What's everyone been up to lately?

[rydra_wong]

We haven't had a check-in for a while, and I thought an informal one might be nice. So:

What have you all been up to lately? What are you getting into? What's your latest discovery regarding the lifting of heavy things? Got any new toys or tricks?

Who's got a new achievement to brag about? Who's just getting started and would like some encouragement and cheering? Who's had to take time off owing to injury or life and could use some sympathy? How's it going?

Comments

[resolute]

I'd like to barbell shoulder press 60 pounds. (Currently at 45 pounds in sets of five.)
I'd like to bench press 100 pounds. (Currently at 80 pounds in sets of five.)
I'd like to squat 60 pounds. (Currently at 45 pounds in sets of five.)
I'd like to be able to rack a shell in a pump-action shotgun like Sarah Conner in the movie Terminator 2. (I don't actually HAVE a pump-action, but my friend does, and I can't snap it fast/hard enough. Working on alternate hammer bicep curls, 20 pounds each hand in sets of eight.)
I would like to, in the next twelve months, be able to do a TGU. (Um. I can do two sets of 40 crunches, a 30-second plank assisted on a bench, and my getting up from the floor looks like a beached walrus.)

These are my current goals!

[rydra_wong]

Ooh. I am jealous of your bench-pressing powers.

I'd like to be able to rack a shell in a pump-action shotgun like Sarah Conner in the movie Terminator 2.

When you do it, I hope you post video!

Have you tried doing a TGU with no weight at all? Where do you run into trouble?

my getting up from the floor looks like a beached walrus.

Gracefulness is not required. My heavy TGUs frequently involve pathetic flailing legs. *g*

[mongrelheart]

I'd like to be able to rack a shell in a pump-action shotgun like Sarah Conner in the movie Terminator 2.
Heheh, awesome! Best of luck with that & all your goals!

[chaostheory635]

Start light, keep your elbow locked out and as externally rotated as you can keep it, and don't look away from the piece of evil in your hand.

TGUs are DECEPTIVELY HARD!

[pantswarrior]

I'm one of those who had to take some time off due to health issues. (Burning calories unnecessarily = last thing I want to do.) But since resistance training is reportedly not that good for losing weight anyway, I've been ramping it up again with the hand weights over the last few weeks, and have gotten back to doing my previous "light" workout (7 sets of 16 reps each of assorted exercises using 10 pound weights, or 7 sets of 10 reps each with 15 pound weights, plus non-weight stuff) reliably every day for about a week... which I guess means that I wasn't losing that much muscle. Or maybe that I'm just really stubborn. I dunno. Want to work up until I'm doing those 16 reps with the 15 pound weights, at least, then I'll figure out where to go from there.

Side bonus - doing a couple of sets right before bed seems to help me sleep through the night without being woken up repeatedly by the panic attacks that have been plaguing me. And even when I do get woken up, I can control them quicker. Hooray for weights! And here I had heard that exercising at bedtime would keep one awake...

[rydra_wong]

Burning calories unnecessarily = last thing I want to do.

Ack, that must be a tricky one to have to deal with when it comes to exercise. But yay for better sleep and more control of panic attacks!

[laurashapiro]

At last, at last, I have been cleared by my physical therapist to return to my regular workout. Woo-hoo! Take that, rotator cuff impingement!

Plus, I worked with a personal trainer for a few weeks and got some good new exercises and stretches, and I finally learned how to do deadlifts. \o/

So I'm doing squats (10 lb), deadlifts (10 lb), step-ups (12 lb), assisted chin-ups (don't ask, it's risible), rows (30 lb), bench presses (12 lb), shoulder presses (10 lb), and bicep curls (5 lb ea.), in sets of 12.

Also: planks, "dead bug" (ask me how!), marches, and inchworms for my abs.

...and boy, are my arms tired. (:

[rydra_wong]

At last, at last, I have been cleared by my physical therapist to return to my regular workout.

\o/ \o/ \o/

"dead bug" (ask me how!)

*asks you how*

(Okay, I think I know, but it's possible the exercise I know is a variation.)

