The Official Gym & Fitness Thread

Word. Yeah i'm the same never finished getting black out drunk after college, just kept partying while my friends all kind of settled down. But now it's been creeping into the weeks so really need to do something about it. Tried a few times for moderation but no luck. Time for temperance.

Feel ya on the body fat % too! I rock climb and have basically gone as far as a I can as a drinking man. Time to try protein shakes after a work out instead of beer. Get some accumulative effects from training and stop ruining my training. See what I can do. That bit i am excited about.

 

Spent the better part of 4 hours today working on the truck (installed new lift) and hurt in places I don't understand. Just spent about 20 minutes on my foam roller stretching out my legs and lower back. Still on track to max squats today but have to wait for the after work crowd to come and go before I attempt to go. Just weighed in at 164.8 and 10.27% BF. Hoping to get at least 355 for my 1RM so I can hit 1000 before the end of the week

 

I keep track of my 1-8 rep max. Each workout I pick two of those (usually the oldest two) and attempt to break them. This way I'm varying rep range and I know I'm pushing just a little harder each time. Working like this usually makes for a new 1rm a month give or take.

 

ill try it when im fresh i did a fuck ton of squats, deads, goodmornings and glute ham raises yesterday since i cant oly lift right now, sprained my wrist paintballing so cant realy bend it lol

i did about a month ago something that probably felt similar.

you have 2 minutes to complete the working sets, then u get to rest 3 minutes before the next round. the catch was every second over 2:00 each round took you 1) lost some rest and 2) u then had to do that many burpees during what should be your rest period.

0-2:00
400m run
30 unbroken backsquat 135

2-3:00 burpees/rest

3-5:00
400m run
20 unbroken backsquat 185

5-8:00 burpees/rest

8-12:00
400m run
10 unbroken backsquat 225

12-15:00 burpees/rest

15-18:00
400m run
5 unbroken backsquat 265

18:00 burpees/finish

i got 0 burpees its worth a try if your not scared of a lil cardio...if u cant run a quarter mile in under 2 minutes then ur in for a ruff time lol

 

Im pretty consistent with most lift in that i loose 2 reps per 20 pounds added for under 10rep max.
So for example if i do bench : 315 for 10, i can do 335 for 8, 355 for 6 ,375 for 4 ,395 for 2, and 415 for 1. I then use this basis to work my sets around, 5x5 on 335. First set is easy, seconds set still easy 3rd little harder, 4th just making 5 and 5th needing a spot on the last rep.

For deadlifts however its a little different as one would expect

 

Well...not off to the start I was hoping for. Failed on 355 twice. Not blaming it on my day either, I was feeling good once I got in the rack and the music was doing me right. Just couldn't get it up So now I'll need to add 10lbs to either bench or deads to round out this elusive 1000.

 

Recovering alcoholic with 13 plus years sober.

I got in a lot of shit including almost dying several times and moderation never lasted more than a few days so at 28 it was cut the shit or die before age 30. 42 feels damn good and I don't miss it. I still go to bars once a week because I play in a dart league, I just drink a soda or water.

Side benefit was my weight was 300 when I stopped, got to about 220 just from no more booze. I wasn't exercising or eating right at all

 

Well did chest today and decided to switch it up. Me and my buddy did 225 for four sets as many as we could. If we're going by this challenge rules I got 12-13 just repping them out no rest and ending up getting 21 total for the first set. Then it was a big drop off to 12,11,10 on the last sets.

Already can tell I'm gunna be sore as fuk tomorrow

 

Chest for me today too. Did a pyramid set. I can already feel the soreness coming on

 

The bench challenge is fun, id say its the easiest one out of all of them. DL is friggen brutal and squat is as well.
I personally do a max rep fail set 2 times a month as my first working set after I'm warmed up. Then my work out starts after that. My highest 225 rep count for bench was 33 and had to take a break at 28 due to the tri's being on fire. Squat i cant seem to manage more than 21, i die! and deadlift, well i havent done this in a very very long time with that so i cant tell yah

 

Haha, DL would be easiest for me, then squat, then bench! It's funny that we are opposite. I'm dead serious when I say I can only do 5 at bench. My max is 255 so that probably explains it.

 

went to the gym yesterday...









...just saying

 

I did shoulders and triceps last night and my triceps are on fiya today.

