The Exercise & Fitness Thread: The Struggle Is Real

[Ashley]

Leg day has definitely kicked in now. Was walking up some steps earlier and oh lordy my thighs. 

Looking forward to feeling the same in my shoulders tomorrow after this morning's workout 😅

[Fierce_LiNk]

14 hours ago, Ashley said:

I'm not a big fan either but doing this challenge has helped make them a bit easier in the long run. Wouldn't normally do something like that but helping my PT out.

I did 5 sets of squats (bar, 60, 80, 90, 60), leg press, sissy squats with barbell, dumbbell split squats and something involving essentially a giant elastic band and I had to kick back using it. Went to pick something up off the floor this morning by leaning over and raised my leg as a counter balance and boy did I feel that. 

Yeah, I think having another person there to basically force you to do them is the best thing, tbh. 

What rep ranges are you working with when squatting? I hit 80kg x10 reps for the first time yesterday. My quads felt really pumped after that. 

[Ashley]

12 hours ago, Fierce_LiNk said:

Yeah, I think having another person there to basically force you to do them is the best thing, tbh. 

What rep ranges are you working with when squatting? I hit 80kg x10 reps for the first time yesterday. My quads felt really pumped after that. 

The only downside being I don't keep track of stuff like that because he does.

I believe it was 12 for bar and 60s, 8 for 80 and 5 for 90.

[Fierce_LiNk]

10 hours ago, Ashley said:

The only downside being I don't keep track of stuff like that because he does.

I believe it was 12 for bar and 60s, 8 for 80 and 5 for 90.

Good numbers, Ashbrah. You'll have thighs, quads and arse of the gods in no time. 

"What do you want for Christmas, Ashmon?"
"New set of wheels, cuzzzzz"

[Ashley]

10 hours ago, Fierce_LiNk said:

Good numbers, Ashbrah. You'll have thighs, quads and arse of the gods in no time. 

"What do you want for Christmas, Ashmon?"
"New set of wheels, cuzzzzz"

Again...

On 28/10/2020 at 6:12 AM, Ashley said:

Bold of you to assume I don't already have a butt like that. 

Although I have no idea what you're going on about in that exchange. Presume its some kind of reference I'm missing.

[Ashley]

Thinking of getting weightlifting shoes, anyone got recommendations? Had a look in shops in Birmingham yesterday and nobody seems to sell them which is annoying. I can see myself buying and returning a few before getting it right. 

Also hit the end of that burpees challenge a few days early. PT put them on my list this morning but left the reps blank and the amount the challenge is on at the moment doesn't divide easily (37) so I figured why not. Will do another 40 on Saturday and then the last day is "whatever you can" so I'm going to aim for at least 50 (5x10) but if I'm feeling it I'll see how much higher I can go. 

[MindFreak]

30 minutes ago, Ashley said:

Thinking of getting weightlifting shoes, anyone got recommendations? Had a look in shops in Birmingham yesterday and nobody seems to sell them which is annoying. I can see myself buying and returning a few before getting it right. 

I prefer flat shoes myself (I use inov8 235 for all exercise, including weights) but I've seen a lot use some Adidas shoes tthat look a bit like these: 

Generally, Adidas seems to have a lot of shoes for this.

[Eenuh]

1 hour ago, Ashley said:

Thinking of getting weightlifting shoes, anyone got recommendations? Had a look in shops in Birmingham yesterday and nobody seems to sell them which is annoying. I can see myself buying and returning a few before getting it right. 

Also hit the end of that burpees challenge a few days early. PT put them on my list this morning but left the reps blank and the amount the challenge is on at the moment doesn't divide easily (37) so I figured why not. Will do another 40 on Saturday and then the last day is "whatever you can" so I'm going to aim for at least 50 (5x10) but if I'm feeling it I'll see how much higher I can go. 

I know @Fierce_LiNk uses weightlifting shoes similar to the ones @MindFreak posted and he really likes them. Not sure what brand they are but I'm sure he can tell you hah. He ordered them online I think, not sure many stores would stock them.

[Ashley]

1 hour ago, MindFreak said:

I prefer flat shoes myself (I use inov8 235 for all exercise, including weights) but I've seen a lot use some Adidas shoes tthat look a bit like these: 

Generally, Adidas seems to have a lot of shoes for this.

Yeah Adidas seem to have a fair few, Nike has one range and then smattering others. Looked into the Nikes yesterday and will look into Adidas today. Cheers!

