My bench is not remotely big enough for me to do the kind of abs exercises as warmups that have been recommended in weight lifting areas.

So I've been practicing in bed. Can I go from lying flat on my back to sitting up without using my hands? So far I can.

So I think I could take this to the floor, maybe. (Exercise on the floor... then getting UP off the floor is a whole 'nuther exercise LOL.)

A couple of years ago I bought this book "SLOW BURN" that the Drs. Eades co-authored. It recommended weight lifting at an unusually slow pace, to force the muscle to failure much sooner. It also recommended some basic exercises, done verrrrry slowly. For example, sit ups.

I put on exercise clothes back then, hyped up for the effort. I was tired by the time I got them on LOL. Then I set out to see how many of each major exercise I could actually do.

Zero.

I could not do a single situp, as the main example.

When young I used to do 100 at a time so that was more than a little demoralizing.

I think I may have gotten to the point where I can do at least one situp though. Must find something I can hook my feet under so I can try them on the floor instead of the mattress.

I actually "feel" the muscles from waist to shoulders, all around my body, right now. Just from 'going through the motions' in a 10x1 set with 3# weights, now how pitiful is that! I'm not really sore, so much as 'aware' (so, sore, but not very).

Tonight I'm going to do some warmup exercises and stretching first. I didn't do that last time I was weight lifting and we know how well THAT went, so maybe doing it more intelligently this time will help.

I've decided for this effort the next few months/weeks I'm going to reduce the number of different exercises I'm doing and focus on three things:

1) a few core/compound exercises, and

2) some warmup exercises/stretching, and

3) making up some kind of "weight lifting kata" where I take weights a bit lighter than I need and come up with a motion that covers a variety of different exercises I am mostly NOT doing. When I was a teen we used to do this. Combine lots of exercises into something a little like a cheer-drill-dance and do them to music. I think that will help me get motion that my main exercises aren't covering, in a fun (I know: PAY ATTENTION) way, with weights that are not super challenging as my main goal is to get a LITTLE bit in for those not a lot. In part because of the crossover on muscles I'm using hard in the core. And in part because this will by default have some unusual motions, like diagonal and turns in the holds, that might risk injury if done with real heavy weights.