Working out! Fitness! Nutrition!

[stevex]

still doing 5-6 days 1 muscle per day, ramping up the weight on all my lifts... shoulder isn't happy about it (diagnosed with severe degenerative changes in my left glenhumeral head - osteoarthritis). Got a cortisone shot coming up in August, we'll see how that feels. Aggravating as hell when I can't even look at the 100+ dumbells anymore.

Slacking on cardio but my diet's been pretty spot on... my weight has dipped lower than I'd really like to see it, even though I do look lean and have kept most strength. Hopefully I can sneak out of work for an hour and plow through a bis/tris superset around 12-1 tonight.

 

[Amazon]

Did my first crossfit class today, If i can scrounge up the money I'll probably continue. I need someone pushing me to workout, other wise I won't do it. That and I want to try out for Rugby in September, so I need to brush up on my fitness. All I can say so far is that squats make you hate the clutch in your car.

 

[rmemedic]

Did my first crossfit class today, If i can scrounge up the money I'll probably continue. I need someone pushing me to workout, other wise I won't do it. That and I want to try out for Rugby in September, so I need to brush up on my fitness. All I can say so far is that squats make you hate the clutch in your car.

crossfit is a blast... when it's over lol.

I didn't eat enough today before my work out and I was pretty close to getting sick afterwards. First time in almost 6 years since my last work out induced spew session.

This insanity thing isn't a joke, if you can find pirated copies, give it a try! Think I used a 10x10' space today for my entire work out and it was covered in sweat by the end. It seems it will give you some powerful legs and a strong core since they focus a lot on it.

 

[Roasted]

still doing 5-6 days 1 muscle per day, ramping up the weight on all my lifts... shoulder isn't happy about it (diagnosed with severe degenerative changes in my left glenhumeral head - osteoarthritis). Got a cortisone shot coming up in August, we'll see how that feels. Aggravating as hell when I can't even look at the 100+ dumbells anymore.

Slacking on cardio but my diet's been pretty spot on... my weight has dipped lower than I'd really like to see it, even though I do look lean and have kept most strength. Hopefully I can sneak out of work for an hour and plow through a bis/tris superset around 12-1 tonight.

I honestly never go over 5 lifting sessions a week. I think I might have done 6/week a handful of times and there was once 14 days where I went every day in a row but 2/7 workouts a week were cardio only when i was cutting......I rarely do cardio now adays though...too lazy like you. Lately I've been cutting back on workouts actually and I'm doing a 4 day split only now and to be honest, I can't tell much of a difference from 5/week.

Like you though I've had a few injuries in the past year and my bench and shoulder presses have been pathetic lately. Everyone that hasn't seen me since i went away to Australia for 2 months has been telling me I look smaller which is making me rage but I'm a bit leaner, only lost about 5 lbs and I'm actually semi-close to my PR's on squat and dead so it can't be that bad.

Haters gonna hate...

 

[stevex]

I honestly never go over 5 lifting sessions a week. I think I might have done 6/week a handful of times and there was once 14 days where I went every day in a row but 2/7 workouts a week were cardio only when i was cutting......I rarely do cardio now adays though...too lazy like you. Lately I've been cutting back on workouts actually and I'm doing a 4 day split only now and to be honest, I can't tell much of a difference from 5/week.

Like you though I've had a few injuries in the past year and my bench and shoulder presses have been pathetic lately. Everyone that hasn't seen me since i went away to Australia for 2 months has been telling me I look smaller which is making me rage but I'm a bit leaner, only lost about 5 lbs and I'm actually semi-close to my PR's on squat and dead so it can't be that bad.

Haters gonna hate...

The 6th day really is overkill,I agree with you on that... its more of a once in a while thing because I feel like one of my work outs sucked, or I have some sort of event on saturday that involves my shirt being off, or I just need an excuse to wake up and give myself something to do rather than sleep all of saturday away (i work nights and the end of my "week" is 6am on Sat)....

I KNOW I should be doing some sort of light cardio at least 3x a week, first thing in the morning or worst case right after weight training but I can think of about a billion other things I'd rather do in either scenario. Unfortunately, if I want to get any more cut than I already am, it seems a necessary evil.

Lol, half the gym will say that exact same thing to me just because they know it irks me.. "hey man, you're shrinking, have you been sick?"... combine that with number I've been seeing on the scale and the temptation to just start piling on the carbs is overwhelming.

