Strength Weight Training: Anything and Everything II

[go you pups]

Anyone else with asthma find it literally impossible to workout in a mask? I rarely get asthma attacks these days (maybe 1-2 per year tops), but last night I was about 15 minutes into a DL session and had to pull out and stand outside for 20 minutes just to get my breath back. Figure I'll need to go to Docs and get an exemption or else just pass on the gym until masks are no longer required

I haven't seen anyone wear masks at the gym I've been to since last year

 

[Virgin Dog]

I haven't seen anyone wear masks at the gym I've been to since last year

I'm realising I should have specified - I live in WA where they're still mandatory, and enforced in gyms

 

[go you pups]

I'm realising I should have specified - I live in WA where they're still mandatory, and enforced in gyms

Fair enough

 

[Andre]

I RDL, with my 25DB's 3x10. When at the gym usually 25 1x10, 30 2x6. I don't go heavier then that both for being able to do and I start to feel it cross into 'danger zone' with my back, even bracing throughout. Deadlifts I've had issues with in the past, but was slowly reintroducing not long before gyms closed, as since the last time have significantly increased glute strength and core. Started at 50kg 5x5 was up to a bit over 70kg 5x5. Given the issues it's caused in the past I was (and when can again) taking the very VERY slow increase in weight path. I don't care if the middle aged mum's there are (for now) pulling more than me.

Update. When back allowed at the gym last year switched over to 5/3/1 for Deadlifts (with BBB 5x10 on my other lower body day). Doing slowly with progression each cycle of only up 2.5kg rather than 5kg. A warm up weight for many here, but finally back (no pun) today after over 10 years at being able to do a 100kg deadlift (5 x 100kg on the 5/3/1 week). Feels good to at least be back to 2 plates and the back felt fine throughout and all good since the rest of the day.

 

[go you pups]

Update. When back allowed at the gym last year switched over to 5/3/1 for Deadlifts (with BBB 5x10 on my other lower body day). Doing slowly with progression each cycle of only up 2.5kg rather than 5kg. A warm up weight for many here, but finally back (no pun) today after over 10 years at being able to do a 100kg deadlift (5 x 100kg on the 5/3/1 week). Feels good to at least be back to 2 plates and the back felt fine throughout and all good since the rest of the day.

Nice mate

I worked my way upto 90kg across a month on sumos after a long deadlift hiatus, felt it a challenging weight until I got a bit more confidence in my back, but also wanted change plates for smaller increments

Bought some change plates 2 weeks ago, up to 95kg now, will get to 100kgs in a week or 2 I reckon

 

[k31th]

Anyone else with asthma find it literally impossible to workout in a mask? I rarely get asthma attacks these days (maybe 1-2 per year tops), but last night I was about 15 minutes into a DL session and had to pull out and stand outside for 20 minutes just to get my breath back. Figure I'll need to go to Docs and get an exemption or else just pass on the gym until masks are no longer required

I had no noticeable difference in any workout with/without a mask, other than the hotter breath hanging around my face and fogging up my glasses haha... but in saying that, I don't have asthma.

 

[Oshka]

Hey guys. Keen to start weight training as I can no longer run long distances. My body just doesn’t hold up anymore. What type of professional do I speak to about setting up a training program/diet plan? Could any PT help with this or are there other body transformation coaches or nutritionists that are better? I have no idea where to start with everything. Is it even worth engaging a professional or should I just do my own research and go for it? There seems to be a lot of conflicting information out there though which makes me a bit hesitant about jumping straight into it. Wouldn’t mind someone to guide me through everything so they can monitor my progress, but who exactly do I go to for this?

 

[go you pups]

Hey guys. Keen to start weight training as I can no longer run long distances. My body just doesn’t hold up anymore. What type of professional do I speak to about setting up a training program/diet plan? Could any PT help with this or are there other body transformation coaches or nutritionists that are better? I have no idea where to start with everything. Is it even worth engaging a professional or should I just do my own research and go for it? There seems to be a lot of conflicting information out there though which makes me a bit hesitant about jumping straight into it. Wouldn’t mind someone to guide me through everything so they can monitor my progress, but who exactly do I go to for this?

All depends on your specific health goals

If you're after pure strength then strength and conditioning guys are the way to go for example

Want to lose weight, then a dietitian and PT combo would work etc

 

[go you pups]

For example with me

I'm an experienced lifter with 17+ years experience, but I have back issues to manage

So I combine a back specialist with a strength and conditioning guy who also dabbles in rehab and I combine their ideas in key components of my training.

