All-Purpose Health and Fitness Thread

[Shartnado]

44 minutes ago, Contentious C said:

Pendulum squat?  Probably not.

I should have this video embedded at the point where he more or less starts demonstrating it.  I wish I'd ever been in a gym that had one.  Every gym I've seen has the opposite curvature: the machine is concave relative to your body/back, whereas this is convex.  Pendulums are kinda like belt squats, rare in the wild and good at their jobs.

Yeah, no it wasn't. Checked before I saw your reply, but thanks anyway.

[Shartnado]

Snowfall and wind almost ruined my Trapbar day as I was late getting to the gym after plowing my front yard and biking through badly cleared bike lanes. I'm so glad I have used the weight vest almost up until now, because that ride would have wrecked me, if I wasn't already used to the heavier load.

Anyway almost no blocks today, as I did most of the lifts off the floor. Hence, no deficits, either. 1x466 without Versas, then with Versas 1x538,5, 2x571,5, and 2 singles with 577 (without and with shoes on), then one more rep with 577 off the 1/4 blocks (that I hardly ever use anymore) and 1x538,5 and 5x466 off those too.

One set of shrugs with 254 and a set of hammer curls with 88's. No time for abs or stretching.

No work tomorrow, so no workout, either. I did book a sports massage session for this and next week, both on Friday.

So yeah, more PRs popping up and my weight is still not anywhere near my previous max, so apparently I am doing something right.

[Shartnado]

Back to the grind on Monday, for mostly single arm overhead dumbell press. Right arm went from 12x35 to 10x61,5 and Left arm went from 10x53 to 1x79 (and 10x48,5 straight after that) 7 sets per arm. Some side delt work, a set of hammer curls with 88's, resistance band push down drop sets and some fierce gripper work at the end along with reduced ab work.

Tuesday was Meadow's Row pyramid time. 12 sets overall, from 55 to 252 to 55. 3 sets per arm with 252 and 2 sets per arm with 227 and 2 sets per arm with 205. The 252's obviously barely moved, but they still moved and after those the 205's moved pretty well (227's not that great). Then a long set of hammer curls with 88's followed by a standing dumbell curl set with 31's and more of the gripper work. Only rolling and hanging upside down today, no abs aside from one set of hanging knee and leg raises once I got home. Oh, and this week I used a 44 lbs barbell for the Meadow's Row, instead of the usual 33 lb one. I don't count that to the overall weight, but it has to be a few pounds heavier nevertheless.

Work days have been hectic for all the wrong reasons and that has led me to miss a couple of snacks and gainers, but I have tried to compensate for that in the evenings.

[Shartnado]

Work days continue to suck, but I still went for the squat machine pyramid as intended. No calfs, not really anything aside from the pyramid.

10 sets two of which were with warm up weight (the first and the last one), so 8 real ones. Two pairs of resistance bands this week, not 3.

So, 8×110, 7x220, 6x315, 6x410, 5x505, 5x505, 6x410, 7x315, 10x220 and 10x110.

So the streak of records continues. 505 is definitely heaviest I've ever gone. Not deep, but below the safety pin, so they were fine. The last rep of the later set of 410 went deeper than ever before, I think? 315's definitely looking like real squats.

Tomorrow should be Trapbar. I'll be curious to see if I make it 3 for 3, as far as records go?

[Shartnado]

3 for 3, muthafukaaa! New Trapbar records off the floor 3x586 and 2x596! I'll edit in the whole workout at some point, but now I'm watching Dynamite!

Where was I? Oh yes, started with deficit 5,3,1  of 5x320,5, 3x375,5 and 1x469.

Then off the floor 2x535, 3x586, 2x596, 2x552 and 3x502 without Versas.

Then two sets of shrugs with 353,5 and 243 and one set of hammer curls with 88's.

That's it for this week, but I have another sports massage session tomorrow.

Edited November 28, 2024 by Shartnado
Ok, let's do this!

[Technico Support]

Back to it after a week and a half off after oral surgery where it was recommended “don’t do anything strenuous for at least a week.”  Lifting yesterday, full body, 12 exercises, 5 sets each (warmup set, 3 regular sets, drop set), a little over an hour.  Ran about 4.3 miles in the freezing fucking cold today.  Hurting but happy to be back.

