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Fitness Weekly Discussion
What have you been doing lately for your own fitness? Try out any new programs or exercises? Have any questions for others about your training? Want to vent about poor behavior in the gym? Started a new diet or have a new recipe you want to share? Anything else health and wellness related?
I've been rowing (on an erg) and slowly building up my endurance. Yesterday was the first time I've rowed past 10,000 meters in one session! When I first started doing it, even 2,000 meters was exhausting.
Rowing has been great for my cardio health, and, surprisingly, my mental health as well. I feel good about myself after doing it in a way I haven't in a long time.
I love rowing/using an erg. I used to do it all the time, now I run too much, but I'm hoping to trade some running for rowing, cycling, and swimming after my next marathon because I want to get more time on my feet and mileage more than just aerobic work. I'm also hoping it's after because if I start using it before, that will because I need low-impact cardio due to an injury or nagging issue!
Anyone know if you can replace gym with a set of equipment at home and train your most important muscles? Not spending too much money and space. I've seen some devices that try to combine what I imagine are the most important ones, but not sure if it's worth it.
Edit: @Banazir makes an excellent point that bodyweight/calisthenics are great for this. My response below is for externally loaded resistance training.
Definitely! I pay for a gym, primarily because I like the gym and it's kind of my third space. But I have pretty much everything necessary set up in my basement for when life gets in the way and I just need to squeeze a bit of work in. My partner and house guests tend to use it more than me.
I have coworkers who strictly lift at home, it's a whole hobby. But that's completely unnecessary for basic health and conditioning. Level 1.5 is what I had during covid. I really liked using the bands and if I lost access to any type of free weight equipment I'd be using bands. Heck sometimes I carry bands if I'll be traveling a while and what to do some basic resistance workouts.
------ below here you will need to account for the place you live and how much weight you will be storing and moving
You absolutely can, in fact most of my strength training has been via calisthenics! In general you just need four exercise groups: upper body push, upper body pull, legs, and hinge. Pushups and dips satisfy the first requirement; Pull-ups and horizontal rows fulfill the second; the myriad of squat progressions meet the third; and romanian deadlifts and nordic curls complete the set.
If you do a search for "Beginner bodyweight routine" you'll get dozens of results. NerdFitness was one of my favorites a decade ago, and I followed the r/bodyweightfitness recommended routine for years. For most, you just need a pull-up bar to start and maybe some exercise bands to make exercises easier or harder as needed.
I don't really post updates here frequently. But these past few months I've had people tell me I'm too skinny. Which is the first time that's ever happened in my life. I lift weights so that's not exactly what I want to be described as. Anyway, I went through the summer drinking and going out a lot, trying to enjoy what's left of my youth. But now I'm back on the horse and I've been in the middle of starting a bulk.
I'm not gonna dirty bulk, and I'm not gonna go overboard. But it is surprising how much I actually have to eat now. My BMR is about 3000 calories a day. So I have to eat over 3000 calories in order to gain some weight. And when you're eating real food, that can be pretty challenging to get down.
I started free weights at the beginning of the year (transitioning from when I was doing fixed machines) but I've now switched to cable machines. Cable machine offer more flexibility in movement and they're easier on my joints. The only free weight exercise I still do is an incline bench. Eating more has given me more energy to be able to lift heavier weights. I probably haven't been eating as much as I should have ergo the "I'm too skinny" comments I've been getting.
I feel good though, I've also upped my cardio a little bit after falling off of it back in May.
I don't plan on bulking for very long, I'm still scared being formerly morbidly obese, but I also don't plan on getting super lean. My goal body would be Christian Bale in Batman Begins where you can see muscle but his body fat percentage is a little higher but easier to maintain. I'm also lucky in that my body fat distribution is pretty favorable, and not a lot of it is in my face so hopefully I can still look good while being a little bigger.
I personally think that a lot of people have a skewed idea of what people are supposed to look like due to higher rates of overweight and obese people. You probably look just fine. If you feel good and are strong, what does it really matter.
If you are scared of gaining too much fat, you can just bulk really slowly with a slight calorie surplus. You’ll gain mass slower, but you will gain less fat than a high calorie surplus bulk.
I do agree with that. I think as people have gotten more overweight our idea of what skinny is has changed. I remember still being obese and people talking about how I wasn’t fat.
I do think, still however, that I wasn’t eating enough for my level of activity. Which made me feel like I couldn’t give it my all at the gym. And I was still losing weight, which was not my intention. It made me realize I’ve gotten so used to eating at a calorie defect that I have to reprogram my brain to eat more again. But still trying to find the balance there.
My motivation for exercise is so down these last months. Been working out religiously for 10 years, with a 1~2 year gap in Covid years, and enjoyed for the most part.
Now I live with my wife and have a home gym and was on fire for the first year. Now I have to force myself and always do only half the workout I was set to do.
Recently I found out I have grade 3 varicocele and low testosterone (I'm 38). Surgery is around the corner and I hope it fixes my low T and lack of motivation. The sudden lack of motivation and tiredness was why I went out to check my testosterone levels anyway.
Recently I bought a belt squat lever for my rack so I can substitute heavy back squats one day to preserve my back more. Waiting for it to arrive.
Maybe I should reduce the weight lifting to two days per week and do something else the other days, take up running maybe and get out of the house more. Focus more on compounds on lifting days. Been doing 4 days upper lower all this time.
I went through a similar thing this summer, low motivation, drive, difficulty focusing etc. Got my T tested (came back fine in my case).
So I made the summer an off season. Reduced lifting, left the gym when I had my fill, skipped days to go cycling or swimming. Made sure I was getting a couple date nights in with my SO each week; simple stuff like going to a free concert in town, visit food truck rallies.
After several months it's helped. Hopefully the operation improves how you're feeling.
Momentum is slowly building. Starting to feel like I have the juice back and motivation to commit more to my training sessions. I'm targeting a meet in February so I'll likely switch from my 3xWeek to 6xWeek in October. I find that I do much better with one compound a day rather than 2 compound lifts. I'm encouraged to see that despite being flakey, my E1RMs are right around where they should be and we have a good foundation to keep building upon.
In other fitness related news, the US gymnastics team is during a national exhibition tour! I'm very excited to see our athletes do what they're the best at. Watching their Olympic performances was definitely a punch in the arm to keep hitting it hard.
The past few months I was going to the gym 2 to 3 days a week. My normal week would be Monday - Swim, Wednesday - cardio and upper body, and Friday - cardio and lower body. Unfortunately, this past week, I got COVID and had to quarantine for a week. I did not go to the gym this week because I still feel like I'm recovering. I always struggle hard to go back to the gym after I get sick since I have a hard time figuring if I should use the time to recover or just go back to light routine to minimize disruption. I'm planning to go to the gym next week after a two-week hiatus.
Any advice for getting back on the horse would be appreciated other than taking it easy. I'm willing to hear if anyone has a good minimal routine.