Weekly Feature: What did you do?

[cereta]

I thought it might be fun to have a weekly post where people could comment with what strength training they did this week. It could be a fun way get ideas, cheer each other one, and help our members keep track of their own work.

I'm keeping the title completely neutral, because I want this to be as broad as possible. You can go into detail, you can talk about something new you did or an increase of some kind, or you can just report time or days or whatever makes you happy.

Comment away!

Comments

[gchick]

This week I've lifted my laptop (a jillion sets of infinity, to failure), pressed deadlines, clean-and-snatched a lot of technical logistics out of someplace approximately near my glutes for a conference at work, and finally did a sort of reverse deadlift thing that I think is technically called "fall down go boom".

On the other hand, while I was busy skipping fencing practice, lessons, and even my beloved strength and conditioning class, I did manage to read The New Rules of Lifting For Women, and I think I've figured out a way to fit the program into my insane schedule. I highly recommend the book, btw, whether you're a woman or not.

[sophinisba]

I haven't done any strength work in the last few months because my work schedule got difficult and I had to stop going to classes, and I find it really difficult to do this on my own. I get distracted, confused by so many different possible exercises, can't keep track of what I've done or should be doing from one workout to the next. I've been concentrating on running and neglecting the strength stuff.

Still, this comm and rydra_wong's recent posts have gotten me interested again. I bought an exercise ball recently and last Saturday got out the video to go with it. So I haven't been lifting heavy things but I've done at least a bit of strength work most of the days this week, and had some sore muscles in the days afterward, especially abs and hamstrings. It's felt good.

The semester's ending and I'm hoping I can get into a more balanced routine again pretty soon.

[daedala]

Oh, was the shoulder press you (cereta) meant the Arnold press? That's the one I know with the twisty motion anyway....

[tielan]

I've upped several of my class weights this week:

13kgs for quads
10kgs for chest/pecs
5kgs for shoulders

Weights resistance training for me is entirely based on gym classes. (Body Pump classes, 1 hour of assorted muscle groups in 5 min blocks, 3x a week.)

I considered posting about gym classes this week, but reading the comments, it looks as though few people here would benefit from it - most people seem to prefer freeform weights. I find the structure and the group encouragement of the class helps me keep going where my lazy ass gives up on freeform after a handful of reps.

[azurelunatic]

I am new! And I am going to see if joining a friendly community will help me find some consistency.

Today I hauled 42 lbs of kitty litter up some horrible little stairs, and did other various and assorted lifting of said kitty litter incidental to its purchase and transport; also assorted lifting of 36+ lbs of soda, and just now a few gratuitous sets of a few reps of getting-out-of-the-chair lifts.

[azurelunatic]

May I share a selection from this comment in metaquotes?

[cereta]

No, it's...hmn. You start with the weights at your shoulders, parallel to your clavicles, legs spread a bit, then lift one diagonally as you twist in that direction, twisting the opposite foot.

[cereta]

I would love to hear about it!

[cereta]

Dude, kitty litter counts. Heck, I'll be lifting bags of dirt tomorrow;).

[rydra_wong]

reading the comments, it looks as though few people here would benefit from it - most people seem to prefer freeform weights.

No, go for it! The community's so new; I don't think there's any kind of "majority opinion" or whatever (and even if there was, gym classes would still be relevant).

ETA: Also, yay for upping your weights!

[lyorn]

Are those the LesMills Body Pump classes? If so, are they worth getting up for early on Sunday mornings? (The only one of those where I have a chance to attend.) I dislike group things because I'm not well-coordinated, but it would be the only chance for me to do not-machines other than changing gyms.

[rydra_wong]

Kitty litter totally counts. There are hardcore gyms that make sandbags just to do exercises equivalent to lifting and hauling kitty litter (wrestling an unwieldy heavy bag being an especially demanding form of strength training).

[gchick]

Yes you may, thanks! (I said "not at all" earlier, but I was answering as if the question were "do you mind if". This is what I get for posting with no caffeine!")

[rydra_wong]

I'm looking for wider varieties of stuff that can be done without access to a gym/special equipments, as all I have are various weights of dumbbells and a barbell.

You are well-equipped! Seriously, other things can be fun to have, but you've got the basics to do a HUGE range of exercises.

Stumptuous has a bunch of exercises and entire workouts you can do with those, including a dumbell-only workout.

