Exercise and Fitness - The day you started lifting, is the day you became forever small...

[Liffguard]

Sorry Liff, I go stir crazy too. How long until you are back?

Hopefully middle-to-late August for a full recovery. I plan to start doing some work on the stationary bike next week since it lets me keep my upper-body still.

[Iskaral Pust]

Had a great weights session earlier. Showing some improvements on chin ups, although I'm still hopeless at pull-ups. I've been advised to try ''hanging'', which is nearly as hard itself.

Loads better at flies and bicep curls, bench press is coming along (moved up to ~40kg incl bar) so felt fairly good after, albeit sweaty as fuuuuck.

It's odd to be good at chin-ups but not pull-ups. Is the problem in your grip or forearms? I have found that I get fewer reps per set these days as I use an Olympic bar for a pull-up compared to when I used a padded bar specially designed for pull-ups.

Your bench press would suggest your upper body might not yet be developed enough for pulling up your full body weight. Do you have a pull-down machine available? Try pulling down 40kg with a narrow grip and 30kg with wide grip and then progressively increase the weight until you approach body weight.

Similarly some pull-up frames offer a standing point that provides a variable amount of lift so you are pulling up less than your full body weight. You can progressively reduce the assistance until you are doing it unaided.

[Jabronius Maximus]

I can easily do 3*10 chinups but I struggle to get 5-6 pullups for just 1 set. For me the wider grip and seemingly deeper range of motion make it so much tougher.

[Iskaral Pust]

I can easily do 3*10 chinups but I struggle to get 5-6 pullups for just 1 set. For me the wider grip and seemingly deeper range of motion make it so much tougher.

Are you doing the chin-ups slow with no bouncing and a long drop? Chin-ups are easier than pull-ups but chin-ups with strict form are only slightly easier.

I see some guys just bouncing short range chin-ups, which is basically pointless.

[Liffguard]

I can easily do 3*10 chinups but I struggle to get 5-6 pullups for just 1 set. For me the wider grip and seemingly deeper range of motion make it so much tougher.

Grease the groove, man. Grease the groove.

[Jabronius Maximus]

Are you doing the chin-ups slow with no bouncing and a long drop? Chin-ups are easier than pull-ups but chin-ups with strict form are only slightly easier.

I see some guys just bouncing short range chin-ups, which is basically pointless.

I don't bounce, I try to keep the form as strict as possible. I've been doing chinups for a very long time though, and just started incorporating wide grip pullups. A couple months ago I couldn't do 1, now I'm at 6. The groove isn't really that greased yet, but I'm doing them as often as I can (a door mounted chinup bar helps with that).

[HairBearHero]

Spent the weekend at a rowing regatta in Herm, a tiny, beautiful island notorious for its massive currents and boatwrecking coastline. Friday night was a 7km race to Herm followed by an almighty pissup. Saturday's 12km race around the island and its neighbour Jethou saw 5 of 36 boats hit rocks and need rescuing by the guard boat, scorching heat and even more beers. Sunday saw a thoroughly hungover and possibly sunstroked HBH coaxed into rowing another 10km around Herm - this time the other way round.

At the end of the weekend it turns out that we were the fastest mixed quad, so we got a bottle of champagne each. I haven't opened mine yet and don't think I will be for at least a week - utterly broken in both body and mind. Amazing weekend.

A photo of our launch beach - will post some more of the actual racing as and when they pop up:

https://m.facebook.com/Aeriali/photos/a.331393223590811.82561.327027537360713/928789860517808/?type=1&source=48

[Grand Moff Mithrandir]

Can anyone here give me tips on weight lifting? I'm planning on starting in August and I've been reading up on it a bunch on the Web but I'd really like to hear from people who've done it in practice.

Curious, to know about how often I should go to the gym during the week and how often & by how much should I increase the weights

[Jabronius Maximus]

Can anyone here give me tips on weight lifting? I'm planning on starting in August and I've been reading up on it a bunch on the Web but I'd really like to hear from people who've done it in practice.

Curious, to know about how often I should go to the gym during the week and how often & by how much should I increase the weights

Generally either Starting Strength (SS) or Stronglifts 5*5 (SL) is recommended to beginner lifters. Both have guidelines on how often to work out and how you go about increasing the weight. SS has a book of the same name by Mark Rippetoe with all of the information, and SL has a spreadsheet with the workout information (on stronglifts.com).

Personally I used SL 5*5 when I began, and it was great. I still do 5*5 squats though, but that's because my form sucks and I had to lower the weight considerably to correct it (I believe it's good now).

Also if you haven't already, check out the fitness subreddit (r/fitness). It's a great resource for beginners (beyond that it's kind of a crapshoot).

[Iskaral Pust]

HBH -- that sounds like a Viking summer festival. Did you dedicate to Odin at the start? It sounds epic.

I'm glad JM had such a convenient reference for GMM. When I first started I picked up a mishmash from training partners and miscellaneous guys in the gym, and gradually separated the good from the myth. Not easy to start typing all of that. Best of luck GMM.

