The Official Gym & Fitness Thread

Didn’t know you were in Virginia. I’m alllllllll the way up in the NW corner.

I def won’t be competing but I would be down to check it out.

 

Yes sir. And cmonnnn. Just compete!

 

Are you a Georgetown grad?

Hows the ankle?

 

I have considered it in the past. I already participate in enough activities that risk destroying my body (i.e. BJJ/Kickboxing and Rugby) and I don't think I need another. I did a few powerlifting comps back in college, but now I lift to stay strong for those other activities as opposed to competing. Although, maybe I will watch this comp and get hooked.

Nope - but another law school in DC. Georgetown was too expensive with no scholarship!

Ankle is a lot better. Thanks for asking. Walking is pretty much back to normal. It's still sore after a day of a lot of walking and I can't quite plant/cut on it like I used to be able to, but it's getting there. Luckily, rugby hasn't started back up yet, and I am returning to BJJ training in May, so I anticipate being very close to 100% by the time those activities resume.

This elbow/bicep tendon though...

 

Since it looks like I’ll be WFH going forward, I sadly canceled my my gym membership and got some free weights. This will be where it gets done going forward.

 

How much can you bench

 

Looks like a true barn find.

 

I am willing to bet the answer is "a lot" if the MFer is lifting in a hay barn.

 

Wrong!!

Max bench is 225, could probably only push 200 right now. I have squatted 315 for 5 reps in December but haven’t gone that heavy since. Bodyweight is just under 170, I’m a little over 6 feet tall.

 

Depends if it’s cheap hay or good hay. Shitty is only like 40lbs. A good bale is 60-65ish.

 

That sucks Hopefully that gets resolved soon. You about ready to go for the knife?

 

Ok yeah.... But how much did you bench in highschool? That's all we care about.

 

Yep. I’ve got an appointment Monday morning. Hopefully he prescribes PT and rest and not surgery but we will see. Rest didn’t fix it and I’m resistant to PT just because it takes so much time. But if it’s the alternative to surgery, I’m all about it.

 

The only thing I would ask is if delaying the inevitable (surgery) will cause that tendon to atrophy beyond repair.

 

I decided today, I quit.


I quit the gym.


In 5 months it has gone from my most favorite thing to my most hated thing on earth.

I hope that before I wither away to a pile of 140lbs like I was 10 years ago that fact changes. If anyone has any advices I would appreciate it.

Is it worth it to force something that just pisses you off or just better to take the mental break?

 

Why do you hate it? What about it pisses you off? That’s necessary to answer your questions

 

I think if you only have outcomes as the motivation for the gym you are likely to hate it...people who stick with a thing, even when it sucks, enjoy the process. I mention this only because you talk about withering away to 140lbs....which makes me believe the gym might be linked to external things causing you unhappiness. Size, strength, etc are all linked to way more than the gym; so if you hang your enjoyment on those things alone you are in for a rough ride. Do anything long enough and you will start to slide off peak performance into the abyss of age related mediocrity. If you love it for its own sake you’ll continue, if not, you won’t.

That said, maybe you just hate it. I hate running, so I don’t do it. I do other stuff that replaces it but I will never be a runner.

That’s ok. Pick shit you like to do. The only thing I’d say is find some resistance type things to work in just to stay healthy, but they can be push ups and bw stuff...or yoga.

 

My overall motivation and give a fuck to do it is really gone.

The pissed off part comes from my knee. My VMO in my quad is still pretty much non-existent. This causes problems with my knee cap tracking properly and eventually leads to sharp stabbing pain. I have the most issues climbing stairs. I can't squat or DL heavy (past the 200lbs I've made it up to) because since the knee joint isn't being properly supported by surrounding muscles I end up having issues with the joint. I've spent pretty much countless hours on PT and still to this day have a hard time doing single leg lunges, Bulgarian split squats, and quad extensions. I feel like an 85 year old could kick my ass in terms of strength.

In other words pussy self loathing and feeling like a lot of money, time and effort, all went down the drain. Giving up doesn't help the knee get better so my PT I can keep up with, the but the hope I'll ever be worth a shit to lift heavy again may be worth letting go for awhile.

So do I need to chill out and just stop putting the pressure on myself or take the pressure off and risk being mad at myself for not trying?

I understand the external validation from others in terms of image. I'd mostly be disappointed in myself for giving up. I really could care less of what people think about my physique as long as I'm happy. I've already gained 15lbs and over all from a looks perspective I'm not really bothered by that. I'm more concerned about the mentality that got me the extra 15lbs.

I think that's my issue is that I no longer enjoy the process because there is no process. It's kind of hard to enjoy the process of hitting a brick wall everyday.

I was never great at anything to begin with, so it's not really like I can be upset with decreased performance. Plus I'm not old enough to really be experiencing age related performance loss. I feel like if I had that excuse to hide behind it may help me feel better lol.

So am I helping by trying to get myself to keep up with the things I used to love, in hopes I'll like it again, or is it worth a metal break to stop and maybe pursue different hobbies for a minute? It's not like lifting was the only thing that made me happy, it's not. It just sucks something I used to love kinda just sucks now.

Trying to figure out if I'm just burned out or what.

Running is still enjoyable to me, I keep that up. But I have little to no limitation with my running. Doing that I feel normal and able bodied.

Yoga is likely something I should add. Helps with anxiety and stress in addition to helping mobility and strength. Probably could use a few OOMMMMMMMMMS in my life.

 

Sounds like you need to fix the shit in your knee. Surgery may suck, but sounds like it’s about all that’s going to help at this point.

 

Its already been fixed. I’m dealing with the quad activation loss and mass loss as a result of the surgery.