Gotta get back as well, been out for a while due to an injury but I usually do full body lifts 3x week - heavy - medium - light and bump weight every 5th week (link to the workout I've been following for a while) https://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=179232481 cardio 2 days between and rest 2
Since over a year ago when I last posted, I’ve been laid off for eight months, and thus working out in my little home gym 5 days a week, and walk with the dog at least 3-4 miles daily. In nicer weather, I was even getting a good bit of riding in on the mt bike, but with cold, wet, snowy days, it gets a bit harder to do.
But the best thing I did was quit smoking. I can’t believe just how much better I can breath in general, and how much it’s helped with my endurance when doing cardio!
I’ve also gained 5lbs of overall mass, and I think it’s primarily muscle. NOT the COVID 15 that everyone else I know has gained.
so how are the rest of you doing with your training?
Strength is hard to train at home. Cardio and body weight workouts you can do anywhere.
Proper strength training you need a well equipped gym with commercial grade equipment. Not possible for many people unless they own a house. Also very dangerous by yourself. A kid died last year trapped under a bench press in his garage, a horrible death.
Ditto. Meat markets. I used to go, but now I am concerned about guarding my eyes, and performing exercise in more private settings for modesty purposes.
I don't entirely agree with this. You don't need a barbell to get strong. Sure, it helps a lot, and there are adaptations you cannot get without it. But there are other ways to get strong, and other types of strength. Progressive resistance can be applied to bodyweight exercises. Anybody can do bodyweight squats, hindu squats. And once they have worked their way up to enough squats, pistol squats. And then grab a backpack, and fill it with 10, 30, 65 lb. of books and use it to perform weighted pistol squats. And this exercise targets a lot of the same muscles as a deadlift, including the ever important glutes and hammies.
And for the less technically minded trainee, just go find a good set of stairs or a hill, and run up, walk down, rest as little as needed, rinse, repeat, and progress. You get many of the same benefits from hill and stair sprints that you do from squats and deadlifts, just one leg at a time, really fast!
Hindu pushups, and burpees. Then one handed pushups (good ones with the feet closer together and shoulders squared, not janky Rocky Balboa ones!). Then weighted one handed pushups. Then wall assisted handstand pushups. Then freestanding handstand pushups. Show me an iron addicted gym rat who can do even wall assisted handstand pushups. Most cannot.
Chin ups and alternating one hand come downs will build huge strength and biceps, and are a good tool to progressing toward one handed pullups, a beastly move in its own right. Show me an iron addicted gym rat who can do one handed pullups. You'll find even fewer of these than those who can HsPU.
And if you can afford two kettlebells, and a small patch of ground to safely drop them on without making craters, or peeving off the neighbors, them all of a sudden you have TGUs, Bent Presses, Windmills, Figure 8 uppercuts, cleans, presses, jerks, snatches, and swings at your disposal, which can be programmed together (via sets, circuits, supersets, juggling, etc) or apart to build a robust combination of strength, conditioning, flexibility, mobility, proprioception, and toughness.
Plus unilateral training (i.e. one limb at a time) has benefits that you can never get from bilateral movements like the barbell squat, deadlift and benchpress, in the way of preventing the development of muscular imbalances to which bilateral movement are liable. It's easy to miss the fact that you are compensating, for example, in your bench press for a bad shoulder, and doing more work with one side or the other. But when you alternate sides in turkish get ups, there is no mistaking which side is stronger, and thus you have a better feel for what weak links need to be shored up.
And of course, I think it is only prudent for any human being to learn how to fall properly (i.e. breakfalls) so they can dissipate the kinetic energy of a fall safely, and then get back up without delay or undue expenditure of energy. You never know when you'll slip on the ice, trip on a wire, or have some thug try to throw you to the ground.
Some of my PRs in lb
Low Bar Squat 315 x 7
Front Squat 265 x 1
Conventional Deadlift 425 x 1, 315 x 13
Bench Press: 225
Power clean: 245
C&J: 225
Snatch: 175
Burpees (full burpees, with a jump, not squat thrusts without a jump) 50 in 2:00
Hindu Squats: 100 in >2:00, 775 in 45 minutes (over ten years ago, and I was sore for a week!)
Pushups in a single set: 100
Pullups in a single set: 20
Pullups over one hour: 384
Weighted Pullup: 1 + 95 lb
Run one mile: 6:24
Murph time: shoot I can't remember, but I had two 7 minute miles in it, or like 7:31 and an 8:45 or something. I think I did it in 21 or 23 minutes... but I am not sure. Acutally I probably took that long to do the BWE component of it...