9 minutes ago, Eenuh said:

I know @Fierce_LiNk uses weightlifting shoes similar to the ones @MindFreak posted and he really likes them. Not sure what brand they are but I'm sure he can tell you hah. He ordered them online I think, not sure many stores would stock them.

Unleash the @Fierce_LiNk!

[Ashley]

On 14/11/2020 at 6:25 PM, Ashley said:

PT has set up a lockdown burpee challenge where over the space of 28 days you build up more and more. I've gone for the more difficult track which started on 15 and moves up to 40 for the penultimate day and then the last day "as much as you can manage" which I think I'm going to try and push for 50. If you don't see me after December 6th you'll know why.

Today was the last day and I ended up doing 110.

I decided to aim for 100 and then after doing the challenge realised it was "do as much as you can manage in 20 minutes". I'd done 100 in 32 minutes (10 sets of 10, 2 minutes rest) and then did a further 10 to time it and extrapolated from there I could have done 80 if I'd stuck to 1 minute rests which is what I normally do but thought I'd pace myself. 

Anyway, was a good challenge and a way to keep myself going. Just done the maths and that's 625 burpees over those 28 days (with some rest days in there). Not bad!

[Fierce_LiNk]

On 03/12/2020 at 1:30 PM, Ashley said:

Yeah Adidas seem to have a fair few, Nike has one range and then smattering others. Looked into the Nikes yesterday and will look into Adidas today. Cheers!

Unleash the @Fierce_LiNk!

I've mentioned this to you already off here, but the shoes that I have are Adidas Powerlifts. Can't recommend them enough. Feel great to wear, good ankle support and the lifts help when it comes to squatting and deadlifting. I used to put weights under my shoes/feet before I got this pair, to give me some sort of elevation as it didn't feel comfortable at all for my ankles when aiming to go to depth when squatting. Shoes have made a huge difference. 

I've had a bit of a break from exercise for the last two weeks as work was just so busy. Lifted today for the first time since stopping, felt good. Slightly down on some of the lifts, but that was to be expected. Should be able to catch up quickly, I hope.

[Ashley]

3 hours ago, Fierce_LiNk said:

I've mentioned this to you already off here, but the shoes that I have are Adidas Powerlifts. Can't recommend them enough. Feel great to wear, good ankle support and the lifts help when it comes to squatting and deadlifting. I used to put weights under my shoes/feet before I got this pair, to give me some sort of elevation as it didn't feel comfortable at all for my ankles when aiming to go to depth when squatting. Shoes have made a huge difference. 

I've had a bit of a break from exercise for the last two weeks as work was just so busy. Lifted today for the first time since stopping, felt good. Slightly down on some of the lifts, but that was to be expected. Should be able to catch up quickly, I hope.

Mine turned up last week and I've been using them on weights days since and they do appear to be helping. Certainly feel more strapped in and planted to the ground. The only annoying thing is having to take another pair of shoes as I don't want to mess them up on my walk. Think I'm going to ask to leave them at the gym after Christmas though. 

Next week is 5 months since I started seeing a PT (on Christmas Eve to be precise) and I'm seeing good progress. Feeling less self-conscious and certainly when I look at photos from before I can see I've managed to shift a lot around my stomach, although naturally I always focus on that area as I still want to shift more! He was complimentary about improvements to my shoulders (an area I don't really look at to be honest) and chest earlier which was a nice boost.

[Ike]

Tried out a 10 minute hiit exercise on Apple Fitness+ and I'm dying, honestly first I'd have improved even a little by now.

[MindFreak]

14 hours ago, Fierce_LiNk said:

Lifted today for the first time since stopping

Don't we always do that?

[LazyBoy]

Been doing the T25 workout program as we're living on a tight budget for the foreseeable future, and the DVDs were already lying around. 25 minutes of HIIT every week day, and christ its exhausting. I'm normally more of a weights guy, so this is a shocking amount of Cardio for me. Feeling good, especially after that first week where I was just constantly in pain. Anyway I'll do this for the 2 month program, use it to keep the Christmas weight off, and get back in the gym come February when hopefully we've also got some money coming in.

[Fierce_LiNk]

4 hours ago, MindFreak said:

Don't we always do that?

Um...yes, you're right. 

[Ashley]

I think leg day may be my favourite day...

