Fitness and Stuff

Tar.Aldarion

I like reading the fitness and progression here recently so thought I'd stick a log on here too as I'm just starting weightlifting really. Started at the gym this year for the first time and think that's going well (lost 56lbs in the last 15 months from diet and exercise). I mostly did some running and a lot of crosstrainer for that, don't really want to lose more weight any more just get stronger as lot of strength disappeared with all that and I am weak like kitten.

Current exercise is 10km cycle every day, gym 5 times per week, for one hour at lunch, mon-fri. So instead of crosstrainer 5 times per week I'd like to cut that back to twice per week and try and lift 3 times, low weights at the moment and build it up. I've never done a deadlift, barbell row, weights squat before etc so goal is to do one at some point. :pac:


So I'll start off, since I cycle every day I won't bother saying that every time.

Yesterday:
Crosstrainer level 16/17 50 mins 708 cals.

Today:
Not sure how to log weights so if I'm using one with each arm I'll just post total.

shoulder press 4x15 18kg
lat pull down 3x15 level 11 55kg
lat pull down 1x15 level 12 60kg
bent over single arm row 4x15 x2 12kg
chest press 5x15 28kg -> 32kg
prone row 4x15 18kg -> 20kg
prone fly 4x15 14kg
walking lunges 4x15 x2
bicep curls 21s 4x15 x2 18kg
Tricep extensions 4x15 9kg

Tar.Aldarion

Today I was back on the crosstrainer:

level 16, 56 mins, 820 cals, most I've done I think.

1x15 dumbbell bench press 32kg

Tar.Aldarion

Today! Will keep increasing weight weekly until I cannae do no more cap'n.

shoulder press 4x15 18kg ->20kg
lat pull down 4x15 level 11 55kg -> level 12 60kg
bent over single arm row 4x15 x2 12kg
chest press 4x15 32kg
prone row 4x15 20kg
prone fly 4x15 14kg -> 16kg
walking lunges 4x15 x2
bicep curls 21s 4x15 x2 18kg -> 20kg
Tricep extensions 4x15 18kg ->20kg

Tar.Aldarion

1x15 32kg bench
level 16/17 50 mins 740 cals on crosstrainer

Tar.Aldarion

Gone palelol, got two boxes of these for €7 in spar, 36 bars. Good times. They have three ingredients but damn they are tasty. That is post workout snacks sorted. Also bought about 50 trek + artisan grains bars a month or so ago for similar prices in there. Oh, also got 20 nakd bars in tehre today for €10

Tar.Aldarion

Same weights again today, was kinda in a hurry so did it faster. Might do a class as cardio tomorrow.

shoulder press 4x15 20kg
lat pull down 4x15 level 12 60kg
bent over single arm row 4x15 x2 12kg
chest press 4x15 32kg
prone row 4x15 20kg
prone fly 4x15 16kg
walking lunges 4x15 x2
bicep curls 21s 4x15 x2 20kg
Tricep extensions 4x15 20kg

Tar.Aldarion

Did a fitball class today with work at lunch, have to say I really enjoyed it. I've only done one other gym class before like a year ago and found it much more difficult back then.
Have to say some exercises are pretty tough and my flexibility is non-existent.

Alf Veedersane

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

Did a fitball class today with work at lunch, have to say I really enjoyed it. I've only done one other gym class before like a year ago and found it much more difficult back then.
Have to say some exercises are pretty tough and my flexibility is non-existent.

Is that Scottish for 'football'?

Tar.Aldarion

Haha, it's just core exercises using a medicine ball as an aid/detriment.

Alf Veedersane

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

Haha, it's just core exercises using a medicine ball as an aid/detriment.

I did Google it after but it did remind of when I read 'Trainspotting'

Is it a regular class that goes on at work?

Tar.Aldarion

There is a gym next door to work so work signed up for 8 classes starting today, then we will see after. Pretty handy!

