Arkk's Weight Lifting / Fitness Thread

Gravel · Sep 14, 2017

Itlan said:
As Gravel said, 5/3/1 isn't a beginner program. I'm currently running it.

As for the Ohio Power Bar, can confirm torn hands and shoulders completely destroyed from the knurling. Desperate deadlift attempts always feel good, though, since your hands are basically fucking glued to the bar.

I ran 5/3/1 about two years ago just on my bench and squats. I had been stalled out at 225x2 (bench) for a while. Ended up adding about 40 pounds to my bench over probably 5 cycles or something (too lazy to count).

Itlan · Sep 15, 2017

Yeah I'm not doing too great lately. 230 for 4 yesterday, had previously hit it for 6 maybe a month ago? Multiple factors at play though:

I've run 5/3/1 for probably 6 months now (so maybe 8 cycles) with no deloads.
My caloric intake isn't constant and it is isn't in an upward trend for the most part, and typically that affects upper body lifts more (deadlift & squat are still showing progress).
Left shoulder is a fucking mess.
Just started school again so my schedule is a mess as well, including sleep cycles.
I'm probably doing too much volume.

So my priority list currently is: cut volume, increase calories, increase recovery, take a deload week, and if none of those work then I'll do a full deload of 1RM.

Oh yeah, don't take a year off of training guys. Took me those 6 months just to get back to where I was 2 years ago, though my squat and deadlift may be a bit stronger now, but my BP and OHP are definitely currently weaker.

If I decide to increase my calories significantly I'll probably jump off 5/3/1 for a bit and focus on something % based with multiple top sets. 7x3@80% for example. Just to get more volume in there with the big three.

Genjiro · Sep 15, 2017

Same boat as you. Fucked up my back, trying to get back into it and being way behind where you were is just depressing. Taking more time off has definitely been better for me all around though. Getting older sucks bros.

Cad · Sep 15, 2017

I've been doing bench only in sets of 10. I haven't been attempting higher weights for 4 or 6 reps. I'm up to 205 now that I can do for 10 for 1 set out of 5. I'll do 185 for 10 on the other sets. Usually do 5 sets, one warm up and then 4 for power. Instead of doing 5/3/1 although I've heard good things, I just do 5 sets of bench/squat/rows/deadlift/military press. So 25 sets.

Tuco · Sep 15, 2017

psyched for workout tonight's workout

go drinking with buddies

come home, start workout anyway

need to vomit after one set

post on foh

Bruuce · Sep 16, 2017

Ive been in a deficit for almost 10 months, all of my lifts are fucked. Especially my squat because I got some squat shoes in that time so now Im actually hitting parallel

Tuco · Sep 25, 2017

So during yesterday's workout I captured video of myself doing two lifts (deadlift and bent over row), just to check my form.

Like a lot of nerds I have rounded shoulders which I'm pretty sure is a big cause of my shoulder pain and just a problem in general I'm trying very hard to correct via: PT, daily exercises, changed the way I sleep, sit in my car, my chair at work etc. It's a condition I've developed since I was 12 probably, so it won't be fixed overnight. But it's still a little frustrating to exert an incredible amount of effort to keep my back straight during bent over rows and still see my head forward.

A lot of videos have the same exercises my physical therapist has me doing every day, but here's a good video. I've also been watching a lot of this guy while gaming this last weekend:

This guy did something interesting re: posture during lifts:

After seeing him use a stick to instruct a newbie on how to keep a straight back, I almost want to halve the weight I'm doing on a lot of lifts, affix a rod to my back via a belt and do lifts with a straight back until my rounded shoulder issue is more resolved. My rough plan was to come back from a trip I have planned in early October and change from a caloric deficit to a surplus and start a basic progressive lifting program, but I think until I fix some of my biomechanical issues I'm not ready.

Kiroy · Sep 25, 2017

Tuco said:
psyched for workout tonight's workout

go drinking with buddies

come home, start workout anyway

need to vomit after one set

post on foh

fucking drinking, the bane of gains. Only thing holding me back from really hitting some goals I have in the gym, but meh, I love drinking.

Kiroy · Sep 25, 2017

Tuco said:
So during yesterday's workout I captured video of myself doing two lifts (deadlift and bent over row), just to check my form.

