Do you guys even lift?

[Somniac]

Used to be in the gym 3 times a week but since the pandemic I switched to home workouts, starting with 50 pushups every other day. I was never repping huge numbers but funnily enough going from deadlifting my own body weight or rack pulling 100 kilos to bodyweight was really challenging, and clearly something I'd neglected. 

 

Now I have a 25 kilo bar to use at home, it's better than nothing but I do miss being in the gym and having access to a wide range of equipment and bigger weights. I have no suitable place at home for my pullup bar either, which is something I really miss using.

 

I used to be on creatine pretty much constantly but have stopped it since about a year and a half ago. I supplement with whey protein, CLA and of course plenty of vitamins. As I'm fairly tall and skinny I've alway found it really hard to put on mass, but these days getting cut and toned is the goal. 

[Major Arlene]

1 hour ago, Serum said:

I've yet to find any workout supplements sold on the first source. Stamina Products is an equipment vendor host.

There's a reason I didn't specify the first source- because it doesn't sell those, and I'm aware. A couple of the other sources do, which is what I was referring to.

 

1 hour ago, Serum said:

Could you source this? I'd love to see any credible nutritionist say taking vitamins and protein is harmful as hell.

Since we're specifically talking about workout supplements, here (yay, science!): https://jissn.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12970-018-0247-6#Sec39
(I'm not saying every single supplement out there is harmful- but most are unnecessary unless you're not producing enough on your own or through the foods you eat. I had to take iron supplements for a short period of time due to a short-lived acute anemia episode, for example. I'll change my statement to reflect this.).
The supplement industry, however, is quite predatory and feeds quite hard on people's ignorance or lack of education. Many are also pushed by multi-level marketing companies and are not approved by FDA, often making unsubstantiated claims and often with legal repercussions. Herbalife is a major contributor to this.
(Did I mention there was a workout supplement (Craze) that literally contained a compound quite similar to meth?)

[Bridgeburner56]

On 6/27/2021 at 3:46 AM, Serum said:

Could you source this? I'd love to see any credible nutritionist say taking vitamins and protein is harmful as hell.

Obviously protein and vitamins are good for you and needed to ya know, survive. The issues lie in a few key areas. First off is that the supplemenet industry is completely unregulated. There can literally be anything in a given product so manufacturers either pack it out with useless crap, or fill it with actively harmful ingredients. There was a product here that was actually just speed and it was on the market for several years before it was picked up. 
Then there's the fact the the recommended dosages that these products come with are way too much for you to effectively use, often to the point of it being harmful. At the very least it's a waste of money and you just end up pissing out a lot of unused nutrients. Protein powders are particularly guilty of this. The amounts they tell you to take are a massive overkill. And high levels of animal protein consumption has been heavily linked to a whole host of health issues including an increased risk of most cancers
And then the human body isn't designed to consume these massive hyper cocktails of micro nutrients. Diet is a hollistic activity and whole foods are far better at giving you what you need. There was a study done here in NZ on the 12 most popular vitamin supplements a while back and only 1 of them actually resulted in the vitamins actually being absorbed into the body. Just because it's in there doesn't mean there will be uptake.
 

[Old-Doomguy]

OK guys, I wasn't gonna talk about supplements in this thread (I myself use Whey protein and creatine) but I've been returning to the gym now since I've had covid and got one shot of the vaccine. I've been continuing doing compound lifts and increasing the load slow but steady. Deadlifts are at 160kg now, for example, and I'm planning to do 200kg by the end of the year.

 

Hope you guys are staying alive and well!

[TwinBeast]

I have pea protein and soy protein, both in chocolate flavor. The pea protein tastes like saw dust with chocolate flavor. The soy protein tastes like peanuts and chocolate flavor. They have more chunks in the mix than the whey proteins I've tasted, but have better chocolate flavor. Yea and I mix them in oat milk.

 

The city gym opened today, but thought I'll get the 2nd vaccine shot before going there, until then I'll exercise at home. I have a pretty good set of adjustable dumbbells that can be from 2.5kg to 22.5kg. Got 6x 35cm long bars, 12x 2.5kg plates and 12x 1.25kg plates, also got 2x 3kg dumbbells and 2x 5kg dumbbells, and some other stuff. Maybe should get some stand for them, so they're not on the floor like this. Maybe also get a 4th weight set like this, but then I'd want it to be the shiny version. Maybe also with the rubber cover on the handles, the metal handles are so slippery feeling with the current heat & sweat combo.

 

[Sergeant_Mark_IV]

Yesterday was my 31st birthday. and I finally maxed a 120kg peck deck machine.

I used to think I had peaked at 21, that I would never be as fit as when I was younger, but I was wrong. Just been going to the gym regularly again for 2 months, already lost half of the fat I gained during the pandemic, I`m very excited about how far I can push myself now.
Remember people, it`s never too late to start, you are never too old.

[Biodegradable]

2 hours ago, Sergeant_Mark_IV said:

Yesterday was my 31st birthday. and I finally maxed a 120kg peck deck machine.

 

Oooh, happy belated birthday Mark! Congrats on your new gains. You look swole as fuck, mate.

