weakogre

it was just not respecting the weight and trying to rush. instead of getting setup under the weight i just tried to pop it off the rack while bent over instead of squatting. i don't doubt i could use mobility work, just wasn't really the issue. as for olympic weightlifting, it's just a nice afterthought for the bar i got. i don't plan on competing in anything or breaking any records. i just like to tool around in my garage so i thought if i got bored of powerlifting i could try something else for a day out of the week. i'm sure you're recommendation of coaching is beneficial for a lot of people, especially those who may not be doing something properly and could be injured. i'm not a fan of crossfit in general because most people who i know who've done it have been injured at some point. i really just started this thread to answer questions about 5x5 and warn people for the millionth time "don't waste your money on cheap stuff, because you'll just end up buying it twice." for now though, i think i'll stick with what i'm doing.

yeah i only really read the specific instructions and not so much the sales pitches or emails. from what people are saying you're probably better off avoiding it. i'm hoping to branch out and do some olympic lifts in the future once i clear out some more room. i'm also looking forward to getting some low rep and max's out. i've never done it, but with my new setup i'll feel more comfortable when the time comes. i had this: http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/product/index.jsp?productId=10793623 http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/product/index.jsp?productId=22455776&clickid=prod_cs&recid=Product_PageElement_product1_rr_2_1356 and upgraded to this: http://www.roguefitness.com/sml-2-rogue-90-monster-lite-squat-stand http://www.roguefitness.com/rogue-chan-bar as my squats progressed i was beginning to get worried of having to drop a failure onto my concrete floor with iron weights. the 2' spotter arms are going alleviate that. a bonus to having the home setup is my wife and i have been working out together, something we couldn't do before.

i had the same dilemma many people probably face, my gym had one power rack and 8000 pieces of isolation or cardio equipment. i hated having to go late at night just to ensure that i would be able to workout without waiting forever just to do squats and not being able to take a break between sets. i started looking around at home gym setups and what kind of workout i could do to make it worth investing in minimal equipment, since i would have to purchase all of it. i found (like most people) the Stronglifts 5x5 workout. it even has a handy app and a good amount of info about each lift and what equipment you need to buy. i started with the dick's special (against many recommendations online). i got a bench/stand combo, 300lbs of metal plates, and an olympic bar. i figured it would be a long time before i would have to invest in new things or more weight (even though i had squatted 315 recently, i didn't see me banging out 25 in a workout). i flipped the cups around and squatted off the back of it, even though it was a little short me. anywho, i didn't know what any of my max's were so here's where i started: Squat 95lbs Bench 75lbs Row 75lbs OH Press 45lbs Deadlift 135lbs now i did have to take a week off because i was traveling overseas and couldn't workout. i don't recommend it, i was completely free of DOMS, feeling great, and motivated. coming back i ignored the 10% deload recommendation (recommend following it) and was whipped. i was sore and didn't feel like doing it after the first night back. ridiculous turn for only a week off, but that's why i would do it on a schedule where you will not miss. either way, here's where i'm at currently: Squat 240lbs Bench 185lbs Row 185lbs OH Press 100lbs Deadlift 275lbs if you're familiar with the program you can guess that i skipped up a bunch of weight. i think i undersold how much i could lift and the exercises were not taxing. i recommend the program. the loading schedule, exercises, and app are all great. i don't know about the guy who runs it, i've read some stuff saying he's a little out there, but i've read most of his articles about the lifts and recommendations and they're not bad. i do not subscribe to emails, and i think that's where the issue some people had were. i do the pay version of the app and i feel it's worth the $10. which of course is peanuts compared to what i'm going to say next: spend the damn money on nice equipment. here's the truth of what i spent: $500 for my whole setup from dicks. this lasted me 5 weeks and i just had to replace almost every piece of it. the only thing i kept were the actual weights. i injured my hip/lower back unracking the weight (i have to unload off of the spotter bars to make it work and it's too short), and the next day when i pulled weights off the collar slid with it. the cheap bar had come unscrewed and i was lucky it did while i was unracking 25lbs instead of repping 250lbs. so i had to buy a new stand/rack, bar, and i went ahead and got some more 45s because i was tired of using so many change plates. this cost me $1000. i'm trying to sell the old bench/rack setup now, and it would be good for someone a little shorter or who wanted to do adjustable bench work. for me though, it wasn't optimal and i put price ahead of functionality and basically burned some money. you live and you learn, but if you have any questions about my setup, my experiences with 5x5, or anything else let me know. it's been fun.

