Small Milestone/Victory

Discussion in 'Health and Fitness' started by Mitch, Oct 17, 2022.

  1. Mitch

    Mitch Lord Mitch of MAP Admin

    I've been doing Dan John's Easy Strength programme this year, you can google it for full details, but I've been doing Hangs, Overhead Press, Deadlift, Ab Wheel rollouts and Loaded Carries, with a few other minor bits thrown in. It's a quick and easy workout I can get done at home in about 20 minutes.

    I started in April, and lost some weeks to holidays, covid etc, but despite all that today was my 100th workout!

    In the grand tradition of, "It worked so well I stopped doing it," I may move on to something different when the current 8 week cycle is over, but this is the first time I've stuck at a lifting programme so long and I've really enjoyed it :)

    Here's to the next milestone :)

    Anyone else got one they want to celebrate?
     
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  2. Smitfire

    Smitfire Cactus Schlong

    So after many abortive attempts in the past at becoming a "runner" (by doing the couch to 5k programme) I'm running pretty regularly now. I seem to be some sort of "runner"!
    I've now done 120 5k runs since finishing the programme last year, 63 runs this year and 27 Parkruns. Was aiming for 50 Parkruns before I turn 50 next year but will miss it by a few weeks.
    Parkrun has become a weekly landmark (when I can make it) and, while I'm not very fast, I'm really pleased when I get a 5k PB and making it part of my week.

    Sadly regular weight training has not been so successful. Trying a twice weekly basic lifts programme (like Stronglifts 5x5) but my elbow joints are really giving me issues.
    Just getting over tennis elbow on my right, doing some very light lifting to get back into it and grease the groove and now my left elbow has flared up!
    As much as lifting would give me the most bang for my health and fitness "buck", my joints (I was hypermobile as a younger man) just can't take it it seems. Just too soft and loose. Which weights would help with if I could get the balance right!
    Still something I'm trying to get the hang off but constant pain (not the good kind!) REALLY sucks the enthusiasm away.
     
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  3. Xue Sheng

    Xue Sheng All weight is underside

    I'm celebrating finishing week 1 and actually fitting in time yesterday (actually wanting to fit it in actually) to start week 2 of the same program. Thanks again for telling me about it
     
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  4. Mitch

    Mitch Lord Mitch of MAP Admin

    Awesome on the running front, I'd love to get back into it!

    For a weights routine I'd look at overhead press, deadlift, squats of some type, hangs with knees up, ab wheel, kettlebell swings, loaded carries. You can do all of those with little impact on elbows, and they're all big movements working much of the body. Stay away from bench press (not kind to my shoulders these days), curls, pull ups etc.

    Apart from Easy Strength, you could look at the Armour Building Complex if you have kettlebells. The ABC is brilliantly simple; you use 2 bells, do 2 cleans, 1 press, 3 front squats. The press is the limiting movement, so you use a weight you can manage for that. Do that every minute on the minute for however long you fancy.

    Armor Building Complex Explained - YouTube
     
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  5. aaradia

    aaradia Choy Li Fut and Yang Tai Chi Chuan Student Moderator Supporter

    I passed my Senior Black Sash test in CLF today. Took approx 4 1/2 years. Overcame a lot to get there, like we all have to reach goals throughout these last couple of hellish years.
     
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  6. Nachi

    Nachi Valued Member Supporter

    Congrats! That's awesome. :)
     
  7. Mitch

    Mitch Lord Mitch of MAP Admin

    That's awesome, congratulations :)
     
  8. Smitfire

    Smitfire Cactus Schlong

    That is amazing. Really good work.
     
  9. Smitfire

    Smitfire Cactus Schlong

    Bench press seems OK. What does in my elbows is bent rows.
     
    Mitch likes this.
  10. hewho

    hewho Valued Member

    Have you tried any alternative movements? Some form of cable row or machine row? Possibly single arm so you can drop the weight right down and still get the benefit.
     
  11. Smitfire

    Smitfire Cactus Schlong

    I've only got basic garage kit. A bench, squat rack and a removable door pull up bar (which is OK but not great). No machines or cable stuff.
    I think any pulling movement has a tendency to aggravate the outside of my elbows to be honest. Which is annoying as all the basic lifting programmes have some sort of pull element (as they quite rightly should).
     
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  12. axelb

    axelb Master of Office Chair Fu

    I have issues with a outward facing palm grip pulling motion (classic pull ups) but I found no problems with chin ups, or wide grip chin up (palm in). Bent rows I can do but the grip is as narrow as I can get it, I know you can do alternative grip with bent row, or dumbbell row so that hand is facing the body. Not sure if any of this is relevant to your issues, but it helped me a lot to progress.
     
