Weight Loss and Fitness 2013

[pratty]

Yesterday, I beat someone in my gym class who used to be in my school and was fantastic at P.E. It's ironic because I was always last in P.E. and he were always in the top 3. My, how times have changed!

 

We both did this workout where we'd:

 

Row 2000m

20x kettlebell clean and press

20x kettlebell snatches

20x box jumps

Row 1500m

20x kettlebell clean and press

20x kettlebell snatches

20x box jumps

Row 1000m

20x kettlebell clean and press

20x kettlebell snatches

20x box jumps

Row 500m

20x kettlebell clean and press

20x kettlebell snatches

20x box jumps

 

...I did it in 43 minutes and he did it in 45 minutes. It was awesome!

 

DOING IT FOR THE FATTIES!

 

Well done mate, that would destroy me.

[Charlie]

What weight do you use on the kettlebells, Animal? Seems like you could burn a lot of calories in that workuot!

[Beast]

What weight do you use on the kettlebells, Animal? Seems like you could burn a lot of calories in that workuot!

 

I used 10kg and he used 8kg. It's an awesome feeling because I remember back in school how much I wanted to be one of those kids who'd place first. I got to do that seven years later. He's a good kid though.

 

I just remember when we went through the first round and he was halfway through it and I was still rowing that I had no chance in Hell of catching him up. Then on the second round, I noticed he started taking breaks so I was proper determined and hellbent on kicking his ass! I was so possessed, even Linda Blair from The Exorcist was like "Screw that! That man is crazy!". On the second and third round, I really struggled and took breaks. He did too but not as many as I did.

 

Both of us were on the fourth round, we finished our rowing and he had to keep on taking breaks. I took this as a golden opportunity and carried on. Box jumps SLAYED me but I did it and then after I did it, I collapsed!

 

Still, it's a victory and it's made me more determined and showed me that I must be doing something right. I'll keep posting what workouts I'm doing, it might help you guys! They're fun to do as well.

[Jon]

I've just been far too busy lately to get the gym, so I've been doing some workouts at home and doing some more running. Quite enjoying the break from the gym but i'm a little limited in what I can do at home at the moment, not much else besides press ups, core work and some dips. Might invest in a workout mat and kettle bell to spice things up a little. Really don't think i'll have the time in the next few months to consistently hit the gym.

[pratty]

I train at home and still feel like I have too many options, even without weights.

 

I wasn't able to deadlift or squat for a while because of my lower back, so I just had to do bodyweight leg work. It's probably no replacement for weights but I went up to doing over 100 straight reps of squats and lunges, sometimes i'd do 100 of each in the same workout. I could have also done step ups, bulgarian split squats and pistol squat progressions aswell.

 

I did a variety of push ups too, as well as handstands against a wall, and then handstand push ups. I'd still be doing the handstand pushups as find them easier on the shoulders but I think they maybe gave me headaches.

 

Pulls/back are pretty hard to work without weights or a pull up bar, but I have a cheap chest expander which is better than nothing. I think the handstands worked the upper back a bit too. You can of course do "prison squats" and overhead squats with a broom handle to work the upper back somewhat.

 

A sandbag is a useful home workout implement too. Isometrics, while not always ideal, are an option aswell.

[MindFreak]

Might try that workout one day, Animal. Even though I hate rowing more than 1000 m at a time.

 

---

 

I just realised that I might be exercising a bit too much at the moment. With the missus out traveling the world, I don't have much else than exercising and gaming to do in the evenings after work so I do that which means that I'm on my 6th day straight since my last rest day and before that I had five days with no breaks. Furthermore, I bike to work every day five days a week which is 2*8 km which I do in about 17 minutes each way - enough to get my pulse up and working. Adding this together means that I'm currently exercising about 1.2 hours a day, rather intensive cardio and weights. I weighed myself last Saturday, 69 kg, which is about 2 kg above my 'normal' weight. Either I've gained a bit of muscle or I'm eating too much. I'm leaning towards the first altough there has been quite a lot of cake over the last two months.

 

Other than that, weights are going alright. I've gone quite a bit down in backsquats as I'm refining my technique; previously, I could easily take 105-110 kg 4-6 times but I did it with a mix of high bar and low bar techniques which wasn't so good. Now I'm focusing on being more upright in my upper body which means that I can lift less but at least the techinique is proper now. I'm up to 98 kg for 5 reps.

Deadlift is still around the 115-120 kg mark for 5 reps so that's alright.

[Ashley]

Urgh I'm ill and can't go to the gym

 

Anyway, need some advice. The only way I can do a deadlift at the gym I'm currently at is using the assisted machine thing and it's not really the same. How useful is it to do it with free weights instead?

[pratty]

Urgh I'm ill and can't go to the gym

 

Anyway, need some advice. The only way I can do a deadlift at the gym I'm currently at is using the assisted machine thing and it's not really the same. How useful is it to do it with free weights instead?

 

 

I'm assuming you're using the smith machine.

 

Are you asking just how useful is the exercise, as in will you be missing out greatly if you don't do it at all?

 

The deadlift is a great exercise but it isn't everything, and it can be risky, believe me deadlift caused back injuries are no joke. Plenty of good weight training programs don't use it, and T-Nation's Christian Thibaudeau actually questions the lifts cost to benefit ratio.