i think this isn't really going anywhere. if you can't see how the points connect then there's nothing more to discuss. and saying no one is advantaged as a white male is laughably unaware. to phyto and machete, women in engineering, especially on the field work side in america are looked at through a vastly different lens than any male counterpart and are dismissed and treated with contempt, in my experience. best case they're patronized, worst case they're basically intimidated into lesser work. of course this is not an end all be all sweeping thing, but that's what i've witnessed and the women that do succeed and elevate do it in the face of a lot of stuff male engineers wouldn't dream of. that's what i tried to say originally (along with louis ck), white male is the definition of benefit of the doubt in almost all things. you think there's no advantage to being you because you've never not been you and most the people you know are like you. imagine going into an interview where everyone you see in the company, and almost all the other applicants are a different race than you, do you believe in your heart of hearts that you're given a fair shake? i bet a lot of white people would blame it on racism (or reverse racism, whatever they want to use) if they didn't get the job, but when they're the one who is in the majority and looks like everyone else, they were more qualified. but the good news is more people you meet and the more places you go your eyes open up a little more and you start to get a better picture. and with the internet and social media the world is shrinking. it's getting harder to stay in the bubble that breeds racism/sexism/etc. as for this thread, i'm going to leave it up with trewest who attempted to get it back on track. i think we can all see how people feel about race/sex/sexuality discrimination (broken down by context clues leads to very unsurprising results), but i've said my peace about fat shaming/acceptance and i'd like to hear more from other people. i will not be trying to explain discrimination to straight white men who say it doesn't exist, a fight i'm sure a lot more people than myself have given up on.

you're on your own if you just want to say nothing before today ever matters. shouldn't we try to make it better than we had it for the next group of people? and where is the owing? how about they not mistreat or belittle other high school students? how about they treat a girl who is interested in hard science as a person instead of chastising her or telling her that she shouldn't do something because she's a girl and that's a boy thing? that doesn't seem to ridiculous does it? i mean this site is called "nerd fitness" it's filled (presumably) with nerds, who because of social changes are not physically assaulted as much as they may have been those 40 years ago i was talking about earlier. now they're working to make our future better and more than before because they now get support and encouragement. now let me cut you off because i'm going to go out on a limb and say you want to turn this into a participation ribbon display conversation, it's not. this is about the board being leveled. so if you are a nerd, realize you benefited from the shift as well, so why not let others benefit to. and maybe one day we won't have to have these silly conversations where a group who have had every advantage there is complains about another group making progress, even though the new group isn't near the privilege of the first.

for clarification here is Louis CK's bit, NSFW language in the video: https://youtu.be/qg48ZZ2wYfM i will agree with you that some of the cents to dollar arguments have been debunked with child leave and not returning to work among other things, but i do hate statistics. they're spun so many different ways and often need better context. i will also say Adam Carolla had a bit about how if women did the same work as men for less money the last male would be a CEO the day before he replaced himself with a woman so the company could earn more money. i would say that the male learning (if college is slanted towards female learning) would be the trades, which are still available and high paying. on education i think the conversation turns towards social stigma than statistics. from 1970-1980 women saw a tremendous jump then a steady incline, but a lot of that comes from women older than 24 and the totals are affected somewhat by all women's private colleges. saying women are dominating colleges doesn't really hold up to well, considering this in the last 40 years and from there to the beginning of time it was male dominated.

i'm sorry that i, presumably, (i'm the one bashing MRA, which i had to look up,) have chased you out of the thread. i think it's a worthy topic and body image/acceptance does go a lot deeper than your weight. i really liked some of the comments and insight added by people like machete, hitlionsoul, phytomancer, and stillwaters. i think it's good and healthy as long as we talk about the subject, no need to single anyone out or go after certain people. i know i snowballed right into an overlong angry sounding rant, but those are just my opinions and no one has to live by them, i think they add to this but if it's all crazy talk then i'm sure we move to another thread, but this one has been off the tracks for a while now.

