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[borghe]

It really does look like cheating, but isn't it kind of anyway? It seems you're simply cheating to allow yourself to do more to achieve a goal.

doing butterfly pullups properly is most definitely not "cheating", in that you are using different muscle groups. doing strict non-kipping overhand pullups you are pretty much working out your lats and biceps. move your arms in more and the emphasis starts to fall off on your lats. when you kip you are bringing your core into it. you are also doing essentially a plyometric exercise, so the overall goal is power, not strength.

in crossfit pullups are rarely intended to be an strength exercise. in my almost a year of doing crossfit, the only strength pullup I ever remember was one time doing an increasing 2RM weighted pullup (which I got up to 50lb with). mostly it's meant as more of an endurance and power exercise.

the ONLY time kipping pullups could be considered "cheating" IMHO is if you are specifically going for strength on typical strength reps (i.e. 10-20). But even there IMHO again, it's fine to kip FOR THE LAST ONE TO TWO reps if you absolutely can't make them on your own. Just don't count them as real reps. Your body is still taking away strength training with them, but obviously as kipping isn't your goal you should count them as failed reps (aka same as spot assisted reps)

Nose to ground handstand pushups? And then jumping on a bar to do kipps? That will DESTROY your shoulder.

it's all body weight.. unless your form is for absolute shit, there is no chance of this "destroying" your shoulder. the handstand pushups themselves should (with proper form and training up to them) actually put very little tension on your rotator cuffs, and as long as you aren't dropping to your shoulder without support on the pullup (i.e. actually putting a tug on your ball and socket) there is zero chance of damage in the pullups.

biggest problems with your shoulder with either of those exercises is poor god awful form. doing handstand pushups with either your hands wide apart and/or your elbows going out to the side, and doing butterfly pullups letting your body drop all the way down without "catching" yourself with your arms and shoulders, thus jerking your shoulder (and RCs) on the socket.

as for crossfit, it is definitely about more than endurance. I've seen guys squat 300lb at the gym who couldn't even do a 24" box jump. seriously, they didn't even have enough power to lift their own bodyweight up 24" straight in the air. crossfit is about strength, power, endurance, and flexibility... and frankly those four things should be what EVERY workout program is about, regardless of program. what's the point of being strong if you aren't capable of explosively moving your own bodyweight around for extended periods of time?

 

[TheFatOne]

You are dehydrated. Drink water.

I believe you are right. I definitely didn't drink enough water yesterday, and it was probably the case the day before. Man waking up the last two days has sucked so much.

 

[reilo]

Eh, more power to you if like doing CF, but if I wanted to wear myself out, I'll just go running and biking. That's all the endurance I need.

It's not about endurance with Crossfit.

 

[borghe]

The WOD are designed to be a goal that the advanced trainees can keep track of, sure, but I have always been told to scale it to what I can do and what my body can handle, and to pace myself. It's no different than benching or squatting 50lbs less than the guy next to you. You're still doing the same exercise.

The Crossfit Brand X site/gym/forum is "officially" sanctioned by the main site for scaling.

http://www.crossfitbrandx.com/index.php/forums/viewforum/16/

that's a link to the WOD forum which has the main site's WODs scaled. And as with the main site, it's all free with no membership required for the WOD stuff.

I think most people see a couple of WODs and think "oh, that's what Crossfit is about". I don't think they realize that yeah, you do that WOD, and then you might not see that particular workout back for a year or more. WODs rotate around those four categories.. strength, power, endurance and flexibility. Just because you see a couple of days of endurance in a row doesn't mean you won't see a couple of 1RM days right after that.

 

[Jason's Ultimatum]

Whatever the fuck. I know it combines strength and conditioning, but like I've said, if I want to wear myself out, I'll just go running or biking.

