Author Topic: Strength & Fitness 2017  (Read 172658 times)

LifeHappens

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Re: Strength & Fitness 2017
« Reply #500 on: March 01, 2017, 08:19:42 AM »
February Check In:
Missed 3 days of movement. Boo!

Good stuff:
PT is going well. I hope to be done tomorrow, but may need another couple of appointments.
I have a pool!! So extravagant, but such a nice workout option in the heat. Also, shoulder is almost fixed so freestyle might be possible again. I've been pretty much limited to breast stroke for a couple years now.

March Goal:
The same. Move every day. This may be challenging because I have family visiting next week. We will definitely be doing "stuff" but I don't know if it will meet my movement standards.

Kerowyn

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Re: Strength & Fitness 2017
« Reply #501 on: March 01, 2017, 08:44:47 AM »
February check-in: I mathed out every other month's milestones for the yoga hours goal, so I don't have a specific number to hit, but I think I'm falling behind. I'll step it up. Still definitely doing yoga at least twice a week. Have not yet learned to use my foam roller, but I have made progress toward getting my bike back, in that she has informed me that I can have it if I come visit her. So I guess I'm visiting my sister in March, or possibly April (since we're definitely going up to Philly in April).

Flyingkea

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Re: Strength & Fitness 2017
« Reply #502 on: March 01, 2017, 08:59:56 AM »
My check-in - at the moment in the habit forming stage, so currently trying to make sure I do something most days, and I have.
Managed to convince my small child that he should ride in the stroller, so we have been going on walks. Did a big one yesterday that was several km all up (walked to airport, watch planes, walked to riverside park, then back home thype thing).
Been on a couple of bike rides too.
Kayak stuff arrived today, so will hopefully go kayaking tomorrow.

Still not sure on ways to improve diet, will get cookbooks from library tomorrow.

I have also been thinking about trying that blogilates too. Will see how we go, as I don't want to overload myself with too many changes at once.

flan

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Re: Strength & Fitness 2017
« Reply #503 on: March 01, 2017, 09:31:03 AM »
-Checking in-

Good news: I'm stronger! I used to have to take breaks on my butt when doing 1-minute crabwalks, but now they're just another thing I can do!

Bad news: I ate too many pastries. My waist size dip back at the end of January is now up to 0.5in over when I started my 2017 goals. Oops.

meerkat

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Re: Strength & Fitness 2017
« Reply #504 on: March 01, 2017, 10:32:36 AM »
I posted on the first page so this thread would show up in my unread replies and I haven't been keeping up with it since. Oops. But I have been going to the gym.

My work's gym tries to offer all kind of fun, different programs so there's a Biggest Loser during the year and a full time personal trainer. Recently they started off with a free yoga class for I think six weeks and now it's a paid class that can be done through payroll deduction. They recently started doing a Cross Fit class with an approved Cross Fit trainer (the personal trainer that's on staff is very picky about Cross Fit and I trust his judgement so it's not one of those crazy people you see on Youtube that are about two seconds away from hurting themselves). I caught the last couple weeks of the Cross Fit class for free, this is an off week while they arrange for the long term contract, then next week it starts up again at $30/month per person. I won't be doing the paid class, but during the free one the CF trainer would write the workout up on the mirror so hopefully he'll keep doing that and I can just borrow their workouts. The downside is I won't have anyone watching my form and I won't have the other people working out to peer pressure me into doing one more rep/run faster/etc. but I should still get a decent work out in so I'm okay with that.

In other news I was fiddling with my FitBit yesterday and I realized that I've lost 16 pounds since last May! I'm just a few pounds away from my goal weight, at which point I'll reassess if I want to lose more (probably not). I also took a progress picture last summer and haven't taken one since then, I need to do that sometime.

PowerMustache

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Re: Strength & Fitness 2017
« Reply #505 on: March 03, 2017, 01:28:13 AM »
Nice to see everyone's progress!

My February Check in:

Two weeks vacation in Mexico at the beginning of the month took me away from yoga, but I was able to run and do a few bodyweight workouts while I was there, so not as bad as I feared from an exercise perspective. Also walked a TON and it was gratifying to see all the steps on my fitness watch. The week I got back was an amazing exercise week where I hit all of my input goals, then the last week in Feb I did ok but didn't hit my goals for number of strength and yoga workouts.

Totals from my Garmin for Feb (And annual goal progress):
13 runs for 55 miles (no goal for running)
8 bodyweight workouts (a little behind schedule for the year)
9 yoga classes (a little ahead of schedule for the year)

Strength progress (context is the Reddit bodyweightfitness recommended routine):
Achieving 3 sets of 8 normal dips regularly, and 8 pullups on my first set regularly. Sometimes can do 2 sets of 8 pullups but usually can't.
8 ring pushups on first set regularly, and sometimes 2 sets of 8.
Progressed from horizontal rows to tuck front lever. I can do about 15-20 seconds, but the difficulty changes immensely with my leg position. I should probably take a video of myself and post it on reddit to get feedback on my form.

Flexibility progress:
I have not noticed much progress in the last month. I can touch my toes comfortably which is better than several months ago but hasn't changed. I can squat balanced but back still not straight. Sitting cross legged is still difficult. I've been increasing the frequency of my stretching outside yoga this week so hopefully will see some change soon.

Running:
Not focused on running this year, but I am improving very quickly (about 6 years ago I used to run a lot more/faster and it seems to be coming back easily). My watch alerts me whenever I hit a new PR at distances of 1 mile, 5k, or 10k, and I have done this several times in the last month. These aren't lifetime PRs, just since I got the watch last year, but still very rewarding! Current Garmin PRs are 6:00 mile, 19:54 5k, and 43:39 10k.

