All-Purpose Health and Fitness Thread

[Shartnado]

2 hours ago, Technico Support said:

Every time I look in the mirror while doing cable flys, I see the UFC Just Bleed Guy.

 

I don't know how to react to that, quite honestly, but yeah. I have a mirror on my left hand side (and behind), so fortunately, I don't see this guy, otherwise I might. 

[Shartnado]

Two down, two more to go! Sunday evening was pretty rough to start with, as the biking weather was rather difficult. But once I made it there, the workout was intense and pretty good. Once again 3 heavy sets of dumbell incline bench and after the first set I hiked up the back of the bench one step higher. 10 reps with 79's and 83,5's, then 9 with 88's. A set of hammer curls after each set, as usual. After each of thoses combos, I did a set of lat pull downs, body weight reverse shrugs, cable flys with resistance bands and on a few occasions, side delt work. After the 3 heavy sets, I switched to moderate Arnold presses and then seated curls with the same weights.

Last night was time for the squat machine and EZ bar curls on the Scott bench. Squat machine was definitely ok, but nothing special. Had to get a slight assistance from a co-worker to get the first rep up with 153 but ended up getting 5. I guess 155 has to wait until next year.

Not sure what I'm gonna do the next two nights, but I'll figure something out.

[Technico Support]

Nothing worse, when you're in a groove while lifting, than realizing you picked the non-explicit version of a song on your playlist.

Edited December 17, 2025 by Technico Support

[Shartnado]

18 hours ago, Technico Support said:

Nothing worse, when you're in a groove while lifting, than realizing you picked the non-explicit version of a song on your playlist.

That would be terrible! These days SO much of my gym music is instrumental, that it would very seldom be an issue, but it would totally ruin the mood, that's for sure!

[Shartnado]

Second to the last workout was a bench and Seal Row pyramids with decent results, actually. I haven't done Seal Row consistently in a good while, but it seems like the "4-5 decent reps and crap after that"-level has moved from 264 to 286. Bench went up to 274, but none of those reps were even close to being half decent. 252 went well on the way up as well as down. Tried racking and re-racking 384 and was able to keep the weight up for a few seconds two times.

Last night decided to do conventional deadlift and the full workout was 5x220, 3x330, 2x396,5, 2x440,5, 1x451,5, 1x462,5, 1x473,5 off the floor and then 2x484,5, 2x506,5 and 3x550,5 off the full blocks. The 550 one was an obvious record from that height and the 473,5 was as much as I've ever lifted off the floor. So, now I can take some time off and concentrate on cultivating mass and recovering from this (another) crazy year. 

[Technico Support]

Semi regular weekly workout log!

Weird week as it was way too cold to run outside for most of the week.  I hate the treadmill with a passion, bores the fuck out of me, so I did minimal treadmill and did splits instead.

• Sunday: snow shoveling, 30ish minutes of back, biceps, legs
• Monday: 2 miles on the treadmill, chest, triceps, shoulders
• Tuesday: 2 miles on the treadmill, back, biceps, core
• Wednesday: 2 miles on the treadmill, chest, triceps, shoulders
• Thursday: 30ish minutes of back, biceps, legs, core
• Tomorrow: Actually going to run outside, probably 5-6 miles

[Shartnado]

Went for a 5km run this morning because my Polar Ignite 3 cardio level went from maintenance to inactive already yesterday. Well, it didn't help, but the run was pretty decent and the weather was ok. Basically no snow, very little ice but cold enough for the ground to be frozen solid and not muddy like on Friday.

Oh, and while it was evening weight and totally doesn't count, the scale went up to 197 last night, which was more than a little shocking, but I'll take it!

Edited December 22, 2025 by Shartnado
The weight is finally moving upwards...

[Shartnado]

One hour run of 8km in the morning and a half an hour pump workout at the Spa's gym. Using machines only (hydraulic at that) did 100 reps of varying resistance of lateral bench, then 100 similar reps of pull downs and 212 reps of what was called push ups, but it was a sitting overhead press type move in the pull down machine. The final 100+ reps were from 10kg to 4kg resistance, so super light but the first 100 went from 10kg  to 40kg (88lbs) and back down and was getting quite rough by the end. 

Then some sauna, swimming, waterboarding, sorry I meant a water massage and some more sauna.

Now some drinks before the Christmas dinner. 

[Shartnado]

The Christmas Eve dinner was very varied, and the amount of salmon I downed would make Swerve proud! Also potatoes, ham, other types of fish and salad with tiramisu for dessert. I was pretty stuffed by the end. The brunch was much of the same, so my protein intake should be at a reasonable level. Carb, fat and alcohol intake is at an unreasonable level. 

So, a short walk at early afternoon followed by a 30-minute full(er) body workout in the gym and a very similar spa procedure as yesterday, after that. I hear that tomorrow morning we will be running again. 

