In Fitness and in Health
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I’m trying to get strong so I can do the things I love doing better. I’m not going to be packing special cakes to eat before I catch a fish
I’m sure I could lift heavier if I did steroids or did a line or two of coke. Of course the numbers matter, but I want them to improve because my overall level of fitness/ strength is getting better.110kg would not make me excited if I had eaten something that I would not normally eat just to get a PB.
Not trying to be judgemental, because we are all different/have different motivations.
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@Giles said in In Fitness and in Health:
I’m trying to get strong so I can do the things I love doing better. I’m not going to be packing special cakes to eat before I catch a fish
I’m sure I could lift heavier if I did steroids or did a line or two of coke. Of course the numbers matter, but I want them to improve because my overall level of fitness/ strength is getting better.110kg would not make me excited if I had eaten something that I would not normally eat just to get a PB.
Not trying to be judgemental, because we are all different/have different motivations.
Nutrition is a part of fitness, they go hand in hand and neglecting one has consequences for the other. You do you Giles, but the recommendations were made with the intent to be helpful. Comparing pre-workout nutrition to steroids and cocaine is obtuse.
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For the record, I wasn’t saying to eat these things every day before a workout. Occasionally, something like this is perfectly fine for most people, especially if you’re otherwise eating clean and don’t have any health issues.
Everybody has different goals, and I respect how people approach those. What works for me may not work for someone else, and that’s perfectly okay.
@selveldgesteps
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My diet is good. It's balanced and I eat stuff mainly that I have made from first principles. I hardly ever eat crap, and never have.
All I was trying to say is that I'm not going to eat something special to try and beat my PB. I was not knocking the advice, what I was trying to say is that eating something to improve a PB does not float my boat.
If it floats yours, I have absolutely no issues with that.
Perhaps @northsouthdenimguy said it better than I can: "Everybody has different goals, and I respect how people approach those. What works for me may not work for someone else, and that’s perfectly okay"
BTW, I know fuck all about this because until very recently, me doing exercise was less likely than me wearing a skirt. But I am getting stronger, my stature has improved and my hip does not hurt. I'm very happy with my progress, and I'll continue this journey.
"OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011
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@northsouthdenimguy said in In Fitness and in Health:
What works for me may not work for someone else, and that’s perfectly okay.
I don't always make other peoples routines or habits my own, but I do appreciate hearing others experiences and I honor the intention when they choose to share something that could be immediately helpful to me. Most of what I have learned about fitness and health over the past 30 years has been through hearing the experiences of others.
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@Giles said in In Fitness and in Health:
is less likely than me wearing a skirt.We can get you in a kilt for the Scotland game
All joking aside, I think you're on the right path and it's a journey that's different from everyone, I think what Giles said about "steroids" etc shows that even people in the pursuit of "health and fitness" can go to extremes and end up missing the point of being fit...
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@goosehd it’s true, I have orangutan arms and it’s a lot more distance to cover for all exercises. I always envy the stockier dudes when it comes to pushups especially.
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@WhiskeySandwich pushing yes the shorter arms are advantageous but pulling is the opposite. Long arms help alot on the deadlift as they reduce the range of motion.
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Potential other indicator that my fitness is improving. I never used to sweat at all, now I sweat like it's going out of fashion.....
"OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011
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I’m still trying to figure out how Giles managed to uncover my highly sophisticated training regimen of cocaine and anabolic steroids.
@selveldgesteps
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@yannis idk i dont think the distance from the top of the lift to the ground is still less than a shorter person, maybe saved a bit by the lanky arms but still more. I guess long legs usually come with the long arms unfortunately lol
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@northsouthdenimguy dont forget the cigarettes as an appetite suppressant if you're going for a caloric deficit.
"The whole future lies in uncertainty: Live immediately."
-Seneca -
Think about it this way. If you have 2 people at about the same height and one has longer arms than the other, the one one with longer arms has to squat much less to get to a good starting position in a deadlift. The one with short arms has to squat deeper to.get to the same position. Less knee flexion means higher hip position more upright posture and easier pulling.Prime mates are extremely strong pullers because of the outrageous long arms, they can grab stuff without bearly bending.
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Another way to visualize it is look at the lockout of the deadlift. If I have very long arms by the time I get to just above the knee am done my body is erect and the bar is hanging from my long arms. If I have trex arms I have to bring the bar almost to my hips to be erect. So the bar from the floor to lock out travels less distance the longer the arms are.