PowerMustache

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Re: Strength & Fitness 2017
« Reply #506 on: March 03, 2017, 01:35:42 AM »
-Checking in-

Good news: I'm stronger! I used to have to take breaks on my butt when doing 1-minute crabwalks, but now they're just another thing I can do!

Bad news: I ate too many pastries. My waist size dip back at the end of January is now up to 0.5in over when I started my 2017 goals. Oops.

Nice job on the crab walks! I find it to be such an incredible feeling to realize something that was really impossible before is now possible.

February Check In:
Missed 3 days of movement. Boo!

Good stuff:
PT is going well. I hope to be done tomorrow, but may need another couple of appointments.
I have a pool!! So extravagant, but such a nice workout option in the heat. Also, shoulder is almost fixed so freestyle might be possible again. I've been pretty much limited to breast stroke for a couple years now.

March Goal:
The same. Move every day. This may be challenging because I have family visiting next week. We will definitely be doing "stuff" but I don't know if it will meet my movement standards.

Every day is a big goal! Tough not to miss days. Kudos!

I can relate to the shoulder injury. I had a mysterious shoulder injury which prevented me swimming freestyle for years. It didn't seem to stop me doing anything else, and eventually went away. Sounds like you are working hard on it, I hope it pays off!

Feb check-in:

Feb goals:
- Another month without missing a workout day (missing one day due to migraine & airport travel)
- Increase kettle bell swings to 75 (success!)
- Increase bent arm hang to 8 seconds (failed, due to being out of town away from a chinup bar for most of the month).
- Add one new stretch each week to my routine. I haven't done stretches for years. (success!)

March goals:
- workout every day, but drop weight exercises to every other day for recovery time. Fill in alternate days with biking now that the snow is gone.
- increase kettle bell swings to 85 per day
- increase bent arm hang to 8 seconds
- start c25k again when the field I run in gets less soggy


Good job on Feb goals! Missing one day isn't bad at all. Will you definitely have access to your pullup bar in March, or is it unpredictable when you'll be out of town? Also you run in a field? Is that a sports field, or a cow field? Just curious, sounds interesting!

Trifle

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Re: Strength & Fitness 2017
« Reply #507 on: March 03, 2017, 04:08:20 AM »
Question for all of you strength training pros.  I'm brand new at this and am trying to increase my upper body strength (to be able to do push ups and pull ups).  How often should I be working out?    I was doing it every day, but then I was feeling wrung out, so I switched to every other day. Now I'm feeling "stuck", like I'm not improving very fast.

For the pushups, I'm doing knee pushups and "negative" pushups, where you lower yourself down slowly in good form.

For the pull-up work, I am hanging by my hands from a chin up bar, and doing lat pull-downs. 

Open to all suggestions on timing or exercises.  Thanks!   

Mezzie

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Re: Strength & Fitness 2017
« Reply #508 on: March 03, 2017, 06:09:21 AM »
Jury duty with a two-hour commute each way for three weeks had stalled my workouts (but increased my reading; I will admit to loving the train). I've only managed two workouts/week since that started. The good news is, we should be deliberating today, and if we come to a decision before 5pm, I'm back to my local job with time and energy for more exercise.

Hedge_87

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Re: Strength & Fitness 2017
« Reply #509 on: March 03, 2017, 06:12:30 AM »
Question for all of you strength training pros.  I'm brand new at this and am trying to increase my upper body strength (to be able to do push ups and pull ups).  How often should I be working out?    I was doing it every day, but then I was feeling wrung out, so I switched to every other day. Now I'm feeling "stuck", like I'm not improving very fast.

For the pushups, I'm doing knee pushups and "negative" pushups, where you lower yourself down slowly in good form.

For the pull-up work, I am hanging by my hands from a chin up bar, and doing lat pull-downs. 

Open to all suggestions on timing or exercises.  Thanks!

I am not a "Pro" but from my experience if you were wrung out on everyday it sounds like too much. On every other day you say your not improving very fast but you are still making progress? as long as you are moving in the right direction thats a good thing. this stuff takes time. Your working out to feel GOOD right? Recovering from your workouts is were you gain strength, allow your body time to adapt before you hit again. This will help you prevent injury and you will progress for longer.  I've found logging my work outs and looking back at them months later and seeing how far I have progressed really helps. 


LifeHappens

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Re: Strength & Fitness 2017
« Reply #510 on: March 03, 2017, 06:22:54 AM »
Question for all of you strength training pros.  I'm brand new at this and am trying to increase my upper body strength (to be able to do push ups and pull ups).  How often should I be working out?    I was doing it every day, but then I was feeling wrung out, so I switched to every other day. Now I'm feeling "stuck", like I'm not improving very fast.

For the pushups, I'm doing knee pushups and "negative" pushups, where you lower yourself down slowly in good form.

For the pull-up work, I am hanging by my hands from a chin up bar, and doing lat pull-downs. 

Open to all suggestions on timing or exercises.  Thanks!

It sounds like you are not following a program? You might be at the stage where you would benefit from more structure. The first page of this thread has a resource post with body weight strength building programs.

LifeHappens

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Re: Strength & Fitness 2017
« Reply #511 on: March 03, 2017, 06:26:29 AM »
February Check In:
Missed 3 days of movement. Boo!

Good stuff:
PT is going well. I hope to be done tomorrow, but may need another couple of appointments.
I have a pool!! So extravagant, but such a nice workout option in the heat. Also, shoulder is almost fixed so freestyle might be possible again. I've been pretty much limited to breast stroke for a couple years now.

March Goal:
The same. Move every day. This may be challenging because I have family visiting next week. We will definitely be doing "stuff" but I don't know if it will meet my movement standards.

Every day is a big goal! Tough not to miss days. Kudos!

