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Do you exercise at home and/or in gym? What's your goal? Favorite exercise?
I used to be skinny and indifferent to fitness, but a couple years ago decided to try weight lifting at gym. I didn't last long because got bored going there every time. Recently I got dumbbells for home and working out with them goes way better for me: instant and full availability, personal shower afterwards, and cozy privacy of home.
My favorite exercise is single dumbbell pullover lying on a stool, upper body is exercised pretty well, especially upper chest.
With attention to sufficient meals my weight started increasing and that feels cool, it would be nice to have more confidence and self contentment with a not so skinny body.
And what's your story?
I run high intensity intervals (HIIT) on nature trails. That feeling when you're physically but not mentally drained after HIIT is addictive. The nature walk back to the outset ties it all together.
Plank exercises have to be my favorite. There's so many different ones to work all parts of core strength but also balance.
I don't know what I'd do without my medicine balls or dumbbells for weighted work. Having everything at home means I can squeeze the exercise in when I'm on call or watching a tv series or whatever when I'd otherwise just be sitting still.
As I see my parents age, I see how much they gain from doing demanding yoga and how that sets their health and consequently happiness apart from their peers. I should get into that to reach a level to sustain when I'm older.
I'm curious what variations you do with planks. Sometimes I'll go crazy and lift up an arm and a leg, but usually I just do the regular plank.
There are lots of variations you can do. Parallel or opposite arms/legs, moving up from resting on your elbows one arm at a time into a push-up-like position, elbow leg on the ground with your torso perpendicular to the ground, rolling planks using a medicine-ball in a circle to train diagonal core muscles etc. etc.
I just got a home gym set up within the last few months. It's so much nicer to never have to wait on a squat rack. I lift most days, but bad connective tissue and lingering shoulder and knee problems stop me from doing it every day.
I have to go to the gym. Working out at home just doesn't work for me. Also when I'm working from home it's really good to get out of the house. So one of the things I do is I go to a climbing gym. It's more casual than going to a regular gym and they have a super dope co working area filled with nice furniture and sunlight. It's worth it for the mental health benefits alone.
If you have a climbing gym in your area I highly recommend checking them out!
Climbing gyms are amazing. Unfortunately many of them are quite expensive (the closest one to me is close to $100/mo). If you're lucky, they might have regular gym equipment two, so you're paying for both at the same time.
That's fair, I just think 100 bucks a month is cheap when you're thinking in terms of mental health stuff
While I agree not everyone has the same disposable income we do.
I exercise at home, I've only been at it about 4 weeks. I don't have a very concrete goal honestly, just the nebulous idea of having a bit more muscle definition (and a slightly flatter tummy). Honestly I think pushups are my favourite exercise. They're simple and hard but I feel cool for doing them, and I'm getting better at them.
I really need to start getting my diet in order though, I just eat whatever and although my meals are generally pretty healthy, I could probably focus a bit more on protein to help gain some muscle.
I love the seven minute workout. It's not going to make an athlete out of you, but it's a great way to stay fit when not doing other physical activities. It requires next to no equipment, and only takes a few minutes of your day.
Nice web app for that workout: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/well/workouts/
And an advanced version: https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/10/24/the-advanced-7-minute-workout/
There are also countless mobile apps for it.
I don't really like the "advanced" version, it requires equipment and so loses a lot of the appeal of the original one. If you're advanced you can simply do the exercises faster.
I agree.
Or do several sets.
I live in a reasonably rural area, so the main thing I do is go for a run around my block, which includes a small vineyard. That's about 5k for one lap and I actually somewhat enjoy doing it once I'm out there, but if the weather is at all unpleasant or I've got other stuff going on I tend to avoid going out - not great during winter.
I've also looked into bodyweight exercises and have some cheap dumbbells, but I find it harder to get into using them.
In the last two years I've gotten really into rock climbing, indoor and outdoor. I've tried a bunch of different sports, but rock climbing and running are really the only ones I've ever been able to find internal motivation for. This summer I've started training for a half marathon. It's going to be my first real race of any kind since high school, and I'm also training barefoot for the first time in my life, which is really a fantastic experience.
I really like rock climbing at the gym. I've found that climbing gyms feels a lot less competitive than standard weight and cardio gyms, and I find myself striking up conversations with strangers far more than I ever did at a standard gym. I run outside as much as possible, though it kind of sucks in the city where I am. My friend that's training for the same race loves much closer to a decent sized park, which is really nice for medium length runs. Still not sure what I'm gonna do for my 8 mile tomorrow though, it's pretty difficult to map out a run that long around here without just lapping our small park 5 times.
Seconding the indoor rock climbing! The social aspect of it is also really nice. It helps get me out of my normal bubble.
