Gym Routine

[Rds1983]

17 minutes ago, El Zen said:

Absolutely essential, imo. Particularly after a while and you want more than «just» losing weight. 

Also, listen to Ben, and remember that diet is always the key to losing weight. 

I'd potentially even look to weight train for a while and build some muscle first before losing weight. More Plates More Dates shows a good example of why this can work with his recent interviews with FPS Russia and his transformation. 

Without the muscle mass you potentially don't have high enough maintenance calories to cut them properly. If your maintenance is only 2000 calories to begin with then dropping down to 1500 would be difficult, especially if you need to increase the cut another 200 or so calories. 

Hopefully I'm not making this sound too complicated as it doesn't have to be. It's just a passion of mine so I like to discuss in detail. 

Off topic but for years I was convinced @Stevo985 was called Steven. Was completely lost when I saw someone call him Ben for the first time. 

Edited September 21, 2021 by Rds1983

[Stevo985]

17 minutes ago, Rds1983 said:

Off topic but for years I was convinced @Stevo985 was called Steven. Was completely lost when I saw someone call him Ben for the first time. 

I get that a lot, don't worry  

[El Zen]

36 minutes ago, Rds1983 said:

I'd potentially even look to weight train for a while and build some muscle first before losing weight. More Plates More Dates shows a good example of why this can work with his recent interviews with FPS Russia and his transformation. 

Without the muscle mass you potentially don't have high enough maintenance calories to cut them properly. If your maintenance is only 2000 calories to begin with then dropping down to 1500 would be difficult, especially if you need to increase the cut another 200 or so calories. 

Hopefully I'm not making this sound too complicated as it doesn't have to be. It's just a passion of mine so I like to discuss in detail. 

Off topic but for years I was convinced @Stevo985 was called Steven. Was completely lost when I saw someone call him Ben for the first time. 

He had to change his name to Ben after the unfortunate «Scuba Steve» incident. True story.

Your point about muscle gains=improved fat burn is theoretically true, and probably works for a lot of people. However, my appetite tends to skyrocket when I lift weights and I find it more difficult to control weightloss. My far most effective weightloss was done on heavy cals cutting and cardio. Went from 105kg to 85kg in 2 1/2 months. This was four years ago. I’ve since gained 5kg pure muscle and am in the best shape of my life (apart from a terrible back.) 

[Rds1983]

2 minutes ago, El Zen said:

He had to change his name to Ben after the unfortunate «Scuba Steve» incident. True story.

Your point about muscle gains=improved fat burn is theoretically true, and probably works for a lot of people. However, my appetite tends to skyrocket when I lift weights and I find it more difficult to control weightloss. My far most effective weightloss was done on heavy cals cutting and cardio. Went from 105kg to 85kg in 2 1/2 months. This was four years ago. I’ve since gained 5kg pure muscle and am in the best shape of my life (apart from a terrible back.) 

I still don't know what the story is about scuba steve. 

Everybody is different in how they react and what works best for them, it's important to try things and find what works (whilst giving it time to actually see if it does work). If the maintenance calories are high enough then there's no need to try and build up a baseline to work with. Even if not trying to bulk up first (not a great term to use here but you know what I mean), I'd still recommend some basic weightlifting for the reasons I outlined above. 

Hoping that the backs not too bad. 

[El Zen]

Right now it’s bad enough to at least take a full week off the gym. The pain is kind of radiating to the hip, which is bad news. 

[Rds1983]

31 minutes ago, El Zen said:

Right now it’s bad enough to at least take a full week off the gym. The pain is kind of radiating to the hip, which is bad news. 

Not good. I've had some minor back and hip issues, usually muscle related though so I can manage with stretching and recovery work. Hopefully the same for you and not anything worse. 

I've had issues and physio on my knees and shoulders though. Some RSI, some cartilage, some broken bones and never fun but manageable. 