I can relate to the shoulder injury. I had a mysterious shoulder injury which prevented me swimming freestyle for years. It didn't seem to stop me doing anything else, and eventually went away. Sounds like you are working hard on it, I hope it pays off!

Thanks, PM. You're a great cheerleader. Your bodyweight workouts are impressive. I would love to be able to do some of the gymnastics moves like front lever. Very cool.

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Re: Strength & Fitness 2017
« Reply #512 on: March 03, 2017, 06:51:14 AM »
Feb check-in

I went to Cancun and lay on the beach and snorkeled everyday and ate to excess. It was wonderful. :P

Aside from that
1. Attended a stroke clinic for swimming - very helpful
2. Got my new road bike mostly fitted and have been out on it on the road a few times with mild weather
3. Continued my super boring indoor training rides
4. When I've been in town I have been consistent about attending my Saturday running club

March
1. Got 3 hours per week workout time given as a work bonus. Successfully got up and shot out of the house in under 5 minutes w/ my swimsuit on so I could get a swim in before work on Thursday. Plan to use the time mostly for running, will swim when weather is not good. YAY! I've been having trouble getting enough run time it - need to do it in the morning
2. Attend yoga on Sundays - for stretching all the sore muscles
3. Actually for real reals take Wednesday as a rest day
4. Figure out my race schedule for this summer. Currently first anticipate triathlon will be in early April (I've registered).



Trifle

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Re: Strength & Fitness 2017
« Reply #513 on: March 03, 2017, 07:08:31 AM »
Thank you Hedge and LifeHappens -- right, not following a program.  Just winging it.  I'll check out the threads! 

And yes -- still making progress on every-other-day workouts, just slow progress.  I'll start keeping a journal.  That may help.  Thanks!

Hedge_87

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Re: Strength & Fitness 2017
« Reply #514 on: March 03, 2017, 08:56:38 AM »
Thank you Hedge and LifeHappens -- right, not following a program.  Just winging it.  I'll check out the threads! 

And yes -- still making progress on every-other-day workouts, just slow progress.  I'll start keeping a journal.  That may help.  Thanks!

I understand wanting to see more progress. It just takes time and consistency.The best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time. Congrats on the improvements you've made so far. LifeHappens makes a good point about having more structure. Progress becomes harder to come by the better you get too.

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Re: Strength & Fitness 2017
« Reply #515 on: March 03, 2017, 10:15:18 AM »
January summary:
For my 'daily minimums', I only had 8 days completing all 10. My big downfall is eating fish every other day. I had 27 days where I did 9/10 tasks, and all but 2 of those it was the fish that I didn't get.

For 'do something every day', I batted 100% (although the day I moved furniture could arguably have been skipping, since it really wasn't *that* hard, but hey, it still got me moving). These go above and beyond the daily minumums- ie, the 5 goblet squats in the morning don't count for these, and neither does the short AM yoga flow.
I did 10 days of yoga
I did 7 weight lifting workouts
Nature: Snowshoeing 1x, hike x1, beach walk x1
Local walks: I did 15 walks, all but 2 were more than 1 mile

On to February! Goals:
-Do better with fish (minimum 10 days with all 10 daily minimums)
-Do 20 local walks
-Do another 10 days yoga minimum
-Do 10 weight lifting workouts

February summary:
-Yoga was put on hold because of my knee issues. Luckily, these seem to be resolving! Been focusing on changing running form and working on various PTs- clamshells, arch strengtheners, etc.
-Ran 26.6 miles total. (11 runs)
-Did 11 walks, but with the runs, this adds to more than my goal of 20 local walks- I consider this met!
-Biked 9.8 miles (5 bike rides)
-1 day total 'fail'- I did nothing. Zero. Zilch. First one of the year. Hopefully the only!
-9 days of doing 10/10 daily minimums. 16 days of 9/10. A trip to seattle threw off 3 days of minimums. Mainly the others were due to not doing fish (every other day goal for meeting the minimums).

March goals:
-Go to the yoga classes I bought on groupon, lol. I'm hoping to do 4 real classes in march.
-Continue the couch to 5k program.
-End of month, do either or both: 5k color run with neighbors, local park 5k.
-Goal of 1 bike ride per week
-Runs+Walks >20.

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Re: Strength & Fitness 2017
« Reply #516 on: March 03, 2017, 04:25:13 PM »
I'm keeping up with my running. C210k week 4 day 3 done and in the books. My knee pain has thankfully resolved, so that is definitely a plus.

PowerMustache

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Re: Strength & Fitness 2017
« Reply #517 on: March 03, 2017, 05:37:49 PM »
Question for all of you strength training pros.  I'm brand new at this and am trying to increase my upper body strength (to be able to do push ups and pull ups).  How often should I be working out?    I was doing it every day, but then I was feeling wrung out, so I switched to every other day. Now I'm feeling "stuck", like I'm not improving very fast.

For the pushups, I'm doing knee pushups and "negative" pushups, where you lower yourself down slowly in good form.

For the pull-up work, I am hanging by my hands from a chin up bar, and doing lat pull-downs. 

Open to all suggestions on timing or exercises.  Thanks!

My understanding of building strength comes mostly from the reddit bodyweightfitness group. I recommend checking it out, but for your situation their wisdom would say that every other day is ideal -- they actually recommend 3 days per week, so you would sometimes take two days between workouts. The other thing they would say is to find a movement that's hard for you do but not too hard, that lets you progress to your goal. Negatives and knee pushups sound like good ideas, but it really depends on how hard they are for you. "Hard but not too hard" is defined as being able to do three sets of 4-8 reps of that thing. So some questions for you: How many knee pushups can you do? How many push-up negatives? If they are too easy then you may just be building endurance, not more strength. You might consider 'incline pushups' as an alternative (that's what the bodyweightfitness subreddit recommends) where you would do pushups with your hands on a chair, for example, or a counter if a chair is too hard. You find the right height so that you can do three sets of 4-8 reps. For pullups, they recommend pullup negatives, but they also recommend horizontal rows. Actually, they say that you shouldn't bother trying pullups until you can do three sets of 8 horizontal rows. Good luck!

