Arkk's Weight Lifting / Fitness Thread

Brahma said:

My gym is pretty empty at my workout times. 25 people tops. Gym holds about 300 or so easily. Used to be about 75 peeps at my times.

Anyway...slow gains. My flat bench is back up to 225 for 12+ after five weeks. Not going to bother with lifting heavy until I am back to at least 225 for 25+ reps. Couple more months I assume.

My back is coming along nicely. Faster than expected. I was down to 285 (2 plates 1 quarter...not really 285 since it's a machine) for 10 on upright rows. I'm up to 455 for 10.

Arms aren't failing me. Took me a month to get to that point.

Squats, I'm still behind. Just 315 for 7. But the gains are at least there. I was at 185 for 10 a month ago.

Shoulders I am back up to 315 for 10+.

I'm pretty much where I thought I would be minus legs.

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You have an injury or just unable to workout due to gyms being closed?

Gym was shut down...

A friend of ours had some extra dumbbells we had given her (pair of 10, 25, 30, 35; also a 55 that was sitting in garage), but she's moving out of the state and gave them back.

Can't figure out how much to sell them for. I think normally they're like 50 cents to a dollar per pound. Amazon has some but they're like $3-4 per pound. Which seems obscene to me.

As is, at $1/lb, we're already talking $255 for just that. A thousand dollars for that just seems...predatory.



As a side note, we're looking to leave soon. If the gyms stay closed, I may be able to actually make money on ours. My wife thinks keeping the gym as is would be a "selling feature," but I think she's probably wrong.

Started lifting a couple months ago. Went from baby weights to where I am now. Nothing super impressive, but given I'm doing it all at home during covid and I'm 36, it could be worse

I do 5x5 for every compound
Squats: 185x5
DL: 225x5
Flat Bench: 155x5 (easily my worst)
OHP: I have to do them seated because of low ceilings, so I'm not sure. Right now I'm just using 50 pound dumbbells until I figure out something better.

I ended up with the monster lite squat rack and rogue plates. I keep grabbing extra plates when they're available.

My diet is pretty good. Pretty much only eating chicken, broccoli, and rice for every meal. Aka the traditional body builder diet. I'm starting to see definition.

It's not much, but considering I went from nothing I'm feeling good. Also got the Nordic track s22i bike and it's amazing

That's a good idea. I have one I could put there. I actually used to power lift a bit so I'm not too worried, but my body is old and creaky now

I'm sure it's already been discussed somewhere but what's the consensus on the best "home gym" for a small room? I've been thinking of this:

This is pretty wild, but what a rip off.

The Mirror, Tonal, etc look super gimmicky to me, but I'm old school when it comes to weight lifting. There's no substitute for actual, heavy things.

Khane said:

The Mirror, Tonal, etc look super gimmicky to me, but I'm old school when it comes to weight lifting. There's no substitute for actual, heavy things.

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Well as far as I can tell the Mirror is nothing more than a stupid mirror with video conference system for workouts. The Tonal actually looks like a real piece of workout gear, but imho you're paying for the slick modern low profile wall mount-- it's almost as much rich person home decor as workout device.

Ultimately, y'all are right, you can probably get just as good with a plywood bench and some different sized rocks, I just sometimes convince myself that if I spend real money on a home workout system, it won't become a clothes hangar accessory. I've got some barbells already, as well as an elliptical and some elastic bands, but up until a month ago when he came down with skin cancer, I was basically paying a personal trainer to come to my home and stand over me and make me work out. Without paying coin and having someone poke me in the ass, the PS4 controller never gets put down for the elliptical lol. Since I don't actually need the "training" aspect, and more so just the money/presence, I've been thinking of just paying some hot stripper to come by and ensure proper "form" while working out.

Also installed a pull up bar in my doorway, which after about five pullups ripped my cheapass door frame right off the stud, that was fun.

Frenzied Wombat said:

Without paying coin and having someone poke me in the ass, the PS4 controller never gets put down for the elliptical lol.

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Khane said:

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It's a source of shame but I have accepted it. I love the feeling after a workout, but I will procrastinate to the ends of the earth to avoid it. Best scenario I had going for a while was a workout partner at the actual gym. The commitment made me show up, and the company made the process far less monotonous.

Just did my first day at the gym figuring out how much I'll be starting lifting. Unsurprisingly, my EQ-and-CCG playing nerd ass is supremely weak. But that's what I signed on to work on fixing, so was expected.

Kuro said:

Just did my first day at the gym figuring out how much I'll be starting lifting. Unsurprisingly, my EQ-and-CCG playing nerd ass is supremely weak. But that's what I signed on to work on fixing, so was expected.

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IF you're going free weights 1st. Take it very easy. Learn proper form over everything else 1st. Use just enough weight so you can feel it, and learn proper form. SLOWLY move up in weight.

I would say use machines 1st before free weights myself. There is a machine for every muscle group usually. Build up a routine and now some strength? Incorporate free weights.

Protein Protein Protein!

Get good gloves. Get some headphones.

Good for you for going man!!!

wormie said:

Good shit and remember, amount doesnt matter. Only thing that matters is that you progressively increase the weight you are lifting.

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Agree. Don't focus on what you're putting up, just that it's heavy

Thanks for the advice. Currently timing my work-out right before dinner, so going straight from working out to eating some protein.

Body aches like crazy today, as expected.

Just starting out with barbell-stuff for the first couple months, plus the lat-pull-down machine since I'm too fat/weak for chinups at this point. Will probably use the smith machine for barbell squats until I get used to em, since that seems like a lift that could go quite wrong if I miss-judge weight/exhaustion level. A lot easier to just drop the bar on other exercises.

Plan is currently A Day, Rest, B Day, Rest, repeat for 2-3 months then see where I'm at for moving on to a more involved plan.
3x5s, adding 5lbs a session to Bench/Overhead/Row/Lat Pulldowns, 10lbs a session to Squats/Deadlift.
A: Barbell Rows, Bench Press, Barbell Squats.
B: Lat-Pull Downs, Overhead Press, Deadlift.

I have a personal trainer for two days to check initial form and help me make sure I don't start off lifting in a retarded fashion. Will probably just ask other folks at the gym/the owner for form checks along the way to make sure I'm staying stable.

Initial weights so far are 115 (Rows), 85 (Bench), 125 (Squats), so pretty weak Owner was like "How do you have no muscle other than trap" and I'm just thinking about the stacks of full 5000-count card-boxes I'm always carrying around.

No offense but that is honestly a terrible routine. I would also follow 5x5 and not 3x5. Thats not really enough volume to make significant gains. I highly suggest either PPL (PPL rest PPL) or bro split (1 muscle group a day). But if its one you will follow then thats the best. Im also not a fan of the smith machine as it forces your body to go in a certain motion which can actually do harm. Just lower the weight and do barbell squats.