The UnionVGF Weightlifting/Workout Thread

Woah, that 100 Rep challenge is hardcore...

Summer is almost here, and I've stopped drinking almost entirely (I drank on my birthday), and going from two bottles of wine a day, to none has had me drop almost 6kg over two months with barely any change to my exercise. I didn't even know I had that much flab to lose.

I'm still struggling to eat more than one meal a day though. I did a recommended protein intake thing online, and I'm getting nowhere near what it recommends, so I've bought a protein supplement, but I'm mixing it with ice cream as well as milk since I hate the texture.

And I have my abs back, finally. Without taking drugs at all! Happy summer y'all!
 
I fine working out alone is hard, so I join Karate class. 5 months in, & I am now yellow belt. Last Sat was the highlight as we have Kata World champions training us.
 
I thought we had a thread already, but I can't find it. Thus, this thread.

We have quite a few lifters/fitness people here who have decades of time "under the bar." My love of fitness started when I was about 11 years old. A massive Chicago Bulls fan, and Michael Jordan fan, I was everything basketball. I wanted to know how to get as strong, fast, and jump as high as they did. I researched everything about how the Bulls trained. That turned into wanting to know how other teams, sports, athletes, bodybuilders trained.

I've been reading, researching, implementing, training people, trial and error, weightlifting, recovery, nutrition, supplements, for nearly three decades. I've had injuries I had to work through and around. I've been a part of, or experienced, quite a lot fitness/health related over these years. As I've done all this I know what works, what doesn't, what's bulls***. I've worked directly with college athletes, been around professional athletes training and have been directly educated from some of the biggest, strongest, and fastest people on the planet.

In all these years of being involved in the fitness world, it really all comes down to a very simple foundation. Do something fitness wise, be consistent, and progress at a steady pace. If you want to just be a runner, start off walking/jogging intervals. Two weeks later, walk a little less and jog a little more. Work up until you're able to jog completely. The same goes for weightlifting. Lift some weights. In a couple weeks, lift more weight, do more reps, or do it faster. That's it. It's that simple.

While it is that simple, there are always revelations. One recent revelation for me is fasted cardio. That means doing cardio on a completely empty stomach, i.e., cardio in the morning. Doing that has enabled me to strip away fat while putting on muscle, I do two-a-days now, and keeping my weight rock steady. With my cat recently passing, I've been able to workout in the morning as well as at night so I can get in cardio in the morning and weight train in the evening. I do five two a days and two single session days. Normally this would be a lot of volume/frequency, but I've been able to keep my recovery very high doing it.

With going to the gym so frequently, injury, and recovery, are of the utmost importance. I'm doing a straight up bodybuilding single body segment routine. Chest/tris one day, back/bis (include deadlift variations and lunge variations) the next, shoulders the last. Doing it this way gives four days recovery per body segment. The routine is a standard 4x15 per movement and four movements per day, plus two tris or two bis, or throwing in calve raises between upperbody sets.

My recovery has been top notch thus far. One glaring omission, by design, and by requirement, is no squatting. One, with how much cardio I'm doing, adding squats would kill my knees. It would cause recovery to be severely hampered. I have a knee issue were I'm missing bone behind the kneecap and it causes a lot of knee discomfort and a lot of MCL tenderness. If I street run too much I get flair ups. If I squat too frequently I get flair ups. So, I have to work around it. That's where lunges and lunge variations come in. I had to choose, have to deal with MCL tenderness every day, or find a way to make it all work. As of right now, I found a way.

Well, that'll kick off UnionVGF's workout/weightlifting thread. If you have any questions, feel free to ask away!
 
I had to give up squats and deadlifts for awhile due to a lower back issue.. Just this past Thursday I started deadlifting again. Started back at 225 lbs. It felt really easy, but Im going to be careful and just add 10lbs a week.
As far as squats though...I think I am going to switch to trap bar squats.
BTW, here is a vid of me doing a 210lb OHP recently.

recent pic:
ME_6_4_17.jpg
 
I had to give up squats and deadlifts for awhile due to a lower back issue.. Just this past Thursday I started deadlifting again. Started back at 225 lbs. It felt really easy, but Im going to be careful and just add 10lbs a week.
As far as squats though...I think I am going to switch to trap bar squats.
BTW, here is a vid of me doing a 210lb OHP recently.

recent pic:
ME_6_4_17.jpg

Nice press. I don't do any presses, other than seated DB's above incline bench angle. Should issue for years from anything past horizontal. So far, seated Arnold/shoulder presses and incline DBs are causing no issues.
 
I like to ski and bike. Been thinking of getting an indoor bike as I don't get out on the trails enough. Figure it would be a lot easier/quicker to just hop on an indoor bike than load up everything and drive 15 minutes to get to the nearest trail.
 
I like to ski and bike. Been thinking of getting an indoor bike as I don't get out on the trails enough. Figure it would be a lot easier/quicker to just hop on an indoor bike than load up everything and drive 15 minutes to get to the nearest trail.
Instead of getting an indoor bike, get a road bike stand. It'll be cheaper, $400 for a good one, compared to getting a decent, and not as natural, indoor bike.
 
I'm still at it.

