All-Purpose Health and Fitness Thread

[Shartnado]

Yesterday, I felt like I really needed to get some kind of real-ish workout in, more than just the resistance band and/or push ups. So I walked a couple of miles towards the town center, where there has been an outside gym for the past couple of years. This was the first time I have actually used it, although I did go check it out, when it was brand new. It was good enough for a 45-minute, (almost) whole body workout that left me with a halfway decent pump for the first time in a couple of weeks, at least. Then, I walked back home. Now that I have actually tried it, this could be something I can do more often, from Spring to Fall. It's just that I'd probably only do it on the weekends and that is recovery time, so I'm not sure how it would work? Well, it's nice to have feasible free options closer than 15 miles (there and back) away from me.

Well, next week it's back to work and back to the real gym. Former, I'm not looking forward to so much, the latter, yeah it's starting to be that time again! I'm thinking 4-6 weeks to get back into the "normal" shape and then I'm starting the bulk once more, until well into next year.

[Technico Support]

Pretty good workout week!  I did have to cut running short one day due to just crazy heat (I could see sweat flying off my hands while pumping my arms, just a mile in!).  Down 89ish pounds from when I started this over two years ago, so this coming weekend I’ll most likely hit 90, which is a hell of a milestone.

Edited August 2 by Technico Support

[Shartnado]

Back to work, back to the gym. 5 workouts, but tried to keep them way shorter than usual. First two were upper body (second one actually mostly just arms), then a light to moderate leg day, then rows and lat pull downs and today conventional dead lift. It feels good to be back in the grind, but it does feel like it will be a while before I do anything worth writing about. 

[Technico Support]

28 months, 90 pounds

[Shartnado]

Getting back into the swing of things, last night's leg workout was marginally heavier than last week, on Sunday evening I was able to do a set of dumbell incline bench with a pair of 88's (I got back to that level right before the summer vacation) and on Monday I did a set of EZ Bar curls with 114,5 lbs (5 reps, but getting ugly by the end). 

So there's still rows and deadlifts (in some fashion) to go this week but so far, so good. 

I was able to get a Meadows Row pyramid and some lat pull downs in on Wednesday but during the night shift my left hip and thigh started giving me trouble. I was eventually able to stretch them out enough for them to feel mostly normal again but it did result in me taking a night off the workouts on Thursday. Judging by how sore most of my places are (thankfully, not the lower back so much, though) I think it was the right call. 

This means Trapbar on Monday for my penance, however!

Edited August 15 by Shartnado
Well, it was half successful, anyway...

[Shartnado]

The first Trapbar after summer vacation on Tuesday (skipped Monday altogether) and we are long ways off from where we should be, let me tell you! Conversely, the dumbell incline bench has gone nicely. I did another set (of 6 reps) with a pair of 88's at a steeper angle than last week, so it's the one thing I have right now!

[Technico Support]

This week's workouts!

• Sunday: half hour upper body workout at the gym.  No run in the afternoon; pool time with family.
• Monday: 9 mile run
• Tuesday: half hour upper body workout at the gym, 8 mile run later
• Wednesday: 8 mile run
• Thursday: early 8 mile run, followed by half hour upper body workout at the gym
• Friday (today): 8 mile run

I could run more, and easier, since the weather eased up into a typical Maryland "false Autumn," where Monday - Thursday were all overcast and cooler.  Today was hotter and sunny, so noticeably slower and more difficult, both due to the weather and due to being the last day of the week.  I managed to break my one week distance record of 40 miles by running 41 despite not running Sunday.  Pretty good. 

Edited August 22 by Technico Support

[Shartnado]

Thursday was another Seal Row pyramid day that ended up being more like a half pyramid but it went ok. Also did some reverse grip barbell curls and proper lat pull downs with the shovel handle. 

Friday was then logically another leg day, so what did I do, why preacher curls on the Scott bench with the EZ Bar, obviously! Was able to lift 130 lbs off the rack, but not a single rep. Then I figured if I could get some help to get the bar to the up position to start from, then maybe I could get something out of it. Yeah, 6 reps (obviously my arms were NOT straight at the bottom of the rep, but there was still some ROM in there) for a new record by quite a margin. Some lighter sets afterwards as well as some close grip pull ups. 

This morning we went out for a little run. Only 3ish miles with some added walking in the beginning and at the end. I guess that went well enough.

I'm getting a little bit frustrated with the strength levels on some (most of) the big moves and would like to get back to where I was earlier this year, but that's not how this works. A few more weeks of getting rid of the summer bloat and getting the overall endurance back to the level where I can push through a work week while still getting all of my workouts in at the proper length and intensity. As of now, I'm not there yet. 