[Bridgeburner56]

7 hours ago, Sergeant_Mark_IV said:

I used to think I had peaked at 21,

I'm definitely stronger in my 30s than I was in my 20s. Certain body systems do peak in your 20s and injuries definitely take longer to recover from the older you get. But there's no reason you can keep improving yourself well into your 40s and 50s. 

Good on ya for getting back into it. The gyms are juuuust about to reopen here after 16+ weeks being closed and I am chomping at the bit to get back into the groove. Home work outs just don't quite cut it for me.

[act]

Closest thing I had to lifting consistently was going complete shitmode back in winter last year. About 3 hours of sleep per night, ~15-25 kilos in my bag, and all while fasting. This is when I had to make a 1.5 mile trip to school on foot.

[RonLivingston]

I really should be lifting again

[Old-Doomguy]

Wow, this thread is still alive and well! Amazing!

I've been sick over and over again, but I just now done a reset on Strong lifts and I am slowly working up to my previous lifts.

[ReeseJamPiece]

I have a problem with my blood pressure and anxiety-related issues which makes it difficult to exercise, maybe a few push-ups and a run every now and again but nothing above that. I feel physically sick and get headaches if I do it for too long. I eat as healthy as I could but given I'm Scottish that statement means very little. Besides, as long as you aren't a morbidly obese Reddit moderator or some scrawny skeleton shitposter then you're doing alright.

[Old-Doomguy]

Well the rona weakened me some. 

 

Here's my 1-repping 170kg around 6 months ago, give or take. On my way to 200kg 

https://imgur.com/gallery/uOPlfp3

 

And here's me deadlifting just a week or two ago after having the rona. I'm doing 125kg for 5 reps and almost died 

https://imgur.com/a/Wxhoc0P

 

[Old-Doomguy]

On 12/1/2021 at 11:17 AM, Sergeant_Mark_IV said:

Yesterday was my 31st birthday. and I finally maxed a 120kg peck deck machine.

I used to think I had peaked at 21, that I would never be as fit as when I was younger, but I was wrong. Just been going to the gym regularly again for 2 months, already lost half of the fat I gained during the pandemic, I`m very excited about how far I can push myself now.
Remember people, it`s never too late to start, you are never too old.

You swole, brother! You gonna get really big if you continue with progressively overload!

[Old-Doomguy]

And tonight it's squats, press and deadlifts on the menu!

 

I can't wait to get to the gym. It's gonna be 92.5kg squats and 130kg deadlifts. Im slowly progressing back to my previous lifts, which was 130kg squats and 170kg deadlifts. Im hoping to do 200kg deadlifts during 2022.

[Dubium]

I have eating issues, so I never eat that much. My family says I'm skinny and how they prefer I'm being more "chubby" because they think I will be cuter that way

 

The main reason I don't eat much is because I don't like most local foods at all and the actual foods that I like are too expensive. So I eat ramen noodles quite often because it's cheap and still tasty. To me, eating feels nothing more than just an activity to stay alive because most of the time I can't enjoy things that get inside my mouth

 

But yeah anyway, the point is I don't need to lift due to that reason

Edited February 24, 2022 by Dubium

[Old-Doomguy]

2 hours ago, Dubium said:

I have eating issues, so I never eat that much. My family says I'm skinny and how they prefer I'm being more "chubby" because they think I will be cuter that way

 

The main reason I don't eat much is because I don't like most local foods at all and the actual foods that I like are too expensive. So I eat ramen noodles quite often because it's cheap and still tasty. To me, eating feels nothing more than just an activity to stay alive because most of the time I can't enjoy things that get inside my mouth

 

But yeah anyway, the point is I don't need to lift due to that reason

 

 

OK, not sure I follow. You're skinny and because of that you dont need to lift?

[Dubium]

59 minutes ago, Old-Doomguy said:

 

 

OK, not sure I follow. You're skinny and because of that you dont need to lift?

Yeah, and I simply don't wanna look even skinnier due to over exercising

[Mr. Freeze]

Do any of you folks work physical jobs? I'm a delivery driver for Amazon and most days I'm both wiped out physically and preparing for the next workday, so I don't want to exert too much and either make my job harder or injure myself. I'm thinking of just exercising on my days off (Sun, Mon and Tues) but I don't know if frontloading everything into three days is a good idea. 

[Old-Doomguy]

6 minutes ago, Dubium said:

Yeah, and I simply don't wanna look even skinnier due to over exercising

 

 

OK I respect that, but lifting heavy-ass weights will NOT make you even more skinny, quite the contrary :)

 

 

[Old-Doomguy]

3 minutes ago, Mr. Freeze said:

Do any of you folks work physical jobs? I'm a delivery driver for Amazon and most days I'm both wiped out physically and preparing for the next workday, so I don't want to exert too much and either make my job harder or injure myself. I'm thinking of just exercising on my days off (Sun, Mon and Tues) but I don't know if frontloading everything into three days is a good idea.  

 

 

I have a sedentary job, but when I was young I worked as a lumberjack and that made - and kept - me strong without working out.