You wouldn't happen to be in Austin would you? I just ask because it SUCKS to run here.
I go to a commercial gym because they have a daycare there. My 2.5 year old and I get a nice half hour walk to talk to each other and hang out. Then I get a break from him while I move heavy things for a while and he gets to hang out with other kids his age. As an only child, it's great he can get some socializing in regularly. He also sees that going the gym is a regular habit that we make time to do. My wife gets a break from both of us. Then we get a half an hour walk back to talk some more.
Being the negative guy I am, I tend to keep track of which of the three powerlifts (deadlift, bench press and back squat) I am hating the most at any given time. When I first started powerlifting, it was my bench because it sucked. I have a pretty powerful base, my squat shot up quickly and is still my best lift, but my upper body is slow to gain. So I hated my bench because it plateaued long before my other lifts for a while. Then it switched to my squat because once it got hard, it got very hard. As a beginner, I easily shot up to two plates for working sets. Eventually, though, it got very grindy and squat day became the one I least looked forward to. But, as it continues to be my best lift, I've grown to enjoy doing something I am good at.
These days, it's deadlift days I dislike the most. I'm plateauing a bit on the lift because of my grip more than anything else, which is frustrating on such a big, complex lift that the point of failure is my hands and fingers. I know I could use straps and that they aren't truly "cheating," but they feel that way to me personally. I have nothing against people that use them, but for me, I'm lifting to be strong in any situation, not strong while I'm enhanced by some gear. It's the same reason I still lift in four year old Chuck Taylors, ten year old basketball shorts and random free t-shirts I get. I don't get into the gear (or "gear") of powerlifting.
I am thinking once my boy goes off to school, I will probably switch to a powerlifting gym so that there's less wait for platforms and stuff like that. Plus, I am one of the stronger people at my gym, and I feel that's made me a little complacent.
Double overhand or mixed grip failing? What weight? Do you do any grip training?
I train deadlift DOH only and only switch to mixed grip for <3RM. I train my forearms and grip all the time (former rock climber) so I can offer some tips if you're interested.
I do double overhand on warm-ups. Then switch to mixed grip for working sets. My grip starts to give out about rep four or five on anything 350+ lbs. or so, which is about 90% of my training max (I run at an 85% TM).
I don't do any grip specific training, but I think I'll probably need to start adding some to my assistance work because it's been a failure point for about nine weeks now, so not just a fluke. Basically, since I started doing the Pervertor template of 5/3/1. The first week of that, my hands and forearms burned with DOMs like I had never used them before or something. It was crazy. I don't know if it's Pervertor of if it's just my TM getting high enough to really push me.
So, I'm definitely interested in any ideas. Feels kind of silly to spend my limited gym time on grip, but I think I do need it. As a rock climber, I'm sure you have a lot of good ideas.
There's no reason you can't train both at the same time. The easiest thing to do, is to start incorporating more forearm heavy variations of what you're already doing.
I know doing volume deadlifts is like, the worst thing in the world, but have you considered dropping the weight a little and working DOH for volume? Alternatively, static holds at the top between reps for a few seconds with mixed grip should help to continue to train forearms as well as your deads.
I switched the majority of my bicep work to reverse grip such as reverse preachers. When I use dumbbells I typically overload and do hammer to put more emphasis on grip.
Finally, if you can tolerate it, doing pullups with less than your entire hand (4 finger, 3 finger, 2 finger, 1 finger) can help with grip as well. I don't think this will transfer over well to deadlifting, but if your finger tendon strength is an issue these are easy variations to do.
Other passive things I do is always pinch gripping bumper plates when loading/unloading any exercise I do. I sometimes do pinch grip side raises for reps between sets or at the end of a workout to cool down.
Grippers aren't particularly cheap, but they're not really expensive either and they are a good solution outside of the gym. A set of 50, 100, 150 is probably all you'll need for now, but they also make adjustable ones (I bought this one on Amazon some time ago) below 150 lbs. Once you get to 200+ lbs they usually only come in 50lb increments, unfortunately. I don't really use my grippers much anymore but they are useful.
Finally, if you want to do targeted grip work, I can recommend a few exercises that I have found particularly useful (outside of plate pinches) for grip strength.
Let me lay out what I've been doing the last six weeks to see what you think of the volume. Personally, I think it's a good amount of volume, but maybe not? So, for example Pervertor goes:
5/3/1 sets for 5s PRO (so, that's 3x5 for main work, varying percentages based on the week at 5/3/1 does) followed by supplement work of:
Week 1 - 10x5 at First Set Last (the weight of the first working deadlift set)
Week 2- 5x10 at First Set Last
Week 3 - 5x5 at Second Set Last (the weight of the second working deadlift set)
Week 3 is what really owned me on deadlifts for the last two cycles.