[Shartnado]

Had my bike malfunction midway going to work on Tuesday morning. Had to abandon it in front of a supermarket and walk and jog the rest of the way to work (in rain clothes, weight vest and rubber boots no less) Ended up being only 5 minutes late. 

Did an impressive set of 8x130 lbs with the EZ bar on the Scott bench (without help this time, just adjusting the seat as low and the rack as high as they would go).

The combination of these two resulted in my upper back being so jammed that I had to take two days off from gym and the weight vest and it's still not completely normal at the moment. 

Yesterday I did the squat machine and conventional dead lift to give my legs and lower back at least one real workout this week. The squat went alright, top set being 4x460 sandwiched by sets of 3x395. The deadlift on the other hand, was not very promising. I thought I could also do a few sets of Trapbar, but seeing how the deadlift went, I saw no point in it.

Monday's incline dumbell bench did go nicely once again with marginal improvement, so at least something keeps me in positive spirits. 

[Shartnado]

First week with full 5 workouts with some improvement in EZ Bar Curls with 9x135 lbs as the top set.

Squat machine starts getting there with a top set of 4x490, but Trapbar is lagging badly. 

[Shartnado]

EZ Bar Curl went up to 6x141 (there could have been a 7th rep, but at least 6).

Top set of dumbell OHP on the incline bench was a 6 with a pair of 88's. 

The top set of squat machine was 4x505 sandwiched by sets of 4x410.

Also did some grip strength and was able this pipe-thingy, with 132 lbs of plates on it, off the floor with each hand, once or twice.

No workout today, I had less than 5 hours of sleep so doing Trapbar now would be pretty pointless!

This morning, due to the lack of sleep, I decided to not wear the weight vest for the bike ride. Holy shit, did it feel like not even trying. So if anyone thinks it does basically nothing because I'm sitting on a bike, I can very much tell you that's not the case!

Overall, not a bad week. Starting to look pretty much how I am supposed to by this time of the year, too!

[Technico Support]

97.7 pounds down and lifting heavy again!  

[Shartnado]

5 hours ago, Technico Support said:

97.7 pounds down and lifting heavy again!  

Awesome!!!

[Shartnado]

No real improvement in dumbell incline bench/overhead press, but it went as well as it has in the past few weeks.

Trapbar showed a little improvement (from previous weeks, not overall) in deficit lifts and padded blocks, as I deficit lifted 554 off the 2nd smallest block and up to 605 off the padded blocks. I tried 615, but that hardly budged.

The EZ-bar Scott Bench curls didn't improve from last week, in fact, the top set went back down to 135, but overall, the pyramid was pretty rough. Maybe the hammer curls that followed incline dumbell bench sets took something from this one, as they were on back to back days!

Today, it was time for the squat machine pyramid. 8 sets, 4-5 reps from 220 to 527 (a record, btw) and back down to 315. 3 sets of calf raises on the way down. No work tomorrow, so no workout, but I hear that we'll go for a run on Saturday morning.

[Ryback Hates Bullies]

Congrats to @Technico Support - almost 100lbs down.

So I have become an official bench bro.

On Thursday, I hit 3 x 10 with 100kg on super close-grip bench (pinkies bout 1 cm from the smooth). I had 10 reps even on close-grip before, but not multiple sets. 

This is a few weeks after doing a 3 x 5 on thumbs length a few weeks ago - the first time I did 2 plates for straight sets.

Tbh it took a lot out of me recovery wise. I might have gone to the local old-school iron gym for a long workout but I could tell yesterday it wasn't going to work out. I'm going to use a free trial at another place tomorrow - which is generally very specialised in classes and 'hyrox' etc. Will probably not vibe with it but they seem to have decent equipment and I'm going to be in the area anyhow.

My lower body training has been mid due to nagging issues, but I did buy a set of squat shoes from Temu and.....they are interesting. Even using them in my back garden with modest weights yields a larger than expected quad stimulus....will be doing that in a bit after some more coffee, a bit later will probably walk over to the bike/skate track where they have some bars for some inverted rows and L-sits - I'm doing most of my back volume that way so I can focus on bench in my gym sessons.

I want that 3 plate bench, though annoyingly my actual 1RM remains at 120kg. I was going to aim for a 1RM pr last week, but the warm up sets didn't click and it wasn't on. My first reps are still challenging - there are ways to mitigate that a bit (just the right amount of bicep and back warmup, too much and I have fatigue) but I think I will now try and progress pinkies just inside the rings and see if I can peak that.

