All-Purpose Health and Fitness Thread

[StretchMediatedHypertrophy]

On 12/13/2023 at 3:17 PM, Shartnado said:

Well, EZ bar is supposed to give you the supination of the wrists, so that should work on the inside of the bicep more. From recent experience I can tell that the wide grip on a barbell definitely feels different, but I am not sure how it hits the bicep differently?

I'm not sure that's quite right?

So as per my understanding:

- ez-bar will involve less supination of the wrist, & arguably more of a natural position for the elbow. Said semi(ish)-neutral position will target outside bicep more, and the brachialis.
- a closer-grip will also emphasise the outside bicep more

But the bicep heads work together and it probably isn't too much to worry about. I am trying to squeeze a bit more bicep volume in and today I did ez-bar curls (wider-grip, forward-lean for extra stretch, drag-style 90 degree lengthened partials to be precise), erm 'flat preacher' cable-curls (so the upper arms are supported but not pointing downwards if that makes sense, straight handle medium-close grip), then 1 set of crucifix curls. I think that's probably a fairly even stimulus.

[Contentious C]

Technico and I were talking about using EZ bar versus barbell for *upright rows* anyway, so you're both sort of arguing past the original topic!  But carry on!

[Shartnado]

Oh, ok then. I  wouldn't know about the difference between EZ bar and barbell for upright rows. I have used a large kettlebell or two smaller kettlebells/ dumbells for that.

And yeah, apparently I was thinking about the motion of the wrist the wrong way. I'll be damned, grabbing a straight barbell DOES give you more supination at the bottom, it's just that you can't turn the wrists more towards yourself at the top.

Which is neither here nor there since I also misunderstood the move being discussed in the first place.

[StretchMediatedHypertrophy]

Lol my bad.

In terms of upright rows, technically Sharty is correct - using an EZ bar will increase supination since the default is pronation and as far as the upright row targets the bicep, the inside head will be worked more.

I can't find any guides in terms of different muscle recruitment between the bars, though if I pretend I am doing the two movements I tend to think the emphasis is pushed more into the back of the delts (bearing in mind the delt is actually 7 sections ad not 3 as commonly modeled). 

I will say that personally I think most ppl are better off using the straight bar. Basically because a barbell offers infinite width positions whereas an ez-bar does not, it offers 2-3 with no fine adjustment. This is bad because the optimal thing to do is to line things up with your scapular and you can't do that on an ez-bar unless you...get lucky.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejzZTFOnf0c&ab_channel=BaldOmni-Man

Also, because little equipment, or indeed technique, in a commercial gym setting is perfect, I just think the bar is likely to swing around more and when you are playing with an already questionable movement yeah I'm not into it. The video above shows a weightlifter doing stuff with big loads, but weightlifters are picky af about their barbells...mostly to protect their shoulder health...and obv he is using a straight-bar as is Paris.

 

 

 

[Shartnado]

Got the 4 (and a half) big move circuit done today, as planned. Set up Trapbar off the blocks, regular bench, the squat machine and slightly less inclined Seal Row.

For the warm up I did 5x249 on the Trapbar, 10x132 with a slowed down motion with a stop at the bottom touching chest, 5x154 with stop at the bottom at each rep on the squat machine and 10x154 on Seal Row. 

After this it was circuit time. I will list each move on its own, with reps and weights. But the idea was to move from one spot to the next after each set the same way I did with the warm-up.

Trapbar: 5x359, 5x453,5, 5x548,5, 3x614,5, 3, 4 and 4x643, 3x548,5, then shrugs with 453,5, 359 and 249.

Bench: 10x220, 8x264, 3x6x275, 8x264, 15x220 20x132

Squat Machine 6x264, 3x6x330, 5x330 (partials), 7x264, 6x154

Seal Row: 220, 264, 270, 270, 270, 220, 154. It's pointless to try and tell reps with these. With 220, maybe 5 good ones and rest are partials until I can hardly lift it off the padding. With 264 and 270, the first or second rep of each set may be decent and then it goes to shit quite fast. I try to do at least 5 partials each time, though. 154 was something like 20 reps.

Did some side delt work and extra shrugs while unloading the weights, depending on the size of the plates.

Then some foam rolling and hanging upside down. I should go to sauna before bed and as I said, I have a sport massage session booked early in the day.

Weight went back down to 201 by the morning, so I evacuated 6lbs of fluid during my two visits to the toilet. Damn.

[Technico Support]

19 hours ago, Contentious C said:

Technico and I were talking about using EZ bar versus barbell for *upright rows* anyway, so you're both sort of arguing past the original topic!  But carry on!

I might try the EZ bar next time...I did Olympic barbell upright rows again today and I don't love how it makes my wrists feel.

[StretchMediatedHypertrophy]

If you have cable access, you might want to consider using a rope variation.

