General Health & Fitness - Stay/Get Back in Shape

Heelsandeers said:
Very nice

I considered adding one of the barball holders

So far I've just been storing it racked on the stand which hasn't been an issue
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To be honest, as you can see from the pic, I never use the barbell holders. Racked in the stand is my go to. I have three barbells (mine, my wife's, and a 10# training bar) but since the other two rarely get used they just get in the way if I store them in the holders on the rack. I've been considering investing in a on-wall barbell rack. That may be the way I want to go. Your mileage may vary.
 
BTW, possibly my favorite piece of Rouge equipment in that photo is that $10 piece of PVC pipe. A lot of my warm up is done with that thing.

My warm up routine is:
  • 10 circular shoulder shrugs in each direction (forwards and backward)
  • 10 unweighted (PVC pipe) shoulder presses
  • 10 unweighted (PVC pipe) Good Mornings
  • 10 Behind the Backs with the PVC pipe
  • 5 Around The Worlds with the PVC pipe (each side)
  • 5-10 torso rotational twists w/ PVC pipe on shoulders
  • Bent over hamstring stretch while holding on to PVC pipe
  • 20 Ass Kickers
  • 20 High Knees
  • 10 Frankensteins (High Kicks)
  • 30 second ass to grass squat stretch
  • 10 air squats
  • 20 banded Pull Aparts
  • 20 banded Face Pulls
  • 20 banded Triceps Extensions
(I'm old and need a LOT of warm up)
 
Finishing up a 2 week cruise around Spain, North Africa, and the Canary Islands on a small cruise ship (about 800 passengers). The gym is ultra nice but limited in equipment. No barbells at all, no cable machine. I've had to adjust everything in workouts to be drumbbell focused. They do have those up to 32kg (70 lb) as well as nice benches, leg extenstion, leg press, lat machine. Doing everything with dumbbells from squats to presses to RDL's, etc in addition to my normal dumbbell work has REALLY worked the hell out of my forearms and shoulders. But I'm going home with some monster grip improvements, that's for sure.
 
nrsair said:
I built a budget gym with the Bowflex adjustable dumbbells and bench, a Rogue pull-up bar, a couple kettlebells and some heavy resistance bands. Suits my needs as a wannabe endurance athlete. Also have a Concept2 rower/torture device and more bicycles than any sane person should, so I’m not really saving money, just allocating funds to the parts I like the best 🤪
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Thumbs up to "Concept 2 rower/torture device".
 
Sheesh, some of you are putting up some serious weight.

I tweaked my lower back pretty good about a decade ago. Still rotate in leg days pretty consistently (2 or 3 times a month) but I stick to lower weight/higher rep volume with dead lifts and barbell squats. Bulgarian split squats have been a game changer for me.
 
Peppers49 said:
Sheesh, some of you are putting up some serious weight.

I tweaked my lower back pretty good about a decade ago. Still rotate in leg days pretty consistently (2 or 3 times a month) but I stick to lower weight/higher rep volume with dead lifts and barbell squats. Bulgarian split squats have been a game changer for me.
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Bulgarian split squats have been so tough for me to master. Body dysmorphia is real in so many ways. My brain still thinks im 400 or 500 pounds in every way. I overbalance on things for the longest time until I master them finally. Im finally there on Bulgarian splits but man it took forever. Next challenge is single leg RDL with the rear leg raised. Up to this point, it has always been a balance plant.
 
wmheel1287 said:
Bulgarian split squats have been so tough for me to master. Body dysmorphia is real in so many ways. My brain still thinks im 400 or 500 pounds in every way. I overbalance on things for the longest time until I master them finally. Im finally there on Bulgarian splits but man it took forever. Next challenge is single leg RDL with the rear leg raised. Up to this point, it has always been a balance plant.
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You weighed 400 lbs at some point in life?
 
wmheel1287 said:
506.4 was my heaviest known weight.

238 today.
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That's incredible. Congratulations.

I was just over 300 at my heaviest, I got down to 180 and maintained for probably 10 years, then I slowly started gaining. I'm around 245 now.

I really want to get back in the gym, but not for weight, for my health. I can tell how out of shape I am in my breathing and other activities. Plus, there's a good chance that I may have to figure out dating in my '60's.
 
Recently I've started tracking my meals and snacks and one of the first things I've realized was how much I was overeating - servings are much smaller than I realized
 
Who else on here is an "eternal beginner"?

