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

[rydra_wong]

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.