FitnessBore - 2018 edition

[Cormacaroni]

Sure, sounds good. Are you ready for some Crossfit-style cardio? It sounds like you've mastered the basics enough to start doing a few of their conditioning-style workouts. I can give you some ideas on how to scale them to your level.

[BamYouHaveAids]

deadlift is back at 315 for 3x3 and powercleans back at 195 for reps of 3x3 surprisingly my sqaut only dropped 20 pounds. i'll probably back to where i was in a month. my conditioning on the other hand is still absolute shit, it's seemingly much harder for me to retain than my strength.

[Bildi]

I'd love to know what the purpose of those bands are, and whether anyone actually achieves those stated purposes by using them.

Sorry Cormac, I missed this bit.  It's hard to explain exercises but I could try to describe some I've done if you wanted.  There is nothing particularly groundbreaking - in my experience it's been used mostly to supplement existing stretches or exercises, adding an extra element of balance or resistance, or simply to help achieve a stretch while maintaining a good posture.

[Cormacaroni]

deadlift is back at 315 for 3x3 and powercleans back at 195 for reps of 3x3 surprisingly my sqaut only dropped 20 pounds. i'll probably back to where i was in a month. my conditioning on the other hand is still absolute shit, it's seemingly much harder for me to retain than my strength.

Terrified to find out how bad mine has gotten. People I trust tell me it comes back real fast if you are still strong and not horribly overweight (like 2 weeks or so) but I have a feeling it will be the worst 2 weeks ever

Oh well, I'm not in a huge rush. Going to start off with short, sharp, heavy workouts in the 5-10 min range.

[Bildi]

I use resistance bands every week.

What kind of things are you using the bands for?  I've been using it mostly during stretching, mainly hamstrings.

[Kestastrophe]

I've been meaning to ask someone about creatine. Right now I only eat and have protein shakes. Am I missing out because I don't take creatine?

[Green Shinobi]

Still haven't ponied up for a gym membership, or found one close enough that I would go regularly. But I've been doing some pretty killer home exercises lately. I installed a pull-up bar, so I usually start with those. I can finally do overhand pullups for the first time in years. Then I do these:

[youtube=560,345][/youtube]

adding a jump at the end to make it more intense. I do a set of five, rest ten seconds, then another set until I've done ten sets. Then I do some crunches and squats (no weights, so I do sets of 20). I set up two chairs so that I can do dips with one hand on each chair and my feet up on the couch. It's not as good as real dips, but better than nothing.

Can definitely feel a difference.

[The Fake Shemp]

I use resistance bands every week.

What kind of things are you using the bands for?  I've been using it mostly during stretching, mainly hamstrings.

I don't know the names of anything, but I'll wrap one under my knees and around my leg - then try to stretch my leg outwards with my feet closed and my feet separated. The my father will take one, put it through the toughest one and stay across the room, and I do a bunch of rows on an exercise ball. That's usually after my arms are gassed for weights and I need a break.

[Mupepe]

Sure, sounds good. Are you ready for some Crossfit-style cardio? It sounds like you've mastered the basics enough to start doing a few of their conditioning-style workouts. I can give you some ideas on how to scale them to your level.

sure, dude!  lay it on me.

I've been meaning to ask someone about creatine. Right now I only eat and have protein shakes. Am I missing out because I don't take creatine?

I started a cycle 2/3 weeks ago.  I'd say unless you hit a wall or you're not seeing steady gains, it's really not worth it.  Are you really trying to bulk up and be huge?  That seems to be the biggest advantage.  If you're not at a plateau and you're not trying to gain size, then I'd say the downsides far outweight the upsides.

