Weightlifting & Fitness - Everything old is new again!

[Sugashane]

5 hours ago, Tugboat said:

This is a big thing tbh.  You can train like crazy to be something else and it can have benefits, but at the end of the day...we're all just sorta genetically predisposed to certain aptitudes.  I'm definitely not a real "long distance runner" either.  I didn't get "sprinter" either though.  I got mostly that super unremarkable "medium" quick/long twitch mix.  Even in HS when i did track stuff, 400m was my jam.  Or some of the field sports.  But i wasn't winning any drag races to 100m and by 800m i was already waning.  lol.

Oddly enough I was always better at long distance running but I think it was just due to how I worked out. I use to run a mile after practices with a few buddies. Sounds great but for football, basketball, and baseball it's not even working the right energy systems. Burned off calories from all the soda in guess though. Lol.

5 hours ago, Tugboat said:

My real sports were always hockey and football though.  

Where...not to sound cocky, but i might even be a 95th Percentile skater in the entire world population (thanks China lol).  But i'm still not like...outrageously fast in top speed or explosiveness.  Agility is my jam.  But it's largely technique, combined with a low center of gravity, balance, and that ability to translate momentum into 4-direction mobility.

Was always a similar thing with Football too.  I was great in space because everyone else was slow or small or soft or useless enough, so lateral mobility and just all around loose hips and change of direction ability was way more important than speed or endurance.  Close on runners or limp QB throws was too easy.  But i never had the true size or explosiveness to carry it to anything beyond that level.

 

Now i just run for health.  Burn calories.  Improve that cardiovascular health.  But despite urges from my stupid natural distance runner buddy (who just does distance skiing in the winter and also cycles like a million miles every summer), i really just understand my niche.  I've got some pretty standard 5k, 7k, 10k loops i'll run.  5k are for days when i maybe drank too much the night before and want to cut it short.  7k is...i've got a few different loops about that length and that's my comfort zone of pushing so i'm dead tired at the end and feel like i've done something.  10k is...i'm trying to really push it, but i'll probably burn out for an extra rest day afterwards.

 

But i've been really slacking in general for the last while and it sucks.  Stress that is completely unrelated just has a way of working it's way in and i hate that i'm not better at overcoming it.  Had some legit excuses when it was like -40something for a while and stuff.  And i've been on the road a lot over that span.  But still feels bad.

I always wanted to try hockey but lived in a small town in central IL, so about all the exposure I got was the Mighty Duck movies. In sports I never was particularly talented, just big and really physical. I was always mean and a try hard athlete. I grew up loving Rodman so I enjoyed the dirty work. Even in football I was a WR/TE hybrid and my coach told the team I had the best hands of any OL he's ever coached. 😅 I was just willing to deliver gits and take hits so in college I got playing time in large part due to my run blocking. I was still a nobody talentwise in DIII, but I loved it.

Running wise I'm just doing it for cardiovascular health.  I do feel better after doing it though, just never really look forward to it. I get my two miles and will eventually amp it up but I think a 5k is about the best I'll ever put in with any consistency. I'm still taking it slow with that. Had enough surgeries on my right knee that I'm pretty slow to advance anything high impact. Probably overcautious but I'm plenty good with that. I'm not competing in anything now so now I'm just trying avoid injury and hold onto muscle.

I eased up on the running when it was frozen here too. Went to the gym and rode the bike for a bit but it's not the same. THAT sucks for me. Lol

[naptownskinsfan]

On 1/28/2024 at 7:29 AM, Tugboat said:

Heh, i have a good friend who was doing marathon training and he was doing some weird technique of "running slow" to be faster.  Just monitoring pace to keep his heart rate in a certain narrow, lower stress range or something.  And as a result, he ran way less mileage than normal and i wasn't even that far off from him.  Despite the fact he's a massively better distance runner and in way better shape and i honestly slacked hard this past year for some reason.  He said it was so ******* hard to restrain to that sort of pace, to try to gradually push it upward over time.  I don't have nearly the discipline for any of that.  lol.

 

This is a big thing tbh.  You can train like crazy to be something else and it can have benefits, but at the end of the day...we're all just sorta genetically predisposed to certain aptitudes.  I'm definitely not a real "long distance runner" either.  I didn't get "sprinter" either though.  I got mostly that super unremarkable "medium" quick/long twitch mix.  Even in HS when i did track stuff, 400m was my jam.  Or some of the field sports.  But i wasn't winning any drag races to 100m and by 800m i was already waning.  lol.

 

My real sports were always hockey and football though.  

Where...not to sound cocky, but i might even be a 95th Percentile skater in the entire world population (thanks China lol).  But i'm still not like...outrageously fast in top speed or explosiveness.  Agility is my jam.  But it's largely technique, combined with a low center of gravity, balance, and that ability to translate momentum into 4-direction mobility.

Was always a similar thing with Football too.  I was great in space because everyone else was slow or small or soft or useless enough, so lateral mobility and just all around loose hips and change of direction ability was way more important than speed or endurance.  Close on runners or limp QB throws was too easy.  But i never had the true size or explosiveness to carry it to anything beyond that level.

