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Lifestyle physical health/fitness thread

Lately I’ve been going on cycle rides to various cafes and doing some creative writing there. It’s good fun and the weather lately has been great. Most of the places range from about 45 mins to an hour away.

Next week I’m going to cycle to Rockingham Castle. According to Google Maps it’s a journey of about 90 mins and about 30 km each way.

I did something very stupid today. I went on a cycle ride less than 24 hours after giving blood. On the journey home a few times I genuinely thought I was gonna pass out.
 
Sugarbear said:
Thinking of starting to learn deadlifting. Anyone have experience in that?
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deadlifting is one of the best almost-full body movements, just like squats! i'm a big fan.

like anything, form >>> load. don't worry about finding your max weight until you're confident in your form.

the basics to remember for form are to keep your back straight, chest up, and to HINGE at your waist when bending forward. you can warm up by doing Good Mornings, which is just the same movement with 0 weight.

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what the weightless good morning ultimately does to improve your deadlift, is help to train how it feels to keep your back straight/chest up when you're hinging forward. a deadlift means you are holding a barbell in front of you and there is weight pulling on your back, which you must use your posterior chain/spinal erectors to combat and keep your back straight,
or your spine neutral. neutral spine and grounded hips (a sturdy stance) are the two metrics to check for proper form. otherwise, the prettiest deadlift has your legs almost completely straight, but that is more of an aesthetic goal once you are extremely confident in your form.

good luck!!! use mirrors if you are able to make sure your back is never rounded— that is the big NONO for achieving proper form for this move and any other compound movement that requires some load on the back
 
Yesterday I did 4 sets of

Bench Presses
Seated Rows
Straight Arm Cable Pull downs
Attempted pull ups

And then 22 minutes of walking backwards on a treadmill
 
I am in a situation where I need some advice now

I've been training seriously for around 4.5 years now. I had some breaks (my longest was around 3 months), usually due to injuries I took outside the gym. I'd say I am pretty strong now and still manage to progressively overload every week. However, I never really developed a lot of visible muscle. I got very broad but my chest still looks somewhat flat, no abs, ok triceps but small biceps. My legs are somehow very well developed, despite training upper body more and performing, relative to my size, better on bench than on squat or deadlift. I took a bio impedance test that was testing my lower and upper body at the same time and I had around 15% bodyfat during the test and around 45% of muscle mass. I probably lost some fat in the months since then

So I don't know, should I diet down a few kilos or do a light bulk? I want to have abs and big arms. I have a bit fat around my stomach and some lovehandles

I don't know why I got strong whilst staying small. I outlift guys much bigger than me but, well, I am still small, and they're big
 
Local Dog said:
I am in a situation where I need some advice now

I've been training seriously for around 4.5 years now. I had some breaks (my longest was around 3 months), usually due to injuries I took outside the gym. I'd say I am pretty strong now and still manage to progressively overload every week. However, I never really developed a lot of visible muscle. I got very broad but my chest still looks somewhat flat, no abs, ok triceps but small biceps. My legs are somehow very well developed, despite training upper body more and performing, relative to my size, better on bench than on squat or deadlift. I took a bio impedance test that was testing my lower and upper body at the same time and I had around 15% bodyfat during the test and around 45% of muscle mass. I probably lost some fat in the months since then

So I don't know, should I diet down a few kilos or do a light bulk? I want to have abs and big arms. I have a bit fat around my stomach and some lovehandles

I don't know why I got strong whilst staying small. I outlift guys much bigger than me but, well, I am still small, and they're big
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Hi! I'm someone who is neither strong not big, so take everything I say with several grains of salt. There is a difference between strength and hypertrophy, and they require different methods of training. Strength comes from low volume, high intensity training, whereas hypertrophy comes from high volume, high intensity. So, you want to do a lot of reps at a high weight, instead of just a few.
To make your muscles actually visible, you'll need to cut, but it's a lot harder to gain muscle while cutting. Abs in particular are very difficult to see w/o a very low body fat, just because they're generally small muscles, even when trained hard. I don't know whether you should cut or bulk, if possible, talking to a PT would probably help. If not, do more research online.
I'd also recommend learning more about the differences between gaining strength and hypertrophy, that should help you find good resources for getting big. Hope this helped!
 
Uranium233 said:
Hi! I'm someone who is neither strong not big, so take everything I say with several grains of salt. There is a difference between strength and hypertrophy, and they require different methods of training. Strength comes from low volume, high intensity training, whereas hypertrophy comes from high volume, high intensity. So, you want to do a lot of reps at a high weight, instead of just a few.
To make your muscles actually visible, you'll need to cut, but it's a lot harder to gain muscle while cutting. Abs in particular are very difficult to see w/o a very low body fat, just because they're generally small muscles, even when trained hard. I don't know whether you should cut or bulk, if possible, talking to a PT would probably help. If not, do more research online.
I'd also recommend learning more about the differences between gaining strength and hypertrophy, that should help you find good resources for getting big. Hope this helped!
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thank you!

I've decided to gain around a kilo per month until spring, and to then go on a diet to get back to my starting weight. That should give me very good muscle mass

I kinda didn't want to bulk because I am 195 cm and I am really active every day so I'll need quite a lot of food just to get the kilo per month, but at least the diet afterwards will be easy
 
PKMNSyndicate said:
Always assume I stretch first, because I do that now. Todays workout, 3 sets of this 8 different exercises (didn't do the 40 seconds thing)


After that 15ish minutes workout out listening to this https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWpggMqJ29BCa6huqBydNGMzBQZRqCcwH
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Hey, super nice to have started stretching! Do not hesitate to commit to a long stretch before a workout, because it limits injuries a lot and also helps recover if you had one. I usually do around 8 minutes of stretching with a band placed on a pole regardless on the length of the workout (which is usually one hour). Also, warm-up your wrists, it's crucial especially if you're starting calisthenics. I'd say that it is also important, after stretching, to do one or two warm-up set(s) before going to your usual weights, especially if you're lifting heavy / doing a strength session. I have been following this thread a bit, and you're really consistent, it's nice to see!! Keep up what you're doing
 
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