[weirdquark]

I've been looking at strength standards lately. I haven't been testing my one rep max in any real sense, but I've been lifting for about five months, which puts me at the novice level, and I have been doing multiple reps of about 29% more than what an untrained person's one rep max is on squat and deadlift. And despite how much I complain about how my upper body strength is not improving as fast as I'd like, I'm actually doing multiple reps of the novice one-rep max on the shoulder press these days.

So, uh, I guess my upper body strength is better than I thought it was? I can see the most muscle definition in my arms, but I had figured that was because I'm pear shaped and my body fat is mostly hanging around my lower half and covering whatever muscle gains I've made down there, and not because I've added muscle up above.

[chaostheory635]

Hadn't checked those out in a while! Thanks for the link :)

[rydra_wong]

And despite how much I complain about how my upper body strength is not improving as fast as I'd like, I'm actually doing multiple reps of the novice one-rep max on the shoulder press these days.

W00t! \o/

I haven't been testing my one rep max in any real sense

I do rec trying it (at a point when you're feeling well-rested and have no niggling injuries) -- it can be quite surprising.

I've been looking at strength standards lately.

I admit I tend to collect them, mainly looking for the ones that make me look good. *g* Gubernatrix has an excellent review of various sets of strength standards (and suggestions for her own standards):

http://gubernatrix.co.uk/2008/12/strength-standards-for-women/

[daedala]

I have been stupidly, massively depressed, and not doing anything. :(

I am finally making headway sorting out the work situation that is probably the primary cause, but it's very hard to do much of anything else.

[rydra_wong]

I have been stupidly, massively depressed, and not doing anything. :(

Been there, done that, know how very horrible it is. I hope it resolves soon.

[chaostheory635]

1.5x bodyweight deadlifts, just-10-lbs-less-than-that squats. Learning that I can't lift well when I don't sleep well. :)

[rydra_wong]

ROCK ON.

I'm not too far off 1.5 bodyweight deadlift, but my squat hasn't even hit 1 x bodyweight, alas.

Learning that I can't lift well when I don't sleep well.

Funny how these things work, isn't it. *g*

[mongrelheart]

Way to go on the squats & DL's! That's badass! I can only hope one day I'll get to 1.5 bodyweight anything ;)

And I fully agree on the sleep, sometimes if I've slept like crap I dont' even go in to the gym 'cause it just seems counterproductive.

[laurashapiro]

You are my hero.

[quartzpebble]

I sprained my sternoclavicular joint two and a half weeks ago from taking a bad roll in aikido so have been taking time off. I am now able to bike again, though, and have been enjoying the unusually warm and sunny weather here.

Before that, I'd been (very) slowly working through NROLFW. I am more consistent with my wrist strengthening exercises though and am up to 15-lb dumbbells on wrist curls, rotations, and sideways curls (the other rotational axis).

Last time I got to deadlift I lifted 95 lb! I feel like I may want to work on squat technique and try not going quite as deep because both squat and bench press are around 55 lb and it seems weird that they would be that close to each other. I am flexible in the hips so it's possible for me to go quite far down without rounding my back but when I do I seem to end up pushing through the ball of my foot on the way up. If I get my act together, bodyweight squats while my chest is healing would probably be a good call.

[rydra_wong]

rotations, and sideways curls (the other rotational axis).

Ooh. Tell me more of this; wrist strengthening is Relevant To My Interests.

it seems weird that they would be that close to each other.

I dunno; I think it can vary a lot depending on body proportions. Some people can deadlift and squat almost the same amount, whereas my max effort squat hasn't even reached the weight I use for my warm-up set of deadlifts.

And being able to squat deep is a very good thing, IMHO; personally, I wouldn't sacrifice that range of motion just to get more weight.

If I get my act together, bodyweight squats while my chest is healing would probably be a good call.

And/or goblet squats with a light weight, if your chest's okay with that. I found them invaluable for figuring out how squats work.

http://www.ehow.co.uk/video_2351724_doing-squat-lower-body-exercise.html

ETA:

when I do I seem to end up pushing through the ball of my foot on the way up.

Just a thought: what sort of shoes are you wearing at the gym? If it's anything cushioned, like a running shoe/trainer, it may be making you less stable and making it harder to transmit force through your feet properly.