Lagom

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Re: Strength & Fitness 2017
« Reply #518 on: March 03, 2017, 09:15:57 PM »
Question for all of you strength training pros.  I'm brand new at this and am trying to increase my upper body strength (to be able to do push ups and pull ups).  How often should I be working out?    I was doing it every day, but then I was feeling wrung out, so I switched to every other day. Now I'm feeling "stuck", like I'm not improving very fast.

For the pushups, I'm doing knee pushups and "negative" pushups, where you lower yourself down slowly in good form.

For the pull-up work, I am hanging by my hands from a chin up bar, and doing lat pull-downs. 

Open to all suggestions on timing or exercises.  Thanks!

My understanding of building strength comes mostly from the reddit bodyweightfitness group. I recommend checking it out, but for your situation their wisdom would say that every other day is ideal -- they actually recommend 3 days per week, so you would sometimes take two days between workouts. The other thing they would say is to find a movement that's hard for you do but not too hard, that lets you progress to your goal. Negatives and knee pushups sound like good ideas, but it really depends on how hard they are for you. "Hard but not too hard" is defined as being able to do three sets of 4-8 reps of that thing. So some questions for you: How many knee pushups can you do? How many push-up negatives? If they are too easy then you may just be building endurance, not more strength. You might consider 'incline pushups' as an alternative (that's what the bodyweightfitness subreddit recommends) where you would do pushups with your hands on a chair, for example, or a counter if a chair is too hard. You find the right height so that you can do three sets of 4-8 reps. For pullups, they recommend pullup negatives, but they also recommend horizontal rows. Actually, they say that you shouldn't bother trying pullups until you can do three sets of 8 horizontal rows. Good luck!

I am not a bodyweight training expert by any means, or anything but an amateur hack of a powerlifter when it comes to programming anyway, but yeah pullup negatives can definitely be effective from my personal experience back in the crossfit days. Same with horizontal rows. If you have bands, using those for assisted pullups can also work well. Depending on what you have access to, outside of actually doing pullups, I would imagine anything that builds the back would help. When I switched to powerlifting I didn't attempt a pullup for probably close to a year, but did plenty of stuff like lat pulldowns, heavy row variations, facepulls, and, of course, deadlifts. Eventually, having gotten much stronger by those measures, but also having gained 20 lbs or so, next time I tried them I still easily knocked out twice as many pullups as I used to be able to do despite not training them the entire time. FWIW.

GT

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Re: Strength & Fitness 2017
« Reply #519 on: March 03, 2017, 09:32:10 PM »
After this mornings weigh in, I jump on the scales once a week out of curiosity, I've dropped just 1kg in weight overall since shoulder surgery in November and getting back on a bike at the start of the year, but the body fat has dropped from 24.8% to 21% and muscle mass has gone from 51kg to 54kg.

Interesting to keep a some sort of trackof what's going on.  Race weight is ~79kg and body fat ~18% so a bit further to go.  And all I've done is stopped eating lollies (can't give up the Tim-Tams...yet) and started riding again.

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Re: Strength & Fitness 2017
« Reply #520 on: March 03, 2017, 10:57:24 PM »
Hi, everybody.  Joining to get some accountability and momentum on reversing the trend of lazing about. 

Former runner, lately a slug.  Gained maybe 25 lbs in 3 sedentary years, now at 167 lbs from about 142. This has accelerated to where I've been gaining close to 1 lb/month.  Using the scale and tape measure method, maybe 34% body fat; formerly perhaps 20.

This year's real goal is to reverse these trends. To that end:
1) run 130 days (about 3x/week)
2) get under 30% body fat (a loss of maybe 15 lbs in 10 months compared to trend)

Well Respected Man

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Re: Strength & Fitness 2017
« Reply #521 on: March 04, 2017, 06:04:07 AM »
Well, despite all my prehabbing, rolling and warmups, I'm joining the shoulder injury club. Two days after my most recent upper body workout, I woke up with shoulder pain, and now lifting my arm is quite painful. I'll continue with cardio and whatever lower body work I can (no barbell work, though), until the pain subsides, and then work on rehabbing the shoulder. 

Bicycle_B

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Re: Strength & Fitness 2017
« Reply #522 on: March 04, 2017, 09:10:38 AM »
Hi, everybody.  Joining to get some accountability and momentum on reversing the trend of lazing about. 

Former runner, lately a slug.  Gained maybe 25 lbs in 3 sedentary years, now at 167 lbs from about 142. This has accelerated to where I've been gaining close to 1 lb/month.  Using the scale and tape measure method, maybe 34% body fat; formerly perhaps 20.

This year's real goal is to reverse these trends. To that end:
1) run 130 days (about 3x/week)
2) get under 30% body fat (a loss of maybe 15 lbs in 10 months compared to trend)

1 down, 129 to go

Jakejake

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Re: Strength & Fitness 2017
« Reply #523 on: March 04, 2017, 10:26:54 AM »
Will you definitely have access to your pullup bar in March, or is it unpredictable when you'll be out of town? Also you run in a field? Is that a sports field, or a cow field? Just curious, sounds interesting!
I should have access to the bar all this month (fingers crossed) and my folks are looking at moving to an independent living community with transportation and medical staff on hand so I don't need to be their lifeline for every crisis (awkward when I'm in Michigan and they're in Florida).

