All-Purpose Health and Fitness Thread

[Control]

@El Gran GordiOh god I’m only 40.

Edited April 26, 2021 by Control

[Shartnado]

Ok, so Supplement talk:

When not on diet, for the past two years I've basically only used whey protein, barley starch and creatine for my intra and recovery drink. Recently, I've added some arginine into them as well.

In the morning (or after waking up) I take a multivitamin, vitamin D and Omega 3 (in the form of fish oil capsules). Before bed, I take melatonin, zinc and magnesium.

When on diet, I have this Finnish brand of fat burner I have used for about 5 years now, with positive results. I also usually have same brand's natural testo booster (I believe it's maca-based, but it has shit-load of other stuff in it, too). I also ordered essential amino acid powder for my morning drink. During summer, on morning shift weeks, I tend to only drink the EAA before leaving for work and drink the breakfast oatmeal drink once I'm there.

That's pretty much everything. A few years back I still used to spend a bunch more money, especially on amino acids, but I laid off of those for the most part of the year.

[supremebve]

3 hours ago, El Gran Gordi said:

@supremebveare you training with a particular goal or purpose in mind? 

 

Right now I'm still in the weight loss portion, I weighed in at 205 this morning.  The goal is 190, but once that is over the goal is to increase muscle mass in order to keep my metabolism to keep chugging along.

[Shartnado]

14 hours ago, supremebve said:

Right now I'm still in the weight loss portion, I weighed in at 205 this morning.  The goal is 190, but once that is over the goal is to increase muscle mass in order to keep my metabolism to keep chugging along.

Let's welcome a new addition to the DVDVR cruiserweight division : SuuuppprrrreemeeeBVE!!!!!

[Log]

Re: Supplements

I do whey protein that has creatine in it after workouts.  I was doing one every day, but I just sort of stopped doing that. 

I was doing BCAAs on workout days too, but I ran out and just haven't replenished.

I take vitamin D every morning.  I'm thinking of adding fish oil and a multivitamin, maybe.

I was doing a pre-workout when I used to workout at 5:30 am, but it would give me massive headaches in the afternoon.  It was really painful.  Now that I workout at lunchtime, I don't really need that anymore.

[Shartnado]

Ok, so it's the last day before the diet starts. Weighed in at 188 lbs this morning, but it may have gone below that, as the super hectic work day made me skip snack and lunch. Due to that, I said fuck it and skipped todays workout as well.

That's 4 workouts this week and it was going pretty damn intense, until today kinda ruined it, but whatever.

The supplements arrived yesterday, but I won't start on  them until Monday.

This Monday was a full upper body workout with pull-ups, dips and reverse shrugs with 45 lbs of extra weight. Chest flies with resistance bands, plus push-downs, shrugs and lateral raises to the side. Some light curls and other light stuff in between sets.

Tuesday I did some overhead press with dumbells as well as incline bench press with dumbells as well. Used the same weights to do some hammer curls and dumbell rows. Lateral raises and curls between sets as well.

Wednesday was a legday, squat machine loaded to somewhere around 400 lbs. Some stiff-legged deadlifts with the pair of 70 lb kettlebells. Plenty of calf raises and squats.

Thursday was bench day. I tried to fool my body by doing 5x132, 5x231, 3x264 and then tried to do 297. Well, I did it halfway, and another quarter rep, but had to leave it at that. Then I took it back down to 275 and did 2 sets of 3, then 4 sets of 3 with 264. Then 11 reps with 231 and 10 with 220 and 30 with 132. I did light lat pulldowns (88 lbs) to the chest in between sets.

Today was what it was, but I think I did fine regardless. I'm not super stoked foŕ the diet as of yet, but I'm sure once I get going it will be ok. 188 lbs is pretty high for the usual starting weight, but I thought I was going to be even heavier. I guess not. I may update my profile photo , once I get a decent shot.

[Guest Jimbo_Tsuruta]

I'm down 30lbs since last year thanks to steak, eggs and lifting. Does anyone have a preferred alternative to the bench press? My wrists are always knackered after them. Maybe weighted pushups would be better.

[Shartnado]

1 hour ago, Jimbo_Tsuruta said:

I'm down 30lbs since last year thanks to steak, eggs and lifting. Does anyone have a preferred alternative to the bench press? My wrists are always knackered after them. Maybe weighted pushups would be better.

If you have an option of doing (weighted) dips that could be a possibility, although they are not too easy on the wrists, either. But you could also use two heavy resistance bands and do push downs while on your knees on the floor. Sort of lateral bench press but using the bands. Should be a lot easier on the wrists. But as you suggested, try the weighted push ups first, then the other suggestions if those feel bad on your wrists.