Downsides:
Drink TONS of water
If you don't drink enough (8 ounces per 10 pounds of bodyweight) then HELLO HEADACHES
Expect to gain like 10 pounds of waterweight around your gut.  It blows and if your pants are already a little bit of a tight fit, you're fucked.
Slight feeling of dehydration if you don't get enough water pre workout.  Almost like you're starting to get a cold.  Horrible feeling.
Heartburn
Reacts bad with some foods.  Some foods will make you feel bleh.  One good thing though, it's usually the foods you shouldn't be eating in the first place.
Reacts bad with caffeine.  I haven't found a way around this like with the foods.  I've coordinated by diet to get the most out of it and not make me feel like shit.  But any kind of caffeine will make you feel like ass.  At least it does with me.

Upsides:
Great recovery
Steady gains
Bigger look (I say look because I don't know how far down I'll go after I cycle off and lose the waterweight)

[WrikaWrek]

You are taking in some shitty creatine.

I i use Purple K, and i don't have any of that shit you mention. Anyway, faster recovery means you can lift more, which allows to get better results at the end of the month, and more water in your muscles means your muscles look bigger.

[Mupepe]

Most of it has to do with the increased intake of water.

You have to up your intake of water.
Increasing water in your body makes heartburn more common especially if you're already susceptible to it (I get it when I eat something super spicy already, the increased water just makes it more common)
On other forums and places I've read creatine doesn't work well with things that have a lot of sodium.  Most shit foods have tons of sodium and thus eating shit foods will cause a bad reaction with food.

Maybe I'm just not used to drinking almost 2 gallons of water a day.  But I'd imagine most people aren't either.

[WrikaWrek]

2 gallons?

Almost 8 liters? 

You're crazy. That's fucking dangerous man. I drink about 2 liters average a day. You shouldn't drink so much water dude, that shit is gonna mess you up.

[Mupepe]

I said almost.  More like a gallon and a half.  It's suggested that you drink around 8 ounces per 10 pounds of bodyweight.  For me that's about 184 ounces. 

[The Fake Shemp]

I don't think someone can really drink too much water, can you?

[Mupepe]

You can.  I don't remember the term but it basically dilutes salts and nutrients from your muscles and bloodstreams and causes deficiencies in the muscles and brain. 

There is also water intoxication which can happen when you drink too much water in a short amount of time and thin out your blood too much.

[Mupepe]

Wrika is saying that he only drinks 2 liters, but that's the recommended amount for someone who is sedentary.  I'm very active everyday and taking creatine, not to mention i'm a fairly large guy to begin with.  I'm pretty sure I require more and the sources I've read say 8 ounces for every 10 lbs of body weight.  Imma stick with that because when I drink less I do get dehydration headaches.  It's not uncommon and there are sources all over the internet if he cares to verify as well as sources verifying that creatine does increase heartburn.

[WrikaWrek]

Wrika is saying that he only drinks 2 liters, but that's the recommended amount for someone who is sedentary.  I'm very active everyday and taking creatine, not to mention i'm a fairly large guy to begin with.  I'm pretty sure I require more and the sources I've read say 8 ounces for every 10 lbs of body weight.  Imma stick with that because when I drink less I do get dehydration headaches.  It's not uncommon and there are sources all over the internet if he cares to verify as well as sources verifying that creatine does increase heartburn.

Hugh. When you are exercising you should drink water every 10 or so minutes, that's why you drink the water...if you drink water during exercise then you are already making up for it.

The idea that you need to drink a whole lot of water, is if you are a sports guy. What i mean by sports guy, is a football player, a cyclist, whatever. Guys that burn so much in cardio, but they drink water during the exercises!

Anyway, normal person should drink about 1.5 liters. Regarding the creatine, i don't ever feel dehydrated, so i'm gonna take that into account that when i drink 2 lts of water a day, + all the water that comes in the good and mixed with the protein shake, that i'm drinking about 2.5 lts a day, which is more than enough.

I don't know how much creatine you are taking in though, standard creatine is crap in that you have loading phases and whatnot, and overall you are taking 6 to 8 pills a day, it holds a lot of water, you get bloated etc.

