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@The Natural on a related note, don't ever feel self conscious at the gym.  The majority of the people there don't care what anybody else is doing and are just trying to get a workout in.  The rest don't matter anyway.  Do your thing.

The only exceptions are if you're doing weird or dangerous (or both) shit, like:

  • Bench presses with plates, AND with dumbbells precariously hanging off resistance bands dangling from the edge of the bars
  • Drying your balls in the locker room with two hair dryers, John Woo style

Then you'll get a side eye.

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3 hours ago, Technico Support said:

@The Natural on a related note, don't ever feel self conscious at the gym.  The majority of the people there don't care what anybody else is doing and are just trying to get a workout in.  The rest don't matter anyway.  Do your thing.

The only exceptions are if you're doing weird or dangerous (or both) shit, like:

  • Bench presses with plates, AND with dumbbells precariously hanging off resistance bands dangling from the edge of the bars
  • Drying your balls in the locker room with two hair dryers, John Woo style

Then you'll get a side eye.

I don't know. I mean, I definitely agree with you on the first point, but that second one? If that's your thing, go for it!

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4 workouts this week, with two leg days, as promised, as well as arms and chest-based day and shoulders and back-based day. I have no idea what the hell happened to my benching (other than the now heavier bar), but is the new bench so different that I just can't get used to it? Benching 242 lbs for any significant reps is now a task that sucks beyond description. The squat machine did a number on my thighs and the snowing during the week sure didn't help the biking any, either. So that sure ended up affecting the trapbar on Thursday and the grip and reps just weren't there. I ended up putting the Versas on quite early and moved on to higher platforms pretty fast, too.

So, 2x605 and two separate singles with 647,5 (and one with 595) were the only things worth mentioning, but the max keeps creeping up, slowly but surely. Now the trick just becomes how to get small enough weight additions to the bar, since adding 5lbs from one week to the next may be too much. Also, I haven't figured out yet how to get an exact 300kg (or 660 lbs) to the bar, either.

I'm working through the weekend once again, so that took out Friday and will take out Sunday and Monday evenings as potential workout days for me, so next week will probably not be anything special, either.

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On 3/9/2023 at 5:05 PM, Technico Support said:

@The Natural on a related note, don't ever feel self conscious at the gym.  The majority of the people there don't care what anybody else is doing and are just trying to get a workout in.  The rest don't matter anyway.  Do your thing.

The only exceptions are if you're doing weird or dangerous (or both) shit, like:

  • Bench presses with plates, AND with dumbbells precariously hanging off resistance bands dangling from the edge of the bars
  • Drying your balls in the locker room with two hair dryers, John Woo style

Then you'll get a side eye.

Cheers, mate.

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On 3/1/2023 at 5:05 AM, The Natural said:

Last week I stepped into the gym for the first time in 15 years. I joined a year long scheme in January of this year which gives people with long term mental/physical conditions reduced gym/swimming/exercise classes like Yoga/Pilates which I've fancied trying before. I was hoping to have my induction at the place 15 minutes away from where I live but I've to go further away - two buses there and back. I'm still not happy about that and I wasn't going to because travel is quite difficult with my Cerebral Palsy even before I get there/after I finish. The instructor who did my induction agreed with me that I shouldn't have to as I haven't had this health issue in over a decade which means I've got to go there to be monitored. In a couple of weeks I have a further induction there on different equipment. Right now it's cardio machines only which was my favourite thing to do when I went to the gym in 2003-2008. The machines are mainly the same, biggest difference is touchscreen TV/screens connected to the internet embedded into them. My trainer there has given me: 5 minutes bike warmup, 5 minutes treadmill, 5 minutes hand bike, 5 minutes on a different bike, 5 minutes hand bike, 5 minutes rowing machine and 3 minutes (Did I hear someone say...three minutes?!) on the first bike to cool down.

I think after the year is up, you can still get it at a reduced rate or a little more than the first year. Need to check. I went to the gym yesterday afternoon. Glad I did as I was in two minds whether to. I do ache the day after. My neurologist said my body works four times harder doing the same task as somebody who doesn't. That shocked me. I need to lose weight, this is the most unfit I've been in a long time through deterioration in the CP as I'm older, Depression kicking my ass, bad food choices and weight gain through antidepressants. I went really low, Christian Bale in The Machinist (2004). Need the right balance.