 

Now i just run for health.  Burn calories.  Improve that cardiovascular health.  But despite urges from my stupid natural distance runner buddy (who just does distance skiing in the winter and also cycles like a million miles every summer), i really just understand my niche.  I've got some pretty standard 5k, 7k, 10k loops i'll run.  5k are for days when i maybe drank too much the night before and want to cut it short.  7k is...i've got a few different loops about that length and that's my comfort zone of pushing so i'm dead tired at the end and feel like i've done something.  10k is...i'm trying to really push it, but i'll probably burn out for an extra rest day afterwards.

 

But i've been really slacking in general for the last while and it sucks.  Stress that is completely unrelated just has a way of working it's way in and i hate that i'm not better at overcoming it.  Had some legit excuses when it was like -40something for a while and stuff.  And i've been on the road a lot over that span.  But still feels bad.

 

 

Anecdotally...if i don't run first thing after i wake up.  The likelihood of it happens drops exponentially.

 

 

Definitely agree with this stuff.  Running fasted, first thing is the most rewarding.  As long as you can fit it in.  Just kicks the day off like, "whatever happens from here, i already ran 7k and i feel fine".  Lifting...i think that can kind of move around, but it definitely makes sense that pm would be better.  More fuel and more awake.

 

My circadian rhythms always just get jacked right the **** up every winter anyway though.  It's hard when the sun doesn't rise until like 9am and sets by like 4pm.  There's something about waking in the dark, riding to work in the dark, spending the day inside, then riding home in the dark and going to sleep in the dark that just messes with your internal clock.  My brain clock gets all messed up at least.  Doesn't get better when it's the opposite mid-summer either.  "Oh it's 11pm?  But the sun is just setting"  and then bombarded 5 hours later by Sunrise.  I should really just move back to somewhere that makes more ******* sense.

It’s the 80/20 method.  Run 80% of your runs at a slow pace, and 20% of them at faster paces.  Tuesday is my “track” day where I do speed work that involves different paces.  At various stages of my long runs, I will also do marathon pace.  I didn’t think it works, but it actually does.  Most successful long distance runners do the same thing.  

Once my close friend started incorporating more of the slower paces into his routine, he actually started winning races.  He won four races this year. and Boston Qualified at one of the toughest courses in 2023, and he hadn’t won any coming into the year.  And it was a variety of races too.  One was running as many miles as you could in six hours (he did 40), one was a 10k, and he won the Super (10k) and Sprint (5k) Washington DC Spartan Races in his Age Group in back to back days

[El Ramster]

Guys ima buy some stuff online. Been back on the grind.. If anyone here is real knowledgeable with some of my questions 

PM me.. I gotta ask a few things. Nothing crazy either lol. I’ve been packing muscle taking literally just vitamins. But I need some

turbo not peds or tren… we natty city baby. 

[naptownskinsfan]

Finished my second marathon in Myrtle Beach this weekend, with my fiance and her parents there.  Beat my previous time by 2-4 minutes depending on what measured the time, 4:11:00-4:14:00, where I finished at 4:15:50 in Baltimore during the fall.  

I felt a groin pull in my left leg around Mile 8, and until then, I was solidly on pace for what I was training for which was 3:55:00.  My pace went down and around Mile 18, my right ankle started to hurt from overcompensating.  It was also ridiculously humid as a storm front was pushing through and there were plenty of other people who were falling flat because of it.  Felt like calling it a couple times and trying a local marathon later in the spring but I just couldn’t bring myself to do that.  

Proud that I finished.  Probably won’t do the Marine Corps Ultra this fall like I wanted, as I want another shot at a sub 4 hour marathon.  Going to train next to try and PR my half-marathon which is 1:42:00.  

[MacReady]

Was hitting personal records on 5x5 bench for like a month straight after upping my supplement and protein intake game.

Then got a gnarly sinus infection that lasted two weeks.

Bench press took a ten pound hit when I finally got back to it today.

That’s the worst feeling in the world, but I’m going to power through and get right back up there.

[StevenK]

On 3/5/2024 at 8:38 AM, MacReady said:

Was hitting personal records on 5x5 bench for like a month straight after upping my supplement and protein intake game.

Then got a gnarly sinus infection that lasted two weeks.

Bench press took a ten pound hit when I finally got back to it today.

That’s the worst feeling in the world, but I’m going to power through and get right back up there.

That’s awesome, minus the sinus infection 
 

Yeah, I know the feeling, but the good thing your muscle memory will get you right back up there. 
 

You should try out the slingshot on bench, the Mark Bell slingshot. It will/can help your bench. I’ve been using mine for awhile now for other medical reasoning. I have arthritis in my shoulder and chest, so it doesn’t allow you to flare your elbow and cause any shoulder discomfort as you go heavier. Not required, just a thought. Helps with overloading. 

[naptownskinsfan]

PR for my 5k set, 21:18, was 14th overall in the race I did today.  Extremely consistent miles- 6:54, 6:53, 6:55.  Ended up faster than my Garmin predictor.  

Have a 10k set for next weekend so we will see if I can PR that one.  