One i take, 2 pills 30 minutes before workout, one 60 min after workout, it's done. It doesn't make sense to drink all that water if you aren't using it, but i don't know how much cardio you do.

[Mupepe]

I do quite a bit of cardio.  I do 3 days of full cardio and 3 days of weights.  2 of the weight days are followed by a mile long sprint at my top speed.  And I do drink water during my exercises.  Probably a quarter of my daily intake of water is done during the 1.5 hours of my workout.  Usually during weights and after my cardio.

And everywhere I've read has said that 2 liters is normal for a sedentary person.  Of course there are exceptions to every rule and you could be one of them.  No one's genetics or body composition is the same.

BTW, I'm taking 5 grams of creatine a day.  I don't take pills, I use the monohydrate powder.  I didn't do a loading phase since I've read that in the long run it makes little to no difference.  And I take it after my workout within a protein shake.

[WrikaWrek]

That's cool.

Is it crazy that the music playing in the gym, sessions makes a world of difference to me? Yesterday i was doing the Body Pump thing, and i was losing my patience halfway through with all the shitty music that didn't really fit what i was doing. But then the dude put the Evacuate in the dancefloor song, and goddamn man, i turned into the fucking Hulk for a minute there...

[Mupepe]

 

I would do that but the music is soooo bad at my gym.  It's all like Rihanna and whatnot.  I just can't get pumped to it.  so when I'm feeling really winded I look for something on my phone to get me going.

The other day I found inspiration from...

Dust in the Wind

[archie4208]

I squat to Lady Gaga.

[duckman2000]

I deadlift to Bolt Thrower

[Mupepe]

My deadlift song is Guerrilla Radio

[Mr. Gundam]

I have a running mix on my iPod. Belle and Sebastian's "I'm a Cuckoo" really fires me up for some reason.

[BlueTsunami]

Is there anything hotter than meaty, engorged calves after a session of jogging? 

[Mupepe]

A girl with a huge ass doing leg stretches on the floor.  A girl with glorious tits and cleavage jogging.  A girl with a sexy ass jogging.  A girl with sexy lips sucking my dick while I cum in her mouth.  BT with his sexy lips sucking my....

[Eric P]

YOUR WHAT?  YOUR WHAT?

COME ON, MAN!

(or in)

today i was doing my 100 push ups work out and my right elbow kept clicking with each push up i did.  it was quite disconcerting

[Mupepe]

YOU KNOW WHAT!  MAN WHORE!

I had the click for a while too a couple of weeks back.  I took a couple of days off weights and it went away and hasn't come back.  That was also around the time I started using fish oil.  JUS' SAYIN

[Eric P]

i should look into that fish oil stuff that all you kids keep talking about

[Bildi]

I don't know the names of anything, but I'll wrap one under my knees and around my leg - then try to stretch my leg outwards with my feet closed and my feet separated. The my father will take one, put it through the toughest one and stay across the room, and I do a bunch of rows on an exercise ball. That's usually after my arms are gassed for weights and I need a break.

Cool, fitballs are a great tool too - I've found doing crunch exercises or pushups or whatever on the fitball really elevates you compared to doing things on the floor all the time.  A while back I used it instead of a bench for some basic weights stuff too (like presses and rows).

[Mupepe]

i should look into that fish oil stuff that all you kids keep talking about

Do it, gramps.  It makes you feel really great.

[The Fake Shemp]

today i was doing my 100 push ups work out and my right elbow kept clicking with each push up i did.  it was quite disconcerting

You're going to die now

[Eric P]

this is probably true.

[Mupepe]

So I tried out shoulder press. Goddamn I must have weak shoulders. Lifting it wasn't so heavy but I can juat feel it now. Rough shit. I think I might throw it in on cardio days with situps and pushups. I started with just the bar as a warm up. Then added 5's and then got to 10's. Ill add 2 1/2 on next time.

[Cormacaroni]

That's my boy!