By that I mean I lift religiously for 6 to 8 months, gets beastly strong, and then something happens to interrupt the flow (vacation, injury, illness, etc) and I go completely sedentary for the next 6-8 months and lose all my gains and get weak as a kitten before starting again.

I can tell it's getting harder to get back into the swing of things joint wise as I get older and I seem to lose strength faster these days too.

Consistency has always been my bugaboo. Anyone else?

I've started back at it again. Still in the "linear progression" stage, meaning I'm consistently adding weight to the bar session after session. I know that won't last forever, and soon I'll need to mix things up, but the goal for now is to milk this stage for all it's worth for as long as possible.

Today's work out was (set x reps x weight):

Low Bar Back Squat: 3x5x195# (up 10# from last session)
Bench Press: 3x5x160# (up 10#)
Deadlift: 1x5x235 (up 20#)
Standing Overhead Press: 3x5x90# (up 5#)

Oh, the other thing I've learned over the years is muscle gets stronger faster than connective tissue. Super easy to get hurt at the beginning of a program by biting off more than you can chew early. I'm about a month in and not out of the woods yet. But there's also no way I'm going to be able to make these kinds of jumps session to session. The graduations will start to get smaller and smaller from here on out (I have barbell plates all the way down to 1/4 a pound each meaning my graduations can get as small as 1/2 a pound per session, and you can better believe that I'll get there fairly fast, especially with the overhead press since that's the one that requires the lightest graduations.
 
Ddseddse said:
Who else on here is an "eternal beginner"?

By that I mean I lift religiously for 6 to 8 months, gets beastly strong, and then something happens to interrupt the flow (vacation, injury, illness, etc) and I go completely sedentary for the next 6-8 months and lose all my gains and get weak as a kitten before starting again.

I can tell it's getting harder to get back into the swing of things joint wise as I get older and I seem to lose strength faster these days too.

Consistency has always been my bugaboo. Anyone else?

I've started back at it again. Still in the "linear progression" stage, meaning I'm consistently adding weight to the bar session after session. I know that won't last forever, and soon I'll need to mix things up, but the goal for now is to milk this stage for all it's worth for as long as possible.

Today's work out was (set x reps x weight):

Low Bar Back Squat: 3x5x195# (up 10# from last session)
Bench Press: 3x5x160# (up 10#)
Deadlift: 1x5x235 (up 20#)
Standing Overhead Press: 3x5x90# (up 5#)

Oh, the other thing I've learned over the years is muscle gets stronger faster than connective tissue. Super easy to get hurt at the beginning of a program by biting off more than you can chew early. I'm about a month in and not out of the woods yet. But there's also no way I'm going to be able to make these kinds of jumps session to session. The graduations will start to get smaller and smaller from here on out (I have barbell plates all the way down to 1/4 a pound each meaning my graduations can get as small as 1/2 a pound per session, and you can better believe that I'll get there fairly fast, especially with the overhead press since that's the one that requires the lightest graduations.
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When Covid hit I cancelled my gym membership and ended up getting away from lifting for about 2 years. Still exercised but it was mostly cardio and sports.

I got back into strength training again about 3 years ago and definitely hit a plateau somewhere in that first 8-12 month range. What’s helped me is to still rotate in a healthy amount of cardio/sports activities to supplement lifting. I also go through my own version of cutting and bulking cycles. Ex: for the last 2 months I’ve been lifting 3 or 4 times per week, but between Thanksgiving and New Years my plan is to cut back to only lifting 1 or 2 times per week and focusing more on cardio. Helps keep me fresh and engaged instead of feeling like I need to be constantly upping weights on my lifts with no real end in sight.
 
Peppers49 said:
When Covid hit I cancelled my gym membership and ended up getting away from lifting for about 2 years. Still exercised but it was mostly cardio and sports.

I got back into strength training again about 3 years ago and definitely hit a plateau somewhere in that first 8-12 month range. What’s helped me is to still rotate in a healthy amount of cardio/sports activities to supplement lifting. I also go through my own version of cutting and bulking cycles. Ex: for the last 2 months I’ve been lifting 3 or 4 times per week, but between Thanksgiving and New Years my plan is to cut back to only lifting 1 or 2 times per week and focusing more on cardio. Helps keep me fresh and engaged instead of feeling like I need to be constantly upping weights on my lifts with no real end in sight.
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I'm with you there. I may be addicted to the "I can slap 20 more pounds on the bar and feel like I can rep it all day" feeling I get when I'm just getting back in it. and hate the grind of "I added 2 pounds to the bar and have to struggle to stand up my fourth rep of my first set" feeling of being trained and grinding out minimal gains. I need to work on my mental toughness and learn to embrace the grind as a lifestyle.

