If you have kettlebells I would use them. Kettlebell swings are great. Just start slow and work well within your capability. It’s a surprisingly hard movement, especially if (like me) your glutes and hips are all out of whack.
I’ve done them in the past and yeah that first time I couldn’t bend over to wash my hands in the sink. But I think I know how to do them pretty well now. I should probably have like a 30, 40 and 50 right? Not cheap.
I don’t have anything that will support my 250lbs to do pullups on. I don’t trust those things you put over your door with my weight.
Nah. You aren’t aiming for perfect here. Just buy one with a bit of room to grow and work it into the rotation.
You can also do swings with dumbbells, but it’s a bit trickier.
I think that light dumbbell rows are a great compliment to barbell rows:
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Always good to work left/right independently to identify asymmetrical performance.
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If you do them slow and with good form, light weight, your can actually protract your shoulder blade at the bottom of a one arm row to increase range of motion. I definitely wouldn’t do that with a heavy loaded barbell.
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Easier to work alternative arm angles, I usually do heavy barbell rows with closer grip and tucked elbows, complimented by prone dumbbell rows with more flared elbows.
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IMO yes, see post above.
How good is your thoracic spine mobility? A lot of good rowing exercises depend on your ability to slightly extend your thoracic spine and keep it stable so your shoulders don’t tilt forward when you pull.
I can usually do chest out/shoulders back/arched back pretty well if needed. I just always have to remind myself not to slump. So I guess my back is fairly mobile?
Great. I just did some barbell rows, then I’ll go into dumbbell rows, which I know and am comfortable going heavier since I’ve been doing them for months. Then I just need to pick two more back things. I think I’m going to try the lat pullover - assuming I can do it with a dumbbell.
Them maybe I play around with some kind of Meadows thing with the barbell anchored in a 45lb weight in the corner. I’ll probably break something.
I feel like there’s a version of this where you use both arms and straddle the bar?
Found it. I need a handle thing.
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I wonder if a 50lb kettlebell is too heavy. I’m pretty sure 35lbs gets too light for me pretty quick iirc.
Fuck it I got a 35lb and 50lb. Delivery in 2 days was the closer.
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I got the meadows row going with anchoring the bar on a 45lb bumper plate. Works great so far. And I love the motion - feels very neutral on my elblow and like it’s really hitting the outer part of the lat - in a different way than the bent over barbell rows.
It feels just like the tbar-chest-supported pull thing at the gym that I like a lot - just one arm at a time.
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This is a good choice. One good piece of advice I got on one arm rows is to make sure you don’t pull your elbow too high. With barbell rows, the bar will limit how far you can pull. With one arm rows you have to make sure you don’t pull so far that your shoulder rolls forward. At the top of a one arm row think of squeezing your lat, not driving your elbow further back.
For t bar rows, if you can’t find a v grip it is possible to use something else. A leather strap would work well. Even a towel, its surprising how much weight a good towel can hold up without tearing.
Tweaked my lower back a bit today doing dumbell deadlifts. Think my core relaxed a bit about 2/3 of the way up on like the 8th rep. Not feeling that bad but decided to call off the workout out of concern for safety. Walking with a bit of a hunch and feeling it’s about a 3 out of 10 in severity.
What’s my play, back as soon as i can or take a week off?
Did you feel pain during the lift or after?
During, I put it down before completing the lift. Kinda feels like a mild muscle strain in lower left back area.
I’m not a medical professional but if I were you I’d lay off for a few days and see what’s up. My personal experience is that acute pain mid rep probably means a small tear or strain that needs rest. Usually when I have more of an accumulation “injury” from going too hard it manifests as pain after my workout when everything has cooled down.
Maybe take the opportunity to do a week of laying off lifts but doing some stretching and mobility work all week. If you can stretch without it hurting too bad that’s a good sign.
That seems like a good idea. Will chill for a few days and go on walks and do some stretching.
I got in the best shape of my life a few years ago when I was a dedicated Title Boxing customer. I’ve since moved a few times and there’s no locations around me now (not that I would go anyway with covid.) I want to integrate some sort of boxing into my home workout. Does anyone have any insight into good home setups for boxing? I’ve looked into the following so far:
Or recommendations for straight up heavy bags would be appreciated also.
Actually, it just occurred to me that I have the newly-released, relatively inexpensive ($300) Oculus Quest 2 VR headset arriving between Fri and Mon. I decided to buy it after reading some positive reviews of fitness apps/games and realizing it’s the same price as a pair of dumbbells.
Do you guys all hit the same parts once a week - or some kind of weird schedule? One advantage of covid is I could do any kind of schedule I want - like say a 6 day schedule. But I have been getting into a Mon-Thurs groove lately for upper body lifting.
This article says you can hit the same parts twice a week: How Often Should You Lift? | Men's Health
I’m a bit younger than you so YMMV but back in the day I would go 5-6 days a week and only had 2 different days, so I’d be hitting each muscle group 2-3 times a week. DOMS was only an issue if I’d taken a long time off. Occasionally I’d work in a yoga day, or might spend a Saturday doing olympic lifts because they’re so damn fun (not sure my knees could handle that anymore).
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