I just went out to my balcony and find these two babies laying around, out of thin air
They only go up to 30 lb but this already opens up so many training opportunities.
Edit: I also just realized that if I put the all plates onto a single handle, I can double the weight and work one side at a time. One arm overhead presses anyone?
Nice!
I just got my kettlebell delivered from Amazon (two days early! I’ll never stop saying Amazon prime is the best investment one can make).
Now with my chins/dips contraption, two dumbbells, and a kettlebell, these are my options as far as exercises
Push:
Dips
Push ups
Overhead press
Floor press
Floor fly
Overhead Triceps ext
Lateral raise
Front raise
Pull:
Chins
One arm row
Rear raise
Shrugs
Db curl
Hammer curl
Legs:
Bulgarian split squat
Goblet squat
Lunges
One leg rdl
It’s not as limited as I thought initially. Later I’ll put together a split. It’s not heavy weight but I can make it work by sequencing exercises so I put the hardest ones first and by adding intensity techniques.
Shoulders and Triceps
Lateral raises with dbs 4 sets
One arm kb lateral raise to front db raise 2 sets
One arm db overhead press 3 sets
Overhead db extension 2 sets
So I need to find a decent triceps exercise. Overhead extensions kill my shoulders and back for some reason, and I don’t feel much in my triceps. I miss pushdowns so much.
Next time I’ll try skullcrushers lying on the ground but you can’t get a good stretch with those. Maybe I just need to be at peace with the fact that I’ll need lots of pressing movements to keep them stimulated.
When messing around, I’ve found that a standing (overhead) JM press works my triceps well and feels good on my elbows. Might be an option?
I’ll give it a try, thanks for suggesting
Meanwhile, I’m debating whether I should drop my calories down and get into a deficit.
I’m seeing myself fatter by the day and I’ve gained nearly 2 lbs during the past week. Not moving much isn’t doing me any good. I thought I was eating less because I’m just not that hungry, but apparently that’s still too much.
I’m not too happy with my fat gain and I’m thinking if maybe using these weeks to drop fat might be a good idea. The only problem I can think about is that I might end up losing even more mass and strength and end up a disaster.
Which one is the “least bad”?
I know that @T3hPwnisher’s philosophy of matching training volume with calories would have me eat less now, but is the training stimulus gonna be enough to keep my gains if I drop into a deficit?
I don’t know how affected you are mentally from all that is going on around you, but I’d imagine a lot of people are somewhat stressed right now. Stress combined with either a surplus or a deficit doesn’t seem like it’d do anyone’s body-composition any favours.
My two cents, the least bad would probably be finding your maintenance, and keeping protein high (1.0-1.5g/lbs of BW).
I know you know how to drop fat. You can do that later when the situation for it is better.
Surprisingly enough, I’m not stressed at all. The only thing I’m deprived of is social life, but emotionally it’s not a big deal.
I can dedicate myself to studying the things that I love, and I am glad to have plenty of time for that. If I had my girlfriend home with me, and maybe some more training equipment, I could probably go on like this indefinitely.
However, what is stressing me out is looking into the mirror and not liking what I see. But I’ve always had highs and lows as far as that… One day I am happy with what I achieved so far and the next day I feel I haven’t achieved anything yet.
I can relate. Then I suppose my advice doesn’t necessarily need to be adhered to. However, it might be hard to train heavily enough to retain the muscle that you do have. Do what you feel is best, but if you haven’t tried your hand at recomping at a given weight yet now could be a time to try that.
I guess that’s what I’m gonna do.
My current borderline phobia is getting back to the gym to find that my bench has dropped, my squat has dropped, and so on. Especially my bench as I was starting to rep out a weight I could only do for a couple of reps in the past.
Hopefully as I get back to the gym (as soon as we’ll be allowed to) it won’t take too long to get my strength and mass back.
Perhaps it would be to your advantage then to begin assuming that will be the case. It wouldn’t be all that surprising to for your squat/bench numbers to go down due to detraining alone. Within a couple weeks the numbers will probably come right back.
I’m mostly speaking out of my ass here since I don’t have a ton of experience to draw from, but I’d wager if you’re getting enough protein and pushing what exercises you can do as close to failure/beyond failure, your body will realize it needs to hang onto the muscle you’ve built to continue doing that.
What @dagill2 said. Also, don’t conflate a regression in a lift with having lost muscle or progress. Skill at exercising the movement pattern is also part of the puzzle. My point being, you could retain all your muscle and potentially gain some and still see your bench press go down simply because you’ve lost some skill in the motor pattern. But keep training your triceps and chest.
Here’s an idea:
Single-arm DB floor-press.
Progression:
Wait, did I say something smart by accident?
Either that, or he meant to say @mr.v3lv3t haha
Samul is correct. My brain confused avatars. I’m not at the top of my game today. Sorry. Home sick. Probably not the disease that’s on everyone’s mind as I’m having vertigo be one of my symptoms. And confusion. I’d give examples of but… I’m too confused to do so?
And clearly my English is degrading too. Had a couple of thousand calories surplus though so at least I’m gaining weight 
Still better than my Norwegian.
You live in Norway?
Think he was joking lol
Don’t worry buddy, I got ya back
