[quote]big nurse wrote:
…the weights area which is small semed to be full of guys not doing very much aside from curling biceps and sitting on the benches.
[/quote]
That’s because it was Friday. They were getting ready to go ‘clubbing’, or whatever it is youngsters do nowadays. Oh, and a belated welcome to the ‘When I was young we used to…fill in the blank…’ group.
I love your mindset as far as “working to my own plan”, this really struck a chord with me.
Once you get more in your zone, ID think the gym distractions wont be as noticeable.
Seems your off to a great start!
Ok–on my own plan :
I have talked to my trainer several times about my plan, it has changed several times already and mainly due to becoming safer (more in control) on the free weights, so although i will be lifting or pressing lighter than i possibly could be it will be with better weight control.
Some limitations that he has advised me about :
Working solo i have to stay within my limits i.e no spotter to rescue me if i can’t rack the weight. This will limit or slow progress as i can’t go for a maximum push on anything. What does happen is that i work at a weight for a while until i am mastering that weight and then only increase weight for say 1 or 2 sets out of a 5x5 routine.
Sometimes the ‘zone’ happens, often it doesn’t–last session just about everything was somehow irritating from the awful local radio music playing to the distraction of people moving past real close while i was actually lifting–sure at one point that someone brushed past just as i was about to deadlift my working maximum !!. This week i couldn’t get into my usual routine because a group of lads were hanging around acouple of the stations where i wanted to work and subsequently had to either pull back-to-back or press back-to-back and didnt get the rest in between exercises. Oh shit…moan…moan…
Talking about maybe being in the wrong gym set up though : at the end of one workout when i was doing a 20 minute running interval on the treadmill i kept getting annoyed looks from a bunch of …er…ladies that were sat on the recumbent bikes. During the whole time that i was pounding out my intervals not one of them so much as span a wheel–all they did was sit on the bikes,watch tv and talk !!.
Now i know that there is some anti crosssfit talk around here—as it happens my trainer works out at the local crossfit gym–now he is lighter fitter by a long way but heres the rub–at about 15kg lighter than i am he lifts on average at least twice his own bodyweight , despairs of some of the gym users he sees and only gets a decent workout at the crossfit outfit ie its the only place he gets pushed really hard.
[quote]big nurse wrote:
Ok–on my own plan :
I have talked to my trainer several times about my plan, it has changed several times already and mainly due to becoming safer (more in control) on the free weights, so although i will be lifting or pressing lighter than i possibly could be it will be with better weight control.
Some limitations that he has advised me about :
Working solo i have to stay within my limits i.e no spotter to rescue me if i can’t rack the weight. This will limit or slow progress as i can’t go for a maximum push on anything. What does happen is that i work at a weight for a while until i am mastering that weight and then only increase weight for say 1 or 2 sets out of a 5x5 routine.
[/quote]
Not having a spotter doesn’t have to limit your progress too much, sure you won’t be able to squat super heavy, but you can bench press and overhead press with DBs without a spotter and get most of the benefits of squats from deadlifts.
As far as the wrong gym set up goes, get yourself an Ipod (other mp3 players are available) and turn it up and the other distractions, I’ll guess you’ll have to learn to ignore them or move gyms.
Where abouts in England are you? and why were you up at 5.50 am on a Sunday morning?
05.50 --on break at work…
Music seems to do it for some, i seem to work best with no noise–done my best workouts so far with a quiet gym.
Plymouth–devon.
It’s a great idea to take the weights easy if you’re a newbie. One, you’re right, you want to get good form as soon as possible. Second, you need to toughen ligaments and tendons at the beginning, else you’re risking injury.
[quote]FarmerBrett wrote:
[quote]big nurse wrote:
Ok–on my own plan :
Where abouts in England are you? and why were you up at 5.50 am on a Sunday morning? [/quote]
Hom is plymouth (devon) 05.50 was at work and having a break during a pretty horrible shift at the hospital.
Where in wales are you, only i lived and worked in n wales during my twenties ??.
I think you have done wonders.
You’re initial starting program was a marvelous way to build work capacity, health and the 2 most important things, avoid injury and keep it going.
Perhaps trainers are different there, or you have chosen well. Here I see them “training” people in the most asinine things you can do on a bosu, or straps, and shoulder rehab lifts (sometimes on a bosu)… I have seen only 1 trainer show people the big six.
Congrats on your lifestyle change. Sounds like your enjoying it as well it’s effects.
lastly, hope the austerity budgets don’t collapse your economy as bad as it sounds in the news.
[quote]cavalier wrote:
It’s a great idea to take the weights easy if you’re a newbie. One, you’re right, you want to get good form as soon as possible. Second, you need to toughen ligaments and tendons at the beginning, else you’re risking injury. [/quote]
I’ll second this.
Old injuries mean cranky connective tissue for me.
Massive doses of fish oil seem to help long term, studies back this up. NSAIDs may cut pain and in the short term inflamation, but have been shown to weaken connective tissue.
[quote]Null wrote:
[quote]cavalier wrote:
It’s a great idea to take the weights easy if you’re a newbie. One, you’re right, you want to get good form as soon as possible. Second, you need to toughen ligaments and tendons at the beginning, else you’re risking injury. [/quote]
I’ll second this.
Old injuries mean cranky connective tissue for me.