 

[borghe]

Whatever the fuck. I know it combines strength and conditioning, but like I've said, if I want to wear myself out, I'll just go running or biking.

you really aren't getting it

WOD from last friday:

Weighted pull-ups 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 reps. Post loads.

how is that NOT a strength exercise? No "wearing yourself out" in there.

The sunday before that

Shoulder Press 5-5-5-5-5 reps. Post loads.

It's a mix... bottom line is it sounds like you aren't interested in anything but flat out strength.. more power to you I guess.

 

[Rabbitweed]

Well, Crossit is a very polarising training program as witnessed even here... there are haters and then there are those like me who wish I had discovered this training program much earlier. I just find the normal gym training and long distance cardio fairly boring and Crossfit makes it all much more varied and challenging. Sure, some of the movements might be less safe than your average globo gym machine exercises but a lot of that depends on your own ego and how you perform the movements (especially when you are getting tired). Personally my joints have never felt better after I quit the normal gym training and switched to CF.

Gotta agree with Veezy and X-Frame though that I wouldn't perform HSPU's nose to the floor... that doesn't sound too good to your back and your shoulders. I would do those with a good hollow body position with the top of my head touching the floor.

 

[Veezy]

Except you're not taking into account that this is a timed workout, so that increases your chances of screwing something up. And Crossfit, per their own documents and certifications, encourges a 20% slop factor. So, injury. The kipping pull is just a silly thing to do several reps of. The butterfly kipping pull up is even worse.

Look, I'm not gonna make this a Couch thread 2.0. The information's out there. The ideas of doing both strength and conditioning are fine, but Crossfit's execution is flawed. There's better conditioning than Annie. There's better strength training than your whole day spent on one rep max weighted pull ups. Not to mention that rhabdomyolysis is a serious concern for newbies and vets. Hell, rhabdomyolysis happens often enough that they had to do several PSAs about it. How can you call that a good work out program?

Seriously, I saw one of the WODs, soon after I stopped drinking the Kool-Aid, where you had to do three-five rounds of a circut and one of the exercies was 30 reps of 45 pound good mornings. That's 90 to 150 good mornings. So... yeah...


Quick Edit: I'm not saying Crossfit doesn't have some amazing circuts, cause it does. It's just doing those three days on, one day off, with some of hte moments the perscribe, even with a strength break, is not good programing.

 

[TheRagnCajun]

you really aren't getting it

WOD from last friday:

Weighted pull-ups 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 reps. Post loads.

how is that NOT a strength exercise? No "wearing yourself out" in there.

The sunday before that

Shoulder Press 5-5-5-5-5 reps. Post loads.

It's a mix... bottom line is it sounds like you aren't interested in anything but flat out strength.. more power to you I guess.

By and large I see high volume Workouts from crossfit. Just because you sprinkle a few heavy lifting days in doesn't mean you're going to develop strength. If you really want to increase strength you have to lift heavy, often.

 

[Jason's Ultimatum]

you really aren't getting it

WOD from last friday:

Weighted pull-ups 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 reps. Post loads.

how is that NOT a strength exercise? No "wearing yourself out" in there.

The sunday before that

Shoulder Press 5-5-5-5-5 reps. Post loads.

It's a mix... bottom line is it sounds like you aren't interested in anything but flat out strength.. more power to you I guess.

I'm not just looking for strength. I'm more about having a rock hard body. I mean, look at me. It's one of the five best features about me. Another feature is my hair. It's so thick my barber charges me double!

 

[Anton Sugar]

as for crossfit, it is definitely about more than endurance. I've seen guys squat 300lb at the gym who couldn't even do a 24" box jump. seriously, they didn't even have enough power to lift their own bodyweight up 24" straight in the air. crossfit is about strength, power, endurance, and flexibility... and frankly those four things should be what EVERY workout program is about, regardless of program. what's the point of being strong if you aren't capable of explosively moving your own bodyweight around for extended periods of time?

