All-Purpose Health and Fitness Thread

[Shartnado]

Alright, I think I'll stop this week's workouts at 3, since my right trap and the right side of my neck is so jammed that I have trouble moving properly. I can feel the problem area pretty clearly, and am working on it with every trick in the book during the nightshift.

Not much of note on the workouts themselves, but the trapbar yesterday was 3x394 (without Versas), 3×460, 3x471, 3x493, 4x449.

Monday's bench was following: 3×154, 5x220, 5x253, 3x275, 1x286, 1x297, 3x275, 3×264, 7x242, 11x220, 18x154.

Sunday was just light but intense upperbody pump and I was supposed to get one more workout in tomorrow, but it seems like rest and recovery is the way to go right now.

[Shartnado]

Yeah, I'll be missing this week's workouts due to a flu (COVID test came back negative, thankfully). Missing two days of work means catching up on AEW stuff as much as possible and letting my right trap recover properly. Damn, that was a stubborn one! It's pretty much fine now, but it was sore af for at least 5 days!

[Log]

Last week, I started Wendler's 5/3/1 "Boring But Strong" program.  If you're familiar with 5/3/1, it's just those percentages and then 10 sets of 5 at your first set's weight.

So, yesterday, for squat, I did 230x5, 260x5, 290x5 and then 10 sets of 230x5.  

I always figure a program is good if, after my first week on it, I think "this is either going to kill me or make me strong as hell."  That's how I feel on this one.

 

[Contentious C]

I'd always been annoyed by the amount of gatekeeping people try to do with 5/3/1, like it's still some mystical thing you have to be in the right frame of mind to understand, instead of it being, you know, a fucking spreadsheet.  Hadn't tried anything like it until this past week, but I like the results (kind of). 

Guesstimated my core lifts to be something like: 300 on DL, 225 on squat, 200 on bench, 115 on OHP.  So I screwed it up right out of the gate with DL by doing 225/255/285 as my Week 1.  But man, I got it there, and that was a straight bar PR for me.  So I'll probably just bump those by 5 lbs and do the Week 2 with those weights.  I guess that means my DL 1RM is more like 325-ish, but I'm not sure I'm buying that I could do it.  Did 160/180/200 for squats and almost felt like I was going to explode.  Like, actual bomb in my abdomen and my guts were going to go flying all over the gym.  I don't know why the safety bar makes me feel that way, but it does.  Still, haven't squatted 200 in...a long time.  My hip certainly paid for it the following day, though.

Today I did 80/90/100 on OHP (you're probably noticing a pattern where I don't take the initial 10% off the 1RM; this seems only a mite foolish to me, plus I don't actually know where my 1RMs are, so my estimates are as good as anything for either 90% or 100%) and it was quite good, the first of these that felt right.  Bench will come on Push day, but I did 3x3-4 of 185 the last time I did bench, so I'm already hitting awfully close to bodyweight (hovering right around 190). 

Big question is: do I find another core leg lift for tomorrow to structure the same way?  A part of me wants to do sumo deads that way, but that seems a bit much if I turn around and do deadlifts 3 days later on Pull day.  I can't really do hip thrusts, because there simply isn't a good way to set up and do them - I'm too fucking tall and gangly, and besides, I have weird pressure sensitivity issues that make it utter Hell to support the 200+ I could hip thrust with relative ease, and no, using multiple pads isn't sufficient.  It sucks we don't have one of the machines for that, or a glute drive at least.  I guess I could try doing the squat machine for the closest-thing-to-hack-squats I can do, but they're awful for my knees, especially going heavy.  They're kind of better as a low-weight, high-rep, end of routine leg annihilator in my book.

So, I dunno.  I know it's supposed to be structured so you're not doing 5 workouts like this, but I'm going to do the leg day anyway, so I may as well do something like this with it (and I need that level of beating the stuffing out of myself to get results, honestly).  So, suggestions?

Edited February 2, 2022 by Contentious C

[Log]

@Contentious C, my suggestion (and I’m not trying to be a smartass) is to follow the program as written. There’s actually a lot of room for customization built into it. It’s a great program for improving your strength on the main lifts. 
 