Actually, the run was rescheduled to the next morning, as we took a long walk through to coast to the southernmost point of Finland, as has been our habit. The run was 8 kilometers again, but all the eating and drinking days prior made it a bit harder this time. 

Edited December 27, 2025 by Shartnado
running and walking

[Shartnado]

Back home yesterday and checked the damage. Evening weight was at a whopping 205,5, but it settled at 199 this morning.

Did a couple of short resistance band workouts trying to get some use out the excess calories.

I think I slept pretty well last night, I mean at least very long. I will try to sleep as much as possible in the upcoming days to aid the much needed recovery. I have a sports massage appointment tomorrow and that has been a long time coming. 

[Technico Support]

I go to a plain old suburban gym, not a powerlifter or bodybuilder place by any means.  There’s a Gold’s a little further down the road for that, I guess.  So it’s weird as fuck to encounter people who are obviously on copious amounts of gear.  Twice now, I’ve seen a woman who is the size and build of Pac.  She had a back you could show a movie on.  It’s wild.

[Shartnado]

Back to work and gym last night. Moderate upper body stuff, leaving the heaviest stuff at least 10% lighter than usual with only 8 reps max not trying to push further. Still, trying to give biceps, triceps, forearms, delts, lats and chest some stimulus after a rather long rest. The idea of a leg workout this evening doesn't exactly thrill me, but it would definitely be the logical choice.

Ended up doing actual squats (3×152, 3x242, 3x262, 3x286 and 3x308), barbell overhead presses (1×152, 5x132), one short set of front squats (3x152), standing double bicep curls with a pair 31 lb dumbells, a set of shrugs with a pair of 55's and 70,5's. Some light side delt work and resistance band stuff plus 3 sets of reverse shrugs with 110 extra weight. Well, my legs (including hamstrings) certainly feel like they have done something, when biking back home this morning. 

Edited January 9 by Shartnado
well, a partial leg day, anyway...

[The Natural]

I do Spirals which combines Tai Chi/Pilates/Yoga. Last night was the first class of 2026. Christine the instructor and my fellow classmates are lovely. Christine introduced a new routine to us so we're learning it as we're going on. The Tai Chi part is my favourite part and I shit you not, we started doing Hechicero's taunt. I had to bite my lip to stop laughing out loud. Least it wasn't Penta's ;).

[The Natural]

I need to start going regularly to the Gym again, at least once a week.

[Shartnado]

4 workouts this week. Light squat machine, two light to moderate upper body workouts and a standard level regular deadlift workout yesterday. Today is a day off, since I will be attending an independent wrestling event with my family later on tonight. 

[NikoBaltimore]

I feel bad that this happened at the start of the year when many others are doing resolutions and trying stuff with good intentions before losing interest.  But my last beer was had on New Years and I quit alcohol.  Not for Dry January, and not because I was verging on being an alcoholic.  It was just I liked it a lot but it didn't like me.  I hated what it did to my gut and my tolerance was too high.  Plus it costs so much money that last thing I needed to do was spend $20 for a good pack of beer.  So it's done.  I had to think if this was something I could stick with and after lots of pondering determined it very much is.  I cut out so much stuff last year for financial and moral reasons and haven't looked back.  So why not cut something that's been a part of me for about 23 years?

First thing I did that Friday was go to a bar to see if I had any urge to drink and I felt none.  Instead I chatted with the bartender who was also a former drinker and is over the moon to hear about my journey through this.  Then I went to another bar with my wife next day, had a good mocktail and felt no urge to drink.  It was a good way to make sure I didn't have a chance to slip back into old ways and no matter what people are doing I'm good.

The reception to all this was very positive.  I have a really good support system if I need to contact them and I just feel overall fantastic.  The only hurdle was a close friend who I see on most Sundays and we drink.  I was incredibly nervous bringing this up because to him I'm his main drinking buddy despite him having others that can drink with him.  So it was awkward as fuck for a good while but became less so until it was back to normal hangout.

In combination with all that I joined a gym late last year on a whim.  The one I went to previously had lots of disinterested people half-assing their stuff and I got tired of waiting for machines.  The one I am at now is relatively quiet and so different from the previous one that I had to sign up.  Price is a bit steep so may need to consider other gyms in the future but for now it's been great.  I don't have anything specific to add about what weights I do on what workout as I'm still testing my limits.  Some are to be expected (chest, shoulders) while a couple others went a bit beyond.  The main thing is consistency and finding things to supplement it when not at the gym.  More importantly is finding my "why" which is what has been there all this time and continues to drive me.  I feel largely good about the food I eat even when trying that earlier it didn't make much difference due to my sedentary lifestyle with working from home.  Since starting the gym I actually feel some type of progress no matter how small it feels so I just might have a chance.

Sorry for the wall of text.  I'm still processing everything that's happened last year going into this one.  I'm a bit nervous about it all but mostly it's determination I feel.  I won't allow any "Yeah, but what if...", this is me now and how I intend to keep it.  Who knows where it'll take me but as long as it's long-term and for real I'm excited.

