Nerds picking up heavy things then putting them down again

[Omni]

Does anyone else here lift? I have been lifting seriously now for about three months. Since I am unemployed I decided to make lifting my job. Currently I go mon-weds-fri and it's made a huge difference, and has gotten me off my self-pitying ass by constantly doing something proactive. To the point where I am more inclined to feel disgust towards any self-pitying thoughts that arise than indulge in them. It's a big mindset difference. Not to mention the endorphins and the nice physical changes. Lifting has become the thing I look forward to most in the week.

Share your goals, hopes, aspirations, errything. If you don't lift and you post in here, it better be to say "GREG, I WANT TO LIFT, SHOW ME WHERE TO START."

I mean ... gymming general can go here too, I guess.

[Vulre Oakenlimb]

I've got an 8-pound weight sitting around that I pick up and mess about with whenever I'm doing jack shit. I'm not sure it's really doing much, but my arms don't sag when I flex now, so I'm feeling pretty good about my efforts.

[Handsome Jack]

I just do light jogging, sprinting, and lifting parcels and such at work.

[Mark]

I've also been lifting for a few months now, as soon as I get up in the morning. I agree that it definitely gives me a little positivity bump and is also a good way to get moving in the morning.

[Omni]

YES MARK!

For the past month-ish I've been doing 3 days a week, mon-weds-fri, this week I've been trying two days on (mon, tues), one day off, two days on (thurs, fri) one day off. May take that sunday as a second rest day, we'll see how hard I'm still hit on sunday. I do like to be fully recovered for monday's lifts so that's likely what I'll end up doing.

Full-body days are oft recommended for beginners, but I always felt I was trying to fit too much into one workout. Like 6-8 exercises a lot of the time, which left me burned out the next day if I really went for it. Splitting it into two days means I get more variety, and I never did things like deadlifts and squats on the same day anyway, so I'm actually getting more frequency on them now, twice a week instead of 1.5. And right now I'm alternating bench press and overhead press, which doesn't seem to be too much.

Enjoying it more, especially since my goals include weight loss. 3 days a week, for me, felt like too much sitting around since lifting is my sole exercise (not a fan of boring cardio, and HIIT is just gonna eat into my lifts).

[Jade Harley]

Dang, I'm glad y'all are getting so much fulfillment and stuff from regular exercise! I don't do lifting (at least not in a conventional sense, as I help around the farm and pick up heavy junk lmao), but I jog for at least an hour or two every day. It's very relaxing, gives me something to wear off my nervous energy. Been considering getting some weights and doing ab workouts, so this advice is really helpful!

[Mark]

I really need to do more jogging. I've made steady improvements in weight lifting but I still have zero stamina on the treadmill, which is bleh. I had cut my workout from 5 days to 3 (the book I had read about losing weight said that working out too much can stall progress and I am but a sheep), but I think I'll add back in those two days and just walk or job the treadmill. I JUST WANNA GO UP STAIRS WITHOUT BE OUT OF BREATH PLZ.

[Ash Williams]

I lift car parts, freight, lawn mowers, patio furniture, and grills all the time but I'm not athleticly active as I used to be in football. I suck at jogging/running but I can go walking around for a very long time and I love hiking. I wish I can do that again but you know how adult life goes. :poop:

[Omni]

6 month mark. Maybe it's just me, but I feel like I have made some gains! Yay! https://i.imgur.com/wpe9WGB.jpg

[Cell]

Good onya Greg. Exercise is a great thing to make a habit out of.

I've been lifting weights since I was in high school. I haven't been consistent over all those years but there probably hasn't been a single year since I was 16 that I wasn't doing some sort of program, even if it was only for a few months. My mate and I have been doing weights together for probably the past ten years (I own a bench, a lot of free weights and a few dumbbells/barbells, and we both went in together for a basic squat rack and pull-up/leg raise frame). I can be awfully lazy so I'm not as strong as I should be if I were consistent but I'm stronger than average, I'd reckon.

We do it two days a week (Sat morning and Mon afternoon after work) and I'm supposed to be filling in the other days with running. I was actually running three days a week and weights twice a week for about seven months until I got a leg injury (I think it was from my gait when running) and by the time I recovered, I'd lost my groove. Been trying to get back into it ever since.

[Mark]

SWOLE, GREG. SWOLE.

I bumped my lifting schedule up to 6 days recently and graduated to freeweights. I never realized how many accessory muscles go into keeping a bar from crushing you.

I'm super jealous of your home setup, Cell. That sounds so awesome.

[Cell]

Thanks Mark. I think free weights are much better than machines where you can get away with it, like you said, you tend to use a few more muscles that you wouldn't use if you're on a machine. Six days is pretty hardcore too, if you can keep that up you'll be made in the shade.

[Omni]

I'd argue for something closer to three days (anywhere from 2 to 4) over six if you're doing free weights especially. The latter basically means you won't be recovered by your next workout, unless you're deliberately doing less intense lifting - which can work if muscle gain is secondary to fat loss and aerobic health for ya.

I tried four and five days a week and it was way too much for me. Hell, even on three days a week, there are still days on which I'm not fully recovered - I have to go easy on monday, hard-ish on wednesday, and hard on friday, which gives me sufficient recovery time. Granted I've also got the RSI in one arm and I am an old man.

I read a study which said that lifting twice a week gives about 90% of the gains of twice a week (which makes sense given how muscles have a finite capacity for rebuilding), so if I were working I'd probably slip down to that. Three days a week sort of means that if I DO miss a workout, though (which, cross wood, I haven't done yet this year) I'm slipping down to twice and not just one in a week.