Four days a week is enough, believe me. I throw in some cardio on off days, but not much. Personally, I’d recommend sticking to doing each main lift once a week. 
 

When in doubt, err on the low side with your weight. You want to keep progressing and pushing too much too early will hinder that. 
 

That’s all I’ve got, really. I think it’s a good program and I’ve seen some great results with it. As with any exercise, the main thing is that you like it and will keep doing it. 

[Shartnado]

Got 3 workouts in this week, doing bench and alternating a set of lat pulldowns with the resistance bands between sets. 280 being as high as I went, getting a one, then 2 with 275 and 3 sets with 264 getting 3-4 with each, then dropping 5 lbs per set and getting around 5 until I got down to 220 with went up 7 times and then 25 reps with 132.

Tuesday's trapbar went like 5x419, 5x449, 4x471, 3x491, 4x449, 4x419

Thursday was just light and moderate curls and dropsets with kettlebells doing behind the neck overhead presses, but I did get 2x515 on the trapbar, since we found a way to add yet another 11 lbs. I also witnessed the other guy in the gym casually forgetting to use Versas and the belt and still doing 2x449 (then 4x491, 1x504 and 2x515 with the gear on). I can get 400 without Versas, but that's out of reach for me, at least for now. Also, I'm never without the weightlifting belt on in the gym, so I wouldn't just forget to put it on before a big lift.

Edited February 5, 2022 by Shartnado
Details

[Contentious C]

I guess I'm kinda sorta sticking to the 5/3/1 for the time being without much modification.  I figured BBB is probably the way to go for me, since gaining weight (or at least recomp) is my goal.  Yesterday was Bench, with 135/155/175 (got 7 on the last set, I think, which is a PR for that weight), and then the 5x10 of 105 was just brutal by the end.  I tried also doing my incline Smith pin presses after; the last time I did them, I pushed 200 for 3x5.  After the work on flat bench, I had to cut that all the way back to 140 to still get 3x5.  Half the time, that seems like the real goal of beating the crap out of yourself: make the lighter weight feel like it's way heavier.  Mission fucking accomplished.  Keeping the fifth day of stuff, though, because I don't do DLs with other lower body stuff, I do them on Pull day.  Just throwing more quad volume in there to make sure my legs aren't straight garbage.

Deadlifts today would be at Week 2, since I did them last Saturday.  First crack at 300 since...Jesus, 2014?  Yikes.

Edited February 5, 2022 by Contentious C

[Contentious C]

Got the 300 DL but only just to the 3 rep mark.  I guess this week's 1-rep is 315, which will tie a PR if I get it.  Never done that with a straight bar, only a trap.

OHPs today were pretty good.  Ended up with 7 reps at my 90% weight.  Not going to be any problems moving that up in 2 week's time.  Squats are tomorrow, though, and I'm dreading them.  Of course, part of that was that I realized how bad my breathing was.  The Explode-y Gut feeling last time was probably because I wasn't keeping a breath in on the way down and exhaling on the way up; a couple of different Youtube videos suggested as much to me.  We'll see how it goes tomorrow.

[Log]

I'm of the school that you take a deep breath and hold it through the whole rep all while pushing tight against my weight belt.  It helps protect my back, especially on squats.  Works well for me.

I believe everyone has to find that program that works for them for their own personal goals.  I gotta say that 5/3/1 has been great for me purely on gaining strength.  I did squats yesterday, and my top set called for 280 x 5, followed by 10 sets of 210 x 5, and I actually thought, "Oh, good.  An easy day."  I never dreamed I'd get to that weight just a couple years ago when I had chicken legs and a lower back that a spinal specialist called "the back of a very, very old man".

[supremebve]

53 minutes ago, Log said:

I believe everyone has to find that program that works for them for their own personal goals.  I gotta say that 5/3/1 has been great for me purely on gaining strength.  I did squats yesterday, and my top set called for 280 x 5, followed by 10 sets of 210 x 5, and I actually thought, "Oh, good.  An easy day."  I never dreamed I'd get to that weight just a couple years ago when I had chicken legs and a lower back that a spinal specialist called "the back of a very, very old man".

