lifting_heavy_things | What's everyone been up to lately?

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!

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...

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. (:

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.)

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*

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*

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!

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.

Edited (Belated thought is belated.) 2011-09-07 10:46 (UTC)

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.

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.

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.

Yeah, it's a fine line. I found one of those online calorie calculator things (which of course I know is essentially useless, since different people have different metabolisms) and it said that for even light physical activity, I should be taking in about 3 times the calories I'm capable of eating per day just to maintain my weight. And here I am trying to build muscle? :P

But exercising occasionally seems to remind my body that it needs calories and food is not the enemy, so I keep trying it.

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.

Rotations are, I think, similar to your "elbow pronators" that I seem to remember you talking about (palm up, slowly flip over so palm is down, repeat). What I called sideways curls start with the palm perpendicular to the ground, thumb up, and then move hand up (thumb towards wrist) and down (pinky towards ground). I think that a wrist roller with plates or wheels to grab instead of handles would work similar muscles.

Not fancy, but covers rotation in all three planes. I've been advised that, as flexible as I am, if I practice wristlocks regularly it's a really good idea to have the muscles there to push everything back into place.

Thanks for the squat advice. It's also that the lower I go, the more my knees start to cave in if I don't pay close attention, and getting to where I automatically don't do that is a good idea. Still, I guess that's what healing time can be for...

Shoes vary between an ancient set of trainers and a pair of army boots with a small heel. I know this is not ideal (though boots are better) but shoe shopping sounds hard. :P

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/

I've been advised that, as flexible as I am, if I practice wristlocks regularly it's a really good idea to have the muscles there to push everything back into place.

*nods* Climbing works the wrists quite hard in certain positions and not at all in others, so I suspect it'd be a good idea to balance it out a bit.

It's also that the lower I go, the more my knees start to cave in if I don't pay close attention, and getting to where I automatically don't do that is a good idea. Still, I guess that's what healing time can be for...

Sounds like a plan. If you have to go back to bodyweight, might as well use it to work out all the form issues. Plus you can do it barefoot at home. *g*

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.

I too am curious about "dead bug"!

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!

What's everyone been up to lately?

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