Fitness Checkin

[JirinPanthosa]

What is the best way to train up your weightlifting? I've read millions of articles on running training but don't know a whole lot theory-wise on bodybuilding. The day I tested out my max I ate about the same amount after the workout I did for lighter, higher rep workouts and woke up at 3 AM that night starving.

So obviously I need more post-workout nutrition, but is the best way to get those gains to train low rep close to your max or to train more reps a bit lower down? (Or mix of both?)

Edit: Managed one rep of 195 yesterday, and that was after 25 minutes of bouldering. Might stand a chance on the tire flip after all. The bar by itself is usually 45 pounds right?

 

[Kor]

^ At one end there should be an imprint showing the weight. A standard Olympic-type barbell is approximately 44-45 lbs (often marked 20 kg). Sometimes gyms will also have shorter ones that weigh less.

You might want to check out StrongLifts, for a good program on increasing strength: https://stronglifts.com/5x5/

They have an article with more info than you ever wanted to know on deadlifts: https://stronglifts.com/deadlift/

Kor

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Seems like a great plan if all you want is to build muscle, but I want to build strength/weight ratio without harming my VO2Max or running ability. This site looks like it has good workout tips though, just need to find the ones that teach me the best way to build lean muscle instead of just bulk.

 

[Spot261]

For one, if you want to strength train that's quite distinct from bodybuilding, which is primarily about achieving a certain appearance.

Body building techniques commonly revolve around tearing muscle fibres to encourage hypertrophy as a damage reduction response. The muscle isn't trying to get stronger, it's trying to repairing fibres bigger to avoid their being torn so readily in future. Most bodybuilders will work a particular muscle or muscle group in a given session to focus the damage and allow efficient repair over the following days, whereas strength athletes are more inclined to work movement patterns and functional training that simulate the goals of their chosen sport.

You don't tend to see football (ahem, soccer) players performing endless sets of bicep curls, but short intense sets of cleans are a different matter.

The upshot is that bodybuilders do in fact get stronger by as increased weight becomes necessary to achieve the same result, whilst strength athletes do tend to get bigger by virtue of hypertrophy, but few strength athletes would endorse a body building routine, much as few body builders would prepare for a contest using a strength based routine.

Both approaches encompass a family of styles and do overlap to an extent, but if you want to remains more or less the size you are without affecting your running you should be looking at strength, not bodybuilding.

The difficulty you may encounter is that any resistance work almost by definition targets fast twitch muscle fibres which by their very nature are larger and heavier than their slow twitch counterparts, risking a reduction in your running efficiency.

Compare a sprinter's physique with that of a distance runner. You see so few muscular distance runners because their training de-emphasises fast twitch fibres and consequently causes a degree of atrophy which is actually advantageous in their sport, reducing the excess weight they are carrying over a distance. Sprinters on the other hand focus almost exclusively on those fast twitch fibres and thus carry a great deal more muscle mass, which is great for generating the sorts of forces required for rapid acceleration, not so good is you have to go very far.

The 5x5 programme listed above is REALLY good for strength development in beginners, emphasising incremental but forced increases in weights on low repetitions of the compound lifts. It's not a bodybuilding routine by any stretch of the imagination.

I've followed it years ago and saw massive improvement in a very short period. By itself, however, it will not meet all your goals. Your fitness will not improve as a consequence and the sheer volume of squats (five sets every single session) will mean you won't be able to run as often or as far.

My inclination would be more to head towards doing some manner of HIIT type training, either on your own or in groups like Crossfit, which tend to incorporate strength and aerobic training in parallel and by their intense nature force your VO2 max up more effectively than steady state training.

 

[Kor]

I have been doing a mixture of strength and bodybuilding exercises for quite some time, and I can say with absolute certainty that increases in strength are not going to be accompanied by bulky, unwieldy muscle gains any time soon. The bane of many a gym-goer is that muscle gains are barely visible even though they are specifically working at that goal for years on end and are significantly stronger than they used to be.

Kor

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I've got a Spartan Ultra Beast coming up in September, but I was planning to focus on strength and grip over the winter so many try the program then. I was considering Crossfit.

Yeah, trying to train strength and running at the same kind is hard, for the reason you cited and because running tries to increase concentration of mitochondria in the muscles which is counteracted by some of the muscle building adaptations.

 

[bajorangirl]

Started the gym last year Whist over weight and battling depression. I couldn't lift 5kg or even run 100m.

I have now come up to a years membership after going several times a week.

Although I can get low moods I am no longer 'depressed' and when I do feel low I pick myself up by going to the gym and having a run

I am no longer overweight after losing a stone and a half and I run 10km 'for fun'
I can lift 15kg (not exactly heavy compared to others but heavy for me and over double what I could do before)

I love the feeling of being fit and well!

Sorry for the soppy post just feeling great and feeling thankful.

 

[Kor]

Started the gym last year Whist over weight and battling depression. I couldn't lift 5kg or even run 100m.

I have now come up to a years membership after going several times a week.

Although I can get low moods I am no longer 'depressed' and when I do feel low I pick myself up by going to the gym and having a run

I am no longer overweight after losing a stone and a half and I run 10km 'for fun'
I can lift 15kg (not exactly heavy compared to others but heavy for me and over double what I could do before)

I love the feeling of being fit and well!

