How is the weight loss coming? Are you on target?
That’s another thing, it’s all about personal goals. One year ago I was in terrible shape. I’m now in ok shape. That’s a big win. The difference between me now and me a year ago is, at least healthwise, probably about the same as me now and a professional athlete.
My goal is to get somewhat stronger and then do mainly fitness classes and hopefully get to like a 240 bench. I’d like to get to being a solid 260 lb guy, not a 300lb offensive lineman who benches 350. If I reach that goal, then Ill maybe shoot for being a “slim” 230.
Well I was shooting for losing 10 lbs, but I had to settle for gaining 3. Close though! -1/3 of the way there.
As long as the bigger muscles burn more calories. That and keeping my sanity by working out every day are my only goals.
Coming up to the end of the year, i realised my weight goal in jan last year was to lose 3kg from 114 to 111kg.
After 12 months of plus or minus 2 kg… my goal for jan will be to lose 2kg. From 114kg to 112kg.
Growing older by lowering my expectations one small step at a time.
I don’t know about this weird kg shit. But men do gain about 1lb of bone density or w/e a year as we get older.
Lol. Sure we do.
Thats 40 pounds heavier bones for a 70 year old vs a 30 year old. No way.
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Well it reverses at some point. But I think it’s pretty true from 18-50. Also it might not be bone density but it’s some kind of general thickness thing that happens. Nobody stays waify.
I reckon its fat. And maybe some muscle. But mostly fat…
I can go along with bone density tho. Feels better.
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Might be cartilage and stuff too. People just get thicker as they get older. I really don’t think it’s just fat.
“You think you’re getting fat, but the evidence is your bones are getting wider,” Dahners said.
Dahners and his researchers stumbled on the “widening” phenomenon while studying the X-rays of patients in an unrelated bursitis study. “It seemed that the older you got, the wider your pelvis was, which made no sense,” Dahners said. “It goes against everything we hear, that young people are bigger and stronger than the older generation.”
Old man strength isn’t a complete myth, right? I weighed 250 at one point in college and I could barely bench press 135. I could go a year w/o any upper body workout now and my max bench is still at least 175, maybe closer to 195. (My bench sucks either way - just illustrating a point)
No way old man strength doesn’t come w/o with some natural weight gain.
I listened to this Iron Culture podcast from Oct today. Does a really good job discussing strength and bodybuilding science and individual differences and developments over the last 15 years. If you listen between the lines they lay out the “state of the art” but it’s not the primary focus of this episode. The first 15 minutes are mainly lame banter and can be skipped, but there’s a lot of good info overall.
One interesting story that I hadn’t expected. The host (Eric Helms, well known lifter and professor) plateaued on hypertrophy for a long time on his bench (like over a year), tried a bunch of stuff, and went to benching 5 day per week, and it helped. They mention that the “commonly accepted” state of the art is 10 sets per week per muscle, but he gives the anecdote to note that there can be signficant differences, based not only on the individual, but training age, sleep, and other factors.
BTW, this book is, I believe, regarded as the leading authority on the science of muscle growth (much of which is cellular and not immediately applicable to training programs in a clearcut way). https://www.amazon.com/Science-Development-Muscle-Hypertrophy-Schoenfeld/dp/1492597678/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=schoenfeld+hypertrophy&qid=1608508566&sr=8-1 I haven’t read it but may pick it up if I continue to progress. I still have a long way to go with newbie gains and should be prioritizing weight loss anyway.
They also emphasize progressive overload (ie, regularly increasing the weight you lift or at least the reps) for both strength and hypertrophy. They are of the “school” that lifting heavy is best way to lift for muscle growth, with some caveats.
I had a post written out the other night but didn’t hit post about this. Doing all the reps in the world of my biggest dumbbells and kettlebells will only help to a point with straight strength gain. You need to keep lifting heavier things. Bo Jackson tho.
Yeah, but I also see guys who don’t look that big squatting 400+. Big variation on how different bodies respond to lifting. Everyone gets bigger and stronger, but some get massive, some get super strong, and some get neither. That podcast I linked mentions not to be in the mindset of some who follows like 10 famous fitness people/lifters on Instagram or whatever and compare your results or progress to them. They also said if you are lifting mainly for hypertrophy don’t try to do comparisons more than every 3-4 months.
Hell, I used to lift with the football team in HS (our training program/coach was big on lifting) and I had decent results, but I had friends doing the same workout who were benching 100lbs more than me.
On the rower again this morning after a week of letting my back un-fuck itself and didn’t think I would lose that much fitness in a week, HR higher than I expected for the work I was doing. Nice to be active again though. If I can keep avoiding the snacks and eating too much I should be pretty close to 30 pounds lighter than the beginning of the year. Woot!
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To give an update on this, I’ve stuck with the running. Now up to 30 minutes 3 times per week, and will probably add a fourth day this week. I bought some cold weather gear that has made runs in low 30s or high 20s comfortable, so hopefully I’ll be able to keep this up through the winter. Any other runners in the thread?
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Sounds you’ve made good progress, good for you.
I’m hoping to ease back into running over the winter. I’ve had to rest for the last 6 weeks after a bad case of runner’s knee. This sounds like a really good program, I’ve completed Couch to 5k before but I’ve always worried it progresses too quickly.
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I like running but not 4 seasons. I do like snow shoeing in the winter though, its great cardio and does not have the same impact on the joints.
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Feels like a bit of a breakthrough today.
Ive been having long running issues with elbow tendonitis. Have basically eradicated all pulling motion for weeks and have stayed away from the rowing machine entirely. Still having problems.
Ive been experimenting with a bunch of different cues etc to try and relieve the pressure. Finaly got one today that seems to work.
The pain deems to be linked to gripping motion with my ring finger. However, i think this tendon is used for some kind of wrist stability/anti rotation as well, so even if im not actually gripping with the ring finger, it still gets put under pressure.
Ive now started focusing on the extensor on my index finger. I think this obviously serves a similar stability/anti rotation function. If im flexing this. The pain basically goes away.
Fingers crossed i can finally start to make progress on getting this better and go back to deadlifting, rows and chinups.
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Has anyone ever gotten stuck trying to bench heavy at home alone? What’s the best move? I need to leave the clips on as these weights slide very easily.
Roll it down your chest onto your hips. Sit up.
Hurts a bit, but its fine. Practice with some lighter weights a couple of times.
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