I really should track my calories just for a week so I actually know what the hell I'm intaking but I've never put forth the effort... just eye it out and away I go. Pretty sloppy if I really want to get in much better shape, to be honest.

 

[Roasted]

You should try what I did when a female friend said it to me:

Her: You look small.
Me: You look big.
Her best friend:

 

[toshison]

still doing 5-6 days 1 muscle per day, ramping up the weight on all my lifts... shoulder isn't happy about it (diagnosed with severe degenerative changes in my left glenhumeral head - osteoarthritis). Got a cortisone shot coming up in August, we'll see how that feels. Aggravating as hell when I can't even look at the 100+ dumbells anymore.

Slacking on cardio but my diet's been pretty spot on... my weight has dipped lower than I'd really like to see it, even though I do look lean and have kept most strength. Hopefully I can sneak out of work for an hour and plow through a bis/tris superset around 12-1 tonight.

I use to train with that kind of frequency years ago and I think it did as much damage as good. At one point I did 3 days on, 1 day off and repeat. Always sore, joint problems pretty much overtrained. I also trained Muay Thai while weight training as much as I could and I totally burned out and my joints were aching all the time where I couldn't even skip rope. Cutting back and resting more did me and my joints much good. Now, 3-4 days a week of weights with some other types of activity like rock climbing, hiking or sprints mixed in periodically for fun. If I feel I need an extra day rest, I take it.

Spending time on mobility exercises especially for your hips & shoulders go a long way in keeping you injury free. Like, the tail end of my shoulder workout, I spend about 20 minutes doing 3-4 different rotator cuff exercises.

Most people don't bother and a lot of people aren't injury prone but I know I am since I go full bore with everything so I tend to injury myself frequently.

 

[Roasted]

Than again, you got guys like Kane Sumbat....who I mentioned earlier who trains 10-11 times a week (yes, multiple times a day) and he seems to be doing ok. But generally agreed.....more isn't always better. I'm sure I'll jump back to 5 x week eventually when I get bored and have more free time though.

 

[TomC]

Hey guys, what's your take on ATG squats vs half squat...knee issues? Ironically ive never had any knee issues doing atg squats the last 2 years, they only pop up during snowboard season. I'm really just going for aesthetics here.

 

[toshison]

Than again, you got guys like Kane Sumbat....who I mentioned earlier who trains 10-11 times a week (yes, multiple times a day) and he seems to be doing ok. But generally agreed.....more isn't always better. I'm sure I'll jump back to 5 x week eventually when I get bored and have more free time though.

That guy does have an impressive physique and I am never one to argue with success. Clearly he is doing something right.
I guess the next question to pose though is would he be in as good shape (or even bigger and better) if he cut back and worked out just 4-5 times a week?

It just goes to show that there is no one right way.

 

[mma01]

What is everyone up to?

I have been training since January specifically for obstacle course racing (i.e. spartan sprint, spartan beast, tough mudder).

Mon: 5KM + workout stations throughout (i.e. max effort hill sprints, burpees, jump squats, pullups, stair climbs, spidercrawls etc)
Tues: Same as tuesday except over 12-16KM.
Wed: Indoor boot camp - mix of trx, medicine balls, bosu balls, speed ladder work and kettlebells
Friday: Plain jane running for 7K

 

[TomC]

Hey guys, what's your take on ATG squats vs half squat...knee issues? Ironically ive never had any knee issues doing atg squats the last 2 years, they only pop up during snowboard season. I'm really just going for aesthetics here.

also looking for recommendation on a multivitamin (brand/model)

 

[knowledge]

Hey guys, what's your take on ATG squats vs half squat...knee issues? Ironically ive never had any knee issues doing atg squats the last 2 years, they only pop up during snowboard season. I'm really just going for aesthetics here.

If aesthetics is your goal (like me), go full range of motion on all of your exercises (form is key. I find that strength lifters can get away with controlled cheating but there's no excuse for aesthetic lifters). You want to give your muscle the work out at the top of the rep and at the bottom of the rep so it looks like you're always flexing no matter what

The obvious caveat to this is if you have joint problems. If that's the case, then I find doing "partials" or 1.5 reps are great for aesthetics.

Variety is also key in aesthetics - since you're not really building strength as a priority, make sure you're always varying exercises so the different heads and muscle fibres are getting used/trained.