[MWil23]

On 2/13/2024 at 11:02 PM, El Ramster said:

Guys ima buy some stuff online. Been back on the grind.. If anyone here is real knowledgeable with some of my questions 

PM me.. I gotta ask a few things. Nothing crazy either lol. I’ve been packing muscle taking literally just vitamins. But I need some

turbo not peds or tren… we natty city baby. 

Eat protein and healthy fats, as in approximately a gram of protein for every pound you weigh.

Get 8 hours of sleep (you build muscle recovering).

Be consistent lifting weights and increase your loads at a safe and gradual pace. The “5 lb method” is tried and true.

[mission27]

On 4/1/2024 at 6:30 AM, MWil23 said:

Eat protein and healthy fats, as in approximately a gram of protein for every pound you weigh.

Get 8 hours of sleep (you build muscle recovering).

Be consistent lifting weights and increase your loads at a safe and gradual pace. The “5 lb method” is tried and true.

And take a lot of steroids

[Sugashane]

4 hours ago, mission27 said:

And take a lot of steroids

It doesn't even take that much to be superphysiological TBH   lol 

[NickButera]

For those of you extremists who've tried to gain muscle mass while cutting fat at the same time, question 

I'm in week 4 of a caloric deficit (400-900 calories per day deficit). Super clean food intake. Hydration levels are the same, water intake hasn't changed. Protein intake is about 1.3x my body weight. Daily workouts, pretty intense. 

So far the scale has stayed the same. Fluctuating around the same number now for 4 weeks. This means it's working right? 

I'm able to calculate weight loss off my caloric deficit and have done in cuts for a long time throughout the last 10 years, but I've never known if there was a way to attempt to calculate muscle mass growth. Other than "wait 3 months and see if the mirror says you look different". 

[Sugashane]

On 4/12/2024 at 6:13 PM, NickButera said:

For those of you extremists who've tried to gain muscle mass while cutting fat at the same time, question 

I'm in week 4 of a caloric deficit (400-900 calories per day deficit). Super clean food intake. Hydration levels are the same, water intake hasn't changed. Protein intake is about 1.3x my body weight. Daily workouts, pretty intense. 

So far the scale has stayed the same. Fluctuating around the same number now for 4 weeks. This means it's working right? 

I'm able to calculate weight loss off my caloric deficit and have done in cuts for a long time throughout the last 10 years, but I've never known if there was a way to attempt to calculate muscle mass growth. Other than "wait 3 months and see if the mirror says you look different". 

It sounds like it would be working. Take weekly pictures at the same time. I do it on Sunday morning. I'll void then, get my coffee going, then I'll go to my office. I do a relaxed front, relaxed profile to the right, and finally relaxed back. If you really want to see progress then that's the way to do it. You can sort them and put them side by side on your computer, and can do a little gallery slideshow to get to see week by week improvements (or lack of) much more easily.

Try to do everything 100% the same. Same area, same lighting, same distance away from the camera, etc. I even have the same runner's shorts in almost all the pictures (short shorts show the legs without showing anything else).  I have a bit of painter's tape 8 feet from the spot where my phone's prop is set up and that let's me produce almost identical pictures every week. In late Jan or early Feb I kept my bodyweight consistent for about 3-4 straight weeks but I could see the 'pouch' and my lower back shrink over the same time. Maybe it was just water weight rather than muscle but I don't like using the scale compared to photo logs. Keeps a bit of unnecessary frustration from building IMO.

On a secondary note, I got to see when I was looking back at old photos my back was starting to round a bit compared to then, and my head was a bit forward too. Likely due to switching from construction to a LOT more time at the computer and sitting at a desk. So decided to start some functional work and a bit more work on mobility for my neck and upper back.

[naptownskinsfan]

Set some PRs recently.  I did a local-ish Bunny Run 5k right before Easter, and set my 5k best with a 21:31 showing.  My times were all consistent (6:52, 6:53, 6:54) with a fast finish.  

The next week, I did the Sole of the City 10k in Baltimore that a local running company puts on, and I am a member of their racing team.  I ran this in 45:53.  I ran 7:13-7:23 for 5 of the 6 miles.  Right in the middle was a long hill incline, and I was near 8 minutes for that mile.  Recovery was great the next mile though.  Again, another fast finish to just barely nab the PR.  

This past Monday, I decided to do a time trial to see if my one mile time has increased, and it has.  I’m at 6:32 now, which beats 6:42 from a race last summer.  

Sad thing is that we won’t be going away this coming weekend to a half-marathon, and I don’t think I’ll get the chance to run another this spring to try and get a PR at all four major distances.  

[jetsfan4life51]

I’ve been doing Neck Presses instead of Benching and it’s incredible how much my chest has grown. End of the year I’m going back to benching to see if I can drive up my numbers. 

[Sugashane]

7 hours ago, jetsfan4life51 said:

I’ve been doing Neck Presses instead of Benching and it’s incredible how much my chest has grown. End of the year I’m going back to benching to see if I can drive up my numbers. 

Interesting, do you flare your elbows really wide or lift your feet up? Smith machine or free weights?

I tried it once on a smith and my elbows flared up. (I think) I had my hands too close together and with too much weight, so it put a lot of stress there.