Sorry for the soppy post just feeling great and feeling thankful.

Great progress! I remember when you posted in this thread before... wow, that was right when you were getting started with your fitness program. Please continue to keep us updated.

Kor

 

[bajorangirl]

Great progress! I remember when you posted in this thread before... wow, that was right when you were getting started with your fitness program. Please continue to keep us updated.

Kor

Thanks you. I still cannot believe its nearly a year since my first post on this thread! Glad you remembered, you have given me more motivation. Hoping to do a race soon, will keep you updated

 

[Kor]

I'm back to the building routine after some months cutting. Lately I've been working more on progressing my bench press. My 1RM is up to 235 lbs (106.59 kg), and I'm doing 215 lbs (97.52 kg) for reps.

Edit: I finally got into back squats, an exercise I've neglected in favor of leg presses and other forms of squatting for various reasons. I got up to 265 lbs tonight. Not super great, but with the 235 lb bench press and 405 lbs deadlift, this puts me in the "900 lb club."

Kor

 

[marillion]

The great weight re-loss has begun for me.. Way back in 2006, I dropped 115lbs.. Then around 2011, I started to slowly gain it back... Not all the way, mind you, and I'm in much better shape now than I was back then.. But still... So I'm down 10lbs over three weeks and just started a new Ketogenic diet over the weekend.. First two weeks are extremely low in carbs. No more than 30g a day.. Then I will bump up to 45... No fatty meats like beef/pork/bacon, etc.. lean beef and pork will be a very occasional treat, so it looks like it will mostly be poultry and fish for me, along with carefully chosen fruits and veg...

Just gotta get into the routine and not give in to the hunger.. I'm on some meds for the cravings and hunger this time around, so hopefully that will help even me out while I'm shifting into the new lifestyle...

 

[Kor]

Now that I've gotten more used to the mechanics of back squats after a few sessions, my squat is up to one rep at 305 lbs.

Edit: Updated numbers as of 8/23:
245-lb bench press
415-lb dead lift
305-lb squat

Total: 965 lbs

Edit again:
Deadlifted 425 tonight, new total is 975!

Kor

 

[marillion]

Nice job, Kor!!! You're blowing me away with the lifting.. But I'm mostly doing light weights for lots of reps for cardio/weight loss..

Just got done running the first full mile I've run in the long time as part of a company sponsored 5K/1 mile charity fun run... Lungs are screaming (thanks Asthma), but I made it.. I normally walk my dog a couple of miles every night, but doing a run is a different beast...

Progress so far.. 1 month, 15 lbs down.. Woot!

 

[JirinPanthosa]

A week and a half ago I did my first Spartan Ultra Beast in Killington.

Finished in just under 11 hours, top 40 in men's elite wave.

 

[ITL]

Started going to the gym recently - best decision I made in years. I tend to do some intervals on a cycle machine interspersed with arms and upper body stuff and plenty of rowing machine time. I do love that rowing machine.

Taking it steady for now, more interested in fat burning and general fitness than anything else at the moment.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I started doing Crossfit as a way to address my weakness in the sandbag/bucket carry part of races.

I'm curious if there's going to be a quick initial gain like there is when you first start running, before it gets harder and harder to get that next bit of gain. Right now have snatched about 90, deadlifted 195, pressed 115, cleaned 95. No idea what to expect for how fast those numbers increase.

I will still be doing running while I'm doing Crossfit, since I'm ultimately still training for obstacle racing, so hoping there's not too much of a conflict there between lifting adaptations and running adaptations.

My strength and grip both declined last year due to training for serious endurance events (Marathon in May, Spartan UB in September), so hopefully I can regain all that over the winter.

My winter plan:
Crossfit 2x/week
Bouldering 1x/week
Obstacle gym 1x/week
Running, 2 x speed/hill work, 1x long run, 1x recovery/maintenance run, 30-40 miles/week total.

As this approaches Spring races I will increase obstacle specific technique training and speed trainig while decreasing raw strength training.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Weightlifting experts, what's a good way to deal with strength asymmetries? I knew I had a stronger right side than left, but I didn't know how bad it was. Every time I do single arm stuff, I take the same weight for each hand, and I'm effortlessly getting it up on my right and struggling on my left.

 

[StarCruiser]

Do more work on the left side for a while. More reps at first, then try a bit more weight. Do at least a few sessions and see if there is a clear change after that...

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Question for Crossfitters.

I've been going to Crossfit around twice a week for about two months. Today determined max front squat as somewhere around 105# (Technically my 3 rep max). When I was working on this, my wrist and the bones in the middle of my hand hurt a lot more than the muscles that were actually doing work. So my question is, how did you get used to having your hands bent all the way back pinned under weight like that?! Is it just a matter of your wrists gradually becoming more flexible or is there a trick I'm not getting?

 

[Kor]

When I last posted in this thread, I was bulking up for increased strength and muscle mass. I got up to a body weight of about 210 pounds in autumn. In the last few months, I've switched to a conditioning/definition routine, and I've cut down to a body weight of 188. I'm trying to get down to the lower 170s before switching back to the gaining routine. Being over 6' tall, I might just end up looking like a toothpick.

Kor