Thanks for reading.

Today is a month exactly since stepping in the gym for the first time in 15 years. I've gone three out of four weeks. Today was the second part of my induction, the weight machines which I haven't done in 15 years. I do seated leg press, lat pull down, chest press, multi-pulley bicep/triceps and shoulder press 15 x 2. I did some cardio also, treadmill and bike. I've been trained on 90% of the equipment there now.

Now I've done cardio and the weight machines, I can start going to the one 15 minutes from my house. I'll still go to the one further away as I like going there. I like the gym instructor who has done both my inductions, a fellow Paul.

I'll consider swimming. Yoga and Pilates has caught my eyes for years without doing neither. Do you know if places like this lend you a mat or not?

Thanks for reading.

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46 minutes ago, The Natural said:

Today is a month exactly since stepping in the gym for the first time in 15 years. I've gone three out of four weeks. Today was the second part of my induction, the weight machines which I haven't done in 15 years. I do seated leg press, lat pull down, chest press, multi-pulley bicep/triceps and shoulder press 15 x 2. I did some cardio also, treadmill and bike. I've been trained on 90% of the equipment there now.

Now I've done cardio and the weight machines, I can start going to the one 15 minutes from my house. I'll still go to the one further away as I like going there. I like the gym instructor who has done both my inductions, a fellow Paul.

I'll consider swimming. Yoga and Pilates has caught my eyes for years without doing neither. Do you know if places like this lend you a mat or not?

Thanks for reading.

My only experience with a yoga class was a local YMCA here, but they did provide mats.

Keep it up!

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Check with your gym…every one I ever belonged to, you bring your own.  That’s probably doubly so now since Covid made us all hyper aware of germs, etc.

It’s wild.  In my younger gym days, you were lucky if the guy before you  hastily toweled off the equipment.  Now almost everyone is cleaning that shit down with wipes like mad.

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I did my first "real" workout yesterday since probably December, given I was feeling like garbage and had no energy even back then.  Went for barbell inclines/pull-up superset, superset of side lat raises (1 set cables in front of me, 1 set cables behind my back), superset of flys and rear delt flys, superset of cable pullovers & tricep extension (not really connected to each other, but simple to do with the EZ bar attachment), and preachers.  My arms feel like I put them through a wood chipper.  It's glorious.

Of course, I don't know how hard I will really ever be able to push some of this stuff, because whatever happened to me last May/June when I set my bench PR and either broke or dislocated a rib is still intensely painful from time to time, and I basically haven't been able to do a normal sit-up pain-free or get out of bed without rolling out for, uh, 8 months?  I should see a doctor, but hey, I fucking hate doctors and our scam of a medical system. 

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My neurologist said my body having Cerebral Palsy works four times harder doing the same task as somebody who doesn't. That shocked me. Have problem with my left knee and both hips. What do you do to rest/recover following a workout? I tend to ache the day after the most. Sometimes two days after. Thanks.

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Honestly?  Just eat and sleep.  The only time your body truly recovers is when you're asleep anyway.  And it needs fuel, so if you can eat better - more protein, especially, and better sources of it - that's usually the best you can do.  But it depends on what your aches and pains are.  Are they joints or are they muscles?  Your muscles will adjust. 

If it's your joints, your options are more limited.  If you have something that works well for you anyway - a heating pad or ice, for instance - just do a bit more of that and see if it helps.  I have a few arthritic joints, but I can't reliably take any painkillers (not interested in killing my liver with Tylenol, can't take aspirin, can't take NSAIDs which are bad for muscle recovery anyway), so I just have to live with it or totally avoid the things that I know for a fact make them worse.  I imagine some others who frequent the thread will have better advice; I'm a doctor, but not that kind, so my lived experience is all I have to work with here.

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As said above, sleeping and proper nutrition are key elements to recovery. If possible, try to stay limber, as in a little bit of active stretching each day. Also, make sure your magnesium, zinc and potassium intake is somewhere within the normal range and adjust accordingly. Muscle soreness will ease up once you get into the routine, that shouldn't be a problem if you just hang in there. However, that's still something that is very much part of the physical excercise. If for some reason I have to take more than a week off from working out, my muscles will be sore for at least two days whenever I start again. That hasn't gone away ever after a decade of doing this.

