Lifting thread

[TomO]

Wow do things change.

When I first started lifting after high school, whey or egg protein was only available in boutique stores like GNC or Vitamin Shop, and creatine was only available through body building magazine ad mail order. Now, Walmart carries multiple options for whey isolate, and they even have their own store brand creatine and regular (non-isolate) whey powders to boot.

Another big change is the prevalence of "cage" style racks (like skeletonized boxes), those are everywhere now, available to consumers. Those things are awesome, a huge improvement over the racks available when I got mine, mine's OK but there's no safety system on it, I only have one set of hooks, there's no pull-up bar on it (it's too short for that).

(Incidentally this kind of change people might want to call "capitalism" (Marx certainly did), but it's really just America and the American idea; Marx and others were just jealous. American economic policy paved the way for this kind of rapid development and improvement of the market, where, even just in this tiny case, you go from having to jump through hoops and paying premium prices to being able to get "swole" just at Walmart.)

The only thing I don't like about the market changing like this is Walmart no longer stocks Olympic 2" plates like they did 20 years ago. They were selling 45-LB chips for like 25 USD each back then. I can't believe I didn't back up the truck when I had the chance lol, now dirty old used chips sell on Craigslist around here anyway for like 60 USD minimum each! Brand new Rogues and Yorks are like 80 each. It's crazy.

Yeah...Going back that far it was desiccated liver pills, cottage cheese & raw eggs for me...

Dude...Free markets don't belong to and are not are provided by governments...Government's only restrict them. They could be useful to protect them but inevitably this winds up as the "protection racket" it is. You're all jazzed because you think the one you live under provides/ed less restrictions than the others (debatable at this point). Being less bad is not a ringing endorsement.

Unless you are talking about our rampant consumerism...Well, yes that would be uniquely American...Just as the mobs on Black Friday are.

 

[Idolater]

Yeah...Going back that far it was desiccated liver pills, cottage cheese & raw eggs for me...

Wow. I've never heard of desiccated liver pills, and idk why raw eggs would be better than cooking them. Hard core.

Dude...Free markets don't belong to and are not are provided by governments...Government's only restrict them. They could be useful to protect them but inevitably this winds up as the "protection racket" it is. You're all jazzed because you think the one you live under provides/ed less restrictions than the others (debatable at this point). Being less bad is not a ringing endorsement.

I mean, we're very similar in our way of thinking about things, the only slight difference between your view and mine is that "free markets" are not the primary concern of government. The primary concern of government is justice. So justice should be blind, that's one catch phrase to sum up this political ideology, and this promotes the tradition of the rule of law, because no one is above the law, and justice should be blind, they go hand-in-hand.

Being less bad at protecting justice is actually a ringing endorsement, because it's a zero sum game.

Unless you are talking about our rampant consumerism...Well, yes that would be uniquely American...Just as the mobs on Black Friday are.

I just think it's cool that what 25 years ago would have cost an arm and a leg, and would have required ordering by phone or going to the vitamin store, now you can achieve easily at Walmart, and with multiple choices, all right on the shelves.

Now, that Walmart is basically a lawful fence to the American consumer market for Chinese factory workers, that's not something I'm proud of. Would be nice if Walmart, a great American business, would instead fence the goods produced by American factory workers to the American market, but we just don't have any more American factory workers basically, and that's because of free markets getting protected by governments around the world, sometimes, perhaps, at the expense of justice, sometimes; perhaps.

 

[TomO]

Wow. I've never heard of desiccated liver pills, and idk why raw eggs would be better than cooking them. Hard core.

They still make the pills...Still do now what they did them it's just that there is way better stuff available now. More on this in a bit.

It doesn't...It was thought that the protein was more bio-available when raw.
It's not...Actually, the opposite is true.

I mean, we're very similar in our way of thinking about things, the only slight difference between your view and mine is that "free markets" are not the primary concern of government. The primary concern of government is justice. So justice should be blind, that's one catch phrase to sum up this political ideology, and this promotes the tradition of the rule of law, because no one is above the law, and justice should be blind, they go hand-in-hand.