I'm attaching a photo of where I like to run.  It's a public park with 133 acres that has some soccer and baseball fields, and some woods and wide open spaces. If I go when normal people are at work or in school, I pretty much have it all to myself. I might see 2 or 3 people walking dogs or running intervals on the sledding hills over the course of an hour, and a handful of guys play dominoes under a pavilion in summer. It's like having my own private fields (that I don't have to mow) - and 1/4 mile from my house, which is a perfect distance for a walking warmup/cool down and then I can run on the soft grass instead of pavement.

Writing that out made me realize how lucky I am to have that - and got me a little more excited about getting out there again this year!

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Re: Strength & Fitness 2017
« Reply #524 on: March 04, 2017, 10:53:06 AM »
I've only taken 4 days off from working out in 2017. Most recent streak of working out is 34 days. It's going well. I'm getting a bit bored of my routine already, definitely missing the high-end group Barre classes + HIIT classes, but this is what's in my budget now. I can almost see 2 lines in my abs. That's exciting.

I probably won't get 4-pack abs again like I had when I was 19 because I really like pasta + oil and am uninterested in tracking macros and am no longer training 40 hours a week. But I feel pretty good about where I'm at.

Current program:
  • Lifting 3 times a week (bench press, back squat, deadlifts, split squat, inverted row)
  • Abs + Pushups for 20 minutes 3 times a week
  • Stretching 25 minutes a day, including 5 minutes on the weird torture stretch machine. The right front splits are finally getting close.
  • Hot yoga 2 times a week (want to do 3)
  • Running 4 times a week (following the Apptiv half-marathon training program).

Running first half-marathon of the year on the 7th of May. 4 weeks into training. Feeling...Okay about it.

Lagom

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Re: Strength & Fitness 2017
« Reply #525 on: March 04, 2017, 10:54:41 AM »
Well, despite all my prehabbing, rolling and warmups, I'm joining the shoulder injury club. Two days after my most recent upper body workout, I woke up with shoulder pain, and now lifting my arm is quite painful. I'll continue with cardio and whatever lower body work I can (no barbell work, though), until the pain subsides, and then work on rehabbing the shoulder.

Besides making sure to do lots of shoulder health accessories, a few friends of mine with shoulder pain swear by this, which they frequently use for finishers on their bench days:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B015HWMFG2/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=15LKHBNOUTVQO&coliid=I2FFXQ84SCK3UF

I have had no problems so far so I can't personally comment, but might be worth a look. If nothing else, it's a more convenient way to board press!

Trifle

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Re: Strength & Fitness 2017
« Reply #526 on: March 04, 2017, 12:51:51 PM »
Thanks for the pointers, PowerMustache and Lagom.  I think you are right that I am just building endurance and not strength.  I can easily do 3X10 knee pushups, so those are not hard enough.  I'll try the incline ones -- thanks! And for lat pulldowns I will step up faster in weight . . . I was waiting until I could do 3X12 before adding any weight.  Thanks! 

2300

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Re: Strength & Fitness 2017
« Reply #527 on: March 04, 2017, 04:28:22 PM »
Well, despite all my prehabbing, rolling and warmups, I'm joining the shoulder injury club. Two days after my most recent upper body workout, I woke up with shoulder pain, and now lifting my arm is quite painful. I'll continue with cardio and whatever lower body work I can (no barbell work, though), until the pain subsides, and then work on rehabbing the shoulder.

Sounds like you may already be doing some of this, but if not and it's bad enough (or other's find it valuable) here's how I overcame a rotator cuff strain...FYI not a doctor or rehab expert so use caution/see somebody.

1. After a couple of months of it not going away I essentially tied my wrist to my shin (using 2 wrist straps and a knee wrap...very cool looking).  My issue was that apparently I put my arm over my head and horribly strain it every night unless I tied it down.  This got me to the point where could do more rehab.
2.  Rehab did this for ~6 months or so: 
http://orthoinfo.org/PDFs/Rehab_Shoulder_5.pdf
3. Started doing shoulder dislocates...which sounds dumb if your shoulder hurts, but is helpful when ready, along with other "normal" shoulder strengthening excersices (no push ups or OH press yet though):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoGtrEcsqPQ
4.  Returned to "normal" routine ~almost 9 months later (at much lower progressions). 

On the plus side shoulders got much stronger than before and have some better warm up routines now.

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Re: Strength & Fitness 2017
« Reply #528 on: March 04, 2017, 05:34:21 PM »
Alright, I'm late to the party but I need to jump in for some accountability. I've been pretty lazy the past few months. Lazier than my normal baseline of lazy.

Goals:
1) See a PT about my lower back issues and figure out a way forward. It's even been bothering me on long walks lately, ugh.
2) Do SOMETHING at least 4 days a week for 30 min. Used to run a lot but wondering if that was aggravating my lower back disc issues.
3) Join the nearby pool again, since it's my favorite exercise and thus worth the money.
4) 10 dead hang pull-ups by the end of the year. Bit of a stretch (at 1 now) but what the hell. I now have a pull-up bar in my living room so no more excuses!
5) Sign up for and complete an open water swimming race. (ETA: Just signed up! The race is in 3 months - definitely time to hit the pool!)
« Last Edit: March 04, 2017, 08:02:33 PM by SCUBAstache »

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Re: Strength & Fitness 2017
« Reply #529 on: March 04, 2017, 05:49:40 PM »
OK, finally have mostly finished the home gym! Below are before and after pics of the area in which it resides. Just a couple odds and ends and another poster or two on the way and it'll be 100% done. There's also a large area where I stood to take the picture that has an old rug on it and that I can use for things like kettlebell work, ab stuff, bodyweight shenanigans and so forth. That wooden box is going to be converted into a plate holder. Pretty pleased with how it all turned out!