Here is a recent pic. Nevermind the horrible lighting down there in the basement. It makes my pictures look like crap.

I've been mostly focusing on bulking with a push/pull/legs split. I may start doing some cardio to cut down a bit and get back some definition, but that is not a priority.

dvX3YVQ.jpg
 
Lol, those are Captains of Crush grippers. I need to get the next level up soon.
 
Lol, those are Captains of Crush grippers. I need to get the next level up soon.

Nice!! I didn’t think anyone else had heard of them. What are you up to? I can almost close the 2.5, but my big goal is #3. I just started the KTA routine and I’m on Phase 4. It’s much higher volume than any other type of workout I’ve done, but so far I’m hanging in there.

I also use Ironmind’s pinch hub, Fat Gripz, and the smaller 2-3 finger grippers for fun.

Have you seen Kinney close the #4? It’s insane, and he’s a pretty small dude...gives me hope!

That being said, I’m very similar to Plainview: I’ve been an athlete my whole life (and competed in Division 1 athletics in college), have weight trained for about 25 years, and have been fortunate enough to have learned from some very intelligent, experienced people all over the country.

I’ve written down every single workout I’ve done for the last 23 years, in an effort to determine what works and what doesn’t. I’ve read and tried almost everything, and I’d be glad to share my experiences (and I’m hoping people here will share as well).

I train mostly HIT-style, along with soccer once or twice a week (or surfing if it’s possible). I’m also getting back into jujitsu so all those things factor into recovery time from the gym.
 
Nice!! I didn’t think anyone else had heard of them. What are you up to? I can almost close the 2.5, but my big goal is #3. I just started the KTA routine and I’m on Phase 4. It’s much higher volume than any other type of workout I’ve done, but so far I’m hanging in there.

I also use Ironmind’s pinch hub, Fat Gripz, and the smaller 2-3 finger grippers for fun.

Have you seen Kinney close the #4? It’s insane, and he’s a pretty small dude...gives me hope!

That being said, I’m very similar to Plainview: I’ve been an athlete my whole life (and competed in Division 1 athletics in college), have weight trained for about 25 years, and have been fortunate enough to have learned from some very intelligent, experienced people all over the country.

I’ve written down every single workout I’ve done for the last 23 years, in an effort to determine what works and what doesn’t. I’ve read and tried almost everything, and I’d be glad to share my experiences (and I’m hoping people here will share as well).

I train mostly HIT-style, along with soccer once or twice a week (or surfing if it’s possible). I’m also getting back into jujitsu so all those things factor into recovery time from the gym.

I really haven't been using them for very long, just recently became good enough the close the #1 which is the highest I have. I need to order the next level up so I can start getting used to it.
 
I'm still at it.

Here is a recent pic. Nevermind the horrible lighting down there in the basement. It makes my pictures look like crap.

I've been mostly focusing on bulking with a push/pull/legs split. I may start doing some cardio to cut down a bit and get back some definition, but that is not a priority.

dvX3YVQ.jpg
Keep it up. I think you can ramp up cardio and shred fat. Just make sure you continue to lift and get enough protein during the day. Either do cardio fasted, or AFTER workout. Better results than doing before lifting.
 
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I am going to use this thread to record the amount of times per week I am going to my gym/pool if thats okay.
My goal is 2 times per week starting from now... excluding Christmas week as I am away from home for a full week.

Please feel free to shame me every time I dont reach my goal :grin:
 
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I lift 3 times a week, been doing 5/3/1 for quite a while now.

Currently at about 210 lbs and 6'1". Would like to add a bit more weight but living in NYC has taken a toll on my ability to get all my lifting and eating in, so I'm happy just to maintain and continue to improve my lifts.
 
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I am going to use this thread to record the amount of times per week I am going to my gym/pool if thats okay.
My goal is 2 times per week starting from now... excluding Christmas week as I am away from home for a full week.

Please feel free to shame me every time I dont reach my goal :grin:
I'm here to shame you for not posting since this.
 


If I weighed 400 pounds, had bones that thick, and was roided up, I could do that kind of stuff too...

Oh well, I did lift 405 pounds on the rack pull today. I'm more into bodybuilding workouts than strength training, though I do try to push myself a little on the weights.
 
Yes. Abdominal area.
Legs and arms are fairly solid.
I'm going to look into Coolsculpting next year. The love handles will never go away. I've heard great things about it. I have a detailed six. Not show ripped, but you can see my abs decently. Love handles just will never go away. Genetics.
 
Pics? :hehe:


I still haven't gotten a spin/exercise bike. You mentioned a trainer or whatever for my mountain bike, but I've got two floors to haul it up, and I'd rather not have to worry about bringing in a bike that is covered in dirt/bugs. Amazon has some decently reviewed bikes for sub $300 so might grab one of those.
 
Pics? :hehe:


I still haven't gotten a spin/exercise bike. You mentioned a trainer or whatever for my mountain bike, but I've got two floors to haul it up, and I'd rather not have to worry about bringing in a bike that is covered in dirt/bugs. Amazon has some decently reviewed bikes for sub $300 so might grab one of those.
I thought it would be used for colder months when you can't ride outside. If you wouldn't be using it for a month straight, then yeah, a stationary bike is best.