something for when you do get back: don't think that all back "pain" is "the" back pain. the first few weeks especially when you get DOMS it can tighten your back and i know i got a little panicky. i could tell though it wasn't the back pain i'd been living with, but it's still scary. but always err on the side of caution and congrats on keeping everything heading in the right direction.

holy cow this thread got out of hand. here's my 2cents and it, like everything else comes from the mind of louis and i'm probably paraphrasing some: "being white is great, if it was an option at the beginning of the year i would renew white every time. being a white man is playing life on easy mode." this is what people who complain about oppression, even though they are in the overwhelming majority, fail to realize. a few people on a tv or the internet saying things you don't like is not oppression. someone telling you your beliefs are wrong is not oppression. being mildly inconvenienced in your daily life every once in a while is not oppression. someone who is different than you achieving more than you does not mean you were oppressed. if you are a straight white male and you look at anyone else as having it easier than you because of one of those three words, you're lying to yourself. you wouldn't trade places with them, if you're honest with yourself. i know you think it sucks that it's not the good ol' boys club of yester-years, but people have access to more communication now and that means strong ideas and groups can form throughout the world and don't need the man behind them to succeed. i won't go on too long, because i've learned if you feel a certain way about an issue like this then no one is going to change your mind, but here's some stuff i want white men who think racism/sexism/anti-lbgt is dead and these people are now running the world while the straight white man is cut off at the knees: do you have a legitimate fear of the police? i know you're thinking "i've never committed a crime, so i have nothing to fear!" but has every black person committed a crime? don't they deserve the benefit of the doubt that white people get? or would you like to be looked at as a potential mass murderer because a couple of white men committed that crime? would you cavalierly assert your rights to a cop if you were non-white?would you like adolph hitler to represent you? how about charles manson? how about the westboro baptist community now represents all religious white people? they're white people so they now speak/spoke for all whites. you want to tell me different, then you better go talk to manson about it. he represents you. does that not make sense to you? then why does jesse jackson/al sharpton make white people angry at black people? why haven't you solved white drug addiction or crime yet? shouldn't you take care of your own people before you can comment on anyone else? or is that just something you tell minorities?i see white men carrying guns around in the open being cheered on. what if three black men walked into your starbucks with ar-15s? how about a few muslim men? suddenly they're not just heroes or at the worst silly kids, they're an imminent threat to you. why?"why are they allowed to have BET/gay only bars? i'm going to make white and straight only places." first off, i've never been to a gay establishment that didn't allow straight people in. i think that's a strawman. also if you're straight there's probably a number of bars you would rather be at, unless you're super into dancing and then gay bars do have some of the market cornered. but no one is going to check your sexual orientation at the door, now you may get hit on by *gasp* members of your own sex, but you are in the place where that happens. kind of like how you tell yourself those murder/rape victims had it coming because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time, wearing the wrong clothes. as for white/straight entertainment, isn't there enough? do we have to be mad at stuff we wouldn't watch anyway simply because it exists? there are thousands of channels, millions of shows, and endless ways to watch them, but seeing too many minorities in one place irks you? you want WET? go watch seinfeld, friends, fraiser, the godfather, clint eastwood, big bang theory, modern family, etc. etc. do you get it? hollywood/media is still super white and straight, and if you don't like something you don't have to watch it."i don't find x type of people attractive" ok, good for you. more x, y, and z for the rest of us. saying you don't like a person for a superficial reason is small minded. it's either based on stereotypes or the fact that you haven't experienced enough life to understand that superficial things don't make a person. talk to more people, listen to even more people. you don't have to like everyone, but if you stay in your bubble you're missing out."he just got that because he's black, i bet that mexican doesn't pay taxes, she doesn't even know anything about sports, how is she a reporter?" have you ever had these thoughts? then you're the problem. i don't care what, why, or when, this is the issue. according to you (and anyone ignorant enough to listen to you) minorities cannot achieve anything without help from the white man and the white man is struggling because he's too busy just giving everything to the minorities. women only get by on their looks. how about you twist your view a little bit, how about every time a minority accomplishes something you look at it as everyone around them was trying to cheapen their accomplishment. they were surrounded by people who thought like you, who thought they had nothing to offer, but they pushed through anyway. how about them having to do so much more to even get in the door than you? and you'll never understand that because you don't have to face it. you don't have to deal with people telling you you were a minority hire and you don't deserve it before they even know your skills and if you actually are deserving of your position. you don't have people talk about how your looks are the only reason you're even here and there are 1,000,0000 better men (white) who deserve your job. guys sitting on their couches who have white man opportunities but are lifelong underachievers looking down on you as if they could do what you're doing.sorry that drug on, but it's something that really irks me. these straw men that people prop up in these arguments are silly. i know it's rough being the default setting and playing on easy mode, but please do not make it worse by telling people whose struggles and lives you couldn't fathom that they have it easy. it makes us look bad, and according to you how one person of a certain race acts is how they all should be judged.