[azurelunatic]

The kitty litter was in these 14lb discrete slippery packages, so I put them in one of those blessedly handy IKEA bags and slung it over my shoulder. At this point I'm pleased and surprised that I can sling that about like it ain't no thing. (And I'm also very surprised that the phrasing there came out of my mouth, but that was the phrasing that my head insisted on.) But it's good to know that there's a benefit from wrestling with a big bag!

[azurelunatic]

Ta-da!

[tielan]

Yes, they're the Les Mills series, and I find them worth getting up for (8:30am Saturday class sometimes), but my body clock wakes me up before 7am even on weekends unless I've been up really late.

They work for me because it's the exercises to music, with about 4-5 mins of reps, and I can adjust my weight to what I need.

Group classes are intimidating at first - the coordination aspect is a biggie for me, too - but I generally find that Pump is the class requiring the least co-ordination. The moves are simply the basic ones from freestyle weights, set to song, and timed over four beats of the music.

Ultimately, all the Les Mills classes require for "co-ordination" is familiarity. It's not that all the other people in the class are co-ordinated, it's that they've been doing this for a while and they know what to expect!

I'd say try it at least once a week for four weeks - you need to keep coming back to learn the moves and get the technique right - and see how it goes. (And start really light - because this isn't just a couple of sets of reps, but 5 minutes worth of them.)

[alexseanchai]

*fits of giggles*

[siljamus]

Oh, please post on the classes. I'd love to read about it.

[jld]

Count me in with the people whose gym routines recently fell apart. Although I did do some lifting: my boxed-up bicycle, to carry it from my bike shop to the UPS store to ship it across the country to where I'm going to be spending the summer. Google claims it was half a mile, but it felt like longer; UPS claims it was 42lb, which is more than I thought the bike weighted but okay.

(Here via metaquotes, but seeing this comm reminds me that for a while there I was going to the gym because I felt like it, which is unheard-of, and that I'd been meaning to acquire more clue about things other than weight machines.)

[rydra_wong]

Hrm. *ponders*

Essentially, with cardio, the focus is on movement as a way to raise your heartrate. You're probably going to be using no extra weight or light weight, and moving around (steadily or with intervals of greater intensity) for a longish period of time, at least 10 minutes or more.

If you could only push the pedals down on your bike 10 or 12 times before you had to have a rest, you wouldn't be getting any cardio benefit.

With strength training, the focus is on performing movements a few times but with much greater force, to increase strength: you want to be having a hard time completing the movement after 10 or 12 reps.

If you could keep going with the same movement continuously for 10 or 10 minutes, it'd mean you were using a weight which was way, way too light, and you wouldn't be getting any strength benefit.

Obviously there's a fair amount of overlap, with some activities having strength and cardio elements. It's mostly a difference of emphasis.

It sounds like the hills are giving you some natural interval training, with intervals of much higher intensity (when you may also be building strength because you're having to exert a lot of force), followed by recovery intervals when you coast down the hill.

Interval training is generally considered to be of the win, so go you *g*.

[sophiap]

New to the comm, and thrilled to have found it.

I'll second the rec for The New Rules of Lifting for Women. I'm currently on Phase 2 of the program, and therefore this week, I did the following:

Tuesday/Saturday:

Push Press
Stepups
Dumbbell row
Static lunges
Pushups/assisted dips/triceps extensions
Plank
Wood chop

Thursday:

Deadlift
Bulgarian split squat (ow, my butt)
Underhand lat pulldown
Reverse lunge
Cuban snatch
Crunch Variety Pack
15 mins of intervals on the elliptical

Yesterday's workout was kind of disappointing. I was tired and a little fibro-achey, so couldn't push as hard as I normally would have. Still, I went, even though I was very tempted not to, and I felt much better for it afterwards.

kitty litter and rewards of strength training

[lyorn]

I get kitty litter in paper bags, (which are not slippery, at least) and a lot cheaper at 20 kilos than at 10, so there's some gain from strength training already.

Also, I had a class on handling fire extinguishers at work, and I could swing those things around as if they weighed no more than *snerk* 3 lbs, and actually concentrate on the fire instead of on the lifting.

[littlemousling]

Thank you, this was extremely helpful! I think I don't do any strength training, then, but maybe if I watch this comm for a while I'll be inspired to start. :)

[rydra_wong]

Well, you probably are getting some good lower body strength work from the cycling -- as I said, some activities can have cardio and strength benefits at the same time.

Of course, you could always add on some weights work for upper body strength ... *tempts*