[Technico Support]

On 12/18/2023 at 2:27 PM, StretchMediatedHypertrophy said:

If you have cable access, you might want to consider using a rope variation.

Sweet!  I'll try that. 

EDIT: Tried it, was awesome.  Five stars.

I'm in the office today so I did a full upper body workout in the office gym.  Decided to challenge myself and do a full hour of exercises with just the cable stacks.

Edited December 20, 2023 by Technico Support

[StretchMediatedHypertrophy]

I actually did the rope variation yesterday - it is definitely my favourite version; better strength curve IMO, being able to spread the rope feels killer on the side delts.

You can also do it lying down on a low row set-up, though I am yet to try that.

[Shartnado]

Had the sports massage yesterday and it felt good. Pretty much pain-free at the moment in the lower back region and that's very cool.

I did a brief resistance band workout in the morning before getting there and also did one this afternoon along with elevated push-ups (50+30) using the handles.

This routine will most likely continue every day at least at some point.

[Contentious C]

4 hours ago, StretchMediatedHypertrophy said:

I actually did the rope variation yesterday - it is definitely my favourite version; better strength curve IMO, being able to spread the rope feels killer on the side delts.

You can also do it lying down on a low row set-up, though I am yet to try that.

The rope might be what I need to do.  We have at least one really long rope and another that's longer than the standard.  And since I have Big Bird Wings, I have to get my arms pretty spread out to not have the motion fuck up either my shoulders or my elbows (anything too narrow hits one or the other, or both, like the awful super-narrow crap I was taught when I was 14).

Didn't do it yesterday on Pull day, because, SURPRISE, my bronchitis is back and trying to murder me.  I somehow got through the last 3 workouts anyway.  I feel better-ish today, but I don't know what's triggering this in the first place: cold, lack of humidity, I need to clean my place better, some combo of all 3.  I wonder if my doctor will be able to prescribe me a rescue inhaler next week just in case.

But yesterday was, despite the problems, pretty good.  3x11-11-9 for T-bar rows at 130, which is a PR.  Pretty much left me with a huge back pump the whole workout.  I think next time I do them, I'm going to do the V-bar/lat pulldown grip just for the variety.  I still don't "like" my Versas, or at least I feel they're not worth $115 for that version of them, but this is where they become must-haves.

Then 3x9-8-7 on lat pulldowns; started at 130, dropped back to 120 for the last set, because my elbows were starting to feel rather tendonitis-tastic after the second set.  That one drop in weight made them feel loads better.

And!  In addition to (eventually) getting the hack squat, our gym got a reverse hyper deck!  Getting on top of the thing is a huge PITA, but it's probably going to be next year's favorite piece of equipment, after the belt squat was this year's.  3x8 with 50 lbs was enough for that to do its job.  Then some barbell curls just to get that work in, but they were sort of blah.

Plus, you know, spending literally 15 minutes extra huffing and puffing and wheezing and wanting to puke because I couldn't catch my fucking breath.  Yay lungs.

Edited December 20, 2023 by Contentious C

[Technico Support]

The long rope is great for lat pullovers!  Highly recommended.  
 

Worst thing about the long rope?  Having to untie it when some goober inevitably ties knots in both sides to “shorten” it for tricep extensions and such.  My gym already has 4-5 standard shorter ropes for that.  WTF.  A trainer saw me untying them once and said, “yeah, people suck.”

Edited December 21, 2023 by Technico Support

[StretchMediatedHypertrophy]

I just have my own tricep straps now.

[Shartnado]

I did another resistance band workout yesterday morning and push-ups with the handles in the evening. We just came back from a run this morning and it didn't feel as good as it did the last time, not that it felt good then.

But hey, at least it's done for today. I'll get the maintenance work in later on.

[Chaos]

I'm not where I want to be on sustained distance on my runs, but I'm at 520 miles ran for the year, which I'm sure is a personal best, and I anticipate adding at least another 20 miles to that before the year ends. Next year I will transition some of those miles to strength training so I can start to burn off some fat. 

[Contentious C]

I'm not sure I ran 520 feet last year.  But with my hips, that's no surprise.  Pretty sure my left knee is never going to let me run again, either.

Anyway, went with a super-light Push day (in terms of total volume).  RP had a sort of interesting video with a couple of the guys researching lengthened partials the most, and they were doing lateral raises with 2 partial pulses per rep before a full rep.  GOD those lit my shoulders up.  Lots of metabolite burn on that shit.