Because some people want to be a master and not a jack-of-all-trades? I don't really hate anything about Crossfit, except it's elitist "OUR WARMUP IS YOUR WORKOUT OMG YOU CAN'T EVEN DO 30 THRUSTERS YOU'RE TRAINING WRONG" bullshit.

And injuries are a valid concern with Crossfit. It's really not that different from any other program, but some of the workouts and exercises really focus too much on being hard, and not enough on being effective.

EDIT: Great post, Veezy.

 

[Ace 8095]

I'm not just looking for strength. I'm more about having a rock hard body. I mean, look at me. It's one of the five best features about me. Another feature is my hair. It's so thick my barber charges me double!

Can you PM me naked pics of your hair?

 

[Jason's Ultimatum]

Aren't smooth and controlled form really the most important? Doing poor form in timed workouts seems like a disaster waiting to happen.

Can you PM me naked pics of your hair?

If naked hair means naked body, then.......................no.

 

[EviLore]

When I did a month of personal training with Crossfit guys last year specifically to work on my form for the powerlifting barbell movements, everything went smoothly except when I had to work a couple sessions with the owner rather than the other trainer I was working with primarily.

The owner had me do this ridiculous tabata deadlift session where I severely injured my neck due to compromised form from going as fast as possible. My neck has taken the better part of a year to mostly heal and I've had chronic pain since then, only now starting to subside.

I don't really approve at all of that sort of training methodology when it comes to barbell training. Generally far smaller potential consequences to form slippage with bodyweight exercises than with barbell stuff.

 

[reilo]

Obviously everybody's Crossfit experiences might have been different, especially given the gym and the people you Crossfitted with, but from my experience, the importance on having proper form and pacing yourself has been more than just prescribed to me while doing Crossfit-style workouts. Then again, I don't hang out on the Crossfit forums and as of now I haven't given a single shit about "timed" workouts.

 

[borghe]

Except you're not taking into account that this is a timed workout, so that increases your chances of screwing something up. And Crossfit, per their own documents and certifications, encourges a 20% slop factor. So, injury. The kipping pull is just a silly thing to do several reps of. The butterfly kipping pull up is even worse.

neither of the WODs I posted are timed workouts. Hence why I included "Post loads." Aka they are absolutely strength workouts. It would be "for time" if they were timed. As for kipping pullups.... I'll agree that it's very easy to hurt yourself doing them.. I touch on it below. You have to know HOW to "catch yourself", something in a year and a half of working out I never saw ANYWHERE once until reading Convict Conditioning (basically your shoulder = ball & socket. "dropping or tugging on it" = very very very very bad. so you catch yourself by pushing your shoulders down. you never have any sort of real tension on your RCs)

Not to mention that rhabdomyolysis is a serious concern for newbies and vets. Hell, rhabdomyolysis happens often enough that they had to do several PSAs about it. How can you call that a good work out program?

This is typically the only slight against crossfit, and I've talked to a lot of GOOD trainers about it. The problem is, that even they attest to, is that injury is easy to occur in ANY program (arguably less so in calisthenics, but I'll shelve the calisthenics talk for at least one post). Can you hurt yourself in Crossfit? Develop rhabdomyolysis? Absolutely. Can you hurt yourself doing max strength reps on your own outside of Crossfit? Thousands of reps with rounded backs, lifted hips, and barbells to chests later I can definitely say that yes, you can hurt yourself in just the same ways. The biggest problem with Crossfit IMHO, is that the information IS out there for free and available out of context. Hell, I'm as guilty of it as anyone... You see a WOD with 5-5-5-5-5 snatch, watch the WOD video and go to do a snatch... oh wait, just because I watched that 4 minute video doesn't mean I know SHIT about the anatomy of a snatch. But again, that is no different than any workout program where you aren't fully reading up on form, understanding what the goal of the lift is, etc.

