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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?
Forced myself to start lifting again. Quarantine isn't ending anytime soon and its unlikely I'll be doing the same amount of dancing so I need to do something before my stomach in the mirror continues on the path from "not too bad" to "okay" to "not so great". It's been rough. I haven't actually been sore like this in over a decade and I'm hardly doing anything! I guess that's what happens when you take ~6months off from lifting.
What kind of dancing do you do?
Nothing special, just a lot of raving which is obviously not possible right now (so a mix of things - I know some basic shuffles, some basic moves, and I glowstick and sometimes poi). Been dancing at home, but it's just not the same without the atmosphere so I've been doing less. Also probably a bit of depression.
I have no idea what those techniques are, but they sound interesting! Can you tell me more? I've only ever done social dance, specifically Scottish country dance, and a little bit of English dance and contra. The Royal Scottish Country Dance Society has been doing online video dance classes for the past couple months; they're not quite the same as a real dance, but it's helped me stay sane throughout this regardless.
Some examples:
Wow, those are beautiful performances! They look like they require a lot of dexterity and technical attention. How do you learn? Are you self-taught? I like a good, old-fashioned rave as much as the next person, although I bet it would be a lot more fun if I knew how to dance like that. Social dancing doesn't give me too many tricks to show off, haha. I'd love to give something new a try while I have the opportunity!
Self taught! I think I have the most skill at glowsticking because poi and shuffling weren't really things when I started. Frankly I also think it's the easiest to learn as there's a few basic moves and then it's just a matter of chaining them together or just plain messing around haha. A basic shuffle probably only takes a little bit to learn, but the more advanced moves require quite a bit of practice. Poi, however, takes a lot of practice and because of such is something I'm only really a beginner at. It's got good carryover into other circus arts and dancing like fire dancing and whatnot, though.
Once I heard we might be WFH for the rest of the year last week it was kind of a wakeup call. I tried on some of the clothes I wore before quarantine and realized I'm probably larger than I've ever been at this point. My apartment is small, so not only is there not much space to work out in but there is very little incidental physical activity throughout the day. I haven't closed my Apple Watch's "Move" or "Stand" rings more than once or twice a week.
I decided to start up the 100 pushup challenge again. I last did it back in like, 2010 and I was never able to go over 60 pushups. And back then I was in phenomenal shape compared to now, so we'll see how well I do. In between pushup days I plan to do some kind of ab circuits or something. My Muay Thai gym has been posting weekly conditioning videos, but my days of being able to keep up with the fighters I train with are behind me. My fitness level has declined below being able to keep up when they do zoom workout classes. I think I'm going to have to try adapting truncated versions of these until I can get back into shape.
I decided to try using Bitesnap to start calorie tracking too. When I was actually fit I tended to use MyFitnessPal fairly regularly, but I tried it recently and it seems like the application has gotten really crufty.
I've never been an active person, but I've been trying to change it lately. For a few weeks I had a pretty consistent schedule in the morning with one of those fitness apps, however one of the exercises (push ups with a sort of twist, probably to train core body muscles) led to two fucking blocks in my spine. I had to get those fixed and then I didn't train for like two weeks.
My girlfriend has lately gotten into a routine with a fitness book by Mark Lauren which takes a much more comprehensive approach and to me feels safer, as the man is quite the professional when it comes to training, so I started training again, two hours a week, 30 minutes on 4 days and it honestly feels so much better. The book actually gets into the pitfalls of each exercise, how to do them properly and tells you what to look out for when doing them which to me is much more digestible than a video or an app. The workouts feel so much better and I'm going to continue doing them.
I found a gym about three weeks ago that's skirting the law and staying open. It feels good to be back in the gym doing a routine again.
I reached my goal I set in April of a 135lb bench before June! By um, one day. For one set (I failed the other 3 sets of 4, even at 130lbs). I think next up is getting by deadlift up to 225lbs which I should be able to do in under 3 weeks (hopefully).
Does anyone have any recommendations for what program to hop on after I'm finished with LP? I was thinking either A2S2 or 5/3/1 (for beginners? bbb?).
I've added dead bugs and dead hangs to my general routine. When you do dead bugs with good technique... woooOoo. Burns like hell.
I really ought to get off my ass and put my dip bars together. That'd really allow me to add a lot more bodyweight stuff to the routine.
Also, I was thinking of getting a freestanding punching bag (like this). Not sure how much of a pain in the ass it'd be to get it set up, but I think it'd make for a good cardio workout. Well, after I learn how to throw a proper punch, at least...