That’s the hope, yeah. If not, I would actually be fine with that right now. I’m not setting any records in the big lifts anytime soon so its purely an ego thing right now. I’m probably already “strong enough” for most of my important, big picture goals
I don’t think that’s ego no. Because you weren’t like all in in this endeavour, maxing or doing crazy stuff all the time. No, you just displayed the strength you had, and just didn’t tried. And you’re going to get stronger as well
@aldebaran thanks man.
Work for today:
Pull ups: some
Dips: some
Db rows: some
Captains chair leg raises: some
Push ups: some
Decided to go bodyweight only today to explore what kind of effect it would have, and give myself a break from the iron. I can’t say I enjoyed it much, but that’s probably because I really suck at bodyweight stuff. I think getting good at dips and pull ups would be a pretty good medium term goal to have, I can’t see how that could be a bad thing for my long term goals.
Love the precision in your rep counting ![]()
Sometimes I just don’t think its important.
The important thing for me was that dips are no longer uncomfortable for some reason, and I’m really bad at them. Money on the table.
Yeah bodyweight stuff are a skill, you must practice them to be good at them. And for whatever reason I also suck hard at dips
For sure. It feels like a useful skill to have since all the big strong guys seem to rate them.
Bodyweight exercises are interesting from a few points of view, IMO.
Ego - so many people suck at them, that becoming good at them is rare and makes you stand out a bit.
Practical - not to take away from the iron in any way, but being good at bodyweight stuff is probably the best measure of being “functionally strong”.
General fitness and asthetics - You cannot be exceedingly good at bodyweight stuff in general and also be a big fucking out of shape pig. Unpossible.
Feel free to disagree.
Fucks sake. That’s that goal gone then.
In all seriousness, getting good at bodyweight stuff (read pull ups and dips) would probably hit nearly all of my upper body goals for the foreseeable future. I’m probably not going to just do them, but leaving them out entirely seems silly.
I mean, it is obvious if you think about it. When is the last time you someone do a shitload of dips or pull-ups that wasn’t in some kind of good shape, regardless of actual size? Never happens.
But I think it definitely goes hand in hand with moving the iron. Why not Git Gud at both.
That’s the (tentative) plan.
I don’t disagree, but for me, they’re less satisfying and fun
For me too. But effective enough not to ignore.
Partially agree. Getting better at pull-ups is like getting better at being tortured. Getting better at dips makes you feel like a badass. Same for MUs and HSPUs.
Shots fired at power lifters!
But, on the other hand, you can be really good at body weight stuff and still be a puny weakling.
Agreed on both counts, however I’m far closer to the latter than the former so I figure some work needs tonbe done.
There are extremes everywhere, so yeah, there are also big fat unhealthy powerlifters. And super skinny kids who can do BW stuff for days, but are actually weak and puny.
In any event, it works with iron as well. You won’t see too many fat, out of shape assholes who can, for example, squat twice their BW. Or bench 1.5 BW. Or DL 2.5 their BW. Press at 1.0 BW. Etcetera.
This is why I do not personally buy into the “absolute strength at all costs” way of thinking. I always always ALWAYS am thinking in terms of versus bodyweight. But I will admit that this is partly because I am old as fuck and need to be conscious of my health for various reasons.
BW stuff is so badass if you can bang out dips and pull ups like a mad man and do front levers, muscle ups, HSPU, heck even hand stand.
Doing a back flip and front flip standing is pretty awesome too.
Heck even jumping is a skill.
Every now and then you get to do a push up challenge with a friend or something, if you can do 100 of push ups you get respect from almost everybody.
So yeah BW stuff is awesome … but freaking hard and boring.
Then biceps curls is something else much more manly and useful.
And are 7% bodyfat year round?
These are almost my exact goals for when I turn 35. So challenge accepted.
I always think in terms of goals. Plenty of people are strong as fuck, regardless of bodyweight because their goal is to be strong as fuck, regardless of bodyweight and I absolutely respect that thinking. For me though, physique and long term health are among my stated goals, even if I forget that sometimes, so relative strength should be a big thing.
@mortdk let’s walk before I run, eh? Dips and pull ups will do me just fine for now. Also: fuck bicep curls.
Bros all over weep.