Remember: You always get greater gains from working on a weakness than from building on a strength.

If you want to give a Crossfit WOD a shot, you could try Fran:

[youtube=560,345]xJ27XzR3HJc[/youtube]

That's the current world record so don't feel bad if it takes you 5 or 6 times as long
You can do the pull-ups assisted of course. I wouldn't use more than 60-70lbs on the thrusters to begin with either. The official weight for these is 95lbs which sounds like nothing but believe me, it's crippling. I've seen very strong men get humiliated by this workout. Thrusters are just combination of a squat and a press done at speed, so it shouldn't take long to get the hang of these. Just take 5 mins or so to get used to holding the barbell in front while squatting and you should be ok.

The keys are:
1) warm-up first but don't exhaust yourself. Just break a sweat and get loose. Maybe run though a few sets of the thrusters and pull-ups at super-light weights/maximum assistance on the pull-ups before starting.

2) USE A STOPWATCH. Pretend it's a game and you're trying for a new high score. Nothing works like this for building intensity.

3) Don't stop unless you absolutely HAVE to. It's a short workout - you can rest for the whole rest of the day afterward Once you start the clock running, GOGOGO and don't stop 'til it's over. You will have fun, in a sick way.

4) Don't die!

[Mupepe]

Holy God!  This is something I'll need to do late at night or early morning because of the layout of my gym and how full it gets. Do I do these to point of failure or what?

[Cormacaroni]

Do the rep scheme as in the video: 21-15-9

To be extra careful (since doing too much would genuinely destroy you), that's START STOPWATCH, 21 thrusters, 21 pull-ups, 15 thrusters, 15 pull-ups, 9 thrusters, 9 pull-ups, STOP STOPWATCH, THE END.

One reason I love my current gym is that it's quiet at the times i usually go (lunch, but a late lunch, from 1pm). So my (230lb) buddy and I can go nuts running all over the gym doing shit like this. Still, the good thing about Fran is that you can do it in a squat rack without moving, assuming the rack has pull-up bars. (if not, you can set up another barbell on high pins - barbells are awesome for pull-ups, the grip is perfect).

[BamYouHaveAids]

what is with those pull ups? 

i don't really see the point in using your legs for a shoulder press either. if you want to build explosive strength you might as well do power cleans, using your legs seems pointless and inefficient to building shoulder strength, which as far as i know is the purpose of a shoulder press.

[Cormacaroni]

It's not a shoulder press, it's a thruster. It has its own purpose, which is to move the weight fast over a long distance - from the bottom of the squat to above the head, which is further than the bar will travel with anything less than a full clean and jerk. Try it before you knock it, they're one of the most draining exercises ever conceived.

Crossfit has lots of regular squats, presses and power cleans; this is just one workout among literally thousands.

The kipping pull-ups are perfectly legit, and require a ton of strength. Try them and  you'll find out what they do for your grip, your core, and conditioning, as well as building upper body and back strength. It's a full body workout, rather than just being a biceps or lats exercise. If you think it's cheating, well, I can't do any more kips than I can do dead-hangs. I practice both regularly and I don't find kips to be any easier than deadhang (and yes, Crossfit has those too, but the workouts usually call for them to be weighted or L-pull-ups, i.e. with legs held out perfectly straight in front of you).

[Bildi]

I guess because the guy is advanced and there is obviously a time goal here, the guy is using swinging momentum for his pullups?  So it's really more a kip?

edit, as cormac has said.

I have a question regarding thrusters - if you were starting would you go quite slow, and be careful not to lock your knees and elbows at the full extension?  Or is it the kind of thing where momentum is really important so you have to keep up a reasonable pace?