Edited January 16 by NikoBaltimore

[Shartnado]

10 workouts in the past 11 days. Some new PR's on regular deadlift, with 457 without Versas and 2x479 with Versas. Other stuff has been good and moving along, but no actual records. I did do a 15-minute bicep/tricep combo with a 35 lb dumbell, changing arms after each double set and will probably see if I can go 20 minutes with 39,5 lbs next time?

Weight has been pretty stable, around 200 lbs and I still have a whole bunch of gainer left at work, but also already made an order today preparing for this year's cut, since lot of my usual stuff was -20% or -30%, so I figured why not?

Edited February 5 by Shartnado
10 workout in past 11 days...

[Technico Support]

After some holiday slacking, I'm back to six days per week working out.  I'm just bummed because the weather has been too cold and or frozen hellscapey to run outside for weeks.

[Chaos]

22 hours ago, Technico Support said:

After some holiday slacking, I'm back to six days per week working out.  I'm just bummed because the weather has been too cold and or frozen hellscapey to run outside for weeks.

As I get older, I feel my tolerance for colder or mildly colder weather lessens for running each year.  I need to fix that by getting some cold-weather gear and forcing myself to train in it some if I'm going to achieve a certain goal this year.  My treadmill tolerance is usually only 4-5 miles. It's just not the same for me. 

[Technico Support]

2 hours ago, Chaos said:

As I get older, I feel my tolerance for colder or mildly colder weather lessens for running each year.  I need to fix that by getting some cold-weather gear and forcing myself to train in it some if I'm going to achieve a certain goal this year.  My treadmill tolerance is usually only 4-5 miles. It's just not the same for me. 

Yeah, I bought spandex pants and top, then I layer shorts and a t shirt on top of that.  That and a hat and gloves is fine, but I'm still not going out there if it's much below freezing.  Running in the cold like that is such a pain because your body will only warm your middle in order to preserve organ function, so your arms and legs barely warm up.  It suuuuiucks 

[Shartnado]

No running for me, neither, obviously, but biking in this cold-ass weather has been a chore, for sure!

Good week otherwise, 5 workouts, everything usual. Did record lifts on Deadlift again, with 1x462,5 without Versas, then with them 1x484,5 and 1x490 and 4x512 off the full blocks.

Yesterday, I also got 3 reps with 152 on EZ-Bar Preacher Curls on the Scott bench, I haven't done that very many times before.

[Shartnado]

Forgot to add that I was able to complete the 20 minutes of curls and triceps with 39,5 lbs last Monday, so I will try 22 minutes of 44 lbs today.

Also, over the weekend we were at a birthday party for a 10 year old and while I was entertaining the younger kids, I found out that they had a gymnastics airpad, so I saw this as the perfect opportunity to see if I could still do the kip up? Well, after 3 somewhat failed attempts I got the hang of it and did it 3 more times successfully. So, that's a "you've still got it/never lost it" dueling chant-moment for me!

[Shartnado]

22 minutes of bicep/tricep combo with 44 lbs completed, but the idea of 24 minutes with 48,5 next time, doesn't appeal to me in the slightest after that one!

[Chaos]

I had a pretty fantastic 24-ish hours, really closer to 12, in recent workouts. I felt a little under the weather yesterday but started to feel better later in the day.

I went for a run. I’m about 50/50 now on whether I work out before or after work, which has been a huge change for me over the last year, and hit 3.5 miles on the treadmill without slowing down to regather myself once, which is the first time I’ve done that in a few months.

Also, with my neck and back and muscle spasm issues, my strength hasn’t really been there, but I’ve been more consistent about at least making sure I’m hitting rows, lat pulldowns, lateral raises, and shoulder presses each week, plus a quick chest and triceps workout on another day.

I benched 135 for the first time in at least a couple of years today for 6 reps, and I feel like I can probably get to 185, which might be a personal best, by late spring. I’ve been slowly easing back into bench, sometimes repeating an extra week or two before going up in weight. My broader issues are still showing up in my incline, as it’s not progressing as easily, and I might have tweaked something in my shoulder a few months ago.

[Shartnado]

Yesterday I did a steeper but also lighter incline dumbell bench (almost an overhead press) for 4 sets and one Arnold press with a pair of 66's for 4 reps. The idea of doing more triceps after Monday's combo was stupid but I had a rather heavy meal too close to the workout, so leg day was not happening. 

So, it moved up to today and I did a squat machine pyramid with the heaviest sets being 3x392, 4x489, 4x584, 4x489 and 4x392. Then 3 sets of calf raises (and there were 3 lighter sets of 5 reps of squats before the actual work sets. These were the weights I used for the calves as well).

Don't know about tomorrow, but I guess it should be bench and row?

Friday is Deadlift, that's a given.