Well, actually I don't think markets are the concern of government at all. But if a government is to be used beyond it's rightful Genesis 9:6 injunction (Yes, in a nutshell; justice) then I admit this could be a laudable goal...If it worked...But like I pointed out the "protection" literally becomes a "protection racket".

I agree with the blind Justice aspect...I doubt anyone would disagree. If only she would stop peeking.

Whoops....There goes that pesky sin-nature again...People suck. Damn even with a bind-fold on ya can't trust her.

Being less bad at protecting justice is actually a ringing endorsement, because it's a zero sum game.

Point taken. I suppose it is true that this is the measure of the horrible; I am more tolerable than the alternative.

I just think it's cool that what 25 years ago would have cost an arm and a leg, and would have required ordering by phone or going to the vitamin store, now you can achieve easily at Walmart, and with multiple choices, all right on the shelves.

'Tis true...I can't deny what we have reaped over the last 25 years. Just look at the fitness products alone. It's crazy what is available out there. We have so many different products, so much available technology and services

I'm no longer sure it's to our profit though.

Now, that Walmart is basically a lawful fence to the American consumer market for Chinese factory workers, that's not something I'm proud of. Would be nice if Walmart, a great American business, would instead fence the goods produced by American factory workers to the American market, but we just don't have any more American factory workers basically, and that's because of free markets getting protected by governments around the world, sometimes, perhaps, at the expense of justice, sometimes; perhaps.

But isn't that what made Wal-Mart what it is? Always the low price, always?...Protection costs money.

 

[Idolater]

... I'm wagering now, that it's working out on two days per week instead just on one. I should see within the next couple weeks if this idea has legs.

Here's an article today that says two is better than one.

Look to exercise to extend life, even for the oldest, study says | CNN

Most of us think of aerobic exercise when we think of adding years to our lives. A new study shows that strength training can be critically important as well.

us.cnn.com

I'm definitely seeing gains in the weight room since I expanded from one day a week to two day splits.

 

[Idolater]

Talk about lifting weights or other fitness things or diet or whatever.

The fundamental difference between lifting and any other exercise in order to make it very plain, is that weight lifting cannot be done in the thousands of reps range. We can walk, we can hike, we can jog, but we can't sprint for thousands of steps. It's too hard, it's too taxing on our bodies.

Lifting is like an all-out sprint. Even champion marathoners aren't sprinting for two hours straight. They can run even a little quicker, if they're not having to run for over two hours straight. Just like everybody else.

Bodyweight exercises count. Nobody can do thousands of push-ups in a row. But people can hike and even jog all day long. That's categorically different.

I just try to minimize my lifting in terms of time. Adding more weight to exercise necessarily reduces the necessary time, because getting near exhaustion is integral to the benefit from lifting and or sprinting. You get there quicker, in fewer reps. But like sprinting, there's nothing easy about it. And that's the point.

iow I'm saying that all-out-sprinting, also counts as weight lifting.

 

[ok doser]

I feel guilty that I haven't contributed to this thread.

Here

 

[Idolater]

...I decided the injuries weren't worth the pump.

What injuries (if you don't mind sharing)?

I'm asking because I know guys in their 60's still doing Oly lifts, and guys in their 80's still doing power lifts. I also know of guys in their 70's arm wrestling competitively (no handicapping) against guys in their 20's.

...Used this stuff for alot of years...Very high quality but you pay $$$ for it.

Nature's Best® Isopure® Products | The Isopure Company

Our products are packed with 100% pure whey protein isolate and contain no fat, lactose or preservatives.

www.theisopurecompany.com

The macros on that stuff is basically what I'm using now, basically really low cholesterol refined whey. Amazon had a Black Friday or cyber Monday or whatever it was deal, where I got this stuff:

Nutricost Whey Protein Isolate Powder

2 Pounds of Whey Protein Isolate Only The Best, High Quality Isolate 30 Grams of Protein Per Serving Serving Size: 1 Scoop (Included) Made in a GMP Compliant, FDA Registered Facility

nutricost.com

for 12 USD per pound. Works out to a hair over 3 cents per gram of protein, which is pretty good. (Comparable to chicken breasts at 3.00 USD per pound, on a cost per gram of protein basis.)

