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Author Topic: The Fitness Thread - THE RE-SWOLLENING  (Read 53991 times)

TD1

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Re: The Fitness Thread (aka Git Fit, aka Swole Patrol, aka Many Rep, Such Wow)
« Reply #525 on: December 26, 2021, 05:17:42 pm »

Hollow Body Holds are great, they're basically planks but upside down. And the hollow position automatically makes all planks, sit ups, crunches, and leg raises more productive for the abs and safer on the lower back.

You can even add resistance to the hollow hold by wearing heavier shoes or putting heavy stuff on your feet.
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Tried the butterfly situps, they seemed less productive to me than normal situps? Entirely possible I'm doing them wrong, of course.

Hmm, I didn't mean soft as in flabby, more the muscles weren't... tense? Present? Heheh. I'm naturally slim, it would take a miracle for me to add weight.

Besides which, the aesthetics aren't 100% the reason. More like... 55%.  ;D
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nenjin

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Re: The Fitness Thread - THE RE-SWOLLENING!
« Reply #526 on: March 09, 2023, 10:44:03 pm »

I'm back motherfuckers! (Sorry NRDL)

I was out for nearly two years after my broken arm. On top of that, a whole bunch of life and work drama, and throwing my back out AGAIN last summer really sapped my motivation. But my body probably needed the break. I'm fuckin' 41! I managed to keep most of the weight off but feel like I lost about 50% of my gains.

Well, it's time to set a rhythm again. I've spent the last month working out in my apartment, just getting myself reconditioned to hard work. Simple free weight exercises, some band work, the usual battery of ab work on the floor. My apartment complex demolished the club house with the crappy gym, and is wasting my time in getting me access to the sister property's gym across the street. So for now I'll graduate back to the work gym.

I'm dramatically weaker, which isn't surprising, just disappointing. Pushups are a struggle again. I can barely do 10 before I'm totally gassed out. I've been doing them from my knees instead. My pecs feel it, but so do my triceps and weirdly my lats. I've lost a lot of ability to talk to my muscles. It's still there, as is the knowledge, but it's a connection I have to reforge.

I'm also going to focus on slightly different things. Like windshield wipers for obliques, a lot more leg raises, in addition to my butterfly situps which I'm slowly rebuilding my way back to doing weight again. I think I've found a strategy that spares my back a little. Sadly I don't think any gym I have access to will have a real barbell or squat rack and that's pretty disappointing. No deadlifts or squats or OHP. Starting to think it's time to buy a real gym membership, despite how much I don't want to drop ~$600/year on a good one with a sauna.

It feels great to be working out again though. Shit's awake, my mood is improving. My motivation isn't 100% there for some unrelated reasons and I'm only working out 2 to 3 times a week. But the intensity is still there and I can still do HIT workouts like I never really left. So that's encouraging. My knees and joints are feeling pretty good (lower back still a little sketch at times) but I'm doing some sitting and laying on pressure points using racquet balls to try and address some of that. My friend cracked my back the other day when things were super stiff and it was like 7 of them. I immediately felt better. I've generally scoffed at chiropractic work but I think I got some spinal compression issues I need to get worked out before I do any serious barbell work. Really I just need to find a bar to hang from for a good minute consistently. That'd do me a world of good.

-snippity doo da-
Tried the butterfly situps, they seemed less productive to me than normal situps? Entirely possible I'm doing them wrong, of course.

Hmm, I didn't mean soft as in flabby, more the muscles weren't... tense? Present? Heheh. I'm naturally slim, it would take a miracle for me to add weight.

Besides which, the aesthetics aren't 100% the reason. More like... 55%.  ;D

Let me reply.....2 years later!

The point of butterfly situps is that they disable your hip flexors, which most people engage to complete situps to take the pressure off their abs. The buttefly situp is supposed to force your abs to do more work.  If you're breezing through butterfly situps and say your abs don't feel engaged.....what does feel engaged? Because that's the thing that's doing the work. But if you can successfully do butterfly situps considering most people can't do them without their feet braced by something.....your ab strength to weight ratio is probably pretty high. Which tracks if you're slim and you work out.

You can try this though. Take the butterfly position, do the situp until you're vertical. Then breath out, clench your abs and lock them down, the slowly lower yourself to flat again while keeping the tension. Do you feel it then?
« Last Edit: March 09, 2023, 11:01:42 pm by nenjin »
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NRDL

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Re: The Fitness Thread - THE RE-SWOLLENING
« Reply #527 on: March 09, 2023, 11:03:24 pm »

I honestly wasn't sure what the etiquette for Necro'ing is anymore, glad this is back


I've been taking a very different approach to my own training lately. Been reading a lot of the works of Dan John and Paul Mcilroy, and I've been trying to get stronger while keeping effort per set relatively low.

