Lifting thread

[Idolater]

Keep me posted. This 1 day per week strategy is so counterintuitive. It's interesting.

As long as you can get stronger doing it, then why not? I already increased my max by 90 LBS since lifting one day per week for over two years. This includes two separate two-month periods of rest (both trying to heal injuries; one from doing deadlifts and the other one not) . I'm just now emerging out of the second two-month period of rest (no lifting) in the last few years. I started with bigger weights than I could lift, to practice getting my form off the floor right, because that's just from flexing your torso and shoulders correctly, directly against the weight of the bar, and once you flex your torso and shoulders correctly, with weight you're capable of lifting, you will lift the weight.

I couldn't lift 400 LBS, or 380, and wound up eventually stepping down to 320 LBS, which I could do three times. This is 90 LBS more than I used to lift (230 LBS), way back before I started lifting.

Before this rest period I was lifting 370 LBS, so I have lost strength in the last few months from not lifting. Over two years of lifting once a week, I increased my strength from being able to lift 230 LBS to lifting 370 LBS, and then I took a rest for two months and now I can only lift 320 LBS, but that's still quite a bit stronger than only being able to lift 230 LBS. I retained a lot of the strength gains over the two months, without touching a weight the whole two months, because I needed to rest, to try to recover from an injury.

I don't know how long it would take me to lose my strength all the way back down to only lifting 230 LBS. Probably at least six or 12 months of not lifting at all, maybe 18 months to get everything.

You can get stronger only lifting one day a week. You just have to target strength building, as efficient as possible. Mr. Mark Rippetoe is a 'starting point' if you don't know what to do, but you like the idea of getting stronger.

 

[Jefferson]

As long as you can get stronger doing it, then why not?

Because both of my ACLs won't allow it. They will often "pinch" me when I simply walk up a flight of stairs.

 

[Idolater]

Because both of my ACLs won't allow it. They will often "pinch" me when I simply walk up a flight of stairs.

Huh. The deadlift is really supposed to be done with very minimal bending of the knee. You're ideally supposed to be bending at the hips mainly (it's a back exercise primarily and only very slightly a leg workout), and only just a bit at the knees. But you obviously know the limits of your own knees better than anyone else. Good luck to you.

 

[Jefferson]

...(it's a back exercise primarily...

I mentioned in post #11, "I ruptured the lowest disk in my back." I really wish I could lift. My muscles are perfectly fine and are all gung-ho ready for lifting. But It's my tendons, ligaments and spinal disks that are stopping me.

 

[Idolater]

I mentioned in post #11, "I ruptured the lowest disk in my back." I really wish I could lift. My muscles are perfectly fine and are all gung-ho ready for lifting. But It's my tendons, ligaments and spinal disks that are stopping me.

Imma pray for you Jefferson.

 

[Poly]

I’ve been lifting potato bags for a few weeks now to help strengthen my arms. Starting tomorrow I plan to put a few potatoes in the bags.

 

[Idolater]

I’ve been lifting potato bags for a few weeks now to help strengthen my arms. Starting tomorrow I plan to put a few potatoes in the bags.

You know, you laugh, but the fact is that you are all already lifting weights, you just don't think of it like that.

How many of you ever drop a book or something and reach down to pick it up? That's lifting weights, that's actually the deadlift. You don't have to pick up something off the floor and put it over your head, but sometimes you might even do that, with like a can of soup or something. Even though it's a small weight, it's still weight, and that means you're lifting weights.

Picking up a toothbrush off the floor and putting it up on the top shelf is called a "snatch", it's a very sophisticated exercise, working many muscles.

So now that it's established that you're already lifting weights, what would be great is an easy way to add a little bit of weight to the book or the can of soup or the toothbrush, and maybe put a handle on it, so that you can do an exercise five times in a row with a little heavier weight than you're already lifting all the time.

This device already exists, a barbell. The barbell makes it easy to add or subtract weight in small increments, so that you can always be lifting weight that will get you stronger.

 

[Idolater]

So this week now the plan is to lower to 310 and try to do five reps.

I'm rethinking. I'm coming off of a more than two month break from lifting, and as I chronicled I've lost some of my strength (I used to be able to do five consecutive reps of 370 LBS). What I'm trying to locate is a good starting point for my current strength, and I started by trying to lift weights that I cannot currently lift at all (400 LBS, 390 LBS, 380 LBS) and then dropped down to 320 LBS.