[Cormacaroni]

That's absolutely what he's doing. Practically no-one does deadhang pull-ups in a Crossfit WOD unless they just don't know how to kip. Like I said, there are deadhangs called for in the workouts but only with added weight (usually as a pure strength-building exercise, like a series of single reps with as much weight as possible), like this:

[youtube=560,345]-k0gN56ZW0k[/youtube]

or L-pull-ups like this:

[youtube=560,345]r34tGV5TL4Q[/youtube]

The type of of kip done in the Fran video above is called the butterfly kip, which is crazy fucking hard. You need to be doing about 20 straight deadhangs before you can meaningfully learn it.

edit -*fixed links*

[Bildi]

You need to be doing about 20 straight deadhangs before you can meaningfully learn it.

Cool, that answered my next question.

[Cormacaroni]

The regular kip, OTOH, can be learned by anyone, with the caveat that women usually struggle and need to use bands or assistance machines while learning. It's just a matter of rhythm, really, but they are just generally exhausting and murderous on the forearms.

[Cormacaroni]

I have a question regarding thrusters - if you were starting would you go quite slow, and be careful not to lock your knees and elbows at the full extension?  Or is it the kind of thing where momentum is really important so you have to keep up a reasonable pace?

For this kind of workout, the amount of work you do is key. So more work in less time = better workout. Of course, you can't let form slip too far. Coach Glassman (the main Crossfit guy) likens it to teaching someone how to type. You teach them the right form, then make them speed up 'til they get sloppy and start making mistakes again, then you hammer them on form again. Repeat 'til they're going blazing fast with no mistakes. It's a process, and at any stage of it, you'll be a better typist than you were at the previous stage.

[BamYouHaveAids]

seems odd, like the momentum created from swinging your legs would make it easier. i'll give it a try, i can do 20 pulls repetitively easy and have been doing muscle-ups to compensate for the fact i don't own a belt. i started putting a dumbbell between my feet , but any weight higher than 30 pounds is awkward.

[Cormacaroni]

The momentum created DOES make it easier...but that just enables you to do more pull-ups faster. Which ultimately allows for a tougher all-body workout. Just don't think of them as 'pull-ups' if it makes it easier for you. Think of them as 'kips', and treat as a different exercise if you want.

Also, there's nothing to stop you from doing something like Fran with regular pull-ups - I did this for about a year before I learned how to kip. It'll just take longer. If you can do a set of 20, you won't be resting all that much. The real problem is with weaker folks who can only do a couple of deadhangs at a time - they end up resting far too much and the whole workout slows to a crawl. The point of this it create a huge metabolic hit by going really fucking fast and hard, like a 800m sprint.

[duckman2000]

One neat effect of getting into the rhythm of getting in shape is that my body just plain doesn't agree with my cheat items, like cruddy food, candy and soda. I could carve through a stack of brownies pretty easily not too long ago, but now I get sort of grossed out after half a brownie or a glass of soda. I still crave the unhealthy stuff, but it's never satisfying. Makes it easy to stick to the program, but it makes casual snacking a lot more complicated.

[Cormacaroni]

seems odd, like the momentum created from swinging your legs would make it easier. i'll give it a try, i can do 20 pulls repetitively easy and have been doing muscle-ups to compensate for the fact i don't own a belt. i started putting a dumbbell between my feet , but any weight higher than 30 pounds is awkward.

Backpack + plates is the easiest way. DBs can be awkward, I agree.

[Kestastrophe]

Cormac, any advantage to using creatine?

[Cormacaroni]

Sorry man, I really don't know anything about it as I said a few pages back when Rob Thomas asked about it. Everyone I trust says fish oil and maybe vitamin D is pretty much all you need in the way of supplements (and if you get the sunlight, you're ok for the latter). I'm watching Rob Thomas's experiments with interest.

[Mupepe]

I'll let you guys know at the end of my cycle.  As of right now better recovery is the main upside.  I no longer feel my chest is on fire or like my legs are made of jelly and are going to fall off.  So when I go back I'm usually completely back at full force.