E.g., if I've got a 10 rep max on the bench press of 70kg, instead of trying to do 3 sets of maximal reps with that ( getting maybe 10, 8, 7 reps for those 3 sets) I'd instead do only 3-4 reps, and do 15-20 sets instead. So I've done potentially more than twice the volume, at the same weight, without feeling any drain or threat to the nervous system. Getting plenty of submaximal practice in.


I don't really expect to get bigger with this type of training, but I do expect to get stronger, if I can take my working sets from 70kg to 80, without any increase in RPE ( Rate of Perceived Exertion ) or make my working numbers at that weight from 3-4 to 7-8, while keeping total volume the same.


It'll be an interesting experiment
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pisskop

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Re: The Fitness Thread - THE RE-SWOLLENING
« Reply #528 on: March 10, 2023, 09:01:45 am »

I ran a half marathon in November 2021.  Now Im 50lbs heavier.

Turns out snacking at a desk all day and working from home isnt healthy, and when winter came I kind of even stopped running.

It feels good to move; ask me how Im going in 1 month
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Re: The Fitness Thread - THE RE-SWOLLENING
« Reply #529 on: March 10, 2023, 09:19:09 am »

Did some basic core exercises yesterday and I could feel places where I'd let myself get weaker. My general fitness level is pretty good, but I put on a few pounds over the pandemic that I've yet to shift. Eating more, moving less, and getting older... I feel like I should get running again. A few years ago I was pretty fast, and could reliably do 5km in under 24 minutes (best time 22:47) but other stuff happened and I just totally stopped.
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nenjin

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Re: The Fitness Thread - THE RE-SWOLLENING
« Reply #530 on: March 15, 2023, 09:50:10 am »

Finally badgered my apartment complex staff enough they gave me a new keyfob for the gym. I don't know why they delayed for three weeks but w/e, going to check it out today after work.

I think I'm about back in condition for growth. Did about an hour and 45 mins of a workout yesterday (taking longer breaks) and while I'm a bit stiff today I'm not really sore. So I think it's time to get access to weights outside of what I have in my house and MAKE DEM GAINZ.
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nenjin

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Re: The Fitness Thread - THE RE-SWOLLENING
« Reply #531 on: March 22, 2023, 07:33:52 pm »

Successfully re-integrated into the gym. I'm very pleased to see they have an adjustable cable machine, that's a first for me. Lots of cool stuff you can do on that.

That said, pro-tip: if you ever get your hair dyed, realize you'll be dripping color for ??? time after you got it done if you sweat a lot in the gym. My gym sweat rag looked like I melted Lucky Charms into it, it was all sorts of different colors by the end of my session.

Also forgot the joys of working out around other people. Nothing like a 20-year-old newbie dropping 20 pound dumbbells from his hands and slamming racks for an hour straight like he's power lifting. I can respect making some noise in the gym.....when it's warranted. Your 20 pound dumbbell curls don't warrant that though.  After he dropped them and they almost rolled into the person working next to him I thought he'd get it....but nope. Finally had to give him the Evil Eye, I couldn't take it anymore. First day back around people in a work out setting and I'm already feeling hostile :P

Too bad the gym only has a smith machine with a barbell attached....but I guess a heavy Smith Squat is better than a Goblet Squat with the heaviest dumbbell you can manage to hold.

Can't wait to get back!
« Last Edit: March 22, 2023, 07:37:46 pm by nenjin »
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pisskop

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Re: The Fitness Thread - THE RE-SWOLLENING
« Reply #532 on: March 22, 2023, 07:40:53 pm »

I love watching the kiddies flex their 25lbs around!!

They bend their backs when doing lazy hammer curls.

They do nice little sets of 8.

They lift their legs up when bench pressing!!


P:  in my own news, I have restarted my home exercising again.  I want to stay out of the gym if I can - I dont lift for weight anymore anyway.
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nenjin

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Re: The Fitness Thread - THE RE-SWOLLENING
« Reply #533 on: March 29, 2023, 01:36:09 pm »

Decided to do Cheat Lateral Raises yesterday in an effort to get more additional work on my rear and side delts.....

Holy fuck, my back lit today, just with a 30. It's not really the raising of the dumbbell that gives you the work, it's the breaking force your side and rear delts provide to the motion. I feel like my rear delts got hit in a way I haven't experienced with anything besides a bent over row.
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When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.
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pisskop

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Re: The Fitness Thread - THE RE-SWOLLENING
« Reply #534 on: March 29, 2023, 01:46:48 pm »

Lat Lifts are serious business.  people neglect their delts and then wonder why they cant hold 20lbs out in front of them at chest height for any length of time.
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nenjin

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Re: The Fitness Thread - THE RE-SWOLLENING
« Reply #535 on: March 29, 2023, 03:37:11 pm »

Most people have overdeveloped front delts compared to the other two heads. I'm no exception. While straight shoulder presses are arguably a better compound exercise, the other heads have a lot of catching up to do.

