I’ve known That Strong Old Guy ever since I can remember. Later, while attending high school and college, I worked at the small fitness center owned by him and his wife.
I can’t remember exactly when he showed me how to do what he called at the time “aerobic squats”, but as a result of his influence I was doing variations on the deep knee bend theme all the way through college and medical school. Currently, as a very busy new mom and Chief Resident at a busy urban hospital, I almost never have a chance to sit down. I’m either getting ready for work, at work, doing household chores, or feeding and playing with my new little buddy.
The usual caveats here: I most assuredly am not dispensing any medical advice. As That Strong Old Guy said, if it hurts, don’t do it; if you have doubts, contact a knowledgeable physician who can examine you in person
I love the way he has conceptualized in the Sneak Up On Fitness articles what I think for many people is a great way to “steal” otherwise wasted time. However, I don’t have that time. I have to aggressively snatch fitness; I don’t see being able to sneak up on it anytime soon.
Except on weekends, I don’t seem able to find even the well equipped workout room located in our apartment complex. Not surprisingly, at this time in my life I demand the utmost efficiency from my limited fitness regimen. Aerobic squats, or deep knee bends, will be at the core of what I do for the next few months. My goal is simple: to maintain as much strength and endurance as possible in order to make motoring through each day as easy as possible. In that way I can be a regular Miss Congeniality at work and my husband will be less likely to suffer crabby wife syndrome.
I did note that he said that his best was 20 sets of 29 in 20 minutes. Well, for the record, I have knocked off 20 X 30 in the allotted 20 minutes. However, given that my baby was born just three months ago, I probably won’t be duplicating that personal record any time in the immediate future. Instead, I like his variation where you work up for a week in order to do as many as you can in one minute. The next time I’ll go for two minutes, and then the dreaded three. It sounds like something I can blast out in the limited time available. I think as the weeks go by, after the maximum effort for three minutes, I’ll back off and cruise at maybe 25 per minute for as long as I can stand, or as long as I have time.
I still have a couple of his little exercise mantras echoing in my head: First, in regard to intensity, “You can work out hard, or you can work out long; however, you can’t do hard for long.” Second, in regard to the volume, or the amount of work you do, “Do the least amount than will elicit the response you want.” In other words, I’ll be looking for short and sweet.
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