As for crossfit being perfect or not... no, not every WOD is perfect.. and certainly in most given WODs someone might be able to figure out a slightly more efficient WOD for the intended goal. But OVERALL, it's hard to find a major fault with (as long as you respect form and technique), and the philosophy behind it is bulletproof. If you don't like a WOD and think you have a more efficient/effective one? DO IT!!! That's the point. the WODs are there as a convenience, but the magic of the program is the ideology behind it (aka varied circuits). We have three CF gyms in the area, and none of them do the posted WODs for exactly this reason.. the trainers have their own regimen of what works and what doesn't.

anyway, I think we've beaten this point to death... my only reason for posting on any of this was because the idea that "crossfit is tiring yourself out" is just moronic. crossfit is just a popularized trademark applied to a form of russian conjugate periodization.. so is p90x and a ton of other less popular circuit training methods out there. It's not up for argument that it works... but yeah... I get it's not for everyone, and like all other workouts, if you go into shit without studying form and technique, getting hurt is a matter of when, not if.

The owner had me do this ridiculous tabata deadlift session where I severely injured my neck due to compromised form from going as fast as possible. My neck has taken the better part of a year to mostly heal and I've had chronic pain since then, only now starting to subside.

I'm sorry, but this is IDIOTIC! Tabata exercises are typically almost all bodyweight, solely for the reason that you are supposed to be able to easily complete every exercise right up through the eighth set, you just get slower. That he would even suggest barbell work for tabata, let alone deadlifting where form is ABSOLUTELY crucial, especially when form is ALWAYS the first thing to go when you tire... I am so sorry to hear this... However this was not a crossfit failure, but a very stupid decision by a possibly bad trainer.

 

[Rabbitweed]

The owner had me do this ridiculous tabata deadlift session where I severely injured my neck due to compromised form from going as fast as possible. My neck has taken the better part of a year to mostly heal and I've had chronic pain since then, only now starting to subside.

That must have sucked. For reasons like this, I try to keep my form as perfect I can even when doing timed workouts and I don't really subscibe to this 20% slop factor that Veezy mentioned. Shaving a few seconds from your WOD time with a sloppy form isn't worth the risk when an injury can set you back months.

 

[twofold]

I've been going to a Crossfit box for the past month and I've had mixed results. Initially, the guy doing the programming was doing mainly cardio based wods and only having us lift every once in a while. Cardio was improving but strength was not - it sucked.

Over the past two weeks, I've started doing crossfit football (crossfitfootball.com) with one of the other guys. It's way, way, way better than the mainsite programming. There's constant lifting and metcons last about ten minutes at most, except for the occasional 'gasser'.

This article does a great job of summing up what's wrong with Crossfit and what needs to be done to improve on it - http://strengthvillain.com/?p=303

Still, we're considering switching from Crossfit Football to the 'Greyskull LP' linebacker template (https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc...t1SGZaQWczYXJ0blE&hl=en&authkey=CM2Ayig#gid=0) -- people are reporting amazing gains while following it.

 

[Jason's Ultimatum]

Jesus Christ there's crossfit football? They're really milking it, aren't they?

 

[Anton Sugar]

The owner had me do this ridiculous tabata deadlift session where I severely injured my neck due to compromised form from going as fast as possible. My neck has taken the better part of a year to mostly heal and I've had chronic pain since then, only now starting to subside.

It's strange how people think Tabata can be done with ANY exercise. Dan John was a big fan of the Crossfit standard "Tabata with thrusters" until his athletes started getting destroyed by injuries.

 

[Veezy]

Obviously everybody's Crossfit experiences might have been different, especially given the gym and the people you Crossfitted with, but from my experience, the importance on having proper form and pacing yourself has been more than just prescribed to me while doing Crossfit-style workouts. Then again, I don't hang out on the Crossfit forums and as of now I haven't given a single shit about "timed" workouts.

Oh friend.... then you are missing out. Some of those people are just... whew....