So yeah, no workouts at all last week, just the bike rides. Yesterday, it was back into the grind with all around upper body workout, I'll go and see what I can do today in a few minutes.

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10 hours ago, The Natural said:

My neurologist said my body having Cerebral Palsy works four times harder doing the same task as somebody who doesn't. That shocked me. Have problem with my left knee and both hips. What do you do to rest/recover following a workout? I tend to ache the day after the most. Sometimes two days after. Thanks.

Just think of it this way: that 100lb bench press is more like 400lbs, so you're technically the strongest dude here!!!  Sorry, I'm not converting those weights from Murican to British.  😛

8 hours ago, Contentious C said:

Honestly?  Just eat and sleep.  The only time your body truly recovers is when you're asleep anyway.  And it needs fuel, so if you can eat better - more protein, especially, and better sources of it - that's usually the best you can do. 

 

The trainer I occasionally work with (just a half hour a month to keep on track; that shit is expensive) is amazing in every way except he swears by 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight, but that has apparently been debunked.  I'm like bro there is no way I'm eating high 200s-300 grams of protein a day like John Cena in that old MTV documentary just buying hella chicken breasts.  I typically get somewhere around 200 grams.

 

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2 hours ago, Technico Support said:

Just think of it this way: that 100lb bench press is more like 400lbs, so you're technically the strongest dude here!!!  Sorry, I'm not converting those weights from Murican to British.  😛

The trainer I occasionally work with (just a half hour a month to keep on track; that shit is expensive) is amazing in every way except he swears by 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight, but that has apparently been debunked.  I'm like bro there is no way I'm eating high 200s-300 grams of protein a day like John Cena in that old MTV documentary just buying hella chicken breasts.  I typically get somewhere around 200 grams.

 

Yeah. Me, for instance have no idea what my protein intake is these days. I know it is A LOT, but also way less than it used to be.

These days whenever I gain any significant weight, it all goes to my gut anyway and most times, gaining any weight above 185 lbs or so is very difficult, certainly in a way that would look good.

But still, counting calories etc is not worth the effort at this point, since it won't yield reasonable results. When I need to get more ripped, I know what to do at this point and nothing I do will get me any bigger.

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10 hours ago, Contentious C said:

Honestly?  Just eat and sleep.  The only time your body truly recovers is when you're asleep anyway.  And it needs fuel, so if you can eat better - more protein, especially, and better sources of it - that's usually the best you can do.  But it depends on what your aches and pains are.  Are they joints or are they muscles?  Your muscles will adjust. 

If it's your joints, your options are more limited.  If you have something that works well for you anyway - a heating pad or ice, for instance - just do a bit more of that and see if it helps.  I have a few arthritic joints, but I can't reliably take any painkillers (not interested in killing my liver with Tylenol, can't take aspirin, can't take NSAIDs which are bad for muscle recovery anyway), so I just have to live with it or totally avoid the things that I know for a fact make them worse.  I imagine some others who frequent the thread will have better advice; I'm a doctor, but not that kind, so my lived experience is all I have to work with here.

 

6 hours ago, Shartnado said:

As said above, sleeping and proper nutrition are key elements to recovery. If possible, try to stay limber, as in a little bit of active stretching each day. Also, make sure your magnesium, zinc and potassium intake is somewhere within the normal range and adjust accordingly. Muscle soreness will ease up once you get into the routine, that shouldn't be a problem if you just hang in there. However, that's still something that is very much part of the physical excercise. If for some reason I have to take more than a week off from working out, my muscles will be sore for at least two days whenever I start again. That hasn't gone away ever after a decade of doing this.

So yeah, no workouts at all last week, just the bike rides. Yesterday, it was back into the grind with all around upper body workout, I'll go and see what I can do today in a few minutes.