[Contentious C]

My joints are back to taking an absolute beating from trying a 5-day split per week, so I'm kinda-sorta dialing back frequency after seeing an asynchronous split that Lou Ferrigno used to do: Back, Chest, Legs, Shoulders/Arms, Off.  That's probably sustainable, if I make sure I do deadlifts on either the Back or Leg day (almost certainly Back).  If our medical system weren't entirely garbage even with my relatively good COBRA insurance, I'd try to find out why my tendons are so bad that I have perpetual elbow tendonitis on both sides of both arms, but...yay America.  Not sure when I'll swim; maybe push it to a full-week split and just do swimming as its own day before another day off.

[Technico Support]

Weird/painful-looking shit at the gym this week:

Sunday: guy using the rubber fixed barbells to do behind-the-neck overhead presses.  Never mind that this is a dumb and risky exercise already, but he was doing it with his arms WAY back (imagine pec deck positioning) and was going really deep, too. 

Today: guy doing this weird, I guess "functional fitness" exercise where he was laying perpendicular on a bench, so only his shoulders were on it, and doing low ROM, one-handed bench press motion with an 80lb dumbbell, with the alternate leg way off the ground.  Look, I'm sure this is great for your core and stabilizers or whatever, but I have a weird view that maybe our bodies are symmetrical for a reason, and this kind of thing feels really risky from a lower back perspective and probably a lot of other reasons.

It reminds me of watching Quarterback on Netflix and seeing Patrick Mahomes' childhood friend, who is now, of course, his personal trainer, doing all manner of crossfit-inspired goofy shit with him.  The best (worst) was rehabbing a leg injury with single leg jumps while holding a loaded barbell in squat position.  Jesus.

It's always the younger guys.  When you get older, you realize the juice isn't worth the squeeze from a risk vs benefit perspective. 

Edited December 3, 2024 by Technico Support

[Shartnado]

The workout week started on Monday evening, as the company Christmas Party did take its toll on me. Man, that was a bunch of white wine. Anyway, back to the grind, once more!

Single arm overhead dumbell press now rehabbed to the point where the right arm could lift the 44 and 48,5 without help and now up to 66 with assistance on the first rep. The left arm went from 53 to 79 and a bonus round of 57, since the 79 didn't go up without momentum.

I did a couple of incline dumbell bench sets and resistance band push down drop sets, a set of bicep curls with 39,5's and hammer curls with same weights as the incline bench. At the end, I also did my best and longest set of hammer curls with 110's and really good one with 88's afterwards. Gripper work and resistance band chest flies at the end.

Yesterday, I combined Meadow's Row pyramid, a few sets with the squat machine, and a heavy calf raise work. The pyramid went from 110 to 254 to 110 with the heavier bar, like last week, 10 sets per arm. The two sets with 254 moved slightly better than the 3 sets with 252 last week. The squat machine sets were 5x249, 5x344 and 5x438. Calf raises started from 482 and went down to 110, with 8 sets overall. One set of hammer curls with 88's, short gripper work and reduced ab work and some hanging and rolling at the end.

[Shartnado]

Ok, this week I couldn't make another 1RM on Trapbar, but I did do the heaviest 5,3,1 of deficit Trapbar which obviously took its toll. 5x375,5, 3x470 and 1x492, without Versas.

The actual lifting part was mostly just singles and not that many of those, either. I did manage 587 on the second attempt, but 598 said not today, you son of a bitch! Well, not until I put the 1/4 blocks under it. Then I managed 2 singles with it. Kept the blocks on from this point onwards, because it just wasn't happening otherwise. I did 2x554 and 1x554 and then just opted for shrugs. 4 sets of those, with 458, 365, 254 and 144. Then some abs, hanging and rolling in the end.

This wasn't great, but the deficit lifts were definitely a record, but they sure destroyed everything after that.

Ok, since I didn't increase my max this week, I think next week I'll be back to the heavier lifts off the blocks. This was fun while it lasted. If I get a chance to clear 600 lbs off the floor before the end of the year, I'll try it but there is only a couple of actual work weeks left this year, since I will have more than 2 weeks off late this year and early next year. Maybe then I will get my bulk on?