I also did flat bench again, and managed to DDP that with 150 for 9-9 & 145 for 8.  My chest was super pumped after last time and sore basically since the last workout, and I'm thinking this is going to happen again this time.  But next Push workout I'm going to go back to incline, then shoot for 3x9x150 for the one after that.  But, the big takeaway is that all the incline focus for months and months paid off, because I'm so non-adapted to standard bench that I feel like it's blowing up in a good way.  I really feel my chest grinding out the last hard reps, instead of it going to my arms.  My left shoulder is still comprised of soggy Cheerios, balsa wood, and the occasional prayers of Pentecostal women, but it's holding up for now.  I got to 195/200 for 2 reps the two times I attempted those, back when I was doing 5/3/1 in Spring 2022, but I don't know if I ever did this much weight for reps like this back then. 

Then I did some skullcrushers at 70/70/65 for 9/7/7; normally they're more like the Athlean-X style lying triceps extension, with my arms way back over my head, but that's putting a little too much pressure on my shoulders, so dialing back the angle to be closer to perpendicular felt a lot better.  Less tendon concern in my elbows as well, for that matter. 

[Shartnado]

Ran for more than 50 minutes first thing this morning. Felt about the same as last time.

Spa and sauna later on today, maybe some very light swimming in the pool.

Resistance band later on.

The spa had a new, tiny, cold water pool (at 6 degrees Celsius) I sat there twice for about half a minute. Must have done wonders for my circulation.

Used the floaters for resistance work in the pool. Taking 2 flat floaters on top of one another and trying to keep them under water while keeping my toes touching the bottom of the pool was pretty good resistance workout.

Now getting ready for Xmas Dinner.

 

Edited December 24, 2023 by Shartnado
the spa was fun

[StretchMediatedHypertrophy]

I *think* I got a PR on the OHP today - 75kg. I think 72.5 was my previous, which was a long time ago and I would have been wearing a belt (plus I probably took 7-8 minutes to prepare). This was after an all-body session yesterday. I was tentatively planning to try to do 3 x 8 at 50kg as per my progression but I realised that trying to do rep work wasn't really going to work with soreness in my hamstrings, upper back and indeed some fatigue in my anterior delts from heavy chest pressing yesterday where I actually failed a bunch of reps. So yeah, probably have 80kg in me but I'll continue to milk the progression I've been working on

I also did my somewhat bent over wide-grip ez-bar drag curls today. I actually went up to 50kg + the bar. But then it hit me - am I doing an upright row? And I suppose the answer is 'sort of', but I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing for the low/mid traps and rear delts to get some work. I think if you were to add some proper hip drive you could get some serious weight going.

In the interests of science, I also decided to try a narrow grip preacher curl.....lol I don't get it. Not for me! I think I'd probably rather use an arm blaster over the preacher bench, but the narrow grip feels really odd to me.

 

Edited December 24, 2023 by StretchMediatedHypertrophy

[Shartnado]

@StretchMediatedHypertrophy 75kg OHP is bad ass! Hoping to get there next year! Good luck with the 80kg, I'm sure it's there if you reach for it!

[StretchMediatedHypertrophy]

Thanks! Though if I put my info into Symmetrical Strength, then it shows my OHP as being behind my other lifts which is interesting.

So I don't think it will be a problem for you. There is a little more technique than with the Big 3, and you have to work out how much you want to lean back and a couple of other things.

My humble opinion - I think long-term 90kg is there for me, especially if I put a belt on. More than that I think would take a lot more advanced programming, but I increasingly think I prefer doing heavy work on the OHP to the bench. Like for bench, I think I almost care more about what I can rep out than my max.....and in some ways this is safer because frankly a lot of benches I encounter just aren't that suited to really heavy work. I'm not ruling out that 140kg bench, but I think I'm going to stick with close-grip to assist my ohp for a while and assess down the line.

[Shartnado]

Ran 10km this morning, it took way more than an hour. Feels like dying.

Spa yesterday was nice. Some water training, sauna, the cold pool (one sitting, maybe 45 seconds), stretching in the steam room, some very casual swimming.

Yesterday also included a leisurely hike to the shoreline, like last year, but no running.

The trip has been more active than I figured.

[Shartnado]

No more running as we got home, but I diligently did the resistance band workout and once more some elevated push-ups! Also, I went and got a haircut today and went from Jungle Boy to Loose Cannon Brian Pillman for a few months again.

[Contentious C]

The hack squat machine in my gym is a rickety thing - it threatens to tip over pretty much anytime you add or subtract 45s - but DAMN if the SFR for it isn't through the roof.  Leg presses murder me (and my low back, and my left knee, which is probably my 'bad' knee specifically because of the leg press).  Belt squats are king for raw stimulus magnitude for quads, but also murder me.  The hack squat...does not, and yet the quad pain is real. 

Edited January 4 by Contentious C

[Shartnado]

Back to work, so 3 workouts this week. This week has been freezing over here, so only one bike ride to work and back. Yeah, not used to -25 to -30 degrees celsius weather.

