Random Fitness Questions

Cill94

Mellor wrote: »

I’d imagine rock climbers could have pretty overdeveloped backs. Bit of a niche case.

Yup. Rowers as well. Both groups suck at pushing in my experience. You get good at what you do, etc.

Brian?

Mellor wrote: »

That is similar to the situation I was getting at. Hours training/sitting/being in a bad position means the start position is ridiculously bias to begin with.


I’d imagine rock climbers could have pretty overdeveloped backs. Bit of a niche case.

Rock climbers are a good point. Never thought of them. My kids have switched from gymnastics to rock climbing this year, their lats are insane for kids. If my 9 year old did a 2 week cut he'd make a decent physique competitor.

Brian?

Cill94 wrote: »

Yup. Rowers as well. Both groups suck at pushing in my experience. You get good at what you do, etc.

More from Brian's family tales: my wife rowed competitively for years. 2nd time she deadlifts she pulled 1.5 x bodyweight. I was proud but insanely jealous.

new2tri19

I feel like I need to do loads of pulling work now what exercises are pulling ? I do bent over barbell rows but don't do loads because I feel like when I get tired my form suffers compared to a chest press which you are probably less likely to get wrong. So you work your back and front to get the balance so I'm guessing pull ups are also pull work so if I do lots of press ups combat that with lots of pull ups ? or is that too simplistic?

Alf Veedersane

new2tri19 wrote: »

I feel like I need to do loads of pulling work now what exercises are pulling ? I do bent over barbell rows but don't do loads because I feel like when I get tired my form suffers compared to a chest press which you are probably less likely to get wrong. So you work your back and front to get the balance so I'm guessing pull ups are also pull work so if I do lots of press ups combat that with lots of pull ups ? or is that too simplistic?

Simplistic explanation is pulling exercises are where you're pulling something towards you and where the resistance is higher when you're pulling. Rows and pull ups, for example.

Like was said earlier, break it down to vertical and horizontal pulling and then vertical and horizontal pushing.

Bench press is a horizontal push, overhead press is a vertical push. Barbell row is a horizontal pull, pull ups a vertical pull.

Rows is a broad term...people sometimes think rows = barbell rows but there are a whole host of rows you can do.

Bredabe

I've been recommended Barre workouts, the online ones are too fast for me, until I know the routine.
Which should I do, try to keep up or take it at my own pace until I can keep up?

Cill94

Bredabe wrote: »

I've been recommended Barre workouts, the online ones are too fast for me, until I know the routine.
Which should I do, try to keep up or take it at my own pace until I can keep up?

Barre, as in ballet? I'd say this is a question better suited for a dance sub-forum.

Alf Veedersane

Cill94 wrote: »

Barre, as in ballet? I'd say this is a question better suited for a dance sub-forum.

It's a workout routine loosely based on ballet barre. Yoga, Pilates movements in a dancy format with some 'strength' exercises.

Bredabe wrote: »

I've been recommended Barre workouts, the online ones are too fast for me, until I know the routine.
Which should I do, try to keep up or take it at my own pace until I can keep up?

Were they recommended by a physio/GP?

Do them at the speed you're comfortable doing. The speed at which you can do them will come over time.

hayoc

Bredabe wrote: »

I've been recommended Barre workouts, the online ones are too fast for me, until I know the routine.
Which should I do, try to keep up or take it at my own pace until I can keep up?

Your own pace until you can keep up. If you rush youll just end up learning them with bad form.

atilladehun

Press pause, rewind, try it again.

YouTube can be played at .75 speed or half speed. Gives you a chance to watch the demo then try it for your own count.

Bredabe

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

It's a workout routine loosely based on ballet barre. Yoga, Pilates movements in a dancy format with some 'strength' exercises.



Were they recommended by a physio/GP?

Do them at the speed you're comfortable doing. The speed at which you can do them will come over time.

