All-Purpose Health and Fitness Thread

[Shartnado]

I decided that my biceps weren't properly destroyed yet on Monday, so that was on tap yesterday. Kept the weights light, but hit them from all the angles by doing standing double bicep curls, incline bench dumbell curls and preacher/concentration curls on the Scott bench. Used a pair of 26,5's, 31's and 35's. 3 sets of each move, moving from one to the next and starting over. Also did a few sets of slow and deep incline bench dumbell presses and behind the neck skullcrushers (with one dumbell) after each corresponding curl set. Some extra side and rear delt action, resistance band push downs and proper ab work as well.

In the evening, I did plenty of stretching and used the massage hammer/gun on my upper body. My legs are feeling surprisingly good, but my chest is really F'n feeling it. That's of course a great sign.

 

[Shartnado]

Was able to stretch my legs out enough to have a decent squat machine pyramid and calf raises as well on Wednesday. Squat went from 139 to 467 and back down to 139. Calf raises started from 467 (3 sets) and also went down to 139. Getting 6 some kind of reps (some pretty decent, a few not so much) of squats with 467 was definitely cool.

Thursday I figured I hadn't done the heavy incline dumbell bench/ hammer curls with 88's yet so I did 3 sets of those. 8, 7 and 12 for bench. I also did variations of resistance band lat pulls and one more set of incline bench/ hammer curls with a pair of 57's. There was some ab work on at least one of these days, not sure which? Probably Thursday.

Friday was Trapbar day, this time more on the heavy singles side. Warmed up with deficit lifts of 5x134, 5x254, 4x375,5 and 2x470, then 2x525 off the floor level, then off the blocks 1x566 off the half blocks, 1x660,5 off the 3/4 blocks and 1x755,5 off the full blocks (after failing off 4/5 blocks). I tried 828 after this, but failed (this means 881 is a long way off yet) Then 2x733,5 and 3, 5 and 8x660,5 off the full blocks and 10x566 off the 4/5 blocks. Then two sets of shrugs with 470 and 375,5. Only hanging and rolling afterwards, no abs. I did a very limited hanging crunch and hanging knee and leg raises at home, afterwards.

This week was a first one that really felt like being back. Hopefully this continues.

[Shartnado]

A 5km run this morning, no weight vest. Felt ok. Legs will need some attention later on, as hamstrings felt pretty tight early on and quads started to feel pretty rough towards the end. Considering next week is night shift and I should have the next workout tomorrow evening, this week ended up being pretty batshit, as far as training goes, for an "off season" week, anyway.

[Shartnado]

Last night, I started the week with the usual incline dumbell bench/hammer curls with 88's. 3 sets, with 12, 11 and 8 reps for the bench. I also tried to see where I'm at with the single arm overhead dumbell press. Started with 66, did one rep with each hand and did the same with 70,5 straight after. Then I did a set of resistance band chest flies and went for 75 and 79. Left arm didn't go clean with 79, so I tried that again after another chest fly set. So 79 and 83,5. Once again, 83,5 was not clean with the left arm, but I got it up with the right one, after quite a bit of struggling. I did do a couple of partials with 88 with each hand, but none of them where close to a lock out. So that was better than I expected, while not as good as I hoped.

A few sets of resistance band lat pull downs, two drop sets of resistance band push-downs, set of slow and deep incline dumbell bench with 61,5's, followed by hammer curls. Then similar sets with 31's and 26,5's, but also added standing bicep curls and curls on the incline bench to those sets. Very limited ab work at the end.

Good start for the week, but I feel pretty rough right now, and it's about one hour before I'm supposed to jump on the bike and do it all over again. Shit!

[Technico Support]

Did the hack squat machine for the first time in a while yesterday — my gym only has one and, just my bad timing, it’s been occupied the last few times I wanted to use it — 9 set up and down pyramid and my glutes and quads are killing me.  Ran 5 miles today and it was TOUGH.

[Shartnado]

Tonight, just one pyramid, but it was Meadows Row and it got pretty rough. From 55 to 230 to 55. 4 reps per arm with 197, 230, 219,5 and 200 and between 7 and 16 per arm with smaller weights.