[Gordi the former AEW fan]

1 hour ago, Jimbo_Tsuruta said:

I'm down 30lbs since last year thanks to steak, eggs and lifting. Does anyone have a preferred alternative to the bench press? My wrists are always knackered after them. Maybe weighted pushups would be better.

Dumbbell benching can be easier on the wrists.

I have been using TRX-type suspension strap push-ups to good effect recently.

In both cases you get the freedom to find an angle for your wrists that is more comfortable.

 

 

 

Edited May 3, 2021 by El Gran Gordi

[Gordi the former AEW fan]

75 kg (165 pounds) clean and press. 

It's almost one third of what Ken Patera used to do.

 

 

Edited May 3, 2021 by El Gran Gordi

[Shartnado]

16 minutes ago, El Gran Gordi said:

75 kg (165 pounds) clean and press. 

It's almost one third of what Ken Patera used to do.

 

 

Hell yeah! I don't quite know where I'm at on that one, but since I can't get 155 clean overhead from a shoulder level, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to repeat what you just did there! Way to go!

[Shartnado]

Ok, so for reals the diet started this morning. The weekend did put a few pounds of fluids into me, so I'll be starting from 191, which is definitely the highest I've been at the start of any diet so far. I have this unflattering coat of water retention and excess fat on my abs, but otherwise, I'm not sure if I've ever looked this jacked before the actual diet, so that is encouraging to say the least.

I went for a walk/jog/run before breakfast and went to jog the flight of stairs I mentioned previously. I did that 3 times and headed back home, so 3 miles (5km) and about 40 minutes.

I don't have all the ingredients yet for my super breakfast oatmeal, but even with 75-80% of them, it is energizing as hell. Still need to get the whey protein, soy lechitin and wait for the avocados to ripen, then I'm set.

Soon, I'll start on boiled potatoes, chicken and wok vegetables and that will be my lunch for a couple of days. After that it will be a large, high protein salad unti Friday.

[Shartnado]

Ok, the week isn't done yet, but I'll update anyway. The morning jog/ stair climbing has been good. I did it Monday to Thursday and it takes about 40 minutes each time out. Today, I need to save my legs for the trapbar so I'm typing this, instead.

Three workouts so far. Monday and Tuesday went almost normal despite the severely slashed calories, but Thursday's bench felt heavy af, but I managed 5x220, 3x242, 1x264, two sets of 3 with 275, two sets of 3 with 264, 6x242, then 8, 10 an 6x220 and 22x132. All of this felt hard and uninspired, so I did end up eating way more during the day. Still, as we've noted before you have to eat huge amounts of food if it's mostly salad, vegetables and lean chicken.

Weight went as low as 184, but it bounced back to 186 this morning due to more carbs yesterday. No huge calorie-fest on the weekend, either. More chicken and boiled potatoes to go through.

My usual strategy is to go brutal for the first 3 weeks to totally shock my system, then ease up a bit (on the weekends) for the remaining 5 or whatever weeks. Right now, I'm at the least fun stage, as the "jacked" just left town and "ripped" hasn't yet arrived.

Cardio has been fun though. Blasting synth-wave and 90's Euro Dance or Techno makes jogging turn to actual running from time to time. And those stairs are awesome! I hate them!

...Ok, and now the trapbar is done. I managed to get 5x357 without the help of Versa Grips then 6 (or 7, I lost count ) sets with 451, getting 3x3 and 3x4 in whatever order. I'm not sure if I go for the morning jog on the weekend, but either way, the first week went well enough.

Edited May 7, 2021 by Shartnado
Now the week is done.

[NikoBaltimore]

Only thing I have to add is I feel like Googling "How to make legs work"  Holy crapola whatever I did this morning made my legs turn to Jello.

But hey, I managed to dig up my shaker bottle so once I get powders and whatever else I'll start  getting back into that.

[Shartnado]

Week isn't quite done yet, but I'll update now, as it will not likely change much, anyway. Jogging and stairclimbing has pretty much turned into running and stairjogging inside one week. What took me 40 minutes (it's about 5km) at the start takes slightly over 30 minutes now. I'm liking it.

The weight is at 182 and it's unlikely to go further down this week. Last update I said that jacked has left, but ripped hasn't arrived yet, but this just in: Ripped has entered the arena. Not where it's supposed to be, but obviously heading to the right direction.