Before my break my starting weight was 330 LBS. Back then I did multiple five-rep sets of 330 LBS before reaching 0 rnr.

I'm not going to be able to do multiple five-rep sets of 310 LBS this week, I can tell you that right now. So what should I drop down to? I'm thinking 290 wouldn't be enough, I'm thinking 280 LBS sounds right. So now my plan for the week is to put 280 LBS on the bar and do as many sets of five reps as I can before reaching 0 rnr.

Assuming this goes well, next week will be 290 LBS, then 300, then 310. Once I get to a weight where I can't go a single five-rep set without getting to 0 rnr, then I'll go back to 280 again and start over.

 

[Idolater]

Keep me posted.

All right so today the plan still is to do 280 LBS and do sets (plural) of five reps each, and hopefully I'll be able to do like three sets at least, where doing five reps leaves me at least one 'rep-in-reserve'. In other words I don't want to reach 0 rnr for at least four sets of five reps at 280 LBS. If I can do that then I'm 'back in the saddle' and back to 'cooking with grease'.

This 1 day per week strategy is so counterintuitive. It's interesting.

I've been thinking about today all week. Preparing for it mentally and physically. Today's the day!

Remembering the rule, no injuries allowed when lifting. I learned that rule the hard way, as I've shared in this thread already (partially). Getting injured 'sets you back'. It's like going backwards. It's better to not lift, than to lift and get injured. Rule one, lift. Rule two, no injuries allowed when lifting.

 

[Jefferson]

I learned that rule the hard way

Me too. I try to warn my young nephews but I doubt they're listening.

 

[Idolater]

Me too. I try to warn my young nephews but I doubt they're listening.

First five rep set of 280 LBS done. Huffin and puffin ngl.

 

[Idolater]

All right so today the plan still is to do 280 LBS and do sets (plural) of five reps each, and hopefully I'll be able to do like three sets at least, where doing five reps leaves me at least one 'rep-in-reserve'. In other words I don't want to reach 0 rnr for at least four sets of five reps at 280 LBS. If I can do that then I'm 'back in the saddle' and back to 'cooking with grease'.

I've been thinking about today all week. Preparing for it mentally and physically. Today's the day!

280 LBS x 5 (x 2) + 280 LBS x 3
Stopped at 1-2 rnr. ("1-2 rnr" means, I know I could have done a 4th if I tried very hard, and I may have been able to do another one but maybe not.)

Given this result I should have started at 270 LBS but oh well. Plan for next week is to increase to 290 LBS, and do sets of five until I can't anymore.

Remembering the rule, no injuries allowed when lifting. I learned that rule the hard way, as I've shared in this thread already (partially). Getting injured 'sets you back'. It's like going backwards. It's better to not lift, than to lift and get injured. Rule one, lift. Rule two, no injuries allowed when lifting.

I don't think I injured myself.

PROTEIN and or food.
I ate extra protein for breakfast today and ate some protein powder before the workout and I will have more protein powder now. So long as I wake up tomorrow and the next day feeling sore from all this, I will endeavor to eat extra protein those days too.

You have to eat like an equal quantity of starch with your protein. Just don't opt for fat-rich sources of protein and starch and you can control your body weight while getting stronger. You can even lose weight and get stronger.

 

[Idolater]

"I can't believe how sore I am", I'm thinking, but I don't really believe it. It's a kneejerk thing to say. I believe how sore I am, it's just that I'm so sore the "I can't believe how sore I am" is just automatic.

Here are the parts of my body which are sore. I tried to remember as I walked around making coffee this morning for breakfast. The backs of my legs. My hamstrings. The back of my shoulders. The muscle between my neck and my shoulders, along the top of them, and on the back of them. Basically my whole upper back as a unit is sore. My lower back is a little sore. My thighs are sore! My forearms a little, and my 'triceps' (the back of my upper arms). I think that's it.

It's an awesome sore. I love this sore. It's so many things that are all sore all at once that you have to laugh, because it's so silly. What possible reason would there be for all of these things on my body to all be sore all together all at once right now?

Because I lifted what was for me a ton of weight yesterday. I did 13 reps total, 280 x 13 = 3640 LBS of "volume". That's not a lot of volume, the biggest volumes I've ever done are like 10 times more than that, but it's at much lighter weight (for me) and way more reps. I want to get stronger, so I'm looking for volumes corresponding to doing between say one and five sets of five reps each.