[Shartnado]

My weight is stubbornly at 190 lbs, exactly where it was a couple of months ago. It did go up for a bit, but apparently has come down in recent weeks.

Of course, this makes the recent 1RM's and new top set records mean even more, but considering all the money that has gone into eating extra calories and buying gainers etc, makes it seem like wasted effort. It's good that I like eating, otherwise it would feel even worse.

[Death From Above]

Down to 290 from a starting weight of 315, so 25 pounds down. Twenty to go to my initial goal.

I'd stab a bitch for a bag of potato chips some days.

[Shartnado]

31 minutes ago, Death From Above said:

Down to 290 from a starting weight of 315, so 25 pounds down. Twenty to go to my initial goal.

I'd stab a bitch for a bag of potato chips some days.

One more pound and you are already less than 20 lbs from your goal. When it's two digits and starts with 1, you can start to see the finish line in the distance! Stay strong, you will get there!

[Technico Support]

22 hours ago, Death From Above said:

Down to 290 from a starting weight of 315, so 25 pounds down. Twenty to go to my initial goal.

I'd stab a bitch for a bag of potato chips some days.

Hang in there, bud!  You’re doing amazing!

[Shartnado]

Yesterday, a pretty regular upper body workout with a bunch of stuff squeezed in with less sets per move. The single arm overhead dumbell press was warm-up plus three sets per arm. For the left arm, the best set was 5x79, which may be a record. For the right arm, I didn't go as heavy as last week, but I did get 53 up without assistance, so that's nice. Then 3 sets of incline dumbell bench, followed by hammer curls. 5ish sets of resistance band chest flies and 3 sets of resistance band lat pull downs. Two sets of standind bicep curls, two drop sets of resistance band push-downs, two sets of pull-ups and one set of dips. One set per arm of preacher/concentration curls on the Scott bench and one long set of dumbell chest flies on a bench.

The main thing was that at about 35 to 45 minutes in, I did a set of hammer curls with 110's and actually got that on video for proof. Did 11 reps per arm and stopped before the ROM got shitty or Body English got out of control. Did the usual 88's set after that, but that didn't get recorded.

Then some gripper work, a bit of abs and the hanging and rolling for the finish.

[Shartnado]

Reduced Meadows Row pyramid today from 110 to 205 to 110. Recorded the 205 and 179,5 sets for posterity. Judging by the 205's there was no point in going any higher, but I did overall 8 sets per arm, 3 of which were with 110, though.

More pull-ups, dips and some 5 sets of bench with 110. That shit is not getting better, but at least I can get my chest pumped by doing really slow reps. One set of hammer curls with 88's and preacher curls on the Scott bench with 26,5, trying to go really slow.

Decent gripper work and half decent ab work at the end. My lats, traps, delts and other upper back muscles are really feeling these past two workouts, let me tell you!

My friend used AI to calculate the weight of the bar in Meadows Row and came up with 28,5 lbs for the 44 lb bar, so in reality the pyramid was from 138,5 to 233,5 to 138,5. Yeah, I like the sound of that! That would make my top set record 282,5, which is pretty nuts, despite being ugly as shit reps.

Edited December 10, 2024 by Shartnado
AI saves the day...

[Shartnado]

Leg day, but mostly calves. 5 sets of squats with the machine but only two real sets, others were just warm up. I did 5x344 trying to go as deep as possible because I made a video of it. Then 6x444 and those were at least parallel, so I was happy with that. That one was recorded as well.

Then 3 set of calves with 482, 2 with 444, 1 with 344 and so on. Once again, I didn't have time for a longer workout, but I have gone pretty damn heavy so far, so that's fine. Friday will be problematic because I will have to change shifts and do morning after the previous day's evening shift, so sleep will be ruined. I'll see what I come up with on Thursday, but Friday should be Trapbar, come hell or high water.