Massive doses of fish oil seem to help long term, studies back this up. NSAIDs may cut pain and in the short term inflamation, but have been shown to weaken connective tissue.[/quote]
Fish oil is the only regular supplement i take ecxept for during the winter when i take a multi-vitamin as well—mainly for vitamin d.
Today : distractions and satisfactions.
Today i thought it was going to be one of those sessions when i can’t get things done because of other gym users on the stations.
My normal routine after warm-up is to start on lat pull downs, today that seemed weak at my new weight but got through it, then i would normally move onto a different body part eg deadlift or squat…except that someone started…yes bicep curls in the squat cage and a couple of girls started stretching out on the power rack !!!, ok so maybe go onto the bench press…until some dweeb sat on it.
So–had to move onto upright cable row which effectively made a super-set which was pretty hard, hey-ho bench is free .
So onto the bench which is just about my weakest exercise , warm up with bare bar then second warm up at 35kg then load up at my new working weight which is 42.5kg for a 5x5 routine.
Now the layout of stations is such that the bench is just behind and to one side of the power rack which can make deadlifting real interesting as putting the weight down is only inches from the benchers foot.
However the girls are now doing squats–and very nicely too–looked like some kind of pyramid routine.
However one of the 2 is doing some kind of routine in between squat sets with a plate…something like a lift and good morning–but just a couple of feet away and displaying the cutest bum in lycra i have seen in a while …
So my sets went like (5x5) of.
Omigod
omigod
Omigod etc etc.
Bench felt very heavy with the added distraction but once again (manfully) pressed out the sets.
Then when i got off to strip the bar i found that i had been pressing 45 kg and not 42.5–not much difference but a new personal best for me.
Todays major breakthrough was on the deadlift though where on my normal 5x5 routine i would be working at 90kg i managed a middle set of 3 at 100kg. Felt very heavy but just about do-able for 3.
So 2 new pb’s in one day.
Nice lycra too.!!
I live on the edge of the Brecon Beacons between Pontardawe and Ammanford, about 15 miles from Swansea.
Congrats on the PBs and regarding the lycra clad ladies, not all gym distractions are bad!
[quote]FarmerBrett wrote:
I live on the edge of the Brecon Beacons between Pontardawe and Ammanford, about 15 miles from Swansea.
Congrats on the PBs and regarding the lycra clad ladies, not all gym distractions are bad![/quote]
Oh–sheepshagger eh !!!
I have had lots of sheep over the years and through working with them I have developed an affection for them. Sheep are great, they are very intelligent and trainable, not stupid like a lot of people think. They can remember 50 sheep faces and several human faces and can remember them for up to five years. It was a very sad day when we gave our flock away (because we are selling up).
I love sheep, but do draw the line at shagging them!!
[quote]FarmerBrett wrote:
I have had lots of sheep over the years and through working with them I have developed an affection for them. Sheep are great, they are very intelligent and trainable, not stupid like a lot of people think. They can remember 50 sheep faces and several human faces and can remember them for up to five years. It was a very sad day when we gave our flock away (because we are selling up).
I love sheep, but do draw the line at shagging them!! [/quote]
Ok-ok…
Seriously though are you a hill farmer up there…hard life i think.
My partner here comes from a farming background, dads place is a dairy farm in devon. Mind you john is 84 ,mostly retired but keeps buying a few animals just to keep interested.
[quote]big nurse wrote:
Omigod etc etc.
Bench felt very heavy with the added distraction but once again (manfully) pressed out the sets.
Then when i got off to strip the bar i found that i had been pressing 45 kg and not 42.5–not much difference but a new personal best for me.
So 2 new pb’s in one day.
Nice lycra too.!![/quote]
Funny, a little testosterone always helps my lifting. Maybe that’s where the PB’s came from. Congrats!
On the subject of Wales, I now keep thinking of the scene from My Hero:
“Did you see the news? Thermoman plugged a volcano with whales!”
"Hmm, I never cared for the Welsh. . . . "
[quote]cavalier wrote:
[quote]big nurse wrote:
Omigod etc etc.
Bench felt very heavy with the added distraction but once again (manfully) pressed out the sets.
Then when i got off to strip the bar i found that i had been pressing 45 kg and not 42.5–not much difference but a new personal best for me.
So 2 new pb’s in one day.
Nice lycra too.!![/quote]
Funny, a little testosterone always helps my lifting. Maybe that’s where the PB’s came from. Congrats!
On the subject of Wales, I now keep thinking of the scene from My Hero:
“Did you see the news? Thermoman plugged a volcano with whales!”
"Hmm, I never cared for the Welsh. . . . "[/quote]
Hmm–thats a decent working theory right there : gym full of friday night dweebs = low testosterone and poor workout, gym full of lycra clad gym bunnies doing serious exercise=high testosterone = good workout.
Must send to T nation to supply more of the latter !
Today : no gym but had a decent rucking session : 45kg load of beech splits from the valley uphill all the way home (20 minutes).
Gotta say your rucking seems a damn fine way to build work capacity!
[quote]Null wrote:
Gotta say your rucking seems a damn fine way to build work capacity![/quote]
Its good (i think) except that i am just about at the limit of what i can get up onto my back without help and with what will go in the pack.
I may have to either extend the carry time, do more trips or do some deliberate steeper hill work to keep it progressing though.
Dont half get some odd looks walking back up through the estate though–one time heard a little girl say "mummy whats that man doing with that wood’–no reply from mummy !!