This gives me hope.  I haven't been able to do back squats for the last few months and my doctor told me that supporting heavy weight on my back may be a thing of the past.  I have been doing goblet squats and front squats, but my maximum back squat is probably 150 lbs. more than my maximum front squat.  Hopefully I can keep making progress with auxiliary lifts and strengthen the rest of my body enough to help support my lower back, but that's probably a long way off.  As of now, my lower body exercises are goblet squats, front squats, lunges, Bulgarian split squats, and Romanian dead lifts, it's a lot of different exercises that ultimately feel like less of a workout than a good heavy set of back squats.  

[Log]

2 hours ago, supremebve said:

This gives me hope.  I haven't been able to do back squats for the last few months and my doctor told me that supporting heavy weight on my back may be a thing of the past.  I have been doing goblet squats and front squats, but my maximum back squat is probably 150 lbs. more than my maximum front squat.  Hopefully I can keep making progress with auxiliary lifts and strengthen the rest of my body enough to help support my lower back, but that's probably a long way off.  As of now, my lower body exercises are goblet squats, front squats, lunges, Bulgarian split squats, and Romanian dead lifts, it's a lot of different exercises that ultimately feel like less of a workout than a good heavy set of back squats.  

The cause of most of my back issues was my old job.  I was a tv new videographer, so I spent a lot of time with a heavy camera on one side of my body.  That caused some scoliosis that added to the small amount of it I already had.  It's been five years since I was in news, so my back has had time to get better.  

The biggest thing for me, personally, was that I was able to finally learn how to do squats in a way that sort of "protected" my back.  I also learned how to use a weight belt properly.  That's another big one.

Here are a couple videos that taught me a lot.  Now, I know Rippetoe is maybe not the best guy, but the dude knows heavy lifting. 
 

 

[supremebve]

20 hours ago, Log said:

The cause of most of my back issues was my old job.  I was a tv new videographer, so I spent a lot of time with a heavy camera on one side of my body.  That caused some scoliosis that added to the small amount of it I already had.  It's been five years since I was in news, so my back has had time to get better.  

The biggest thing for me, personally, was that I was able to finally learn how to do squats in a way that sort of "protected" my back.  I also learned how to use a weight belt properly.  That's another big one.

Here are a couple videos that taught me a lot.  Now, I know Rippetoe is maybe not the best guy, but the dude knows heavy lifting. 
 

 

My situation is a bit different.  My lowest vertebrae above is kind of tucked under so I'm kind of sitting directly on the affected area.  I bothers me when I sit for too long, but the real issue as far as weight lifting goes is that I basically have the butt wink thing that happens to everyone at the bottom of their squat at all times.  You'd never notice it looking at me, unless you had x-ray vision, but it just puts a lot of extra pressure on my lower back.  

[Log]

2 hours ago, supremebve said:

My situation is a bit different.  My lowest vertebrae above is kind of tucked under so I'm kind of sitting directly on the affected area.  I bothers me when I sit for too long, but the real issue as far as weight lifting goes is that I basically have the butt wink thing that happens to everyone at the bottom of their squat at all times.  You'd never notice it looking at me, unless you had x-ray vision, but it just puts a lot of extra pressure on my lower back.  

I should preface any "advice" I give on here as being severely un-educated.  I'm just sharing what has worked for me.  I only say that because I don't want anyone thinking that I believe myself to be some kind of expert in the least when it comes to lifting.

Anyway, aren't back issues fun?!?! Even on the chance that you get "better", the prospect of doing something to screw it all up is always there in the back of your mind.

[Shartnado]

I've been lucky that my "back issues" have so far actually been about my glutes being overly tight and for the past couple of years I've been able to be pretty pain-free on that front.

3 heavy workouts this week. Monday was back to the usual routine of extra weight dips, reverse shrugs and now, finally, pull-ups as well. Was able to do 3 sets with 66lbs, getting 5, 4 and 3 respectively. Then 44lbs and 22lbs for one round each. After this, it was the usual stuff with resistance bands.

Not the smartest of moves, but I did bench on Tuesday and it was so-so. The pyramid went as follows: 3x132, 3x220, 3×242, 3x264, then 2 sets of 2 with 286 but not a clean rep in sight. Then 3x275, 3x264, 5x253, 7x242, 8x220 and 32x132.