Afterwards, some more chest flies with the resistance bands and two sets of dumbell chest flies on the floor with a pair of 39,5's and 44's and once again, only reduced ab work at the end.

So yeah, the 230 top set was obviously the heaviest one arm shit I've ever done, but there were many more body parts doing the work, aside from just arms. Nonetheless, it moved, so fuck it!

[Shartnado]

Man, I felt so trashed tonight on my way to the gym, but it ended up being pretty good, nonetheless. I did a squat machine pyramid and calf raises too, on the way back down.

Started the squats from 233,5 and top set was 7 half decent reps with 467, then back down to 139. Was going for 8 with 467 but it felt like my core was going to give out, so I stopped at 7. Then 3 sets of 15 calf raises with 467. On the way up, I did 8x423 which were pretty good and on the way down 4 pretty bad reps.

During the down time between each set, I did different combos of bodyweight calf raises.

When changing into my work clothes, my caves looked pumped as all fuck and that was pretty cool.

Let's see if I can keep this pace up for the rest of the week? So far, so good.

[Shartnado]

Good news and bad news, I guess? Bad news is that I felt even more thrashed yesterday and the following Seal Row pyramid and bench "some sort of structure" were somewhat uninspired. My front delts were just so destroyed from previous stuff that it was clearly restricting my efforts on both fronts. A few sets with 235,5 on bench and two sets with 264 on Seal Row were the best I could muster.

The good news is that in a couple of days my body composition has taken a dramatic turn for the better. At 185,5 lbs I was looking pretty shredded for the first time in a couple of months. Now, I feel way worse than I look at the moment, but it was still a pleasant surprise.

Another not so great news is that there's still one more night to go and I still need to do Trapbar before I'm done for the week.

Edited September 12 by Shartnado
...

[Shartnado]

So, I figured it could be worse, I could get a syringe stuck through my cheek, land on a cinder block or be suffocated with a plastic bag, so why not go apeshit on the Volume Trapbar tonight?

A halfway ready new playlist helped too, as I went and lifted 135x536 lbs inside 40 minutes, 3 reps off the half blocks, 60 reps off the 3/4, 40 something off the 4/5 blocks and the rest off the full blocks. I counted the overall weight and my calculator said "A literal metric shit-ton!"

The warm-up was deficit lifts 5x133, 5x250 and 3x375,5 off the double deficit, then 1x470 off the small deficit without Versas and 1x470 off the high deficit with Versas. Only one set of shrugs with 133 when I was putting away the Trapbar. No abs either, just rolling and hanging upside down.

If I don't do some serious stretching during the night shift, I will feel like I took a Cowboy Killa on a cinder block as well!

Quite the week, this one!

[The Natural]

Today I went to the gym for the first time in months. I did the leg press machine, cable and pulley machine biceps/triceps, leg extension machine, chest press machine and treadmill. Going to try and start going regularly again.

[Shartnado]

Had to give myself a recovery week, since last week was indeed apeshit and there was fun had on the weekend as well and that took a toll also.

So for the first two days, not only did I forego the gym, I even rode to work without the weight vest. I was getting kinda frustrated wearing it, thinking "this doesn't do anything". After the two days without it, I KNOW it does.

I have tweaked my left knee, most likely on the super heavy Meadows Row sets. It's not painful nor does it really restrict anything, but I can feel it is not completely normal. Therefore this week's workout have been lighter and very upper body oriented. Pump for arms, chest, delts and lats, that's pretty much it. I did "run the rack" in 3 drop sets of behind the neck skullcrushers today, though. From 88 to 66, then a bit of a break, then from 61,5 to 44, another break, during which I did a set of standing double bicep curls with a pair of 35's, then from 48,5 all the way down to 2,75 lbs on one long-ass, drop-set. After that, some more light curl clusters from several different angles. A proper ab work at the end. My arms should feel it, come tomorrow.

There will be running on the weekend, but I won't be wearing the weight vest then, either. An extra day off from work tomorrow, so that was it for this week. Let's see if I can recover from something as light as this, then?

