Yeah, I agree. I've never had an issue where I thought to myself, If my forearms were only stronger! My front deltoids fall into that same category, at least when it comes to worrying about them. I do target them specifically as much as possible because I want/need to grow them. But some days they're just spent from things like the incline bench press, so I don't feel bad skipping exercises. That's interesting, I never would have made that connection. I knew a woman once that complained constantly about her big boobs and the back pain they were causing her. I myself have shitty posture that I've been working to address. I can honestly say I have a lot less headaches now, which has been an issue for me for much of my life. I can't imagine having shitty posture AND having to carry that extra weight around. That would be hell over time. It's not a posture thing and is unrelated to your point, but I've heard a lot of carpal tunnel surgeries are unnecessary and that vitamin B-6 can alleviate a lot of the issues in some cases. I've had two, maybe three pillows in the last thirty years (all feather pillows). I'll spare you all the details about the long selection and break-in process each underwent (nothing dirty, lol), but I try to never be without them when I sleep. Posture and back/core strength is not something that was ever high on my list of priorities, but focusing on those things here over the last few months has been one of the smartest things I've ever done. I need to take things to the next level and stop sleeping on my stomach. That's going to be hard to make that switch though...
I got tired of only being able to do only a few chin ups and pull ups. It feels awfully difficult to build up to more. This is one area where you need help and a "spotter" so to speak...so I bought this: Now, I can actually do several reps and feel it where I'm supposed to feel it in the back. And, work on correct form for the pull up. I fare better on neutral grip pull ups and regular chin ups unassisted but pull ups with palms facing forward in correct form is pretty f-ing hard unassisted. This product works great imo. Not sure how long the bands will last, though. I look forward to seeing how my gains in these areas go now that I can get in the reps.
Interesting. I used to be able to bust out 10-20 pullups when I was in my 20's...now it's 1-2. I totally need one of these. **************** I've had a lifelong issue with heat intolerance when doing anything extremely strenuous. I've been doing some research and it looks like you can train to build better heat tolerance. Interviewer: So the question is, can you build up a tolerance to heat exhaustion or even getting heat stroke as the summer progresses. We're with Dr. Scott Youngquist. He's an emergency room doctor at University of Utah Health Care. So the question is, can you build up that tolerance or is it just always the same. Dr. Youngquist: The short answer, Scot, is yes, you can build up tolerance to heat exposure, and this has been shown for some time now, experimentally, with human volunteer subjects, that you can take them and, typically, under conditions of exercise. So you put one group into an area where they're going to exercise under heat conditions, around 37 degrees Celsius or 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. You have them exercise for 20 minutes and then have a 10-minute cool-down period, and you do this for 6 days, and they will tolerate passive heat exposure much better than somebody who exercises in the cold. So you can develop this. When you're exposed to heat, a couple of things happen to try to cool your body and adjust to the heat stress. One of those is, you start to hyperventilate and that will reduce blood flow to your brain. So you start to lose the amount of blood going to your brain. That's why people can get altered mental status with heat stroke. We call it heat stroke, not because they're actually having a stroke, but because, sort of like a stroke, their brain is deprived of essential nutrients and oxygen. So that occurs. You also have a diversion of blood flow toward the skin, so you sweat and also your skin heats up so you can radiate heat from the body and try to lose heat that way. But that also reduces your circulating blood volume and so you get a drop in your blood pressure, and that can be, in cases of severe heat stroke, that drop in blood pressure can lead to cardiovascular collapse. And so you have a couple of compensatory mechanisms when you're exposed to heat, and at a cellular level, there are these proteins called heat shock proteins. The heat shock proteins are produced in response to this, and give you this tolerance. So people who are exposed to exercise under conditions of heat build up this tolerance by producing these heat shock proteins. And what you find is that they hyperventilate less, there's increased blood flow to the brain compared to the group that hasn't developed tolerance, and so they're able to compensate much better. They also increase their plasma volume, so they hold onto water a little bit more, anticipating they're going to be sweating and things like that. Interviewer: So at the beginning of the summer when I feel like, "Oh man, I'm just having a hard time handling the heat," versus the end of the summer, where I'm running and cycling, and it doesn't bother me at all, all those things are happening inside my body. Dr. Youngquist: Exactly. That's why you feel better as the summer goes along in the same amount of heat. Interviewer: And I would imagine that everybody's a little bit different. Some people probably have a natural higher tolerance, right? Dr. Youngquist: Yeah, absolutely. So if you are obese or overweight, it's going to make it harder for you to develop heat tolerance because you've got that extra layer of insulation. Interviewer: If I'm interested in building up heat tolerance because I want to compete in some sort of an athletic event, is there a systematic way I should go about it, or is it just about getting out for longer and longer periods of time? Dr. Youngquist: There are several protocols you can look at online. So if you do a Google search, you'll find several proposed heat tolerance regimens that you can adopt. But experimentally it's usually just a small amount of exercise, about 20 minutes a day for 6 days straight, in the heat, being careful to hydrate yourself well and to stop if you're feeling dizzy or excessively tired, and that should do it. Interviewer: All right. Well, thank you very much. Indeed, you can build up a tolerance to heat exhaustion.
