Exercise and Fitness (the 48kg remix)

[cjfshaw]

And back to talk about exercise, I'm hoping to get back back/chest exercise in tonight, although I have 3 finals tomorrow so I may miss out. I'm using my own workouts to test a certain hypothesis.

[turinturambar]

Wearing bulky armour and furs will make someone look larger. Leaving a trail of destruction in your wake will also do wonders for your reputation in this regard.

If these northern conditions did factor for size then we'd see giant Inuits. Which we don't.

But Inuits are thick limbed. The northern climates leads to thicker limbs and stockier builds, not necessarily taller heights. I've seen no studies on climate effects on a people's height. The Inuits are descended from Asians, who are also typically shorter. However, they are thicker than their Asian counterparts, which can be accounted as a result of their more northerly climes. Also, I might add, Inuits have only been in the Northern Americas for the last 10,000 years or so, approximately a quarter of the time the Europeans spent in Europe, and not in near as extreme of conditions either as the ice age was winding down by that point.

[Fleeing Finn]

Fleeing,

Evolution doesn't favor the weeing out of athletes. If anything it would favor it. Athleticism has little to do with one's ability to store fat. Western Africans are generally considered to be the most athletic people on earth on the average if you consider the basic factors of raw athleticism. Yet Northern and Western Africans have slower metabolisms and store fat easier on the average than anywhere else. Again, a mechanism of evolution. Europeans have faster metabolisms and should find it more difficult on the average to store fat. Athleticism should be favored, because speed and agility and strength should be favorable attributes when hunting or performing other basic tasks of survival.

I didn't make it up. It's true that certain ethnic groups have evolved differently, I never questioned that. In areas where game was plentiful populations have preserved a lot of the genetic traits I'm referring to. I'm talking about people who are naturally strong, fast and lean. Those whose ACTN3-gene is working as it did originally, who have a beneficial distribution of fast twitch muscle fibers, who have great insulin sensitivity in skeletal muscle, poor insulin sensitivity in adipose tissue etc.

Speed, agility and strength pale in comparsion to intelligence when hunting. Ever since we've been able to outsmart the prey they've become more or less obsolete. Besides, survival and strength don't go hand in hand. Generally, being naturally fast and strong has much to do with the ability of storing fat because it strongly correlates with how the body is primed to partition calories.

Oh, and about Western Africans:

Blacks with a West African ancestry generally have:

* relatively less subcutaneous fat on arms and legs and proportionately more lean body and muscle mass, broader shoulders, larger quadriceps, and bigger, more developed musculature in general;

* denser, shallower chests;

* higher center of gravity, generally shorter sitting height, narrower hips, and lighter calves;

* longer arm span and "distal elongation of segments" - the hand is relatively longer than the forearm, which in turn is relatively longer than the upper arm; the foot is relatively longer than the tibia (leg), which is relatively longer than the thigh;

* faster patellar tendon reflex;

* greater body density, which is likely due to higher bone mineral density and heavier bone mass at all stages in life, including infancy (despite evidence of lower calcium intake and a higher prevalence of lactose intolerance, which prevents consumption of dairy products);

* modestly, but significantly, higher levels of plasma testosterone (3-19 percent), which is anabolic, theoretically contributing to greater muscle mass, lower fat, and the ability to perform at a higher level of intensity with quicker recovery;

*a higher percentage of fast-twitch muscles and more anaerobic enzymes, which can translate into more explosive energy.

I unintentionally started this seemingly controversial topic but I don't want it to completely derail the thread so if you still disagree with me, let's agree that we disagree and leave it at that.

[Stego]

Are you sure we should stop before we get into Eugenics? :P

[Fleeing Finn]

Are you sure we should stop before we get into Eugenics? :P

Yes, please... :bang:

Back to training.

What is the difference between american and other, shouldn't it all be homogenized now based on the most successful results what with the internet and all?

I'm not american and so I don't really feel qualified to state what's wrong with the american weightlifting system, especially as I have no first hand experience. According to Andrew Charniga though, there is no system.

[Vestrit]

Hmm, had a bit of a low moment at physio this morning.

I posted yesterday that my legs were sore and tired. So last night, instead of anything high intensity, I just did a light cycle for 30 minutes just to get the blood pumping and to get a sweat on.

This morning everything still felt tight and sore in my knee, and my legs felt lethargic.

Anyway, when I got going this morning: pain when running, wasn’t able to sprint at all, no quickness in my legs or feet, no power in my jumps, and my leg press efforts were pathetic. Even my proprioception was down; balance was all over the shop and my landings were rubbish.

Physio reckons the knee is just tight and tired and is reacting to the upping in workload. He wasn’t worried, said it’s just all part of rehab and learning how much it can take. All part of learning the management of my knee I guess.

It’s just annoying that, unlike the ACLs and MCLs etc who can expect a full recovery, mine won’t ever be 100% again. One physio said it was basically ‘a salvage job and we’re making the best of a bad situation’, and another said I had to get to used to managing a knee that won’t ever be completely right.

I’ve kind of accepted that but I do wonder if I’ll ever be fast again. I used to complain like hell if I was told to go on a long run and yet now I would kill to be able to go for a 40 minute run without any restriction or pain.

Oh well, guess I just have to give it a day or two off and I should be back to feeling optimistic again

[/whining]

Lessthanluke, how’s the Smolov going? I downloaded a Smolov training schedule yesterday and have it saved up for later this year. Terrifying yet intriguing

[lessthanluke]

4th workout later today. Ok so far. Try taking 20+lbs off your max.

[ztemhead]

sick today, causing me to take an unintended day off. Grrr, I hate that.

