Arkk's Weight Lifting / Fitness Thread

MusicForFish said:

I'm having issues getting on diet and staying on diet.
I'll get a week in then crash for a craving.
I have a serious sweet tooth.

Click to expand...

It really boils down to will power. You can remove temptation by getting all the junk out of the house, swear you're not going to eat out, say you'll only drink water, etc. But it still all relies on you having strong enough will power to NOT stop by that fast food place on the way home, or NOT make a trip to the store to buy candy or whatever. All the tips and tricks in the world won't help if you don't have the will power.

I find that watching My 600 Pound Life is a great way to keep will power up when I'm close to caving in to that craving and want to head to the store to buy pizza rolls, Doritos, and sour patch kids.

Did my BMI at my gym...they trying to sell crossfit or something. Anyway. 35 BMI. I know I'm a big dude, but fuckin morbidly obese? Really?

This measurement can't possibly be accounting for my muscle mass.

ZyyzYzzy said:

It just accounts for height and weight, so no.

Click to expand...

Then what good is this metric?

Brahma said:

Then what good is this metric?

Click to expand...

It's designed to measure populations not individuals. Most 5'6" dudes that are 220 lbs are fat fucks. But there will obviously be bodybuilders and other outliers.

Been seeing a lot online about farmers carry circuits and I think I'm gonna add them to my regular workouts, seems like it will be beneficial since I'm mostly training for obstacle course races at this point. Anyone have experience with them that they can share, biggest issue will be what to carry, my dumbbells and kettlebells only go up to 35lbs and I'm not sure about carrying 45lb plates, though that would probably be good for grip, need to find something ecinomocal that can scale up.

Sterling said:

It's designed to measure populations not individuals. Most 5'6" dudes that are 220 lbs are fat fucks. But there will obviously be bodybuilders and other outliers.

Click to expand...

Gotcha. They (and my doctor) made it seem like it's the end all be all of metrics.

Brahma said:

Gotcha. They (and my doctor) made it seem like it's the end all be all of metrics.

Click to expand...

Body fat % is way more important but hard to measure, waist size to height is better and easier

Assuming I weigh 150 my BMI is 18.3, seems pretty good! I've always been kinda curious what my body fat would come out as if I ever did the tests...

BMI is useless if you exercise. It's really only useful for sedentary populations.

Kovaks farmers carries are beneficial to anyone's regimen. I teach at a small studio gym and recently (like past 2 weeks) have been doing a 30-40 minute circuit post class just for conditioning purposes. Sprints, farmers carries, box jumps, and battle ropes. Circuit between those 4 with little rest time. I powerlift 4 days a week but being stationary moving weight doesn't necessarily keep my heart healthy or improve my cardiovascular conditioning. Hoping this helps.

Also buried a 405 squat last month, which is a 50 pound PR. Now all I need is a 315 bench and I can finally join the 3-4-5 club. But then I'll just chase the 4-5-6 club. It never ends.

I got myself a camera

This shaves 20 minutes of my daily commute and *a lot* of time doing cardio in the gym.

Just around 1 year on 5/3/1 in the books:

Starting Numbers:

Squat: 235 1RM
Bench: 240 1RM
Deadlift: 315 1RM
OHP: 135 1RM

Current Numbers:

Squat: 355 1RM
Bench: 300 1RM
Deadlift: 435 1RM
OHP: 195 1RM

I think I'm done trying to push OHP any higher. I've had shoulder issues since I was 23 and had surgery on my left shoulder at 27 and 195 already feels like I'm pushing safety limits.

That's great. What 5/3/1 programs did you try out during that time? Was this at maintenance or massing or...?

Been following this thread off and on for awhile. I've been doing CrossFit for the last 8.5 years. As much as I love the challenge of many of the workouts, I've felt really burned out on it the last few months. I've also been feeling old as fuck lately (about to turn 48) and I've got too much of a foodie in my DNA to get my weight down to something more manageable for gymnastics movements and high intensity cardio.

I'll be moving to our Olympic lifting program full time starting in January and pretty excited about it. Our coach is a Daniel Camargo disciple and has a tremendous lifting program. My lifts are decent enough (325 C&J, 225 snatch) but my mobility and technique still need a shitton of work. My power lifts peaked a couple years back (505 back squat, 505 DL, 205 press) but am hoping to get those numbers back up again, provided my knees hold up. Supplementing with some globo gym low load, high volume style circuits for cardio.

And get my diet in order.

I am looking back on my year of progress. It has been an interesting ride. At the start of the year, my testosterone was in the tank and I had recently separated my shoulder in BJJ. I started getting test sorted out via doctors. With that in maintenance I started working with an online trainer for my strength program. We basically did a 4 day split powerbuilding style program in a bulk for ~5 months. Mainly hypertrophy focused to try and ramp up my metabolism.

Went from ~185 lbs to ~205 lbs. I am definitely fatter, I was probably bulking too hard (3200 kcal/day) but that is probably something everyone needs to do once. The bright side is I noticeably built muscle mainly in my back / chest / legs. My arms are a work in progress. Going into a modest cut now, goal is to drop 2 lbs / month for 2019.

Start of year for the main lifts...

Squat: 180x6 est. 216 lbs
Dead: 235x8 est 297 lbs
Bench: 115x8 est 145 lbs
OHP: 90x7 est 111 lbs

As of my last AMRAPs / ego lifting sessions this week...

Squat: 315x1 est. 315 lbs (This wasn't so much an AMRAP, just a check in. I have been largely front squatting on this program.)
Dead: 345x7 est 425 lbs (I have never pulled a single over 380 lbs)
Bench: 195x3 est 203 lbs
OHP: 135x1 est 135 lbs

I am super pleased with this progress. Turns out when your hormones work you can actually progress your lifts pretty quick. I have only been lifting around 2 years, I wish I had started earlier in life. I feel behind the curve.

My first goal is to deadlift 405. My longer term goal is to hit the 1000lb club by the time I am 40. Gives me about 2 years. As long as I don't lose too much strength on the cut it looks very possible.

Vinjin said:

And get my diet in order.

Click to expand...

I am going to be trying this by Kizen / Eric Helms this year. Both 3dmj and Renaissance Periodization are putting out some good stuff lately.

This tool is basically a series on basic nutrition information and an excel tracker that guides you through a cut or bulk based on their methodologies.

Nutrition For Lifters

ubiquitrips said:

I am going to be trying this by Kizen / Eric Helms this year. Both 3dmj and Renaissance Periodization are putting out some good stuff lately.

Click to expand...

I tried RP earlier this past year for about 4 months using one of their cut templates but didn't see any real results or changes from it. I've struggled with the flexible dieting/IIFYMs approach. I just tend to do better with a plan that's a little more defined. Tell me what to eat and when and I'm good, even if it becomes fairly routine. At least for 4-6 months.