Specialist OT as its handy way to counteract the impact of Dyspraxia on my muscle tone.

Alf Veedersane

Bredabe wrote: »

Specialist OT as its handy way to counteract the impact of Dyspraxia on my muscle tone.

Then I'd just do them at your own speed. I just wondered why they didn't just mentioned doing some Pilates or yoga with resistance exercises.

The important thing is doing the moves properly to get the effect you're supposed to. As slow as you need to. The pace will follow.

new2tri19

new2tri19 wrote: »

Thanks thats promising that you can still bulk up while maintaining cardio training. I do ramp up and down the training and 80% of that cardio is easy stuff.
I am a peak training amount now mostly because the longer days means more long bike rides. When winter comes it will be closer to 8 hours.

The plan is to do weights now and work on form and mobility so I can do the exercises correctly , I've been working on hip mobility and squatting before putting any heavy weight on a bar as I don't want to get injured for starters.
Then when I get it dialled in I can spend more time lifting in winter.

In regards lifting to get bigger is it best to lift short reps with heaviest weight you can manage ? Also I do 3 sets of say bench press then move to squat then next excercse until done . Is it better to do 1 set of bench , 1 set of squat and then repeat the whole thing 3 times or is there any difference ?

I don't eat that much pretty standard every day , breakfast is cereal and coffee , lunch sandwitch and some fruit , dinner your standard meat and veg , tea and bar of chocolate. Snack very little , long bike ride a fullfil bar or 2 and same with hard swim ill take a fullfill bar. Before gym ill grab some kind of protein nut bar and have a protein shake afterwards. I'm 5ft 11 and 67kg I could probably do with getting that weight up.

I am dropping back the running as it's very hard to gain weight , my easy lunch time runs have been replaced by the gym. I'm just clueless on so many thinks when it comes to weights , like do you do your legs one day and upper body the next ? How many days a week to lift weights. You google it and there is so much conflicting information.

Just to update this for anyone else that may be interested. I am still clueless when it comes to the gym but from advice here and reading it seems I wasn't eating near enough. I got on top of my eating which was hard at the start but now its just a habit , I used to skip breakfast run and then have a light lunch more cardio, I was just burning myself out and living on carbs.
I had a good look at my diet and added tuna bagels , chicken wraps and lots of fruit nuts etc and never skipping meals.
I am feeling much healthier overall I am follownig the 5/3/1 program for beginners 3 days a week and doing the 100 reps of push pull or abs afterwards.

I seem to gain muscle really easy I've had a fair few comments already and I am only at it less than 2 months. I am now 76kg from 67kg and will have to buy some new clothes if this keeps up! I am still trying to balance the training running is hard after squatting the day before its also harder at 76kg than 67kg interestingly the shorter interval runs I feel stronger on but anything long and my legs don't feel like I have that same pop off the ground. Cardio is cut right back now to about 1 hour a day .
Anyway thanks for advice all .

Alf Veedersane

new2tri19 wrote: »

Just to update this for anyone else that may be interested. I am still clueless when it comes to the gym but from advice here and reading it seems I wasn't eating near enough. I got on top of my eating which was hard at the start but now its just a habit , I used to skip breakfast run and then have a light lunch more cardio, I was just burning myself out and living on carbs.
I had a good look at my diet and added tuna bagels , chicken wraps and lots of fruit nuts etc and never skipping meals.
I am feeling much healthier overall I am follownig the 5/3/1 program for beginners 3 days a week and doing the 100 reps of push pull or abs afterwards.

I seem to gain muscle really easy I've had a fair few comments already and I am only at it less than 2 months. I am now 76kg from 67kg and will have to buy some new clothes if this keeps up! I am still trying to balance the training running is hard after squatting the day before its also harder at 76kg than 67kg interestingly the shorter interval runs I feel stronger on but anything long and my legs don't feel like I have that same pop off the ground. Cardio is cut right back now to about 1 hour a day .
Anyway thanks for advice all .