 

2 hours ago, Technico Support said:

Just think of it this way: that 100lb bench press is more like 400lbs, so you're technically the strongest dude here!!!  Sorry, I'm not converting those weights from Murican to British.  😛

The trainer I occasionally work with (just a half hour a month to keep on track; that shit is expensive) is amazing in every way except he swears by 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight, but that has apparently been debunked.  I'm like bro there is no way I'm eating high 200s-300 grams of protein a day like John Cena in that old MTV documentary just buying hella chicken breasts.  I typically get somewhere around 200 grams.

 

Cheers everyone. Appreciate the advice.

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4 hours ago, Technico Support said:

 

The trainer I occasionally work with (just a half hour a month to keep on track; that shit is expensive) is amazing in every way except he swears by 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight, but that has apparently been debunked

 

Is he one of those 5'6"/150-ish trainers, or is he legitimately a big dude?  Because there are a bunch of those short guy wannabe influencer types in my gym, and they probably all swear by it, too.  Like, sure guys, you *can* get away with saying nonsense like that works for you, because your cap is low.  I'm 6'2" and even though I've never topped 195 lbs. a day in my life, it still means my "1 gram per" number is instantly skewed upwards by just being a not-small person. 

But I laugh it off anyway, because I know every single one of them would, if they could, trade every bit of strength they have to be as tall as me.  Genetics FTW!

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28 minutes ago, Contentious C said:

Is he one of those 5'6"/150-ish trainers, or is he legitimately a big dude?  Because there are a bunch of those short guy wannabe influencer types in my gym, and they probably all swear by it, too.  Like, sure guys, you *can* get away with saying nonsense like that works for you, because your cap is low.  I'm 6'2" and even though I've never topped 195 lbs. a day in my life, it still means my "1 gram per" number is instantly skewed upwards by just being a not-small person. 

But I laugh it off anyway, because I know every single one of them would, if they could, trade every bit of strength they have to be as tall as me.  Genetics FTW!

LOOOL nah, he's a cool guy.  Ran track earlier in life and at some point transitioned more into lifting and not looking like a runner 😄   Probably like 5'10"ish, maybe in the higher 100s.  He's got a lot of great, down to earth advice, but I guess we're all susceptible to some form of Bro Science.

He's gotten me back into lifting heavy with the idea that more muscle = more energy burned at rest since my goal is actually to lose weight. I gotta say I'm really liking lifting heavy (4-8 reps per set) and I definitely feel it more in my core than I used to when lifting lighter with higher reps.

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3 hours ago, Contentious C said:

That's good!  Pain is weakness leaving the body.

If mine are particularly bad, I have a lacrosse ball that I roll on the area that's bothering me.  Usually my back or my quads.

Yeah, the black rubber ball to lay on top of and squirm. Glutes and lower back is where I use that one and quads ever so often, but that's probably the most painful area to work on. I usually break into a cold sweat when I'm doing that, but that may be due to the circulation as well, not just the pain.

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1 minute ago, Shartnado said:

Yeah, the black rubber ball to lay on top of and squirm. Glutes and lower back is where I use that one and quads ever so often, but that's probably the most painful area to work on. I usually break into a cold sweat when I'm doing that, but that may be due to the circulation as well, not just the pain.

Glad you specified 'ball'.  Then again...maybe that's not really better to picture...?!?

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3 minutes ago, Contentious C said:

Glad you specified 'ball'.  Then again...maybe that's not really better to picture...?!?

There's also the hard foam roller that is ribbed, certainly NOT for my pleasure, but it gets the job done! You're welcome for that image as well!

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Ok, from zero workouts last week to five this week. Nothing too intense, but getting a good pump going nonetheless. Trapbar on Thursday wasn't spectacular. Topped out at 617 for one rep off the platforms, then failed several attempts at heavier weights. Got frustrated and used the double height platforms for 662 and with rest-pause, I did 5 reps. But yeah, even I must admit that with platforms that high, it's not to be considered any kind of a lift. I did 3 fast reps with 572 from the same height and decided to stop there. Earlier I got two reps with 479 without Versas, but even that isn't as good as a few weeks back.

The snow has been kicking my ass two ways, from biking and from plowing it, next week, same shit. My recovery has been far from optimal, but my belated winter break is looming ahead  in a few weeks' time and there's Easter a week before that, so maybe then I get some proper rest?

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