Final tally came in just over $2300, which is a big expense but also only 9 months of gym fees at the rate my wife and I were paying, so this will be paying for itself before the end of the year. There is very little more that I need for my usual programming, though I may add some luxury items down the road as I have the budget.

The platform works great for sound/vibrations, so that worry turned out to be no problem. So far I've had 4 solid workouts doing pretty much everything I would do at the old gym.





« Last Edit: March 04, 2017, 06:34:19 PM by Lagom »

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Re: Strength & Fitness 2017
« Reply #530 on: March 04, 2017, 07:25:37 PM »
Thanks Lagom and 2300 for the links. After probing myself and the internet, I think it's the coracobrachialis that is injured. I suspect that it's from doing dips or maybe from keeping my arms too close when pressing. There's some pain in the triceps as well, but some of that may be DOMS, as there is some on the non-injured side as well. I'll definitely do some of those rehab exercises as I start to feel better. I hope it doesn't take 9 months though!

Lagom

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Re: Strength & Fitness 2017
« Reply #531 on: March 04, 2017, 08:25:37 PM »
Since this is still a forum about finances, I just added it all up for those who are curious. Slightly underestimated above, as the final cost was $2370.11. I already had a few of the things in the pic before starting the project (the band set, the foam roller, the flags, all of the fitness books on the bookshelf, ab roller, a couple dumbbells).

As for the rest:

Power cage combo order - $1,160.14
- Body-Solid black olympic bar (decent quality, but only a 600lb rating, hence the second bar below)
- 500lb plate set
- Body-solid power cage
- commercial grade adjustable bench

Texas Power Bar - $289.00
1000lb rated Flat Bench - $139.99 (admittedly extravagant but much more comfortable for bench pressing and easier to move)
4x additional 45lb metal plates   - $213.00
2x 15lb bumper plates - $72.74 (my wife uses these for warming up deadlifts)
2x olympic dumbbell handles - $49.54
4x horse stall mats - $195.53
4x sheets of plywood   - $112.58
Gym chalk - $12.54 (gotta be a lifetime supply for one person)
2x dead wedge    - $17.54 (2 because I'm lazy and they are cheap)
Extra spring collars - $9.77
Landmine attachment - $30.99 (can be bolted to platform or the wall)
Gorilla Gripz - $22.99 (just as good and much cheaper than Fat Gripz)
Decorations (posters, etc.)- $34.28 (gotta get motivated, yo!)

And there you have it, pretty much everything a serious amateur powerlifter needs! My dream list includes a texas/okie deadlift bar, safety squat bar, some strongman gear, Ironmaster dumbbell set, dip attachment for the cage, lat pulldown attachment for the cage, GHD, and a sled. Probably another $2500+ in gear there, though, and none of it is strictly necessary for my goals so it will be a very slow process to gather, and involve much pickier bargain hunting. It was fun splurging like this, but back to reality (and mustachianism!) from here on out. Let the gainz be with you, my friends!
« Last Edit: March 04, 2017, 08:55:40 PM by Lagom »

horsepoor

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Re: Strength & Fitness 2017
« Reply #532 on: March 05, 2017, 09:23:32 AM »
Lagom, that gym looks great!  I'm toying with the idea of getting some stall mats to replace the 40 year old carpet in the basement.  Are there benefits to having a platform if you're a wimp like me and never lift more than 200#?

My aspirations of kicking my butt back into shape during my eight weeks in DC turned into an epic fail.  I had a nasty cold the first 10 days or so.  Opted against joining the gym near my apartment because, by the time I looked into it, the only option available was a 12-visit punch card for $219 plus tax.  I ran three times, but the running shoes I brought had a manufacturing defect where there was a lump right under my big toe that was clearly going to cause problems if I went more than ~3 miles.  Did a few bodyweight/band/yoga exercises inside, but they honestly didn't amount to much.  Lots of walking on the weekends was really my main exercise.  On the up side, my ankle is feeling about 95% now, which I think is due to all the walking.  If I ever do a detail like that again, I'll either find an apartment with a good gym, or mail one of my kettlebells to myself (and make sure I have proper running shoes, FFS).

I got home yesterday and screwed up the courage to weigh myself this morning.  I'm within 1# of where I was when I left, but I can tell I've lost muscle and gained fat.

The good news is, my horse is going to be with the trainer for the next couple months, which frees up my time to focus on getting back into a routine.  I also have lots and lots of yard work to do to get the garden in shape, so that should help.  I've been riding a friend's horse off and on for the last year, and friend is now unable to ride and scheduled for surgery that will have her out of the saddle for many months, so I'll be focusing on riding that horse 3x a week at least until my pony comes home. 

Traveling the next two weeks, but just two nights each week, so it will actually be a good challenge for me to stick with my workouts with an uneven schedule.  At least one week there will be a hotel gym available.

ETA:  and my posture has gone to hell from working at a sitting desk with a big, squishy desk chair (usually alternate between standing and a Balimo stool).  Looking forwad to getting back to a standing desk and I'm going to add a Fluidstance board to my cubicle arsenal.
« Last Edit: March 05, 2017, 09:31:17 AM by horsepoor »

Bicycle_B

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Re: Strength & Fitness 2017
« Reply #533 on: March 05, 2017, 10:12:05 AM »
Will you definitely have access to your pullup bar in March, or is it unpredictable when you'll be out of town? Also you run in a field? Is that a sports field, or a cow field? Just curious, sounds interesting!
I should have access to the bar all this month (fingers crossed) and my folks are looking at moving to an independent living community with transportation and medical staff on hand so I don't need to be their lifeline for every crisis (awkward when I'm in Michigan and they're in Florida).