Get you a hex bar. You can do Rdls, squats, rows, shrugs, jumps squats... you really get best bang for your buck. Doing the bent over row has increased my bench press drastically. I'm 37 and getting crazier gains than when I was in my 20s.
I'm starting to get Captain Kirk bod. I'm honestly thinking about trying to find the ST Captain Kirk outfit on the Internet...fake phaser and all. I need that big Q-tip stick so I can do the fight scene with the freaky alarmist fight music. I can record a crazy version on guitar of that soundtrack for the fight scene. Imagine the trick-or-treaters getting the door opened to that show! Such a treat it will be! It's gonna be a really great Halloween this year! Oh...the F-ing chin-up assist is awesome. Noticable gains in my biceps/triceps since using it. It still hurts like a mother...! No pain...no gain.
Sort of hit a wall with my Push-Pull-Legs-Rest routine + running 4-5 miles a day. I think it's my diet, tbh, I don't think I'm getting enough to eat and I'm not eating enough carbs at the right times. Stuck at around 220lbs. So I went in to a local kickboxing exercise place and signed up for their 6 week challenge. If I don't hit all of the milestones, which includes the diet plan, I forfeit the $600 I put down but I'm confident I can do it. The selling point was that they have nutritionists to set up the meal plan for you and they adjust it as needed, so it's a good value. They had one of those body fat % readers and I'm at 17% which is ****ing gross for me, I've been down to 12% before. The trainer laughed when I said that and told me to stop flexing, that every guy who's come in the past week was over 30%. Still rankles. There was only a 20 minute wait after I signed up for the next workout so I went ahead and did it and burned 700 calories. Will post progress.
4-5 miles a day?! Damn bro that's awesome. I'd assume also that's hindering growth, eating your maintenance calories plus enough to cover the workouts PLUS the surplus at 220 looking for more is like a shitload of calories every day. I'm trying to get back on the horse myself. I was crushing it to begin the year before life took over. I'm just now getting back and trying to re-establish myself and it's absolutely kicking my ass. Like 1-2 mile runs just zapping me. Getting shin splints. Recovery time on my legs is like an extra day. I know I've put on some extra weight and moved somewhere hilly but geez. I'm hoping the lifting part is a little kinder because it feels like the horse is saying no lol
You can do it with the running. Pace yourself. The shin splints will go away over time. You may want to get better running shoes from a running shoe store that can help you by looking at the wear on your current shoes as well as watching you jog a little to see how your stride and gait looks. I tried Brooks and wasn’t a fan but I love my New Balance 860s, partially because they make wide sizes for people with hobbit feet like me. Something to think about - I’m not fast by any means. My runs generally start at about 90% jog then 10% walk for the first mile, then I speed up a bit but walk about 10% more per mile down to around 60/40 on mile 5. My second and third miles are actually my fastest. Five miles is my cap, I’m trying to build up stamina and speed now. Ideally I would run the entire time. Don’t forget that the sun is rising later and later so if you run in the morning you’ll have more time in the cooler part of the day. Proud of you for getting back in to it. Healthy living is a lifelong lifestyle choice. When you realize that taking care of yourself is the key to success in everything else you do it’s an easy choice.
Stupid BJJ hyperextended my elbow and had to skip lift workouts. Only a few days worth mind you, but hated not being able to do free weights.
I watched a couple of Athlean-X videos today where Jeff advocates for Mike Mentzer's 'Heavy Duty' workouts where you do just one set to utter failure. The premise has me interested. I find that lifting to failure with heavy weights has always worked best to me. The entire workout and philosophy is detailed here: https://www.thebarbell.com/mike-mentzer-workout/ Anyone ever tried this method?
That first video's really good (and he's done a LOT of really good videos). My preference (and I don't know what the hell I'm doing, FWIW) is to do a lot of sets and exercises, especially for the chest. But slowing things waaaay down intrigues me. Going to have to watch the second one later. Thanks for sharing.
For the first time in my life, I started a consistent resistant training routine 90 curls 90 pushups 135 squats I do it in 6 sets, 3x a week, about 25 minutes per workout, been doing it for a month and will be adding about 10 reps every 2-3 weeks. Trying to keep protein at half a gram per pound of body weight. I've been a beanpole my whole life I'll let y'all know if I get jacked.
There’s another one about triceps I didn’t post. Bro, that’s ****ing great. You’re going to see results fairly quickly at first. Keep us up to date!
I can now do 7 unassisted full chin-ups. This is coming from 1. A lot of work to increase those reps. Sigh. Biceps have definitely grown.
@FrontRunner another Mike Mentzer inspired Athlean-X video: Bro that's Gucci af! Glowing up! Never stop!
