The Official Gym & Fitness Thread

Should be a good time.


Unless we bomb out on squats.

 

Same fam. Shit. I upped my morning eggs from 3 to 5 now and I’m hungry by 8-9am again lol. Put on some mass for sure but traps are getting big which is fucking cool lol

 

Not surprised it’s basically a flat bill.

 

Screwed my fast Monday, fasted from 11:40 Tuesday morning until 6:50 this morning, went to the gym tonight immediately after work and hit the circuit and light cardio, expecting to work hard at work tomorrow because of a big event so I didn’t want to push too hard.
Dinner post gym with the family, half a bowl of chicken pasta from chilis with a side salad, today was my high end of caloric intake.

 

Was on a work trip Sunday-today. Hit the “fitness room” one time at the hotel but only did 25 mins of cardio. It was a shitty fitness room. I ate a ton. We were in Texas, so it was mostly bbq and Mexican. It was all free, so I ate until I was basically sick. Chicken, brisket, lasagna, salmon, tostadas, chicken and waffles, cake...

Didn’t feel like it, but Hit the gym this evening and feel soooo much better. Missing 3 straight days sucks. Combination of all the food and lack of exercise has had me feeling like shit.

 

Basically? 100% flat bill. No shame.

 

Supposed to have tomorrow off and lift Friday but with it being Valentine’s Day and all.... guess ima lift tomorrow and off on Friday. Then strongman stuff again Saturday which is always fun

 

Check-in,

December 17-2019

Spoiler: Ugly photos

And February 12-2020

Spoiler: More ugly photos

Overall I’m feeling good, I personally don’t see much of a difference in the photos but my work clothes fit much better so I know there’s some improvement.

I feel the most improvement in my core and shoulders, I really need to build a jump box to work explosive movement in the legs.

I’m meeting the PF trainer on Friday to go over a workout plan to get me out of my circuit-bike comfort zone:

The only thing that I’m slightly worried about injury wise are my shoulders on shoulder press, they both click each rep and I have to push lower weight on the shoulder press vs the other machines (75x15 shoulder press, 120x15 seated row, 90x15 chest press, 90x15 tricep extensions, 75x15 bicep curl, and 120x15 lat pull down) but I don’t know if that’s typical.

 

Stay off machines as much as possible and use free weights for the majority of your movements.
Machines force you into unnatural movement patterns and they remove the balance and stability portion of the exercise which is where all your benefits are (and a lot of your calorie burn).

Clicking and popping, as long as its not painful isn’t too much of an issue. If its hurting then stop the movement. But again I’d encourage you to get off the machines.

And you can’t compare weights on machines only free weights. No two machines have the same starting resistance. Some machines aren’t maintained well so while you load up 90lbs you are really pulling 110lbs. Or the opposite you load up 90 but really are only pulling 70.

 

I had these same issues with my shoulders. I have torn my left rotator and my right supraspinatus and had a lot of clicking and pain in both while pressing.

Two things that will help you:

1. WARM UP A LOT. Get your rotators moving and loosened up, do PT exercises for rotator injury, work on mobility. What I like most is to do band pull aparts front and back, warm my rotators with internal and external movements with light weights (watch how Martins Licis warms his up, its his thing). For mobility I will do snatch grip on a PVC pipe and do 360 degree shoulder rotations for 2-3 sets of 10.

2. When you are doing the actual pressing movement retract your scapula back an down and keep your upper back flexed and tight. It'll feel weird at first, but trust me it will change your life. Before doing any overhead press variant, think about crushing a can between your shoulder blades using your back and lats to pull everything together, and keep that upper back locked through the whole press. Doing this allows your larger muscles to take more of the load of stabilizing and pressing the weight, while your shoulders are just there to go up and down. You will also start to develop a much stronger upper back this way.

 

Shoulder press should be way less than your bench press. Hard to tell from what you said because I don't do machines (and don't advise them) but if you're at a Planet Fitness you're probably doing the best with what you have lol...

For example - my max bench is 330, but my max OHP is only 185. I do reps at 225 for bench, but struggle to do reps with OHP over 135. It's a less compound muscle group, so it should be weaker...

I'd drop the weight on bicep curls too, if anything is going to cause injury it would be that. I never curl more than 20lb DBs. I see guys curling 70s and swinging all over the place like a wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tube man just asking for an injury...and my biceps are bigger

 

Nice work! I can see the difference particularly in the side pic.

 

@95 taco you're doing great man. keep it up. It is hard to get into the gym and make it a priority but you have and you've got progress to show for it!

I agree and will echo what others have said. get into some free weights (dumbbells, barbells, etc.) Free weights will force many other muscles to fire to stabilize a whole lot (if not your whole) body when doing these exercises. A good example is standing OHP vs a press in a weight machine. Standing during the press is going to force your muscles to hold your body straight and tight, vs sitting in a press machine your mid and lower body arent really doing much or theyre already being supported by the machine (aka a seat with a back). I think machines can be great for isolation and/or if you have other physical issues that keep you from doing a standing OHP, but if you are able to do a standing OHP why not just do it?


PROGRESS CHECK FOR ME: I did 3 chin-ups yesterday from feet flat on floor (not from a deadhang yet but with NO JUMPING!) woot! Things are getting better as I get closer to this goal!
The other two arent doing so hot, but I havent focused on my handstand in a bit (though my yoga crow pose is getting easier to hold for longer durations), and my normal squat form is suffering for some reason (idk what my deal is its like my body forgot how to squat properly in the past week or so) so I havent tried a pistol squat in a bit.

 

50lb hammer curls 3x12. Tuck your shoulder blades back and lock everything in place.

 

And for sure on the warming up shoulders part. I do a good bit of 5-10lb dumb bell movements to warm up the shoulders before any workout.

 

I been working out at home since Dec only using exercise tubes and push ups. No gym membership since my wife and I are on somewhat opposite schedules and have children.

Anyone using tubes/ bands exclusively?

 

Whenever I do any pressing movement I’ll warm up with bands, pvc pipe, 5lb dbs and I warm up my lats as well especially on bench day.

 

Stop stealing my moves

 

I'll steal it if I want to