[Shartnado]

Concentrating on chest mostly today with plenty of different resistance band chest flies and regular bench. Luckily, I was able to increase the load up to 192, starting from 120. Not super long sets, but 5-7 reps, with 9 sets overall. One set of dumbell bench with a pair of 53's and one set of dumbell chest flies with 35's lying on a bench. Some resistance band lat pull downs and push downs and some gripper work.

This was fun, let’s see how Trapbar goes tomorrow, with such short sleep and recovery?

[Death From Above]

At the start of October I was still downing a family size bag of potato chips a day. Today makes it 60 days straight without potato chips and between eating better and excercise I'm down 28 pounds.

[Shartnado]

Well, the lack of sleep didn't ruin anything, but no new records on Trapbar. The idea was to do singles from different heights starting from 175,5 kg and ending up with 394 kg off the full blocks. I'll edit it in later. So, that would be from 386,5 to 868.

Started with warm-up of 3x264 off a double stacked deficit (the higher and lower on top of one another) and 386,5 off that too, then 447 off the high deficit, 501 off the low deficit, 565 off the floor, 3x665 off the 3/4 blocks, 753 off the 4/5 blocks, 848 off the full blocks and 868 off the full blocks without shoes. Then 8x704 with shoes of with unintended rest pause, as one of the unattached small weights kept sliding off from under the handle. Then one set of shrugs with 352. All the starting and stopping to take videos with my phone made this super long and not super intense workout, but this was the fifth workout of the week, so I definitely won't complain.

I do complain about the amount of snow that has been coming down since yesterday, though. Not huge amounts, but just wet enough to be heavy and stick to your clothes and every surface it touches! Like I would have any energy left for that shit at this point!

I edited these lifts into a montage and sent it to my friends and relatives for proof. These weren't record lifts either, because I wanted to make sure every attempt succeeded.

Edited December 14, 2024 by Shartnado
Now with more lbs!

[The Natural]

Did a Gym Rig Circuit class last night for the first time. You do 10 exercises for 40 seconds then switch stations for three rounds. It includes to name a few: mountain planks, squat thrusts I hate, a bar attached to the ground with a weight plate attached to it you lift up, bouncing a medicine ball off a trampoline, catching it and throwing it to the ground. When Joe was showing the exercises, I thought I'm fucked as I've never done anything like this, the Cerebral Palsy making my body work five times harder than those without doing the same thing and I'm fat. I stuck it out completing the whole thing. Really enjoyed it. Treated myself to a Shimla Spice curry afterwards as I've always had one in December long before losing Mum and every year after plus I'd gone over a 24 hours fast. It's expensive at Shimla Spice but it's worth it as a treat every few months. Tired as fuck today as I haven't slept the diazepam off and I ache like hell too.

Edited December 14, 2024 by The Natural

[Shartnado]

Big upper body day today. Single arm dumbell press, hammer curls, some incline dumbell bench, resistance band lat pull downs and push downs, skullcrushers and some sets of preacher/concentration curls on the Scott bench.

I did 5 reps of overhead dumbell press with 79 with the left arm, but had to use some momentum on three of the reps.

I did two sets of hammer curls with 88's with one set with 110's in between. The first set was for 19 reps with either hand and watching them on video afterwards, they looked pretty good to me. The 110's and 88's afterwards didn't go as well, but I got through it.

2 sets of 5 with 66 on the Scott bench with the left arm, but I was starting to be pretty wrecked at that point.

Still, a proper ab and gripper work at the end of an extra long stay in the gym.

[MGFanJay]

I got a Pure Plank and love it - makes doing planks with iffy knees and a bad wrist much easier. Leaning out a bit and feeling better than I have in years 

[The Natural]

11 hours ago, MGFanJay said:

I got a Pure Plank and love it - makes doing planks with iffy knees and a bad wrist much easier. Leaning out a bit and feeling better than I have in years 

Hello there. Long time no see.

[The Natural]

12 hours ago, MGFanJay said:

I got a Pure Plank and love it - makes doing planks with iffy knees and a bad wrist much easier. Leaning out a bit and feeling better than I have in years 

Can relate to the knees. I wear a left knee brace whenever I'm outside. It's like the Kenta Kobashi Velcro knee brace with metal hinges and the open knee hole. Picking my new one up today.