 

Used and trained correctly I think it's a beneficial exercise but at the end of the day though if you can't do it, then you can't do it. Personally I don't like the sound of smith machine deadlifting so I'd look for an alternative.

 

Some kind of barbell squat would replace it as a good overall 'full body' lift. You can't go as heavy but you can replace the hinge movement with dumbbell/kettlebell cleans and snatches, dumbbell/kettlebell deadlifts/RLDs (perhaps not all the way to the floor though), and swings. Farmers walks would probably mimic some of the upper back and forearm work somewhat too, though more in an endurance way if the weight isnt a lot.

 

Essentially you can hit all the muscles the deadlift works with other exercises, just perhaps not quite as effeciently.

[Raining_again]

NOT THE SMITH MACHINEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

[Jon]

The deadliest done properly works the posterior chain and unfortunately it's the king of it's type for that exercise, there is no bettering it. That said, don't do it on a Smith machine, that basically defeats the point of the whole exercise. The squat works the legs in a similar way but not really the lower back. You could do some good mornings which are pretty decent for the lower back as well as deadlifting with dumbbells.

[Ashley]

Yeah it's a Smith machine. What's with the drama llama?

[pratty]

Yeah it's a Smith machine. What's with the drama llama?

 

It's locks the bar path in a strict and straight vertical line, which prevents the bar from deviating to follow it's natural path (which isn't allways a straight line like you might assume). This can present a safety issue, especially for something like the deadlift where failure to maintain the optimal natural bar path can put a lot of stress on the lower back.

 

Additionally because the bar only moves either up or down, the smith machine (and most other machines) does virtually all the stabilisation for you, so you miss training a lot of the muscles that perform that role. That's why a strong leg press or smith machine squat may not translate into an equally strong barbell back squat.

 

Futhermore you may learn bastardised exercise form which probably won't transfer over well should you switch over to barbell lifts. The barbell deadlift forces you to engage the lats to control the bar bath, pulling the bar tight to the body, it's an important aspect of the deadlift that you may not be learning adequately on the smith machine, perhaps not at all.

[Raining_again]

The smith machine....

 

 

an expensive adjustable pull up bar. And somewhere to hang yer coat.

[Ashley]

I use the locker for that

 

Did notice there's some weird barbell that looks a bit like this:

 

 

It scares and confuses me though, too many handles!

 

In other news gained 3 pounds in two weeks. Better than I thought it would be as my cold made me lose my appetite for most of last week.

[Raining_again]

that's a trap bar, allows you to do deadlifts with your arms at the side of your body instead of out towards the front

 

[MindFreak]

Her neck's all wrong.

[pratty]

I use the locker for that

 

Did notice there's some weird barbell that looks a bit like this:

 

 

It scares and confuses me though, too many handles!

 

Use that! So much better than the smith machine, it might look scary but it's probably the safest way to deadlift.

[Jon]

Got a pull up bar for £12. I now no longer need my gym membership.

 

Huzzah.

[MindFreak]

Safest way to deadlift? Using that thing? To me, it seems that the bar is dangling too far away from the body where you haven't got the slightest control over it so while it might be alright for light weights, it's far better to just go for the barbell and do it the proper way to begin with.

[Raining_again]

whhhha....?

 

trap bar makes the weight CLOSER to your centre of gravity not further away...

[MindFreak]

I've never used it so I don't know. How does it look when the user stands upright? Like this, I presume:

Then my worry is that the bar is not resting against your body so it might be unstable and wobbly, if you get what I mean. Of course that might be corrected by a good and stable core.

 

Well, I'm still sceptical. The good thing, though, is that you don't get hairless on your shins with that thing.

 

Edit: Read about it. Seems that the trap bare puts less stress on your back and allows you to lift more, although it's more like a squat. I stand corrected. Now I wish I had one to try out.

Edited December 4, 2013 by MindFreak

[Ashley]

Oh it's definitely not that. You can't fit into it.

[Fierce_LiNk]

Was it this, Ash?

 

[pratty]

Then my worry is that the bar is not resting against your body so it might be unstable and wobbly, if you get what I mean. Of course that might be corrected by a good and stable core.

 

Well, I'm still sceptical. The good thing, though, is that you don't get hairless on your shins with that thing.

 

Edit: Read about it. Seems that the trap bare puts less stress on your back and allows you to lift more, although it's more like a squat. I stand corrected. Now I wish I had one to try out.

 

You've got to think about it like the bar is going through your body. As Raining says it aims to keep the weight in line with your centre of gravity, which is ideal, when you pull the bar tight to your body on a conventional straight bar deadlift that's what you're attempting to do. The elevated handles also reduce the range of motion by a few inches.

 

I wish I had one too, they're useful for farmer's walks aswell.

 

You can probably simulate it to a degree with dumbbells or kettlebells, (if you use dumbells I'd suggest starting from standing and lower the weight to around conventional deadlift bar height, it's technically not a 'dead lift' that way but you may find it hard to keep your back straight if you start from the floor with dumbbells where the handles may end up much lower than a bar).

 

The advantage of a proper trap bar though is you don't have to stablise the individual dumbbells and you can load up the trap bar with serious weight.

[Ashley]

Yeah I think so Flink. Will take a proper look tomorrow.

 

Edit.

 

Yeah, it's what Flink posted.

Edited December 5, 2013 by Ashley