[Mark]

I'd argue for something closer to three days (anywhere from 2 to 4) over six if you're doing free weights especially. The latter basically means you won't be recovered by your next workout, unless you're deliberately doing less intense lifting - which can work if muscle gain is secondary to fat loss and aerobic health for ya.

I tried four and five days a week and it was way too much for me. Hell, even on three days a week, there are still days on which I'm not fully recovered - I have to go easy on monday, hard-ish on wednesday, and hard on friday, which gives me sufficient recovery time. Granted I've also got the RSI in one arm and I am an old man.

I read a study which said that lifting twice a week gives about 90% of the gains of twice a week (which makes sense given how muscles have a finite capacity for rebuilding), so if I were working I'd probably slip down to that. Three days a week sort of means that if I DO miss a workout, though (which, cross wood, I haven't done yet this year) I'm slipping down to twice and not just one in a week.

I haven't had any issues with being too wiped out to exercise, but then again I'm only doing like 45 minutes to an hour per session, so I'm not murdering myself in the process. From what I've read, only 24-48 hours of resting is actually required for muscle recovery, anything more is excessive unless you're nursing an injury or something. That said, do you have a link to that study? I'd be interested to know what they found and compare to the other stuff I've read. Also, it's worth noting that I only work the same muscle groups twice per week, it's just split into pushing, pulling, and legs.

[Omni]

Here's the study (pulled from this article, and some supplemental material about frequency. Worth noting that the study is on older folks and not a massive sample size, but I think it makes sense as far as what I've read on the "upper cap" of muscle recovery.

That said, regardless of your workouts, working the same muscle groups twice a week is about right, so you probably won't burn out on that - I was assuming you were doing full-body workouts rather than a split. That 24-48 figure is accurate.

[Cell]

Yeah most people who do weights most days of the week (I've known a few to do 5-6 days on weights) are targeting specific muscles each day. So legs might be Monday, arms Tuesday, and then they're usually fine to go legs again, etc. I don't have the patience for that, I prefer a couple of days that target everything.

[Omni]

I've considered doing a split routine but it becomes a bit obsessive for me, and I have joints to worry about (even if you're targeting different muscles, it uses the same cartilage) since I'm an old man with RSI. So I do the most I can do with the least, ie big heavy compound lifts. My whole routine is different weight and rep variations of the same few lifts - bench press, overhead press, squat, deadlift (twinned with hyperextensions), bent-over-row and chin-up (assisted and using lat pull-downs as an alternative). Then I sometimes chuck in some accessories at the end of my workout like bicycle crunches or curls if I feel like it.

A
Pendlay Rows Heavy (5x5)
High Bar Squats Heavy (5x5)
Chin-ups or Lat-pull-downs Reps (5x10)

B
Bench Press Heavy (5x5)
Deadlifts Heavy (5x5)
Overhead Press Reps (5x10)

C
Chins/Lats Heavy (5x5)
Low-Bar Squats Heavy (5x5)
Pendlay Row Reps (5x10)

D
Overhead Press Heavy (5x5)
Hyperextensions Reps (5x10)
Bench Press Reps (5x10)

I only do 3 a week and then just carry on the next week. So this week I'm doing D, A, B.

[Mark]

Oh man, if I did full body 6 days a week it might literally kill me. I was doing a more overall workout fewer times during the week but I've found that it usually lead to me making up excuses to take the day off. I need to hold myself to a strict schedule or else I slip up. Doesn't help that New England winter is pretty awful so staying under a heated blanket and avoiding stomping through snow in running shoes is pretty alluring. My split is pretty similar to yours, Greg. I do the three below twice a week and take Sundays off. I sometimes also skip Saturday because I work overnight Friday and Saturday nights so motivation isn't always there depending on how I sleep. If I do end up skipping Saturday I try to do some bodyweight stuff at work if possible.

Pull days:
Deadlifts 1x5+/Bent barbell rows 4x5, 1x5+ (Deadlifts on Monday, Rows on Thursday)
3x8-12 Pulldowns or Pullups (I usually do assisted pullups on the first pull day and then pulldowns on the next)
3x8-12 seated cable rows
5x15-20 face pulls
4x8-12 hammer curls
4x8-12 dumbbell curls

Push days:
4x5, 1x5+ bench press/4x5, 1x5+ overhead press (Heavier bench Tuesday, heavier overhead Friday)
3x8-12 overhead press/3x8-12 bench press (Lighter overhead Tuesday, Lighter bench Friday))
3x8-12 incline dumbbell press
3x8-12 triceps pushdowns SS 3x15-20 lateral raises
3x8-12 overhead triceps extensions SS 3x15-20 lateral raises

Leg days:
2x5, 1x5+ squat
3x8-12 Romanian Deadlift
3x8-12 leg press
3x8-12 leg curls
5x8-12 calf raises

Most days I try to do some crunches or planks if I have the energy left, depends on the day.

[Mark]

I generally don't like to brag about accomplishments but I'm super proud of myself this week. I hit 135lbs on Bench and 225 on High Bar Squat despite the fact that I've been cutting for ~2 months. Definitely not awe-inspiring numbers by any means but they're huge for me, especially bench as that has been a major sticking point for the longest time. I don't expect those numbers to change much until I start eating more but if I can maintain them I'll be extremely happy.

[Handsome Jack]

I remember when I first hit those numbers. I'm proud of ya, buddy!