The bolded is important. All you need to own and operate your own Crossfit gym is a level one Certification and an affiliate fee. The cert requires $1,000 and a test on that particular material. The fee is another, I believe, 2 grand. That's all fine and dandy, However, there's zero consistency, as it's not a franchise. So one place may have somebody who learned to snatch with weight on the bar from an actual coach and another gym may have learned to snatch using a PVC pipe at one of their other "certs." That same person my program a work out with 3 rounds of 15 95# snatches. I'm sure you can see the cause for concern.

Personally, my favorite Crossfit quote has been "I train so hard because I'm at war with my body." Then there was their "games" last year when the failed to include a crash pad with a 20 foot rope climb after five several foot wall jumps, for 5 rounds, for time.

On a different topic, Jak3d is a fantastic pre workout. Protip, it may cause false positives for meth usage. Drink up!

 

[twofold]

Jesus Christ there's crossfit football? They're really milking it, aren't they?

Crossfit Football isn't ran by the guys who run Crossfit.com. It's programmed by, I believe, a former American Football coach and it's more way strength focused than regular Crossfit. Every workout involves some lifting (for example, today's was 3x5 DL & 3xAMRAP Supine Rows) with a short but intense metcon of 50 ball slams and 50 toes to bar. Most metcons last 5-7 minutes. I'm really enjoying it.

 

[reilo]

Oh friend.... then you are missing out. Some of those people are just... whew....

Yeah, the Crossfit gym I'll be going to has UFC fighters training out of. I would hope they wouldn't let people mess around and do improper things in there with actual professionals spending their time twice a day, five times a week in there. At least that's my hope.

Thankfully the guy I'll be training with is a personal friend of mine and he's extremely detail oriented and places a huge importance on form, giving plenty of rest, and pacing one self.

The bolded is important. All you need to own and operate your own Crossfit gym is a level one Certification and an affiliate fee. The cert requires $1,000 and a test on that particular material. The fee is another, I believe, 2 grand. That's all fine and dandy, However, there's zero consistency, as it's not a franchise. So one place may have somebody who learned to snatch with weight on the bar from an actual coach and another gym may have learned to snatch using a PVC pipe at one of their other "certs." That same person my program a work out with 3 rounds of 15 95# snatches. I'm sure you can see the cause for concern.

I believe it. I also believe that it's not exclusive to Crossfit and that can be applied to any gym.

 

[Rabbitweed]

It's strange how people think Tabata can be done with ANY exercise. Dan John was a big fan of the Crossfit standard "Tabata with thrusters" until his athletes started getting destroyed by injuries.

Yeah, tabata workouts can be brutal... some years ago when I first read about them, I decided to do a tabata squats as a warm up for my actual leg training (and I had not trained my legs that often then) but that was a bad decision. After four minutes of tabata squats (air squats, no weights) my legs felt like jelly and I had to end my workout right there cos any further leg training would have been impossible. My legs were sore for a week after that and I couldn't believe how such a short workout with no weights could destroy my legs so badly...

 

[borghe]

Veezy,

your post just above is 100% spot on.... sadly enough. While the basic science behind russian conjugate periodization is flawless, there is absolutely no consistency from crossfit gym to gym, and as evilore pointed out, some "Certified" owners prescribing very stupid shit.

so yes, that is a failure of part of the system. you are correct.

However my defense of it is that I had extremely positive results with it, after a year of not only working within the system (on my own), but also continuing to study on form and technique and working to improve it, right down to studying self shot videos and lots and lots of reading. The only reason I stopped Crossfit was injury, not due to crossfit itself, but because it was becoming clear to me that my muscles were gaining strength at a much faster rate than my soft tissue was.. leading to soreness everywhere on occasion. Not chronic or long term... but shortly before that I came across Convict Conditioning where a primary goal of the program is just that.. uniform strength across all major and minor muscle groups AND soft tissue. but even in working with that I've still gone with including intervals and plyometrics so that I am not just focusing on strength.

 

[sixteen-bit]

Hey, I want a six pack so chicks can oggle me at the beach. How do I accomplish this?