 

[regder]

also looking for recommendation on a multivitamin (brand/model)

I like Orange Triad, if you sign up for the musclehq.com email list it goes on sale every few months

 

[stevex]

I use to train with that kind of frequency years ago and I think it did as much damage as good. At one point I did 3 days on, 1 day off and repeat. Always sore, joint problems pretty much overtrained. I also trained Muay Thai while weight training as much as I could and I totally burned out and my joints were aching all the time where I couldn't even skip rope. Cutting back and resting more did me and my joints much good. Now, 3-4 days a week of weights with some other types of activity like rock climbing, hiking or sprints mixed in periodically for fun. If I feel I need an extra day rest, I take it.

Spending time on mobility exercises especially for your hips & shoulders go a long way in keeping you injury free. Like, the tail end of my shoulder workout, I spend about 20 minutes doing 3-4 different rotator cuff exercises.

Most people don't bother and a lot of people aren't injury prone but I know I am since I go full bore with everything so I tend to injury myself frequently.

I honestly don't find that my training schedule has me beat down or overly sore. My only REAL injury is my shoulder, and there simply is no way to avoid aggravating it if I'm going to be lifting weights... its just a fact of arthritis. Any use = pain. Yeah, I could probably mitigate the pain by scaling back but I'm not ready for that just yet... Every other joint on my body seems to be holding up pretty well, as my surgeon said, my shoulder is my "kryptonite".

I've never really been one to do much rotator work, or even stretching... my shoulder injury stems from being smoked by a cager, not so much from the years of heavy lifting. Obviously, if I never lifted weights, my shoulder wouldn't have progressed to the point it is now...but them's the breaks I guess.

I've flirted with the idea of taking yoga for a little more range of motion and perhaps to ease tension in muscles... and to possibly hook up with a really fit really flexible girl for some "in-home sessions"

 

[stevex]

Hey guys, what's your take on ATG squats vs half squat...knee issues? Ironically ive never had any knee issues doing atg squats the last 2 years, they only pop up during snowboard season. I'm really just going for aesthetics here.

I will do ATG but never with very high weight... I feel way too unsturdy, a tightness in my hip-flexors and i get an odd feeling in my right knee.... I just have the mental image of my knee exploding like a grenade or my spine being shot out of my colon like a kinetic missile.

I prefer a half squat... if i want full range of motion i'll do deep dumbell lunges or leg press where my knee doesnt seem to mind at all.

 

[stevex]

I like Orange Triad, if you sign up for the musclehq.com email list it goes on sale every few months

+1 to Orange Triad... it's a little pricey but it has the MSM + glucosamine + chondroitin blend included in it so you don't need to supplement joint health separately.

Where does everyone get their supps/protein anyway?

I usually just buy in bulk ($200-300) orders on Supplements Canada and get free shipping / decent discount

 

[stevex]

That guy does have an impressive physique and I am never one to argue with success. Clearly he is doing something right.
I guess the next question to pose though is would he be in as good shape (or even bigger and better) if he cut back and worked out just 4-5 times a week?

It just goes to show that there is no one right way.

More than one way to skin a cat, I suppose... If you have a life/career that revolves SOLEY around training/eating/sleeping... then why not? The human body can adapt to damn near anything... There are guidelines and general principles but definitely one size does not fit all in terms of bodybuilding.

We also don't know what other kind of "supplements" a guy like him is taking that allows him to benefit/recover from such a ridiculous training regime.... I'd have a tough time believing he is 100% natural but there ARE genetic freaks out there that just put 99.9% of the population to shame

 

[Roasted]

I actually believe Kane is natural. He actually admitted to trying a pro-hormone cycle like 5-7 years ago for like 4 weeks and said that was the only thing he'd ever tried (named the compound and everythign). Why would he admit to that but lie about everything else? He seems pretty legit. He's a mod over at the fitness section of offtopic.com which is a forum I used to post A LOT years ago and occasionally posts on bodybuidling.com and I've read many of his posts and even asked him questions online. Plus, he's not actually that huge. He's trained a bit with this guy Oge Robin who I consider one of the best Natural Pro's in Canada and he admitted that Oge dwarfs him by like 20-30 lbs. Hell, even I have a bit of mass on him though he murders me in proportions. I've stood next to Oge and felt like a little *****. lol

Here is Oge:

Only weakness this guy has is very crappy calves but they are conveniently cropped out in the pic.

Oh, and on the topic of squats I typically squat to parallel though when I'm warming up with relatively light weight (225 lbs and under) I will sometimes go ATG.

 

[SunnY S]

Getting stale in this thread!
What is everyone up to?

!

These guys inspired me, so I joined!