 

[TomO]

What injuries (if you don't mind sharing)?

I've had a couple of tendon tears and my shoulders ain't what they used to be.

 

[Idolater]

I've had a couple of tendon tears and my shoulders ain't what they used to be.

OK gotcha. For sure I'm having to be as careful as can be with my joints in all my exercises and my shoulders are definitely one of the tender spots sometimes, although the more presses I do I'm optimistic that they're healing slowly. rn I'm dealing with a possibly bum hip, brought on by jogging instead of my usual walking. I hate to skip my deadlifts or squats, but I've learned from experience it's way way better to skip a workout rather than either get or aggravate an injury. It's between losing a week's worth of progress versus months lost, it's an easy decision.

 

[Poly]

This thread has really helped my motivation in working out.

I haven’t started yet but I get more highly motivated by the day to start. Might happen any day now.

 

[Idolater]

This thread has really helped my motivation in working out.

I haven’t started yet but I get more highly motivated by the day to start. Might happen any day now.

Get a rack. A squat rack. It might be called a cage. But definitely people will respond to it if you say squat rack.

People, old people, make the mistake of getting a bench (as in bench press). But what you need is a rack, so that you can do squats.

You can also do bench press with a squat rack, as long as the hooks are adjustable, so you don't have to worry about not having a bench. A squat rack with adjustable hooks, or a cage, enables you to do both squats and bench press, if you want.*

If you have an eight-foot pick-up truck or a trailer, you can check out classified ads or craigslist, if you're lucky, and find someone selling a used squat rack or cage for a good deal, as long as it's not rusted out and rotted, and has its hooks basically. Of course you can get one new if you have the resources, but there are deals available, especially now as people start to liquidate their pandemic home gyms that they don't need anymore.


* It's a little more complicated, since you do need to have a separate bench to add to the rack to make it capable of doing bench press, but the point of this post is to get a squat rack as a priority, and not a bench, to start out. If you can do squats and deadlifts then you will be able to work like two-thirds or three-quarters of your muscle with just those two exercises----that cuts down on time.

 

[Idolater]

OLDSTERS NEED TO LIFT WEIGHTS

... weight lifting ... extending your life, all other things being equal. ...

Resist death by lifting weights. Fight back.

If you think about it, it makes sense, that if you achieve the purpose of lifting weights, which I'll get to below, that it would have a prophylactic effect. It will reduce your likelihood of getting injured. It's never going to prevent every injury, but it will and does reduce their frequency

Because of balance. You'll avoid falling down because you're just more balanced, and lighter on your feet too. This is "all other things being equal."

, and it reduces their severity when or if they do occur.

Falling down is a fact of life. Maybe you'll never fall down again your whole life, but maybe not.

When young people fall down they're usually lucky and it's a non-event in their life, or if it is a serious event they recover basically 100% from it in a week to a few months tops. When oldsters fall down, luck runs out. The frequency that older people fall down and are unlucky how they land, is alarming.

The other thing that makes sense is that it will help you to heal from injuries, illnesses, and from just normal 'wear-and-tear' on your aging body, limbs and joints.

The main thing though is that your body's natural internal cushioning is your muscles. If you have more muscles, you have more cushioning against injury when and or if you do fall down.

Don't worry about physique, physique will 'take care of itself'. Just try to get stronger.

There is a strength gradient, and a muscle-building gradient. They are not exactly the same, and the difference comes down to programming more than any other single factor, mainly it's about volume. (More volume means more muscles, but it's not that simple, since you do have to make sure you're using enough weight to engage hypertrophy mechanisms.)

Getting Stronger: There are efficient ways to try to get stronger. These involve what are to you heavy weights. They are weights that you can only lift like five times in a row before you 'break' your technique or form or mechanics (iow before 'technical failure'). When you lift weights that are this heavy for you, and you try 'sets' of no more than six 'reps' each, you WILL GET STRONGER. ... If you can stand up, you can lift weights.

If there is any movement which you can do repeatedly without pain or discomfort, then figure out how to put some weight on it, and that will be your weight lifting exercise.