Tar.Aldarion

Abs fairly damn sore today! They know I never use them, clever bastards. Just raised the weight of 3 lifts slightly, at least every time I do it's a PB :pac:
For the dumbbell bench presses I do, the main problem is actually getting the left hand into position with the weight, seems very hard then it's fine once I do.

shoulder press 4x15 20kg
lat pull down 4x15 level 12 60kg
bent over single arm row 4x15 x2 12kg
chest press 4x15 32kg -> 36kg
prone row 4x15 20kg -> 24kg
prone fly 4x15 16kg
walking lunges 4x15 x2
bicep curls 21s 4x15 x2 20kg
Tricep extensions 4x15 10kg ->12kg

Tar.Aldarion

shoulder press 4x15 20kg
lat pull down 4x15 level 12 60kg
bent over single arm row 4x15 x2 12kg
chest press 4x15 36kg
prone row 4x15 24kg
prone fly 4x15 16kg ->18kg
walking lunges 4x15 x2
bicep curls 21s 4x15 x2 20kg
Tricep extensions 4x15 12kg

I tried this to get bench press dumbbells into position but nearly killed myself so I'll keep working on it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=622ku8i0M14

drdeadlift

I keep the dbells tight to my chest then roll back,its get easier with practice.The hard part comes when incline pressing.

Tar.Aldarion

I do that too (if you mean roll back then lift them up straight after you are lying down), then I find it wastes a lot of energy getting the dumbbells into position, and sometimes I can't get them in position at all, yet can easily do 15 reps with the weight, I suspect weaker muscles are holding me back. I think i'll move to the barbell for incline.

drdeadlift

Its a funny one alright,over time as you get stronger you will notice this becomes less of a problem.Getting the darn thing into position is a movement of its own

caviardreams

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

Tricep extensions 4x15 12kg

Are ye doing the tricep extensions at 12kg with one arm? :eek::eek: #totesbeastmode

I'd probably be lucky to do 15 reps with 4kg

Tar.Aldarion

Haha no i'm afraid not, jsut doing two hands at once on the same 12kg weight, so I suppose that's like 6kg each. When i gget to 24kg I'll let you know

caviardreams

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

Haha no i'm afraid not, jsut doing two hands at once on the same 12kg weight, so I suppose that's like 6kg each. When i gget to 24kg I'll let you know

I do them one arm at a time so that's somewhat reassuring, but still way more than me! Tris are the new glutes I tell ye!

Tar.Aldarion

Doesn't take too long to get from the weight you are at to my weight, sure everybody else lifts more than me for every lift at the gym and on these forums! We can wallow in pity together

Today was level 16/17, 50 mins, 767 cals, on crosstrainer.
1x15 36kg db bench press. Also practiced getting dumbbells into position from that video with 32kg and lived to tell the tale.

Tar.Aldarion

Put up two weights today, fairly knackered after working all hours so it took a while. Put up one especially for caviar

shoulder press 4x15 20kg
lat pull down 4x15 level 12 60kg
bent over single arm row 4x15 x2 12kg ->14kg
chest press 4x15 36kg
prone row 4x15 24kg
prone fly 4x15 18kg
walking lunges 4x15 x2
bicep curls 21s 4x15 x2 20kg
Tricep extensions 4x15 12kg -> 14kg

caviardreams

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

Tricep extensions 4x15 12kg -> 14kg

Ah here :o

Tar.Aldarion

Haha just messing, found that very hard!

Tar.Aldarion

Another core class today, was much harder than last week, was killer. So much pushups, planks, burpees, squats and that fitball thing. Was very hard on the arms after weights yesterday. Feel good after though.

Tar.Aldarion

Is it easier to bench more weight with barbell or dumbbells or is there any difference? Never used a barbell before. There is an incline one in the gym.

Alf Veedersane

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

Is it easier to bench more weight with barbell or dumbbells or is there any difference? Never used a barbell before. There is an incline one in the gym.

Most people would lift more with a barbell than with dumbbells. There's more stability with the bar as opposed to having to work to keep everything stable with DBs.

Tar.Aldarion

Might give it a go today to see what it is like cheers. Brother started lifting too and is benching 70kg, so I got some catching up to do.

Tar.Aldarion

Noticed I've been doing tricep extensions wrong I think? My elbows are quite far from my head which makes it easier and may be bringing the biceps into play? Noticed they were quite close to his head here, his arms are vertical, mine are more splayed outwards. So caviar we probably aren't far apart, I'll have to come down in weight to do that I imagine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbX7Wd8jQ-Q

Raised two lifts today, still hard to get dbs in position but am at 40kg now, 30 more to go until bw x15.

shoulder press 3x15 20kg
shoulder press 1x15 24kg
lat pull down 4x15 level 12 60kg
bent over single arm row 4x15 x2 14kg
chest press 4x15 36kg -> 40kg
prone row 4x15 24kg -> 28kg
prone fly 4x15 18kg
walking lunges 4x15 x2
bicep curls 21s 4x15 x2 20kg
Tricep extensions 4x15 14kg

Alf Veedersane

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

Noticed I've been doing tricep extensions wrong I think? My elbows are quite far from my head which makes it easier and may be bringing the biceps into play? Noticed they were quite close to his head here, his arms are vertical, mine are more splayed outwards. So caviar we probably aren't far apart, I'll have to come down in weight to do that I imagine.