[Contentious C]

Special shout-out to the complete dolt in my gym who is:

- Maybe a little older than me

- Roughly the same size I was 2-3 years ago

- Is there just as much as I am

- Who can't seem to understand that his absolute GARBAGE range of motion is why he's still fucking small.

Yes, you're putting 230 lbs on the Smith machine to do "squats", which I could only just do and feel safe.  No, you're not getting anything out of it because your idea of a rep is "Oh, did my knees bend just a little?  OK, back up.  Knees barely bent again?  OK, back to the top" for EVERYTHING you do.  Where is Shinjiro Ohtani to give someone a shoot DDT when you need him?

[Shartnado]

A 7km run this morning. The knee held up well, no problem there. There was also an outside gym near by where we are staying so we tried out some of the machines. They were surprisingly heavy, with adjustable weights on both sides of the racks. Didn't stay for too long as it was a pretty chilly morning, but I did get a few sets in.

[Shartnado]

Another attempt at 88lb single arm dumbell overhead press today. A few partials with both arms, but no clean reps. 83,5 was completed cleanly with both arms, but it took more tries with the left one.

Sitting overhead dumbell presses with 61,5's, 75's and 79's followed by hammer curls with each weight.

Two standing dumbell curl/ sitting dumbell overhead press/ sitting dumbell curl/ narrow dumbell overhead press/ hammer curl combos with 35's and 26,5's.

3 sets of resistance band lat pulldowns and two drop sets of resistance band push downs.

Some gripper stuff and a full ab work at the end.

[Shartnado]

Meadows Row pyramid today starting from 55 all the way to 241 and back down to 55 with more sets on the way back down than on the way up. The 4 or 5 ugly reps per arm with 241 is once again a new record, the set before that one was 7 or 8 with 197 and the one after it was 4 or 5 with 219. Some 15 sets per arm overall. Rough shit.

I did 2 sets of standing double bicep curls and 2 sets of dumbell chest flies on two benches combining into a "T"-shape. Then a long set of light side delt raises and a full ab work at the end.

[Shartnado]

Squat machine day, along with the calf raises. I went nowhere near as heavy as past couple of times but my quads and hamstrings are fucked as we speak. Calves seem relatively fine. The top set was 12x322 (plus the two sets of resistance bands), followed by 7×322 after a set of calf raises in between. Most of the squat sets were 10 reps and I was trying to go deep every time. I was absolutely drenched in sweat by the end, but did manage a full ab routine at the end.

I have tried to eat a lot during each day and stretch and hydrate but I'm really feeling wiped out at the moment.

Once again I found a fantastic new shredwave band from Spain, incidentally called Lex Lùger (I don't know how to get the damn umlauts on the "u" in Luger) and blasting through their 2023 album Creepshow more than a dozen times in a couple of days has given me a lot of energy, but that boost doesn't last indefinitely, apparently.

[Shartnado]

Bench and Seal Row pyramids yesterday. Bench was from 164 to 252 and back down to 164. I did 11 reps with 230 and the 10th one at least touched the chest on the way down.

Seal Row was from 154 to 308 to 154. The first rep of 286 was clean, full range of motion. I know because it banged on the bottom of the bench on the way up. Rest of the reps weren't. Neither were any of the 308 reps. Also did two sets of reverse grip barbell curls with 154, before and after the Seal Row. No abs, just hanging upside down at the end.

This felt like a really good workout, but I was really wiped out during the evening.

[Technico Support]

On 9/25/2024 at 12:59 PM, Shartnado said:

Lex Lùger (I don't know how to get the damn umlauts on the "u" in Luger) and blasting through their 2023 album Creepshow

That is hilarious, because you can hear Luger’s NWA/WCW theme in Creepshow 2 — I guess it’s part of a free music library somewhere.  Coincidence?

[Shartnado]

Trapbar day for the finish. I did some decent stuff in there a deficit lift of 458 off the high block without Versas, then I did 480 off the low block and then 502 off the low block with Versas.

The best stuff was 2x742, 2x786 and 3x742 off the full blocks and 8x647,5 off the 3/4 blocks. And a bunch of lighter stuff and some shrugs.