After a Wednesday off watching more Full Gear 2021, I did Trapbar tonight before work. It felt heavy as fuck!

But this is what I got: 10x140, 10x262, 6x306, 5x372, 6x416 (one of which was without Versas, but the grip then gave out), 3x471, 2x493, 2x504 and 5x416, then shrugs with 306 and 196.

Not the best week, still feeling the effects of the flu, but at least I tried going heavy each time.

[StretchMediatedHypertrophy]

Covid and some other things have got in the way of regular training, will probably write a bit more about that in time. I did actually hit a Bench PR though.

Heading to the gym shortly, here's a meme!

[Contentious C]

I deadlifted nearly 6 tons today.  I guess with warm-ups, I probably did just about that on the money.  5x255, 3x285, got the 315 for 2 reps, then 5x10x175 for the volume.  Oooooof.  The rest of my Pull day SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCKED.  Cut back weight on everything except biceps.   Going 75/85/95 on squats is also going to be #2 and the worst, but OHP and bench shouldn't be too difficult.

Best thing about a workout like that is you don't have to do jack for your abs.  That volume is all you need.  The copious tears you shed will carve the definition into your frame.

Edited February 13, 2022 by Contentious C

[supremebve]

Programming and diet change today.  I'm going from 4x4 on my big lifts to 3x8-12 and going back into a calorie deficit.  I started the year wanting to eat at maintenance, because I had been in a deficit for like 9 months.  I put on about 10 lbs. which isn't terrible, because I haven't been doing as much walking around since the beginning of the year because it's been fucking freezing out.  I started walking more last week and hope to add to that this week and next.  I still can't squat or deadlift heavy weight, but my bench is about as heavy as it has ever been.  I was able to complete 3 sets of 3 with 255 on Saturday, which isn't bad because Monday was the first time I've ever tried to bench 255 once (I only got it twice).  I set a soft goal of going for 275 by the end of the year, and I'm pretty sure I low balled myself.  As good as seeing myself progress with these higher weights felt, the program called for 3 minute rest between sets and that had me in the gym all fucking day.  I'm glad to be cutting down to 90 second rest for this next phase.  The program I'm on changes every 3 weeks, which I hope leads to more progress.  The first 3 were priming(2x6-8 lighter weight), the second was strength(4x-1-4 heavy weight), this phase is kind of a mix of strength and endurance (3x8-12 within 2 reps of failure), and the last phase is pure endurance (3x12-15)  Afterwards I'm doing another 3 phase program with more focus on movement, so the accessory lifts will have much more twisting and explosiveness.  There is another 3 phase program I have planned after that, that is kind of a mix of this one and the next one.  I want to see how my body performs after these three different programs, but I like how I feel so far. 

[Gordi the former AEW fan]

 

 

I'm still making progress despite not, technically, dieting any more. Much appreciation to everyone who has encouraged me along the way, particularly @Shartnado.

I'm holding steady around 97 kilos after carrying around 110+ for years and years. My knees and feet and back don't really hurt any more. My blood test numbers are across-the-board excellent now. My strength in the gym is getting back up to where it was before the diet.

Can't speak for anyone else but for me it was actually counting calories (using MyFatSecret) and eating mostly "clean" that did the trick. Seafood, chicken, eggs, vegetables, fruit, yogurt, fermented foods like miso and kimchi, oatmeal, soups and salads. Lots of water and green tea...

Workouts recently have been full-body calisthenics 2 or 3 times a week (push-ups, fat-boy pull-ups, squats, step-ups, hanging knee raises, bridges...) plus some fat boy yoga, and kettlebells (TGUs, swings, cleans & presses, snatches) once a week. Lots of long walks out in the cold, while listening to music. 

Body feels really good. Everything seems to be working pretty well. 

Life is good!

EDIT: I'm kinda jealous of all you guys putting up powerlifting PRs, but my 56-year-old joints and tendons needed a break. 