Sounds good. You've a much better idea of what works for you so it's a case of tweaking things to make it work for your training goals, eg longer runs.

Cill94

new2tri19 wrote: »

Just to update this for anyone else that may be interested.

Great to hear and well done on your progress.

When it comes to strength training, not eating enough is almost always a part of the reason for people not making progress, as it takes a lot of consistency and mild discomfort. I find people are amazed at how much easier it is to add weight to the bar when they're eating right.

It makes sense that your ability to run distance will have dropped off. It might just be a long term trade off for having more muscle mass, or you may find your times improve after a period of focusing more on running than lifting. Depends on the distance you run and how strong you want to be.

silverharp

Question about weaker arm/grip strength , can you get to the point of balancing it? I made minor effort last year adding in a few extra things for my left arm/grip strength but now I want to put more effort into this as I can feel my left hand struggles more when dead lifting, with a grip test meter right hand is stronger by ~20%. So Im doing plate pinch grips and dumbbell holds for left hand about twice a week and upping the time/weight and doing extra left arm machine press again once or twice. I have a crush grip set so I guess I could bring it when out walking and work the left hand more. It seems like something that could take a long time? or do I have to throw a lot more volume at it?

Alf Veedersane

silverharp wrote: »

Question about weaker arm/grip strength , can you get to the point of balancing it? I made minor effort last year adding in a few extra things for my left arm/grip strength but now I want to put more effort into this as I can feel my left hand struggles more when dead lifting, with a grip test meter right hand is stronger by ~20%. So Im doing plate pinch grips and dumbbell holds for left hand about twice a week and upping the time/weight and doing extra left arm machine press again once or twice. I have a crush grip set so I guess I could bring it when out walking and work the left hand more. It seems like something that could take a long time? or do I have to throw a lot more volume at it?

The dumbbell holds will help deadlift grip. The crush grip and pinch work to a lesser degree.

Just improve your grip strength over time and unless you're competing, you can use straps for deadlifts at a point where grip strength becomes an issue. Or mixed grip if you haven't tried that.

silverharp

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

The dumbbell holds will help deadlift grip. The crush grip and pinch work to a lesser degree.

Just improve your grip strength over time and unless you're competing, you can use straps for deadlifts at a point where grip strength becomes an issue. Or mixed grip if you haven't tried that.

im of the view for me that my limits are my limits but this is only since the summer so Im sure it can be trained going forward, im only 30KG off my final goal lifting weight

Alf Veedersane

silverharp wrote: »

im of the view for me that my limits are my limits but this is only since the summer so Im sure it can be trained going forward, im only 30KG off my final goal lifting weight

Yeah I'd still try to improve your grip and it will become less of a limitation. Just that It may take time and not to let that be a limiting factor on your deadlift in the meantime when it doesn't need to be

Cill94

silverharp wrote: »

Question about weaker arm/grip strength ,

If your left arm is weaker, just limit your lifts to what the weak arm can do. Eventually it will catch up with the right.

Also..

Don’t use straps
Use chalk
Take a mixed or hook grip on deadlifts

Fixes most people‘a grip issues

Alf Veedersane

Cill94 wrote: »

Also..

Don’t use straps
Use chalk
Take a mixed or hook grip on deadlifts

Hook grip if you hate yourself enough.

I'd disagree on straps, to a point.

I hate them on deadlifts so it's not a bias. I just don't think it makes a massive difference - and now I think of it, silverharp uses a trap bar, unless I'm mistaken. So mixed/hook grips may not be the solution.

But if grip is a limiting factor on trap bar deadlifts, I'd use straps for the deadlifts and supplement it with grip work.

Cill94

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

Hook grip if you hate yourself enough.

I'd disagree on straps, to a point.

I hate them on deadlifts so it's not a bias. I just don't think it makes a massive difference - and now I think of it, silverharp uses a trap bar, unless I'm mistaken. So mixed/hook grips may not be the solution.