[lyorn]

I've been working slowly but steadily through NRoLfW. (It seems that I acually managed to mess up something on the core exercises in phase 3, was at the doctor's yesterday to have it set. I'm due for a rest week now anyway.)

Nothing to brag about at the moment, I'm in-between everything. But I immensely enjoy being strong. I'm decluttering my place at the moment, and the ability to handle 20 kg boxes of books without even having to think about it makes life so much easier.

My goal for this year is still to manage a floor-level pushup, a pullup, and to deadlift my own bodyweight. It feels that the latter is the one I'm going to reach first, as I'm already at 60% for eight reps.

[rydra_wong]

But I immensely enjoy being strong. I'm decluttering my place at the moment, and the ability to handle 20 kg boxes of books without even having to think about it makes life so much easier.

*nods a lot*

I really enjoy that realization that a) I can do lots of things I couldn't do before, and b) I made that change happen, all through my own efforts.

[smackshack]

In an attempt to educate myself and put together a plan of interesting things to do on non-crossfit days, I've ordered NROL, NROL for Abs, and Dave Lowry's book of bokken exercises.

NROL for Abs arrived on Friday, and I devoured it on Saturday. I really like the writer's tone and approach, and a lot of these exercises look fun. I was especially impressed by the section on nutrition, though. I've spent so much time around paleo/primal devotees lately that it was refreshing to see what seemed (to me) to be a much more balanced approach to the subject.

Belated comment is belated

[rydra_wong]

*nods a lot*

Orthorexia is no-one's friend. I've definitely benefited from tilting my diet in a paleo direction, but I lost all ability to take it too seriously or treat it too rigidly when I read one blogger describing apples as "bags of sugar".

[rydra_wong]

And somehow I seem to have forgotten to post the comment I wrote. Whoops.

I'm temporarily off overhead squats (one of my new favourite lifts) because I bruised one wrist while climbing. But I can now TGU my heaviest kettlebell with 2 extra kg strapped to it, which entitles me to happy contemplation of more toy purchases.

My bench press continues to be terrible, but I've worked out that my shoulders are much happier if I do my push-ups on my knuckles (palms facing), so hopefully I'll finally be able to develop some push strength that way.

My back squat continues to show small but steady signs of improvement. I'm practicing one-legged squats onto a box. And my deadlift is nearing bodyweight-and-a-half, which would make me very happy.

As a free bonus with the climbing, my number of pull-ups is slowly increasing without my having to put any extra effort into training them. I've started noodling around with tuck front levers.

And I've done my first ever Cossack squat, and set a new personal record for the elbow plank! \o/

[mongrelheart]

Sounds like you're kicking some @$$ in the gym! w00t for the almost 1.5 BW DL's!

I had to look up Cossack squats, didn't realize they were called that ;)

[mongrelheart]

I've been slowly improving my back squat & deadlifts. I dunno if this makes me a weirdo but right now they are both the same (about 1.2 x my body weight).

I got a PR recently on a push press, 105 lb. Pretty stoked about that.

Also happy to report that a 24kg kettlebell is not the boss of me. (for KB swings)

This weekend I'm doing a 10k obstacle course run, which I guess is sorta lifting heavy things (if lifting my body over obstacles counts)!

Best of luck to all in your physical pursuits :):)

[rydra_wong]

I've been slowly improving my back squat & deadlifts. I dunno if this makes me a weirdo but right now they are both the same (about 1.2 x my body weight).

BADASS!

How similar your squats and deadlifts are seems to be One Of Those Things that varies wildly between individuals -- I suspect it's very dependent on body proportions.

(This theory allows me to blame my terrible squats on my femur-to-shin ratio, anyway. I have to have some excuse. *g*)

[watersword]

I figured out a way to do (wall) pushups at work! I mean, yeah, I go to the gym in the morning, but it feels really nice to take a break from coding and go flex some MUSCLES.

[rydra_wong]

\o/ It's nice to get up from the computer once in a while and go OH YEAH I ALSO HAVE A BODY, isn't it? *g*

[untonuggan]

I have random joint pain, and my doctor wants me to hold off on lifting heavy things while they do more tests. I feel like this is silly, but I'm complying for the time being.

Sympathy?

[rydra_wong]

Sympathy! That must be extremely frustrating (as must the random joint pain).