I'm glad this week is done, however!

[Technico Support]

I'll keep you posted on how it's going but a few weeks ago I discovered the drawbacks of overtraining.  I'd been doing six days per week, an hour and 15 to an hour and a half of weights and the same amount of cardio alternating, for a long time.  One night I was like, "fuck, why am I just dog-tired and ravenously hungry?"  I decided to cut it to 45 minutes (ish) of each instead.  I'll let you know the impact on my weight but god damn, I feel much better.  There's no point in working out like crazy if it makes you eat like shit when, if you're trying to lose weight, 80% of that happens in the kitchen, not the gym.  But anyway, it rained a lot, so this week was:

Sunday: Back, biceps, some legs

Monday: Chest. shoulders, triceps

Tuesday: Run 4.3 miles

Wednesday: Legs

Thursday: Back and Biceps

Friday: Chest, shoulders, triceps

Tomorrow: sweet, sweet day off

[Shartnado]

Wrecked my ass (literally) on a deficit lift on Trapbar going for, and getting 502, so my right glute is a bit sore. I've been working on it during the weekend and right now during the night shift.

Tonight's workout was alright. I decided to do just all the fun stuff it being my birthday and everything. After the warm up, I did the single arm dumbell press and actually cleared 88 with both arms, after a couple of attempts (but no rest between them) as well as reps with 79 and 83,5! 3 sets of 8 with the 88's on incline bench dumbell presses as well as the hammer curls.

A few sets of resistance band lat pull downs and chest flies and a bunch of standing double bicep curls and push downs drop sets along with almost full ab work at the end.

I made a one hour condensed gym playlist and tried to get the workout done by the time it was played through, but I went a few minutes over. Very effective list, however!

[Shartnado]

Was able to find (thanks to my wife) a Finnish webstore that carries Versa Gripps Xtremes, so I ordered a pair along with some amino acids and new wrist wraps. That will be a part of my birthday present from my wife.

So, this evening I went for Meadows Row pyramid, but stayed at considerably lighter loads this time. The top set was 12x168,5 with both arms. Once the loads became lighter on the way back down, the reps per set went up to as high as 22. In between each set I did a resistance band chest flies from several different angles. Afterwards, I did one long set of dumbell chest flies lying on two benches in T-formation again. Full ab routine at the end.

I guess I should do a light leg day tomorrow, but I need to be wary of the knee and the glute. I did schedule a sports massage session for Friday afternoon so that should work on one of the problem areas at least.

[Shartnado]

Yup, leg day this evening. When I said light, I meant less reps but ended up going relatively heavy on the squat machine. The 2 heaviest sets were 6x416 and 6x427. They went pretty deep too, because my co-worker commented "Bad ass!" and he always goes deep, so I know they were good.

On the way back down, I only did calf raises, so as to not aggrivate the knee and the glute too much. During the workout, they were both fine, now that I started the night shift, they both start to bother me a little bit. Well that figures.

The Versa Gripps Xtremes arrived today, but they won't get any action until tomorrow.

Today, when I woke up in the afternoon, I weighed myself and it was 189 and the body composition is definitely where I needed it to be in order to start the real slow bulk season.

[Shartnado]

Incline Seal Row pyramid and a regular bench pyramid on tap this evening both going pretty well, actually.

Seal Row went from 154 to 330 to 154. Plenty of good reps with 264, a few with 286, maybe one pretty good and a bunch of not so goods with 308 and not very goods with 330.

Bench went from 164 to 284 to 164. The good stuff was 14x230, 10x241, 11x230 (on the way down), 3 good reps with 269. The 284 "set" was just one ugly partial, but I think 279 at least touched the fabric of my hoodie, if not my chest (the second rep certainly did not). Also, the number of reps with 252 was 7 pretty decent if not all completely clean.

The new Versas and wrist wraps worked well, no complaints. Good workout, one of the best bench stuff in quite a while.

[Technico Support]

I don’t even know what a seal row is.  I’m going to assume it’s a regular row, but you sing “Kiss From a Rose” while you do it.