*hack cough snort*

Vestrit- sorry to hear about the knee. I feel your pain. Literally.

[Stego]

Feeling so strong I want to

like that little guy in Pumping Iron.

RAWR.

[TheLoneliestMonk]

I switched from Rippetoe's program to Madcow's. I think it will work better with how much I'm running.

[lessthanluke]

I switched from Rippetoe's program to Madcow's. I think it will work better with how much I'm running.

Can't go wrong with madcows. My 10 sets of 3 squats yesterday were good. Not too hard.

[CelticKnight]

Alright, question for all the lifting guru's in this thread:

My squats have increased quite a bit within the past months (from about 200 to 260), but the problem is that whenever I squat, I feel it in my groin area. It's not painful, but I definitely feel it, and it never really did that before.

Is this normal, or should I be concerned?

[TheLoneliestMonk]

Alright, question for all the lifting guru's in this thread:

My squats have increased quite a bit within the past months (from about 200 to 260), but the problem is that whenever I squat, I feel it in my groin area. It's not painful, but I definitely feel it, and it never really did that before.

Is this normal, or should I be concerned?

Warm up more. get on a stationary bike or something before squatting, and don't get off until you feel warm. Also, I like to do at least a set of 10 with just the bar before I put any weight on. I had a similar problem, which was fixed by warming up more thoroughly, and never...ever... doing squats first thing in the morning. I pulled my groin in a bad way.

ETA I don't know whether or not there are any form problems associated with that type of pain though. I'm sure someone more knowledgable than myself here will though.

Can't go wrong with madcows. My 10 sets of 3 squats yesterday were good. Not too hard.

Awsome. I'm feeling even more confident that I made the right choice with that endorsement.

10 sets of squats sounds brutal. How close to your 3RM are you doing them?

[Stego]

Is this normal, or should I be concerned?

Film your squats. This is the only way we can possibly help, unless you live near us.

[Stego]

Good news, people - I am finally doing 25 lbs on tricep extensions, and 20 pounds total (two 10 lb dumbbells) on shoulder presses and arm curls. I am seeing results!

Way to go Emilie!

I have no doubt you can get up to 25's on shoulder presses. :D

ETA: I had shoulder day last night, and I was cooking along, having a great workout. Then this dude walks over and starts doing 125lb shoulder presses like it's nothing. (I was struggling with 105's)

Dick.

[Eurytus]

ETA: I had shoulder day last night, and I was cooking along, having a great workout. Then this dude walks over and starts doing 125lb shoulder presses like it's nothing. (I was struggling with 105's)

Dick.

I think there is something wrong with my physiology. For some reason I can do shoulder presses at pretty much the same weight as my bench press. The bench press may be slightly heavier, but its only about 15% heavier or so.

It doesn't seem that it can be right but for some reason something in the motion of the benchpress causes me problems, more so with barbell than dumbells. I wonder if my shoulder joint is not right.

[lessthanluke]

Loneliest Monk my 3rm is around 420. Sets were at 396.

[Stego]

I think there is something wrong with my physiology. For some reason I can do shoulder presses at pretty much the same weight as my bench press. The bench press may be slightly heavier, but its only about 15% heavier or so.

It doesn't seem that it can be right but for some reason something in the motion of the benchpress causes me problems, more so with barbell than dumbells. I wonder if my shoulder joint is not right.

I have no idea what I can military press with a straight bar, as it's a lot rougher on the back than just using dumbbells. I do know, however, that one can usually do a lot more weight with a single bar than dumbbells.

Now as for doing the same on military as flat bench -- that's either insane or phenomenal, depending on what sort of numbers we're talking about. Maybe your shoulder muscles are simply very strong? I know a guy who can military press over 300lbs, but he injects more chemicals than Monsanto.

If your bench is below a standard like say... 225lbs, then you probably have weakness in your chest or triceps as compared to your shoulders.

[Lord of Rhinos]

So I’ve been doing Stronglifts 5x5 for the past three months. It is set up to be a 12 week program, but there’s no reason you can’t continue it longer than that. It’s the first time I’ve done a structured training program. Up until this point any workout with weights has been pretty random and not terribly effective for me. I feel like structure has been great for motivation and consistency. Most of the exercises are not things I had done before so it is impossible to say how much the program has helped me with them. I’m happy enough with the program that I’ll be continuing with it, I feel like I can still get results from it.

Right now I’m playing around with what exercises to add on the off days. 5x5 uses two different workouts. A) Squats, Bench, Row, Dips-- B) is Squats, Overhead Press, Deadlifts, Chin-up/Pull-up. On 5x5 you alternate one of these workouts every other day, i.e. Monday (A), Wednesday (B), Friday (A), Monday (B ). So what do you guys think would be useful exercises for off days?

[lessthanluke]

So I’ve been doing Stronglifts 5x5 for the past three months. It is set up to be a 12 week program, but there’s no reason you can’t continue it longer than that. It’s the first time I’ve done a structured training program. Up until this point any workout with weights has been pretty random and not terribly effective for me. I feel like structure has been great for motivation and consistency. Most of the exercises are not things I had done before so it is impossible to say how much the program has helped me with them. I’m happy enough with the program that I’ll be continuing with it, I feel like I can still get results from it.

Right now I’m playing around with what exercises to add on the off days. 5x5 uses two different workouts. A) Squats, Bench, Row, Dips-- B) is Squats, Overhead Press, Deadlifts, Chin-up/Pull-up. On 5x5 you alternate one of these workouts every other day, i.e. Monday (A), Wednesday (B), Friday (A), Monday (B ). So what do you guys think would be useful exercises for off days?

What do you mean by exercises? You wouldn't want to any more weight training.