 

[reilo]

Hey, I want a six pack so chicks can oggle me at the beach. How do I accomplish this?

Here you go, buy this shirt:

 

[EviLore]

I'm sorry, but this is IDIOTIC! Tabata exercises are typically almost all bodyweight, solely for the reason that you are supposed to be able to easily complete every exercise right up through the eighth set, you just get slower. That he would even suggest barbell work for tabata, let alone deadlifting where form is ABSOLUTELY crucial, especially when form is ALWAYS the first thing to go when you tire... I am so sorry to hear this... However this was not a crossfit failure, but a very stupid decision by a possibly bad trainer.

Sure, I'm not damning Crossfit as a whole, just relaying my personal experiences at a Crossfit gym. The other trainer there who I worked with primarily, he knew what he was doing, knew good barbell form and gave me good cues, and didn't overtrain me. I got stronger and improved my form considerably. Unfortunately I had to stop due to the neck injury just as I was starting to make good progress.

The owner did not know what he was doing. That tabata deadlift drill, I was going slowly and trying to maintain good form, and he just kept pushing me to go faster. This *really* didn't seem like a good idea to me, and my body is very injury prone as it is, but I'm stubborn when challenged.

 

[Veezy]

borghe,

I think we're close to the same page here.

I don't have a problem with timed workouts, conditioning, and working on weaknesses. What I have a huge issue with is certain movements/weights being set up in such a manner that's not appropriate for anybody to do, and then saying "now do it fast, and it's cool if it's a little sloppy." Sloppy back squats probably won't hurt you too bad, but sloppy kips/snatches/c&j will. As long as proper from and rest is stressed, things are great. But when it's not....

Fuck it, who am I kidding. I'm just jealous I didn't steal the definition of fitness from Supertraining like Glassman did and sell barbell/body weight circuts as groundbreaking. Lucky, gin-drinking, bastard.

Edit:

EviLore, the Level 1 cert encourages a 20% slop factor in order to increase your speed. Yes, it's an actual percentage and it's important to gyms as people are more likely to come back to the gym if they get their ass kicked, not necessarily if they get a great training session. I still can't believe somebody had you to Tabata deadlifts. Just... ugh.

 

[sixteen-bit]

Here you go, buy this shirt:

http://www.toxel.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/tshirt09.jpg

The illusion will be shattered once I take it off.
You know, because I'll be at the beach.

 

[Lamel]

Hey, I want a six pack so chicks can oggle me at the beach. How do I accomplish this?

Watch your diet (low card, high protein), cardio. Train your abs as well so that when you lose the fat there's actually something to show.

If you're serious about this then you should post in the template given in the OP.

 

[Meatfist]

Hey GAF, I started working out this summer and it's been going pretty well, but I think I could benefit from a more solid routine. I've been eating pretty well (High protein/Low carb) but freelifting has been difficult for me because of the way my gym is set up.

Age: 17
Height: 5'11''
Weight: 140
Goal: Muscle Strength and Definition
Current Training Schedule: Mon/Wed/Fri, Squats, Abs (Leg lifts, medicine ball and Machine) and Press (Shoulder usually) every day, alternating Deadlift and Rows
Current Training Equipment Available: Gym membership. My gym has abundant machines and cardio, but the freeweight section sucks. A couple squat racks and almost nowhere to deadlift.
Comments: Starting strength was my main inspiration to get into freeweights, with a couple problems:

Nobody in my gym knows how to power clean, much less teach it
Benching has been really difficult for me. Even with just the bar my form is really, really shaky, even though it doesn't feel heavy to me. It could be my Essential Tremors, but either way it's a bummer and I've kind of been avoiding the bench press since.

 

[borghe]

do you mean high protein/low carb? Because the way you said it is pretty much the wrong way for almost any sort of strength and/or cutting workout routine..