Kestastrophe: Did you see my list of upsides and downsides on the last page?  Of course YMMV, but it all stems from the elevated amount of water you're supposed to be taking.  And apparently it has a lot to do with what kind of creatine you take.  I take monohydrate powder which I've read is the most effective and I take 5 grams of it.  They have creatine phosphate (I believe that's what it's called) and it doesn't have as many side effects but it's apparently not as effective.  Either way, I'll give you a breakdown of my gains when I'm done.  I can already bet that I'll have a pretty nice gain in size.  I've received quite a few comments on my muscle mass gains.  But I'll need to see how much actually stays when I get rid of all the water.

Cormac:  I'm going to try that Crossfit workout this weekend.  I usually head to the gym early in the morning Sundays when there's only like 2 other people there so I can try to do it there.  In the meantime, I'm going to use an empty bar and practice form with the thrusters.

[WrikaWrek]

One neat effect of getting into the rhythm of getting in shape is that my body just plain doesn't agree with my cheat items, like cruddy food, candy and soda. I could carve through a stack of brownies pretty easily not too long ago, but now I get sort of grossed out after half a brownie or a glass of soda. I still crave the unhealthy stuff, but it's never satisfying. Makes it easy to stick to the program, but it makes casual snacking a lot more complicated.

So true.

Getting exactly the same reacting here. Even when i think that i want a soda or some candy, i loose interest quickly because my body almost feels sick when i eat crap.

[archie4208]

I've been on a huge slump the past few weeks, but I'm finally starting to get back on track.  Did 5x5 235 squats today and I even bench pressed!

[Mupepe]

 

What do you guys do for squat warm up?  I always do one set with just the bar and then go to my weight (today 225).  I'm sure that's wrong and/or bad.

With bench I always warm up with a full set of 5 at 135.  Some guy said that it's too much for a warm up when i'm only at 205.

[archie4208]

135 is my normal warmup primarily because I am lazy and don't want to reload the bar before I do my real sets.

[Mupepe]

That's why I do my bench warm ups at 135

[Kestastrophe]

Kestastrophe: Did you see my list of upsides and downsides on the last page?  Of course YMMV, but it all stems from the elevated amount of water you're supposed to be taking.  And apparently it has a lot to do with what kind of creatine you take.  I take monohydrate powder which I've read is the most effective and I take 5 grams of it.  They have creatine phosphate (I believe that's what it's called) and it doesn't have as many side effects but it's apparently not as effective.  Either way, I'll give you a breakdown of my gains when I'm done.  I can already bet that I'll have a pretty nice gain in size.  I've received quite a few comments on my muscle mass gains.  But I'll need to see how much actually stays when I get rid of all the water.

Thanks. I read your comments, but I was looking for input from Cormac specifically (no offense dude ).

As for warmups, I start with an empty bar and add weight in increments of 40lbs until I hit working weight (except for deadlift, which I start with 45lb plates instead of empty bar). 

[Cormacaroni]

For squat warm-ups, I do 5 reps with the unloaded bar, then add 2x45lbs, do 5 reps, then add 2 more 45lbs and do 3. Then I go straight to the work sets. I used to do more but I think it just drained me needlessly.

If I have achy knees that day, I do more but that hasn't been a problem. I used to wear a knee wrap also, which saves a lot of time. The warm-up is literally just to warm up the fluid in the joints - a hot room will take care of that for you just as well as doing a bunch of squatting. You sort of do need the feeling of lifting something heavy before lifting something REALLY heavy though, so the nervous system knows that it needs to be fully active.

[Draft]

I am so fucking over doing heavy warm ups with squats. Eff. That.

I do a couple sets at 135 and then right into work sets.

[Mupepe]

I guess I'll try those warm ups tonight.  It shouldn't be too bad since I'm only going to be at 225 so after two warm up sets I will be at my work sets.  For bench I'm going to stick to 135 warm ups.  Fuck it.  I'm too lazy and it's not heavy at all.