But if grip is a limiting factor on trap bar deadlifts, I'd use straps for the deadlifts and supplement it with grip work.

Hook grip is sore, but not that bad once you get used to it. I find the boost in grip strength definitely worth it.

His grip is weak, straps are a crutch. That’s the way I see it anyway. If you always throw straps on when it gets hard, your grip will always suck. I only use them for sets of 10 reps or more.

I used to have grip issues and above means I’ve never missed a deadlift from grip since. Just my experience anyway.

Alf Veedersane

Cill94 wrote: »

Hook grip is sore, but not that bad once you get used to it. I find the boost in grip strength definitely worth it.

His grip is weak, straps are a crutch. That’s the way I see it anyway. If you always throw straps on when it gets hard, your grip will always suck. I only use them for sets of 10 reps or more.

I used to have grip issues and above means I’ve never missed a deadlift from grip since. Just my experience anyway.

If I was saying to just use straps and do no grip work, I'd agree. But I said if his grip is limiting his deadlift, then use straps and maximise the work from the deadlift but also do grip work on top of it in the interim to minimise the imbalance.

I use straps on heavy rows because I want to make sure that I'm getting the most out of the rows and that grip isn't limiting what I get from them. Using straps isn't always a crutch.

silverharp

the chalk might be a good interim solution as it was probably moving a bit more in my left hand which was then hurting

Cill94

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

If I was saying to just use straps and do no grip work, I'd agree. But I said if his grip is limiting his deadlift, then use straps and maximise the work from the deadlift but also do grip work on top of it in the interim to minimise the imbalance.

I use straps on heavy rows because I want to make sure that I'm getting the most out of the rows and that grip isn't limiting what I get from them. Using straps isn't always a crutch.

I think the deadlift is the best tool for building the grip so I’d keep 90%+ of the work on that strapless.

Straps for rows occasionally are grand yeah. Was referring more to the deadlift.

Black Sheep

Another vote for straps not being a crutch, within reason.

My way of approaching it: Double overhand for quite submaximal sets. Hook grip for 80%-90% (Possibly not at the top end there, depending on reps) and then 90% or above ... bust out the straps and don't worry about it. Or if you've forgotten your straps, then mixed grip.

The above offers plenty of grip work at weights under 90%.

If you won't use straps for top sets / max efforts then you're short changing yourself out of handling the actually heavy weights that will drive progress and growth, and the deadlift is not mainly a grip exercise, although it is a great grip exercise also.

Incidentally my mixed grip is not that much weaker than my deadlift with straps, but I think it's reasonable to mention also that there can be a risk of bicep damage associated with mixed grip. Your mileage may vary but I think straps are a reasonable accommodation.

Alf Veedersane

Cill94 wrote: »

I think the deadlift is the best tool for building the grip so I’d keep 90%+ of the work on that strapless.

Absolutely keep the majority of the deadlift minus straps. But if grip is limiting in the short term, using straps to go beyond that limit is fine. You get the benefit of moving moving the weight that you can when grip isn't a limiting factor. And then you can do back offs without straps as well and/or do grip work like holding a loaded bar etc.

I'm only really talking about using straps to go beyond the grip limit rather than throughout.

Mellor

Cill94 wrote: »

I think the deadlift is the best tool for building the grip so I’d keep 90%+ of the work on that strapless.

Straps for rows occasionally are grand yeah. Was referring more to the deadlift.

If you want to build a grip, then avoid straps for deadlift to do that. But if you don’t particularly care about grip and only want to strengthen hips then might as well take the benefit of straps.

Mr. CooL ICE

Few static 10+ second holds at the end of every set, be grand. Helps most people's deadlift grip.

Personally, farmers walks are what made a big increase for my deadlift grip.

new2tri19

Should you wear a belt when lifting? I'm not doing 1 rep max type stuff is it only for lifting really heavy? thanks