Murph
1 mile Run
100 Pull-ups
200 Push-ups
300 Squats
1 mile Run
Not bad for a lanky 6'5" kid who never trained until joining karate at 14 I guess. I was enthusiastically involved in karate until 17, then sort of trailed off until about 22 or 23 when I started researching fitness and dove into the deep end of daily hindu squats, hindu pushups and wrestler's bridges for about 6 months straight, and in that time, I got strong enough to compete with two guys who were barbell veterans in a day of pushing and pulling one of their cars up and incline using a harness. They both outperformed me, mind you, the one guy by quite a margin, but the other only barely. And that first guy was a beast with an obvious advanced or at least high end intermediate lifter physique. But ever since I started researching this stuff, I always kept in mind for my training to be well rounded and cover all the bases (strength, power, cardiovascular conditioning, muscular endurance, flexibility, mobility, agility, proprioception, toughness).
Not so much formal training lately. I am 210 in bodyweight, so I just keep that much on the bar, and have been GTGing front squats lately, and doing simple kali drills for conditioning. I mix it up now and again.
I don't own a car, but walk or ride a bicycle everywhere. I walk half a mile to the grocery store every week to buy my two 5 gallon bottles of distilled water (I don't drink tap water). I can make it all the way home without stopping. I am "all in" on the fitness lifestyle.
My version of heavy now it a lot lighter than it used to be. Not only because I am out of practice, but because I no longer see the need to chase double bodyweight in anything. I'd likely struggle deadlifting much more than 330 right now. In fact, I don't think I have had 200 lb on my bar in half a year. I am more focused on mobility lately. Lots of kettlebell movements like the ones I posted about last year. I haven't gotten weak though, and my grip is close to as strong as its ever been.
My version of heavy now it a lot lighter than it used to be. Not only because I am out of practice, but because I no longer see the need to chase double bodyweight in anything. I'd likely struggle deadlifting much more than 330 right now. In fact, I don't think I have had 200 lb on my bar in half a year. I am more focused on mobility lately. Lots of kettlebell movements like the ones I posted about last year. I haven't gotten weak though, and my grip is close to as strong as its ever been.
There are lots of places to go for info on it. I did most of my learning over a decade ago, but at this time, I recommend Steve Cotter's videos (soft style), and just absorb as much of his material as possible. Pavel Tatsouline is an alternative (hard style). I originally learned from the Fire & Ice video by Shawn Mozen, which I had to send away for back in 2008 or 2009 I think, and his stuff would have been more akin to hard style. I am trying to transition to a more soft style approach on some movements. Kettlebells are a powerful tool, but you really want to make sure you are following the instruction of someone competent. I would learn the movements in this order:
Swings
One hand swings
Cleans
Presses
Jerks
Snatches
Overhead squats
Windmills
Bent Presses
TGUs
Figure 8 uppercuts
If you work up to multiple repetitions of those movements with say 50 or 60 pounds, I think you'll have a well balanced set of physical abilities that should keep you limber all your life, if they are maintained, and barring accident or illness. The only thing you would be missing at that point is plyometrics, so some kind of running or jump rope is good at that point one in a while.
Here is a segment of one of my indoor workouts a few weeks ago, to give an idea of the type of mobility that my training philosophy has allowed me to develop (and which presumably it will for most people not hindered by a serious illness or injury):
If one has not the time to learn all those movement, then at least learn the LCCJ (i.e. long cycle clean & jerk, which only uses the clean and the jerk). You can do that every day (say 5, 10, or 15 minutes per day), and get really fit by that alone. Just make sure to get a heavier bell when 15 minutes is too easy. In the end, there are lots of ways to get fit, but you have to find the way that you like. Fortunately for me, I have liked just about everything.
Ah yes, I have seen it referred to as Indian clubbells. I never got into it actually, though I wanted to. I think it would be worthwhile as well, and while I don't feel the need for it, I may eventually grab or make one to try out.
All this is good stuff. As mentioned, if feeling overwhelmed by it all, at least go on walks/hikes and do pushups and/or other movements. I like to chop firewood, mow the lawn, shovel snow, all that kinda stuff to keep the old man out. Having strong legs is an empowering feeling.
Have a great week.
Ah yes, I have seen it referred to as Indian clubbells. I never got into it actually, though I wanted to. I think it would be worthwhile as well, and while I don't feel the need for it, I may eventually grab or make one to try out.
I remember now that you mention it. Using momentum, it comes up behind the back, and like a pendulum you bring it back up over head, and similar movements. It does look excellent. I'd have to have a place a little more private to want to train with those. My ceiling is too low inside as you now know. But I do kettlebell halos, bent presses, windmills, presses, and quite a few other shoulder movements that are at least better than nothing.
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