 

[EasternTiger]

Hey guys. Keen to start weight training as I can no longer run long distances. My body just doesn’t hold up anymore. What type of professional do I speak to about setting up a training program/diet plan? Could any PT help with this or are there other body transformation coaches or nutritionists that are better? I have no idea where to start with everything. Is it even worth engaging a professional or should I just do my own research and go for it? There seems to be a lot of conflicting information out there though which makes me a bit hesitant about jumping straight into it. Wouldn’t mind someone to guide me through everything so they can monitor my progress, but who exactly do I go to for this?

Don't overcomplicate it.

Good Richmond men like us only need 2 things to get started.

One of these

and one of these

With these 2 devices you can work the most important muscle groups without any special training or instruction.

The rest of the nonsense you see inside gyms is just a distraction. If you're a long distance runner you probably already have tremendous calf development, in which case you can skip leg day altogether.

Unless you're a professional furniture remover or shot putter, zero *s should be given for strength development. Instead, you will be far better served concentrating on the 'aesthetics'.

Avoid like the plague any PTer who uses the words 'functional strength' because they are conmen who will have you bouncing up and down on a bosu ball with a barbell on your neck.

Run don't walk away from muppets making waves with giant 10 metre ropes. They are frauds, posers, and mentally inept.

The most important thing is to just get in there and have a go.

 

[GROTTO]

go you pups just wandering if you could give some genuine honest feedback here.

For the past month for one reason or the other training has dropped, like to barely nothing. Without going off on a tangent about my reasons, how quickly does one lose strength in lifts and what capacity of drop is to be expected?

Anyone else also for that matter, I would appreciate their thoughts. I know there is google, but sometimes hearing from fellow posters helps the understanding.

Thanks.

 

[go you pups]

go you pups just wandering if you could give some genuine honest feedback here.

For the past month for one reason or the other training has dropped, like to barely nothing. Without going off on a tangent about my reasons, how quickly does one lose strength in lifts and what capacity of drop is to be expected?

Anyone else also for that matter, I would appreciate their thoughts. I know there is google, but sometimes hearing from fellow posters helps the understanding.

Thanks.

Depends how long my layoffs are

Sometimes a week off is the best thing and you can go heavier than what you did the fortnight beforehand

I've had 3 layoffs in the last 3 years, all about 15 months apart from each other. 2011-12 was my worst period out of gym and when my worst injuries occurred. 2013-15 I was very inconsistent, studies got in the way alot, 2016-17 was a good rebound period for me, but I had s**t advice at the time and had to look around for different specialists come my 2018 injury.

May 2018 slipped discs, 10 weeks out of gym, got into the pool about week 4 or 5, went for walks not too long after that, then started back in late July doing just bodyweight exercises for about 2 weeks twice a week, then hit a couple of machines for another 2 weeks twice a week, then back to free weights. I probably hit free weights at 50-60% of what I was at pre injury and worked up from there.

September 2019 I had inflammation causing sciatica, finally twigged alcohol was the thing causing me grief and completely gave it up since. 5 weeks rest while the inflammation calmed down taking a couple of courses of naproxen, walked, pool and did BW exercises in October, back in gym in November, felt better than I did the year before and kept a positive mindset through recovery, hit about 65% straight away.

And over Xmas this year when I had a bad bout of hip flexor tightness, had 17 days off, back in the garage doing light upper body, mainly bands, 50kg floor presses, db curls etc, anything that took my hips out of the equation combined with the corrective squats I had to do every day and some pool sessiona helped me get through. I was largely fine by early February and incorporating more exercises like incline presses and db rows, I was sore every morning, but it got better as the day went on until it eventually wasn't noticeable. February-March was my best training months of the year so far.

The last month I've been a bit sluggish myself but my deadlift numbers have been improving at least, leg day is my max effort day every week, had a couple of weeks of only training 2-3 times a week (upper day, lower day, then maybe arms if I can be bothered), but I made a concerted effort to get in 4 days last week.

 

[Mofra]

For the past month for one reason or the other training has dropped, like to barely nothing. Without going off on a tangent about my reasons, how quickly does one lose strength in lifts and what capacity of drop is to be expected?

Anyone else also for that matter, I would appreciate their thoughts. I know there is google, but sometimes hearing from fellow posters helps the understanding.

Losing strength is a bit of a "how long is a piece of string" issue as genetics plays a role, as does diet, lifestyle, movement etc etc.

There are quite a few articles around that discuss how much easier it is to 'regain' muscle as opposed to 'grow' muscle so the old bro-science of muscle memory appears to have quite a solid basis.

Hope everything is ok and you can get back to training ASAP

 

[GROTTO]

Losing strength is a bit of a "how long is a piece of string" issue as genetics plays a role, as does diet, lifestyle, movement etc etc.