Edited February 16, 2022 by Gordlow

[Contentious C]

Thursday will be the last 75/85/95 day for Month 1, and this hasn't been so bad so far.  Squats today weren't *too* bad, except for remembering to hold my breath on the very first rep of 170 that I did and wanting to die for a brief second.  But 195 was NBD and I got 4 reps of 215.  The rest of my workout was painful, but that was to be expected.  OHPs yesterday were a breeze - 6 reps of 110 at the end.  I might pop that up to 125 for next month rather than going up the 5 lbs. to 120.  Bench could end up doing the same, maybe.  Getting 190 for the AMRAP will be the first time I have knowingly benched bodyweight in my life, so, Achievement Unlocked and all that when I do it.

The DLs and the volume are killers, though, and I wonder if I'm not better off doing Pull day as a totally separate batch of stuff, and then leave DLs as part of whatever other Legs stuff I would do on Day 5 of my routine.  But then that would mean working some amount of back 2 days in a row, so, maybe not a great idea.

[StretchMediatedHypertrophy]

I've definitely not been amazing healthwise recently, finally getting the Omi recently before going to London and currently only just about shaking off a brutal 10 days and counting cough-sore throat. I was doing a bit of gym in London, but mostly machines in big box gyms - hack squat murdered my lower quads. And then towards the end, I got a bench PR on a bench where the rack pivots forward so you don't have to get it from as far back; 120kg. I guess I will have to start asking for a spot more often.

I then had to do a bunch of moving which kept me out of the gym but on returning I hit a pretty easy 100kg for 6 on the low bar squat. Given I wasn't 100% I took it, but that and a few SSB GMs and Step-ups murdered my adductors so I definitely need to be careful about volume. Long-term I'd like to hit a 200kg squat, even if it's wearing wraps. A fully raw 150kg pin SSB squat suggests it's by no means unlikely but I'm not worried about hitting it now.

I'm going to be doing 531....well, I'm going to do a variant on it I think, but we'll see what happens. I took the 120kg bench and used 90% of it for my calcs. Did the 'Heavier' variant and I don't know if that was the right thing to do but I'll probably stick with it for this cycle - so it was 80x5, 85x5, 90x6. I was going to FSL 5x5 the 80kg but 2 sets felt like quite enough so I switched to a wider grip and added a longer pause for another 3x10. Although I didn't do 531 OHP on that day, I actually figured that 65kg was probably a fair actual max (I've done 75kg but I've not been working the press much the last year)...that made 30kg the BBB weight and I cracked out a 3 x 10. I worked with very full ROM, popping the upper traps right at the top....and it was challenging enough. I'm actually going to be caring about my bench less...as a 43yo lifter with no real powerlifting goals it doesn't really make much sense to focus on it from a health pov - I will pretty much stick to doing it once a week. If I work it consistently I am pretty sure I'll hit 300 and then 315 before too long but no real reason to force it - I don't really care about 350. I'd actually rather hit 200 on the OHP, though that's a long-term goal.

Deadlift day was horrible. I haven't really been going for it. I decided to actually knock 5kg off the plus set I was going to do and still only scored 115kg for 6 reps (I could have got 7, 8 would have been grindy) using a somewhat narrow sumo (but prolly not quite semi-sumo) stance. Tbh my conventional has previously been higher than my sumo, but I did 3x10 on stiff-legged deadlifts afterwards with 1 plate (!) and well I have lower back DOMs so sumo is the way for now! Pretty humbling but I know I can linearly progress the stiff legs, and the sumo has a skill component so they'll likely improve next week. My PR is 180kg, ultimately I would like 200kg this year and I think that won't be a significant problem if I pull consistently and I can squeeze back into my belt.

This was all on fairly low amounts of caffeine because of the sore throat. I am pretty caffeine sensitised at this point at least, so if I load up on 200mg I'll be racin'!

OHP and another Squat day will follow tomorrow and Saturday. I do want to start a cut but haven't really been able to with the health issues. Plus where I now live there's like the best pizza place in the city 5 minutes walk away....tbf it's the thin af proper Italian kind but still. But lol no, we'll get it going somehow.

 

 

 

[Shartnado]

The bike rides to work have been kicking my ass this week. Either there is something wrong or I had WAY too much clothing on considering the weather. Omicron has made it to my workplace so that is only a matter of time, at this point, too!

