both physical activity guidelines decreased with age, from 41.3% of those aged 18–34, to 29.4% of those aged 35–49, to 21.6% of those aged 50–64, and 15.3% of those aged 65 and over.
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The percentage of women who met the guidelines for both physical activities decreased with age, from 28.7% of those aged 18–34, to 22.7% of those aged 35–49, to 17.6% of those aged 50–64, and 10.8% of those aged 65 and over.
{Above is quoted}
So no question that few adults of any age are following the recommendations regarding exercise, fewer for the strength training portion than for the aerobic portion, and older adults less frequently than younger adults.
But not sure this follows:
Even if by “price” you are be more inclusive than money. The price is doing something they are not enjoying. Strength training can be very effective and progressive for free. The increase in energy and capacity is over time; tired sweaty smelly afterwards is immediate.
Personally I suspect the guidelines put some off. The fact that the lion’s share of the healthspan and immediate function benefits are gained with very little effort, is lost when the 150 minutes a week of aerobic and two days of strength is the lede. The recommendations can come off as intimidating to someone who is not currently exercising at all.
@enipla is completely correct that strength training and aerobic exercise can be accomplished by way of yard work and other activities that satisfy some more! No need to be rigid about it.
Best of luck with your product, really, but tolerate my skepticism that any product at any price is going to be effective at getting a single person who isn’t exercising or already decided that are going to start, to start.
Not talking about money here when I say price, I am thinking of all the other imagined obstacles that don’t include money. Money is the least of the hurdles here.
So, what’s the value proposition of your device?
Here’s a challenge for you - don’t post there, just read the thread in the Pit, the “What were they thinking?” one where this thread was discussed, and even some of the initial posts in this thread.
There is a population that really does react badly to even any implication that they would be better off including exercise in their life. Let alone strength training as part of it. They just don’t wanna. They don’t wanna even think about exercising.
How would a new device, any new device, change their reactions?
The mantra no pain no gain is false. But no effort no gain is pretty true, even if it doesn’t rhyme.
Thanks, I will check that out. You are absolutely right on the far end of the spectrum. There are those who under no circumstances would ever work out, on the other end of the spectrum are those who are on the fence, and in the middle are those who might under the right circumstances. That is the primary reason I wanted to divorce myself from the “gym culture.” More of a marketing thing. As someone who has always hated working out, I had to use myself as a model of what I would do. I have no idea how typical I am, so that is a risk, but I have to assume that I am not all that unique either. I would guess I am typical of maybe 20% of those who don’t work out. I actually love my machine because I only sample it in 2 or 3-minute doses most of the time. I have absolute control over the pace and the effort I am expending, and I am making that decision every rep. My tendency is always to start a little soft and quickly start upping the effort. I will check that thread out.
Exercise takes time and effort. I’ve occasionally felt far too busy to lift weights and a couple times went several months without doing it. If you don’t want to do it, I understand it is easy to justify you are already doing enough in other ways. Especially with a stressful job, and already busy life, commutes and commitments.
And maybe you are getting enough exercise. Some is way better than none. I’m not judging. But I feel more energetic if I do two strength sessions and two cardio sessions each week. I know it makes me look stronger, and strongly believe the evidence it increases health and longevity, avoids pain and sarcopenia, increases geriatric function and mood, and delays arthritis and chronic disease and dementia.
This would fall under increasing awareness about its benefits and downfalls if we don’t. This has worked pretty well for walking, anti-smoking, and watching our diet, but has barely made a dent in those who lift weights. That’s why I feel so strongly that the market has a gap in it. People want to be healthy and strong, and they want to look good; they don’t want to pay the price of time and effort. Force driven resistance system can eliminate the majority of those objections while still delivering a quality strength building workout. I am convinced it is a sleeping giant because it doesn’t currently exist and no one actually knows what the experience feels like. 2 or 3 minutes a day can make a big difference. No time spent loading weights or setting up or making decisions about how much weight to use. It is a completely different animal.
I found the machine below, which reminds me of your equipment. It allows you to sit, and uses air resistance. They tout the variability that this provides.
Yes, very similar, mine is obviously lower cost and also much more flexible as far as the angles you can work from. I think this type of resistance will catch on eventually.
I have the erg-rower from Concept2 and - while not inexpensive - it is really a great piece of equipment.