On the negative side though, doing the left side Cheat Side Laterals resulted in a popping in my neck with every rep. ??? Doesn't hurt but it isn't exactly a good sign either.
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Cautivo del Milagro seamos, Penitente.
Quote from: Viktor Frankl
When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.
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Its kinda silly to complain that a friendly NPC isn't a well designed boss fight.
Quote from: Eric Blank
How will I cheese now assholes?
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Always spaghetti, never forghetti

TD1

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Re: The Fitness Thread - THE RE-SWOLLENING
« Reply #536 on: March 29, 2023, 06:36:51 pm »

I'm taking a week long break from the gym. My left shoulder's got a constant dull ache to it and feels stiff compared to the right. Gonna give it time to settle down, heh.

Also, question: Do y'all follow an exercise plan, or just ad lib it?
« Last Edit: March 29, 2023, 06:44:11 pm by TD1 »
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Re: The Fitness Thread - THE RE-SWOLLENING
« Reply #537 on: March 29, 2023, 06:58:50 pm »

There is no plan. Only hanging from monkey bars whenever I can escape from bullshit. Ook ook monke grindset

nenjin

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Re: The Fitness Thread - THE RE-SWOLLENING
« Reply #538 on: April 04, 2023, 08:10:21 pm »

I'm taking a week long break from the gym. My left shoulder's got a constant dull ache to it and feels stiff compared to the right. Gonna give it time to settle down, heh.

Also, question: Do y'all follow an exercise plan, or just ad lib it?

I got a plan.

I'm doing an upper/lower split. Two days currently. Which isn't enough but I am not ready to throttle up to 3+ yet.

I know what I want to work on for both days.

I start with some quick banded movements like Shoulder Breakers and Band Pull aparts, just to start getting the blood flowing. I'll do like 40 seconds of Hill Climbers to get my heart up and get blood pumping to my core and legs. Then I hit the gym.

Currently for upper day it's biceps, upper chest (too much straight pressing developed my lower chest more so things look lopsided to me. Also that's where all my remaining chest fat is), side delt, rear delt, back and lats. I finish the actual lifting portion with Farmer's Carries.

So it's:

3x10 Bicep curls.
3x10 Cheat Side Lateral Raises
3x10 Upper Chest Press
3x10 Cable Side Laterals
3x10 Cable uh...Upper Chest Raises? I'm not sure what they call it. But it starts from the hips and you raise up your arms to touch the handles together)
3x10 Cable Face Pulls. (They suck, honestly. They need the right set of grips so I can do face pulls off one cable instead of having each arm on its own cable. I can't get my elbows behind my head with this current config. So my rear delts are getting hit way harder than my rhomboids.)
3x10 Lat Pull Downs.
2x....something Farmer's Carries. As the last set I do, my grip is fucking shot by then anyways. The Farmer's Carries are there to finish my forearms off completely.

(Add an "ish" to the end of the rep count, because my energy levels tend to fluctuate.)

I time myself between each set to stay consistent and set the pace my body should learn to recover at. I was at a minute between sets pre-hiatus. I'm at 1:30 right now and I should probably take it back to 1 minute lest I start getting lazy.

In addition, every working day also gets ab sets:

3x15 Weighted Situps. (I've been doing more weighted crunches lately because I feel like all the sit ups are developing my lower abs ahead of my upper abs.)
3x10 Windshield Wipers.
3x10 Leg Raises. (I'll usually do all my ab work at home since it's where I do most of my grunting and groaning, and I don't need most gym equipment for this stuff.) Sometimes I'll do Leg Raises from the Captain's Chair instead of on my back if I am doing ab work at the gym.
3x40 second Stomach Vacuums. Like Farmer's Carries for my grip, the Stomach Vacuum is there to finish my abs off completely.

Lower Body day, I'm largely focusing on glutes right now. Both for aesthetic and posture reasons (I'm trying to strengthen my glutes to support my lower back, I've had issues I've talked about before.)

So that's:

3x12 Step-Ups with a 15 pound weight in one hand.
3x10 Glute Bridges (still hamstring dominant on these :\)
3x20 Goblet Squats with dat ass going way, way back. (I think the homemade Kettlebell I inherited is like, 25 or 30 pounds.)
3x20 Kettlebell Swings (again with the homemade Kettlebell. It's way under weight for me. I was doing a 70 pound kettlebell in one hand before I took a long hiatus. I should probably start one-handing the homemade one.)