did the interval part of my c25k, saving the walking for tomorrow after the gym. 17:56 min/mile pace and had to stop because my leg completely cramped up. a good recommendation is to work on my calves to help strengthen them for the running, so i'm going to start that tomorrow and add that to my gym session. i'll have to do more than just dips.

lifting: it gives me strength to go with my size, there's something about being really overweight but picking up heavy things and putting them back down again. it makes you feel slightly better. basketball/football: fun with friends, active, adrenaline keeps me going, competitive woodworking: me time, learn something new every project, huge internet library for help, you get a (hopefully) usable piece of furniture out of it at the end. hiking: appreciate nature more now, always enjoyed being around water (grew up on an island), healthy fun trip for the family, and sometimes the dog gets to come along. biking: really fast progress that makes you feel accomplished, a lot more mileage than running, once you get into it you can start doing grocery runs which saves you gas/pollution, pretty good community

awesome, i really appreciate the info! and your muscle stress level at 13 miles is probably the same as mine at a mile because the huge amount of weight that is balanced during each stride. thanks for the link, i've been doing calf dips off of a platform but my calfs are definitely an afterthought when working out and i'm sure i could spend some more time working on them. i do have a roller that helps work the knot feeling out, but sitting down for 30 minutes usually cures it, which really makes me feel like i'm held back. it's probably a good buffer though so i don't overdo anything. i'll update after a while and let you know how i'm doing.

skipped my c25k today and since tomorrow is a walk day i'm just going to do both tomorrow. did get a good gym day in and added some new stuff. doing incline crunches is really a killer, definitely worse than lifting heavy weights for me. in other news my quads are taking a beating and it's showing up in my lunges. i think i'm going to go down in weight on the squats and see if i can get my backside more into it. lunges (35x10, 40x7, 45x5)bent over two arm long bar row (90x10, 135x10, 135x5) absolutely love these, used to do them in college. way better than bent over rows with dumbbells.incline dumbbell bench press (45x10, 55x10, 60x7) that seventh rep took a lot, but i had to beat last time.straight leg dumbbell deadlift (45x10, 50x10, 55x10)incline situps (2x20)back extensions (1x10)i'm going to add a lat pulldown to this next time. it'll be the only machine i use while lifting, but i'm not anywhere close to pull ups though so gotta get the upper back strong.

i have some back problems and it might take you a little to tell the difference, and ymmv, but when my back hurts outside my spine then i'm sore from lifting. everything is fine, just breaking down muscles. when it hurts at my spine i've done something wrong and put the weight on the small of my back, but this only occurs with weights because my body weight is constantly being balanced around my body. i'm with everyone else, could be initial soreness, but it's a little weird to be in your back with squats. have you tried just holding a squat at the bottom and see where that puts the burn?

congrats on having a plan! i found out a few years ago i had two bulging discs with a tear in one at the bottom of my spine and my doctor basically said this can debilitate to you to the point of surgery which puts a timeline on your ability to walk, or you can learn to strengthen your core and work around it. over the periods where i'm active i have never had a problem or spasm attack that i would get when i was more sedentary. (knock on wood) congrats again, and i would recommend some planks if you can tolerate them. they really tighten up your core which helps support your back.