Some of the stuff I did this week:

88lb one arm overhead dumbell press. Cleared it with left, not quite with the right arm. Also did a couple of reps with 79, 72 and 5 reps with 66.

Incline bench dumbell press with 88's with the seat one notch down from straight up, 4 sets 14, 10, 12, 10 reps and 4 sets of hammer curls.

Standing double bicep curls with dumbells from a pair of 31's all the way to a pair of 57's. Granted, the 57's were just really high hammer curls, since I could not supinate, especially with the left wrist.

10 sets of regular bench from 164 to 269 and back mixed in with 9 sets of seal row from 154 to 275 and back. 3 sets of seal row were with 275 going for 5 reps each and maybe 2 reps of each set were not bad.

While this was nothing particularly special, but upperbody-wise the time off has not really adversely affected my strength levels, albeit not increased them, either.

[Contentious C]

Well, I've really had it with protein powder manufacturers.  I truly have to wonder how hard it is to get flavors right.

I've sampled enough different brands at this point to tell that nearly all of the people in charge of quality control must be colossal fuck-ups.  Here's the rundown of what I've bought.

Pre-pandemic, my go-to (right when I started up again) was Optimum Nutrition's 100% Isolate.  The chocolate was excellent.  Then, shit happened, O/N used it as an excuse to quit making a product that was both cheap and good, and now all you can get at Costco is their Gold Standard 100% Whey.  It's a blend of stuff, but don't let that fool you.  I seriously doubt blended-or-not makes a huge difference in flavor.  It's probably more what your additives are than anything else.

And GODDAMN does the Gold Standard fucking suck.  It's called "Extreme Milk Chocolate" but the only thing extreme about it is how much it takes like weak-ass coconut instead of chocolate.  I fucking hate coconut, but even if I did like it, I doubt I would like this.  I really don't know how you go from having a great tasting product to one this terrible when you already knew how to flavor this shit.

I only bought it because it was on sale.  Normally, I buy the Ascent 100% Isolate, which is different primarily because it's sweetened with stevia instead of sucralose.  Unless you have some highly particular reaction to one sweetener over another, I'm not going to get into which one is better or worse for you, because, as a biochemist, I can tell you the jury is still very much out and most of the "artificial bad" studies are fucking garbage studies.  But, the flavor of the Ascent is...well, tolerable at best would be a good way to put it?  It isn't good for a chocolate flavor, but it's better than this bullshit I just bought for no other reason than because it was on sale.

But there are two other brands worth mentioning, too, since they're easy to find on Amazon.  The first is Dymatize ISO100 Hydrolyzed.  This comes in a ton of different flavors, some of which are batshit crazy (no, I don't want liquid Fruity Pebbles, motherfucker).  But I've had the Chocolate, Vanilla, and the Cookies & Cream.  Somehow, they have managed to entirely and completely fuck up the two most basic flavors on Earth to a degree that's practically unquantifiable, even compared to how shitty the O/N Gold Standard is.  If anyone else ever tells you those flavors are good, never believe another word that comes out of their mouths on any topic, anywhere; that's how bad they are.  But on the other end of the bell curve is the Cookies & Cream, which is somehow fucking delicious.  It's not the best I've had, but it's close.  I mostly don't get it anymore because ordering things online isn't how I prefer to go if I can help it, and it's also pricier by a good bit. 

The one sizable caveat to all the Dymatize flavors is they are way too strong; you can't make them with "6-8 oz" (who is actually following that anyway?) and expect them to taste good.  They need to be watered down to 16.

The other brand is Sports Research Whey Protein Isolate.  I've only tried the chocolate with this, but honestly it's all you need to try.  It almost isn't a protein shake; it's more like a dessert, and if you have chocolate cravings, you might actually find it difficult to limit yourself to 1-2 shakes a day for your protein needs.  You can make it with just water and it's still knocks the bejesus out of all these other brands.  If you make it with whole milk, you will wonder where it's been all your life.  It's...just way better than it has any right to be.  And the real mindfuck of the Sports Research brand is that it also made with coconut oil, and so it has a little of that flavor - but it's clear they actually taste-tested this and dialed it in so it's just the right hint of contrast to the chocolate.   I only switched away from it because, again, ordered online and it was a little more expensive than the Ascent.  And each time I have to drink this Gold Standard bullshit, I am hating myself for that decision.  Only 78 more shakes to go and then it's gone...

Anyway, tl;dr -- I have nothing to say about protein dosage or any of that, because if you're buying this stuff, you're probably not enough of a dumbass to make this the only protein source you get --

Great

Sports Research Chocolate

Dymatize Cookies & Cream

Tolerable

Ascent Chocolate

An Assault on Your Taste Buds, Wallet, and Sanity

Dymatize Chocolate

Dymatize Vanilla

Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard Chocolate

Edited January 8 by Contentious C