The more flared they are, the more the pecs are engaged so you're taking stress off the triceps. Keeping elbows closer to the head isolates the triceps.

Tar.Aldarion

Thanks I'll have to retrain that so. I also realise I'm just mostly making up what I do, i should probably learn what you are supposed to do with benching etc, form, instead of just lift things up and down.. i see my back is flat whilst others have it arched and so on.

Alf Veedersane

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

Thanks I'll have to retrain that so. I also realise I'm just mostly making up what I do, i should probably learn what you are supposed to do with benching etc, form, instead of just lift things up and down.. i see my back is flat whilst others have it arched and so on.

Could probably do with a bit more leg work in there as well. Split squats, lateral lunges, goblet squats, step ups, etc

Tar.Aldarion

Yeah true, i do quite little with my legs, just crosstrainer on high resistance, cylce and lunges. I mostly think my legs are far ahead of my upper body and was trying to catch up - calves and quads are the only muscles I have I will have to gravitate towards days for certain things eventually, legs, pushing, pulling - I think.

caviardreams

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

Raised two lifts today, still hard to get dbs in position but am at 40kg now, 30 more to go until bw x15.

Fair play on getting them 20s into position! \o/

Tar.Aldarion

Thanks, it feels bad when you fail and everybody sees man

Your man's videos are great I always look for his if I need to double check stuff

Tar.Aldarion

Did some yoga and stretching today as I am ridiculously inflexible.

Tar.Aldarion

shoulder press 4x15 20kg -> 24kg
lat pull down 4x15 level 12 60kg
bent over single arm row 4x15 x2 14kg
chest press 4x15 40kg
prone row 4x15 28kg
prone fly 4x15 18kg
walking lunges 4x15 x2
bicep curls 21s 4x15 x2 20kg
Tricep extensions 4x15 14kg

Just the one increase today!

Tar.Aldarion

level 16 50 mins 751 cals on crosstrainer today

Tar.Aldarion

Tried barbell incline BP instead of DB bench today, imagine form was horrible as I have never used a barbell for anything, wrists should have been in line with arm I figured after and who knows what else. Seems easier than with DBs anyway!

Incline BB BP 2x15 30kg
Incline BB BP 1x15 35kg
Incline BB BP 1x15 40kg
Incline BB BP 1x15 -> 45kg Felt easier than 40kg of DBs.
shoulder press 4x15 24kg
lat pull down 4x15 level 12 60kg
bent over single arm row 4x15 x2 14kg
prone row 4x15 28kg
prone fly 4x15 18kg
walking lunges 4x15 x2
bicep curls 21s 4x15 x2 20kg
Tricep extensions 4x15 14kg

Your man's incline video is handy for that as well

Tar.Aldarion

Thanks, will check that out for tomorrow. Today's class was a circuit kind of thing. One warm up set and then 4 sets without stopping, for each you were holding a medicine ball, lying on one etc.

4x
30 squats
10 pushups
15 back extensions
20 ceiling touches
20 hip raises
20 russian twists

Then 20 pushups to finish off (push ups are not fun after weights yesterday). Some stretches for cool down.


Everything was fine but the last set of squats the back left knee started "popping" which cant be good. No idea why, said my form looked good. Maybe was going too fast.

Tar.Aldarion

Compared the form video to mine today:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbFgADa2PL8

And noticed he was touching his chest. I was nowhere near that on mine so I changed it in the middle of my sets, to at least be an inch or two from my chest, not higher. Before I was like 6 inches away.

Old way I did:
Incline BB BP 2x15 40kg
Incline BB BP 1x15 45kg

New way I started off with bar and worked up a little:
Incline BB BP 1x15 -> 20kg
Incline BB BP 1x15 -> 25kg
Incline BB BP 2x15 -> 30kg

On to the rest:

shoulder press 4x15 24kg
lat pull down 4x15 level 12 60kg
bent over single arm row 4x15 x2 14kg
prone row 4x15 28kg
prone fly 4x15 18kg
walking lunges 4x15 x2
bicep curls 21s 4x15 x2 20kg
Tricep extensions 4x15 14kg

Tar.Aldarion

It's a lot harder to go a few inches lower with the BB BP it seems! I like being able to do 15 reps of a weight. I can increase weights by a min of 5kg so not sure if I should go for something like 20+ reps of the current weight to move up to the next weight or 5x reps of the next weight and build that to 15. Tried the latter for practice today.