I'm attaching a photo of where I like to run.  It's a public park with 133 acres that has some soccer and baseball fields, and some woods and wide open spaces. If I go when normal people are at work or in school, I pretty much have it all to myself. I might see 2 or 3 people walking dogs or running intervals on the sledding hills over the course of an hour, and a handful of guys play dominoes under a pavilion in summer. It's like having my own private fields (that I don't have to mow) - and 1/4 mile from my house, which is a perfect distance for a walking warmup/cool down and then I can run on the soft grass instead of pavement.

Writing that out made me realize how lucky I am to have that - and got me a little more excited about getting out there again this year!

How beautiful!

Bicycle_B

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Re: Strength & Fitness 2017
« Reply #534 on: March 05, 2017, 10:14:51 AM »
OK, finally have mostly finished the home gym! Below are before and after pics of the area in which it resides. Just a couple odds and ends and another poster or two on the way and it'll be 100% done. There's also a large area where I stood to take the picture that has an old rug on it and that I can use for things like kettlebell work, ab stuff, bodyweight shenanigans and so forth. That wooden box is going to be converted into a plate holder. Pretty pleased with how it all turned out!

Final tally came in just over $2300, which is a big expense but also only 9 months of gym fees at the rate my wife and I were paying, so this will be paying for itself before the end of the year. There is very little more that I need for my usual programming, though I may add some luxury items down the road as I have the budget.

The platform works great for sound/vibrations, so that worry turned out to be no problem. So far I've had 4 solid workouts doing pretty much everything I would do at the old gym.





Congrats on your new setup.

Are the flags sideways as a distress symbol / political comment, or is that just a style choice?  (Totally fine with me regardless, just curious.) 

Lagom

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Re: Strength & Fitness 2017
« Reply #535 on: March 05, 2017, 11:32:37 AM »
Lagom, that gym looks great!  I'm toying with the idea of getting some stall mats to replace the 40 year old carpet in the basement.  Are there benefits to having a platform if you're a wimp like me and never lift more than 200#?

Thanks! A platform helps a bit with noise, but as long as you don't drop weights regularly and/or have bumper plates, I think just the stall mats should be enough at the 200# range.

Are the flags sideways as a distress symbol / political comment, or is that just a style choice?  (Totally fine with me regardless, just curious.)

It was the only way to attractively fit both in the space. They looked weird horizontal. Just repping my country and heritage. Didn't realize it could be construed as a political comment! What might I be implying? I did spend like 30 seconds looking up flag etiquette but only found mention that when hanging the flag as I have the stars should be at the top. Should I flip them to the other side or something (e.g. on the same side as the Swedish flag), or is it hanging it vertical that's the issue?

ETA, investigating further, it looks like the stars should indeed be on the left side rather than the right. It seemed logical to me to just rotate the flag 90 degrees when setting it up, so I hadn't put much thought into it. I've swapped the position of the flags and changed the orientation of the American flag. Gotta be proper about these things! :)

Thanks for the catch BB. Voila!

« Last Edit: March 05, 2017, 11:43:08 AM by Lagom »

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Re: Strength & Fitness 2017
« Reply #536 on: March 05, 2017, 06:49:13 PM »
Sweet set up! Fellow swede here too. I've been wanting a swede flag to hang in my gym I just haven't gotten around to getting one yet.

Lagom

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Re: Strength & Fitness 2017
« Reply #537 on: March 05, 2017, 07:33:45 PM »
Sweet set up! Fellow swede here too. I've been wanting a swede flag to hang in my gym I just haven't gotten around to getting one yet.

Thanks! You can get them super cheap on Amazon. Turned out my parents had this one stuffed in their basement, but I've seen them online for $6-10 for a 3x5. Not amazing quality but good enough for this purpose!

PowerMustache

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Re: Strength & Fitness 2017
« Reply #538 on: March 06, 2017, 02:26:08 AM »
Will you definitely have access to your pullup bar in March, or is it unpredictable when you'll be out of town? Also you run in a field? Is that a sports field, or a cow field? Just curious, sounds interesting!
I should have access to the bar all this month (fingers crossed) and my folks are looking at moving to an independent living community with transportation and medical staff on hand so I don't need to be their lifeline for every crisis (awkward when I'm in Michigan and they're in Florida).

I'm attaching a photo of where I like to run.  It's a public park with 133 acres that has some soccer and baseball fields, and some woods and wide open spaces. If I go when normal people are at work or in school, I pretty much have it all to myself. I might see 2 or 3 people walking dogs or running intervals on the sledding hills over the course of an hour, and a handful of guys play dominoes under a pavilion in summer. It's like having my own private fields (that I don't have to mow) - and 1/4 mile from my house, which is a perfect distance for a walking warmup/cool down and then I can run on the soft grass instead of pavement.

Writing that out made me realize how lucky I am to have that - and got me a little more excited about getting out there again this year!

How beautiful!

Yes! The field is beautiful in the photo, and so is your description. Sounds like you love it! It's so healthy to run on a soft surface too.

Lagom, that is a fine looking gym setup. After doing bodyweight work for a few months I'm starting to lust after a few pieces of home gym equipment to better work my legs. But it's definitely a no-go for me in an apartment! Maybe one day. Until then, I may return to admire those photos now and then.

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Re: Strength & Fitness 2017
« Reply #539 on: March 06, 2017, 07:46:41 AM »
Bicycle_B and Scubastache, I've got you both added to the participant tracking post.

Lagom, I'm digging the setup. That's a pretty impressive ROI (in the black in 9 months?), and I love the field Jakejake!