4 workouts so far this week, with total upperbody massacre on Sunday evening, Monday night was squats and more back and shoulder work, Tuesday night was light pump on bicep/tricep area, Wednesday night was Trapbar and shrugs. Surprised to get 5 sets of 4 with 451. Felt heavy, though. Tonight, it would be time for bench and I should be leaving for gym in about an hour. Over the weekend, I should try and get some shots for a new avatar pic.

...and the bench day is in. Bench is definitely something that takes a hit when on diet. The strength isn't quite there, nor are the reps, but it was fine for what it was. Warm up of 5x132, 5x220, 3x253, 1x275. Then 2x280 (well, I did 4, but the last two definitely did't count), 2×275, 3x264, 3x258, 4x253, 4x242, 11, 7 and 7x220, then 26x132. During the warm up sets I did dumbell row using a 70 lb kettlebell with ten reps for both sides.

Now I need to get some rest for the weekend. Probably no running for a couple of days.

Edited May 14, 2021 by Shartnado
Put the bench day in

[Shartnado]

Two weeks into the diet, the new profile pic shows where I'm at. Taken straight after a 30 minute home workout. Water and moisturizer used for shine and photo editor to change the shade to more impressive. No other alterations made.

[Unnatural]

While I SHOULD have stayed on top of my health over the last year, I actively avoided in person appointments with my doctor since the pandemic and stuck to phone consultconsultations. 

So something weird happened, which tldr pre pandemic my last visit in person was in 2019 where I weighed around 400 lbs. Very very not good for my own sake as my knees will testify. Last week's in person check up, my 1st since 2019, I was at 335 lbs.

WTF! I exercised way less and went out WAAAAAY much less last year than the year before so I have NO explanation for how I dropped 70 lbs in say 18-20 months eating about the same and getting much less walking done since I tried to be as reclusive as possible to avoid the rona. 

I did end up catching rona after Thanksgiving, which I suspect one of our office was patient zero because about 6 of us caught it coming back from Thanksgiving weekend and none of us really did anything in person outta the older employees and yet the older ones got rona while our younger staff, 23 and under, were all fine. 

And I only bring up rona because when I got it I had the WORST shits for about 3 days before my system cleared out. And all i can come up with as to how I lost the 70 lbs, maybe those days with the shits cleared up a backlog maybe? No exaggeration that I was kinda stuck to the porcelain throne for most of those 3 days and thats about the only thing my simple mind can come up with

[Shartnado]

2 hours ago, Hayabusa said:

While I SHOULD have stayed on top of my health over the last year, I actively avoided in person appointments with my doctor since the pandemic and stuck to phone consultconsultations. 

So something weird happened, which tldr pre pandemic my last visit in person was in 2019 where I weighed around 400 lbs. Very very not good for my own sake as my knees will testify. Last week's in person check up, my 1st since 2019, I was at 335 lbs.

WTF! I exercised way less and went out WAAAAAY much less last year than the year before so I have NO explanation for how I dropped 70 lbs in say 18-20 months eating about the same and getting much less walking done since I tried to be as reclusive as possible to avoid the rona. 

I did end up catching rona after Thanksgiving, which I suspect one of our office was patient zero because about 6 of us caught it coming back from Thanksgiving weekend and none of us really did anything in person outta the older employees and yet the older ones got rona while our younger staff, 23 and under, were all fine. 

And I only bring up rona because when I got it I had the WORST shits for about 3 days before my system cleared out. And all i can come up with as to how I lost the 70 lbs, maybe those days with the shits cleared up a backlog maybe? No exaggeration that I was kinda stuck to the porcelain throne for most of those 3 days and thats about the only thing my simple mind can come up with

That seems quite mysterious. 70 lbs might be pushing it, but 25-30 lbs could quite feasibly be explained by a diarrhea -marathon. Rest of it, I'm stumped. If otherwise you show no signs of physical illness, maybe that was just a lucky break?

[AxB]

Possibly you've been eating significantly less without actually realising. 

[Shartnado]

AxB makes a good point. 20 months is a pretty long time, if you unknowingly cut calories (and if you are more inactive there is a chance you end up being much less hungry) it adds up over time. When you say you have been eating about the same, maybe there still have been some changes that decreased your calorie intake, without you realizing it?

[Unnatural]

 

Edited May 19, 2021 by Hayabusa
Idiocy

[Shartnado]

All right, the training week is about done and it was a mixed bag. Workouts were fine, but the weather sucked for most of the week so, no running, just one long walk. I did run last Saturday and Sunday, though. Also, the morning bike ride was on an empty stomach, only drinking some EAA.