 

[ezrarh]

Hey GAF, I started working out this summer and it's been going pretty well, but I think I could benefit from a more solid routine. I've been eating pretty well (High carb/Low protein) but freelifting has been difficult for me because of the way my gym is set up.

Age: 17
Height: 5'11''
Weight: 140
Goal: Muscle Strength and Definition
Current Training Schedule: Mon/Wed/Fri, Squats, Abs (Leg lifts, medicine ball and Machine) and Press (Shoulder usually) every day, alternating Deadlift and Rows
Current Training Equipment Available: Gym membership. My gym has abundant machines and cardio, but the freeweight section sucks. A couple squat racks and almost nowhere to deadlift.
Comments: Starting strength was my main inspiration to get into freeweights, with a couple problems:

Nobody in my gym knows how to power clean, much less teach it
Benching has been really difficult for me. Even with just the bar my form is really, really shaky, even though it doesn't feel heavy to me. It could be my Essential Tremors, but either way it's a bummer and I've kind of been avoiding the bench press since.

Start lower on the bench if you feel really shaky and just work your way up. If you can't teach yourself power cleans then I wouldn't worry too much about it since you can replace them with rows when starting out. Why aren't you doing squat/bench/deadlift and squat/press/row instead of doing press everyday. There's no reason why you shouldn't be doing bench unless it's an actual problem and not just due to weight. And I'm assuming you mean you're on a low carb/high protein diet and not the other way around.

If possible try to find another gym with more free weight area (which might not be possible) Too many gyms with just machines nowadays. I'm guessing you can't remove the safeties in the squat rack? If you could do that, you could deadlift there. I just find it ridiculous that the gym doesn't have a single power rack.

 

[Meatfist]

Derp, High Protein Low Carb is what I meant.


I don't think the weight is the problem with my benching, the 45 lb bar was easy enough to lift but it was just really, really shaky. I don't know if it's my Essential Tremors or not but I'll go even lower just to follow the routine.

There's two squat racks and one power rack, that's pretty much it. Most of the time I use the power rack, but it's quite a long wait for people who aren't even freelifting.

 

[Decado]

Well, my first bulk since last year has had a dreadful start. Day 2...tension headache during my second set of dumbell shoulder presses (got breathing wrong or something). Last time I had these types of headaches was January and I had to stop going to the gym for two weeks before they went away

 

[FallingEdge]

I've decided that listening to Kpop while in the gym as allowed me to work harder, lift heaver, and get that post workout pump going.

Feels good man.

 

[sixteen-bit]

I've decided that listening to Kpop while in the gym as allowed me to work harder, lift heaver, and get that post workout pump going.

Feels good man.

I always listen to Turquoise Jeep when I work out. It works for me.

 

[sebajuNujabes]

Halp, Gaf. My core sucks. I think my abdominal and oblique muscles are lagging behind as far as strength goes. I'm not out for washboard abs or anything; It just feels like my core is holding me back. I've been told doing squats and deadlifts would do the trick, but the difference is pretty minor. Any suggestions?

Other than that, I've been making steady progress. 3 pounds away from my goal and very little of that is fat thanks to this thread.

 

[MickeyKnox]

Halp, Gaf. My core sucks. I think my abdominal and oblique muscles are lagging behind as far as strength goes. I'm not out for washboard abs or anything; It just feels like my core is holding me back. I've been told doing squats and deadlifts would do the trick, but the difference is pretty minor. Any suggestions?

Other than that, I've been making steady progress. 3 pounds away from my goal and very little of that is fat thanks to this thread.

Do anti-rotation work, Pallof Press variations and the like, also work in suitcase deadlifts and one-sided deadlifts.

 

[Brolic Gaoler]

I always listen to Turquoise Jeep when I work out. It works for me.

I could just imagine someone doing deadlifts to sex syrup, lol.

 

[X-Frame]

Do anti-rotation work, Pallof Press variations and the like, also work in suitcase deadlifts and one-sided deadlifts.