[Shartnado]

The week is not done yet, but I have done some PR's already, getting 4 parallel reps on the squat machine with 538 and then 5 slightly better reps with 505.

Scott bench EZ Bar curls went up to 6x152 with the co-worker helping me get the bar to the top position to start with. The ROM wasn't exactly good, but that's still quite a load on the wrists etc.

Bench and incline dumbell bench were both fine, no improvement.

Trapbar had slight improvement with 4x554 off the floor and 616 off the padded blocks. My morning weight (in the afternoon) was shockingly low at 185, so it's not actually such a surprise that I'm not yet where I should be, strength wise. 

Edited September 25 by Shartnado
Trapbar and weigh-in!

[Shartnado]

The birthday landed on Monday, so I decided to be smart, unlike last year and do a lighter than usual pump workout with the incline dumbell bench/ohp and hammer curls along with some lighter lat pull downs and resistance band chest flies. Ironically (or coincidentally, I'm not sure which?) my right KNEE started to act up during the work day and on the way back home, so I decided to take Tuesday off completely.

I taped up the knee with kinesio-tape and stretched my legs continuously for a couple of days and it seems to be alright now. Wednesday was Scott Bench EZ-bar curl pyramid time. Not able to lift the last week's 152, but 141 was doable by raising the seat up a notch (and thereby shortening the potential ROM even further) so I got 4 reps with that. Then 6x130, 10×108, 12x86 and 23x64. Bunch of push downs with the resistance band and the pull down machine between the sets.

Today should be the squat machine day. I'm a bit iffy on that one, but I'll probably know during the warm-up sets if it's a smart move to go heavier or not?

[Shartnado]

No problem with the knees for squat machine on Thursday and Trapbar on Friday. Top set for squats was 5x549 and I managed 572 off the floor on Trapbar and then once more with 5lb plates beneath the weights and one more time off the padded blocks. 

Also did some grip strength training before the Trapbar and shrugs afterwards.

Posted the newest training video on General Wrestling Discussion due to the Ultimate Warrior theme music. 

[Technico Support]

Down below 100 pounds lost.  Feels pretty good.

[Shartnado]

2 hours ago, Technico Support said:

Down below 100 pounds lost.  Feels pretty good.

Excellent! What does the scale say at the moment (or the last time you checked)?

[Technico Support]

3 hours ago, Shartnado said:

Excellent! What does the scale say at the moment (or the last time you checked)?

Thanks!  209 currently.  I have to say, being at the clothing store and being bummed because they don’t have a shirt I like in large is so much better than being there and bummed because I need 3XL.

I started running a little less because I just don’t have that kind of time and honestly, going over 5 or 6 miles is a little excessive unless I’m marathon training.  Lifting wise, I’ve gone back to lifting heavy (everything is three sets, first set is 5 to 8 reps, next two sets are whatever I can do, and when I can hit 9 I move up).  I know going heavy isn’t necessarily the smartest thing at my age, but I like it more.  I typically move up on at least one exercise every time.

Edited October 4 by Technico Support

[Shartnado]

12 minutes ago, Technico Support said:

Thanks!  209 currently.  I have to say, being at the clothing store and being bummed because they don’t have a shirt I like in large is so much better than being there and bummed because I need 3XL.

A mere 4lbs to go and you will qualify for a cruiserweight! It's the opposite for me, as I usually get happy when I no longer qualify for one! Granted, that doesn't happen very often.

Yeah, that's a much better problem to have at a clothing store, for sure. I actually have trouble finding clothes that fit properly, as XL size stuff usually assumes people who wear that size tend to be way taller than I am.

[Brian Fowler]

So on late Thursday/early Friday I went to my local ER with a swollen lump, fever, and extreme fatigue. 

 

I was looked at by a doctor for about thirty seconds before being told I would need to be admitted to a hospital and see a surgeon. 

 

About seven hours later I was in an ambulance to a hospital about thirty miles down the road. I've been there ever since, have had two surgeries, I'm feeling much better but it's been a rough weekend. 

 

I hate begging for money, but this week alone is going to wipe out my accrued sick leave and I have no idea how long I'm going to be out of work.

 

https://gofund.me/26e018018

[Curt McGirt]

Two surgeries, Jesus, what was wrong with you?

[Brian Fowler]

On 10/7/2025 at 12:41 AM, Curt McGirt said:

Two surgeries, Jesus, what was wrong with you?

A MRSA filled abscess surrounded by MRSA cellulitis in my armpit. 20 cm long, 5 cm vertically, and the cavities inside up to 12 cm deep.

Edited October 8 by Brian Fowler