Putting more forearm work into the assistance work I'm already doing is a good idea. I do mix in hammer curls for variety, maybe I should make them a mainstay. And I've noticed skullcrushers give me a good pump on forearms too. Reverse curls would be a good addition too.
The gym I go to has a pull-up station with some rock climbing gripers on it that I could try instead of just the bar. Truthfully, I've gotten away from pull-ups and chin-ups and that probably has negatively affected my grip strength.
There's no such thing as "a good amount of volume" - it's all relative to how much volume you are doing. You should never increase volume too drastically or you will burn out and either volume or weight lifted per rep should be going up regularly.
I've found it's really all I need anymore, since I haven't been climbing in ages. I found a gym recently though, so I might start up with more dedicated work again. My grip never completely fails me unless I'm climbing.
Yeah those are good. Thicker bars and balls are really what will be most useful for deadlift grip strength. Finger holds and rock climbing rocks will help some as well, but are mainly for digit strength.
Cool. Thanks for the advice!
Cheers, good luck!
Work grip. Use chalk. Incidental strength work can be surprisingly effective, and forearms are a small muscle, so that overtraining isn't hugely fatiguing.
Chins, one-armed rows, farmers walks, rack pulls, suitcase deads, are all options. (Rack pulls being an exception to the "light work" principle).
Many of those work upper back, complementing other lifts.
Cleans are another move that works grip dynamically. DB or KB swings also.
One-armed rows is definitely a good idea. I've had them out of my routine for well over a year and I enjoy them. Kind of forgot about them actually.
I'm at a commercial gym (small regional chain), that sadly doesn't allow chalk.
I have 3 kettlebells, 16kg, 24kg and 32kg. Favorite exercise is KB swings. I try and do at least 100 every workout. I'll pound out a set, then do a strength exercise, then pound out another set, rinse and repeat. Then go for a 30 minute jog with a stair climb near the end.
I'm 49 and if I don't maintain a certain level of fitness my joints hardly work anymore. I'm a hiker who likes being able to sleep on the ground and if I don't have enough muscle tone for my ribs and shoulders and hips and knees then I can't do that.
My favorite exercise is swimming. I wouldn't go to a gym at all if it wasn't for access to a pool. I really love lake or river swimming and as soon as I find somewhere in the world I can swim safely and comfortably outdoors year round I will know where I'm going to retire.
I do bodyweight exercises on-and-off (more "off" tho). I used to do programs from the YAYOG app, but I moved to /r/bodyweightfitness recommended routine recently. I enjoy it a bit more, and it's more in line with my goals (strength & hypertrophy), while YAYOG was a bit more focused on building endurance and has more cardio-like stuff.
My favourite exercise is pull-ups. I don't have a good explanation for it other than they're difficult and rewarding and fun.
I also don't have a specific goal. I have vague goals of looking better and living longer.
I think the #1 thing I get out of going to the gym is I'm more in touch with my body. I'll do a bench press at a certain weight and it's comfortable, then do the same bench press at the same weight a week later and it's suddenly more difficult. It's an immediate warning sign of "whoa, what's going on here? Did I lose muscle? Am I sick?" that I would totally miss if I weren't working out. Before I started working out, I was a little bit out of touch with what my body was going through on a day-to-day or week-to-week basis.
I do bodyweight at home. Not a large routine. I'm trying to grow into doing good, clean pushups, so I startded doing 2x10 knee pushups, squats, and seated resistance band rows (nowhere to hang a bar, and I'm too big to do stuff off of doors), 2x30sec planks (second set is currently to failure at arouns 22sec)
I mostly want to be able to do pushups, and once I establish a good foundation move into stuff like handstands and back bridges, but I'm nowhere near where I need to be to start those yet.
I am following Athlean-X Xero. It's a 6 week program with own bodyweight exercises 5 times a week. It's pretty intense sometimes but very rewarding.
I've been doing home workouts since I moved to an area without a local gym. I prefer gyms, but I'm not driving 25 minutes to get to one. I use YouTube videos for body weight and strength training with free weights. I usually do about 30 minutes a day. I also go for a 30-minute walk during my lunch breaks.
I have access to a gym, but I rarely go. I work out at or around home. Mostly I am moving around (running usually) for my workouts. I used to lift a lot and I do some maintenance workouts with dumbbells - mostly these exercises. Dumbbells are relatively cheap to own at home, and they're heavy enough to do what needs to be done.
If you want to accumulate mass, then I definitely recommend a gym membership and lifting. Do the big lifts religiously and you will build muscle.
At home. Exercised at my college's gym for a few years but now I just go at home. Mostly with relaxing and lowering my blood pressure/resting heart rate as the goal. It's not like either is terrible or bad or even "meh" but. That's the tangible goal I have my sights set on.