Like a lot of nerds I have rounded shoulders which I'm pretty sure is a big cause of my shoulder pain and just a problem in general I'm trying very hard to correct via: PT, daily exercises, changed the way I sleep, sit in my car, my chair at work etc. It's a condition I've developed since I was 12 probably, so it won't be fixed overnight. But it's still a little frustrating to exert an incredible amount of effort to keep my back straight during bent over rows and still see my head forward.

A lot of videos have the same exercises my physical therapist has me doing every day, but here's a good video. I've also been watching a lot of this guy while gaming this last weekend:

This guy did something interesting re: posture during lifts:

After seeing him use a stick to instruct a newbie on how to keep a straight back, I want to halve the weight I'm doing on a lot of lifts, affix a rod to my back via a belt and do lifts with a straight back until my rounded shoulder issue is more resolved. My rough plan was to come back from a trip I have planned in early October and change from a caloric deficit to a surplus and start a basic progressive lifting program, but I think until I fix some of my biomechanical issues I'm not ready.

Yup, hardest lesson for new folks is to learn when you need to drop the weight. Squats and deadlifts seem so easy just to cruise up past 225 no prob ez pz but once you get up past a couple plates if your form wasn't on point you'll start getting injuries. Good on ya.

You may also look into if there are any serious power lifter gyms in your area and pay one of the guys to train you on proper form. I havn't done it but I've got Alan Thrall near me and he does training for moneys, have seriously thought about it but haven't pulled the trigger yet. His youtube is great (heavy on the powerlifting) for form videos and proper technique.

Here's an example if you want to learn a proper bench (plus here's his youtube)

Tuco · Sep 25, 2017

Oh, and to balance out the fact that my shoulder pain is (probably) due to a chronic issue regarding my posture that'll take months to fix, I'm pretty sure I resolved a knee issue via one session of intense ball rolling of a tennis ball to my hip flexor and abductors. It was literally causing me to limp until I blew it up and started to feel better immediately.

I bought this:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01AMN5JDW/

Today just because of how effective my flat tennis ball has been.

Speaking of which, stretching my incredibly tight hip flexors feels better than any other stretch. I can feel them melt away.

Compare that to my incredibly tight hamstrings which I've been stretching twice a day but not making much progress. PS, go fuck yourself

Hoss for getting my hopes up about a way to quickly get limber hamstrings.

wormie · Sep 25, 2017

Kiroy said:
if your form wasn't on point you'll start getting injuries.

Yup. RiP my ankle and wrist ligaments

Kiroy · Sep 25, 2017

Tuco said:
Oh, and to balance out the fact that my shoulder pain is (probably) due to a chronic issue regarding my posture that'll take months to fix, I'm pretty sure I resolved a knee issue via one session of intense ball rolling of a tennis ball to my hip flexor and abductors. It was literally causing me to limp until I blew it up and started to feel better immediately.

I bought this:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01AMN5JDW/

Today just because of how effective my flat tennis ball has been.

Speaking of which, stretching my incredibly tight hip flexors feels better than any other stretch. I can feel them melt away.

Compare that to my incredibly tight hamstrings which I've been stretching twice a day but not making much progress. PS, go fuck yourself Hoss for getting my hopes up about a way to quickly get limber hamstrings.

Enjoy a whole new world of pain you've never experienced while rolling your shit out.

matsb84 · Sep 26, 2017

Foam rolling/stretching should be done either before or after every work out session. This really shouldnt be anything new to you if you've been lifting for any length of time. It becomes even more critical as you get older. Its tedious and sucks, but its about injury prevention and/or correcting issues.

For tight Hip Flexors..take a look at a few of these (some good strengthening exercises as well);

I had a hip flexor/quad injury a few months back and these helped me out quite a bit with recovery.

Tuco - Did you end up buying Supple Leopard? Interested to know if you found it useful at all.

Hoss · Sep 28, 2017

Tuco said:
Compare that to my incredibly tight hamstrings which I've been stretching twice a day but not making much progress. PS, go fuck yourself Hoss for getting my hopes up about a way to quickly get limber hamstrings.

