lifting_heavy_things | What's everyone been up to lately?

What's everyone been up to lately?

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?

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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!

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*

Oh, man, my TGU looks like me laying on the floor, grunting. I have trouble getting up onto my arm, and then once I'm up on my arm I have trouble lifting my torso UP. At all. So. Working on that!

The bench press, and other amounts of weight I lift, are really a function of my mass. :) It's a minus when it comes to planks and TGUs, but the mass is somewhat helpful in lifting.

The bench press, and other amounts of weight I lift, are really a function of my mass.

They're a function of your muscle mass.

And yeah, if you're heavier, that'll make some bodyweight exercises and strength-to-weight ratio exercises (like pull-ups) disproportionately hard and annoying, which sucks. But you still get to flaunt your powers. A badass bench press is a badass bench press, full stop.

I have trouble getting up onto my arm, and then once I'm up on my arm I have trouble lifting my torso UP. At all.

For what it's worth, when I'm at my TGU limit, I've found it useful to think of the start not as trying to crunch myself up but as half-rolling onto my elbow (with extra leverage coming from the bent leg, and from punching the raised hand up into the sky as hard as I can). Then I sit forwards and sort of roll my weight along the forearm till my weight's fully on my hand, and so forth.

(It really helps to be doing this on something with a bit of padding, like carpet or a yoga mat.)

If I can't then push up completely on hand and foot to swing my knee under me, it is perfectly legit (IMHO) to tuck my foot under on the ground and get up that way.

I have trouble getting up onto my arm,

I fail at the start of TGU. I cannot lift my torso when I'm lying on my back, even with no added weight above my shoulder. What happens is always that my legs come up. :-S

I saw a guy at the gym with the same issue, he used his left hand to help him push away the floor.

he used his left hand to help him push away the floor.

Yep, that's what you should be doing (assuming for the purposes of example that the right hand is the raised one, the one that would be holding a weight).

You want your left hand palm down by your side, hitched up a bit. And your right knee is raised so the sole of your right foot is on the floor.

Then you half-roll to the left, with just enough UP in it that you end up propped on your left elbow. So, less abs work than a plain crunch (for me at least).

One of the things I like about TGUs is that they're difficult, but not inefficient -- given that you're holding a weight above your head, it's the most energy-economical way of getting up off the floor.

I still end up with kicking flailing legs when I'm hitting my limit, but (as with all lifting of heavy things) it gets easier with time and practice.

I need to get back to doing TGUs again -- I was doing them on my short workout days, but after I figured out how to improvise a squat rack I replaced them with squats, pull-ups, presses, and swiss-ball crunches. When lifting at my limit for TGUs, it takes me as long to do three sets of five of those as it does to do three sets of five on everything else. Which, to be fair, makes some sense since I do five holding the weight with my left arm and five with the right, so I'm really doing ten reps per set, but you'd think that it would therefore only take me the time it takes me to do two of those four...

TGUs. Slow but awesome. Also, they make me sweat way more than doing anything else for the same amount of time.

but you'd think that it would therefore only take me the time it takes me to do two of those four...

But then a TGU is a multi-stage movement! You've got the rough equivalents of a crunch, a side-plank, and a lunge all in there, with transitional movements between them. All while balancing a heavy weight over your face, which tends to make me slow down and be careful. *g*

This is one reason why they tend to be a big part of my fall-back home workout, when I can't think of anything else to do: they cover everything. Dessert topping and a floor wax!

However, I will say: never do TGUs in shorts on a grippy yoga mat. The knee abrasions are vicious.

after I figured out how to improvise a squat rack I replaced them with squats, pull-ups, presses, and swiss-ball crunches.

Yeah, I definitely go through phases with exercises. There's always the New Shiny and the thing I've just learned how to do. But then it's also nice to cycle back to some old favourites after a while, and see how they've progressed.

OTOH, I held an assisted plank for 45 seconds today, and did TWO sets of 50 crunches, so the core strength is ... getting there.

Honestly, I think the deadlifts are also helping a lot.

TGUs are pretty awesome! I like doing lifts that work a lot of different things.

I've been enjoying the front squat-push press combo in NRoLfW -- it does legs AND arms in one ~~easy~~ exercise! Though I don't feel like I'm getting enough mileage out of my squats that way, since my push-press is about what I use for my warm-up weight for a squat. After I finished the stage where I do those, it occurred to me that I might throw some extra plates in a backpack or something, to add weight to the squat without adding it to the press. Though I'm not sure how that would affect my balance. But people do squats with weighted vests, so it's kind of the same, right? (I even have a vest with big pockets, I could totally even distribute tiny plates in them; that's probably a better idea. Yay for improvised equipment.)

Oh oh oh oh oh

The Strength Rituals dvd makes the TGU SO CLEAR. WOW.

Oh yay, your DVD arrived! Isn't it great? So much good info.

And yep, it's possible to be graceful and precise with TGUs when you're lifting less than your max. At your max? You will flail. *g*

Every single person on this dvd looks like a gaffed salmon during TGU. It's SO comforting.

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!

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!

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What's everyone been up to lately?

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