Lagom

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Re: Strength & Fitness 2017
« Reply #540 on: March 06, 2017, 10:02:41 AM »
Lagom, I'm digging the setup. That's a pretty impressive ROI (in the black in 9 months?), and I love the field Jakejake!

Ha, well that's only because I was paying pretty high gym fees x2! I don't regret it, but now that I have enough knowledge to be dangerous, this will definitely achieve the same goals (probably a bit slower) for substantially less cost.

On related news, my last two 45s have disappeared in shipping. Says expected delivery date is March 3 and have been no updates on the tracker since that day passed. Guess a UPS guy didn't feel like lugging a 90lb box to my door? Was going to deadlift heavy today, so I suppose I'll just have to stack smaller plates on the ends...

Bracken_Joy

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Re: Strength & Fitness 2017
« Reply #541 on: March 06, 2017, 10:26:20 AM »
Lagom, I think it's funny- our gym also had a 9 month break even time frame... but that was with wood stands and the barbell being a birthday present! Haha. But our gym fees were only $20/mon for each of us.

Your gym looks great though. That'll be our eventual goal setup!

jordanread

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Re: Strength & Fitness 2017
« Reply #542 on: March 06, 2017, 10:42:56 AM »
Lagom, I think it's funny- our gym also had a 9 month break even time frame... but that was with wood stands and the barbell being a birthday present! Haha. But our gym fees were only $20/mon for each of us.

Your gym looks great though. That'll be our eventual goal setup!

You realize that everyone here is going to be super disappointed if you don't get a sign that says "YES!" right?

Bracken_Joy

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Re: Strength & Fitness 2017
« Reply #543 on: March 06, 2017, 10:45:12 AM »
Lagom, I think it's funny- our gym also had a 9 month break even time frame... but that was with wood stands and the barbell being a birthday present! Haha. But our gym fees were only $20/mon for each of us.

Your gym looks great though. That'll be our eventual goal setup!

You realize that everyone here is going to be super disappointed if you don't get a sign that says "YES!" right?

Haha, fair. I need to embrace my inner arts and crafts maven (assuming I have one of those...?) and make one! Or, you know, have DH print one out for me =P That's a totally reasonable use of a big work plotter, right!?

Lagom

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Re: Strength & Fitness 2017
« Reply #544 on: March 06, 2017, 11:19:42 AM »
Lagom, I think it's funny- our gym also had a 9 month break even time frame... but that was with wood stands and the barbell being a birthday present! Haha. But our gym fees were only $20/mon for each of us.

Your gym looks great though. That'll be our eventual goal setup!

You realize that everyone here is going to be super disappointed if you don't get a sign that says "YES!" right?

Haha, fair. I need to embrace my inner arts and crafts maven (assuming I have one of those...?) and make one! Or, you know, have DH print one out for me =P That's a totally reasonable use of a big work plotter, right!?

Arg, I totally spaced. I was going to make a YES sign before I posted pics, just for you guys! ;)

@Bracken, I was seriously impressed by your squat setup. Thought about trying to make my own, but ultimately decided since I'm going to be squatting 400+lbs with no spotter I really needed a power cage for safety. Same for bench. Plus the combo deal I found was too good to pass up. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

Mustachians are welcome to drop by to lift any time :)

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Re: Strength & Fitness 2017
« Reply #545 on: March 07, 2017, 08:09:00 AM »
My hand is turning out to be a bit more of an issue than expected. Tentatively, I might have torn a tendon that connects to my thumb...at least partially but maybe completely (from manual exam only, no pictures yet). It's an old injury so lots of scar tissue involved as well. Could explain the persistent problem. Bottom line: still not cleared for push-ups.

I am lumbering along on the couch to 5k program. I will be joining in with a couch to half marathon group in May. So my new goal for this year is to finish the half in October.

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Re: Strength & Fitness 2017
« Reply #546 on: March 07, 2017, 05:17:06 PM »
I just finished C210k week 5 day 2. It actually felt much easier than I was expecting, in large part because I caved and nudged the speed on the treadmill down a bit. I hate that it feels like failure when I have to decrease the speed, but it felt like winning when I could do the whole run without too much trouble. Lesson learned I guess.

PowerMustache

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Re: Strength & Fitness 2017
« Reply #547 on: March 08, 2017, 12:29:58 AM »
I just finished C210k week 5 day 2. It actually felt much easier than I was expecting, in large part because I caved and nudged the speed on the treadmill down a bit. I hate that it feels like failure when I have to decrease the speed, but it felt like winning when I could do the whole run without too much trouble. Lesson learned I guess.

Good for you. I don't know your running history etc. but I generally believe that people try to push the speed too much when they first get into running. It takes maturity to reduce speed, sacrificing short-term ego for the long-term goal. Nice!

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Re: Strength & Fitness 2017
« Reply #548 on: March 08, 2017, 07:25:03 AM »
I'm sidelined for a bit... I've been battling some lower back discomfort for a while that I didn't worry about because it was just a very minor discomfort if I stood or sat too long. But apparently it was causing me to move differently because it flared up into a sharp right hip pain mid-run last week. Took a couple days off, didn't get better. Made a doctor's appointment... he wants no running/cycling/really anything but walking until at least the end of next week. I've already had a week off. Sigh. Send positive vibes to my husband. I've been much more irritable than normal.

Mongoose

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Re: Strength & Fitness 2017
« Reply #549 on: March 08, 2017, 07:29:16 AM »
I'm going to go at this slower this time after dropping couch to 5k twice due to scheduling problems and trying to run too fast. I only have to average 2.65 mph to complete my event before the course closes. So I'm going to ease in to trotting along just above 3 mph with walk intervals for the 7 weeks before the "official" group program starts. Hopefully then I won't be the one holding everyone else back. :-)