(I can bend down and pick things up off the floor without pain, so I deadlift, and I squat. I put weight on a motion I can do without pain. That's all weight lifting ([sic]; lifting weights¹) is. If the motion hurts without weight, then don't put weight on that motion to lift weights. Only motions and movements you can do without pain should be in your exercise arsenal or portfolio or catalog.

Also in this thread especially if there are any medical professionals like nurses or physicians or the like here at TOL, who can corroborate or correct what I'm saying here

¹ Edit. "Weight lifting" is a sport, weight lifters compete in the Olympics. This thread is about lifting weights, which isn't a sport but is training for athletics. Lifting weights when you don't play any sports is training just for life generally. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[Jefferson]

Came across a great new exercise.

1 - Stand barefoot with a pair of socks on the floor.
2 - Stand on one leg.
3 - Pick up one of the socks with any hand.
4 - While still standing on that same leg, put the sock on your other foot.
5 - Repeat with your other leg.

Good luck.

 

[Right Divider]

This thread has really helped my motivation in working out.

I haven’t started yet but I get more highly motivated by the day to start. Might happen any day now.

That reminds me of a joke....

Person 1: Hey, I found this great book. It's called How to get control of your time and your life.

Person 2: How is it?

Person 1: I don't know... I haven't had time to read it.

 

[Idolater]

Came across a great new exercise.

1 - Stand barefoot with a pair of socks on the floor.
2 - Stand on one leg.
3 - Pick up one of the socks with any hand.
4 - While still standing on that same leg, put the sock on your other foot.
5 - Repeat with your other leg.

Good luck.

Speaking of falling down lol, doing something like this is easier if you lift weights especially by doing the exercises which enhance your balance. Be careful out there!

 

[Idolater]

Just try to get stronger.

Being a weakling can be as much as 10 times more dangerous for you than smoking cigarettes is.

Smoking increases risk of dying from all cause mortality.
Being an elite weakling, also increases risk of dying from all cause mortality.
It's 40% to 400% difference. If you're an elite weakling, your chances of dying from all cause mortality is up to 10 times worse than smoking, cigarettes.

 

[Idolater]

They still make the pills...

I'm back on creatine. I just thought, "Maybe this will help my sore shoulders" (it doesn't ).

But I've come across this "HMB" stuff recently, which is currently "all the rage" in the "natty" space. I'm going to start it today, and take some of it with my post-workout protein. It's like "par-boiled" leucine, sounds like. A gram of HMB is purportedly worth something like 20 grams of leucine, and only costs like twice as much as buying refined leucine.

So we'll see. Hopefully it's as neat as they're hyping it up to be.

 

[Idolater]

I've had a couple of tendon tears and my shoulders ain't what they used to be.

I made these subreddits just to remind me whenever I encounter injury, that even if I'm just broken down and can't do any other lifts, because I need to favor all my other parts, so they can heal ...

Reddit - Dive into anything

www.reddit.com

Reddit - Dive into anything

www.reddit.com

I'm fortunate enough right now that I might might might be able to do both squats and deadlifts (a squat-deadlift split basically, instead of both in one day), but even if it turns out that I really can't do deadlifts because of my shoulders, I'll still be able to squat.

What I'm trying to communicate to folks is that even if you're only doing one exercise, it can still be plenty. The biggest difference is between lifting and not-lifting. The squat and the deadlift activate more muscle than any other power lifts.

(To beginners only: The deadlift and squat both work the back and the legs. The conventional deadlift works the back more than the legs, and the conventional squat works the legs more than the back, but they both work both the legs and the back.

(@Jefferson can't do deadlifts because of a chronic condition he has. What I wanted to explain is that I modify both the deadlift and the squat, to make them even more unbalanced in the back and the legs. I do a "canonical" deadlift (my term) which focuses even more on the back, and I do a "sumo" squat which focuses even more on the legs. If, for example, you can't do deadlifts, you still might be able to do sumo squats, and if you can't do squats, maybe you can still do canonical (back-focused) deadlifts.)

 

[Jefferson]

Getting clowned at the gym

 

[Nick M]

Resistance training and sprinting grows new brain tissue. It's why fast food was left open and gyms were closed during the "pandemic".