Nonetheless, I'm three workouts deep this week and going again in a few hours. I tried not to do the same "mistake" as last week and only did the light, intense stuff on Monday, so as to not mess with Tuesday's bench. Yeah, that didn't really help all that much. I did get up to 286 with one set of two reps, maybe a bit better than last week, but still not clean. 275 was fine for 3 and then I just dropped 11 lbs per set and did two pump sets of 17 and 20 with 154 and 110, respectively at the end. Not great.

Wednesday I was beat. Getting to work was rough as shit and the idea of doing Trapbar didn't seem realistic. So, I opted for... Trapbar. Yeah. I decided to only do 3 reps per set no matter the weight, so I could get through it. So, it was 3x196, 3x306, 3x372, 3x416, 3x449, 3x460, 3x471, 3x482 and 3x416 plus shrugs with 306 and 196. Last week was better on this front as well.

Not quite sure what I will do today, I have an idea, but I'll update it later, in case I end up doing something else in the end. Anyway, the first couple of months of '22 have not quite been what I expected, workout-wise, but the bloating that happened over the Holidays is pretty much gone. I agreed to split my Winter holiday week in half and use the remaining days later in the spring. So, I'll be doing 3 12-hour shifts (evening and night, no less) so I highly doubt I get any workouts in at the time. So I should make next week count.

[Shartnado]

I decided "fuck everything" and went beast-mode today. Well, a moderate beast-mode, anyway. On Monday I skipped the heavy stuff, so I did the dip, shrug, pull-up combo today. 4 sets with 66lbs, 20, 19, 17 and 13 on dips, to failure (didn't count) each time with reverse shrugs and 7, 5, 4 and 3 with pull-ups, 2 sets with 44lbs , 22, 20 dips, 2 times to failure with shrugs and 5 and 5 with pull-ups (getting rather ugly, though), one set with 22 lbs getting whatever.

Then on to the Squat-machine. 3 sets of 10 as low as the machine allows and with a stop at the bottom most reps as well as a stretch at the top. Weights were roughly equivalent of 242, 286 and 330. Then 3 sets of calf raises with 330.

Then 5 sets of curls with the pairs of 22lb weights.

Then abs with a few different hanging moves.

I'm fine with this.

[StretchMediatedHypertrophy]

Got 10 (1 RIR) for my 5+ set at 50kg on the Press today, which I was happy about. Iirc correctly my 10RM is 55kg, and I might equal that in 2 weeks.

This is one area my gf is useful as she can watch from the side, and it seems I've been pushing the bar back as it comes up. That seems to be more or less fixed.

Squats tomorrow!

 

 

[StretchMediatedHypertrophy]

105kg for 10 for my 5+ set. Tbh I'm feeling it.

I tried front squats at 50kg and keeping the bar balanced was a nightmare.

I also finally got my gf not to taco every squat!

[Shartnado]

Rough week. Weather turned sucky yesterday, so that was like an extra leg day. I took the Monday off due to some much needed heavy drinking on Saturday. Tuesday was intense upperbody pump but nothing actually heavy. Plenty of drop sets with resistance bands for both chest flies and lat pull-downs. Lot of smaller, lighter stuff.

Wednesday was trapbar or bust. Last Friday, while I was on my beast mode, I watched the other guy doing trapbar and getting 5 sets of 2x493 and I was thinking "Holy shit, I may not be able to answer that!" But I wasn't going down without a fight. So, my workout was as follows: 5x262, 5x306, 5x372, 5×416, 4x471, 4x493, 3x504, 2x504, 2x504, 3x493, 3x471, 3x449. And the usual shrugs afterwards. So, hell yeah I answered that!

Thursday's bench suffered from the drain of the trapbar, but after warm-up, I did 3 clean singles with 280, took it down to 275 did two, 3 with 264 and then a bunch of inconsequential sets with lighter and lighter weights and then pump with 132 at the end.

Today it was another, but less intense upperbody pump. The only thing that was at least moderately heavy was two sets (of 12 and 10) of EZ bar curls with 87 lbs. I'm not risking anything, so I won't go heavier than that. Decent pump, anyway, both arms at 16,5 (if that is same as 42cm) inches, but that's still less than they have been, but not that much.

Ok, I kinda made this week count. Next week, there will in all likelyhood be 0 workouts, but 3 12-hour shifts plus the biking will make sure I'll be pretty beat by the end of it.