Arkk's Weight Lifting / Fitness Thread

Been doing my own tweaked version of that ooooold "Body for life" program more or less.
Mon: Upper, Tue: Cardio, Wed: Lower, Thu: Cardio, Fri: Upper, Sat: Cardio, Sun: Off
Mon: Repeat, starting with Lower
Six meals a day.

No supps, just 100% pure, unflavored Whey

Has worked the best of any program I've tried; some were too hardcore and not enough rest; some were too lax.

My goal and motivation? When I was in shape I did shit like ski, bike, and fuck ballerinas. Being out of shape has resulted in exactly no skiing, biking or fucking ballerinas.

Szeth_sl said:

Always liked reading Arkk123's old thread about what everyone was doing while training.

I just got a power rack for the garage so I've been doing all my lifts from home. It's absolutely glorious to be able to wake up, shit, get some quick carbs in me and then rage lift.

Only thing I lack is a huge rack of dumbbells 40lb - 110lb... not sure how soon I'm going to make the investment.

How's everyone else doing on their lifts coming into the Holiday Season.

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I bought a PowerBlocks dumbbell set about two years ago and it's really impressed me. They are very sturdy and the grip feels great in your hand. Between that and a free weight bench, I've been able to migrate most of my workouts to the house.

It'll be pretty awesome whenever the wife and I decide to buy a house and we get a home gym. That's the biggest problem I have in motivating myself to go to the gym; leaving the house and driving there. If I could just jump down to the basement or something and have the squat rack to myself, it'd be amazing.

As it is right now, I'm in San Diego for a month and eating out 1-2 meals a day (food is fucking amazing here). I had intended to go to Gold's Gym since they do month to month, but I'm 2 weeks into this trip and haven't been once.

Elurin_sl said:

It'll be pretty awesome whenever the wife and I decide to buy a house and we get a home gym. That's the biggest problem I have in motivating myself to go to the gym; leaving the house and driving there. If I could just jump down to the basement or something and have the squat rack to myself, it'd be amazing.

As it is right now, I'm in San Diego for a month and eating out 1-2 meals a day (food is fucking amazing here). I had intended to go to Gold's Gym since they do month to month, but I'm 2 weeks into this trip and haven't been once.

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I have always found it easier to get a full workout when at the local gym, always worried someone would notice the old man quitting early (yeah right). That said I grew tired of the looks of disgust at my pools of sweat and let my membership lapse.

Move -> Sports

Also, Deadlifts and Squats on the same day sounds terrible, especially on a 5 day split.

I used to do the entire 1-5 targeted muscle workout, however nowadays I'm too far out to make the trip to the gym everyday.

So Now this is pretty much how it goes:

Mondays: Chest/biceps
Wednesday: Shoulders/Back
Friday: Legs/triceps

And because I'm strapped for time during the times I can go, I've begun a 15 minute timed run which I force myself to run at a certain pace on the treadmill. I also up the speed by a bit once or twice throughout the week. I learned pretty quickly that if I did a forced, controlled breathing throughout the run the experience sucks that much less.

Now, about five months ago I was going five times a week however I've moved to a different location since then so I haven't had relative easy access to gym equipment. Before I took my break and became lazy, I started doing a lot of core exercises with a pullup bar. So now, in a few weeks after I've figured out my routine (different equipment) and get comfortable, I'll start throwing in those core exercises.

I do crossfit workouts occassionally but sometimes the workouts are so damn embarrassing, I can't seem to do them while people are watching.

Edit: I eat relatively healthy, and it seems like I get enough sleep, but I just don't seem to have the energy levels that I should. Any recommendations?

ColourofSpace_sl said:

Edit: I eat relatively healthy, and it seems like I get enough sleep, but I just don't seem to have the energy levels that I should. Any recommendations?

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Try some coconut oil. Shits pretty amazing. Might not work for you, and its not a cure-all, but adding some to your diet has been shown to increase energy levels (the MCT's in it are a great energy source and it also helps stimulate the thyroid somehow).

Fuck, my post about diet was deleted with morenetz. Im not typing that shit up again.

Thread should have broscience in the title somewhere

Drinsic_sl said:

Move -> Sports

Also, Deadlifts and Squats on the same day sounds terrible, especially on a 5 day split.

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On wednesday I did this. Heavy sets of deadlifts of 4-8 reps, supersetted with high rep squats, 10-15 reps. Killed me. Loved it. Have to plan a few days ahead and work your schedule around it as its so taxing on the body, but man, I felt it.