Monday was a rough all around upper body slaughter as usual. Pull-ups, dips and reverse shrugs with 60lb extra weight 3 sets each then dropped to 40lbs did set each, then 20lb, repeat and body weight, repeat. Then chest flies with resistance bands doing as many as I could, then took a step back to decrease the strain and continue until it's as light as possible. Then used the bands for lat pull-downs, first behind the neck, then wide grip to the chest then narrow grip to the chest. Repeat the cycle 3 times and did light lateral raises between each cycle. Then push-downs with the same bands starting from as heavy as possible and ending as light as possible. Three cycles of this and light bicep curls in between each cycle. Ab work at the end as always.

Tuesday was leg day with the squat machine. By the way, I feel like a total tool for not realizing the safety pin in the machine can be PUSHED away so you can actually go as deep as you want. Yeah, no need for 400 lbs anymore, 300 will fuck me up just fine! Calves got their share too.

Wednesday was a less heavy but still intense upperbody day focusing on shoulders and traps.

Thursday was Trapbar day and I did 6x385 without Versa Grips then 4 x7 x451 which was not only shocking but probably also a some sort of a record, since I don't recall doing 28 reps in this few sets with 451, at least not since late 2018. Also, doing this at 181 lbs was really surprising too.

Friday was bench day and I started feeling the strain of the week. I did have company at the gym so weights we used were a bit different I was used to. So, I did 5x110, 5x132, 10x176, 10x198, 10x231, then 5 sets of 3 to 4x264, 9, 8 and 7x220, 13x176 and 32x110. Then I did 12x110 and continued a few sets of 6 with 10 second rest pause in between. Between some of the bench sets I did bicep curls with 66 lbs and dumbell rows with 70 lbs.

The weight hasn't dropped significantly, but I'm getting more ripped so I guess the fat is slowly burning. After this, it's time to relax on the week ends a bit more. I hope the weather improves so I can resume my cardio as planned.

[Custos]

On 5/16/2021 at 2:06 AM, Shartnado said:

Two weeks into the diet, the new profile pic shows where I'm at. Taken straight after a 30 minute home workout. Water and moisturizer used for shine and photo editor to change the shade to more impressive. No other alterations made.

Kudos, I’d make a decent ‘Before’ version of you lol.

You guys have inspired me to get back  on the wagon with the fitness. Consistency is my issue, as I’ll be in ‘working towards something’ mode for several weeks then I’ll reach a point where an hour of doing something else is more precious than training, then fall off the wagon and repeat again when I get to the point of feeling like ‘2kg of yoghurt in a 1kg bag’. Being 5’11’’ with a slim frame and 170lb at my absolute heaviest, it’s more varying degrees of skinny-fat than obese per se but still feels like shit. 
I tend to do variations of the Convict Conditioning with a bit of free weights and stop soda/ chips/chocolate/cookies and that’s enough to get trim and defined but putting on muscle has always been a real chore for me so pretty much gave up in my 20s (37 now). Anyhoo, I’ll watch from the sidelines impressed by @El Gran Gordi videos and the rest.

[Shartnado]

Got a run in this morning, now waiting for my vaccination.

 

And got it and I feel fine.

Edited May 22, 2021 by Shartnado
Got the vaxx

[Gordi the former AEW fan]

It's rainy season here where I live so the humidity is high now and will remain high until mid-October, most likely. It gets hot here in the summer, too. Not just "hot for a Canadian" but 35°C+ (about 95°F+) every day for weeks on end, with high humidity every day as well. Muggy. 

One of the best pieces of advice I received on moving here was "Summers are not too bad if you can get used to being sweaty." I own lots of quick-dry fibre type shirts now. I have strategies for coping.

I got my first real sweat out of the way last night. Hit the gym after work. Kettlebell pullover goblet squats, hand-to-hand kettlebell swigs, running the rack on dumbbell clean and presses. When I took off my quick dry shirt and stood in front of the fan, the sweat just started pouring out of me. It literally got to the point where my towel could not absorb any more. I changed into a cotton shirt for the 10-minute walk home and it was soaked through by the time I arrived back here. It's still kinda damp now. Sweat kept cascading out of my pores for almost an hour. 

Mixed up a shake in my biggest shaker bottle, downed it, then filled it up with water and drank the dregs. 

After much though, deliberation, and research (and mainly due to this article from the often-excellent T-Nation site) I have decided to add collagen to my supplement regimen. I'll try it for a couple of months and see if my joints feel any less creaky.