There are quite a few articles around that discuss how much easier it is to 'regain' muscle as opposed to 'grow' muscle so the old bro-science of muscle memory appears to have quite a solid basis.

Hope everything is ok and you can get back to training ASAP

Thanks champ yes Im back into it.

Yes I agree about the piece of string comment and I hate when people say that.

By strength though I was referring to max lift during a "normal" workout session, I havent tried nor pushed myself deliberately simply because if I cant get in my normal rep ranges in the proceeding sets, trying to push towards a max lift during a "normal" training session is not sensible from my perspective after a months lay off.

 

[GROTTO]

Depends how long my layoffs are

Sometimes a week off is the best thing and you can go heavier than what you did the fortnight beforehand

I've had 3 layoffs in the last 3 years, all about 15 months apart from each other. 2011-12 was my worst period out of gym and when my worst injuries occurred. 2013-15 I was very inconsistent, studies got in the way alot, 2016-17 was a good rebound period for me, but I had sh*t advice at the time and had to look around for different specialists come my 2018 injury.

May 2018 slipped discs, 10 weeks out of gym, got into the pool about week 4 or 5, went for walks not too long after that, then started back in late July doing just bodyweight exercises for about 2 weeks twice a week, then hit a couple of machines for another 2 weeks twice a week, then back to free weights. I probably hit free weights at 50-60% of what I was at pre injury and worked up from there.

September 2019 I had inflammation causing sciatica, finally twigged alcohol was the thing causing me grief and completely gave it up since. 5 weeks rest while the inflammation calmed down taking a couple of courses of naproxen, walked, pool and did BW exercises in October, back in gym in November, felt better than I did the year before and kept a positive mindset through recovery, hit about 65% straight away.

And over Xmas this year when I had a bad bout of hip flexor tightness, had 17 days off, back in the garage doing light upper body, mainly bands, 50kg floor presses, db curls etc, anything that took my hips out of the equation combined with the corrective squats I had to do every day and some pool sessiona helped me get through. I was largely fine by early February and incorporating more exercises like incline presses and db rows, I was sore every morning, but it got better as the day went on until it eventually wasn't noticeable. February-March was my best training months of the year so far.

The last month I've been a bit sluggish myself but my deadlift numbers have been improving at least, leg day is my max effort day every week, had a couple of weeks of only training 2-3 times a week (upper day, lower day, then maybe arms if I can be bothered), but I made a concerted effort to get in 4 days last week.

Sorry to hear about all your issues, you should be proud that you pushed through all of them.

I agree a weeks break and your lifts and do become stronger and more powerful. It happens when you have been consistent in a program for a few months and then take a break and then comeback stronger. Well it has for me at least.

This time though its been a month off basically, a few sessions here in there.

 

[Mofra]

By strength though I was referring to max lift during a "normal" workout session, I havent tried nor pushed myself deliberately simply because if I cant get in my normal rep ranges in the proceeding sets, trying to push towards a max lift during a "normal" training session is not sensible from my perspective after a months lay off.

Some interesting info in this:

If You Stopped Exercising Today, Here's How Long It Would Take Your Body To Notice

How quickly does fitness depreciate? This question was originally answered on Quora by Bart Loews.

www.forbes.com

At the end of the article is the anecdotal point:

Before my year off, I was lifting I was able to do 90 lb dumbbells (with shaky form and with a spotter) on bench press. When I went back to the gym I was able to do 60 lbs. Now I'm able to do 80 lbs without a spotter a month later.

That's a full year off, getting back to fairly 'normal' weight after a month.
Given:

Some athletes see a loss of about 6% muscle density after three weeks.

It doesn't sound like it would take too much more than the time you've taken off to get back to where you were.

 

[freddy mercury]

For the last few months I have only been doing Barbell curls for my biceps. Feel like I am getting a much better overall workout. Basically my bicep work out is

3X10 at 20kg
3x10 at 25kg
3x10 at 30kg

Anyone else do anything similar?

 

[go you pups]

Sorry to hear about all your issues, you should be proud that you pushed through all of them.

I agree a weeks break and your lifts and do become stronger and more powerful. It happens when you have been consistent in a program for a few months and then take a break and then comeback stronger. Well it has for me at least.

This time though its been a month off basically, a few sessions here in there.