[Thelokk]

I don't lift, and I don't need to. 3rd kyu judo gets me all the safety, respect and babes I need. 

[StrangerRanger]

Man, I feel like I'm very physically weak, trying to work on it, I have taekwondo training twice a week and I try lift weighs at home as often as I can. Sometimes I get sore muscles that can last 1 or 2 days, and sometimes they can even be so intense to prevent me from lifting or even doing few push-ups for like 4-5 days, but the soreness itself doesn't bother me that much. I just hope the soreness doesn't prevent me from gaining muscle mass and strength.

[Old-Doomguy]

2 hours ago, StrangerRanger said:

Man, I feel like I'm very physically weak, trying to work on it, I have taekwondo training twice a week and I try lift weighs at home as often as I can. Sometimes I get sore muscles that can last 1 or 2 days, and sometimes they can even be so intense to prevent me from lifting or even doing few push-ups for like 4-5 days, but the soreness itself doesn't bother me that much. I just hope the soreness doesn't prevent me from gaining muscle mass and strength.

 

Most likely the soreness isn't a problem. To become strong you have to lift heavy and to gain muscle mass you have to eat and rest after said weight lifting. 

[The BMFG]

im a fatass. been thinking about going to the gym lately. would genuinely help me. i also need to get some healthier shit to eat. thinking about finally starting to try to get healthier this week.

[Old-Doomguy]

51 minutes ago, The BMFG said:

im a fatass. been thinking about going to the gym lately. would genuinely help me. i also need to get some healthier shit to eat. thinking about finally starting to try to get healthier this week.

 

Well it's never too late. You can begin tomorrow. 

[Bridgeburner56]

3 hours ago, Old-Doomguy said:

 

Most likely the soreness isn't a problem. To become strong you have to lift heavy and to gain muscle mass you have to eat and rest after said weight lifting. 

Nope. The good thing about resistance training is that it works a variety of body systems. Eg you lift at around 15 reps, you will increase your 5 rep max. High degrees of specialization only matter if you're an elite athlete/power lifter etc.

[RDETalus]

14 hours ago, Dubium said:

So I eat ramen noodles quite often because it's cheap and still tasty. To me, eating feels nothing more than just an activity to stay alive because most of the time I can't enjoy things that get inside my mouth

Well, if the food you like is too expensive and you mostly eat just to stay alive, you should at least be eating something healthier than ramen noodles. That habit will screw you over later in life.

 

11 hours ago, Dubium said:

Yeah, and I simply don't wanna look even skinnier due to over exercising

Lifters usually go through cycles of eating and cutting, where they stuff their faces with tons of food, do a bunch of lifting, than shed the excess fat after the muscles have increased. That's not something you have to do, but generally if you want to do more exercising to get bigger muscles you also have to do more eating otherwise you're correct that you'll look skinnier from over exercising.

Edited February 25, 2022 by RDETalus

[Old-Doomguy]

9 hours ago, Bridgeburner56 said:

Nope. The good thing about resistance training is that it works a variety of body systems. Eg you lift at around 15 reps, you will increase your 5 rep max. High degrees of specialization only matter if you're an elite athlete/power lifter etc.

Whaddya mean, "nope"? He will not get strong by lifting heavy weights? If he's a novice everything will feel heavy and I'm sure he'll become stronger. I didn't go in to rep ranges at all but I myself prefer 5 reps. If I do 15 reps I risk the form even if it is lightweight. 

[Bridgeburner56]

8 hours ago, Old-Doomguy said:

Whaddya mean, "nope"? He will not get strong by lifting heavy weights? If he's a novice everything will feel heavy and I'm sure he'll become stronger. I didn't go in to rep ranges at all but I myself prefer 5 reps. If I do 15 reps I risk the form even if it is lightweight. 

You said, and I quote "To become strong you have to lift heavy" which is not correct. You don't have to lift heavy and there's a reason 1-3 rep maxes are done as a training regime other than as part of a tapering program to get ready for a competition, or to bench mark any progress on performance.

The main determining factor in pushing any body system to the point of growth is % of max intensity. Provide a strong stimuli for body adaptation. At a basic level you want your body to go "fuck me that was hard, better increase capacity in these systems so it's not so hard next time", and then you build on that microgrowth.

As for novices/people just starting out, form is king. And the majority of any performance increases in the first 6-8 weeks is mostly form neuromuscular improvements. Better cross bridge cycling, more efficient summation of force, synergist activation etc. Trying to "lift heavy" straight out the gate is a sure fire way to cause an injury. Because strength gains don't start and stop in the muscle. Tendons, ligaments, bone connection points, these all have to strengthen in concert with increases in force production.

The best way to keep progressing and improving? Variety. The human body is incredibly adaptive but it's also lazy. Body systems will always look for the shortest path to efficiency that uses the least amount of energy possible. If you keep providing the same stimuli it will "get used to it" (for lack of a better term). Mixing up exercises, rep numbers, training patterns etc is the best way to avoid plateauing. It's like people who constantly do flat barbell bench and don't mix it up. They might get some pretty big lifts in but give them a pair of dumbbells and watch them struggle.