Sisco is on a good track with lowering the weight and increasing intensity. I like to keep things midrange with, once I get rolling again, intensity levels that'll almost make me puke. I also work in muscle groups which would be like benching, shoulders, triceps and quads one day, and then back, biceps and hams the next. (when I say day, I mean workout day, not necessarily the very next day)
Sort of a "pulling exercises" one day and "pushing exercises" the next. I also only work 2 exercises at a time when pushing through very hard and very fast from one to the next but then work in the next pair on the fly so there is still no brake. You just really need to be disciplined about taking time in between and remember that it takes time to really stretch it out for a good long workout.
I've always trained with the average physical confrontation in mind and if you think about it, it is everything you've got for as long as you can give it and then some with no stopping to rest or anything in between. Learn to customize what you hope to train for and then shoot for that.
As for the weights, I also agree with Sisco on the ankle and wrist weights. Not good. I DO however love my weight vest. (Amazon has em so make sure you use the AR10t link when you buy
) It's 40 pounds, rides MUCH better than a ruck sack and adding weight for hill climbs or stairs is easy because of the heavy duty rings both front and back. If you really want to do some heavy breathing to stretch your lungs for a while, add about another 20 or 30lbs to the vest and find the steepest hill you can find and go up and down it a few times. That will REALLY work on you.
When walking or doing the hill climbs, time yourself. Then, every time you go, make sure you are either keeping or exceeding your pace. I HATE running myself which is why I go with the vest because you work your butt off a LOT faster which makes the "not so fun stuff" seem a lot shorter but set time goals and then shoot for them to decrease the time without cutting short the workout.
If you can make yourself do any sprints at all, once you have gotten used to the vest, add a drag bag but sprint on grass cuz anything else will wear the bag out pretty fast.
Other than that, it's consistency buddy. Whatever you DO choose to do, stick with it. The older you get, the more important it will be to do at least SOMETHING all the time. I know. I've laid off of everything for a little while here and am looking at going through hell starting up again in January. Back to the gym for my butt and I just know the pain is gonna be intense and non stop for at least 2 months but I'm 49 and need to work 5 times harder at my age for half the results I was getting at 35 when I was pushing 350 and only weighed 210.
Flexibility is also something you really need to stick with. I can normally bend over and touch my chest to my legs but right now at 240+, there seems to be something in the way of accomplishing that so once I get rid of that, it'll be an easy thing again but ONLY because I've always worked flexibility. Done a lot of different things that required it so it just came with the variations I've played with.
There you go, a serious answer from Sharkey...
Don't get used to it...