Incline BB BP 1x15 30kg
Incline BB BP 6x5 35kg
DB BP 1x15 40kg

On to the rest:

shoulder press 4x15 24kg
lat pull down 4x15 level 12 60kg
bent over single arm row 4x15 x2 14kg
prone row 4x15 28kg
prone fly 4x15 18kg
walking lunges 4x15 x2
bicep curls 21s 4x15 x2 20kg
Tricep extensions 4x15 14kg

caviardreams

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

It's a lot harder to go a few inches lower with the BB BP it seems! I like being able to do 15 reps of a weight. I can increase weights by a min of 5kg so not sure if I should go for something like 20+ reps of the current weight to move up to the next weight or 5x reps of the next weight and build that to 15. Tried the latter for practice today.

Incline BB BP 1x15 30kg
Incline BB BP 6x5 35kg
DB BP 1x15 40kg

On to the rest:

shoulder press 4x15 24kg
lat pull down 4x15 level 12 60kg
bent over single arm row 4x15 x2 14kg
prone row 4x15 28kg
prone fly 4x15 18kg
walking lunges 4x15 x2
bicep curls 21s 4x15 x2 20kg
Tricep extensions 4x15 14kg

I wouldn't worry about doing 15 of everything - is there any reason you picked? I find it hard to jump between weights and 5kg is a big jump (for me anyway! ). Personally I would go up in weight (rather than up to 20 reps) and do as many as you can for the 3 sets, even if that is 5, and then build it up until you get to say 12-15 for all the sets and then increase the weight again, and repeat. There are lots of different rep ranges and programs you can use though. Once you are progressing that's a good indication that you are going in the right direction anyway I think.

Tar.Aldarion

I just like lots of volume really! I usually do a superset of all the exercises. Yeah 5kg is big but its all I've got, dont want to be bringing in my own plates just to go up lower amounts heh. Sounds like a plan! The left arm is letting me down, righty is eagerly awaiting it to catch up.

Today crosstrainer level 17 for 50 mins, 830 cals.

Tar.Aldarion

Just increased one or two lifts today (bent over row and tricep extension) and will slowly increase reps with BP like suggested.

Incline BB BP 1x15 30kg
Incline BB BP 3x8 35kg
Incline BB BP 1x5 40kg
shoulder press 4x15 24kg
lat pull down 4x15 level 12 60kg
bent over single arm row 4x15 x2 14kg -> 16kg
prone row 4x15 28kg
prone fly 4x15 18kg
walking lunges 4x15 x2
bicep curls 3x21s 20kg
Tricep extensions 4x15 14kg -> 16kg

Tar.Aldarion

kettlebell and core class today, had nothing left for all the planks and pushups, especially after the workout yesterday, arms were in bits by the end!

Tar.Aldarion

This workout finishes 8 weeks of my lifting career (had a 2 month break half way though, oopsie).
What I started at (and found hard at the time!) haha

chest press 4x15 12kg
shoulder press 4x15 12kg
lat pull down 4x15 level 7 35kg
bent over single arm row 4x15 x2 8kg
prone row 4x15 8kg
prone fly 4x15 4kg
walking lunges 3x15 x2
bicep curls 21s 3x15 8kg
Tricep extensions 3x15 6kg


I am weak as BP is hard. Here is today!

Incline BB BP 8x5 35kg
Incline BB BP 2x5 40kg
shoulder press 4x15 24kg
lat pull down 4x15 level 12 60kg
bent over single arm row 4x15 x2 16kg
prone row 4x15 28kg
prone fly 4x15 18kg
walking lunges 3x15 x2
walking lunges 1x15 x2 18kg
bicep curls 4x21s 20kg
Tricep extensions 4x15 16kg

caviardreams

#allthegainz

Tar.Aldarion

Unfortunately 5kg lighter, wheres my gains bro

Tar.Aldarion

Today moved away from bicep 21s to just doing curls, the 21s seem silly, suit any purpose over doing a curl?
Raised prone flies a little bit.


Incline BB BP 3x5 35kg
Incline BB BP 8x5 40kg
shoulder press 4x15 24kg
lat pull down 4x15 level 12 60kg
bent over single arm row 4x15 x2 16kg
prone row 4x15 28kg
prone fly 4x15 18kg -> 20kg
walking lunges 4x15 x2
bicep curls 4x15 x2 20kg
Tricep extensions 4x15 16kg