For tri's, I did:

close grip bench: 3 sets to failure @ 135 (20, 18, 15)
skull-crushers superset w/ close grip pressing the bar afterwards: 3 sets to failure @ 75 lbs: 12/6, 10/5, 10/5.
v-bar triceps pushdown: 3 sets to failure @ 200 lbs (the whole damn stack of weights ) 20, 18, 16

Gonna do back/bi's tonight.

 

WHEN IS LEG DAY!

 

Day 2 was much better than day 1 in operation 1000#. Hit 290 on bench. So I just need to get my dead up to 360 tomorrow from 350 last month and I'll hit 1000. Weighed in at 164.2 before I lifted.

 

That was Monday. I even posted some sexy pics for you:



If I remember correctly, this is what I did:

back squats: 135x10, 225x11, 315x2, 225x?, 135x?
stiff-legged dead lifts: 135x20, 225x15, 225x?, 185x?
leg extensions: 4 sets of ? @ 45 lbs per leg
leg curls: 4 sets of ? @ 35 lbs per leg
calves

A little sore today, but, like I said, I was in a funk that day.

 

Story time:

2 years ago I was probably in the best shape of my life, strength wise not necessarily physique wise.
I have more of a 'ectomorph' body type, had been relatively short in stature most of my life and 'skinny-fat'. 2 years ago I was making all kinds of strength gains and slowly but surely whilst working on my diet started noticing veins i never knew i had and abs i never knew were there lol. Obviously once I knew what I was doing in the gym, lifting properly, sticking to a program that worked for me (5/3/1 for me) and sticking to a decent diet, I saw great results!

To get to the point, I got myself involved in a relationship. I promised myself I wouldn't let all the hard work go to waste. I stayed true to that for the first couple of months.. however, slowly but surely I went from 4 days of the week in the gym to 3 then 2 then 1 to none. I don't know how I let it happen. I don't blame it all on the relationship as I am a mechanical engineering major so school has been taking a heavy toll on me as well. Anyways, about a month ago prior to finals I made a big decision in my life. I decided I was no longer happy for a number of reasons. I decided it was time to make some changes in my life. I am no longer in a relationship and broke that off for several reasons. I feel like it was starting to get in the way of my academic goals and obviously GYM GOALS!

Once finals were over, I decided to start working towards making my return to the gym. So here I am, my first week back and it's been hell. It's a depressing feeling too man! Picking up weights that used to be so easy for me now have me gasping for air.

I wanna know if more of you guys have gone through something similar.. an extended leave or whatever it was. How long has it taken you to get back to where you once were and how do you feel now?

 

I haven't quit since I've started working out 5-6 yrs ago, but I have had to change some things to balance everything out. When I first started dating my girlfriend (now wife) about 7 years ago, I was 19-20 years old and weighed 140 lbs soaking wet at 5'11''. I was lanky my whole life. About a year into us dating, I started working out and haven't looked back. I even worked at the gym I go to through college for about 3 years. I'm now 206 lbs. When I started, my bench max was about 115 lbs and now it's around 330. The only thing that really challenged me getting into the gym was starting law school this past August. I have a job that has promised me a law career with them when I graduate, so long as I work for them while in school. I work about 30 hrs a week and go to class every Mon, Wed, and Fri night from 6-9 pm. On top of work and school, I have to study for about 8 hrs per class per week, so that's 63 hrs in a 168 hr week that I'm either in class, studying, or working. Throw in 8 hrs of sleep per night (56 hrs) and my 1 hr commute to/from school (6 hrs), that leaves me 43 hrs a week to do what I want (excluding obvious things like pooping, showering, shopping, meal prep, spending time with the wife, etc). <---this is why I retire from TacomaWorld during the semester b/c I just don't have time for it. I also have to cut my gym time to 3 days a week during the semester. I really tried going 4 days a week a few times, but it's just too hard for me. 3 days is perfect for me without adding any undue stress.

For anyone wanting to get shredded, lose fat, add muscle, etc., it takes about 3-4 hrs a week to do and I personally don't know ANYONE that doesn't have 3 hours in their week to set aside to go lift weights. It's all about how bad you want it.

The hardest part for me is meal prep (although I've worked out a convoluted system that works for me). I literally break out full-blown meals in the middle of class and get stares from people, but they're skinny little bitches, so I don't care lol

 

You are definitely right. I know there are more than enough hours in a week. It is and has always been a matter of how much you want it. I remember always whispering that to myself during max-out week. And like you, my biggest challenge has always been meal prep as well. It's looking like I'm going to have to set aside at least 2 hours every Sunday to prepare meals for the week. I have a coworker who does this and is only motivating me more and more.

 

Mirin' beard.