I posted 2 month goals on old foh, so thought I'd copy here:

New highs:

Bench: 175x5 (up 15)
Bent over row: 165x3 (up 25)
Clean & shoulder press: 125x3 (up 10)
Deadlift: 245x3 (up 20)

For motivation's sake I'll post goals for 2 months from now. Will post follow up.
Jan 24:
Squat: 155
Clean&press: 135
Bench: 195
Bent over row: 185
Deadlift: 265

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Currently at:
Squat: 135 - knees be hurtin again. Mother fuckers won't let me go past 135. This time I'm gonna be super cautious. I've had success, when knees are really tight at the beginning of the workout, of just doing warmups up to 95 or 115, then doing my other routine, then coming back to squats at the end for the real lift.
Clean & Press: 125
Bench: 185 - skyrocketing lately. I don't know where the hell this is coming from. I've plateaued around 160 my entire life. Moving up to 4x8 for 2 months, then back to 5 reps a set really made a difference. Gonna hit this goal a month early probably. Having shoulder pain though on the right side, and in my neck on the right side just above the collar bone. Should I be worried about this?
Bent over row: 165(x5)
Deadlift: 245(x5) - goin to 255 next session - I should hit this goal 2nd, just behind bench

I'm up to 170lbs. 6'0" and that's the heaviest I've ever been. I'm trying to stuff my face whenever I'm at home. I know my diet is 90% of what's holding me back from making big gains. Problem is I don't like cooking and I'm broke as fuck.

why the hell is this in grown up stuff? I made a post in Sports not knowing where it is. Anyway:

I posted 2 month goals on old foh on Nov 24, so thought I'd copy here:

New highs:

Bench: 175x5 (up 15)
Bent over row: 165x3 (up 25)
Clean & shoulder press: 125x3 (up 10)
Deadlift: 245x3 (up 20)

For motivation's sake I'll post goals for 2 months from now. Will post follow up.
Jan 24:
Squat: 155
Clean&press: 135
Bench: 195
Bent over row: 185
Deadlift: 265

Click to expand...

Currently at:
Squat: 135(x5) - knees be hurtin again. Mother fuckers won't let me go past 135. This time I'm gonna be super cautious. I've had success, when knees are really tight at the beginning of the workout, of just doing warmups up to 95 or 115, then doing my other routine, then coming back to squats at the end for the real lift.
Clean & Press: 125(x4)
Bench: 185(x4) - skyrocketing lately. I don't know where the hell this is coming from. I've plateaued around 160 my entire life. Moving up to 4x8 for 2 months, then back to 5 reps a set really made a difference. Gonna hit this goal a month early probably. Having shoulder pain though on the right side, and in my neck on the right side just above the collar bone. Should I be worried about this?
Bent over row: 165(x5)
Deadlift: 245(x5) - goin to 255 next session - I should hit this goal 2nd, just behind bench

I'm up to 170lbs. 6'0" and that's the heaviest I've ever been. I'm trying to stuff my face whenever I'm at home. I know my diet is 90% of what's holding me back from making big gains. Problem is I don't like cooking and I'm broke as fuck.

I'm enjoying my workouts, but my diet has turned to shit lately. Looking to add vitamins and whey protein to my diet as well as shakes, what recipes/vitamins do you guys recommend?

Cheap healthy meal staple of mine. Its plain, beware.

1/3 can of black/kidney beans. (A can is a dollar, 33cents/serving) Heat in microwave for 1 min
1/2-1cup of brown rice (I buy the precooked stuff, rice is cheap as hell) Microwave for 5 mins. Mix with beans
Chicken Breast- Buy some Pace salsa and put 3 tablespoons over it, more if you want. Bake at 350.
Can of veggies (<$1) or Frozen Veggies ($3 at most, this will get you 2-4 servings depending on your choice)

Protein powder. This stuff is bar none, literally the best protein powder/drink money can buy. Its pricey.

This is the drink hospitals give chemo/cancer patients to put on weight. Packed with all sorts of nutrients and protein. Drink as a postworkout/mass building shake.

http://www.amazon.com/Ensure-Clinica...f=pd_sim_hpc_6

This is really the one you want, but its hard to find in powder form:

http://ensure.com/products/ensure-high-protein


I would recommend buying it at a Sams club or something, and getting the powder mix, not the premade ones as theyre much more expensive. Beware of a lot of mainstream whey proteins as they can have nasty additives in them. Like seriously, heavy metals and sawdust.

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/m...rink/index.htm

Lemmiwinks_sl said:

Protein powder. This stuff is bar none, literally the best protein powder/drink money can buy. Its pricey.

This is the drink hospitals give chemo/cancer patients to put on weight. Packed with all sorts of nutrients and protein. Drink as a postworkout/mass building shake.

Click to expand...

Might be ok for rich people. There's no way it's worth the $ for anyone else over standard ON whey protein. As a hangover drink however...?

Today deadlift 265(x5) Wakandans. Hell yes. Going switch grip made the lift a ton easier. Not using as much energy on grip now. Will do a couple more days of 100% switch grip just to get body used to it, then back to normal grip until it fails just to make sure my grip is staying up to stuff.

Changing Jan 24 goal to 315 deadlift. A little ambitious for my puny ass, but why not.

Yeah, I'll stick with ON Whey as well.

Drinsic_sl said:

Move -> Sports

Also, Deadlifts and Squats on the same day sounds terrible, especially on a 5 day split.

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Yea, can't be good for your lower lumbar. Maybe if you're doing reps or something, but high weight squats / DLs on the same day is a recipe for trouble.

Dab, do you do any stretching before squats? I've always found mixed advice on stretching before and not.

Like you, I had knee pain while squatting for the longest time. Do you keep a narrow stance or wide? I tended to use a wide stance, but changed it up about 3 months ago and the pain seemed to go away and I've finally broken through my plateau. I believe you said you had hurt your knee a while back though so we may not be in the same boat. and none of this has any medical backing at all just throwing it out there.