The Official Gym & Fitness Thread

Like rep or max? My max is probably close to 300.

 

But I am a rookie

I was fat

Got in hella shape

Maintained

Now I’m at that spot where it’s like okay let’s get a little more serious

 

That was my last comp bench, but that was in May before my hip surgery. I'm sure I'm stronger now, and also lighter. I walk around 170ish. I'm still limited on my workouts for 3 more weeks on my surgery recovery but I've been pushing upper body pretty hard. 2 weeks ago I had a rep test and hit 230 for 12, and that was after 6 sets of 5 at the same weight before the AMRAP test. So not only a rep PR, but in a fatigued state.

I started working with a new coach about 6 weeks ago. I like him so far...

 

Hellll yea man. Fucking beast.

I’m also not as serious. No coach or workout buddy. You and @Supra TT are way more dedicated then I will ever be.

 

I wish I had a workout buddy. I get lonely sometimes. Occasionally I workout with @tacopaulo but usually I'm solo. My coach just programs for me. I see him around every once in a while but we are on pretty different schedules. I used to program for myself but I hit plateaus and needed someone to take a look from the outside and help me out. I also started competing so it helped a lot there too, but my first coach was 10+years younger than me (I'm only 30) and his youth got in the way of his professionalism. He was really helpful and I hit a ton of PRs but it got to be too much to deal with lol. My new coach is also younger but he has worked for both the Carolina Panthers and now the UNC Tarheels as an athletic trainer, so professionalism isn't a problem.

 

How has that recovery been?

 

Hijacking thread for a quick minute despite my anxiety screaming at me, "DO NOT ENGAGE!" Feel out of place popping in the thread with more intense/educated/serious fitness folks, but that's how you learn right?

For the at-home dumbbell user, would yall definitely recommend some form of incline/decline bench to help with extending the range of motion in exercises? Get me off the floor? I do not attend a gym as I am still uncomfortable about working-out in public (that whole stupid self-image anxiety bull shit) so I do what I can at home. Not a hardcore fitness guy, just doing some light stuff to get back in shape and lose some excess baggage.

Only started doing ANYTHING in January when I realized I was a bit overweight (FAT, not just "weight") and didn't like how I looked. Changed diet, exercise, got some starting advice. Bi-weekly check-ins. Went from 175+ to 156 thus far, dropped like 5-7% body fat, gained some weight in the form of muscle...very small stuff, dropped a pant size or two, but stuff to help build confidence slightly. Slow, but I'm not exercising hardcore by any means, mostly dumbbell workouts and some cardio.

 

I feel like it’s going really well but my doctor seems to be playing it safe with me. But his original plan was 6mos no squats and he changed his mind to 3mos after my last check up. So June 1st I should be back at it...

My PT on the other hand knows I’m ready to go and has been pushing the limits where she can. Last week she had me dragging around a sled with her sitting on it lol. We estimated about 350lbs total with her making up about 130 of it

 

I'd just get a flat bench. You can always put a board or 2 under one end to incline/decline it if you decide you need to. Personally I never got anything out of declines even though plenty of people say it's the best way to hit the outer sweep. I tried them Numerous times over the years and just never felt a dang thing or got any noticeable difference out of it. Inclines are a different story but honestly not overly necessary unless you want a more ascetic look for bodybuilding or something. As an alternative you can work with different grip widths, and spots you "touch" on your chest. I'd focus more on overhead presses. Inclines can mess with your shoulders if you aren't careful.

 

If you do primarily working out at home, yes, I personally think the addition of push up stands and an adjustable bench is necessary to increase ROM in the shoulders and improve pec flexibility.
If you do all chest exercises on the ground where the elbows can’t go past flush with your sides it tends to promote tighter pecs and increases chances of postural issues and shoulder injuries.

I do a lot of home fitness and I use push up stands to save my wrists and improve ROM for my chest when doing push ups (since thats 95% of my at home chest work).

 

Thanks for the input guys. I just want to make sure whatever workouts I am doing are actually beneficial and activating the muscles properly, and of course not causing injury due to improper form or something. I still have a LOT to learn and tons of progress to make, my average has been roughly 2-3% body fat loss every two weeks (when I do my check-ins at store).

 

Important thing is Form, Form, Form. Especially since you are just getting started, make sure your form is near perfect every rep and that you are actually feeling the muscles working in what you are doing. This will start good habits that will go far in preventing injury, and hopefully keep you from wasting a lot of time doing exercises that don't really have much benefit to you. As I stated in regards to declines. I tried them numerous times because I just kept hearing about how good they were, but I never felt anything specific being worked. Been working out for over 30 years and competed in bodybuilding and powerlifting for several of those years and I can still go pretty heavy due to the fact that I always strived for strict form. And I've known plenty of people that do certain exercises just because they see other people doing them or someone told them to, but they aren't really getting anything out of it-usually because they are doing it wrong, but some exercises really are kinda useless. If you aren't feeling the muscle working, try something else!

 

This. Quality over quantity.

 

Well I'm definitely trying to go by that mind-set for sure. I want to perfect the form even if it means using lower weight, to make sure I'm not just jerking the weights around or letting them fall, but actually controlling them. Once I can get used to the form with that weight I'm sure I can build up from there, but no sense throwing heavy ass weight into an exercise if I can't actually complete the movement right? Progression, takes time, that I know.

There's exercises I know I physically can't do as I lack the strength, so I'm just trying to substitute exercises that workout the same muscle(s) to hopefully get there one day. I have seen major progression in what I can do, but still, lots of work to do. My job pretty much has me sitting on my ass all day on a computer so that's another reason I wanted to get up and moving more.

 

Since you are a smaller guy you're definitely asking the right group!! Along with always working on adding muscle there will be some good advice for you. be well
Nevermind, whatever is suggested do the complete opposite

 

You need to stop being a little bitch and go max on squats and deads. That’ll make the hip 100% recovered. It’s science.

 

Learning how to pose/flex is hard as fuck

 

This.

Leave the ego at the door and screw what other people think (if you workout in a public gym).

My injuries taught me more than anything to do your best and forget the rest. I was a 25 year old kid doing DB press with 5lb dumbbells post rotator cuff surgery... and it was about all I could handle LOL.

Do what you can do, and do it well. You’ll get better.

I still to this day only see about 5% of people doing a bicep curl correctly. Everyone is too focused on tossing around 50s to look cool.

 

Ahh so so true. I wish I adopted this earlier. I was always about trying to keep up with the weights with my gym bros and real friends (jk I don't have friends but I can pretend ok). And Once I learned to drop the weight 30% at least, it's been extremely beneficial and my injuries have been pretty much zero. Win win I'd say.

I'm fairly big dude but don't lift most weights like one would expect. I typically bench 185-225 and squat under 315 for sets. According to gym bro science I should be probably 315 and 495 for sets.

 

Been a complete slug this week and put off working out. Finally got my butt out there today and had a pretty good go at it. Some moderately heavy bench, dips, overhead press and some rack pulls. Feeling much better.