I had a great workout tonight on rowing & legs. I'm still high on endorphins an hour later. I improved my row to 21:33 for 5km. That huge improvement was thanks to the tips here: longer reach and concentrate on an explosive drive with the legs from the very start. My spm was only ~30 for the first 4km until I pushed for a fast finish. So obviously speed is more about how hard you pull than how many strokes. I was breathing really hard by the end and I was worried that the extra intensity for the legs would detract from squats but thankfully not. I won't keep pushing for a new PB on every row though and don't want to pull too much harder on a cardio warmup.

Squats were good, peaking with two strong sets at 180lbs + bar. I probably could have pushed for a higher weight but wanted to consolidate at this weight first. Leg lifts, leg curls and calf raises were easy by comparison. I really need more than 240lbs for leg lifts.

Edit to add: it's a high class problem to have but my lats have developed so much that I get a lot of chafing against my upper arm and the natural resting position for my arms is at a much increased angle. I'm nowhere close to those guys whose elbows are almost level with their shoulder but it's still noticeable.

[Grand Moff Mithrandir]

Generally either Starting Strength (SS) or Stronglifts 5*5 (SL) is recommended to beginner lifters. Both have guidelines on how often to work out and how you go about increasing the weight. SS has a book of the same name by Mark Rippetoe with all of the information, and SL has a spreadsheet with the workout information (on stronglifts.com).

Personally I used SL 5*5 when I began, and it was great. I still do 5*5 squats though, but that's because my form sucks and I had to lower the weight considerably to correct it (I believe it's good now).

Also if you haven't already, check out the fitness subreddit (r/fitness). It's a great resource for beginners (beyond that it's kind of a crapshoot).

Thanks for this. Checked out SL and it had some good info. Will check the rest out as well.

[Arch-MaesterPhilip]

I gave running a try this morning and I'm happy to say that my shins felt pretty good after a ten or so days off. My lungs not so much but I'm not worried about that.

[Starkess]

Yay, I can run again without my knee feeling all wonky! Trying to go slow and not overreach. Did a 4 miler this weekend and it felt SO hard, cannot believe how out of shape I've gotten. Sigh. But I don't have any races lined up, so I can just take it a day at a time and try to not worry. Biking to and from work is giving me a nice bit of activity in my days (ooof that hill), but I need to also incorporate more actual workouts (primarily weights and yoga) into my routine.

[baxus]

Went out in a double scull on Saturday and in a coxed four yesterday and it was fun fun fun!

The heat didn't help, but it was not that bad with all the water around and some light breeze on both days.

I do have some blisters in the middle of the palm of my right hand, which does annoy me a bit but it's all part of rowing.

We are having a heat wave at the moment (for example 27ºC at 8:30AM this morning) which makes moving around town worse than usual.

I like summer well enough and enjoy wearing t-shirts, shorts and flip-flops but at over 35ºC I find myself pining for those -15ºC from January and February.

[Jabronius Maximus]

Thanks for this. Checked out SL and it had some good info. Will check the rest out as well.

No worries! A piece of advice - don't neglect your diet. Not only will eating enough ensure you have proper progress, but it'll improve your recovery between workouts and you'll feel much more energetic in the gym as a result. It took me far too long to realize this when I started out, but I'm glad I eventually did.

[l2 0 5 5]

Very happy to be back in the gym after having shoulder surgery on my labrum in December. Originally hurt it years ago on a pec deck machine when I first started training at the gym. Worked out regularly for three years after that and amassed some wear and tear on the injury; finally got surgery over six months ago. Feeling pretty good right now. I just have to keep reminding myself to take it slow. A re-injury would be catastrophic at this point.

[Greywolf2375]

DL'd for the first time in a while. Prior one rep max had been 375lbs, today did 345 for 5 as my 5th set. Stronger but a lot more mobile/flexible. Set my goal for 450 for this year, I think I might be able to get that now.

[Iskaral Pust]

I got a pretty good workout last night. I reduced my run from 2 miles to 1.5 because my legs were very heavy on the second day after squats. But the upper body weights all went really well: shoulder press, wide lat pull down, upright row & arms.

Tonight is a rest day while I bring my son to watch the Cubs. Hopefully another workout tomorrow.

One of my colleagues is in the early stages of Fitbit infatuation. He keeps showing me his app that tracks his step count. I tried to suggest that it might be better to try some high intensity bursts like running rather than just racking up low speed steps throughout the day but that's not what he wants to hear right now.

[aceluby]

So 3 weeks ago I changed my evening diet and started doing 2-3 20 minute walks throughout the day, on top of doing chest/back lifts at home in the evening, and yoga in the morning. The results have been amazing. Down to 205, arms & chest are looking tighter, and feel like I'm on the fast track to hit my goal weight by the end of the summer. Feeling really good about myself right now :)

[Quorra]

So 3 weeks ago I changed my evening diet and started doing 2-3 20 minute walks throughout the day, on top of doing chest/back lifts at home in the evening, and yoga in the morning. The results have been amazing. Down to 205, arms & chest are looking tighter, and feel like I'm on the fast track to hit my goal weight by the end of the summer. Feeling really good about myself right now :)

No surprise here! :thumbsup: Now go show it off.