Changing the program to either the Texas method or 5/3/1 helps keep it fresh for a bit once I end up there. I just need to find a way to string together a couple of years of uninterrupted lifting.
 
Ddseddse said:
Who else on here is an "eternal beginner"?

By that I mean I lift religiously for 6 to 8 months, gets beastly strong, and then something happens to interrupt the flow (vacation, injury, illness, etc) and I go completely sedentary for the next 6-8 months and lose all my gains and get weak as a kitten before starting again.
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This is/was definitely me.

My solution? Have a few crumb snatchers and stop working out altogether.

Think About It GIF by Identity
 
Ddseddse said:
Who else on here is an "eternal beginner"?

By that I mean I lift religiously for 6 to 8 months, gets beastly strong, and then something happens to interrupt the flow (vacation, injury, illness, etc) and I go completely sedentary for the next 6-8 months and lose all my gains and get weak as a kitten before starting again.

I can tell it's getting harder to get back into the swing of things joint wise as I get older and I seem to lose strength faster these days too.

Consistency has always been my bugaboo. Anyone else?
Click to expand...

6-8 months is pretty long and I would not recommend lol But the good news is muscle mass/strength returns MUCH faster than the time it takes to initially build it

Ddseddse said:
I've started back at it again. Still in the "linear progression" stage, meaning I'm consistently adding weight to the bar session after session. I know that won't last forever, and soon I'll need to mix things up, but the goal for now is to milk this stage for all it's worth for as long as possible.

Today's work out was (set x reps x weight):

Low Bar Back Squat: 3x5x195# (up 10# from last session)
Bench Press: 3x5x160# (up 10#)
Deadlift: 1x5x235 (up 20#)
Standing Overhead Press: 3x5x90# (up 5#)

Oh, the other thing I've learned over the years is muscle gets stronger faster than connective tissue. Super easy to get hurt at the beginning of a program by biting off more than you can chew early. I'm about a month in and not out of the woods yet. But there's also no way I'm going to be able to make these kinds of jumps session to session. The graduations will start to get smaller and smaller from here on out (I have barbell plates all the way down to 1/4 a pound each meaning my graduations can get as small as 1/2 a pound per session, and you can better believe that I'll get there fairly fast, especially with the overhead press since that's the one that requires the lightest graduations.
Click to expand...

Just a thought, I am no expert or trainer by any means. But perhaps try keeping the weight lower and aiming for reps closer to the 7-10 range? If injuries are a concern, I think that would be a way to ease joints/connective tissue into these movements

You mentioned warming up above, which is key (and exponentially so, the heavier you go). Lately I've been warming up for compound lifts starting with the bar and adding small weight 1-2x before I get up to my "working set" weight
 
Heelsandeers said:
6-8 months is pretty long and I would not recommend lol But the good news is muscle mass/strength returns MUCH faster than the time it takes to initially build it



Just a thought, I am no expert or trainer by any means. But perhaps try keeping the weight lower and aiming for reps closer to the 7-10 range? If injuries are a concern, I think that would be a way to ease joints/connective tissue into these movements

You mentioned warming up above, which is key (and exponentially so, the heavier you go). Lately I've been warming up for compound lifts starting with the bar and adding small weight 1-2x before I get up to my "working set" weight
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Yeah, the strength comes back fast. I think a lot of it is the fact you develop good neuro-muscular pathways, that never really go away even thought the muscle mass goes away, so when you start back you can recruit more muscle fibers faster than if you were a true beginner.

What I posted above is my general warm up. In addition to that, I always warm up each lift with a set (of 5 in my case) of empty bar, and then start warm up sets of 5/3/1 starting around 50% of my goal weight and building to about 80-90% of my target weight, so I'm pretty ready to go by the time I'm ready for my main lifts

I subscribe to the lift heavy with fewer reps philosophy, even as an older guy (approaching 60), especially as an older guy. Volume is poison to us geezers. My philosophy is heavy weight, low volume, adequate rest. I mostly try to keep myself injury free by feathering that last variable. Depending on how I'm feeling, it might be 24 hours rest, or it might be a full week between workouts.

But you're right, the starting back and feeling great and slapping too much weight on the bar is a danger in the first few months.
 
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