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


Jabronius Maximus

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If it's a standard Olympic bar it weighs about 45lbs.

 

Thanks, I knew that, but on a Smith machine the bar is lighter than a standard Olympic bar.  It feels close to 20lbs.  I checked online but it varies by manufacturer, with most of them falling in the range of 15-25lbs.  I don't know why they don't just use a standard bar.

 

Also, it's hard to allow for the effect of friction.  The Smith machine uses guide rails which add friction to the lift, so the weight is a bit lighter on the way down and a bit heavier on the way up.  I don't know how to quantify that easily.  Free squats require you to manage stability too, which adds to the challenge and to the resulting core muscle strength.

 

In summary, the Smith machine is an annoying limitation but it's what I have to work with.

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Had a nice morning workout, tried the ice on neck/chest, but it didn't work quite as well as the ice cold shower.  Will probably stick to that for the hard morning workouts because today was a bit cooler and the bus didn't have the air on so I felt like I was suffocating the entire ride to work while profusely sweating.  I'm sure it looked awesome.... 

 

Feels nice to be back on schedule, but I think my body is still recovering from the abuse of the weekend.  Live and learn.  

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Just did some light yoga this morning since I got like 5 hours of sleep last night and was feeling sluggish.  Figure that it was better than nothing and was able to get my heart up enough to get a sweat sheen.  Tonight it's to bed early and a hard 5am workout in the morning.

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This week was bad for exercise. Carpal tunnel ruined my sleep all week and I got no midweek workout.

I was in Atlanta for the weekend but did at least get a really good swim yesterday afternoon and then a workout in the hotel gym last night. To complement swimming, I just focused on bench press, shoulder press and leg press.

I might try for rowing and squats tonight. But I won't get to eat dinner until 9:00, and a really late workout would not be sensible.

A miserable long day of travel on Tuesday will start at 4am and probably ruin my midweek exercise again, at least until Thursday evening.

Still, I'm feeling in great shape and these are only minor interruptions.
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So, I've been doing morning workouts for a few weeks now, however, I'm having a big issue.  And that issue is sweating.  I need about an hour to fully cool down, but to get that much time in I would need to wake up at 5am to catch a 7:30 bus.  Does anyone have any tricks to help cool down faster?  If I jump into the shower I just never get dry and continue to sweat for an hour after my shower.  Even if I wait a half hour this will happen.  It's kind of killing my routine because I'm having issues sleeping as well, which I think is hindering my recovery periods.

i've got the same problem, i cycle about an hour to work, have a shower then just sweat all over the place again for at least 30 mins.  i'm pretty resigned to it (which once you get to that stage actually helps as i think half of it for me was paranoia about looking sweaty).

if i am early enough i read outside for about 10 mins before having a shower to cool down a bit.

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Standard Olympic bar should weigh exactly 20kgs, if I'm not mistaken.

20kg is 44lb.

i get an hour for lunch, with changing before and showering after gets me down to about 45 mins.  i feel as if i'm rushing my workout to get everything in (i try to do 6 different excercises x 3 sets), does that sound about right?

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i get an hour for lunch, with changing before and showering after gets me down to about 45 mins.  i feel as if i'm rushing my workout to get everything in (i try to do 6 different excercises x 3 sets), does that sound about right?

 

I guess I usually finish my weights in ~45 minutes if I don't have to wait for anyone.  I think my total set count is similar to yours but with a different pattern.

 

In any given workout I typically have one unique major exercise that I do 6-8 sets (squats, bench press, shoulder press) and then other exercises that are similar to each other so I do 2-3 sets of each, e.g. cable rowing and pull-ups with benchpress, wide pull-downs and upright rows with shoulder press, leg lifts and leg curls are done on squat day. 

 

But I alternate exercises so that I can maintain a fast pace, e.g. the first 3-4 sets of bench press alternate with sets of cable row, then the last 3-4 sets of bench press alternate with pull-ups.  I progressively increase the weights in my sets.  This alternating probably reduces my maximum lift but it maintains a high intensity with short rests, especially because I usually do a pretty intense run or row before I start lifting.  But if your gym is busy it would be hard to alternate sets.

 

Then when I'm finished these main exercises, I wrap up with a couple of minor exercises, e.g. two sets each of biceps and triceps or a set of calf raises and obliques.

 

I wish I could exercise at lunch time.  If the gym wasn't too crowded that would be great.

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I don't feel satisfied with less than 2 hours lifting.

I would think I've wasted my time if I lifted for 2 hours.

Don't think there's enough lifts to do effectively to fill up two hours.

 

EDIT:

Except if you're like Luke, aiming to be the strongest man in your country, imaginary as it may be. :P

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My wife has just completed a mountain ultramarathon of 53 km with an altitude difference of more than 900 meters and six mountain tops on the way. She said afterwards she could easily do it in less than 8 hours, but she promised her friends they'd be running together and thus she had to wait for them multiple times (even 20 minutes couple of times). So her final result was more than 10 hours (with 16 hours limit).

 

Anyway, I'm damn proud of her. She makes my own running look ridiculous.

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Took a couple rest days after a tough Friday workout and a 2 day road trip.  Worked out this morning and was very happy to see that for the first time in 2 years, and then before that almost 8 years, I am again under 200 lbs.  Had a friend comment on it over the weekend and a co-worker ask me about it yesterday.  Not only that, but I'm feeling great!  Eating right and exercising!  Who knew?!?!  

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