And then the same set of ab exercises for my Lower Body day. (I'll usually swap out the Windshield Wipers for a new ab exercise that is also supposed to help strengthen the lower back. I don't know what it's called off the top of my head. You get on all fours then touch your elbow and opposing knee together beneath you, then fully extend them both out. And it surprisingly does feel good on my lower back, which is not something I can say about most exercises. It's not even really challenging at the rep count I'm doing.)

I keep my rest periods to 2 minutes on Lower Body days. Lower Body movements are compound movements so they tend to be more taxing and should demand slightly longer rest periods. I do fewer sets on Leg Day mostly because it takes all my energy to do that, and as I get more fatigued there's an increased risk to my lower back. So I tend to not completely wear myself out on Lower Body day like I do Upper Body. I've spent many an hour with legs so sore I struggle to stand up or sit down and I'm not a fan. Although that may happen once I get back to squatting. I wonder if I could deadlift on the smith machine.....I should also probably add Bulgarian Split Squats back to my Lower Body day but ugh.....I hate them. Not only are they difficult, they challenge my balance constantly. I hate feeling destabilized while I do exercises, particularly leg ones.

I follow all my workouts up with ~30 second cool shower that I'm slowly progressing to a cold shower. That will only get easier as the temperatures ramp up. Setting aside all the other theorized benefits of cold showers, it really does reinvigorate you after you've just beaten the shit out of yourself in the gym.

And I'll usually do 20 to 25 minutes of stretching on my work out days before I go to bed, targeting the stuff I worked on but also just generic good stretches like some Yoga poses, deep squat, yadda yadda.

I don't journal or document my sets so I can't claim total rigor or progression. But I absolutely approve of having a plan in the gym. I'm not sure I could sustain motivation just walking in there and doing random sets of whatever catches my attention. If you wanna develop a muscle group, you have to work it week to week. If you wanna develop several muscle groups, you have to have a plan because once you start getting fatigued, it is very easy to just say "fuck it" and not do the last few exercises. Having a firm idea of what your workout plan is makes adherence easier. "Just winging it" usually means you will call it a day long before you're actually fully worked. It just helps keep me accountable to what I say I want out of the process.

I acknowledge that 11 to 12 exercises in one workout at high intensity *might* be a bit excessive. I'm still sort of doing a hybrid of weightloss/conditioning/hypertrophy. I just can't abide standing around for 3+ minutes to recover, not unless I'm doing something super serial like Barbells Squats or Deadlifts that absolutely drain me. I got annoyed today in fact because a boyfriend/girlfriend couple came in and monopolized the lat pull down machine for like 15 minutes between them, doing multiple exercises and trading out. As my 2nd to last set, I killed almost 10 minutes just waiting on them. So I don't want to be that guy who has 6 sets to get through and takes 5 minute rest breaks between. That time adds up real, real quick. That's like 30 minutes of *just* rest.

I also never sit down between sets, I recover on my feet. It may make me appear a bit unhinged as I stalk around the gym between sets walking out my recovery. But once you sit your ass down it becomes exponentially harder each time to get up and start working again. Staying on your feet cues your body that it's not done and your intra-set recovery adapts accordingly.

As for my personal gym day moment.....

I went in slightly distracted and didn't check the weights when I went for dumbbell curls. I got through two sets before I realized they were 30s. Doing alternating suppenation, I got through my 2.5x10 sets at 30 without a ton of struggle, and finished the last half of my last set with 25s. I'm pleased. It's not straight suppenated curls at 30 so these are definitely easier, but 30s have historically been where I struggle with dumbbell curls, so I'm rather surprised and pleased that they didn't feel crushingly heavy. Knowing the weight absolutely can impact your mindset during your lifts. There's even documented evidence that as soon as people know what the weight they're lifting is, it seems heavier. That's not a recommendation to just blindly throw weights on, but sometimes obsessing about the number plays tricks on your brain.
« Last Edit: April 04, 2023, 09:21:00 pm by nenjin »
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Cautivo del Milagro seamos, Penitente.
Quote from: Viktor Frankl
When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.
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Its kinda silly to complain that a friendly NPC isn't a well designed boss fight.
Quote from: Eric Blank
How will I cheese now assholes?
Quote from: MrRoboto75
Always spaghetti, never forghetti

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Re: The Fitness Thread - THE RE-SWOLLENING
« Reply #539 on: April 05, 2023, 08:38:36 pm »

Sometimes when I'm doing the warmup in Jitsu, I wind up overheating. I've no idea why, so I'm hoping people here have suggestions.

My best guess is that drinking caffeine pre-session sets it off, so I'm testing that, but otherwise I'm stumped. It's been happening since before I started HRT, there's nothing physically wrong with me as far as I'm aware, it happens hydrated or dehydrated, nobody else is suffering like this so it's not the room getting super hot.
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