[El Zen]

It’s a relapsing herniated L5 disc. It’s serious enough, but it typically gets better if I take ibuprofen and lay off the weights for a while. Just brisk walks and light weights for me for the foreseeable. And I’m considering permanently binning deadlifts and squats. It would suck, but worth not going through this on a regular basis. 

[mikeyp102]

On 20/09/2021 at 12:07, Vive_La_Villa said:

After 2-3 of months of completely forgetting my age whilst eating/drinking way in excess along with zero exercise, today’s the day to begin the change.  Going to start with just 10K steps a day and football once a week along with healthier diet. Also no booze!

Need to also bring the gym back in to it for strength training just struggling with motivation and put off just by the thought of going. 

I guess it will take him. 
 

Hope to be able to share my routine in a month or so but any tips to get back in to things would be welcome.

Is it wise going cold turkey on the booze?  Maybe just reduce it to once a week (on the weekend). By going completely cold turkey you are more likely to fall off and go OTT, this isn’t just booze but take always, sweets, crisps etc 

 

[Vive_La_Villa]

17 minutes ago, mikeyp102 said:

Is it wise going cold turkey on the booze?  Maybe just reduce it to once a week (on the weekend). By going completely cold turkey you are more likely to fall off and go OTT, this isn’t just booze but take always, sweets, crisps etc 

 

I know what you mean but I’m a bit all or nothing. Struggle to stop once on a level. I’ve been able to go long periods before without drinking and it’s normally what works best. 

Edited September 21, 2021 by Vive_La_Villa

[JoshVilla]

Not really sure whether to put this in the Gym routine thread or start a new thread (mods - please move if I got it wrong!)

Anyone one here do Martial Arts as opposed to a normal gym routine? I've been doing Shotokan Karate (always loved watching the Karate guys in the UFC - Machida, Thompson, GSP, Raymond Daniels (Bellator)). Absolutely love it. It's bloody tough but it's quickly become a big part of my life and something I genuinely look forward to whenever I go.

[Rds1983]

5 hours ago, JoshVilla said:

Not really sure whether to put this in the Gym routine thread or start a new thread (mods - please move if I got it wrong!)

Anyone one here do Martial Arts as opposed to a normal gym routine? I've been doing Shotokan Karate (always loved watching the Karate guys in the UFC - Machida, Thompson, GSP, Raymond Daniels (Bellator)). Absolutely love it. It's bloody tough but it's quickly become a big part of my life and something I genuinely look forward to whenever I go.

No, but I have been known to start shadow boxing between sets like an absolute nutter. 

[Rds1983]

Decided to upgrade my squat rack to a power rack. Bit of a challenge to put it together myself but very happy with it. The instructions were a bit naff though. 

I can now curl in a power rack completely guilt free. 

[Rds1983]

Curious how @Vive_La_Villa and @commander are getting along with heading to the gym? Hope you're enjoying it and thought I'd cheer you on. 

Edited October 1, 2021 by Rds1983

[Vive_La_Villa]

14 minutes ago, Rds1983 said:

Curious how @Vive_La_Villa and @commander are getting along with heading to the gym? Hope you're enjoying it and thought I'd cheer you on. 

Thanks mate. Appreciate the post. I’ll be honest though, I haven’t been to the gym yet . I have however gone 2 weeks with a drop of alcohol and have been counting calories. Also going for walks and played football too. Feeling a lot better mentally and physically already. 

[Rds1983]

7 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

Thanks mate. Appreciate the post. I’ll be honest though, I haven’t been to the gym yet . I have however gone 2 weeks with a drop of alcohol and have been counting calories. Also going for walks and played football too. Feeling a lot better mentally and physically already. 

Still great to do all that stuff. As I said previously, find something that you enjoy and works for you. For me that's weightlifting and a cross trainer. For you if it's walks and football that's still all good stuff. You're more likely to stick with it long term if it's what you enjoy. 

But please do give the gym a try and don't be putt off by any muscle bound idiots (as some people are). There can be a lot of really nice people there too. 