Funny you summoned me here. When we were talking about it in politics, I was 1 post away from saying this shit needed to be taken to the fitness thread. Obviously there are more details that weren't relevant to the political discussion of using "touching your toes" as some kind of benchmark for health.

But it turns out none of those details are necessary here. I can tell you your problem right off the bat. I said a month. It was last week. There is no way you tried it. You also don't seem to have clearly defined goals. In that thread we were talking about touching your toes, which is an objective goal. Here you want 'limber hamstrings' which is quite subjective. You're a special snowflake who deserves instant results even when you don't know what you want to do. I don't offer that. Maybe screamfeeder can write a training montage for you.

Tuco · Sep 29, 2017

Hoss said:
Funny you summoned me here. When we were talking about it in politics, I was 1 post away from saying this shit needed to be taken to the fitness thread. Obviously there are more details that weren't relevant to the political discussion of using "touching your toes" as some kind of benchmark for health.

But it turns out none of those details are necessary here. I can tell you your problem right off the bat. I said a month. It was last week. There is no way you tried it. You also don't seem to have clearly defined goals. In that thread we were talking about touching your toes, which is an objective goal. Here you want 'limber hamstrings' which is quite subjective. You're a special snowflake who deserves instant results even when you don't know what you want to do. I don't offer that. Maybe screamfeeder can write a training montage for you.

Mother fucker talks about

Hoss said:
There's literally no one who couldn't touch their toes with a week or less of stretching if they were properly motivated.

and then comes down on me for talking about instant results.

To avoid shitposting too much, here's what I'm doing every day with my regular workout:

Tuco · Sep 29, 2017

matsb84 said:
Tuco - Did you end up buying Supple Leopard? Interested to know if you found it useful at all.

I did buy it and found the first 20 pages pretty good. I'm actually planning on reading through it during a vacation next week. It's pretty information dense and compared to youtube videos / live demonstrations the concepts are a bit tough to understand for an anatomy layman like myself.

I've also been watching a ton of videos from:
https://www.youtube.com/user/JDCav24

Which covers a lot of the same biomechanical ideas. Some of his stuff is debatable and a little click-baity, but I've found it to be a really good resource to help a beginner like myself.

Speaking of biomechanics, I think I injured my right knee yesterday doing pistol squats, so I'm going to not do those anymore. That means my leg days consist of DB squats, lunges and one-legged calf extensions. I'd like one or two more leg workouts but not sure what's a good addition for someone with only a bench and DBs.

Gravel · Sep 29, 2017

Added a dumbbell rack to my gym finally, which cleared a lot of floor space since they were all lined up against the wall before.

https://www.amazon.com/XMark-Three-...se-and-fitness&ie=UTF8&qid=1506702194&sr=1-15

It's a pretty good size; bigger than I thought it'd be. It's also sturdy as fuck. I'm a little worried I'll one day chop a finger off, but I did make it so the bottom rail is facing down, so it's just an issue with the top one (where hopefully my fingers will never be).

Also, since the last time I posted about my gym, I ended up getting a Rogue Curl Bar. They introduced it back in like March I think, but they were always sold out within about 2 hours of going back in stock. I finally snagged mine in June. It's 30 pounds and feels fucking awesome.

I don't know how much money I've sank into the gym at this point, but it could probably pay for a decade at a normal gym. Then again, there's definitely something to be said for just being able to walk over to another room in your house and workout without having to drive anywhere or wait for any equipment.

Gravel · Sep 29, 2017

Tuco, consider doing bulgarian split squats. They're probably inbetween lunges and pistol squats as far as center of balance. And they'll give you more stability than the pistol squats.

Also, do this before your leg days (I actually ended up doing them for a while before any workout).

Tuco · Sep 29, 2017

Cool, I'll check out that routine tonight and do the bulgarian split squats on my next leg day.

Gravel · Sep 29, 2017

Tuco said:
Cool, I'll check out that routine tonight and do the bulgarian split squats on my next leg day.

Go light with them. They're seriously one of the biggest ass kickers for legs I've ever done. I almost always feel like vomiting afterwards.

I think when I was doing a 3 plate squat I was still only doing bulgarian split squats with like 50 pound dumbbells.

Arkk's Weight Lifting / Fitness Thread

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