There are many OLD versions still in use (they are being built with very minor changes since the 1980ies IIRC - and they literally last a lifetime or 2) … and they command a high price in the used market.
What other equipments that are being sold today do you know where you can purchase every single screw/fastener/plastic piece for ridicoulously low $$$ from the producer.
… Oh - btw a good rowing machine can work 84% of your body’s muscles … so its about as close to a get-one-solve-all fitness device as possible.
best of luck, all!
This is an interesting read, the eccentric and concentric issues I have been aware of for some time. While I recognize the eccentric movement as being valuable and important, I also see it as being slightly overhyped as necessary. I simply see it as an advantage that free weights have over forced resistance, no system will be the best at anyone thing. One thing a like about a push pull under tension system is the feeling of fullness you feel in all of your muscles, it feels very pleaseant and encourages me to come back. When that feeling starts to wane I want it back.
Exercise, diet, less drinking or smoking, etc. I don’t touch them any longer. People are going to do what they want to do, and I’m not their doctor.
As I rehab my shoulder, I’m watching more YT videos on safer lifting after finding that some of the things I’ve done for 40 years can be harmful, like upright rows (I’ve done them forever…no more though). Now that I’m approaching 60, I need some professional advice on how to safely weight train and not rely on what I learned from HS and a college lifting PE course. What are your thoughts on best way to get advice on good lifting routines for someone getting older?
In context of shoulder rehab I would lean on your PT for guidance. For general advice DrP has given some classic resources for weightlifting.
My own personal beliefs general principles start off with that the cardio bucket has the highest priority. After that a focus on two to maybe three times a week of strength training but not marathon sessions.
Are you specifically concerned in regards to staying safe as an “older” lifter? My WAG is that most of it comes naturally - the younger lifters are more often going to be ego driven than we are. We know to respect recovery by now, for example, less likely to be focused on the show muscles.
The general concepts hold consistent: balancing push pull of the major groups in multiple planes (vertical horizontal rotation and antirotation). I am personally big in my belief on multiple modalities as helpful for healthspan: strength, power, balance, and now cautiously adding more plyo.
But honestly other than specific considerations for your rehabilitating shoulder, I don’t think it is much effort to lift safely as we get older. I’m much more worried about getting hurt on my bike!
FWIW I spent a little time today getting Claude and ChatGTP to critically evaluate my approach. ChatGTP actually came up with some valid comments of what was imbalanced in my programming and some constructive advice that actually makes sense to me. A substitute of one thing for another, a different variation, a recommendation to change order a bit. Not just the usual fawning.
I am curious as to how you experience the air pressure. Does it have to build up? Or do you get full pressure right from the beginning of a stroke?
It is my highest priority and I get some nearly every day. My Strava stats so far for March: 122 miles, 31 hours, 15,400’ elevation. And, those should go up the next couple of months as I get to more cycling now that the snow and wet are starting to go away.
Yes. I’ve been lifting basically the same way I have my whole life but I need to start making sure I lift more safely as my joints go downhill.
I’ve always done a back/bicep day and a chest/tricep day each week. I also do a core day. I don’t really do legs because I run, walk, hike and cycle a lot.
Why do you think my shoulders are a mess? Too many wrecks over the years. I’ve found that when I have a bit more muscle on my skinny frame, I am able to do more with less injuries. A strong core is a big part of it, but it’s true for all my upper body muscles as well.
the best way to describe it: ORGANIC …
the whole system seems to hinge on the fact that AIR is basically a very light FLUID … and it behaves the same as water in some aspects.
When you move your hands slowly through water - thats pretty effortless … when you try to accelerate the hand movement, you run int a “wall of water”, right? … I seem to recall that power scales to the 3rd power (^3 - as you displace the water into 3 dimensions) … so, basically you push twice as hard, and have to make 8 times the work.. push 3 timex as hard, and its 27 times the effort. (most likely I mis-name the physics concepts here work/force/effort)
The same principle applies to the C2 … any 5 year old can row slowly … but if you start “leaning into it as hard as you can”, you run into the same wall of light water (=air).
So in a way it is self-governing system, as you cant really out-row the machine in terms of force - and of course the computer throws all kinds of KPIs at you like stroke-lenghts/duration of stroke/watts/…
makes sense?
back to your Q: there is no lag or anything that feels artificial (like a turbo-lag) … you pull hard and you fight the air from the first cm of pull …