The Workout Thread

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Originally Posted by Kidnemo

In my educated opinion, some of you people are dropping information that is not very good or safe.

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You're not referring to me, of course. I've been making regular progress and remaining totally injury-free for a while now.

The keys: properly warming up, good form, and working the body as a whole instead of just the showy muscles like the guido juiceheads at the club.

I hadn't posted in a while here, but I have had some interesting things happen. I had been hitting the gym about 4-5 times a week since I started, running, elipitical, some weights, and almost a month ago I developed a bad pain in my knee, so I took a few days off. Pain didn't go away, infact got a hell of a lot worse.

Turns out I stress fractured my Tibia. Doctors were stumped. The only other time they had seen this injury was a guy who fell of a 20 foot ladder.

Pain went away and got clearance to do exercises that dont land any impact on my leg, so I've been doing upper body stuff and a lot on the exercise bike.

So I've been on my "no impact on the leg" workout regimen and I am down another 20 some odd pounds now. None of my clothes fit me anymore, and I had to add holes to my belt because it was too loose.

Buying new clothes for work is going to be expensive, but goddamn do I feel better.

64 Pounds down ~ another 20 or so and Ill be happy. Bought a bike today, hope to get out a lot this spring summer. First time in YEARS ive beeen looking foward to summer.

Gratz. Excellent progress; keep it up!

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Originally Posted by Dolemite

Also, I recently adopted High Intensity Interval Training for my cardio. The whole premise of HIIT training is that sticking to a regular pace when doing cardio for extended periods places your body into a "steady state" where it seeks to conserve energy (calories), which can defeat the purpose of doing cardio to begin with. With HIIT training, you vary the pace and intensity of your cardio throughout the session, not giving your body a chance to adapt.

Basically, you warm up for a few minutes, then sprint all-out for 30 seconds, then walk for 30 seconds (or 60 if you need a bit more recovery time). You alternate back and forth, sprinting and walking, for anywhere between 15-20 minutes. I've been doing it for the past 2 weeks and I'm already seeing big improvements in my bodyfat and endurance. It's the shit.

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I mentioned trying HIIT back in the summer. It really is a hell of a workout for anybody who likes to run but finds the longer grind a bit too boring. I try to do it once a week in place of my old 30 - 40 minute runs I used to do.

I usually do 60 seconds intervals. I do that timing when I'm lifting, too, so I kept it consistent.

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Originally Posted by Josh

Any advice on upper body exercises than can be done from a seated position?
I have dumbells and a curling bar.

Yes it has to be from a seated position.

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I am hardly qualified to suggest lifts to you, but definitely stretch your shit out before you do them. This pretty much goes for every lifting, I guess. I tried doing some weak 30 second stretches before lifting weights one day and when I woke up the next morning I couldn't extend my elbow out past 75% or so. I kept my hand in my pocket with my thumb out like a cowboy to hide it at work. Stretch between reps and sets, too. It helps.

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Originally Posted by Mr_B

Try your best to keep the workout under 1 1/2 hrs. Even if you put 2 days of rest in between trips, its not a big deal. The muscles need to fully heal, so that you can rip the fibers again. Going too much will actually deteriorate muscle growth.

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This is really helpful -- keeping the workout under 1 1/2 - 2 hours max for me. I work 9 - 5, then come home and workout, and then cook myself a good dinner and then freelance design until I'm done (which can be anywhere from 9pm to 5am the next morning straight through). I also skip days completely so I can go out with my friends / girl.

Working out is great, but it's a balance issue. And you have to be comfortable with the routine / time you spend with it. Because like Nemo said -- if you don't find something you like to do you won't do it. I'll never be able to beat up 10 guys while managing to continue to eat my turkey sandwich at lunch like KidNemo, or lift a car over my head like Dolemite, or run so fast I can skim the top of small rivers and streams like Tonnes. But I'm comfortable with the time i put in and how I look. That's all you need. I've been doing this for 2 years or more now and I'm not going to stop (sans my vacation, but I did swim in the gulf today).

That's the one thing I see Advocate doing wrong, if I may be so bold. It sounds like you're doing well with your friend, but that's a LOT of working out for you to be doing from none. I hope you can continue that fire with it come 6 - 9 months from now but that kind of commitment will burn you out fast if you aren't used to that or ready for it. I'm of the stance that it's better to do a little bit of working out for a long, long period of your life than a high intensity training regiment that you only do for a few weeks / months.

Well, to answer a few people.

The PT I do is from the car accident two years back. Its more stretching my lower back and neck. Yes, I know I should do the lower back, before the lifting. But what I do is I warm up first THEN stretch the lower back. So, stretch my legs ... cardio. Then stretch my lower back and then hit the weights.

To Drew ...

Yeah the first week it was more trial and error. I really didn't know what to focus on. Now that I do here's my regime.

Stretching of legs ... cardio - treadmill (20 minutes)
Weights:

• Monday: Biceps and shoulders
• Tuesday: Back and triceps
• Wednesday: Legs
• Thursday: Shoulders
• Friday: Biceps - or off
• Saturday: Off
• Sunday: Biceps, if off Friday; and Back

I usually only do about 20 minutes of weights.

After that I go and do PT. And then go right into the Crunches ... I'm up to 150.

Then I finish it off with the bike.

Overall it lasts about an hour and a half. My main concern is the gut and cardio. The weights are fine and all, but I need to lose the gut. So far I'm not burning myself out. This week I had two off days and I needed them why? I really worked out I increased the weight on everything.

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Originally Posted by Advocate

This week I had two off days and I needed them why? I really worked out I increased the weight on everything.

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Please tell me you at least did something for those two days? If I'm in pain I either work out with a lot less weight for a day or two or at the very least do only cardio. Jump in a pool for a swim, ride the bike. Anything is better than jst taking two days off. I could be way off on this but that's just how I handle it.

If it wasn't two consecutive days than forget what I said.

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Originally Posted by Dyne

If it wasn't two consecutive days than forget what I said.

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I already did, cause it wasn't two days off in a row.

Any of you guys do soft tissue work in conjunction with your stretches before you lift? I recently bought a foam roller and I have been having a lot of sucess with it:

http://stronglifts.com/soft-tissue-w...ase-your-pain/

For the past few weeks squatting had been pretty painful on my shoulders. My shoulders are pretty stiff and inflexable, and whenever I tried to get under the bar I would be in agony, but the other day I tried the foam roller and it hurt like 90% less than it usually does, I was impressed.

I don't see how that hurts.

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Originally Posted by Dyne

I don't see how that hurts.

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What, my shoulders and squatting? If thats the case the reason my shoulders hurt is due to how I place the bar on my back. There are two different bar placement styles: Low Bar and High Bar. High Bar has the bar on top of your traps, while low bar is below that, across the spine of scapula resting on the posterior deltoids.

You have to bend your arms a lot to get in that position, especially since it is recommended to have a narrower grip on the bar in order to have the best stability. In the begining I was doing high bar, and when I switched to low bar it was murder on my shoulders. Plus it didn't help that I wasn't warming them up properly (even though I tried).