Fitness Weekly Discussion

Played in my second table tennis tournament ever this past weekend, and finally got a few wins under my belt. Those 12 year olds* didn’t even know what hit them.

Unfortunately I still lost to my (apparent) rival, a very large, very gregarious German expat named Olaf. He wiped the floor with me in my last tournament, but this time I stole a game from him, and went 8-11 or better every other game. Nice to finally start moving up the ladder.

* they’re all toxic “cho”ers and deserved it.

This weekend I'm going to climb the '7 peaks of Edinburgh' in one day as part of a birthday celebration. I'm skipping my usual long run this week to keep the extra capacity, though I don't think it should be toooooo bad - Arthur's Seat is the highest hill and that's I think second in the list - actually I climbed that once a while ago with the kind of hangover that gets all over and inside your muscles and cardiac capacity, and it was well do-able if unpleasant (amazing views though). Hardest part is probably going to be waking up early and keeping pace; the hills themselves don't take too long to climb, but we're going to be walking between them, which is the majority of the projected time/distance. Also hoping for good weather but prepared for otherwise 🫠

I'm still trying to find the perfect balance in doing a full body workout with conditioning at the end that will give me enough for muscle growth and cardio without spending too much time. I am burned out of doing upper/lower splits. I want to lift just 3 days per week this year.

I've been weightlifting to some extent since I'm 28 and I will be 38 this year. While I am proud of what I achieved and my looks, I still don't have too much to show for it since I was a huge binge drinker until 3 or 4 years ago.

Anyway, I dialed calorie counting in a way that I am gaining 1kg/2lbs per month. So diet is already on point.

My workout right now is like this:

I always superset the first push/pull of the day. So Ring Pushup and Neutral Chin Up on monday, Dips and Inverted Row on wednesday and Dumbbell bench and Chin Up on friday are all supersets. This helps save time and I'm used to do this.

The same goes for the last three exercises. They are all 2 sets in a giant set. I do one set of reverse curl, rest 60 seconds, do one set of lying triceps extension, rest 60 seconds and ab whell rollout, rest 60 seconds and repeat for another set.

The reason i prefer hammer and reverse curl is because i have a case of golfer's elbow that does not go away. It's been years.

My major problems

1: dumbbell bench is getting to a point that getting into position is becoming a problem. The dumbbells are too heavy and sometimes they almost fall when lying down.

I could be doing barbell bench, but it hurts my golfer's elbow in the bottom position.

2: bulgarian split squats. It is a good exercise. I dare to say even better than squats. But they are extremely taxing and they take too much time. Warming up to holding two 24kg dumbbells takes a lot of time because it is unilateral and the exercise is a huge pain in the ass. Balancing is still a huge issue.

By the end of the workout I feel absolutely no desire in doing the conditioning. I'll probably do squats again, but lighter.

This is a home gym so no equipment like Leg Press.

I guess I'm mostly venting, but if somebody has any ideas about golfer's elbow treatment I'm all ears.

I've been gaining weight so I am walking every day and I have stopped drinking for the foreseeable future.

I have a chronic illness and can't do hardcore exercises but I am walking every day