Does anyone lift?

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PeteMC

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Powerlifting / Oly / Strong(wo)man / bodybuilding whatever?

Couldn't see a thread for it but surely someone on here lifts beside me?
 

rfitzwilly63

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I do. Not sure if you are still checking in on this thread. I used to lift as my main exercise but as I age I find that I do a more varied set of w/os. Started distance running again lately. Took a few weeks to get past the pain, but I am enjoying it now.
 

dragonfliet

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I do, but not at all competitively. I find it relaxing, and like to put on a podcast or an audiobook and pound out some reps.
 

PeteMC

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I really need to get back into lifting. I've never competed either but if I ever have the time to train properly for something I'd love to have a go at a novice powerlifting meet.
 

neandermagnon

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I do powerlifting training at home. Originally I was intending to compete at powerlifting, but I've recently joined a rugby club. Now my lifting is focused on gaining the strength to play rugby - I intend to be a forward, preferably front row because I'm not that tall. The training isn't that different - squats, deadlift, pendlays etc, just the end point that's different, plus I'm focusing more on cardio as well, for rugby (all that running around).

I've got my own powercage and olympic barbell and plates because as a lone parent, I don't just have to factor in the cost of gym membership, but also the cost of babysitters every time I want to go to the gym. It was cheaper just to buy all the stuff and train in my bedroom away from the kids (they're old enough to be in another room while I train, they can yell if they need me urgently).
 

PeteMC

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Nice one, I've got a home gym in my garage as well - squat rack and bench and barbell and some adjustable dumbells, that covers pretty much everything that actually needs doing IMO.

I used to play front row at school (a looooong time ago!), great position :)
 

neandermagnon

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I never got to play rugby at school. They wouldn't let girls play. We had to play netball instead, which is to me the most boring sport ever invented and I'm too short to be much good at it. There's no tackling. You could only block another player by standing a metre away and holding your hand out. That doesn't work very well if everyone else is six inches taller than you. The boys got all the best sports at school.

I'm making up for lost time now though! :greenie

My girls are playing rugby (admittedly it's tag due to health and safety etc) and football in school though. The older one wants to join the same rugby club as me, and was going to but she broke her arm at school and couldn't. Probably going to be taking them both to kids' rugby next season though. Things are changing for the better.
 

blacbird

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I used to play front row at school (a looooong time ago!), great position :)

Just to let you know, this "front row" phrase is very much a UK v. US idiom. To be "front row" at a US public (also another UK V. US idiom) means to sit in the front of the classroom and be considered a nerdy teacher's pet. At least that's the way it was when I was in school. My understanding of rugby is that blokes knock themselves about quite a bit, when they're not getting in a clusterfuck scrum.

caw
 

PeteMC

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I didn't know that - very different thing here! And yeah, rugby is pretty much your football without the armour and helmets and stopping for a rest every twenty seconds ;)
 

Opty

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I do. I got into it about 15 years ago. When I graduated high school (about 20 years ago), I weighed roughly 135. Today, I weigh 232, although I'd like to cut down to about 205 or so. I try to lift about 5 or 6 days a week but the past few months have been pretty hectic, so my schedule (and diet) has been pretty crappy and inconsistent.

My brother-in-law is an amateur bodybuilder and my sister is an NPC Figure Competitor. I could never do that stuff, though. I like cupcakes and waffles too much. You have to be waaay too religious in terms of your diet and also the vast majority of people who compete are on 'roids. Especially the ones who deny it most vehemently.
 
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dragonfliet

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As an apartment dweller, I'm very jealous of people with home setups. I hate going to the gym with a passion, and long for the day when I can set up a powerrack in a basement.
 

PeteMC

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Yeah having a home gym really is sweet, I must admit!

Opty, I know what you mean about bodybuilding. Definitely not for me either.
 

neandermagnon

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I live in a flat. Thankfully, it's a ground floor flat. Well, I don't care either way to be honest, but the would-be downstairs neighbours probably wouldn't appreciate the noise.

I got a 2nd hand loft bed so I could have my desk under the bed and therefore room for a power cage in my bedroom with enough space around it to train safely. I'm not rich by any stretch of the imagination. It's a small 2 bedroom flat. Be creative with the layout of your furniture and you can probably find enough space. Though if you live in London, probably not, because there are properties in London the size of a large cupboard that are being let for really high rents. A normal sized house in some parts of London costs about a million quid nowadays.
 

J.J.PITTS

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I've been an ironhead for 26 1/2 years now!

Everything about my lifting has been about strength all those years, and even now I haven't let up. It took me about 7 years to hit a 3X BW squat and it wasn't until I was 50 years old, ON my birthday, that I finally a 400lbs close grip bench press! 402, actual.

My focus these days are a front squat, deadlift variant, close grip bench press, military press, bent rows, chins and both hammer and barbell curls. Those are spread out over either three or four days per week. I'm all about 'breviated and basic.

I'm lucky, over the years I've built one heckuva home gym in my garage. Six Oly bars, 6,000lbs of weights, squat station, bench station, dip station, chin station, DB's up to 65's and three sets of thickbar adjustable dumbbells. If I don't have it, it isn't needed to become strong!
 

EMaree

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I lift! But my numbers are nothing to crow about, haha, so I won't even hint at them. I started out with Starting Strength, which is good fun, and then moved over to Ice Cream Fitness for a bit more variety. Strong Curves is good too for more glute-focused work, but I found the tone of the book kind of irritating and didn't stick with it long after reading.