[Straggler]

As we are on things going wrong with our bodies, I have put a small tear in a deltoid. Dr told me to rest it for 4 weeks, any ideas what I can do to prevent my upper body wasting away over that period?

[Rds1983]

7 hours ago, Straggler said:

As we are on things going wrong with our bodies, I have put a small tear in a deltoid. Dr told me to rest it for 4 weeks, any ideas what I can do to prevent my upper body wasting away over that period?

Is it front, rear, lateral (side) or all three which is injured? 

There's some belief that if you continue working the other side and visualise working the bad side too that you will minimise muscle loss. 

If you speak to a decent physio (or perhaps Google) then you should be able to give decent advice and suggest some upper body exercises that don't actually use the shoulders, an example being spider curls. 

However, if it's only 4 weeks it might be better to just let it rest and heal. You don't want to make it worse and be out for a lot longer. Focus on cardio that you could do with just one arm (like a cross trainer or jog with a sling on). 

Just remember it's only temporary. I had a RSI injury to my right shoulder about 18 months ago and couldn't train at all for about 3 or 4 months. But I'm now stronger, fitter and leaner then I was back then. It's a marathon not a sprint. 

[sharkyvilla]

I've just completed my first month at the gym, I've been going 4 times a week and quite enjoyed it.  Bit of a faff at the moment because it has the same entrance as the local Tesco so the queue to get in is maddeningly long.  I've been doing 3km rowing which I've got down to under 13 minutes, then have a bit of a go on the machines I can work out how to use to do a bit of chest and shoulder work, then either a quick run or another row.  I lift over a tonne of dough per night at work so I'm not bothered about weights, I mainly just want to get rid of my skinny fat belly.  I think it's worked a bit, I'm a bit more toned on the abs and chest.  I think sticking to rowing is what I'll mainly do.

[Rds1983]

1 hour ago, sharkyvilla said:

I've just completed my first month at the gym, I've been going 4 times a week and quite enjoyed it.  Bit of a faff at the moment because it has the same entrance as the local Tesco so the queue to get in is maddeningly long.  I've been doing 3km rowing which I've got down to under 13 minutes, then have a bit of a go on the machines I can work out how to use to do a bit of chest and shoulder work, then either a quick run or another row.  I lift over a tonne of dough per night at work so I'm not bothered about weights, I mainly just want to get rid of my skinny fat belly.  I think it's worked a bit, I'm a bit more toned on the abs and chest.  I think sticking to rowing is what I'll mainly do.

Good going bud, keep at it. If you're not sure about one of the machines then ask one of the employees as it's 2hat they're there for. Or have a quick Google as they'll be a video online showing how it works. 

[Straggler]

17 hours ago, Rds1983 said:

Is it front, rear, lateral (side) or all three which is injured? 

There's some belief that if you continue working the other side and visualise working the bad side too that you will minimise muscle loss. 

If you speak to a decent physio (or perhaps Google) then you should be able to give decent advice and suggest some upper body exercises that don't actually use the shoulders, an example being spider curls. 

However, if it's only 4 weeks it might be better to just let it rest and heal. You don't want to make it worse and be out for a lot longer. Focus on cardio that you could do with just one arm (like a cross trainer or jog with a sling on). 

Just remember it's only temporary. I had a RSI injury to my right shoulder about 18 months ago and couldn't train at all for about 3 or 4 months. But I'm now stronger, fitter and leaner then I was back then. It's a marathon not a sprint. 

Thanks for the advice, it's not what I want to hear, but probably what I need to hear.  I am going to see a Physio.  FYI it is the rear that I hurt, movements as simple as putting a jacket on trigger the pain.  I'm doing cardio, but it can't replace the feeling I get from working with weights.  I use a static bike and a step machine type thing, but every day on it feels like I spend an hour or so and still feel like I'm going backwards.  Probably need to manage the frustrations as much as the injury.