  13. axelb

    axelb Master of Office Chair Fu

    Adding my milestone here, not a great achievement but consistency had been an ongoing issue with asthma.
    I changed my routine, instead of 1-3 big lifts a week with running and BJJ, I modified this to be doing "something" almost every day.
    On days with evening BJJ I would do a lift first thing in the morning. 15-30 minutes, keeping it 50-60% effort.
    Other days I would do 5-10 mins lift first thing in the morning, usually 1 or 2 sets of 1 or 2 low impact lifts, e.g. curls, shoulder press, body weight lunges.
    To add to this, running 3 times a week for 10 mins, again very easy, usually on the treadmill as my chest has too many issues outside. I tend to do this midday unless I'm doing a midday Bjj session.
    Diet has been consistent and also monitoring HR during BJJ with an arm strap to analyse total load over time.
    This has worked brilliantly for me. My asthma has been better than ever (apart from last week :rolleyes: due to weather and pollen).
    I can train 3 days BJJ in a row along with running and lifting without falling apart of overtraining, in the past 3 times a week would have been a struggle.
    My weight has been consistent, body fat dropped, my strength feels as good as when I'm heavier, my cardio feels good, I can even see my average HR is better on any cardio session.
    So at this stage after doing this for a few months I feel like I don't want to change anything with the routine. I know that it will change as things happen in life and routine, but I will look to adapt this to fit in.
     
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  14. Nachi

    Nachi Valued Member Supporter

    It is great to see how everyone is able to kepe a routine like that! I am not the best at finding motivation to work out at home by myself, at least not long-term. I can push myself for a month at a time, perhaps, but not long-term. I have been meaning to do my kettlebell routine from time to time, but I have not done it once for over a year. Now that I am writing it, it is really a shame and I am again thinking I should maybe try this weekend. But I have an idea about how that'll go :D I am not riding my bike very often, either :(

    On the other hand I have been fairly consistent with my Karate and Taiji classes (if that counts :oops:), not skipping unless really necessary , at least lately. And they do take a lot of my time each week: Karate 4 hours (+ 1 hour children class where I usually don't exercise that much), Taiji 6-7 hours. And usually there would be at least one weekend seminar each month of either Karate or Taiji.
    I am helping with Karate classes on Mondays and with Taiji on Wednesdays, so I tend to be there. But that only makes me more eager to go just learn on Tuesdays and Thursdays to improve and learn new things. So it really is hard to skip a day, but I do enjoy this schedule and feel good about getting some exercise :)

    If I am to find a milestone there, keeping tract on my training with Polar, I have 766 hours of measured activities over the past year, which makes it on average of 2 hours per day, which, I have to say, am happy about :)
     
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  15. Smitfire

    Smitfire Cactus Schlong

    So...a small victory yet to come...signed up to do a 3 day (2 half days and 2 full days) residential with the great Iain Abernethy this coming weekend.
    Bricking it and excited in equal measure to be honest. Hoping my dodgy lower back holds up for the duration but it should be a crazy intense few days of training.
     
    Mitch likes this.
  16. Mitch

    Mitch Lord Mitch of MAP Admin

    I know you'll enjoy that and I'm more than a little jealous :)
     
  17. Mitch

    Mitch Lord Mitch of MAP Admin

    OK, a conflicted post.

    I lift weights primarily to strengthen my lower back, which has been a problem for me for decades. I lift at home, incredibly carefully, and with very light weights until I feel comfortable and really ready to move on.

    TL;DR I decided to get some advice on my deadlift to make sure my technique was right, and to get someone to look at me in the flesh to see if I needed any supplemental stuff.

    The easiest people to contact were the local Crossfit gym. Now, Crossfit is not my favourite thing; I have all sorts of issues with it, some real, some maybe unfair. But the net result was an hour with one of their trainers and it was honestly very productive. Some work on bracing, some flexibility work, and I'm much happier when deadlifting. I'm not going to set any records, but I am feeling comfortable and getting no back twinges at all :)
     
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  18. Smitfire

    Smitfire Cactus Schlong

    Why you hatin' on crossfit?

    [​IMG]
     
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  19. Nachi

    Nachi Valued Member Supporter

    That’s good o hear! I’ve done a couple of years of CrossFit as I used to live next to one and all the coaches there focused a lot on correct technique, body tructure and were very helpful. I have never done any lifting besides there, but I felt like their advice was solid. I lost weight and gained muscle. Some of them have since moved to doing personal fitness coaches. I don’t get why people hate on crossfit. :)
     
    Mitch likes this.
  20. hewho

    hewho Valued Member

    My weightlifting coach is also a crossfit coach, and easily one of the best fitness professionals I've met. Once had a horrendous experience at a box, but I like to hope it was a one off.

    Has a mini milestone myself today, got more reps out of a 70kg squat than I was hoping for. Not big numbers, and 30ishkg under my all-time best, but the most I've moved in a while for 7 reps.
     
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