I'm messing around with adding in more accessories at the moment because my sports therapist asked me to lay off lower-leg lifts for a bit. And I'm still trying to build up my overhead press/overhead bench press, because my upper body strength is severely lacking.

It's by far my favorite form of exercise -- the endorphin rush/"runner's high" is damn near instant, and I love how much the extra muscle makes day-to-day life easier.
 
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PeteMC

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I lift! But my numbers are nothing to crow about, haha, so I won't even hint at them. I started out with Starting Strength, which is good fun, and then moved over to Ice Cream Fitness for a bit more variety. Strong Curves is good too for more glute-focused work, but I found the tone of the book kind of irritating and didn't stick with it long after reading.

I'm messing around with adding in more accessories at the moment because my sports therapist asked me to lay off lower-leg lifts for a bit. And I'm still trying to build up my overhead press/overhead bench press, because my upper body strength is severely lacking.

You can't go far wrong with good old Starting Strength. :)

I haven't seen the Ice Cream routine before - I'd really question whether a beginner needs to be doing shrugs tbh, and the fact that it shows "military press" as a seated movement is a bit alarming! You might want to go back to doing press the way Riptoe teaches it, especially if it's lagging.
 

EMaree

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Thanks Pete, glad to hear the military press is a bit pants -- I'd been avoiding the military press in favor of the trusty overhead press, which I'm also rubbish at, but at least it's familiar. :D

I actually really enjoy the shrugs! They've got a nice limited motion to them so good to take care of in between sets of more challenging stuff, and I really feel it across the trapezius afterwards.

I'm not sure how useful the motion is overall (honestly, I doubt it does much to build other lifts) but I have a lot of back/shoulder tension due to the desk job and it feels damn good! I also love dead hangs for the same reason. Hanging off the power rack and letting all those neck and shoulder muscles stretch out feels godly after a long day in the office.
 
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PeteMC

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Thanks Pete, glad to hear the military press is a bit pants -- I'd been avoiding the military press in favor of the trusty overhead press, which I'm also rubbish at, but at least it's familiar. :D

Good plan - an actual "military press" should be done standing anyway, which is what made that catch my eye. But yeah, stick with Riptoe's method.

I actually really enjoy the shrugs! They've got a nice limited motion to them so good to take care of in between sets of more challenging stuff, and I really feel it across the trapezius afterwards.

I'm not sure how useful the motion is overall (honestly, I doubt it does much to build other lifts) but I have a lot of back/shoulder tension due to the desk job and it feels damn good! I also love dead hangs for the same reason. Hanging off the power rack and letting all those neck and shoulder muscles stretch out feels godly after a long day in the office.

Fair enough, they certainly won't do you any harm so if you like them keep on with it (you do them straight up and down, right? Rolling them isn't a great idea.). Later down the line they're good for increasing deadlift lockout strength, so not a wasted movement just a bit of an advanced one.
 

J.J.PITTS

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Good plan - an actual "military press" should be done standing anyway, which is what made that catch my eye. But yeah, stick with Riptoe's method.
A true military is performed the same way it was done in Olympic competitions, until it was dropped because of poor form. The bar starts while resting up the upper chest/clavicles, with the heels 6" apart.

It was dropped from Olympic lifting because of 'layout' and if you saw pictures of guys performing it in competition back in the 50s and 60s, it would horrify you! While standing upright, their upper body would be bent over backward to the point of appearing to be performing a standing bench press. Photos make you wonder how it was humanly possible.

Fair enough, they certainly won't do you any harm so if you like them keep on with it (you do them straight up and down, right? Rolling them isn't a great idea.). Later down the line they're good for increasing deadlift lockout strength, so not a wasted movement just a bit of an advanced one.
While I'm not anti shrug, unless the trainee is rolling the shoulders, personally, I've never gotten much out of them. My lifting partner does them occasionally, but then his elbows are bomb-proof, allowing him to do heavy upright rows, which hurt me. I've shrugged in the 800-900lb range and still feel like a good heavy deadlift provides a better result. But everyone's body is different, allowing different results for different trainees.

At the same time, I'm also a big fan of the farmers walk and am confident they are one of the greatest trap/grip builders on earth!

Just my $.02!
 

PeteMC

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Second you on the farmers walk. I'm not a shrug fan either but as you say, as long as they're not rolling the shoulders I don't see the harm.
 

efreysson

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I don't compete, but yes, I do lift. I'm only about 147 pounds/67 kilos, so I don't lift a whole lot, but I've been going to the gym three times a week for years now. If I didn't I would be even more of a creepy scarecrow than I currently am, and I do believe in maintaining one's body.

I've bee dealing with a knee problem for several years now, preventing me from doing lower-body work, but I do have a personal record of 105 kilos in benchpress. It's not a huge weight compared to the man-mountains I associate with, but I'm told it's quite good given my own weight.
 

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I used to body build a few years ago and went through 2 bulks and cuts, I had great results and I loved the experience.

But it isn't what I should have been doing. I'm a games player, Gaelic Football to be precise.

For the past 6 months or so I have been focusing on power and efficiency of movement in my training. In the gym I usually hit the big 3 about 3 times a week, squat, bench and deadlift. Every 2 weeks I mix it up and include some conditioning exercises and one-legged movements to improve my balance and co-ordination.

I also do a lot of static stretching and mobility exercises, you can never be too flexible. :tongue
 
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