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My pre-workout has always been a large strong black coffee loaded with honey.
Enough to blow the cobwebs away without you feeling like crap after.
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@1WayTrip I am with you. I usually workout early in the morning. So yes a cup of black coffee and 2 teaspoons of honey but I don't mix it.
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@Giles my coach tends to cycle weights. He'll start me off (for example) deadlifting for six reps, then that will drop that number as the weight increases.
In your case, you could drop back to 80 kg for six reps, then increase the weight by 2.5 to 5 kg per week until you get back to 100 kg.
Romanian deadlifts have also proven to be a good accessory. I'm currently performing a set after I've finished the conventional deadlift.
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@WhiskeySandwich said in In Fitness and in Health:
@northsouthdenimguy dont forget the cigarettes as an appetite suppressant if you're going for a caloric deficit.
Beat me to it. Everyone knows a good workout ends with a Marlboro Red
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Not gonna lie, this was me circa 1992 leaving World’s Gym in Melbourne, Florida. Windows down in my 1979 Porsche 924 because the A/C was dead.
Looking back, I’m still not sure what was less healthy: smoking cigarettes after a workout or relying on that 924 engine to get me home.
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@Giles By way of credentials, I used to have a 260kg 1RM deadlift at ~90kg bodyweight. I've dropped the barbell training while the kids are little as it's just much faster to get in and out of the gym if you're doing stuff that doesn't require fiddling about with plates. But I've read the comments and this is what blew up my deadlift when I was into powerlifting-style training and got me from ~100kg to >240kg as a standard "yeah, I can lift that any day of the week" training weight.
- Hook grip. This is when you grip overhand with both hands, but put your thumb roughly parallel to the bar and wrap your fingers around them too. Yes, your thumbs fucking hurt while doing it, but it's a much stronger grip for deadlifting when you get the knack for it and your thumbs have built up a nice callus. (And calloused thumbs just make you feel hardcore.)
If you're using lifting straps though and aren't worried about grip training as a side-benefit of the deadlift, then those will be the most secure thing and ignore the hook grip because, like I say, it fucking sucks to do! If you're open to trying it, there are several good tutorials on YouTube.
These next two suggestions blew up all my lifts, not just deads:
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Switching to full body workouts, rather than squat-day, bench-day, and deadlift-day. Basically I'd start squat day with squats, then do Accessory Lift 1 from bench day, and Accessory Lift 2 from deadlift day, and so on and so forth for bench day and deadlift day. It might be personal, but I found that this meant the per-workout volume was relatively light for any particular muscle group on any given day, and I could hit all 3 exercises hard, every workout.
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Cycle Light/Medium/Heavy workouts too. For the main 3 lifts, squat, bench and deads, I'd also cycle L/M/H each time I hit the gym. So I'd do Light Squats / Medium Bench / Heavy Deads, then the next trio of workouts would be Medium Squats / Heavy Bench / Light Deads, then Heavy Squat / Light Bench / Medium Deads.
Light was working in the 10-12 rep range, Medium was working in the 6-8 rep range, and Heavy was working in the 3-5 rep range. In all cases choosing a weight that left a rep or 2 in reserve at the end of a set.
I'd increase weight for any particular day if my total reps across 3 working sets summed to the top end of the rep range. So 36 total reps for a Light day, 24 reps for Medium, and 15 for Heavy was the goal, and if I hit those, I'd up the weight on the next Light Squat (or whatever) day.
Combined with #2 above, I found this structure let me really progress with all my lifts.
I didn't bother with the L/M/H rota on accessories, just the main 3 lifts. Accessories were just done at a weight that was challenging for 8-12 reps and I'd increase weight once I hit 36 reps over 3 sets.
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You may not need as many warmup reps as you think. With time, I found that dropping reps from my warmup sets meant I was fresher for the working sets but I'd still managed to 'grease the groove' as they say. So if I was aiming for 3x5 at 240kg on deads, I'd warmup by doing 12 reps at 60kg, 8 at 100kg, 5 at 140kg, 3 at 180kg, then just 1 or 2 at 200kg, 1 at 220kg, and 1 at 230kg.
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A proper powerlifting belt is fucking awesome for bracing your core, but might be overkill. I didn't get one until I was deadlifting and squatting 180kg, but it was night and day afterwards. I got the one from SBD, but it's an expensive piece of kit.