Along with these great suggestions, I'd also suggest single-leg work and front/side planks of different variations.

Also, is there still a Google+ Fitness-GAF circle? How many people are in it?

 

[Cudder]

Yesterday I had my first workout at the gym after taking almost a week off due to an exertion headache I experienced last time. Was going well enough, but started to feel very lightheaded about 3/4 through my workout. It was so bad I had to lay down in the change room for about 5-10 minutes. After that I was good, though, and finished the rest of my workout.

Going to the gym again right now, maybe I should take it a little bit easier.

 

[Draft]

My main problem with Crossfit is all that low intensity high volume work shreds the hands. And not in the cool, look how fucking crazy my grip is from pulling 500 pounds. More like, look how I can't pick anything up without getting it bloody because I just did 50 pull ups and 50 deadlifts in the last 20 minutes.

 

[reilo]

My main problem with Crossfit is all that low intensity high volume work shreds the hands. And not in the cool, look how fucking crazy my grip is from pulling 500 pounds. More like, look how I can't pick anything up without getting it bloody because I just did 50 pull ups and 50 deadlifts in the last 20 minutes.

I see what you're saying. But if you feel like it's that detrimental, why not wear gloves?

 

[qcf x2]

It seems like the main struggle might be with food. Find ways to add easy calories to fix that. If you can't cook, flax seed on meals and whole milk helps. You're already doing peanut butter, try slapping it in-between some Ezekiel 4:9 bread, if you have easy access to a fridge to keep the bread. If don't mind some extra fats, Power Butter peanut butter is pretty good. 4 tablespoons has 32g of protein.

Ah, sorry about your condition, didn't know. I think I have that to some level but nowhere near debilitating. Not too familiar with the 5/3/1 or Greyskull stuff but I'm looking it up now. Powerbutter looks interesting but man, that's pretty expensive for peanut butter.

An old female coworker left a box of women's vitamin packs at the office a few years ago. I checked all the ingredients online and they were pretty much all the same as what was in the men's vitamins from that same company, so I took them. Maybe this is tmi, but something in those pills gave me rock solid raging hardons at random times throughout the day. I felt like I was 12 again.

You're gonna make me buy a pack to test them out, aren't you.

 

[Jason's Ultimatum]

Veezy, you're ok in my book. You mentioned Ezekiel bread. I eat the cinnamon raisen bread every night with almond butter slapped on.

 

[parrotbeak]

3rd google hit for "ezekiel bread": Ezekiel Bread: Made with Human Dung

You're gonna make me buy a pack to test them out, aren't you.

I don't remember the brand and it was a daily packet of a dozen capsules so there was a lot of stuff in there. But if you're interested, I'd probably start with the Wild Yam extract that Mr. Serious Business mentioned. That's the sort of thing that was listed, along with the usual vitamins.

 

[Jason's Ultimatum]

I laughed at that article.

Anyway, I buy the bread because it's not as processed as the other crap out there. I would never buy from the grocery store. I go to the Fresh Market if I am ever in need some.

 

[Dice]

I'm doing something very simple. Every morning and night I'm going to do pushups and situps until I figure I can't do more without significant difficulty. I think I'll just do one set of pushups until it becomes pretty hard, then try to double that number in situps, then see what more I can do in pushups and again double that in situps. I will probably push this to triple on the situps but I haven't really exercised outside of cycling (my quads are awesome) for quite some time so I'm not there right now.

I know this is against the whole goal mentality, but I really don't care to meet any goal except whatever positive affect this has. I'm really not in a position to make this a solid chunk of my life and invest in weights or a membership somewhere, and I'm pretty lean so weight loss isn't a concern. I'm going to be writing my numbers on a calendar to remind myself to keep at it and keep track of progress. I'll check in a month from now to describe whatever benefit it has brought me. If it goes well, I may get something to incorporate pullups, we'll see.