I've normally found when I'm a bit off the boil or have had to scale back a bit but still want to get in there and do the reps, about 75-80% of my max effort is achievable for maintenance and can ramp it up easily in the following weeks when I'm feeling a bit more refreshed

Last month for example is one of those times for upper body (max effort going into lower atm to correct anterior hip tilt). I've fluctuated between benching 70-110kgs for example. 70-90 is my regular maintenance/hypertrophy range, though when I've been in physically better shape 100kgs was my standard maintenance/hypertrophy benching weight. Think I've gone (max weight listed on the day)

110
90
40kg dumbbells
100
80

Over the last month or so. Last weeks 80 was just for flat bench 1 working set at 70, 2 at 80, inclined 3 sets at 70 before that. Hovered between 8-12 reps for the 6 sets.

Really want a proper flat bench that's a couple inches lower to the ground to complement my incline bench, would help with leg drive big time and will probably get the safeties in a better position too, some weeks I've lowered the safeties 1 notch, but have trained at a slightly lower weight without collars if I feel I need more ROM. That 100 was at the gym on a commercial bench press for 8-6-5 and was easily my best upper session of the month

 

[go you pups]

For the last few months I have only been doing Barbell curls for my biceps. Feel like I am getting a much better overall workout. Basically my bicep work out is

3X10 at 20kg
3x10 at 25kg
3x10 at 30kg

Anyone else do anything similar?

I mix it up between 7 foot barbell, ezy curl bar and dumbbells, though I always train another upper body muscle group with biceps. Back day is normally the day I'll do less for biceps, don't need much to get a quick pump, though if I'm at the gym on a back day I'll normally wander off to some sort of preacher curl station at the end of my workout, then a few drop sets of db curls to finish off.

Sorry, I misread that, thought that was your only routine

 

[go you pups]

I normally train biceps 3 times a fortnight

1 hard session which is normally when they're fresh on a Saturday, then 2 other sessions after back or chest for a quick pump

So the fortnight would go

Saturday (close to failure with Shoulders or Triceps)
Wednesday (quick pump after chest)
Monday (quick pump after back)

The other Saturday would be a hard shoulders or tricep day, all depending on what I feel like training, have had a few light shoulder days last month, normally just do a few reps of something after back at the moment, so will get back into it this weekend I think.

 

[freddy mercury]

I mix it up between 7 foot barbell, ezy curl bar and dumbbells, though I always train another upper body muscle group with biceps. Back day is normally the day I'll do less for biceps, don't need much to get a quick pump, though if I'm at the gym on a back day I'll normally wander off to some sort of preacher curl station at the end of my workout, then a few drop sets of db curls to finish off.

Sorry, I misread that, thought that was your only routine

Yeah, I usually work upper body in one session, twice weekly. Basically working my upper body in one session, helps the lack of variant exercises on my biceps.

 

[Teagueeee15]

Losing strength is a bit of a "how long is a piece of string" issue as genetics plays a role, as does diet, lifestyle, movement etc etc.

There are quite a few articles around that discuss how much easier it is to 'regain' muscle as opposed to 'grow' muscle so the old bro-science of muscle memory appears to have quite a solid basis.

Hope everything is ok and you can get back to training ASAP

You’re correct in saying that everyone will react differently.

I had a 24-48 hour illness back in February and missed about 4 sessions. I lost strength across all of my lifts and got most of it back in around 1 week (basically the same time I was out for). The one exception was my bench press, which hasn’t come back at all (still about 5kgs down ) 3 months later.

 

[GROTTO]

You’re correct in saying that everyone will react differently.

I had a 24-48 hour illness back in February and missed about 4 sessions. I lost strength across all of my lifts and got most of it back in around 1 week (basically the same time I was out for). The one exception was my bench press, which hasn’t come back at all (still about 5kgs down ) 3 months later.

Hang on there though, illness vs lazy vs injured.

Those scenarios will lead to different results in itself.

If youre lazy, you can come back sometimes even stronger if the layoff is short.

Injured is tricky depending on the body part at play and if youre talking compound lifts or isolated lifts.

Illness, yep sure, I can see why you may lose easily strength. Though 3 months later is unusual. Then again, it depends on the foundation you have in place. If you have built a foundation of training for at least 18-24 months, an illness shouldnt set you back that far. This is just pure guess work here, no science in the comment.

 

[GROTTO]

Should also add the caveat that when you miss/stop training for a while, the quality of food/sleep and other things that you put into your body also IMO will effect your ability to either recover your strength losses or take a much longer time.

I had two cheat meals twice a week.

Im not counting the ice cream I regularly smashed either.

I should add that a lot of niggles that I had, were able to heal properly and I dont have any issues with them. However the DOMS has been awful for me. I mean painful as f**k.

 

[GROTTO]

Completed my first Push/Pull/Legs cycle in a month.

Its so true what they say, its easier to go everyday then to go occasionally.

I put off my return to Tuesday and it was the hardest day of the week, after that it was relatively smooth. Looking forward to PUSH tomorrow.