I think it's because I can hit bigger weights (got up to 200kg on the leg press earlier which is just over 3BW) so it feels more like an achievement. Plus my left shoulder is weaker and my left grip too so those sessions always feel like I'm not hitting things as well.

Semi-related, there's now a hot tub at the gym so I'm looking forward to trying that out at some point. 

[Fierce_LiNk]

7 hours ago, Ashley said:

I think leg day may be my favourite day...

I think it's because I can hit bigger weights (got up to 200kg on the leg press earlier which is just over 3BW) so it feels more like an achievement. Plus my left shoulder is weaker and my left grip too so those sessions always feel like I'm not hitting things as well.

Semi-related, there's now a hot tub at the gym so I'm looking forward to trying that out at some point. 

You're a masochist, Ashmon. I did legs earlier today and it's taken all of my energy out of me. Walking up the stairs or getting up after sitting down takes an effort. Calves especially took a battering today. 

[Ashley]

8 hours ago, Fierce_LiNk said:

You're a masochist, Ashmon. I did legs earlier today and it's taken all of my energy out of me. Walking up the stairs or getting up after sitting down takes an effort. Calves especially took a battering today. 

Yeah it hurts, but it just feels like I'm achieving more with them so it 'feels' better in my head. I'm even maintaining balance while doing a split squat finally, although lying leg curls are still a killer.

Although it seems the only time drivers let me cross a road is just after my leg session and I'm really not in the mood to quickly walk-run across out of politeness 😅 and then I get home and have to walk up four flights of stairs (lift schmift) which is one way to end things.

[nightwolf]

Whelp confession time, I've been to the gym once in two months.

I mean, part of that is because covid, but still. Lacking the motivation at the moment. I know part of this is because my body is getting worse (fibroids, what a kicker) and I've been needing to rest a lot more, but it kind of sucks seeing it all go down the drain after 3 years. So hoping to get back into gymming this week and taking more walks away from my work for lunch breaks.

In the mean time, someone send me ideas of how I do bench pressing without having a spotter, with covid and my friend leaving the gym (boo hiss) its been difficult to do, but I much prefer bar to dumbells..

[Ashley]

1 hour ago, nightwolf said:

Whelp confession time, I've been to the gym once in two months.

I mean, part of that is because covid, but still. Lacking the motivation at the moment. I know part of this is because my body is getting worse (fibroids, what a kicker) and I've been needing to rest a lot more, but it kind of sucks seeing it all go down the drain after 3 years. So hoping to get back into gymming this week and taking more walks away from my work for lunch breaks.

In the mean time, someone send me ideas of how I do bench pressing without having a spotter, with covid and my friend leaving the gym (boo hiss) its been difficult to do, but I much prefer bar to dumbells..

Does your gym have a Smith machine that you can use? I'd assume that would be easier to bail out of if the weight suddenly became too much and you wanted to stop. 

[nightwolf]

12 minutes ago, Ashley said:

Does your gym have a Smith machine that you can use? I'd assume that would be easier to bail out of if the weight suddenly became too much and you wanted to stop. 

It does, although I've never actually used it. so perhaps I'll give it a go. 

[Ashley]

7 minutes ago, nightwolf said:

It does, although I've never actually used it. so perhaps I'll give it a go. 

Worth a shot. I feel more confident lifting heavier on that because you're not having to worry about the direction (?) as you're basically going up and down and being able to flip it to rack at various positions means it's easier to stop if you over estimated. 

[Fierce_LiNk]

There's a definite place for the Smith machine, although I wouldn't rely on it too much for the long term. It's not amazing for your joints in some ways, as the up and down movements are very "fixed", which isn't a natural sort of movement for your shoulders. It's also not great for recruiting those stabilising muscles, which are helping when doing freeweights. So, use it, but I'd still try to throw in some barbell or dumbbell work too alongside it. The Smith machine is useful though with the way that you can use it without needing an additional person there, with the way that it racks the weight. 

Is there a cage of some type that you can use that has some spotter supports in it? That would be your most ideal outcome.

If you're going to use the barbell, it might be worth looking at the rep ranges and just being clever about it that way. E.g. sets of 8 or 10, not heavy sets of 5 where you would be more likely to use a spotter, or not lifting to failure, in which case you definitely would need a spotter. 

 

[Ashley]

And thinking about it do gyms not normally have staff lingering around? Presumably they can help out, although it might be different in this whole Covid world.