You and me both on the pushup wagon, it seems. Do you recall the talk of the Yoga Blocks in my log? As it turns out, they are excellent for pushups as well. Thinking you might be able to use something similar if you do’t already. I like doing PUs kinda fast, but the risk there is that you can easily cut the ROM a bit short on the way down. The blocks help, because it means I can still be fast and even go into a bit of a deficit with them. Additional benefit is they are way easier on my cranky old wrists.
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Hadn’t thought of blocks. Thanks. I’m guessing any block would work, right?
House bricks works well
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Woke at 257.3 lbs, looking maybe a little less bloated.
I had an idea the other day, and I’m quite pleased with it: practice the competition lifts with a broomstick. Sure, there’s no load, but the position you can get in is very, very close to with a barbell. Ingraining the movement pattern is a massively important part of successful PL training, right? When it comes down to it we practice the movement, and then we build muscles to drive the movement. Bodyweight training will preserve the muscle, but that leaves out movement practice. So, broomstick.
Did 3x10 of each exercise. That will be the extra workout I do on weekends now. I may end up adding bands, but to be honest this part is more about keeping the movement pattern.
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Yeah, anything solid will generally work. The only reason I got the fancy (and I daresay stylish) yoga blocks was because I wanted something that wouldn’t scratch the shit out of a hardwood floor, but also wouldn’t slide.
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The bands might alter the movement practice, because they will not give the same resistance pattern as free weights.
But then again practicing with just a broomstick just seems a bit too light. Well you’ll figure things out, just my 2 cents.
Your first point is why I don’t think I’ll add bands. The lack of weight doesn’t matter much because all I’m doing is practicing the movement. There isn’t a massive difference between an empty bar being too light and a broomstick also being too light.
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This week made me realise I really don’t have an emotional attachment to the gym. It’s just a means to an end that, temporarily, I cannot employ. So I’m using slightly different means.
Ok, so a week is peanuts, but I would have expected some degree of frustration or something. So far though, I really don’t care because I’m still fully capable of doing something to progress. The few times I had something go wrong physically (SI bullshit, bicep tendon a couple of years back, etc) I was worried and the situation caused me more stress. I am healthy, so there is nothing to hinder me.
If anything, this situation is reminding me that I am much more concerned with the end result than I am with the process of getting there. Provided I am doing what I can to move forward, I am content.
A lot of people are spending quite a bit of money to set up a gym at home just because of this situation. I can’t help bit think, setting up something extensive enough to be able to train as you normally do is not cheap. At all. Sure, you could get some basics, but that would be what, a bar, a rack, bench and a few plates? Would that really make that much of a difference to mosty doing bodyweight work for a few months? So why spend that money now, when there is a real chance of experiencing financial hardship shortly?
I’m not critcising, I’m just curious. Personally, unless I was going get enough to train normally I wouldn’t bother. There are plenty of ways to maintain muscle and movement familiarity that don’t require much investment at all and that will work for the expected duration of these restrictions.
What I most definitely WILL be doing going forward is collecting bits and pieces when I can afford it. To me, it’s just common sense to work towards avoiding being subject to the same inconvenience more than once.
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That was the key decision-maker for me in deciding not to get a rack/bar/plates. Who knows what my income will be in X months?
Ironically the longer this goes on, the more likely that you will need a proper setup to maintain strength- but also more likely your income will be affected. But if you’re struggling to put food on the table who cares how much you squat?
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People don’t think this virus is serious and they don’t think this will last long enough to hit their pocket book. People also suck at thinking long term.
Most people would do best to work on their athleticism - running, jumping, climbing, moving their body through space.
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This sounds like a home gym might be a good idea.
And that sounds like a good idea to get there while you don’t have a real need (meaning that you train in a great gym that has everything that you need to train for your sport).
On the broomstick argument you could still do both: Few sets without the bands to stay familiar with the movement and then add bands for extra strength work.
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I’ve told this story before, but over the holidays, I ended up taking almost 4 weeks off from the barbell. Didn’t touch it once. I just relaxed with my family, ate food and drank.
It also wasn’t a stress-free time. My family is hella confrontational which meant lots of arguing, and I had a 3-month old son who wrecked my sleep. Despite all this, I care back and broke almost EVERY strength PR. My body just needed a break.
Moral is, people freaking out over their gainzzzz loss and panic buying fucking gym equipment are probably overreacting. There are a million ways to be strong without a barbell. Like @Frank_C in a different thread, find a big-ass log or rock, sprint and jump, and move your body.
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Presumably to fight off the hordes of zombies, or even worse…other people. I feel I am on the right track.
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I guess the plus side of 2/3 of the US population being overweight or obese is that they’ll be slow zombies.
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Not to mention all the juicy, edible meats.
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Woke at 258.6 lbs, looking similar to yesterday.
Went for a walk, probably around 40 minutes. Same distance, just slower because I dragged Mrs KO along.
Did my broombel (patent pending) practice again, 3x10 of each and worked on being explosive AF
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Woke at 260.8 lbs, looking similar to yesterday. Go figure. Had thai for lunch yesterday, so there’s a bunch of extra salt right there.
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