aceluby Posted April 22, 2016 Share Posted April 22, 2016 21 hours ago, sperry said: Like I said, i've never done this before so I don't know. The 5 pounds in 9 weeks is absolutely accurate though I've weighed myself daily from the start. I'm guessing that my kind of shockingly fast metabolism are giving me a jump here. Regardless, if the gains slow down it is what it is, I know that regardless of what I do I'm going to plateau pretty quickly. Weight is not accurate. Between what you eat, digestion, water, fat, hormones, the shock of new exercise routine, etc... those 5 pounds could be attributed to lots of things. Not saying there wasn't muscle growth, just that it's probably not as much as you think. A fast metabolism actually makes it more difficult to grow muscles because the food is being used as immediate fuel and not for muscle repair. IMO it's better to understand that the process is slow and plan for it to be slow, than to think this will be quick and get disappointed because you think you've 'plateaued'. 1 lb of muscle every 3 weeks seems like a pretty good estimate if you can keep it going. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iskaral Pust Posted April 23, 2016 Author Share Posted April 23, 2016 I just finished a session of bench press, narrow pull down, arms and clean & press. I added a third set of pull downs at 200lbs, and an extra set of bench press at 170lbs (my second heaviest set). Good workout. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3CityApache Posted April 24, 2016 Share Posted April 24, 2016 It was a very nice 10 k race after all. It felt good from the beginning and I've managed to improve my pb by a minute, to 54:28. If not for the stitch that got me between 5 and 6 km and the bottleneck just after the start that forced us to stop moving couple of times, I could probably cut a minute or two more from the result, but I'm pretty satisfied anyway. But it's still nothing comparing to my incredible wife, who run her fourth marathon and for the third time improved her pb by more than 10 minutes. 16 minutes this time to be precise. And she did break 4 hours, and quite comfortably at that, with the result of 3:56:04. Damn proud of her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HairBearHero Posted April 24, 2016 Share Posted April 24, 2016 On 4/22/2016 at 8:15 AM, baxus said: Went out in a double scull yesterday and loved it, despite being in a boat with a guy who's made me look like Sir Steve Redgrave, Sir Matthew Pinsent, Eric Murray and Hamish Bond rolled into one. Honestly, it was a pretty crappy outing but it was my first since last summer and I just realised how much I actually missed it. We'll see how it goes over the weekend. Any outing on the water is better than a session on the erg (although when it started hailing as we crossed the finish line I may have questioned this...) First race of the season today - we placed 6th out of 32 boats. Bit irritated that I misjudged my fitness and actually had a bit left in the tank at the end, as it would probably have pushed us up a place. Still, 8.5km in 42 mins in reasonably sloppy seas isn't a bad starting point! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iskaral Pust Posted April 25, 2016 Author Share Posted April 25, 2016 This afternoon/evening was lower body weights. I felt a bit stiff as I did my warm-up sets on squats and was mentally preparing myself to accept a step backward, but then 220lbs went really well so I pushed on and did a great set at 250lbs, and then a final set at 200lbs again just to let tired legs power through an extra set. And for deadlifts, I finally progresed to 300lbs and got 6 reps, which felt respectable (and incredibly heavy). I'll build on that. Calf press at 400lbs was 16, 14 and 12. Then some weighted decline sit-ups to finish. Afterward I had a huge dinner of bbq takeout. I may be sluggish for a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aceluby Posted April 26, 2016 Share Posted April 26, 2016 Not sure if cardio would do anything for you Leap, unless you're looking for some heart health exercises. If it's for calorie burning or fat loss there are FAR better options than cardio (assuming steady state). Today was day 26 of my challenge and I did two 6am classes in a row this week. We also had these bingo cards and I won a new $25 water bottle, a $50 mat towel, a $30 gift certificate, and 8 entries into a grand prize drawing that will happen on Saturday. There's also a rumor that if you get all 30 days in that you win a free month of classes! Tonight is softball, tomorrow barre, then 4 classes on Thurs-Saturday before my very earned rest day on May 1st. Never been so excited for a rest day in all my life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iskaral Pust Posted April 26, 2016 Author Share Posted April 26, 2016 I just got back from a workout after work: shoulder press, wide lat pull down, lat raises, arms, chest press and planks. The gym was very busy and I had to rush through my sets, so I'll blame that for losing a rep or two on my heaviest sets of shoulder press. My deltoids are so sore right now and my upper body looks like Dwight Howard. I feel some soreness and stiffness in my left hip/glute after my last squats. I'll try to do squats again tomorrow and just make sure not to do any harm. I've been stretching it a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iskaral Pust Posted April 27, 2016 Author Share Posted April 27, 2016 I just finished a lower body session: squats, dead lifts, calf press, leg extension, leg curls, weighted decline sit ups and a set of push-ups just to keep the pecs ticking over. My stretches last night worked really well -- no stiffness of soreness around the quad-glute connector. I even did a second full set (8) of squats at 250lbs today and when I dropped back to 220lbs it felt so easy. But I peaked at 250lbs for deadlift because my lower back felt a bit fatigued after squats. Now eating baked cod and vegetables for my recovery dinner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iskaral Pust Posted April 27, 2016 Author Share Posted April 27, 2016 I noticed that Baxus and HBH, returning to exercise with some trepidation after a few weeks away, both felt great again within two weeks. I think we've all been there and it's amazing how quickly our bodies respond to a return to exercise even if we're dreading that we've lost some ground. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baxus Posted April 28, 2016 Share Posted April 28, 2016 I've definitely felt great, and I have definitely lost some ground. My biggest problem is that I can't seem to get back into the routine of going regularly to training. For example, I find going to training after work MUCH easier than going on the weekend. It just fits my schedule much better. Hopefully, I'll get back into it soon. We have 3 days of work (plus weekend) starting tomorrow for Easter and Labor day, so I'll try to get out and about more. For starters, I'm going to yoga class tomorrow (and most likely on Tuesday) with my wife. Haven't done yoga in close to a year so it will be interesting to see how it goes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sperry Posted April 28, 2016 Share Posted April 28, 2016 My left arm went almost completely numb, and my right arm went partially numb doing overhead squats today, which apparently isn't uncommon. It's some kind of compression of a nerve, and can last a matter of hours up to a couple of weeks. Feels like the arm is asleep, and is similarly useless in terms of motion. Apparently not anything serious, but still super frustrating to have a setback that may take me out of commission for a while. Will definitely be skipping overhead squats moving forward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iskaral Pust Posted April 28, 2016 Author Share Posted April 28, 2016 36 minutes ago, sperry said: My left arm went almost completely numb, and my right arm went partially numb doing overhead squats today, which apparently isn't uncommon. It's some kind of compression of a nerve, and can last a matter of hours up to a couple of weeks. Feels like the arm is asleep, and is similarly useless in terms of motion. Apparently not anything serious, but still super frustrating to have a setback that may take me out of commission for a while. Will definitely be skipping overhead squats moving forward. Use a squat collar. Manta-Ray sells on Amazon for $20-30 and it works great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lessthanluke Posted April 29, 2016 Share Posted April 29, 2016 16 hours ago, Iskaral Pust said: Use a squat collar. Manta-Ray sells on Amazon for $20-30 and it works great. He was doing overhead squats. Can't use a squat collar for those Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HairBearHero Posted April 29, 2016 Share Posted April 29, 2016 36 minutes ago, lessthanluke said: He was doing overhead squats. Can't use a squat collar for those Give you a quid to try. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HairBearHero Posted April 29, 2016 Share Posted April 29, 2016 If you're already doing flat bench and OHP, is there any point doing incline presses? Also, anybody got some good shoulder accessories? I continually have minor stability-related niggles in my left shoulder so feel that building up the strength of all the muscles will probably help... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sperry Posted April 29, 2016 Share Posted April 29, 2016 4 hours ago, lessthanluke said: He was doing overhead squats. Can't use a squat collar for those Yeah, I looked at the squat collar but won't help. Regardless, I'm sure I can accomplish what the overhead squat is trying to do through other movements. My arm is still numb and fairly useless, went to the doctor. I'd forgotten how useless doctors outside of life threatening emergencies. He had no clue what was wrong with me, he just sent me in for expensive tests. I'll give it the weekend to see if it goes away before I blow $350 on an x-ray. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted April 29, 2016 Share Posted April 29, 2016 On 27/04/2016 at 0:34 AM, Iskaral Pust said: I noticed that Baxus and HBH, returning to exercise with some trepidation after a few weeks away, both felt great again within two weeks. I think we've all been there and it's amazing how quickly our bodies respond to a return to exercise even if we're dreading that we've lost some ground. Yeah, I don't tend to feel great quickly after an extended period off. In that vein with my rugby season now finished I want to try and keep my fitness up over the summer so the start of preseason training isn't quite so unpleasant. I'm pretty sure I said something like that in this thread last year but my plans to take up another sport and stay fit didn't really work out too well so this year I'm just planning to try and stick with the running I've kept up throughout the season. Given I'm not going to have rugby training Tuesday and Thursday and a game Saturday any more I going to up the distances I'm running on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from about 6km to around 5 miles and I think I'll try adding in some hill sprints at the weekend so everything isn't one paced and see how that goes. Hopefully that'll keep me ticking over and any other sports I do play'll be a bonus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iskaral Pust Posted April 29, 2016 Author Share Posted April 29, 2016 5 hours ago, lessthanluke said: He was doing overhead squats. Can't use a squat collar for those Thanks, I didn't notice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iskaral Pust Posted April 30, 2016 Author Share Posted April 30, 2016 HBH -- I think you lift a lot more than I do but I find flat bench press and shoulder press (OHP) to be sufficient. I know body builders go for decline press and incline press to sculpt the pec from all angles but it seems like redundant sets if lifting for exercise or strength. IMO it's better to use that time and energy for another muscle group. Leap - don't get discouraged. It's always better to focus on form over number of reps or size of weights. Most of us lose sight of that at some point as we chase momentum but it's never a bad thing to step back, do less with the proper form and then build again from there. Push-ups need to go deep and push through the full range of motion. Using handles allows you to go even deeper. Lots of people cheat at push-ups and chin-ups and curls, but that's why they never develop any real muscle. Don't worry too much about the program timeframe -- it was good to get you engaged and provide an outline for progress, but now you should complete it at your own pace. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iskaral Pust Posted May 1, 2016 Author Share Posted May 1, 2016 I had a late afternoon workout: bench press, narrow pull down, barbell row, arms and clean & press. I did more weight and reps on bench press, and skipped a set of pull downs to make room for barbell row. Then I ate a pasta entree, a steak entree and a dessert, so feeling a bit sluggish now. I'll be in a hotel in Manchester all week so I'll do a lower body session tomorrow and just do whatever is possible midweek. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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