PROTEIN this is a day for protein supplementation if I can't just eat extra meat throughout the day. I have extra meat available in the fridge, so I'm probably not going to have to eat protein powder today.

POSTERIOR CHAIN
The hamstrings, 'glutes', lower back and upper back and shoulders constitute the posterior chain of muscles in your body. The reason that all of these muscles are sore on me today is because the deadlift works out the posterior chain. So, since I did the deadlift with good form, and didn't injure myself (which is accomplished by focusing on form, and by trying to stop before 0 rnr), literally every single muscle that's in the posterior chain is sore on me right now, with the possible exception of my glutes. That could just be because they are in the entire chain the opposite of the weakest link, they might be the strongest link in my posterior chain.

The neat thing about this is that my 'weakest links' in the chain will get stronger, and so my whole posterior chain will get stronger too, which will be reflected in the amount of weight that I'll be able to deadlift in the future.

All right; I'm going to eat some meat.

 

[Jefferson]

So now you don't lift for 7 days?

 

[Idolater]

So now you don't lift for 7 days?

Yep.

Still walk though. And that's the complementarity between them. Walk to heal and recover----lift to make walking easier. Walking is necessary, and it can't hurt (you can't allow walking to hurt), which would be aggravating the injury. So you have to 'walk funny' in order to walk for 30 minutes straight without it ever hurting.

(This is just if it 'hurts', if you have an injury, in your hip, in your foot, ankle, whatever, you can't let it hurt while you walk, so you have to limp or otherwise 'walk funny' in order to prevent it ever hurting. And you're walking to heal the thing, after all.)

Whatever you have to do, lifting to get stronger is going to help you, it's going to make it easier, whatever it is you have to do. You have to walk, so that you heal and recover well, and you have to walk without re-aggravating any injury in the process, which would be counterproductive obviously.

 

[Jefferson]

Yep.

Still walk though.

I always thought I knew how to walk. But about 6 months ago I learned I was doing it all wrong.

 

[Idolater]

I always thought I knew how to walk. But about 6 months ago I learned I was doing it all wrong.

Yep. Whatever you have to do differently when you're walking, whether it's a limp, a new order in which the different parts of your foot falls, 'squatting' a little bit every step (something I've done a number of times during my 30-minute walks), walking backwards, or some other new technique or form, whatever it is; you're going to be better prepared to do it if you're stronger. Walking is awesome for you.

 

[Idolater]

280 LBS x 5 (x 2) + 280 LBS x 3
Stopped at 1-2 rnr. ("1-2 rnr" means, I know I could have done a 4th if I tried very hard, and I may have been able to do another one but maybe not.)

Given this result I should have started at 270 LBS but oh well. Plan for next week is to increase to 290 LBS, and do sets of five until I can't anymore.

I don't think I injured myself.

PROTEIN and or food.
I ate extra protein for breakfast today and ate some protein powder before the workout and I will have more protein powder now. So long as I wake up tomorrow and the next day feeling sore from all this, I will endeavor to eat extra protein those days too.

You have to eat like an equal quantity of starch with your protein. Just don't opt for fat-rich sources of protein and starch and you can control your body weight while getting stronger. You can even lose weight and get stronger.

290 LBS
5
5
4 (at least 1 'rir' (pronounced R-IN-R))

Stronger this week. Banana. Plan next week: 300 LBS.

PROTEIN
In all things moderation . . . except on lifting day. On lifting day I try to eat extra protein all day from just before lifting til I go to bed at night.

Protein should be priced by the gram. Whey should be economical. I can get whey for about 0.03 USD or three cents per gram. That's cheap, but you can get raw chicken and pork and beef for OK prices too. Of course legumes are cheap, but remember to eat them with plenty of starches so you get all the "essential" amino acids, plus check their price per gram of protein. A can of light tuna costs 1.00 USD, it has 20 grams of complete protein, so that's 0.05 USD, or five cents per gram of protein for light tuna. That's not bad either.

 

[Jefferson]

Do you do keto, carnivour, or something else?

 

[Idolater]

Do you do keto, carnivour, or something else?

Something else. I just watch my macros, I eat starches for fuel (I'm not low carb), I supplement or eat extra protein when I feel sore, and limit fat and sugar and salt. Try to get more fiber from whole grain, eat a fair amount of whole foods I guess. Eat greens every day. Stuff like this. Not fancy or tricky.